Branding YOU Better! – Susan Newman Lerer

Last year I wrote about how social media and network marketing really work when you need it to.

To recap: last year Chase was having a giveaway contest for small businesses. Ten lucky winners, once they qualified would win thousands. To qualify you needed to get 250 votes. Hundreds of entrepreneurs and small business owner across the country were in this. With 7 days to the deadline I still needed over 100 votes and couldn’t figure out why what I was doing wasn’t working. (Asking my colleagues, groups, Facebook and Twitter followers to vote.)

Sitting in front of my computer and looking carefully at Hootsuite, scanning the Twitter posts, I finally spotted it! #chasesmbiz (a very important hashtag and there were others like it!) When I clicked on that, it opened a whole world to me. All the other small business owners tweeting to get noticed and to gain those precious votes. In some it actually said (Vote for me and I’ll vote for you.) It hit me like a brick. Of course, we all want the same thing. To qualify and perhaps win. Yes, if we all qualified there would be less chance of winning, but if we didn’t qualify, none would. Within a few days, we all helped each other qualify. I didn’t win, but I gave it my best shot and learned an important lesson in promotion and networking for a goal.

You cannot make people care about something that doesn’t do anything for them. Oh, sure, a few friends and colleagues will support you.

A few weeks ago I started an account on see.me, which is a portfolio site for artists around the world and they are building an amazing awareness campaign, Creatives Rising. If you qualify, you get featured and there are different stages. If you get 9 supports to are entered into the Grand Prize, 19 supports and you are featured in their Creatives Rising Facebook gallery seen by thousands and 99 supports and your work is featured in a massive public projection. Your work will be in the Creatives Rising Exhibition.

So, I have learned from the past and started sharing and liking the other artists who are on the site, and it’s working beautifully for me as well. I am currently at 61 supports! I’m almost at 99! In addition, the site is free to join , but you can be a paid member and get additional perks, like automatic entry into other exhibitions.

Collaborative networking and social sharing online for Brand Visibility. Not only are we helping each other succeed, but we are bringing creatives into the spotlight. How cool is that!

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