By John F. Sase
“All things being equal, people will do business with — and refer business to— those people they know, like, and trust.”
—Bob Burg, Endless Referrals (McGraw-Hill, 3rd ed., 2005)
The minds who are forecasting life in the Post-Pandemic world suggest that we master the virtual business platforms. These platforms include LinkedIn, YouTube, Vimeo, Blogs, Vlogs, Zoom, Canvas, along with many others such as Facebook and Twitter—so many choices, so little time. Since we do professional work in our respective fields, we need to budget our time wisely. T. J. Walker and his recent work have encouraged me to follow through with this redux after watching his 10.1 Habits To Survive Working From Home During Isolation (https://youtu.be/z9bpnSvtClg). I have used his work with my Economic students at Wayne State University for many years.
Social Media
Social-media experts inform us that, to succeed in any business or profession, we need to understand how to leverage social media thoroughly. As author and media consultant Erik Qualman reminds us, we need to know our “Socialnomics” (https://youtu.be/2IcpwISszbQ), how social media affects the ways that we live and do business. However, the question remains: in which social media platforms should we invest our time? In this month’s column, we will explore this question and related matters.
The first thing that we need to decide is whether we plan to use our social-media time for business or pleasure. I (Dr. Sase) count myself among the billions of “close friends” who use Facebook (Worldwide, there were more than 2.5 billion Monthly Active Users (MAU) as of December 2019). However, I do not consider it a viable venue for serious business-to-business communication and networking. Granted, Facebook is fun. Many of us enjoy watching the antics of cute kittens or viewing photos of our college friends and ourselves that were taken years ago under conditions that may defy description. Therefore, I prefer to use LinkedIn because I find it a more stoic social-media site that works better for professional networking.
Before becoming involved with LinkedIn, I invested some time to explore it. I asked myself the question, “How does this social media fit into my overall media mix?” I determined that LinkedIn provides a strong element in the optimal media mix—maximum return on investment/minimum time and money cost. As of 3 February 2020, LinkedIn has 675 million users, of which Monthly Active Users number 310 million. Of these, users from the US total 167 million users, of which 46.97% are Monthly Active. Also, 51% of US College Graduates use LinkedIn.
In general, determining the optimal mix poses a unique challenge for each of us. Media includes both the newer electronic formats as well as more traditional print. For example, many attorneys and other professionals do well by securing the back cover of area phone books. If one’s potential client base is the general public, this type of ad placement can result in very productive investment. On the other hand, economists and similarly positioned experts who direct their messages mostly to professional clients generally decline these ad opportunities. Instead, experts often use PR letters, limited mailings, and other print materials that continue to produce positive results.
Like most “do-it-yourselfers,” we must admit that we do not know the complete answer to the question of how to market our professional services. Then again, no one else seems to have the answer, either, even though many mountebanks stalk the Internet purveying their wares. Though some of these media gurus are quite good (they remain afloat in a field that remains in constant flux), the overall relevancy of their methods to marketing professional services remains low. Therefore, we must assess the potential of our social-media involvement carefully before making a substantial investment of time.
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