How to Rock LinkedIn

LinkedIn is more than just a place to look for a job. Today, people in every industry, at every stage in their career, are on LinkedIn.

This social media platform is a great place to meet clients, network with people in your industry and share what you’re doing professionally.

What is LinkedIn?

In case you’re new to LinkedIn, it’s a social media network for professionals. It’s the third most popular social media network in the world.

You can market yourself and your business on LinkedIn. Here are some tips to help you rock this social media platform.

Create a profile with a goal in mind

The foundation of every LinkedIn account is the personal profile. This is where people look first to find out about you. Most times, the profile reads like a resume….where you’ve worked, where you went to school.

When creating a LinkedIn profile for yourself as a business owner, think about what your goals are and who you are writing your profile for. Do you want to network with people in your field? Are you looking for speaking engagements? Do you want to attract new hires to your company? Do you want to gain new clients?

Based on this, tailor your profile to your target audience and include information that they will find relevant. If you’re looking for speaking opportunities, then list where you’ve presented recently along with the title of your presentation.

Use your proper name

This may sound basic but use your proper name. Don’t use a nickname. This is a professional social media site, not Facebook.

If you’ve earned any degrees, this is the place to brag, so put that Ph.D. or J.D. after your name!

Use a professional photo

Again, this is a professional networking site, so use a professional headshot.

The photo you use should allow you to project a professional and likable image.

Write a killer headline

You have 120 characters in which to make an impression and be found in searches. Your headline is also displayed when you come up in a search so make it relevant.

A friend of mine is a speaker. She’s won an award as a speaker. And she’s spoken in Canada, so that makes her an award winning, international speaker. That’s what her headline says. She’s looking for speaking opportunities so wouldn’t you seriously consider asking her to speak at your conference? That’s what a good headline can do for you.

Remember your goals for your profile. They should carry over into your headline.

Have a great summary

The summary is an overview of your profile. It should cover who you are, what you do, and what skills you offer and have a clear call to action. What do you wat the person reading your profile to do?

Write your summary in the first person so you come across as friendly and approachable.

Include a link to your website

LinkedIn is a great place to find new clients, so include a link to your website in your profile. This way people can learn more about what you do.

Create a business page

Showcase your business on LinkedIn with a free business page. You can post about your products and services and, again, add another link to your website.

Post your blogs

If you’ve read a few of my other blog posts, you know I’m a big proponent of blogging. LinkedIn is another great social media platform you can use to post your blogs. Show off your expertise to other professionals.

LinkedIn is a great tool to network with other people in your field and potential clients so make sure your profile shines to attract attention.

How to Deal With Negative Customers on Social Media

As a small business, you are marketing yourself on various social media platforms. This is a good thing. But, anytime you post and give your readers a platform where they can comment about your products or services, you do have some risk.

When you allow your readers to comment on your posts you could get a bad review or a damaging comment. And these negatives are out there on the Internet for everyone to see.

While you can’t completely avoid negative comments on social media, you can plan on how to respond to it in a professional manner. This will reflect well on your brand.

Set up Google Alerts

You want to know what people are saying about your company. If you can’t see their comments, how will you know?

It’s easy to set up Google Alerts to notify you when your brand has been mentioned online. This will give you a chance to respond, if necessary.

Step back

Don’t take everything posted in your comments so seriously. Sometimes negative comments are just a by-product of the world we now live in. People feel safe making negative comments online because it’s sort of anonymous and they just don’t think about the effects of what they are saying online.  Some people intentionally malign individuals and companies online just to get a rise out of them. Don’t play into their wacko plans.

You have to avoid letting people’s comments get to you. Sometimes, you just have to ignore things and let them go.

Don’t be defensive

It’s difficult to not feel defensive when facing a negative comment about your company – especially one that you don’t feel is accurate. Remember that everything you post online is visible to everyone so you can’t afford to get defensive and go after the person who made the comment. This will make you look like a bully, which isn’t healthy for your company’s image.

Acknowledge when you’ve made a mistake

It is possible that a negative comment about your business is justified. If that is the case, you need to quickly give an apology to the affected person and make a promise to do better in the future.

While using social media is a great way to promote your small business, you have to keep an ear to the digital ground and identify and respond to comments about your company so that your time promoting your small business on social media isn’t wasted.

Tips to Successfully Promote Your Products on Social Media

You sell clothing or jewelry. Taking pictures of your products and posting them on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook is fun and sometimes results in sales.

But, are you looking for ways to increase the promotion and sale of your products on 

social media? Many brands use social media successfully to promote and sell their products so let’s borrow some of their ideas for your business.

Combine Social Media and E-commerce

The lines are blurring between traditional e-commerce and social networks. Recently, social media platforms have integrated e-commerce into their sites.

When you post great pictures of your products, make sure the ‘buy’ button is activated so your customer can purchase right from Twitter and Facebook.

Use Customer Images

Many retailers are encouraging their customers to take selfies with their products and post them. These retailers then post and tag these pictures directly on their official Instagram and Facebook pages. How cool is it that you can shop for clothes at these retailers and see what their clothing looks like on real people, not only on skinny models? This sharing is more than just free content for retailers, it also acts as a powerful social approval tool that can encourage more sales.

Encourage your customers to post photos of themselves with or in your products. This will inspire people to make spur-of-the-moment purchases of your products.

The Best Times to Post on Social Media

You already know that social media is one of the best ways to spread the word about your business and get your content read, but it isn’t enough just to write content and post it to your social media platforms whenever you feel like it.

Some times may be better than others.

With people logging into their favorite social media sites from mobile devices and computers, at work and home, it can be difficult to know when to post.

So…..when is the best time for you to post your content?

Best Times to Post on Facebook

The best time to post on Facebook is 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Other peak times include 12:00-1:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays and 1:00-4:00 on Thursdays and Fridays.

According to SurePayroll’s research, the worst times to post on Facebook are weekends before 8:00 a.m. and after 8:00 p.m.

The Best Time to Post on LinkedIn

Since LinkedIn is used by professionals, posts tend to be read during working hours, at the start of the work day and at the end of the workday.

Try posting mid-week (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday)from 7:30-8:30 a.m., 10:00-11:-00 a.m., 12:00 noon and 5:00-6:00 p.m.

Mondays are the worst days for engagement on LinkedIn, possibly because the business professionals are catching up with work after a weekend. Fridays also see a lower engagement because of people wrapping up things at work and leaving early for the weekend.

The worst time to post on LinkedIn is during the night….busy professionals are sleeping!

The Best Times to Post on Twitter

The best times to post on Twitter are weekdays from 12:00-3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m.  For a small business, the best days are Wednesday and the weekends.

The Best Time to Post on Pinterest

Pinterest users are mostly female and are most active in the evening. The best time to post is in the evening any day of the week, especially Saturday nights from 8:00-11:00 p.m.

Experiment with times to see when you have your highest engagement. Happy posting!

Are you consistent in your marketing?

Getting into a rhythm to boost your sales sounds like a great idea, right? After all, what small business doesn’t want to increase their sales?

But it’s so easy to forget to post a blog or write that newsletter.

What can you do to put a plan in place to be consistent in your marketing? Here are some ideas to help you become a consistent marketer.

Schedule time

On your calendar, schedule time to work on your marketing each week. Book this appointment with yourself and keep it! The time you set aside is time you can use to write your blogs, post to social media and write your newsletter.

Start an idea folder

Whenever you come across a great article, email or inspirational quote, you should save it to a folder. Use the items from your idea folder as inspiration for your next blog post or newsletter article.

Develop an editorial calendar

An editorial calendar is a roadmap to keep you on track with topics and promotions. Creating an editorial calendar is easy. Start with your full year in overview, thinking about when you’d like to hold certain sales or promotions. Drill down to the details in on the monthly calendars.

Get help

Sometimes you’re so busy running your business and working on client projects that you don’t have time to write and handle all the marketing for your business. That’s when you call in a marketing firm, such as Blue Dog Marketing, to help you. A good marketing company can free up time for you to spend on profit-generating activities.

How do you stay consistent with your small business marketing?

Using Instagram to Promote Your Small Business

One of the great things about social media is that it allows businesses to communicate with their target audience on a platform where they always are. Instagram is one of the platforms that a small business can use to reach their target market.

Instagram is a popular photo-sharing app that businesses can use to increase awareness of a specific campaign or to boost sales.

Let Pictures Tell a Story

The key to using Instagram is creating the proper balance between pictures that are interesting and fun with photos that are somewhat hard-sell. Check out what other successful Instagram users are doing and try to copy (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!) what they are doing to create this balance.

Populate Your Account

To start on Instagram, you can cross post content to Facebook or ride on popular and trending hashtags. Once you have a good number of followers, you can become more assertive in your ways to increase your followers, such as holding a promotion.

Follow Back

When you follow some of your followers, you are telling them that you give importance to what they have to say. This will build attraction to your brand and it also give you’re the opportunity to repost, or “regram” a post from them that might be related to your business or industry. You might even come across photos of your products with good reviews in the caption.

Use Hastags

Take time to create hashtags that your small business can own and use these hashtags to connect with your followers. You can build the story of your content around a specific hashtag and track posts about your business.

Create a Different Offer

Don’t let your Instagram content mirror what you are posting to your other social media accounts. There should be added value to following your business for each social media platform.

Instagram can tell the story of your business in photos. Post behind-the-scene stories and let your customers get to know you and your business.

Navigating Social Media to Promote Your Small Business

Today’s small business owner knows that they have to be on social media to promote their business and brand. It can get confusing about which sites to use and how to best use them to market your business. Here are some tips to help you navigate the major social media networks.

Know Your Target Audience

First, and I feel I’m always saying this, but know your target audience. Here are some areas you can use to identify your target audience’s demographics:

·        Age

·        Gender

·        Occupation

·        Income level

·        Educational level

·        Type of Industry

·        Number of Employees

·        Type of Business

·        Revenue

Focus your blog content and posts on information that is relevant to your target audience.

Create Sharable Content

When you are posting to any social media network, limit your posts to 300-500 words. Anything longer and people won’t read it. Include images because people are more likely to read a post with a picture than one without.

Include a Call-to-Action. This is what action you want your readers to take. Do you want them to visit your website or buy your book? Include links that will take your readers to the correct webpage where they can perform the action you want them to.

Address your audience’s pain points and answer frequently asked questions about your products or services.

Social media is all about the sharing, so include a sharing button so your readers can share your post with their friends. It’s a great way to get more exposure for your posts.

Facebook

If you are going to use Facebook, you need to figure out how many times a day will want to post. Remember to respond to your fans if they make comments.

Use Facebook’s paid ads to promote your business, increase awareness and offer discounts.

Twitter

On Twitter, you need to know how many tweets you want to send out daily.

Your tweets could include links to your blog posts and product offers and discounts. 

Your tweets should include an image and a Call-to-Action.

Retweet influencers tweets. Follow new people. Respond to tweets.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is different. It’s really a business only social network.

Be sure to update your status a few times a week. Join and participate in industry groups. Create and update a company page. And be sure to use LinkedIn to research your prospects.

Google+

Google+ is Google’s attempt at a social network, so why not join this too. You can share your content a few times a week. Post your blog here too along with any product offers and discounts. Promote posts from industry influencers. Circle new people every day. Make sure your posts are public.

Pinterest

Pinterest is not for every business. It’s great for businesses such as wedding planners, custom jewelry designers, interior designers and businesses that sell women’s fashions. As you can guess, Pinterest is very visual so your business better be too.

If you are on Pinterest, be sure to add your keywords to your pins and make sure your pins link back to your website.

Create boards your clients might be interested in and follow new boards each week to get inspired.

YouTube

When you are marketing on YouTube, keep in mind that you should create videos that showcase your expertise. Have fun when you are creating your videos. Gather questions from your fans and create videos to address them. 

Launching a Social Media Campaign

Here are some tips to use when launching your social media campaign.

A Social Media Strategy You Can Use for Your Small Business

 The best social media strategy to market your small business isn’t complicated. All you need to do is strategically carve out a few minutes each day. This will allow you to build your brand, get your message out, interact with customers and potential customers and make more sales.

Your Daily Action Plan

Every 2-3 hours during your workday, spend 10-15 minutes on the social media platform of your choice. If your business primarily uses Facebook and Twitter, alternate between the two of them. For example, you can spend 10 minutes on Facebook at 9:50 a.m. and at 12:30 p.m., you spend 10 minutes on Twitter.

If you are likely to get pulled into the social media platform you are checking and posting on, set a timer so you only spend the 10 or 15 minutes necessary to post and respond.

Using this action plan allows you to shop up on each platform throughout the day and it doesn’t take over your workday.

How to Make it Work

While you’re there, interact with your fans and other people posting. Be yourself and show your personality. Join groups. Promote others. Be active in local business online groups. Let people get to know you. It’s all about building trust.

You’ll find you will be building relationships and getting to know your customers better.

What is your social media strategy?

Why Is Social Media Marketing Important?

I get this question often from small business owners. They don't understand the ways in which having an active and successful social media presence can benefit their business.

Online presences have changed and it is important for businesses and non-profit organizations to adapt to these changes and take advantage of the opportunities they offer.

If you have a social media presence your company has the opportunity to:

·         Increase brand awareness by appearing on websites that have millions of users worldwide.

·         Strengthen relationship with current clients by providing constant communication with them and assisting them with their needs.

·         Inform both current and potential customers about services, products and events your company offers.

·         Increase the spread of your information by letting users share your information on Facebook, thus helping you reach new sections of the market.

Understanding what has been stated above, we can see that having a social media profile that is actively maintained and managed gives non-profit organizations and businesses the opportunity to improve their position within their market and increase their income by reaching new clients and keeping old ones happy.

How do you start your social media marketing?

Understanding that your company needs to be present on social networks is extremely important, almost as important as their correct development and use. Make sure that everything that represents your company is something that you are proud off.

There are two ways on going forward with your social media marketing campaigns. You can either go ahead and do it yourself or hire an expert.

Doing it yourself vs. Hiring an Expert

Doing it yourself will save you the money you need to invest for an expert to take care of things, but the time spent on learning all the aspects of social media and working them out, without fully understanding what you are doing, will cost you far more in the long run than hiring a professional. When hiring an expert or a company that specializes in social media marketing you will make sure that everything is being taken care of as it should in a structured manner, with detailed planning to make sure that your social media marketing campaigns reach the goals that are set for them.

Utilizing social media marketing correctly is extremely important to continue being successful as a business. It will help you keep current clients informed and happy with your services as well as help you reach new ones. It is important that this task is performed correctly and even though it is tempting to start performing a social media marketing campaign in-house, you should always seek the help of a professional if you want to save money, time and reach your goals.