Friday, January 25, 2013

5 Steps for Social Media Beginners to Take to Become an Expert



The more I am using social media, the more I can see that it's a really good idea to have your own content to share.

However, there are plenty of beginners to social media, online marketing, and just basic business who are interested in getting started but don't have anything to share.

What can these beginners do?

Idea for Beginners to Social Media: Accumulate Ideas and Share Them

Here is a more thorough explanation of how to do that.  (Otherwise, this becomes a lecture rather than a lesson.)

Method #1: Find Articles and Share Them: If you're serious about eventually becoming an expert, the easiest first step is to become a resource.  Find articles that you find interesting and share them.  Keep a list of these; you can share these more than one time if the topics are not time sensitive.

After a while, your list will become its own sort of library, and most people don't do this.  Many people find articles that other people post so they can share them, but most don't keep a running list to keep sharing.

See Also: Internet Marketing Tip: 3 Intelligent Ways to Recycle Blog Posts

Method #2: Find Other Experts to Promote: Eventually, you will start to notice many of the best articles come from a lot of the same sources.  There are some people who have individual moments of brilliance that they share, but most of the best people produce a lot of the best work.  (Think of the 80/20 Rule.)

Keep an eye on the people (or companies) that continue to provide work that gets YOUR attention.  Be the resource that shares their work.

Kristi Hines is an expert at this (Click her name for her website; click HERE for her Twitter posts).

Method #3: Attend Events & Report: I don't know anyone besides me who does this, but it's an easy grab.  Go to topic related events and provide reviews.  I suggest that you stick with positive reviews.

See Also: Being a Marketer Means Always Showing a Good Attitude

This positions you as someone who does things that other people are not willing to do.  Plus, it often gets the attention of the person (speaker or event organizer) that you are reviewing.  If they're smart, they will help promote THIS post...since it really promotes them...and their topic.

Example: Review: AMA-SWMI Event: Craig Daitch: A Different Way to Use Social Media

It also gives you a chance to include "expert level" material in your blog post, because you can relay notes that the speaker mentioned.

Truthfully, I don't even do these reviews often enough.  (Then again, today I have plenty of material.)

Method #4: Begin to Formulate Your Own Ideas:

After a while, you will start to get your own ideas.  Keep a list and track those ideas.  Maybe, write a blog post or share a podcast/video that explains your ideas.

Your going to get them if you're doing these other things.  You might as well position yourself as the new, upcoming expert.

Method #5: Perform Your Own Tests:

Now that you're getting ideas, test them.  Once you perform your own test and start to see results, aren't you  in position to report on (a) your testing method and (b) your results?

At this point, what is the difference between you and the other "experts?"

Congratulations!  Now, you've become the area's newest expert.  Maybe not to the already established experts, but you ARE the experts to those other people who began after you...or started before you but never made the effort to do these things.

BONUS METHOD: Give Presentations or Demonstrations: This takes some guts, and the first few times you give a presentation, you will probably get nervous.  You will wonder things like, "What do I have to offer these people?"

You will be right.  Some people will know what you're presenting.  However, there are always people who know less than you.  Focus on those people.

Once, you're known as a speaker on your topic, now you're an expert.  If you can find a way to present at a college AND a major company, then you'll really cement your status as an expert, and finding speaking engagements really isn't as hard as you might think.

Are you really serious about becoming an expert, or are you just wishing you were?


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