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2017’s Trendiest Social Media Marketing Tips

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Get Your Small Business in the Spotlight with These Social Media Marketing Tips!

The words social media marketing are ‘buzzwords’ for a reason. The world of traditional paid advertising is dead-and-gone and in its wake is a vastly different alternative—social media marketing. Many business owners fail to realize that unless your advertising to the scale of a Superbowl game, you’re better off focusing on content marketing that is cheaper to disseminate and resonates distinctively with your target audience. The platform to do this is social media. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, Snapchat etc., are the portals of branding. If you’re new to the game, these social media marketing tips can help you boost your brand’s online presence without burning a hole in your wallet.

Why Optimize With Social Media Marketing?

Using social media marketing tips to self-promote is a segment of entrepreneurialism. Using scarce resources and some very creative ingenuity to leverage your success are the skills needed to conquer in the social media arena.

There are a few reasons using social media to advertise is the way to go.

First off, many consumers believe an organization that lacks social media presence is illegitimate. Also, social media marketing can be done cheaply, if not completely free. The idea of content marketing is to connect with consumers in an organic way. Generating content that social media users have elemental interests in will grow your audience and vicariously your customer base.

Not only is this form of marketing cost-efficient, shop owners can see engagement in real-time. If you pay to run an ad in a local paper, you’ll only be provided with vague details on how many eyes might glance over the ad. With the right social media marketing tips, you will know exactly how much engagement your posts are receiving. This allows you to tweak marketing as you go. With trial-and-error methods that become refined over time, you’ll know what your consumer demographics respond to and vice versa.

  • 95% of online adults aged 18-34 are most likely following a brand via social networking.
  • 71% of consumers who have a good social media service experience with a brand are likely to recommend it to others.
  • There are 1.65 billion active mobile social accounts globally with 1 million new active mobile social users added every day.
  • Visual Content is more than 40 times more likely to get shared on social media than other types of content.

*Data provided by MarketingSherpa, Ambassador, We Are Social, and Hubspot.

How to Launch a Social Media Marketing Campaign

As a small business, you should have a business plan written. With a strong vision supported with an outline—business plan—success is that much easier to attain. A segment of your business plan should be devoted to potential social media marketing. All relevant information on your consumer demographics and target audience need to reviewed to craft a specific marketing plan.

What does your customer look like, and what are your goals for reaching them?

For instance, say you’re a pet franchise that wants to target consumers between the ages of 27-58 with an annual household income of at least $89k. You want to use social media to gain more customers. What kind of social media platforms do individuals that meet these criteria use? Figuring out where your potential social media followers are is the first step. The big three are Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. But if you find that most of your customers are more likely to be on LinkedIn than begin building there. Remember, it is much easier to go to them than to get them to come to you.

Next, you’ll need to start developing content. Since social media users are scrolling primarily for entertainment, front-load your initial posts with this in mind. A good tactic is to differentiate your content. Not every post should directly promote the brand, just as not every post should be light hearted content. Marketers advise posting quality content. Meaning, if your blog is helpful and informative, it will organically increase readership. If your Tweets help customers more people will ‘follow’ you.

Visual content is the most prevailing form of content. Tweets with an image are 150% more likely to be retweeted than their textual counterpart. Facebook posts with images are engaged with 2.3 times more than those without. Since most people are using mobile devices to scroll, videos are going to continue to be huge in 2017 too.

Automating your social media accounts is vitally important. When all of your social media accounts are publishing on the same schedule this preserves your brand’s narrative. Using automation software like HootSuite, Bugger, Hubspot, or SproutSocial will synchronize your postings. Succinctness will save you time. You can front-load the majority of your social media posts ahead of time and schedule them to automatically post on a schedule.

“Keeping Up’ On Social

One of the best social media marketing tips is to use an analytic tool like Facebook Insights. Using an analytic tool will ensure your posting is getting the engagement and response you want. This way you can pay for some small amplification on posts you want to be viewed en masse and pay nothing for the ‘just-for-fun’ postings.

Using an analytic is helpful, but focus your goals on your business needs—not irrelevant metrics. Receiving shares, likes, and retweets are great, but if you’re attempting to get more people to come into your bagel shop in Philly, and someone from Florida is liking your posts, it doesn’t do your business much good. It’s fine to get a huge amount of social media support but use performance data to track the support that will strengthen your business.

Network out to similar channels. Find other local businesses on social media and follow and re-share their posts. Experts in your field are also great accounts to follow. Cross-promoting in your industry will boost your following and establish meaningful social connections. Engagement is a two-way street. If someone tweets at your business’s Twitter account, write back!

One of the last social media marketing tips that will come in handy is using shareable icons. These icons are otherwise known as ‘a call to action,’ You may see them in the header and footer of website pages. They are icons that encourage users to share content through their personal social media accounts. This is how things go viral! The more people looking at your business’s content, the more people are sharing that content.

We hope you found this article helpful!

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Fastest Ways to Streamline Operations in 2017

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Work flow is a delicate process. When was the last time you sat down at your desk and knocked out every task you had planned? The coffee is wafting and with the scent come the fires. Last minute ‘urgent’ meetings, emails already piled-up, and the phone hasn’t stopped ringing since 9:01. This is normative for business people from entrepreneurs to IT managers. Even interns aren’t impervious to the caveats of not having streamlined operations.

Still, for many of us, the words simplify, consolidate, and expedite leave a sour taste in our mouths. Companies spend millions a year attempting to optimize productivity. Implementing DevOps, hiring a special project manager, and summoning employees by the dozen for training and meetings to streamline operations all end up being somewhat counterproductive.

New technology is vital. However, integrating different technologies into your company’s functioning inevitably takes trial-and-error. Special project managers can find state-of-the-art methods to focus the company but often dissent comes from the top down. The things that drive your employees crazy is having endless meetings—all discussing productivity—without anything definite reached. If you decide on a process you need to stick with it.

In 2017, there are a variety of workplace programs that will keep employees happy and goals met. Read this guide to explore 10 ways to streamline operations in your business.

Embrace the Right Technology

An IT department exists for a reason, but all too often when we have an issue, we phone up IT instead of using self-reliance. When you adopt a technology make sure adequate training is provided.

Also, if you choose to use a certain program make sure that it is worth the long-term investment. You don’t want to outgrow your software. If you choose an HR application that will fit the needs of your operations with under 50 people, but in five years your operations might double, find software that is more accommodating.

Technology welcoming uniformity will streamline operations. If your marketing department is using Microsoft Excel, and your R&D is using EditGrid, there are going to be huge communication issues between the departments.

Flextronics, an electronic manufacturing services provider, was able to combine 80 disparate HR Global systems into one solution by integrating Workday. This brought the total cost of ownership down by 30%. When all your employees are using the same compatible technology this can remove a majority of the headaches.

Using a Server & Cloud-Computing

Physical space is a commodity for every organization. If you haven’t eliminated as much tangible paper from your office as possible, do it this now. The more systems that can be done digitally the better.

Depending on the scale of your company and the amount of documentation, you should consider investing in a central server. Servers are secured with encryption and are more cost-effective and reliable than paper. One glitch in the workflow chain is having a piece of paper passed back-and-forth between desks needing approval signatures. Even with a central server, this can happen.

Finding a cloud-computing spreadsheet app can help streamline the approval process and communication in general. When every department is working off of one centralized task sheet, communication will be seamless.

Let the Robots do the Work and Automate

Many daily functions of the workplace can easily be automated. Social media marketing is integral to success but can be a very time-consuming process.

As important as marketing with these social media platforms is many segments can be automated. Powerful automation software can even provide your business with chatbots with algorithms so precise it’s difficult for anyone to distinguish between human and AI.

A survey from a 2014 report stated that using automating software eliminated 35% of repetitive tasks out of marketers’ hands. This allows your marketing team to focus on new engaging projects. The same report showed that 10% of customers reported better experience. As technology improves these figures will only increase.

Define Work Processes

Everyone in your organization has a different daily schedule of tasks. Sometimes different departments have different structures. Your sales team is going to have a more fluid work-flow than accounting. Management should first define what each position’s daily process is, then find ways to streamline operations.

At any given moment a good manager should know what each one of her employees is working on. This keeps workloads manageable and lets managers know when to assign new projects. Having a system of prioritizing tickets will ensure employees have an appropriate workload. When employees aren’t suffocated with projects there is less stress and incidentally, productivity is higher.

Dissect Each Step  

For instance, say your business is a brick-and-mortar specialty bike store. Even retail businesses can streamline operations by distinguishing a systematized process for various tasks. An employee’s’ day should be outlined by each step.

  1. Open store
  2. Count Drawers
  3. Stock Floor by Section
  4. Re-Merchandise Floors
  5. Attend to Sales
  6. Place Supply Orders
  7. Etc.

This is a hypothetical, but you get the point. When employees know exactly what they should be doing, they’ll do it. When tasks are organized and presented in a way that maintains a predetermined workflow this will optimize productivity. Even the more protean job titles in the spectrum like graphic designers can have a clear picture of all the minute tasks done on any given day.

Employee Motivation

Not even bureaucrats like bureaucracy. Well, maybe some do.  The point is that integrating rigid task scheduling can only streamline operations so far. Your employees need to be properly trained and motivated to keep employee morale and productivity high. Ask your employees about their daily process. Many times managers perceive vital psychological breaks as time wasted.

A Microsoft Survey stated that “6% of workers say their productivity has improved thanks to social media and social media tools. A further 37% wish their organization’s management would embrace social media tools in the workplace in order to increase productivity.”

Most diligent employees naturally find ways to streamline their own operations to spend less time on monotonous tasks. Speak with your employees about their workflow and give them the tools they need to be efficient.

Fiscal Organization

The old expression, ‘Time is money’ that your dad used to tell you works both ways. Figuring out the best solutions to handle money can end up saving the company tons and streamlines operations. Many small business owners don’t understand how drastic the charges they pay each month can be. Requesting a bank analysis statement provides a guide to help reduce costs.

Filing taxes digitally can also save valuable time. Using automated accounting software will make tax season more of a breeze and less of a headache as April 17th draws near. In most cases, large companies that file over 250 returns a year are mandated to file electronically.

When you know you’re going to be using a business service solution for the long-run—-pay by the year, not the month. It seems simple, but many entrepreneurs’ lack of resources precedents more logical financial moves.  

Hiring Strategically

In 2017, the average cost of hiring a new employee is $57,968, not including training. Just as rattling, is that replacing an employee that earns 8/hour costs the company $5,500. Turnover is a huge roadblock in optimizing the potential of a business.

Creating an online platform for prospective employees that digitally weed themselves out of the hiring process will ensure only qualified candidates make it past preliminary screenings. This saves all those involved time.

Having an adequate strategy for employee retention also increases company mobility.

Efficient Scheduling

More and more companies are disgruntling workers and going back to a traditional systems of clocking-in-and-out. In place, many have embraced digital functions that allow employees to work remotely and receive more specialized benefits.

Management teams would save themselves and their employees time using an automated scheduling app. Using apps like humanity will create a dashboard that will automatically generate schedules based on employee availability and credentials. Using this app replaces hours wasted configuring a schedule.

Streamlining your business in 2017 is easier and easier and new technology and methods are premiered daily that cut out the tedium and hike up the revenue.

 

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