Are you an expert? The Oxford Dictionaries’ definition of an expert is a person who is very knowledgeable about or skilful in a particular area. If you are an expert who else knows and do enough people know?
I posed the question ‘do enough people know?’ during a social media knowledge exchange workshop that I ran recently at one of the UK’s major universities.
Knowledge exchange is the term academics use for sharing their expertise. They have a vested interest in exchanging their knowledge effectively - specifically research. If they don’t do this well enough, they could soon run out of funding to undertake any further research.
This situation applies to you too. As a payroll sector business, whether you are the business owner, marketer, client relationship manager or part of the business development team, how well you communicate your expertise to your target audience will determine the ultimate success of your business.
But knowledge sharing goes further than this
The positive outcomes gained from successfully sharing one’s knowledge or expertise, often mean that organisations, people and even entire communities will benefit. Without research, knowledge and expertise, the human race would, arguably, not evolve to achieve its full potential. The implications of not implementing an effective payroll management system may not end the human race but it will certainly make a business owner’s life a misery.
The benefits of sharing your expertise are numerous
• You may influence other employees and people and teams will benefit
• The business may benefit from your insights and expertise
• You may positively impact on policy decisions and working methods
• You may raise awareness of important issues with clients eg legislation
• You will position yourself and your firm as experts • Others will pay (more) money for expert advice
Social media is one of the most effective tools, available today, to enable knowledge and expertise to be shared and exchanged with hundreds, thousands and potentially millions of people globally. It often takes just a matter of seconds or minutes.
Those who are the most effective at sharing their expertise tend to fall into one of three categories:
• A maven - A specialist in finding ideas and sharing facts with others but will rarely engage and interact much beyond the initial sharing of information.
• A connector - A proficient, well-connected networker often across many social media platforms. This individual will spread your ideas, creating engagement from others and with an audience whose reach is far and wide.
• A salesperson - A highly influential person with great powers of persuasion. Their endorsement of your expertise can provide the level of trust others require to accept and believe what you’re saying. The sales person is vital in helping you build know, like and trust with your target audience.
The maven, connector and salesperson are all vital components of your social media strategy. If just one of these elements is missing, you will not achieve the level of success you deserve. You will fall short of your full potential to engage with an audience who will pay good money for your knowledge and expertise.
So, before you set-to with your social media activities for this week, ask yourself these three questions:
• Have you packaged your expertise in a way that those you need to engage with can clearly understand it and will benefit from it?
• Are you well enough connected within your target sector to reach the right audience members? Or should your social media strategy include connecting or following a large number of wellconnected people in the sectors you need to be known in?
• Have you identified one or two credible key influencers who you could connect and engage with and who might, in time, endorse your expertise?
Include these three groups of people in your firm’s social media strategy and you will reach more people and potential clients who will benefit from your expertise.
Steve Phillip is managing director of Linked2Success Limited. Since 2009, he has helped hundreds of professionals around the UK and in Europe, such as FedEx, The EDHEC Business School and many universities and professional service businesses to raise their online profiles and generate hundreds of new client opportunities, using tools such as LinkedIn and other social media.
Are you an expert? The Oxford Dictionaries’ definition of an expert is a person who is very knowledgeable about or skilful in a particular area. If you are an expert who else knows and do enough people know?
I posed the question ‘do enough people know?’ during a social media knowledge exchange workshop that I ran recently at one of the UK’s major universities.
Knowledge exchange is the term academics use for sharing their expertise. They have a vested interest in exchanging their knowledge effectively - specifically research. If they don’t do this well enough, they could soon run out of funding to undertake any further research.
This situation applies to you too. As a payroll sector business, whether you are the business owner, marketer, client relationship manager or part of the business development team, how well you communicate your expertise to your target audience will determine the ultimate success of your business.
But knowledge sharing goes further than this
The positive outcomes gained from successfully sharing one’s knowledge or expertise, often mean that organisations, people and even entire communities will benefit. Without research, knowledge and expertise, the human race would, arguably, not evolve to achieve its full potential. The implications of not implementing an effective payroll management system may not end the human race but it will certainly make a business owner’s life a misery.
The benefits of sharing your expertise are numerous
• You may influence other employees and people and teams will benefit
• The business may benefit from your insights and expertise
• You may positively impact on policy decisions and working methods
• You may raise awareness of important issues with clients eg legislation
• You will position yourself and your firm as experts • Others will pay (more) money for expert advice
Social media is one of the most effective tools, available today, to enable knowledge and expertise to be shared and exchanged with hundreds, thousands and potentially millions of people globally. It often takes just a matter of seconds or minutes.
Those who are the most effective at sharing their expertise tend to fall into one of three categories:
• A maven - A specialist in finding ideas and sharing facts with others but will rarely engage and interact much beyond the initial sharing of information.
• A connector - A proficient, well-connected networker often across many social media platforms. This individual will spread your ideas, creating engagement from others and with an audience whose reach is far and wide.
• A salesperson - A highly influential person with great powers of persuasion. Their endorsement of your expertise can provide the level of trust others require to accept and believe what you’re saying. The sales person is vital in helping you build know, like and trust with your target audience.
The maven, connector and salesperson are all vital components of your social media strategy. If just one of these elements is missing, you will not achieve the level of success you deserve. You will fall short of your full potential to engage with an audience who will pay good money for your knowledge and expertise.
So, before you set-to with your social media activities for this week, ask yourself these three questions:
• Have you packaged your expertise in a way that those you need to engage with can clearly understand it and will benefit from it?
• Are you well enough connected within your target sector to reach the right audience members? Or should your social media strategy include connecting or following a large number of wellconnected people in the sectors you need to be known in?
• Have you identified one or two credible key influencers who you could connect and engage with and who might, in time, endorse your expertise?
Include these three groups of people in your firm’s social media strategy and you will reach more people and potential clients who will benefit from your expertise.
Steve Phillip is managing director of Linked2Success Limited. Since 2009, he has helped hundreds of professionals around the UK and in Europe, such as FedEx, The EDHEC Business School and many universities and professional service businesses to raise their online profiles and generate hundreds of new client opportunities, using tools such as LinkedIn and other social media.
