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COVID-19 and Effective Social Marketing Strategies by @DONNAAMOS

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by Donna Amos | Featured Contributor

Social Networks, Marketing and a Global Pandemic

The world is nothing like it used to be at this moment in time. The global COVID-19 pandemic has changed everything everywhere for the time being. The reality is, too, that things may never go back to the way they used to be. This influences all aspects of day-to-day existence as well. It has even had a massive effect on how businesses approach digital marketing. If you want to master social media marketing for the pandemic and beyond, then you should look into these strategies as soon as possible. You should approach marketing on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn nowadays with all of the caution and smarts in the world.

  1. Focus on Audience Targeting

If you want to track down leads and strengthen engagement in a big way, then you should take the time to focus on audience targeting. It can help to turn to devices such as the Facebook ads manager. If you utilize this, then you’ll be able to track down an audience that’s practically tailored to your specific preferences and wishes. If you want to figure out who exactly needs to see your latest advertisements, then you need to make in-depth targeting one of your top aims.

  1. Help Social Network Users Get Breaks From the Harsh Realities of Life Nowadays

There is no disputing that life nowadays is difficult and unpredictable for so many people all around the globe. That’s the reason that it can be such a good idea for businesses to help social media users get welcome breaks from all sorts of difficulties. People more than ever need pleasant distractions that can put genuine smiles on their faces. It can be an intelligent idea to integrate joy into news pieces. If you want to post a relevant story for your audience members, then you should think about possibly implementing fascinating video clips. You should think about possibly introducing them to other things that may pique their interest levels as well. Virtual tours of intriguing destinations may just do the trick.

  1. Zero in on Context

It’s critical to zero in on context. There’s no arguing that this pandemic has influenced people all around the planet. There’s also no disputing that its effects in many cases hit close to home. That’s the reason that the smartest businesses out there should study up on how it has affected cities, towns and communities all over the map. If you want to avoid doing anything insensitive unintentionally, then you should make a point to study up on regional matters that may change how you approach your social network “voice” during the pandemic. If you hear about a small town close to you that has experienced particularly significant job loss as a result of the pandemic, then you may want to reconsider how you handle your posts that are relevant to all of its locals.

  1. Evaluate Things Over and Over Again

Nonstop reevaluations can do wonders for businesses that want to approach pandemic social network use intelligently and sensitively. Markets are evolving more rapidly than ever these days. That’s why you need to go above and beyond to reevaluate matters with significant frequency. You should reevaluate your marketing campaigns. You should reevaluate your rules as well. Things that you implemented a month ago may no longer be pertinent or appropriate. You should realize that the only thing that you can actually predict is that situations will never be the same. Reevaluate how you move forward with blog posting times, video clips, response times and beyond. Something that may have been acceptable or perhaps even beneficial half a year ago may be completely out of touch nowadays.

  1. Analyze All of Your Creative Choices at Length

It’s critical to meticulously analyze your creative choices that involve social networks. Think about the tone you use any time you caption Facebook or Instagram posts of any kind. Think about your keyword selection. Think about your blog subjects. It can even help to think about the images you choose to adorn your sites. It may not be fitting to take things too lightly at this moment in time. If you want to approach social network use sensitively, then you may want to limit your jokes for a while. People aren’t exactly in the mood to be rolling around on the ground laughing. Although you shouldn’t rule out humor entirely, you should make a point to approach it both delicately and sensitively.

Consider human contact as well. You may want to stay away from any and all references to excessive touch. Showing images of people embracing passionately may not be something you want to do for quite a while.

  1. Concentrate on Expanding Your Social Networking Accounts

If you want to approach social networking intelligently during the pandemic, then you should concentrate on account expansion. You shouldn’t concentrate on conversions. Your digital marketing style should not revolve around motivating audience members to complete sales. It should revolve around expanding your audience in a considerable and meaningful way. Don’t forget that your audience members do not have a lot of cash to spare right now. They can usually only set aside funds for the basics. If you want to come out on top when all is said and done, then you should put a lot of energy and time into making your Internet following a lot more rock-solid for the future. Aim to release content that offers tangible value to people. Aim to give people access to content that’s actually vital. It can be smart to give your followers suggestions regarding all of the things that they can do to look after themselves while in confinement. It can be smart to give them suggestions that relate to getting more done while working remotely as well. Practicality is of the essence these days.

  1. Team Up With Influential Figures in Your Field or Industry

It can be highly intelligent to network with people in your industry or field who are particularly influential. You may want to join forces with widely known “influencers.” Ask an influencer if you can pen a guest blog for him or her. Ask an influencer if he or she may want to pen a guest blog for your official website. If you do this, then you may be able to gain the interest of brand new consumers. Teaming up with influencers can be a speedy and effective way for businesses nowadays to up their social network marketing strategies. It can be a win-win situation as well. That’s because you may be able to help influencers strengthen their already robust Internet followings.

  1. Get Deeply Acquainted With Your Target Audience Members

People have more time on their hands in recent times. That’s why it may be a terrific opportunity for businesses to get even more acquainted with their target audience members. It may be a fantastic idea to conduct surveys of your audience members. Take the time to discover all of the things that truly make them tick. Zero in on your audience members’ deepest emotions, too. Ask them about the things that give them fear. Ask them about the things that may give them hope for brighter tomorrows. The more “in the loop” you are with your audience members, the simpler it will be for you to please them at later times.

  1. Be Selfless

Businesses that are intelligent should aim to come across as being selfless. If you want to come across that way, then you should start by actually being that way. Do not fixate as much on your business and its aspirations. Concentrate on your audience members above all else.

  1. Test Brand New Concepts Out Right Now

Businesses in this day and age should be more fearless and bold than ever. The COVID-19 pandemic is a terrific “excuse” for businesses to test out fresh new concepts as well. It may be brilliant to test out concepts that are totally unfamiliar to you. You may want to play around with social media posting times. You may want to try new avenues such as giveaways, competitions and contests in general. Things aren’t the way they used to be. That’s why it can be a pretty safe time to do things that make you feel a bit uncertain. You should test out things that involve image selection, video clips and more.

Strategize your social plans: How can starts-ups maintain a steady social media presence? by @AlmaCausey

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Strategize your social plans: How can starts-ups maintain a steady social media presence?

“Hello, all! I am so excited for our weekend plans!” Annie exclaimed as she barged in after work.

To her dismay, no one responded. Tania was angrily sending voice notes to someone. Mike appeared like he would shatter the screen with his furious typing. And Ben, as usual, was lying on the couch with earphones on. Disappointed, Annie went to her room, stumped on the bed, and began scrolling her Instagram.

Does this scenario ring a bell?

Pretty much, every home these days has turned into a media hotspot. From adults to kids, as young as five years, are a part of the target market for many businesses. Be it leisure, apparel, accessories, and firms specializing in designer footwear or academic applications.

Leaving the debate of its pros and cons for another day, let’s discuss it from a corporate perspective. Social media has become the central focus of business entities. It started as an entertainment tool, but now it is one of the most sophisticated marketing tools for entrepreneurs. Marketers spent over $89 billion on social media advertising and marketing in 2019.

The stats only convince them to spend more. Currently, more than 42% of the world’s population has a social media account. That is over 3.2 billion users!

Clearly, marketing on social media is worth the effort. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram have become indispensable parts of customer acquisition, brand awareness, content distribution, and lead generation. All of it becomes even more essential if you are a start-up. Strategize your social media presence to maintain a steady standing in the digital community.

Clueless on how to tread here? Let us spell it out for you.

Step one: Craft a Plan that Works

First things first, you must set some attainable goals. The best way to do that is to ensure they are SMART. Below, we have the image to decipher such objectives:

Source

It is good to expand your social network. However, unless you figure out what you want to achieve via expansion, you can’t expect successful outcomes. Following are a few goals a start-up usually looks forward to pursuing:

  • Generate new leads
  • Improve brand awareness
  • Enhance web traffic
  • Increase sales

Step two: Choose a suitable platform

Once you know your goals, it is time to find which platform caters to your needs. This depends on the niche you are working in. For example, if you are in tech, LinkedIn would be a better option than Instagram.

Note that not all social media channels have the same purpose. The target audience for each is different. Given the variation, you must pick a channel where you can connect with the right people at the right time.

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As a start-up, you can’t afford the luxury of failing often. You need to ensure your advertising budget works hard for you. Keep it minimum, but make sure your strategies are relevant. For instance, if you are a B2B, go to LinkedIn. If you are an e-commerce agency, work on Instagram.

There are a few ways you can go about finding where your audience is hanging out.

  • A straightforward approach is to carry out the customer survey. Ask questions like which social platform they use the most, which influencers they follow the most, and from where they get their online info.
  • Another method is to deploy social media sites. Platforms like Facebook allow you to estimate the size of the audience.
  • Also, you can research the demographics of each social site through the Pew Research Center for the Internet and Technology.

Next, follow what Patrick Ward from High-Speed Experts believes, that once you’ve identified where your customer resides, you can be consistent and valuable to master your chosen social platform truly. This will definitely make a strong impact!

Step three: Analyze competitor’s social presence

As soon as you have set up your social media profiles, it’s time to do some stalking. Snoop into your competitor’s social media profiles and check what the devil they are up to. Being the newbie in the industry, you have to spot the competing parties first. You should monitor the social media presence of mid-sized and even larger corporations.

Experts recommend using third-party tools to have a closer look at competitor’s social media performance. Websites like Keyhole, SEMRush, and RivalIQ can help you audit the social media of competitors. You can study the metrics and evaluate the content they are producing.

Here are a few things you should pay attention to:

  • Posting frequency
  • Content quality
  • Comments/likes details
  • Number of followers

Step four: Design a content marketing strategy

Your content marketing strategy, in its essence, is the outline of your start-up. It contains a detailed plan that you can use to address your audience. Bear in mind; there is no general content marketing strategy template. Each business has to design its own.

Allow your creative genies to join heads and come up with a plan meant to boost brand awareness. It is not always about crafting blog posts. It includes videos, infographics, case studies, research outcomes, graphics, animations, and much more. Filter out the type of content that will allow you to reach your audience in the best possible ways.

Source

When promoting content on social media, you must go both ways: paid and organic. For the latter, you can use third-party distributors or influencers to promote your content. It will assist you in reaching out to different sources and add your content to their social channels or websites. Besides, you must anticipate the frequency of posts your audience requires. A social media scheduling tool will allow you to keep up with the pace.

Step five: Build relationships and find leads

As a start-up, your ultimate success lies in the relationships you build. Use your social channels to interact with the audience, respond to their queries, and offer free or discounted items. Take their feedback when necessary and enlighten them about your long-term plans.

Summing Up

At the outset, building a social media presence may sound simple. Yet as you advance, you’ll understand it’s a bit tacky.

Don’t fret when this realization hits you!

Many entities made it big, and you can do it too. All you need is professional knowledge and a couple of experts up your sleeve.

Initiate your journey and share with us how it goes. Good Luck!

 

How To Perform A Competitor Analysis (And Why It’s Important) by @BlairKaplanPR

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by Blair Kaplan Venables

There’s nothing like a little healthy competition to light a preverbal fire under you. With the increase of businesses moving online during this COVID era, you need to make sure that your business stands out online. If you’re one of the 1% of entrepreneurs who managed to create a business with no direct competitors, congratulations! If you’re like 99% of the rest of us, it’s time to do some homework. Stat. It’s important to know who your competition is, what they are selling, how they are selling it, where they are marketing and what they are doing right. If you know this information, you are able to work on a strategy to potentially capture their clients and grow your business.

A good place to start your investigation is by performing a social media competitor analysis. By scoping out your competition, you will be able to see where their weaknesses may lie, which is information that you can use to you advantage. For example, if you see that your competition isn’t on a specific social media network and you know that your target demographic is spending time on that social media network, you may want to build up a presence there.

 

Identify Your Competitions

What other companies are competing for the business that you seek to obtain? You should be able to identify at least five companies that are your competition. You can do this by Googling key words, asking friends and doing your own research.

The best place to start finding out information about their social media presence is via their website, where these links should be posted. It’s also helpful to go into each social media platform and search their name because sometimes websites aren’t up to date with social links.

 

Document Your Findings

Creating a competition chart is the best way to record your findings. Open up your favorite spreadsheet program (I’m an Excel or Google Sheets gal, myself), open a new document and make rows listing your competitor’s names. Then create columns for the following four key pieces of information about your competitor’s online presence:

  1. Where are they on social media? Don’t forget about LinkedIn, TikTok and other surprising places they may be.
  2. What type of content are they creating? Is it instructional or do they share personal stories?
  3. How many followers they have on each social media network?
  4. Any notes you may want to reference later.

Determine Key Opportunities

We aren’t just cruising social media to be a lookie-loo. We now need to analyze the stats that we have found. Once your chart is filled in, you will be able to see what your competition’s social media strengths are (which may be places you don’t want to compete with them) and where their weaknesses lay (which may create opportunities for you to lead the pack).

Keep in mind you’re not trying to replicate someone else’s strategy. Your social media approach should be unique. But you are looking for opportunities. You may also find content ideas that your top competition isn’t executing yet, which is fantastic news. Learn what they are doing and you can figure out how to do it better or differently. There are always opportunities on social media to create great content and grow your brand’s presence.

 

 

Blair Kaplan Venables is an expert in social media marketing and the president of Blair Kaplan Communications, a British Columbia-based PR agency. As a pioneer in the industry, she brings more than a decade of experience to her clients, which include global wellness, entertainment and lifestyle brands. Blair has helped her customers grow their followers into the tens of thousands in just one month, win integrative marketing awards and more. She has spoken on national stages and her expertise has been featured in media outlets including CBC Radio and Thrive Global. Blair is also the author of Pulsing Through My Veins: Raw and Real Stories from an Entrepreneur. When she’s not working on the board for her local chamber of commerce, you can find Blair growing the “I Am Resilient Project,” an online community where users share their stories of overcoming life’s most difficult moments.

5 Things You Need to Know About Making Money Through Instagram

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Photo credit: @virtuallydone Instagram

by Jemma Broadstock

With marketing budgets increasingly being spent on digital marketing, you aren’t alone if you’re running around like a headless chicken trying to understand the ins and outs of using Instagram for your business.

So if you have no idea how to make money through your Instagram, here’s are 5 key things to bare in mind:

 

1. Consistency is Key

If you think posting an image every now and again is going to do it, you’re wrong. You need to be showing up consistently, not only on your feed, but on your stories too.

The message in your captions, stories, bio and hashtags all needs to make sense. If the content isn’t consistently sharing the same message or your content isn’t consistently being shared, people won’t become familiar with you as a brand.

You want to get to the point where people see a quote graphic you created pop up on their feed and they know it’s you before they’ve seen your name because the message, fonts and colours are all consistent with what they have seen from you before.

In an ideal world, people should be seeing something from you daily. This doesn’t mean you have to post something new and exciting every day, instead you can show up on your stories. Share an insight into your day, or upload your to do list – people love behind the scenes content, and this will keep your engagement up on the days you don’t post.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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2. Make sales easy⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

This might seem like an obvious point, but it’s a mistake I see way too often.

The average consumer attention span is 8 seconds. Someone should be able to click onto your profile and know within those 8 seconds who you are, what you do, and who your product or service is for. Your biography should explain this clearly and concisely, with a specific call to action and a link for people to click if they want to learn more.

“Mystical goddess helping millennial women do amazing things” might sound cool to you, but no one will know what that means. Who are you? What do you do? Who do you help? If you don’t answer these questions, they will not take the time to DM and ask you, they’ll simply click off your profile.

Your copy doesn’t need to be complex; it just needs to be simple and easy to understand.

 

3. Creating connections is everything

People often talk about the dreaded ‘algorithm’ which underlies some of the curious things Instagram does such as showing or not showing our account to other people.

Don’t let this scare you! Instagram is based on connection. If you engage with your target audience, and by engage, I mean follow, DM, comment and like, Instagram will connect you with more of those types of people.

This doesn’t mean you should be downloading ‘engagement’ apps or joining ‘engagement pods’. Instagram is clever and will punish you for any unnatural or fake engagement. Instead, each day spend some time genuinely connecting with people within your network. Vote on their story polls and send them a DM if you love what they are doing. This really is the secret to success on Instagram!

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4. Being vulnerable works

You might feel that everything on your Instagram has to remain 10/10 professional at all times BUT this stops connections from being made.

As we all know, people buy from people, and to build that like, know and trust factor, you need to show your human side. You can do this by uploading pictures of yourself, running mini trainings on your stories, or writing captions that give an insight into your life.

Sharing video content has become huge on Instagram lately and with 4 in 5 consumers admitting they would rather learn about a product through a video, it’s no wonder why!

By being vulnerable and sharing the person behind the business, people feel more connected to you. Whatever your story, share an insight into your life and it will make a huge difference to the way your followers engage with you.

On the flip side, if you make your life look perfect, people can’t relate. Instead, show the ups and downs of your business. Talk about your insecurities. Share your journey. You’ll be amazed how many people DM you and tell you they can relate.

Miss the last post and panicking? Share it!

Spilt coffee down your shirt before a big meeting? Share it!

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5. Good things take time

It might not be what you want to hear, but you won’t get 10k followers overnight or get clients with your first Instagram post. A successful social media profile takes months of hard work and good content to build up.

Be patient and it will pay off.

 

 

 

Jemma Broadstock is a Virtual Assistant and Social Media Manager specialising in using Instagram for online businesses. As well as working as a Virtual Assistant and Social Media Manager, Jemma also runs Virtually Done, an online platform for those wanting to learn how to be VAs.

Connect with Jemma on Instagram.

Learn more about her services here.

 

How Public Relations Can Benefit Your Brand by @lucyrk78

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by Lucy Render-Kaplan | Featured Contributor 

Public Relations is vital for increasing your brand’s visibility. Not only can it help more people learn about your company and services, it can strategically speak directly to your target audience. A successful PR campaign generates media coverage, builds your status as a thought leader, helps develop trust and increases your presence, which leads to more sales, new clients and even potential investors.

Develop Brand Identity

Getting the word out about who your brand is and why you exist is important! Only you can tell the unique story about your product or services and why people should choose you over other similar brands. If the public doesn’t know that you exist, you are missing out on sales and helping others via your services.

Grow Trust and Credibility

People buy from people they trust. More and more, consumers are growing wary of companies telling them who they are – they’re listening to others recommendations. When a company keeps popping up in the news or written about by a journalist people follow is not only beneficial in building trust, it can directly lead to sales. Being featured in the press – especially in this day and age, where social media outlets can distribute your articles across the entire spectrum of Internet users — allows you to leverage this attention as support for your cause. Create a press page on your company’s website so you can display your success in the press to viewers.

Thought Leader Spotlight

Your PR agency can work with the founder of your client’s brand or a spokesperson from the brand on how to best present on camera and in interviews with the press. They can then pitch them to talk as an expert in industry-related news. Having an internal spokesperson serve as an expert is a great way to grow awareness about your company and is key in growing brand awareness.

Create Buzz

A public relations campaign can help share your key messages, create or boost brand buzz and help you build an engaged following, leading to more exposure, clients and brand awareness.

Attract Donors & Increase Funding

Earned media coverage can attract donors and investors to help increase funding.  Media coverage is often vital and can be a deciding factor in how they decide to give.  A powerful PR campaign shows that you invest in your business, your reputation and have a commitment to growth, which is very attractive for funders.  The right media placements at the right times can be used to attract the attention of VCs and other investors. With the right messaging and strategy, PR increases your credibility as a stable and potentially lucrative investment target. So why do PR? If you’re an early- or mid-stage company, your next round of funding may depend on it.

If any of these reasons appeal to you, securing a publicist or signing with a PR firm may be the next step to level up your business.

5 Secrets For Creating More Shareable Content by @lucyrk78

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Photo by Designecologist from Pexels

by Lucy Render-Kaplan | Featured Contributor 

Social media has already done more for marketers and sales teams than traditional marketing can do, and in less than half the time. Not only can social drive people to your website (or any landing page you’d like them to visit, really!) but it exposes you to people around the world who would never have found your company. Sounds amazing, right? We know! But it also requires new skills for marketers. With hundreds of thousands of articles, videos, photos and other methods of content shared to social media platforms every minute, how do you actually break through and GET those people around the world to even see what you’re putting out?

We’re here to share the secret: the key to getting noticed on social media and gain the attention of your target audience is to create shareable posts.

Here are just a few of our tips to get you started:

  1. Create content with a specific audience in mind.

Marketers used to have to create nameless personas of their target audience. Today, we can use real, breathing people and not constructs! All it takes is a bit of social listening to learn the pain points your business solves. You will also want to employ Google Analytics. There, you can learn more about your audience like demographics, content preferences, what platforms they spend the most time on, etc.

Keep in mind: if ALL you post is information about your company, you are going to have a hard time building and nurturing relationships with your current and potential consumers. You don’t want to talk AT these consumers, you want to engage WITH them.

That’s not to say you that you can never talk about and promote your business. You have to do that. Just make sure you’re posting about other things as well, and are sharing posts from people within your target audience (when relevant). People aren’t interested in a sales pitch article all the time. Instead, we urge you to become a member of your target audience. What would YOU want to read or learn more about? Write that. Write something that helps people and your audience is more apt to share that useful post with their other communities.

  1. User Generated Content (UGC)

Getting customers involved in creating content is one of the best ways to ensure your content will be shared. Not only will you get photos and videos and testimonials to use and repurpose, this type of content increases authenticity almost immediately.

A company can tell someone how great their products are, but when a friend tells you how great a company’s products are, you are way more apt to trust them and even purchase from that same brand.

According to Adweek, user-generated content results in 29% higher web conversions and 92% of consumers turn to people they know for referrals above any other source. Hard to deny that UGC doesn’t guide people ready to make final purchasing decisions!

  1. Add Social Media Buttons & A Call-To-Action

Don’t you find that the most obvious answers are often the most overlooked?! A super easy way of making your posts shareable is by ensuring it’s relevant to your target audience. This will motivate them to share the people in their communities, on their social platforms and with their family and friends.

Make it easy for them to share. Always add social media buttons to the original piece of content. It doesn’t matter the medium – blog, podcast, video…the buttons should be easily found to anyone looking at the content can find them immediately.

You can add these buttons alongside your content, at the top of the article or at the very bottom. You can even design these buttons in a way that as readers scroll down the page, the button follows them dynamically.

Along the same line, you can simply ask your reader to share the content! You already know that content needs a call-to-action. Create a CTA to drive the reader to share your content. The easiest place to do this is at the end of the post. These CTAs can be clever phrases, or simply a “Book now.” If readers like what they have just read or watched, they’ll share. Especially with a tiny nudge.

  1. Tie Into Emotion

If you’re like us, you’ve definitely sent a tweet saying “I’m not crying. You’re crying.” With a hashtag to reference a commercial that just aired. Or a blog post. Or a tweet. The most successful marketing sparks strong emotional reactions within your communities. The more we research, the more we see that emotions like happiness, sadness or anger tend to engage the most people leading them to share a piece of content.

  1. Create Incentives for Sharing Your Content

People like free stuff. And they like to win things and be acknowledged as having won. So create super easy contests, encouraging social shares. Don’t overthink these – a content like this can be as simple as a Tweet with a photo that relates to your business and says, “We will pick a random person at 2pm Thursday, CST that has followed these TWO steps to win one month free at ____! 1. Follow (@yourbusiness) 2. Retweet this tweet.” For Twitter, it’s relatively easy to track shares because all you have to do is count retweets.

 

What types of content do YOU find works best for your business?

 

Leadership’s Many Flavors by @SBSLEducSoltns

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Leading from the Front with Four

 

Ground Floor : Leadership & Management

 

It’s nearing mid summer in the northern hemisphere; recently, we celebrated national Ice Cream Day! Many have favorite flavors of this delish dessert; this holds true for leadership, too.

 

Paraphrasing a Supreme Court justice: ‘We know leadership when we see it.” , yet we all don’t ‘see’ the same thing, since we view business through our own experiences, lenses, & mindset.

 

Further, let’s push a related theme up for thoughtful discussion:

 

Leadership & management are NOT differing flavors; instead, they are two landmasses, separated by a gigantic ocean. We realize this while standing on the ground floor; now, let’s climb up a metaphorical ziggurat for a panoramic view.

 

Position, power, experience, credentials …?

On level 1 & 2 of our ziggurat, we start separating the wheat from the chaff; this act drives big answers , bringing us closer to leading from the front.

 

Q> Are any of the below characteristics necessary for organic leadership?

 

  • Seniority / experience

  • Credentials

  • Power \ Authority

  • Position

  • Perks /privileges

 

A> None are truly required. For a positional leader, they might bring benefit in a company’s hierarchy; however, in a free enterprise entrepreneurial business, they’d likely delay professional development.

 

Q>> Does leadership necessitate a certain type of business structure?

 

A>> No. Most structures ‘tell‘ us that an established business has an uneven field; you’ve built a ladder for your staff to climb up a pyramidal hierarchy, &/or you’ve not empowered them to address deep issues, like customer service, in your workplace, putting a collar on their ability to organically lead.

 

Bottom Up > Top down ; front > back

 

Leading is most impactful from the bottom up if there is a structure; Why? Easy. Those people are most aware of the day to day matters impacting your business’s success.

 

Take note, founders:  if you’re one, put yourself out front, clearing roadblocks so your staff can be most effective in building a better workplace for the betterment of all.

 

“People ask the difference between a leader & a boss. The leader leads & the boss drives.“

— Theodore Roosevelt

 

Q >>> What to do in situations where staff engagement, customer service, &/or client retention are below par?

 

A >>> Leverage this call to action using a ‘Test of 3’

 

 

First of 4 Flavors : Thought

 

Your climb up our ziggurat continues! Any of 4 could be next, as we aren’t building a rigid hierarchy; instead, you’re encouraged to visually sketch out this post’s content to better grasp these principles.

 

A thought leader leads from the front by sharing learned wisdom, stories, & a vision for the future with her staff, fellow entrepreneurs, & her tribe.

 

She might call herself a futurist, a disrupter, or an innovator. No matter the lingo, she oft comes up with fresh ways to address persistent business problems.

 

Second of Four : Replicative

 

Often, an entrepreneur, especially a family business owner,, recognizes replicative leadership as = succession planning; it could be, yes.

 

I thoughtfully ask you to expand your mind, furthering the case that this ‘flavor’ is imperative for all types of businesses, regardless of size, industry, or age.

 

A replicative leader seeks to replace herself; no longer is she indispensable; she’s begun, or accelerated her ability, to work ON her business & no longer IN it, becoming dispensable.

 

Systems thinking, soft skills [ e.g., humility & adaptability, ] & a focus on a self directed education all enable the above.

 

Third of 4 : Servant

 

When we serve, we win = Truth.

 

Yet, sole proprietors & entrepreneurs with staff, especially those who’ve come from corporate backgrounds, each have big adjustments in unlearning positional leadership & replacing w/ servant leadership’s unwavering principles.

 

Allow yourself to challenge assumptions, dismissing nostalgia & past credentials earned, as you realize that serving first gives you rich tools to lead from the front, flipping hierarchy upside down.

 

Fourth of Four : Conscious

 

Leadership done well is often a lonely path. Engaging mind, soul, & spirit is far stronger than merely one. Thus, being conscious about leading yourself & others enables infinitely more progress in your business culture, while concurrently helping you buck societal winds regarding capitalism.

 

Rarely are we taught that free enterprise & capitalism are very different concepts. Those who become conscious leaders better grasp this truism & cultivate a business that embraces the former.

 

Organizations dedicated to this flavor of bottom-up leadership often hold gatherings in your local area; seek them out & turn their events into networking opportunities.

 

Suggested Social Follows :

 

SR Thought Leader

Angela Montgomery

Waters Center

SLI Lead

Greenleaf 

Conscious Leadership

 

Dig for more gold — it’s 1849 all over again!

 

This blog is a drop of water into a deep sea. Be a modern day gold prospector & start a new rush!

 

How to Become …

6 Steps …

Don’t Let the … 

Rela Leadership

The Serving Leader

5 Ways to … 

Practicing the 15 …

 

In short :

 

  • Ground floor
  • Characteristics of leadership
  • Test of 3 – CTA
  • Thought & Replicative
  • Servant & Conscious
  • Social follows
  • There’s a vast universe to explore

 

Thank YOU for reading!

____________________________________________

3 Simple Instagram Mistakes that Will Kill Your Engagement and Growth by @LeahLatini

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Photo by Lisa Fotios from Pexels

by Leah Latini

Most business owners and solo entrepreneurs would agree that having a strong Instagram presence can be a game-changer in terms of growing their audience. However, many businesses we consult with, struggle to find their groove when it comes to creating content that engages their audience in an authentic and sustainable way.

Engagement directly influences the reach your content receives on Instagram and builds upon itself over time. So, it’s incredibly important to ensure you’re encouraging maximum engagement with every post. Especially now with the latest Instagram update, engagement rates can make or break your content strategy and determine whether you continue to grow on the platform or stagnate and decline.

The following list includes the most common mistakes that can cripple your growth on Instagram, even if you have a healthy following.

1) Yeah, but what IS that? – No Context
How many times have you been browsing your Insta feed only to come across an intriguing photo that stops you from scrolling, but then ultimately confuses you? For instance, you see a food pic that looks delicious, but when you stop to learn more about this mouth-watering post, you find that there’s zero information about what it actually is or what restaurant it came from.

Many content creators would argue that a post like this can stand on its own, and people will like it regardless of the caption. The biggest problem with this argument is that it promotes a superficial engagement. It’s easy to get a quick “like” on a post based on aesthetic beauty or visceral reaction. But now, Instagram wants to reward content creators that go the extra mile to create conversations and deeper connections with their audience.

This means that if you leave out the basics of who, what, where, and when you are cutting out a massive portion of your audience that might have otherwise engaged. Give them details about what they’re looking at, and a reason to comment, question, and save your content!

2) Wordplay Overwhelm
While the story behind a photo or video is essential to building a deeper relationship with your audience, many entrepreneurs take editorial content to an extreme and overwhelm their audience with novel-length posts.

I know what you’re thinking, “But you just said that people wouldn’t engage with my content if I don’t include enough detail!”

Oddly enough, both of these concepts are true!

You have to find your audience’s sweet spot or your “Goldilocks Content-Length”. It’s the post length that’s just right and allows you to include a sufficient amount of factual detail but is brief enough that you don’t lose the majority of readers halfway through your post.

Identifying this ideal post length can be a process of trial and error to find what your audience responds to the most. However, a general rule of thumb is to limit the editorial content to under 150 words and save larger pieces for other platforms. If you’d like to create longer narratives on Instagram, consider doing so in video format and experiment with features like Instagram TV. These features are relatively new to the platform and allow you to get a boost in reach just by using them regularly.

3) Too Glossy
The third most common mistake I see with Instagram content strategies is an overuse of stock photos and graphics that are over-worked. By over-worked I mean too corporate-looking or slick.

There is a trend toward the more organic and authentic in the social media space in general. Meaning, we don’t want to be sold to and treated like just another number on a sales list.

So, while it is still important to build an Instagram feed that is aesthetically coherent and cohesive, don’t overdo it on the stock imagery and graphics. Focus on building your look and voice on the platform in an authentic, and sometimes imperfect way. Your audience will connect with your imperfections and trust you more because of them.

Many larger corporations spend a lot of time and resources, figuring out how to “look authentic” to their audiences. In a sense, how to fake small business authenticity while still operating as a mega-global corporation. This alone illustrates the power of personal connection with your audience.

For entrepreneurs, the ability to “be real” is inherent in who we are. Embrace your imperfections and don’t be afraid to add a little grit to your content strategy!