Understanding your business’s trajectory on social media

We all hear about how important it is for businesses to be on social media. The notion that if you’re not marketing yourself on social media platforms you’re not really in the competition is commonplace, and advisors will throw all sorts of statistics out to prove this point.

However, many small business owners find themselves attempting to kick-start a social media presence, only to discover that it’s hard than it looks. Detailed below are the three basic stages of social media marketing that every business should be aiming for. Understanding these stages can make starting your social media accounts a little less daunting and can also illustrate how success can be achieved step by step.

1. Audience: Simply building up your audience so that when you get into your serious marketing, you’re actually speaking to potential customers!

2. Engage: You need to engage with audiences on social media. Remember, it is a very different platform to print, radio or television.

3. Convert: Convert your social media marketing into sales or click throughs! Success!

Improving your company culture

Many people dismiss the concept of company culture as being too ambiguous for the serious world of business, preferring to focus on specific and quantifiable performance indicators. This can be a costly and short-sighted mistake.

Company culture will define the nature of leadership, work ethic, productivity, collaboration and innovation within your business. An underlying issue in your company culture can completely undermine the hard work that you and your employees have been putting into making your business a success.

On the other hand, cultivating a positive, supporting and inspiring company can be a game changer that sees you reach new levels of success. Here are a couple of tips for improving your company culture:

1. Always praise contributions: If your employees offer contributions to the business, for example, suggestions for new products or ways to improve productivity, you should make a point of publically praising them for it. You should do this even if the suggestion is impractical or inappropriate. This will encourage your staff to contribute above and beyond what is expected of them.

2. Encourage collaborative work processes: You should do everything you can to encourage your staff members to work effectively as a team. Some potential ways to promote teamwork include: assigning joint projects, holding workshops, and conducting inter-departmental meetings.

3. Have open channels of communication: The more that everyone in the workplace can communicate and share their opinions and issues, the better your company culture will be. There is nothing more damaging to morale and productivity than issues and grievances that go unresolved.

Learning to delegate

As a small business owner, one of the toughest things can be to let someone else take over some of your responsibilities. However, if you can not learn to delegate then chances are that your business will grind to a standstill.

Email signatures: an overlooked marketing opportunity

Every time that your business sends out an email, there is an opportunity to give yourself a little marking boost with a customised email signature. The first step is to make sure that each of your staff members’ email signatures is branded with your company logo, along with their name and job title.

You should make sure that all of the company email signatures are consistent with one another, and that staff members have not accidentally used incompatible graphics.

Beyond this basic brand promotion, there are a number of things that you can do supercharge the marketing potential of your email signatures:

-Including social media buttons in your email signatures can do wonders for your online presence. Anyone who you are already in direct email correspondence with is likely to have an interest in your business, meaning that you can get great click through rates.

-Customising the text in your email signatures to promote various products or special offers is a fast, effective, and, best of all, free way to promote your business to an interested audience

-Have a link to your website and your blog (if you have one). It is a great way to increase web traffic to your site.

Preparing your team for tough times

Managing people is difficult at the best of times, but when the going gets tough, it can be incredibly difficult to keep the ship together. This list details some actions you can take to prepare your team for tough times.

1. Develop a strong sense of company values: When all of your employees are on the same page, it will be easier for you to coordinate the right responses to difficult situations.

2. Build strong teams: Make sure that your employees are always collaborating with one another. Remember that the sum of everyone’s parts is more valuable than everyone’s individual efforts.

3. Ensure that everyone is accountable for their actions: By clearly defining people’s responsibilities, you can make sure that everyone is working to their full capacity. If there are blurred lines between people’s roles, it becomes easier for people to skirt their responsibilities.

Strategies for improving employee motivation

Improving employee motivation may be one of the most effective things you can do to improve productivity in the workplace. Here are our top tips for getting the motivation ball rolling:

1. Offer career progression: If your employees feel that they have a future with your company, then they will be motivated to do a good job. If you are a small business that does not have space for promotions, then you can demonstrate the value of having various skills and responsibilities on resumes.

2. Recognise good work: Rewarding and recognising good work is a sure-fire way to improve motivation. Employees who feel appreciated will want to continue to demonstrate their commitment and capabilities.

3. Compensate fairly: You should always aim to offer employees remuneration packages that are reflective of their responsibilities. If you are not in a position to offer more money, you can always think about non-cash perks. For example, more flexible working hours.

Marketing on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the standout social media platform for B2B marketing. It is a great way to attract new business, network, and share interesting ideas. LinkedIn has a lot of features that you can use to your advantage. Here are a few tips for maximising the effectiveness of your LinkedIn marketing strategy:

Make a company page: A lot of business owners only have a personal LinkedIn account. This is a big mistake. If you create a company page, it will help you to establish a presence on LinkedIn and will allow your employees to connect with customers more easily.

Put some effort into your content: Posting engaging content is the best way to take advantage of your LinkedIn account. People will admire your expertise and appreciate the interesting material.

Be interactive: By interacting with others on LinkedIn you will build your network quickly. You should always respond to requests for endorsements and comment on other people’s material.

Business presentation tips

Making a brilliant business presentation can be a game changer. A presentation that hits the perfect note can completely change the way an investor or potential partner sees your business. Here are some tips for pulling off a business presentation:

-Establish your credentials: Discuss your skills, experience and passion early on in the presentation. It will make everything else that you say from this point on seem more legitimate.

-Be clear about your goals: Have very specific goals that you are aiming to complete. These goals should be challenging, yet achievable, and you should be able to explain the steps you will take to meet them.

-Logical structure: Your presentation should have a logical structure that demonstrates clear links between your separate ideas. Use questions or case studies to introduce each different idea, as this will make your presentation more convincing.

-Interact: Most business presentations are delivered to a small group or even just one person. Do not make the mistake of speaking the way you would to a large audience. Make eye contact, invite questions and offer them opportunities to comment as you go.

-Practice: It is not advisable to learn your entire presentation off by heart, but you should definitely practice a few times. In particular, you should prepare your responses to any questions or challenges that may be thrown your way.

The rules of social media etiquette

There is no denying that social media is fast becoming the most powerful way for businesses to communicate with their existing and potential customers.

Although it has become a new approach to communication, businesses should always remember to treat their customers as if they were dealing with them face-to-face.

Here are some important rules to remember when using social media for business:

Fill out details

Fill out the profile information completely, providing the name of the business, a way to make contact and some information on what services and products the business offers. This will assure the customer that the businesses profile is legitimate.

It is important to have an appropriate profile picture such as the company logo so that clients are able to easily identify with the brand.

It is not a good idea to have the same profile for both business and personal use. Creating separate accounts will clients to be separated from friends and ensure that the business maintains a professional image.

Use manners

It may seem simple; however treating clients with respect online can go a long way. Things as simple as saying ‘please’ and ‘thankyou’ can give a positive image of the business.

It doesn’t matter that the interactions are occurring behind a screen, clients should be treated exactly how they would in person.

Offer something of value

Use the social media platforms to engage with customers and offer them something of value. Clients will become quickly bored with images and posts only about the business.

Don’t just restrict content to only focus on the business, interact with clients about current events or topics that are relevant to the business, or find interesting quotes and images to share.

Facebook and Instagram are also key platforms for offering competitions or giveaways. Clients will be eager to be active on the profile if they are getting something out of it as well.

Don’t over-share

Although businesses are keen to be active on social media to ensure that they are reaching their target market, this can be just as bad as not posting at all.

No-one likes the friend who barrages their page with multiple posts a day and the same goes for businesses. Keeping posts to one or two a day will keep the business active on their clients feed; however will not annoy them enough so that they click ‘unfollow.’

It is a good idea for businesses to implement a content plan and map out when, and what, they will post to each social media platform. Also, think about the best time to post for the target audience. For example, if the business targets professionals it would be ideal to post in the morning and afternoon when they are commuting to work as they are likely on their own personal social media pages.

Reread what is written

Consider composing tweets or posts in a word document before posting them. This allows time to edit the text for grammar and spelling mistakes.

Also, remember that the Internet never forgets and one post in the heat of the moment can go viral, damaging the reputation of a business and losing a lot of clients.

Save time by updating your business systems and processes

Even very small adjustments to your business systems and processes can make a huge difference to your efficiency. By formalising these activities and spending a little time and effort improving them, you can improve your productivity. The other advantage to formalising your systems and processes is that it ensures continuity and makes it easier to teach employees new tasks.