At the end of last year the Blue by Red PR team attended a Social Media Women networking event on the topic of ‘Stepping into the Spotlight using PR and Social Media – how to build your profile and position yourself as an expert ’. It was an extremely informative event which really hit home to me the value of self-promotion for both ourselves as individuals and organisations, as well as ambassadors for our clients and brands.
The main benefits of stepping into the spotlight, as an expert in your industry are –
- A great reputation: You develop trust and a reputation for your business, building credibility around your name and title
- You will gain trust: When you are sharing free tips, you start being named as an expert and it builds people’s trust in your skills and offering
The major recommendations that you can use to help position yourself as an expert are –
- Write articles about your own expertise in industry publications. Think of topics that relate to your career
- On your blog, link to stories relating to your industry. If an interesting article relating to PR is in the press, mention it, sum up the story and provide a link to the news coverage.
- Share your success. Contribute case studies to marketing magazines .e.g. Management Today
- Speaker opportunities are a great way to raise your profile, giving you the perfect opportunity to share your key messages with a captive, influential audience. Write your own speaker profile, including a bio and topics that you can discuss. If you a social media expert, why not showcase your knowledge at a social media Sydney event?
- Acknowledge doubt and do it anyway!
- Shout about your success. Create press releases on your successes, client wins etc, sending them to PR publications
The event also noted several points to consider.
- How will your advice and contribution help people? If you’re genuine it will help establish connections and build your profile.
- What do you want to be known for? Choose two topics to position yourself as an expert within i.e. social media and PR. If you constantly change them, it dilutes your messages. Make sure that you keep your areas of expertise in mind at all times when engaging in social media activity. Always tweet predominantly about your two specialism’s i.e. not all about chocolate and men!
- Think of your target audience. Who do you want to influence? Once you know who you want to get the attention of, start connecting with them on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
So, as we dive into a new year, start as you mean to go on; think about how you can grow as a professional, what you could be doing to benefit your company and clients and go out and make it happen!
For information on how to build your social media profile contact Blue by Red PR in Sydney.
