Training – The Social Entrepreneur

I absolutely love LinkedIn and I cannot stress enough, that if your Business is B to B you need to show up! You also need to show up whilst the exposure is superb and the platform is working with you rather than against you.

There is a lot to learn with LinkedIn but the best thing to do is start!

Here are my Top 10 Tips to getting started on this fantastic platform.

Tip #1 – Use a professional photo.

LinkedIn profiles with photos get 21 x more views and 36 x more messages. Plus we like to see who we are talking to! A professional headshot is the best option, so get booked in with a local photographer if you need one and get this done asap.

Tip #2 – Update your information & Strapline

Your summary should clearly state what you do, and how you can help your target market. Concentrate on what makes you different from the crowd and create your brand message and strapline around that. This helps convince your audience that you are worth their time, connection, and engagement.

Use clear and simple language – avoid jargon and acronyms
Communicate concrete results you provide to your customers
State how your offering is different than what else is in the marketplace
Avoid hype and superlatives. For example, don’t claim you’re “the greatest” at something. Stick to facts and measurable achievements
Make it easy to read and skim
Include a call-to-action
Provide your contact information
Add external links such as your website and other social profiles

Tip #3 – Make use of your personal profile

Strangers who come across your profile on LinkedIn are more likely to follow you than to connect with you if they like your content. This is why it’s useful to change your default button on your profile to ‘Follow’ instead of ‘Connect.’
Changing the button can grow your network faster, and lead to more engagement. Plus, once people follow you, you can personally reach out and invite them to connect with them as well.

Tip #4 – Seek out connections – aim for 10 per day

Join LinkedIn groups – it allows you to connect with anyone in the group
LinkedIn hosts thousands of groups, often run by leading industry professionals. Contributing valuable content to these groups can help establish your credibility as an industry leader – plus, it’s a unique opportunity to connect with people in your audience.
Belonging to a group instantly grants you access to sending connection invites to every other member within that group.
You can also set up and run your own LinkedIn group. Not only could you stand to benefit from upcoming changes, but establishing a group can also help your target market find and engage with you.

Tip #5 – Optimize your posts

There are three types of content you can create directly on LinkedIn:

Posts – this is short content, such as status updates and quick shares – Making sure you add 5 x #
Videos – you can directly upload video files to LinkedIn
Articles – LinkedIn Publisher enables you to publish long-form articles

You have up to 1300 characters for each post, but the first 2–3 lines are critical because everything after this is hidden unless the viewer clicks ‘…see more.’

Tip #6 – Engage with others

Liking and commenting on other people’s posts can boost your own engagement and lead to new connections.
The clap / curious / ideas are all ways of standing out too.

Tip #7 – Be consistent

LinkedIn’s feed algorithm promotes those who post frequently. Most advice suggests at least 1–2 times per day.

500 million LinkedIn users – 260 million are logging in each month.
It’s B2B online networking 24/7
It’s where most Fortune 500 decision-makers and executives like to spend their spare time.
LinkedIn users typically use the platform to find relevant content, meaning they’ll be much more willing to check out what you’re sharing.
Many LinkedIn users are senior level influencer’s and 40 million are in decision-making positions.
Only 3 million users share content weekly
Only 1 million users have published an article on LinkedIn.

Tip #8 – Use Hashtags to Get Discovered

You should also aim to use no more than 5–6 hashtags per post (including long-form content).
LinkedIn gives you suggestions under your post so have a look at the recommendations.
LinkedIn users can follow a hashtag to get content on that topic in their feed even if they don’t follow specific influencers for that topic.

Tip #9 – Write More

Posts: You have 1,300 characters available to you on a personal LinkedIn post. It turns out, at least in this case, longer is better.
Articles: 1900 word articles usually get the most shares, so aiming for between 1700 & 2100 words should give your content a great boost. Aim for 2 per week if you can and you can then break this down for other social media ‘bite size’ gems!

Tip #10 – Tag People in LinkedIn Posts

Once you’ve formatted the perfect post that provides value to your readers it’s time to tag your network and core fans! The post may start #Trending if lots of people engage with it and comment on it! If you want it to be seen, tag your team or associates.

I could write another 20 Top Tips but I will leave you to put these ones in action first. If you need some help then feel free to book a call @ https://scollectivecouk.wordpress.com/book-a-call/

“LinkedIn is for life, not just for a season”

5 Ways to get started on Instagram

As all platforms it really is best to start with a strategy. It is good to have a plan of what you want to achieve with your posts and know that this is another long game, as organic and natural growth is always the best way to grow!

Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms, and it can be used in a variety of ways to draw in customers to your business. You can promote your latest news, products, acquire new customers, and communicate directly with your existing followers. Couple those possibilities with the 1 billion plus monthly active users, and you can see why it’s so powerful for entrepreneurs.

1. It’s not rocket science! Grid and Stories is all you need to ‘get down with the kids’ in 2020.

There is a standard post where pictures appear on the user’s feeds and your grid. These pictures are posted permanently to your account and can be seen on your profile – It is good to think about what you would like this to look like. An easy ‘set’ grid layout is always the best way to start and choosing a colour pallet always increases its visual look. Great examples can be found @ https://www.business2community.com/instagram/ultimate-guide-instagram-grid-layouts-02031483

A grid layout helps you think about the overall look of your feed, based on each square on the grid. You can create a consistent layout by carefully planning each square like breakfast, lunch, dinner.

Instagram also has stories. These can be viewed for 24 hours and then they disappear. However, you can add stories to your Instagram highlights, and users can view stories indefinitely. My advice is to get your main post strategy with the right # and then start with your stories.

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2. Create a great first impression & Post a link to your website in your Bio

The downside to Instagram is there’s only one link you can include in your bio so if you are like me and have several businesses, then yes, you need an account for each business on your social platforms. If you post a link anywhere else, like in a comment or story, you won’t be able to click on it. However if you are sharing that post to Facebook it will work there so you can still include them if it will be seen on the same Facebook post (will discuss this more in our next blog).

You can change this link address at anytime in the ‘edit bio’ area and this is great if you want to send your followers to a new blog article or a special offer. Use #linkinbio and this will remind them to check it out! The more you post the better you will get! My advice is to post at least once a day but follow a plan, study the trends and admire others work (do not copy), be personal and just grow 1 day at a time.

3. Provide content specific to your Ideal Target Audience – Who are you trying to attract?

What will catch their attention? This is where you really need to be clear on what you are setting out to achieve.

If you have a website or other social media accounts, you should create a common theme throughout your media. The theme should appeal to your target audience. Canva is great for this and Canva Pro is a must if you would like professional looking graphics for social media. If this skill is too much for you to learn on top of social? Speak to us and we can make you a 28 day graphics pack and email them over to you #outsourcing

Check out your competition, to see if they are successfully doing their social media. What posts have the most likes, are they running competitions, look at their followers and be inspired but please do not copy! Another great insight is to look at businesses that have a similar target audience to you. What are they posting? How are they standing out from their competitors?

Also, look for some influencers as this could elevate your brand very quickly. Instagram Influencers are those people that perform exceptionally well on social media. They typically have thousands of followers, and they rely heavily on creating messaging that resonates with their audience – including the Instagram hashtags that they choose. One of the best ways to learn which Instagram hashtags to use is to look at the top influencers which are relevant to your brand. You’ll be able to tell a fair bit from analyzing which hashtags they are using and the engagement that they are getting on their posts.

4. Follow Users & Gain Followers

It’s incredibly easy to find and follow users. Using Instagram’s search feature, you can find celebrities, brands, and friends. Additionally, you can search “Tags” or “Places”. “Tags” is particularly useful if you know what type of content you want to find, but you’re not sure who posts about it. Once you’re on someone else’s account, you’ll see a blue “Follow” button at the top. For public profiles, you can click and immediately begin following that account. However, if the profile is private, you may need to wait for them to accept you first.

A quick win is to check out your friends followers for mutual connections and other businesses that you could support. When you click on ‘following’ you will see who they are following and likewise – their followers.

When you can share more with your community through your Instagram posts, you can build a stronger relationship with your audience (both new and existing). It lets your audience be involved, and behind the scenes of our business so you might find you gain new followers, and better retain the audience you already have.

Instagram offers up a “Suggested for you” list when you visit an Instagram profile — you just have to click the downward arrow underneath the account’s bio: Instagram curates this list of Instagram profiles based on your interests, who you follow, but also based on that account’s activity.

5. Use Hashtags & How many?

An Instagram hashtag is a singular word, or a series of words, that is marked with a hash symbol (#) and is used in an Instagram post’s description, or comments section. The main purpose of these hashtags is to help Instagram organize and categorize content – they help the platform to let present the right content to the right users. If you’re a social media user already then it’s likely that you’ve already seen hashtags in action. Twitter is a great platform to understand the power of a # and you can find some amazing content on LinkedIn with the right # search too. #entrepreneurlife #mondaymotivation #wednesdaywisdom are a few of my favourites!

Hashtags are a way to make yourself searchable to new audiences that may be interested in your account. Google is your best friend for finding great # and a simple search on #Beauty for example will show you all the experts in action!

You don’t necessarily need to use the most popular Instagram hashtags to increase engagement with your posts. I believe it can be very effective if you use the Instagram hashtags that have a lower reach, but are more relevant to your audience. Between 10k and 50k hashtags are great to use and max of 10 per post. The main reason we want to use hashtags for Instagram is to get increase the chances of people landing on our content – but we always want to think about who are the “right” people that we want to draw in.

A great ‘Best #’ blog can be found @ https://www.oberlo.co.uk/blog/best-instagram-hashtags-for-likes

Keep in mind that what works for one business may not work for yours, but Instagram is a great platform that offers lots of room for trial and error. Now that have a better idea about how to get started on Instagram and the types of content you can share, it’s time to put it all into action. Practice, Practice and more Practice is needed plus a huge glass of consistency!

If you need some more support then feel free to book a call @ https://sjpcollective.com/book-a-call/