How to Develop a Digital Road Map to the World
Laurel Delaney, a successful entrepreneur, author, speaker, educator and columnist with more than 25 years of experience in global business.
Your social media and networking presence will allow you to broaden and deepen existing relationships, attract new prospects around the globe, build thought leadership within your industry, create strong brand awareness and grow your business.
28 July 2014
Social media isn’t just for teenagers looking to get out of doing homework. It has real business implications as well. Your social media and networking presence will allow you to broaden and deepen existing relationships, attract new prospects around the globe, build thought leadership within your industry, create strong brand awareness and grow your business. Here’s an example of how you can map out your social media and networking strategy. Assign someone to champion the cause—that champion can be you.
Let’s say you are a mechanical engineer who designs, develops, builds and tests airplane engines.
1. Facebook —post once a day: You might post a daily photo you’ve taken of one of your most successful projects, such as a shot of the latest airplane engine you built, and include a short paragraph on why it’s unique to any others on the market.
2. YouTube —feature one video every month: An informative video could be one that shows a complete installation of an airplane engine, where you talk about what could have gone wrong technically but didn’t because you conducted five thousand hours of research beforehand.
3. Twitter — post three times a day: You might first tweet about your upcoming presentation on how airplane engines are developed nowadays to optimize and reduce fuel usage. Then you can tweet about a dramatic improvement on your airplane engine. Your last tweet can be about a survey that was conducted on airplane engines manufactured in China, which should include a link to the survey results.
4. Instagram —post once a day: A daily Instagram photo might feature an airplane engine you spotted in an open lot that was ready for the trash bin.
5. Pinterest — post once a day: A post for Pinterest might be an infographic on how a clean airplane engine performs more efficiently than a dirty one.
6. Google+ — post twice a day: Using Sparks (a feature that automatically loads web pages onto your Google+ page), you could post a couple of related articles each day. The first could be about airplane engines, describing the maintenance and offering the contact information for your supplier in Korea and the second could be an article about airplane engine efficiency, which you send to all of your Circles.
7. Blog (for example) —post three times a week: You might make blog entries on Monday, Wednesday and Friday sharing your own original content on designing, developing, building and testing airplane engines. Your blog will allow you to intersperse your posts with other articles from outside sources that support your message.It’s important to be passionate about what you do—because you must sustain the communications across all the social platforms for a very long time.
Tip: Posting on a blog, whether once a day or once a week, counts toward your digital road map. I’ve always felt that blogging is the real meat and potatoes of your digital marketing strategy.
Start sharing success stories about your capabilities. In the engineering example, how else will Boeing, Airbus or Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China find you? Now it’s up to you to export and conduct business with the world.
This post is adapted from “Exporting: The Definitive Guide to Selling Abroad Profitably” by Laurel J. Delaney. For more information, contact ldelaney@globetrade.com or follow @LaurelDelaney.
All views expressed in guest blogs are that of the authors, and not of the British Chambers of Commerce.
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