It’s Time to Get Savvy: 6 Essential Strategies for Small Businesses on LinkedIn

/in /by

LinkedIn stands apart from other social media platforms like Instagram or Facebook as it isn’t about showing off your personal life, it’s all about your professional life. LinkedIn allows users to network with other users, creating a gigantic web of connections across the entire platform for individuals and companies alike.

For individuals, this platform provides professional networking, connecting, and job searching. Alternatively, businesses can use the site for recruiting and more importantly, developing and strengthening their brand. That is, if they know how.

Often for small business, knowing how to navigate and stand out on social media platforms like LinkedIn can seem daunting, especially when they are unfamiliar to you. To steer you and your business in the right direction, we’ve come up with some of the best tips and tricks to help you wield the power of LinkedIn.

  1. Turn up the Professionalism

LinkedIn varies from most other social media platforms as it demands an air of sophistication and professionalism. This often means that small businesses must alter their usual brand content in some way to cater to the platform. This doesn’t mean you to have to turn away from your brand identity, it simply requires adopting a heightened formality in terms of language and sometimes imagery. Unfortunately, due to this fact, the convenience of auto-posting between social media platforms is strongly discouraged as the expectation and standard of content is entirely different on LinkedIn.

  1. Email Marketing

A strategy for small businesses looking to expand their clientele is to write a message to be sent to individuals that you connect with on the platform. This message should thank them for the networking opportunity and invite them to join you email marketing list through a direct link to the email signup. A feature of LinkedIn is that it lets users’ message 50 people at a time in this way which welcomes a huge amount potential business opportunity. Keep the message light, and professional.

  1. Posting Blogs or Articles

Many businesses have a website that features blog material. The benefit of this is that it enables a business to showcase their expertise and personality to possible customers. Posting some or all of this blog content to LinkedIn as well allows potential for greater exposure and display of your experience and knowledge as a business that will set you apart from competitors. This is particularly helpful if any of your content begins to gain some traction as LinkedIn will then highlight and boost the visibility of this content across the platform to relevant individuals. Obviously, this is a great tool in garnering awareness and interest in your brand.

 

  1. Employee Profiles

For small businesses, it is beneficial to have employees create profiles on LinkedIn. The reason for this is that it allows for greater exposure to your brand by creating more avenues to your company page (as long as your employees include their current occupation and company in their profile). Additionally, Forbesconducted a study that found out ‘“Employees are 70% more likely to engage with your company updates.” When your employees “like” and “share” status updates, they make them visible to their contacts.’ This domino effect can happen in various ways and shows how employees on LinkedIn can act as promotors. Another role of your employees is as brand ambassadors so ensure they have appropriate photos and a complete profile.

  1. LinkedIn Groups

Small business owners should join LinkedIn groups that are relevant to their target demographic. This is a great strategy to gain insights into audience pain points, needs and topics of interest that help in shaping and improving your marketing strategies. A perk of LinkedIn groups is that you can message members of the group that you may have built a relationship with even if you aren’t connected. The space itself may also provide the opportunity for general interaction in the form of your business giving advice in the group which builds your reputation and expands brand awareness. Overall, this feature is a great way of building relationships with potential future clients and getting your business name out there.

  1. Profile Summary

The ‘summary’ that features on your profile is vital in making an amazing impression on visitors to your page. You have 2000 characters to convey in an enticing way what exactly you do. Don’t worry about addressing the entire planet, you have a specific audience and they are the only ones who matter. Be succinct, be exciting, be personable and be unafraid to boast a little bit… be confident, not arrogant. It’s hard to know if you have got your summary right but just try to think of it as a first date, the reader is wanting to connect with you and this is your opportunity to put your best foot forward, show off your assets and try to get a second date.

Here are some examples to get you started.

How to Make your Business Stand Out on Social Media

/in /by

 

Social Media is one of the most beneficial forms of marketing, driving traffic and conversations to your company. But with so many businesses now utilizing social media, it’s difficult to stand out amongst so much noise. Businesses are constantly competing for attention on social media.

With that said, you have to find ways to cut through the noise and stand out from the rest. Here are my 7 tips to help your business shine on social media.

  1. Use the right Social Platforms

Rather than jumping right in and making a presence on every social platform you can think of, take your time to think about what platforms are suited to you. While cross-channel marketing will create a larger reach, each platform has a niche target audience and there’s no point having a specific account if it doesn’t market to your audience. You need to know your target audience and have a good understanding of how each platform works. Find the platform that aligns with your audience.

2. Use a content calendar

It’s not just about where you share your content- it’s also about what social content you share. Successful social media marketing doesn’t just happen by chance, there is a strategy in place. People will not pay attention to irregular posts, irrelevant content, just shares from other accounts and quickly typed in content. You need to be proactive about your social media content. This can be achieved through a content calendar. A content calendar is where you clearly map out your social media content for each day. A great tool for this is Hootsuite or even an excel spreadsheet. This will allow you to have an idea of what variety of content you will be posting, keeping you on track with your social media goals.

3. Theme your accounts

You can make your brand more recognizable and appealing by using a consistent theme across your platforms. Essentially, theming means creating a distinct look by sticking to a specific colour, filter or graphic. With todays saturated market, merely posting an image that suits your brand will not have a strong effect. You are more likely to be rewarded with brand engagement and followers with consistent aesthetics. Not only will this make your accounts visually pleasing but it will make your brand more memorable. Consumers will be able to easily identify you from just an image, colour and filter.

4. Use Interactive Content

One sure-fire way to help your business stand out is to create interactive content. Customers appreciate businesses where they can leave their feedback and feel valued. Be proactive with your target audience and engage with them. This will create personalised content, trust and inform you of your consumers preferences and behaviours. Use online tools to create interactive graphs, infographics, maps and videos. Always make an effort to reply to comments, even if it is a simple ‘thank you’. Or just simply commenting, liking and responding to your consumers posts will go a long way.

5. Create Recurring Posts

The key to creating a social media page that stands out is to keep consumers coming back, week after week. Dive into creating a reoccurring weekly post or event. This can be one of the best ways to connect with your audience, add value and express some personality.

Perhaps host a weekly Q & A

Maybe post a weekly what’s happening in Perth

What about a weekly Sunday inspiration

Or even post a weekly tip

The opportunities are endless. By creating a reoccurring posts or event, you’ll keep your consumers coming back as they’ll develop an interest in your weekly updates.

6. Be Authentic and Transparent

Do we all remember the Colgate add that stressed how important protecting the environment was to them as they left the tap running and used an unnecessary amount of toothpaste in their ad? Don’t do this. This is one example of being unauthentic. To stand out amongst so much noise in today’s world it is so important to be authentic and transparent. If you’re genuine and transparent your followers will be more willing to identify with you.

7. Pay attention to your social media analytics

And the last way to help your business stand out on social media is to always measure your effectiveness.

Why?

Well paying attention to your analytics will tell you what is working and what isn’t. There’s not point continuing to post certain content if it isn’t resonating with your audience. Based on your data, you can move forward and focus on creating more content that’s in line with what is working.

Social media is a vital part of your businesses marketing strategy. But to make your social efforts effective you have to constantly look for ways to make you stand out from the rest. Follow these tips I’ve just shared and you’ll be on your way to becoming a benchmark for your industries social platforms.

The 5 Biggest Mistakes People are Making on Social Media

/in /by

Have you ever heard the phrase it takes years to build a reputation and only minutes to destroy it? Well this so utterly pertinent when using social media to grow your brand.

With the correct approach, social media marketing is one of the best ways to grow your business. On the contrary, mistakes can be detrimental to your brand.

So, we’re here to show you how to prosper on social media by avoiding those common mistakes that can cost your company dearly.

1.Failing to Measure

Your business can only make progress on social media by detecting what works and what doesn’t. Your team should be measuring everything you do on social media and constantly monitoring results through the latest analytics. Using the information discovered, your team can delve into your future endeavours, ensuring your effectiveness on social media is being maximised.

 

2. No Calls to Action

All too often, potential customers will view your social media posts and leave it at that. Ensure before you post your next update you create a lead generation. Drive traffic to your website and opt-in pages. If you post a photo of your services or products, make sure to include a link that directs clients to a site where they can learn more and make a purchase.

3. Engagement Ghost Town

So, your Instagram bio is filled out, you’ve got a sweet profile picture and you’ve made a few posts.

Your social media tasks are completed now, right?

INCORRECT

Social networking is all about interaction. Two-way communication is vital on social media for your business. Constantly monitor and engage with consumers. When a comment is made on your posts make an effort to always respond, even if you just respond with a simple ‘thank you’. Follow similar companies in your industry, share posts that are relevant, like and comment on your users posts daily and update your page regularly.

4. Inconsistent Branding

Many businesses make the mistake of creating an Instagram page with a certain colour scheme or logo and their Facebook and Twitter pages with another. Have you ever come across this?

Brands, please knock this off.

Choose one colour scheme and logo and embrace it across all platforms. Ensure your brand is consistent and recognisable throughout all socials.

5. It’s not all about you

We all have that annoying friend on Facebook who just brags about themselves all the time, the one whose’ posts you skip past or eventually unfriend.

You don’t want to be that brand.

When it comes to social sharing you want to find that sweet spot between selling your brand and content that is interesting and fun. This is where the 80/20 rule comes into play. But what is the 80/20 rule?

You should be actively working to grow your follower base through making 20% of your content interesting and 80% focused on getting the word out about your brand.

So, think of it this way. For every 10 posts:

  • 2 should be personal, fun content that humanises your brand
  • 8 should be educational posts that inform the audience of your company

It’s all about finding a balance in the content you share. Focus on content that is valuable, interesting, relevant and fun to get your audience interacting with you.

Social media has a huge presence in today’s society and is forever growing. It’s important to know how to use it effectively to connect with consumers. Learning to avoid these common mistakes will give your business a competitive advantage so that you grow your follower base and win loyal customers.