Greeting Friends,

I really want to begin this article by appreciating and commending each and every one of you who have taken advantage of the power of social. I also want to thank my esteemed friends who reached out to me via calls, emails and social media platforms to thank me for my last week article entitled Position Yourself Part 1. The singular message I got from them relates to how they can market their product and themselves. A lot of people don’t realize the power of social media. In one of my articles entitled The Power of Social Media, which I published last year, I shared some great ideas on how we can use social media to advertise and position yourself. Many people use social media for the wrong reasons. This week’s article is a continuation of last week article.

During the course of this article, I will be sharing some strategic ideas on how we can position ourselves. Our focal point will be on social media.  For business minded people, organizations and entrepreneurs, a great way to position yourself is by thinking about your client’s satisfaction as opposed to yourself.  It is always good to have the end in mind when serving your clients. What really counts is not what you know or believe, but what your prospects think and feel. You make them believe in you by positioning yourself as a professional. There’s a term in business called “pre-framing” which essentially refers to how people see you and your business before they actually know anything about you. Show your clients and customers you care about them. Little acts like that speaks volumes about your personality. By so doing, they’ll easily patronize you compared to your competitors whose major concern maybe how to get money from their clients.

Becoming an author: Being able to differentiate yourself from your competitors, and position yourself as the person or business most suited to serve them is vital to your success. The secret to getting noticed despite all the noise in the marketplace is authority. When you have authority, people will pay attention. When you are perceived as an expert in your industry, people will naturally want to work with you. They will seek for you. If you will agree with me, no matter what business or industry you’re in, if you aren’t able to get new clients you probably won’t stay in business for very long. And as you already know, finding and keeping clients can be a challenge. As an expert in your industry with a heart of service, you simply want to teach valuable lessons and use your book as another way to build an audience and establish your brand.

Start Your Own Blog:

Blogging is one of the most resourceful ways to get your work to the world. Blogging can take several forms. It can be freelance, Vlog, business, or even personal. What’s important is that you are getting your words and products for the world to see. As you publish and promote your content online, you will gradually begin to position yourself as an expert on the areas you are passionate about.  If you are consistent in this act with the right product and message, your website will gradually attract traction.

Also, you can also write for other authority sites and blogs .Most website owners are always looking for high quality work. Most podcast hosts are always on the lookout for more guests to interview for their show. You can do this sending the host a brief message outlining your experience and area of expertise, and tell them you’d like to be considered as a potential guest for their show. If you make it a routine to be a guest on other podcasts regularly, your name will gradually become known by thousands of highly targeted people from around the world. At the end of each interview, you can tell the listeners how they can get in touch with you if they want to learn more about what you do or how you can help them.

Create a Facebook page or Facebook Group.

You cannot underestimate the power of social media. We live in a digital world. Stories abound about people who have received various opportunities in various kinds just because they know how to leverage Facebook and other social media outlet. Just to let you know powerful social media is, last week, social media was awash about an eight year old Nigerian boy- Tanitoluwa Adewumi who recently won the 52nd New York State Scholastic Championships tournament for kindergarten, this victory earned a tweet from former President of USA Bill Clinton to meet with him in Harlem, New York. I believe if not for twitter this young man would have had a hard time meeting President Bill Clinton, but social media made it easy

• Comment on blogs and in social media groups

A great way to become known in your industry is to engage in conversations that are happening on the popular blogs and social media groups (Facebook groups, LinkedIn groups, etc.) in your industry. This is not a strategy for pitching your product or service or aggressively sharing a link to your website all over the internet (that is considered spamming). This strategy is for adding value to others by sharing helpful advice, insights, and responding to questions that other people are asking. Commenting regularly on other platforms can help create potential collaboration and partnership.

1. Optimize your LinkedIn profile

LinkedIn is a very popular social network for entrepreneurs and business professionals. Your LinkedIn profile is a great place to showcase your expertise, professional experience, and achievements.  You can optimize your LinkedIn profile by:

• Writing a compelling profile description that highlights your experience and areas of expertise
• Add specific skills to your profile so that people in your network can endorse you for those skills (endorse other people’s skills first, and they will likely reciprocate)
• Collect testimonials from other LinkedIn users in your network (write testimonials for other people first, and they will likely reciprocate)
• Include a way to contact you or a link to your website. You can also contact some of your previous clients and ask them to prepare a testimonial on your behalf. Ask them for permission to display that testimonial on your website and in your marketing materials. Video testimonials are ideal, although written testimonials are still very effective.

As consumers decide who to purchase a product or service from, they want to see some sort of social proof that others have had a good experience with that product or service. No one wants to risk spending their money on a mediocre product or service, or being the first one to purchase it. They want to be sure that what they are buying will truly add value to them, and that others who have bought before them have been satisfied with their experience.

• Speak at live events

Speaking gives your opportunity to showcase what you have upstairs. When you speak to a live audience, you have their undivided attention for the duration of your presentation. This affords you a unique opportunity to engage and connect with a large amount of people at the same time.

• Start small & build momentum

Don’t be hard on yourself, just start small and build from there. Trust me people will notice your work even without you knowing. It doesn’t matter how small you start, just try and be consistent, disregard the mistakes and learn from failures. See your challenges as experience and always look for feedback from your customers.

In conclusion, I don’t know which industry you are and what you are working, but I have a general advice for everyone which I believe if properly utilized it can position you well. Depending on what you are working on, in order to position yourself for the next big opportunity, please approach your audience or clients with this steps which I learnt from Paminder Vir Obe, the Director Tony Elumelu Foundation.  Start with a nice introduction and build from there; Identify the Problem, proffer the Solution; Competitive Edge (What Makes You Unique); Your Business Model; Your Team Structure; Forecasts and Statistics; Key Milestones (and how you intend to achieve them) and finally but not the list, your Business Exit Strategy.

To build on the points highlighted above, take advantage of online resources (books, podcasts, and videos) that address the subject of business pitching.

Finally, once you are good in your craft, you’ll definitely get value and recognition. Nobody likes a liability, people love to associate with success.  I will conclude with the words of Albert Einstein, “Try not to be a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value”.

Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with New York City Department of Correction as the legal Coordinator. He’s the author of the acclaimed book Design Your Destiny – Actualizing Your Birthright To Success.