Social Media Marketing Blog

Do you ever think about the power of the little bit of contact information at the bottom of your email. This electronic “signature” usually contains your name, your company, email and phone number, and many times a link to the company website.  But why not more?

Email is the way most white collar Americans communicate with each other on a daily basis.  Working class Americans reach out to new potential clients through it, but only so much about someone can be translated through text in an email. The “e-signature” is supposed to tell the recipient more about you such as title, company, and the various ways of contacting you.

Relationship building and networking is vital in today’s business market and by adding certain links to social media marketing sites and/or pieces of information about yourself to each email you can give the email receiver greater understanding about who you are professionally and personally.  The ability to turn a name into a face can often times take a business relationship to the next level.

The proposition here is that individuals should put more than just the standard contact information in your signature. If you work for a consulting company or organization that utilizes Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets you should be presenting others with the opportunity to see the work you put in, especially potential customers who can access your business only account.  While granting potential customers and colleagues access to your personal Facebook pages could be career suicide, social media sites like LinkedIn and Twitter can help you take a business relationship to the next level. If you become a friend of or linked to current customer you can learn more about them through their profiles, where they went to school, what area they grew up in and if they have a family. All of these things can help both parties nurture an existing relationship.

Just think if a prospective employer receives your resume via email. At the bottom of your signature you have a post to your industry related blog and your most recent post was extremely relevant to the position. If the hiring manager happens to stumble upon your great write up or can gather a sense of your professionalism from your online persona this helps to differentiate yourself from the pack while increasing your chances of being selected for the position.  It’s all upside!

So why not give it a try? The worst thing that can happen is no one adds you as a friend on FaceBook or becomes connected with you on LinkedIn.  They would not have even had the opportunity to do so without the placement of a social media link.