This article is part of our blog series, Social Media for Landscapers, featuring tips on how you can take advantage of social media for your business.
Industry tradeshows only come around once or twice a year, but developing a rapport with your peers is an important factor in getting your name out there and developing your business’ brand.
Networking through social media can help bridge the gap between tradeshows and help you stay connected and maintain relationships with other professionals you’ve worked with.
LinkedIn was built for professional online networking, so it’s the perfect platform to reach out to peers after a tradeshow or after meeting them once or twice.
On LinkedIn users can share news, engage in group discussions, endorse connections for their skills and knowledge, receive endorsements from connections, and showcase their experience.
Engaging on LinkedIn will help build connections between you and other professionals. By communicating in group discussions and endorsing fellow landscape, golf or green industry professionals you’ll grow your network of contacts and build your brand online, which can help in getting you real world clients.
Keep your LinkedIn profile as up-to-date as possible at all times so people can easily find you and better engage with you. Include your current position and the company you work for and fill out your profile with your skills. Then follow industry related groups to get news and to stay current on trends in the industry.
Facebook Groups
While LinkedIn caters specifically to your professional career, Facebook can help build your professional brand while also helping you create more personal connections with industry peers.
Connecting with industry professionals through Facebook groups and engaging in conversation about green industry topics could lead to friendships and potential partnerships down the road.
To find Facebook groups to join, simply click the “Group” button under the “Explore” section on the right side of your News Feed. Then type in the search bar the topic you’re interested in and select “Groups.” There you can search for Facebook groups that might interest you.
Twitter Chats
Twitter chats are online conversations held on Twitter from vendors, distributors and other businesses in the industry.
You can find a variety of online chats by going to Twitter and typing in key words in the search bar. Corona Tools hosts multiple Twitter Chats such as #LandscapeChat, #TreeChat, #PlantChat and more.
You can engage in these chats by responding to the tweet and tagging it with the chat’s hashtag. This is a great way to stay involved in conversations about new trends happening in the industry; or you can simply follow the chat by typing the hashtag into the search bar.
Keep an eye out for future tips on social media to promote your business. Have a question? Post it in the comments.
