Linked In is the most used social media platform of Fortune 500 companies; are you there too?

Linked In is one of the social media platforms I feel like, as a small business owner. I should be a part of but I know I’m not using it to its full potential. Does this sound familiar to you?

I have photographed hundreds of people’s LinkedIn profiles; it would make me a hypocrite to not participate on the platform right? Every time I sign on though, I have 14 new connection requests from people in India who I have, if you can believe it, never done business with!
Business owners I’ve never heard of slide into my messages with “Hi Melanie, try our service” and it has deterred me from actually using the platform to its fullest so I have consulted with Forbes.com on their tips for how to get the most out of LinkedIn. While Linked In offers a few consistent deterrants I could do without, it also offers up a plethora of functions you (and I) can take advantage of as a business owning, connection building, job seeker.

Who is Linked In for?
Best known for those looking for jobs, those looking for employees, business to business marketers and small business owners; meaning pretty much everyone can take advantage of LinkedIn and it’s free. It’s a popular place to post a resume, browse qualified candidates, create meaningful business relationships and build trust by receiving reviews called “recommendations” from colleagues who you have worked with in the past. With a very short term time investment you can set up a beautiful page with images, accomplishments and details of your work history that is easily searchable and shareable.

“40% of monthly active users use LinkedIn daily. Of those using the platform monthly, up to 40% are accessing it on a daily basis. If that is the case, that’s over 100 million professionals you could be targeting every single day. To make that even more excited, LinkedIn users typically use the platform to find relevant content, meaning they’ll be much more willing to check out what you’re sharing.” – OmniCore Agency

Are you looking to get your content in front of people who want to see it?
Whether you’re trying to sell a marketing course, a service or drive readership up to increase visibility, consider publishing an article to your LinkedIn page.

“Of the 500 million total LinkedIn users and 250 million monthly active users, only 3 million share content on a weekly basis – just a touch over 1% of monthly users.”  – Foundation Inc

Here are 10 amazing tips for a better Linked In profile, in a handy infographic:

Graphic by: Doctor Linked In

 

Inconclusion, it’s a great tool if you want to search business content, find or be found for job opportunities, participate in B2B marketing, or you’re a photographer and you’re thankful such a platform exists to keep you in business!

 

My question to you; do you use the platform and what are your top tips for getting the most out of it?

References: https://linkedinpedia.com/six-types-people-use-linkedin-use/

 

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FB: Linked In is the most used social media platform of Fortune 500 companies; are you there too?
Top tips for maximizing its potential
https://algonquincollegesocialmedia.wordpress.com/2019/04/10/linkedin/

 

Twitter: Linked In; how to find more than just a job. https://bit.ly/2KFJs15

The power of influencer marketing: your low cost marketing alternative

“Influencer marketing is a form of marketing in which focus is placed on influential people rather than the target market as a whole on social media. It identifies the individuals who have influence over potential customers, and orients marketing activities around these influencers. “ – Wikipedia

What’s in it for both parties?

Influencers crave the limelight and love to be able to give their loyal following discount codes while trying new activities, but brands definitely benefit equally.
Can you imagine having an entire influencer’s reach with just the cost of sending your product, not to mention having that user generated content and positive, authentic word of mouth buzz? I follow a few influencers in my area because I find them fascinating but I can see the followers join to take part in cross promotional giveaways and stay to follow along with their adventures.

92% of consumers say they trust word-of-mouth or recommendations from friends & family above all advertising” – Nielsen

Microinfluencers

From Barette Wissman’s 2018 article “Micro Influencers: The Marketing Force of The Future”, a micro influencer“ is “Someone who has anywhere between 10,000 and 500,000 followers on social media channels. It’s not necessarily the number of followers as much as how engaged that audience is. Micro-influencers have specific niche audiences and are deeply connected to them.” which makes their influence so powerful.

Even I have witnessed the influencer effect with my 600 fans through the use of Instagram stories. For my 15^th work anniversary I did 15 fun outings; one of which was trying acrobatic yoga at Ottawa Circus School. In response to my recap of the experience in a short video and a couple images, I had several friends and random followers message me asking for details and saying they wanted to go too. Imagine I was sponsored by the school and also had a discount code – how many of my followers would have jumped on it. (pun intended!)

Where to find influencers?

Are you a brand looking for someone to shout from the roof tops about your brand? A great place to start is with hashtags. Follow relevant hashtags, see what kind of audience a potential influencer has and if their following is your target demographic.
It’s easy to vet if they’d be a good fit by sending one product and measuring the success of those mentions. It’s also a great way for both parties to benefit from the cross promotion and reach of each other’s audience.

The value of digital marketing has blown traditional advertising out of the water, and at such an affordable cost, making it easier for smaller businesses to take advantage as well.

If you weren’t familiar with influencer marketing before, how do you think influencers help build brands, and as a company would this be an approach to marketing you would try?

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Facebook: The Power of Influencer marketing, your low cost marketing alternative that you probably haven’t tried yet: https://algonquincollegesocialmedia.wordpress.com/2019/04/02/influencer-marketing/

Twitter: influencer marketing; your affordable untapped opportunity to reach your target market https://bit.ly/2V9TCHQ #influencer #socialmediamarketing

3 easy tips to get the most out of Instagram today

Hi, my name is Mel and I’m an Instagram addict.
Let me start off by saying, I’m truly fascinated by Instagram right now. I find I check it on average 15 times a day (for the 3 divisions of my business that all have separate accounts).
Every time I log in I have comments on my carefully curated posted images, private messages in response to my behind the scenes Instagram stories and I can target which type of information I want to see easily with hashtags.

This social media platform has seen so much growth each year since its release in 2010 and continued success with adding new features such as: Instagram Stories, Instagram Live and, most recently, full frame 10 minute vertical videos with IG TV.

A little backstory

Instagram describes itself as “A simple, fun & creative way to capture, edit & share photos, videos & messages with friends & family”

In 2013, Facebook (who also owns Instagram) attempted to purchase Snapchat for 3 billion dollars cash but their offer was rejected. This prompted them to implement their own ‘instagram stories’, a series of short clips and images lasting just 24 hours online that appealed to the younger demographic.

The Instagram platform has over 1 Billion users which can be beneficial for keeping in touch with friends and family or for reaching your target market in business.

3 easy tips you can try right now 
Although the algorithm is constantly changing, here are a couple tips to get more engagement today

1. Use instagram stories. The more a person views your stories, the more they show up at the beginning of their feed. If you sell products, when you have 10 000 followers you’ll be able to add ‘buy now’ links to your story, this visibility and ease?? can be very beneficial. Even if you sell services and have less than 10’000 followers, it’s amazing to stay top of mind. I love when my clients message me to interact about what I’ve posted in my story. This helps build a friendship
   Everything you could need to know about stories in the article by Later, here https://later.com/blog/instagram-stories-for-business/

2. Try analytics to measure success and target when and what to post. If you don’t have the analytics that come with a business account, you can manually go back and see which images got the most ‘likes’ so you know which content appeals most to your audience.

   As well, apps like When To Post (https://www.appannie.com/en/apps/ios/app/whentogram-best-time-to-post/#), can help you

3. Respond to comments within 1 hour after they’re posted. The more engagement on your posts, the more Instagram thinks you’re a valid account and you may even be featured on the ‘explore’ page where even more people will find your content.

 

With so much of the 18-44 year old demographic choosing to spend their time on Instagram, businesses have even more opportunities to target their ideal clients with a modern platform that feels more organic and in the moment.

What’s one thing you love about Instagram and why? Please tell me I’m not alone!

 

 

References:
Local Talks Ottawa, Personal Branding Discussion, March 26th, 2019 (@LVD media, @LittleMissOttawa)
Forbes Magazine, https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2013/11/13/facebook-wouldve-bought-snapchat-for-3-billion-in-cash-heres-why/#450cfaf243de

 

 

 

Facebook:
Are you using Instagram to its fullest potential? 3 easy tips you can implement right now for greater engagement. https://bit.ly/2Fz7yon

Twitter:
3 easy tips to apply right now for Instagram success https://bit.ly/2Fz7y   #instagram #socialmediamarketing

COM0011: Using images in your social media posts, 3 easy steps

Importance of imagery on social media

Let me ask you, when scrolling through your Facebook feed, how often do you stop to read a lengthy block of text? I can tell you my answer, and it’s ‘hardly ever’
In addition to that, unless you’ve read through that text, you’re not going to get the message let alone stop scrolling and ‘like’ it which would provide organic engagement.

Now let me ask you, how many times have you scrolled through your Instagram and saw a stunning image and ‘liked’ it without reading the text? For me, it’s all the time.
The value of images is so important for story telling and engagement on today’s social media channels.

According to HubSpot, a well recognized inbound marketing platform,
“Photos on Facebook pages received 53% more likes than the average post.
Photo posts attracted 104% more comments than the average post”

Above graphic courtesy of Hubspot.com

Where can you find images for your social media?

1. Try out a royalty free stock agency
Stock photography/vector sites’ accessibility and affordability have increased dramatically even over the past 10 years thanks to digital cameras and the amount of contributors.
Here are a couple I personally recommend from free to less than $1 per image:

Creative Commons
With 1 billion works and counting you’re bound to find exactly what you need to deliver your message. Always remember to credit the creator of the image.

Dreamstime
98 million royalty stock free images available; there is a free content section and a paid one as well.
Even Narcity Canada is using Dreamstime images for their social media posts!

Shutterstock
200+ million images available, from pay as your go to subscription or try the free image of the week

2. Make your own content: stage a photoshoot
Photograph your neon open sign to advertise your Spring hours or style a ‘Thank You’ card to accompany a personal shout out to your followers for following along.
The camera quality at our finger tips is crazy.

3. Leave it to the pros
Lifestyle/branding photography is huge right now. Consider spending a couple hundred dollars on a customized professional session to show off you and your business; in your work space or on location.
Images can include your products, headshots, or environmental shots of you working that will be eye catching and can be used to promote any of your services or make an announcement. Customers love to do business with people they can see so get in front of the lens.
Bonus tip:
Only use relevant images to the topic you’re writing or posting about.

Add images to your posts and see the difference in your online reach!

How have images improved your social media experience? (Either as a business or a consumer)
Leave a comment below to join the conversation

 

 

Facebook:
The importance of images on your social media; 3 tips to include photos on your feed for 100% more engagement: https://bit.ly/2FeQnbu

Twitter:
3 easy tips for including images in your #socialmedia will have you questioning why you haven’t started yet: https://bit.ly/2FeQnbu

COM0011_S18_

Hello fellow social media fans! My name is Mel and I’m here to improve my understanding of trends in social media and learn how to engage more personally with my followers and the followers of the brand account that I manage.
I’ve been in the creative field of photography for the past 15 years since graduating from the Algonquin College diploma program and am finding more and more how importantly photography and social media go hand in hand.
When I started photography, it was still film and social media wasn’t even a term, so I’m interested to develop my skills in this ever changing field and delve more into the benefits of trends I’ve been seeing pop up such as the popularity of stories and Facebook live, and how they can be applied to my photography based career.

To me, social media is the practice of online engagement: the producing of, sharing and commenting on content created by users for users via social media platforms. It’s truly fascinating how much content on any subject is available at our finger tips at any given time.
One of my favourite aspects of social media is blogs. I find the majority of blogs that I follow are photography related (occupational hazard) but what draws me into their content the most are use of images (is it appropriate for the blog content? Is it beautiful and eye catching? Is it original?) and the tone of the text in the blog.
When reading personal interest blogs I’m looking for a friendly conversational tone; I want to be included in the conversation and feel like I was there when I read the back story about the images that are sparking emotions as I scroll through.

Here’s one of my favourite blogs by Two Mann Studios, an Alberta based husband and wife photography team: https://twomann.com/blog/2019/02/26/kimmi-dwaynes-wedding-negril-jamaica-spa-retreat-boutique-hotel/

Copyright: Two Mann Studios (https://twomann.com/blog)

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