Want to know the secret to building a platform for yourself online?

This is going to be a tough pill to swallow…3, actually

We’re told by “experts” to continually provide value, and part of that includes resharing, relationship building, etc. etc. yada yada yada.

They’re right, you do need to provide value. You do need to reshare, the social algorithms require it to place your content in streams of others that may find you interesting. Which makes the social networks more valuable to their users, it has nothing to do with you.

Swallow that pill, then insert this one…most professionals join social media and surround themselves with “like minded people.” Brilliant move, you’ll network, learn, and refer each other business from the real world. And you’ll create semantic relevancy for your brand for your area of expertise, again, feeding the social and discovery algorithms.

That’s two pills, you’re medicated enough for the important stuff now…with all of this social interaction going on, who are you really posting for? With the sharing, the commenting, the circling, etc., is it really for the purpose of being valuable to those like-minded people?

Perhaps, but the real, true audience is the one you refer to your posts, or that are referred by others to your posts. That’s who you should be writing for.

Your prospects and clients are going to look you up, you should be writing for them and making an impression on them.

If you’re going to reshare someone’s article or post, do so in a way that speaks to those people who are going to come check you out and make a decision to hire you.

Because here’s the harsh pill, the one we saved for last…a very large number of the people we build relationships with online, even the “superstars”, are completely unknown to the outside world. Sharing and resharing their content for the sake of impressing a potential onlooker is pointless, so you might as well go that extra mile and make your post something that will benefit you in the long run.

That’s how you build a reputation, and a platform, that leads to referrals and new business opportunities.

Thanks for listening.

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Stephan Hovnanian

I am a Strategy Consultant on Sprout Social’s professional services team. As a speaker and trainer, I focus on developing world-class practitioners of social and advocacy programs. Before joining Sprout, I ran a marketing consultancy for 15 years, and use that experience to shape the strategy of social programs so they launch successfully and drive measurable business value.

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