I recall my first experience with social media. We had two employees connect with each other and they promptly had a “Facebook fight.” One of the employees resigned because she felt the workplace had become hostile. We then had to hire a law firm to write our electronic communications policy, and we lost a good employee.
My personal and professional experiences continued to be negative, causing me to boldly declare, “I hate social media.”
Recently, a member of our business development team approached me and stated, “I think we should have a Facebook page. I want to start a social media campaign.”
Can you imagine my reaction? “I hate social media. You know that. We’ve never needed it before. Why do we need it now?” How closed-minded was that?
Fortunately, our employee taught me about social media and its power. I was quick to open myself up to how social media could impact our business.
Recruiting
Spend 20 minutes in your car and you are bound to pass two or three “now hiring” signs these days. It’s a constant chase of trying to find the necessary number of people to fill your job openings. If your business is anything like ours, you’ll need at least 10 people in your recruiting funnel just to hire one.
Want to reach the masses? Set up a Facebook page for your organization. Use the page to capture all the fun things your employees are doing — holiday parties, summer outings, birthday celebrations, work-anniversary celebrations, etc. Show the social media world why they should want to work for your company.
Twelve months ago, vacant positions in our company accounted for 14 percent of our positions. After we set up a company Facebook page, we saw the clicks on page content increase 298 percent. It’s no coincidence that our vacant positions are now down to 6 percent, an all-time company low.
Sales
Like recruiting, sales is a numbers game. To reach our target customer, we use LinkedIn. Since creating our company page, we have seen content clicks increase by 341 percent.
Use this platform to discuss the happenings with your business. Examples would include new hires to your management team, new clients, office openings, etc. The content must be regularly recurring and should always include the company logo. Don’t miss that chance to increase your brand’s awareness.
Connect with as many professionals as possible. Once connected, see who those people are connected to and use them to make an introduction. The power of social media has eliminated the need to ever make a cold call again. Take advantage of it and see your top line grow.
Do it well
Author and motivational speaker Erik Qualman once said, “We don’t have a choice on whether we do social media, the question is how well we do it.”
If your organization is not optimizing the power of social media, then it is not optimizing its potential. If you’re like me and not sure how to get started, hire someone who does.
Dennis W. Lejeck is the president and founder of Black Knight Security. Dennis is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh’s Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence and has also participated in the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® program. BKS was recognized in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 as one of the 100 Fastest Growing Companies in Pittsburgh.
