How Social Media Helped Me As Start Up Service Provider

If we are friends (either online or offline) you already know how this blog and social media played a big part in my rise to Asst. Vice President position. Lately, some friends who are about to venture into freelance or start-up have asked how I managed to survive since I left full time employment on 2010. Well, I still have the same answer.

Blog And Social Media Marketing Helped Me As A Start-Up Service Provider

I took the non traditional and risky route when I started to venture on my own- I relied solely on my digital estate.

I embraced this strategy not because the usual professional networking strategy is wrong, but I don’t have any mileage on that.

Though my employer who is responsible for my rise to Senior HR Manager position is a member of PMAP, but because we are more than 15 HR Managers in that company, we can only attend GMM and conventions sparingly as we are being rotated. My last employer, on the other hand, have since stopped renewing their membership when I joined them. Both employers, unfortunately, are not members of PSTD.

I thought, the peeps on those organizations have known each other for a long time, therefore, I don’t stand a chance of doing any business considering the established and existing relationships.

How Blogs And Social Media Helped Me

I did what I know doing best- “blog” and use my mileage on different social media channels.

Why blog?

• A blog is your gateway to “pull marketing”.
• A blog is “content marketing” friendly.
• A blog is perfect for “search engine marketing”
• A blog compliments your social media presence for “push marketing”

I am an advocate of investing on digital estate because it works like a real estate- the estate value increases over a period of time. With this in mind, I am recommending for those who will follow this model to:

• invest on your own domain (blogspot and wordpress are good, but your name or your brand is better)
• have a self-hosted site or blog

There is always “that” risk where Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and alike will have the same fate as Multiply, Friendster and MySpace. Likewise, there are two schools of thoughts on the digital landscape, (1) be the rockstar of someone else’s kingdom (ex Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter) or (2) Be the king of your own villa (your own website, blog & domain). If you can be both, that’s cool and go for it. But for purposes of branding, your own site is better.

Why Use Social Media?

I already mentioned the first reason above, “push marketing”. Just think it this way, your blog is the ammunition and your social media channels are your weapon. You load-up your weapon, point it to the right target then pull the trigger.

The second reason is, specially if your biz is B2C, your market is on social media. Social media is your weapon. You need a target for your ammunition, which is your content. Find your target and don’t be like a drunken fool who shoots his weapon unmindful of who gets shot.

The third reason is the future decision makers, and influencers are in social media. If your service is B2B, invest on your online relationship with the gen Ys on social media. When they rise to the top, the trust level towards you is already there.

What about eMail or eGroups

Because most corporations block social media access (and not email) keeping a list or egroup can be beneficial. The “current” decision makers are still into email, so I also use this tool.

Does it work?

I would have gotten back to full time employment if this don’t work. I would not be invited or sought for professional opinion in various online, broadcast and print media if not for my online presence. Of course, there is also an offline component on my strategy. BTW, 60% of my clients are from my online connections, 10% are from offline network and the remaining 30% are referrals from my online presence.