Last week I went to Madrid to take part in the discussion panel at IE Business School’s Marketing Day. The purpose was to provide participants an overview on the merits and hurdles one may encounter when working in the field of marketing. I was one of the speakers invited to share insights and knowledge of what skills marketers need to equip themselves today to become more attractive candidates for employers.
Recognized as one of the world’s top business schools, IE Business School, with its central Madrid campus, boasts students from over 70 countries in its prestigious MBA programs. The school is ranked one of the top 3 business schools in Europe and No. 13 worldwide in the latest ranking of Executive MBA programs published in October by Financial Times. It was a real honour to be invited and meet other panellists and students there.
With other panelists including Advertising Director from Microsoft, and Managing Director of international
recruitment company Robert Walters.
This week I am off to Monaco to give a presentation about how to find a job in the UK for MBA students at International University of Monaco.
I’ve also been approached about other opportunities, seemingly without me having to do anything. However, I keep being asked to take part in various things not because as I have a lot of experience in recruitment in coaching (after all, there are many others who are good at their jobs!), but because I’ve positioned myself as an expert. When you position yourself as an expert, you build the know, like and trust factor with your audience and you’ll become the go-to person in your area of expertise and a thought leader.
It doesn’t matter whether you are a lawyer, accountant, a plumber, business owner, or consultant. Being seen as an expert in your niche will help your business and your career.
The quickest way to build your reputation is by using the power of the Internet and social networking. Connections can be made instantly and thousands of people can be reached at one time.
Here is a quick guide on how you can position yourself as an expert so that you get the best opportunities in your business or career:
1. Decide how you’re going to brand yourself or your company. How do you want people to see or perceive you?
2. Create accounts at all of the major sites where you can brand yourself — LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook – obviously depending on who your audience is.
3. You can increase your visibility as an expert by consistently sharing tips and valuable content where your audience is most receptive to engaging with you. I use primarily LinkedIn and Facebook, but I also post videos with tips on YouTube
You can enhance your credibility with simple, informational videos highlighting your area of expertise. They can be as short as 3-4 minutes. Record them with a flip camera or a video cam on your computer and upload them to YouTube.
Apart from sharing your content, you can take part in various discussions. Many social media websites — including LinkedIn and Facebook — provide a place for you to answer questions posted by other users. All you need to do is review the questions, post a detailed, informed, and succinct answer, and include a way for people to contact you.
4. Blogging. Your blog allows you to easily and quickly share your expertise on a consistent basis with your audience. If you share really valuable, in-depth tips and tricks on a regular basis, your audience will start to depend on you for expert advice in your subject area, become your raving fans and want to take the next step with you. If you are an employee, the more people know of you as an expert, the more opportunities will come to you.
There are many free tools out there for blogging, including WordPress and Blogger. The more quality information you publish in your area of expertise, the more you are perceived as an expert.
5. Newsletters/e-zines. This is probably more relevant to business owners rather than employees but by regularly sharing valuable content that solves your audience’s most pressing problems, you can easily position yourself as an expert. Always include an effective mix of content and promotion that invites your community to take the next step with you.
6. To increase the impact of your social media presence, interlink between the social media sites and have them all crosslink to your website or blog. For example, have LinkedIn link to your blog, have Facebook link to your blog, and have your blog link back to LinkedIn and Facebook.
7. Finally, become a voice of your industry. You can do this by researching relevant news stories and reporting on them to your followers. You will soon be recognized as a source of great information in your area of expertise.
As you go through each of the above steps, your reputation as an expert will grow exponentially, especially in your particular area of expertise. This will lead to trust which will lead to more career or business opportunities for you.
If you’d like some help in positioning yourself as an expert, book your strategy call at www.talkwithmargaret.com
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Margaret Buj is an interview and career acceleration coach who specializes in helping others to discover what their unique strengths are so that they feel confident about selling themselves with ease and confidence during job interviews.
In the last 10 years she’s recruited thousands of people for major American corporations and since she started her own career coaching business 8 years ago, she’s coached hundreds using the unique knowledge gained on the other side of the desk.
If you want to find out how recruiters read resumes, why you’re not getting hired, how to sell yourself successfully in a job interview and how to negotiate your best salary yet, you can download her ‘You’re HIRED!’ free video course at http://www.Interview-Coach.co.uk
