How To Raise Your Profile Within The Salesforce Ecosystem
Raising your profile is not about showing off. It’s more about building your confidence, and letting people know that you are the GoTo perosn so that people to buy into you, building your credibility and showing your expertise.
It’s also about growing your network - the more people that get to know you and what you are doing with Salesforce, the more people who can vouch for you and sing your praises.
Here I am going to talk about the different ways that you can build up your profile within the Salesforce ecosystem, but why would you want to ? There are five main reasons:
- You’ll build credibility
- You’ll develop confidence
- Master new skills
- Inspire others
- Gain recognition
I’ve often been brought into organisations as a consultant where they already have an admin and that person says to me that I was brought in because the organisation just doesn’t listen to the admin. Building your credibility will prevent this!
Don’t forget to check out: What are Sandboxes in Salesforce?
It will definitely help your career and put you in a place where you could build up to MVP status, and get recognised for sharing your knowledge It happened to me: I was really privileged to get a Salesforce golden hoodie as recognition for my work in helping mums. I wanted to raise my profile because I want to reach out to mums and dads to let them know about the career opportunities Salesforce can offer. I wanted to help people enter the space. My reason for raising my profile was to help others and you could do it from this point of view too if you have a social purpose.
Equally, it’s just great to be recognised for what you do with Salesforce. This is especially important if you’re the only Salesforce admin within your organisation. Your manager and the people around you may not even know if you’re doing a good job, and being recognised within the Salesforce community can remind you of this an help you build your confidence.
Salesforce stands out from other software companies because of its community. Everyone supports everyone else’s achievements. That’s a really strong thing. You can get involved in this by celebrating other’s achievements and they will do it for you too. It’s this positive reinforcement that really spurs on this community.
Over the last year I’ve taken a decision to raise my profile and so had to master new skills. I’ve done videos, podcasting and writing articles and really enjoyed the journey. It’s take me out of my comfort zone but I am so glad I did it.
Sharing your successes will also inspire the people around you. When I see people get new certs it inspires and reminds me to keep going with mine.
Finally, if you don’t get recognition from your workplace, receiving it likes on social media or being asked to speak at event, can fulfill thus. We all need to be recognised.
So, what happens when you raise your profile?
- You will become a trusted expert
- You will develop your self-esteem
- Fulfill your sense of purpose
- Help others to grow
- Progress your career and salary
If you are raising your profile, the next part of it is the question what do you want to be know for?
Passion
Is there something you might be passionate about? It could be something as simple as duplicates for instance. I was recently reading a blog post about duplicates in Salesforce Ben and thought someone was so passionate about the subject they were inspired to write this. Equally, it could be something big picture. I’ve been inspired by a passion for bringing own into tech and addressing the gender pay gap and this is my big purpose, but purposes don’t stay the same. They can change.
Story
Do you have a story to tell? It could be how you changed career and go into Salesforce, or a success story in the workplace. You could talk about an issue that came up and how you solved it. What were the pain points? What did you learn on your journey? What knowledge did you put into the project? Tell us the parts of your story - both positive and negative. Don’t be afraid that everyone’s heard it before. there is always something that we take away from every article and presentation.
So, let’s get specific. Here are five ways that you can start to raise your profile:
- Conversations
- Presentations
- Social Media
- Writing
- Networking
These overlap in many places but my question for you is which one/s of these would you want to develop?
Conversations
here you might be commenting on posts in the Trailblazer or Power of Us groups, or even creating your own conversations. If you post something up in these groups you generally get an answer within minutes. You can also actively post on user groups too - all of which contribute a score, which works towards getting MVP status. You can also comment on social media and blog posts, take a look at this post from Salesforce Ben on the top ten Salesforce blogs - there’s also Ben’s too of course.
Presentations
This can be a physical real life presentation or virtual. You could submit an idea for a talk to a Salesforce event - that could be something very personal or technical, such as how you solved your organisation’s data integrity issues. Take a look at the topics from the recent Dreamforce to get inspired. If the thought of speaking to big crowds is intimidating at the moment, start with User Groups which are are smaller, or regional or local groups like London calling.
You can also look out for podcasts and webinars from key influencers - or do your own!
Social Media
Join and start conversations using the Salesforce hashtag #Salesforce, and be present on at least one of the main platforms - Facebook. Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Twitter is especially popular within the Salesforce community. Make sure that you’ve included Salesforce on your profile, whether it’s the number of certificates you have or something like “Salesforce Champion” or “Salesforce Advocate” in the write up. Follow the MVPS and see what they’re talking about...and then respond to them.
Don’t forget to also interact with Salesforce itself - good handles to follow are '@salesforce', '@salesforceuk', '@trailhead', '@dreamforce' and '@partnerforce'. These will give you ideas for things to speak and write about.
Writing
A great place to start is an article on LinkedIn using the hashtag #Salesforce, and using '@salesforce'. You can also submit articles as guest blog (remember that list of blogs again) or even start your own blog if you’ve got the time and are committed.'
Meanwhile can you submit a customer success story to salesforce.com or .org depending on whether you are working for a non profit or not? If you’ve been part of a full implementation or involved in launching a new system, tell your story. This may end up in you being asked to do a Trailblazer and even speaking at at event. That’s exactly what happened to me. I was really privileged to get my own Trailblazer video, which I would never have been able to afford, and then asked to speak on a World tour.
You can also tell your success story to industry press. How did you transform the retail or charity sector? Salesforce love sharing these stories too.
Finally, networking may overlap with conversations but it’s something I’ve been doing a lot of. I’ve been reaching out to people, meeting other consultancies. They may be my competition but I love chatting to them, finding out how they do things. We might not share trade secrets with each other but it is good to network with other industries in your space. In fact, years ago ,it was only by meeting with another charity in my sector that I actually learned about all the things Salesforce could really do!
You can also attend virtual and real life groups and events where you will find people that resonate with you. The more people you talk to, the more people will know who you are and the more opportunities may open up.
Finally, ask yourself what do you want to be known for? How will you introduce yourself and what do you want people to say about you? If you want referrals how do you want people to sell you?
If you do some of this - it doesn’t have to be all - the you will increase your self-esteem, accelerator your career, boost your credibility, feel good about yourself, inspire others, make new friends and finally, you will remain current. Salesforce is always inviting and this will force you to keep on top of things as, if you don’t, it it easy to get left behind.
