Small Business Focus: Social Media for IT Service Providers

Jan 232012

In another article in the Small Business Focus series, today we’ll be showing some the IT geeks some love (of which, I am one).

I find it a little ironic how one of the most switched on of professions is one of the least represented on Social Media, and really, there’s no excuse NOT to be. I mean, those IT service providers with at least one employee in the office have the perfect opportunity to obviously provide support for their clients, but to start to build and grow their online Social Media presence.

On the flip side, the savvy IT solopreneur could totally own this space and seem larger as a company, against an IT service provider with 10 times as many employees.

On top of this, I personally know of a number of IT service providers that pay in excess of $1,500 a month for SEO and AdWords campaigns that may (yes may) get them to page 1 on Google, even to a lesser extent, position 1. Social Media is a proven and cost effective method to increase search engine rankings as well as establishing online authority and reputation so it’s strange that not many IT service providers are doing it.

Anyway, let’s see what they can do. Geeks unite! (Where would you be without us?)

LinkedIn

There’s a stat floating around the ‘net somewhere. I’m not sure exactly what it is but it goes a little something like this. IT Professionals are ranked in the top 5 professions to be represented in LinkedIn. It’s true. LinkedIn is the IT Pro’s most favourite form of Social Media. So what should you do? Firstly read this article I published a short while ago on LinkedIn. There are arguments on whether you do a personal or company profile, (some people think 1 or 2 man outfits SHOULDN’T have a company profile) but whatever you do, just set one up. Then, after that, once you’ve:

Added a picture
Got a vanity link
Made sure LinkedIn doesn’t use your image
And linked up your twitter account.

the fun stuff follows.

Find all of your clients on LinkedIn and add them to your profile (personal or company). There’s a good chance that if most of your clients are small businesses they’ll be on LinkedIn (and if they’re not, tell them about it!) If your clients are somewhat larger, and you’re in contact with the CEO, CFO or CIO, then there’s an even better chance of them being on LinkedIn. So add them. Add them all.

And once you start building up a following, ask them for recommendations. If not, through LinkedIn’s messaging service, then through email, a friendly “how’s everything going call” or after you visit them onsite. Don’t be afraid. You seldom get, what you never ask for. Once you get some great recommendations you can use them to direct potential clients to. If you’ve got some big name clients recommending you, “potential’s” will be easily converted.

And while you’re “asking” for recommendations, have a quick look at their connections to see if there are any companies you’d like to provide IT services for. If there is, you might want to ask them about those also.

A Blog

Put one on your website or do it on another domain, but just get a blog, period. This will help your search engine rankings no end and the types of content you can use and include is endless. Backups, cloud computing, remote access, email collaboration, super-hot topics and there are just so many to write about that (and given the nature of the industry) you will never EVER run out of content.

If you want to start targeting clients for a disaster recovery package you’ve put together, then blog about it. Don’t just make it one post, but make a series out of it. Include the different types of disaster recovery, include case studies, stories where you’ve saved a business thousands and include scare tactics about it being potential company destroying (it really is you know). Using the right keywords and with smart things setup like Google XML sitemaps, correct permalink structure and anchor texts to other articles on your blog, you may not get number spot on the first page, but it’s guaranteed to bump you up a helluvalot!

So while you’re conjuring up topics to write on for your first blog, check this out for ideas on whom else you can get on your blog and who can start writing. As mentioned, if you’re a service provider with admin staff or a support person “on the phones” get them to churn out a 300-500 word blog post during calls.

twitter

Use it to send out your content to the masses. A well written blog post with top content should be sent out via twitter with appropriate hashtags for people to find.

Also, see if the companies you look after are on twitter and start to follow them. They’ll usually return the favour and so will be exposed (and aware) of the content you’re sending out.

You will also find that the bigger parts distributers and most definitely parts vendors will be on twitter. Following them will give you up to the second information about their technologies, their achievements and also their recalls. Not surprisingly big tech companies respond very well to tweets and it may be easier to get the information “straight from the horse’s mouth” than through your local supplier. If you’re not on it, try it.

YouTube

Ok, so YouTube is the world’s second biggest search engine. It’s been said before and even though it may or may not be true, I find myself using it more often for searching “technical” stuff and especially DIY’s. So this is where it gets good.

I’d like to think that I’m a reasonable support provider (bordering on super nice) and there have been many jobs that take less than 5 minutes. I don’t charge for these even though for some, I have travelled out and fixed the problem. A solution? Capture your screen inputs, record it to a video, start your company’s own YouTube channel and upload it! Then, when a different client calls for the same problem, direct them to the YouTube video link. Bingo, traffic to your channel, a happy client, and one that you didn’t need to go out onsite for. Tell them more videos will follow which can save you time in getting more clients rather than fixing up annoying little tasks that you really shouldn’t be charging for.

There are also a number of tricks you can employ in improving the search engine rankings of your videos, but I’ll save those for another blog post. All you have to remember is that Google owns YouTube (literally, not in gamer’s speak) and its common practise to see YouTube videos as some of the top returns for almost anything you search for.

Facebook

Facebook is still where it’s at. So read this and start getting people to like your page. Add the social media buttons to your website, change your email signatures to suit, include the link in your monthly newsletter, or just do a once off email blast to your database. Get people on there and make sure your content (from your blog, your YouTube channel, anywhere) is put through Facebook. And encourage participation. Like your client’s pages and get them to ask you questions, or ask them questions to help your business.

Ordered one too many laptops that you need to sell? Advertise it on Facebook. Remember that disaster recovery package I mentioned earlier? Tell people about it on Facebook. Want to reward your clients for great referrals? Tell them you’ll give them an iPad for every customer that signs a 12 months contract. The possibilities are endless but it’s all for nothing unless you get people to your page. So do it.

Google+

There’s still Google+, not so much a new player on the scene, but the newest. They also have recently introduced Google+ for business so it would be a good idea to get your business on there. As only the early adopters to technology are on there, it would be wise to keep an eye on things, but not devote countless hours mastering it. People say “go to where your customers are” and if they’re not on Google+ (which is a VERY strong possibility) then make an effort to understand the platform and engage every now and then, but don’t break your neck over it by enticing clients to “test the waters”. Even though there are record crowds flocking to this social media base, whether or not it will put a good fight with “the others” remains to be seen.

So there you have it, some excellent ideas for which the IT service providers (aka Lifesavers, Legends, Heroes of the Universe) can use to boost their online presence through social media. Are you an IT geek at the moment doing some great things with your Social Media? If you are, I’d love to hear from you!

If you have specific questions about how social media can help your business, please drop me an email or leave a comment below.

Also, if you want to be informed of the latest posts and news about social media, please subscribe to my RSS feed, or join me email group with big bright pink box in the top right hand side.

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