By John F. Sase
Assisted by
Gerard J. Senick, chief editor
Julie G. Sase, copyeditor
William A. Gross, researcher
“All things being equal, people will do business with — and refer business to — those people they know, like, and trust.”
—Bob Burg, American business writer, “Endless Referrals” (McGraw-Hill, 3rd ed., 2005)
During the past three months of our column, we have focused on the importance of quality writing in our professional documents. This month, we turn our attention to using writing and related communication tools to build a solid network of professionals and clients.
We live in a world overflowing with Social Media: Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, blogs, vlogs, and many others—so many choices, so little time. Since we have professional work to do in our respective fields, we need to budget our time wisely. Social-Media experts inform us that, in order to succeed in any business or profession, we need to have a thorough understanding of how to leverage Social Media. As American author and media consultant Erik Qualman reminds us, we need to know our “Socialnomics” (www.socialnomics.net), how Social Media affects the ways that we live and do business.
In 2022, Social Media appears to have engulfed the Internet. Using Spam Filters for our email helps. However, I (Dr. Sase) still need to scan, to group, and to delete 400 to 600 irrelevant emails per day (not to
mention all of them that have been sent to the Spam Folder). Having taken Evelyn Wood’s Reading Dynamics course during my first year of grad school continues to help me to separate the wheat from the chaff. In addition, having a morning cup of coffee with the broadcast news on in the background aids me in speeding up the process. Nevertheless, this daily chore of deleting Spam and other unnecessary messages continues to remind me of old comedy-show skits in which a deluge of envelopes shoot through a mail slot and pile up on the floor.
In what Social Media should we invest our time? In this month’s column, we will explore this question and related matters.
We must decide first whether we plan to use our social-media time for business or pleasure. Though I count myself among 2.9 billion “close friends” (Monthly Active Users) who use Facebook, 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 ourselves with our college friends. (Some of these photos may have been taken years ago under conditions that defy description.)
Nevertheless, I find that a more serious social-media site works better for professional networking. I prefer to use LinkedIn (more than 66.8 million Monthly Active Users) for this purpose. Before becoming involved with LinkedIn, I invested some time in order to explore it. I asked myself this 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 vs. minimum time and money cost.
In general, the determination of an optimal mix poses a unique challenge for each of us. Our chosen Media includes both newer electronic platforms along with traditional print. For example, many attorneys find a road to success by securing the back cover of local phone books. This type of ad placement produces a very productive investment if a major segment of the general public represents preferred client base of the attorney. Alternately, economists and similarly positioned experts need to focus their messages on professional clients. Therefore, these experts generally decline such advertisement opportunities as those within the covers of a phone book. Experts may tend to use public-relation letters, well-focused mass-mailings, and other materials that produce positive results in order to grow their businesses.
Like most “do-it-yourselfers” with smaller but sharply focused practices, one must admit that s/he does not know the complete answer to the question of how to market professional services. Then again, few others seem to have the answer. A handful of media gurus appear quite competent and remain afloat in a field that is in constant flux. However, many mountebanks stalk the Internet and purvey their wares to professionals in a number of fields. A large number of purveyors lack an overall relevancy in their methods for marketing professional services. Therefore, we need to assess our potential for Social-Media involvement before making any substantial investment of time and money.
Nevertheless, we all must begin somewhere.
As a Doctor of Economics building upon a joint Master’s Degree in Business and Economics, I tend to guide by example through discussion of my own media-mix. At this point, it is important to outline the evaluation process that some of us use before allocating ten to twenty percent of our work time to professional communications. I have committed to one-half to one-full work day per week, a time frame that has been promoted for many decades. Though Social-Media work may not appear difficult for those of us with advanced degrees and experience in our respective fields, this work does require an ongoing dedication of awareness, time, and effort.
Many forms of Social Media—both traditional and nouveau—exist today. Therefore, I search for and settle upon those that offer some enjoyment while presenting a strong probability of worthwhile returns for my time invested. As Mary Poppins would say, “Find the fun and the job’s half done.”
I venture that most of us have learned that making an ongoing commitment to a particular media-mix seems less of a chore when we enjoy researching the Web sites. For example, I like to write about Economics and related topics in a way that (hopefully) edifies readers who may have a limited background in the subject area. Therefore, I look upon this opportunity as a way to teach and to share my expertise, both with attorneys and with the community at large. I feel that a newspaper reaching this community provides a good vehicle for my writing. As a result, General Editor Gerard J. Senick and I have been producing this monthly column for the Legal News for twenty-three years—happily for us and, hopefully, for our readership.
In addition to this monthly contribution to public benefit, my Web site, www.saseassociates.com, has served as a mainstay in my Social-Media mix.
I use this Web site for my consulting practice. It includes text, photos, video and audio files, downloadable PDFs, and other interesting content related to the fields of Economics and Law. As this site continues to
evolve, it serves as a participatory learning process. I learn a lot from the research that I do for my site. Therefore, I like to share this information with a variety of colleagues in order to help them with their own projects. Currently, any Internet user can build and maintain a small Unix site of unlimited pages and more than enough e-mail boxes to carry a practice through years of growth for about $200 to $300 per annum.
In addition, many excellent books, articles, and free videos exist to help us to get “up and running” on the Web. Though many hosting sites offer to build and to manage Web sites for their users, I find that the knowledge and skill gained from doing these tasks myself has contributed to my ability to tweak my site with ease, thus both improving it and keeping it integrated with my media-mix. (Note: my son, who has an extensive background in computers, graphics, and electronic communication, has assisted me greatly in recent years. Thank you, Ted.)
Personally, I have found that clients discover, hire, and continue to retain me by following the ancient path of “know, like, and trust.” First, most of us prefer to know something in advance about those with whom we choose to do business. Second, we are more comfortable working with others whom we like and with whom we share basic human values and beliefs. Third, when we consider making a substantial investment of our time, money, and confidence, we seek to work with other professionals whom we trust.
So, is a Web site absolutely necessary for marketing one’s services? No. However, it stands as a valuable convenience in this day of electronic media. More often than not, we find ourselves going online in order to locate a business, to find pertinent information, to retrieve a phone number, or to send an email (this seems to have become the current favorite for contact, especially if the email includes attachments).
Functioning in this capacity, a Web site reduces search time for most users. Furthermore, when used as an integral component of a media-mix, a Web page can help in the development of the fundamental attitude of “know, like, and trust” that remains at the core of any professional relationship.
In addition to using the variety of static Web pages available, many of us have taken to developing audio and video content on our sites. (Warning: this activity can be a real time-sucker if you truly enjoy working with the media.) When I was twelve, I started making movies with an inexpensive Kodak 8mm camera that I bought with earnings from my paper route. In addition, I have been recording musical compositions and the spoken word since my teenage years. Using such media has become second nature to me. Therefore, I gravitated readily to YouTube as a Social Media and invested the time to learn my way around that sector of cyberspace. Since I also make animated PowerPoint (PPT) presentations for teaching university-level Economics and Statistics, I upload such works to YouTube and Vimeo using some inexpensive software that allows me to convert PPT files to the required video formats automatically.
Growing more comfortable with the world of online video, I continue to expand my range of productions and have made many of them available to my client base through my professional Web site and directly at www.youtube.com/saseassociates and vimeo.com/search?q=John+Sase.
Analogously, I look at my LinkedIn network as I would a college dorm, one in which I get to invite incoming residents. As LinkedIn exudes the underlying tone of a study dorm (Facebook has become the party dorm), all of us have some expectation of our atmosphere and our expected code of social behavior. Recalling my undergrad years, I remember fellow “dormies” with whom I would study on a regular basis. At that time (and perhaps still today), Engineering students would concentrate in one dorm and contingencies of Pre-Med and Pre-Law students would band together in other dorms. Liberal Arts and Business students would carve out their safe havens as well. Overall, the most functional dorms exuded hospitality and friendship, tolerance of differences, and an air of healthy communication.
As a result of these and other living/learning experiences, I make the time to introduce myself when I send out invitations on LinkedIn. When I extend invites to join my network, I mention something about myself and my interests that I hope will resonate with an invitee. Apart from one early embarrassing incident in which I accidently clicked on a button in LinkedIn that automatically sent invitations to everyone in my e-mail directory, I focus on making my invitations personal rather the generic “I’d like to add you to my professional network – [name].” Furthermore, when I have something to share with members of my network, I may make a general posting on my site. On other occasions, I send out a link or some specific information on an individual basis to those who may be the most interested in a topic. Yes, it consumes more time than “spamming” a bundle of names. However, this personal touch remains important to me because I believe that social networking represents an opportunity to achieve a spirit of “know, like, and trust” with colleagues.
Social Media that I have NOT included in my mix are Twitter, blogs, vlogs, and similar conduits. Like many of us, I use text-messaging on my cellphone for short missives on the run. However, I prefer to work with the fuller keyboard of my desktop or laptop to send more detailed professional communications. Though I have experimented with blogs, I find them terribly time-consuming and somewhat duplicative of my featured column in the Legal News. I have considered vlogs as a tool for Social Media. However, I prefer to achieve the quality level available on YouTube and Vimeo. For a higher level of interaction, I have turned to Academia (academia.edu), a site that includes full articles from scholars from a wide range of disciplines, including Economics and Law. Contributors to Academia include novices through highly experienced specialists in their fields. Also, the site provides a board for posting other written articles and videos for which one can initiate discussion groups with writers and videographers from around the world.
Using a Social Media-mix has resulted in my reaching a wider base of colleagues and clients within the fields of Economics, Law, and crossover fields from many countries. A focus on the know-like-trust approach to communication has helped to strengthen and to grow a network of professionals with whom I interact. For many of us, finding and maintaining a professional network as well as a client base that we get to “know, like, and trust” has emerged as a pre-condition. We have learned that a person will trust others more when s/he notes that co-professionals care about others at least as much as they care about themselves. Though often unspoken in this modern age, these qualities remain relational elements that potential clients consider seriously when they seek professional help. Therefore, Social Media provides attorneys and others with the avenues to find clients, to get productive referrals, and to establish a network of trust within their respective communities.
Takeaway
Let us remember that Social Media serves merely as a tool. The content of the media gives purpose to the communication. Otherwise, are we only just flapping our gums? In closing, we say this to attorneys and others: Find the media-mix that works best for you and your practice and fill it with content that reflects the best of what you have to offer. This combination should prove effective as a strategy, one that builds a client base that produces a healthy return on your investment of time and money that and, importantly, helps one to achieve a meaningful purpose in his/her professional life.
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Dr. John F. Sase teaches Economics at Wayne State University and has practiced Forensic and Investigative Economics for twenty years. He earned a combined M.A. in Economics and an MBA at the University of Detroit, followed by a Ph.D. in Economics from Wayne State University. He is a graduate of the University of Detroit Jesuit High School (www.saseassociates.com).
Gerard J. Senick is a freelance writer, editor, and musician. He earned his degree in English at the University of Detroit and was a supervisory editor at Gale Research Company (now Cengage) for over twenty years. Currently, he edits books for publication (www.senick-editing.com).
Julie G. Sase is a copyeditor, parent coach, and empath. She earned her degree in English at Marygrove College and her graduate certificate in Parent Coaching from Seattle Pacific University. Ms. Sase coaches clients, writes articles, and edits copy (royaloakparentcoaching.com).
