Dina “arrived online” in 2003, when she quit her corporate job and started her copywriting business. Her first foray into social media was with Ryze.com. “Someone told me to join the Ryze business network as a way to make professional contacts,” she remembers. She enjoyed the thought-provoking discussions that transpired there. Then another colleague advised her to start a blog – she started blogging at WordFeeder and eventually added a blog at EntrepreneursBreakfast.com. “Over time, those avenues of communication really worked to help get my company, Wordfeeder.com, known and respected within the realm of online copywriting and marketing.”
Dina says that social networking and blogging allowed her access to potential customers around the globe, all without having to leave her office. It made advertising easy, accessible and affordable.
In fact, Dina’s sure that without social media tools, and the Internet, “I would probably still be working for somebody else!” She finds that common business tasks like quoting new clients and networking are often much easier online than in person, especially for people who tend to be shy or introverted. She refers to this power to connect as "email muscles."
Though she soon realized professional success through self-promotion, others were also quickly learning how to maximize their own business reach through the same tools. With the rapid proliferation of social media tools, and their short learn curve, Dina recognizes “there is less of a need for web professionals like myself. People want to write their own copy and run their own newsletters.
“Of course, you always have the upper tier who understands that doing everything yourself won't make you rich or successful. But that's a select few,” comments Dina. “My challenge is to keep on finding them (via social media) and herding them in to my website, Wordfeeder.com, where they'll discover my professional services that allow them to focus on what THEY do best, rather than try to manage it all on their own.”
Despite the challenges of continually feeding the online business funnel, Dina still values what social media tools can provide...
“I love the ability to make contact with a lot of people (like, thousands) in a limited amount of time. I love that I can connect with friends old and new, near and far, with just a few clicks of my mouse. There's also this mysterious fact about social media... if you just put it out there, be your authentic self, you'll end up attracting people who share your interests and values. It's somehow quicker than face to face networking. The internet shows you the heart and soul of a person - that is, if they're willing to open up in the first place. It's really quite beautiful.”
Dina also likes that many social media tools are highly intuitive. “I don't see a need for formal training or paid classes to use social media,” she observes. “You just open your mind and look for potential ways to meet people, get to know them, and then turn the connection into a business transaction.” “There is really nothing all that difficult about social media,” Dina continues. “The big challenge is streamlining your professional use of all the social networks. It's time consuming, but it doesn't have to be. For example, if you commit to blogging twice a week, and you take the 30 extra seconds to post those blog links on your Facebook and Twitter profiles, then you've got a system going that makes the best use of your time and content. Or, if your mission is to continually find new and valuable online networks to join, then you want a profile already written and easily accessible, so you can pop it into the About Me area of your profile and then be on your merry way. It's all about planning, preparation, organization and scheduling.”
That said, she also recognizes that not all professionals want to focus their time on getting up to speed with the various sites and tools. “There is only so much time in a day,” she acknowledges with a smile. Sometimes, “social media is better farmed out to others who specialize in the ‘branding’ aspect of it.”
One aspect of her copywriting business offers just that. She points to the content creation strategy she uses with her regular clients. “We commit to writing one or two new website articles per month, broadcasting that with a monthly newsletter, and creating at least one new blog post per week,” which she posts on their behalf. Her web design experience allows her to also quickly and automatically update their sites via link libraries and templates, something her clients wouldn’t be able to do on their own. The key is to recognize where your time is best spent.
To help her keep track of her professional/career connections Dina uses Linkedin.com, though she has noticed that some people use the site for other purposes. “Some people are using LinkedIn to ‘meet’ others, but I don't see it as appropriate for that,” she says. “If I get a LinkedIn request from someone I don't know at all or only know vaguely, I don't add them. I see it as links in a chain built on trust.” She offers this example: “Let's say I go to LinkedIn and see that you're connected to an IT guy. Come the day I need some computer help, I'll ask for an introduction. But if the computer guy was someone you randomly added... then there goes the trust!”
Another “gray area” Dina has found is the matter of personal vs. professional boundaries. For example, she enjoys keeping in touch on Facebook, but finds that her “personal and professional worlds collide on there. I generally prefer to keep my business connections limited to knowing only things about me that pertain to my career (copywriting and web marketing) or how I can help them be successful. I feel like if they see me joking around with people on Facebook, it gives the impression that I'm not serious... or it takes the focus off my copywriting services, which is what I want them to be looking at, all the time. Unfortunately, the world has changed and so the boundaries between personal and professional continue to blur. So I guess I'm just going to have to go with the flow on that one and see where it takes me.”
Learn more about Dina and her copywriting services at WordFeeder.com.
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