Keep Up On LinkedIn

Despite your best intentions, it’s possible you haven’t been keeping up with your company’s LinkedIn profile. This year, dedicate yourself to regular maintenance – following others, posting status updates, interacting with other users and more.

Try Something New

Get off on the right foot by trying a brand new network! If you’re already on Facebook and Twitter, check out newcomers Yo or the ad-free Ello or launch an account on a popular photo sharing site such as Instagram, SnapChat or Pinterest. Stay tuned for more in-depth posts on these new networks.

Change Your Passwords

Keep your accounts secure by changing your passwords frequently (if you don’t already, commit to changing them at least a couple of times a year – more is even better!). Opt for a combination of letters, numbers and symbols and record it somewhere safe just in case you forget. Having a different, secure password for each network is often recommended.

Engage More

Engaging and interacting with others puts the social in social media. Get on there and get active ASAP – you’ll be surprised by what you learn about yourself, your business and your potential and current customers.

Use Twitter’s Mute Function

Twitter added the ability to mute users in 2014. This means that you can follow as many users as you like, including courtesy followbacks, without having to scroll through their tweets in your feed. Win-win.

If you make one of these 5 social media New Year’s resolutions, you’re guaranteed to boost your business’s online presence in 2015. From keeping your accounts secure to trying out new functions and networks, engaging with users and keeping up on LinkedIn, you’ll want to follow through.

Image Credit: Resolving to Write More – A Worthy Thought by Carol VanHook, via Flickr, CC License, no changes made

1. LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network, with over 313 million members across the globe.

2. Over 39 million students and recent graduates use the network.

3. LinkedIn company pages have grown to include more than 3 million businesses.

4. LinkedIn is responsible for nearly 4 times the amount of website homepage visits than Facebook and Twitter.

5. Google is a fan of LinkedIn company pages, generally ranking them in the first two pages of search results.

6. The network represents over 148 different industries…why not get yours in the mix?

7. 43% of all marketers have found a customer via LinkedIn.

8. 64% of all visits to corporate websites from social media networks are made through LinkedIn.

9. Companies like Google, IBM and Hewlett Packard have over 1.7, 1.5 and 1.4 million followers.

10. LinkedIn is mobile-friendly! Over 38% of visits to the site are made via these popular devices.

Today’s “we mean business” social media network, LinkedIn boasts many benefits for both professional individuals and companies. A great venue for connecting with current and potential customers, building a business-savvy audience, job hunting, employee seeking and more, we’ll let these stats speak for themselves. Click here to sign up.

Sources: LinkedIn, The Next Web, Forbes, Social Media Examiner, Web Dam, CMO

Image Credit: linkedin logo by Esther Vargas, CC License

Since different platforms require different ways of thinking—Facebook posts are longer than those for Twitter, which have a different voice than LinkedIn status updates —there’s no real cut and paste. We have, however, put together this toolkit to help you create better content, faster. Bookmark this Online Marketing Toolkit for templates, tips and tools that you can use over and over again to enrich your social media accounts, your business blog and even your company website.

Building an Editorial Calendar

Where are you in your business blogging journey? Whether you’ve just started or have been blogging for years, it’s helpful to create and refer to a well-thought out editorial calendar. However, there’s no need to re-invent the wheel – check out the Blog Content Planning Guides and Editorial Calendar Templates by B2BInbound to get you started.

Creating the Title for Your Blog

Need help filling that calendar with ideas? While the content is up to you, there are many scientifically proven ways in which to effectively present your ideas. Are you going to be doing a case study this week or just covering the basics? This list, brought to you by Freelance Writing Solutions gives you great templates for possible blog titles that will catch a reader’s eye. No muss, no fuss.

Writing a Blog Post

As important as your business blog is, the more time you can save while still creating quality content, the better. B2Binbound suggests using their blog template that takes you through a checklist for creating valuable but concise articles, consistently. Creating your own template can be a great way to maintain your voice when inviting informed colleagues or guest bloggers to write a piece.

Downloading Images Quickly and Legally

We’ve talked in the past about the importance of images in breaking up wordy text and visually representing ideas. There are tons of places online such as Free Images and Google Image Search that allow you to search a single keyword and receive great quality images for free. Google Image Search now has the option to search images by usage rights and is a leading site to find free stock photos for your blog.

Resizing Images Without Photoshop

In order to maximize space, it’s important to be familiar with the image sizing guidelines pertaining to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and other platforms. Socially Stacked’s The Ultimate Social Media Template Guide offers interesting tips and tricks and lays out the recommended dimensions for a wide range of social networks.

Now that you know the right sizes, upload your image into iPiccy and either resize or crop the photo. You can also apply beautiful photo effects and filters, all within seconds and completely free.

Sending Your Content to Different Channels

Now that your blog post is done, marketing it through your different channels will be a breeze with these helpful social media templates that offer effective options for building your statuses faster.

The Next Web’s templates will help grow your Facebook Page, while HubSpot is ever helpful on Twitter and all other social media sites.

Recycling Old Content

You don’t need a skilled graphic designer to recycle existing content into something exciting and new. When the time comes, Simple Booklet lets you turn your existing marketing collateral into web-based booklets that you can then post across social networks, email and embed on your website.

Checking for Spelling and Grammar

Even the work of the best copywriters and content creators requires a second look. Save time by slipping your content—whether it be a lengthy blog post or a short Facebook status—into Online-Spellcheck.com to ensure it is polished and typo-free.

Voilà!

Instead of re-inventing the wheel, visit these resources for help creating an editorial calendar outline, writing blog and social media posts, downloading and resizing images, breathing new life into old content and proofreading. Save time and enrich your content with this Professional Online Marketing Toolkit and send it to your friends!

What are your favourite tools to use? Let us know in the comments or on Facebook.

Put Your Best Photo Forward

LinkedIn is a professional network and your profile photo should reflect that. Choose a headshot that you are comfortable with – avoid blurry shots, selfies and cropping group photos. The image you choose should represent who you are as both an individual and professional; work attire, polished hair and makeup (if applicable) and a smile go a long way. If necessary, have a friend or coworker take an up-to-date photograph of you to upload.

Choose a Creative Caption

That little line of text underneath your name is what shows up in your profile’s search result. Instead of listing your current position, optimize this tidbit with keywords relevant to your education, skills and interests. For example, if you run a digital agency, replace “The founder of Digital123.” with “Digital strategist specializing in branding, social media and content marketing.” Take the 120-character allotment you’re given and run with it.

Write a Stunning Summary

Many LinkedIn-ers forego adding a summary in favour of simply inputting work experience. A truly polished profile, however, draws readers and recruiters in with an engaging, interesting summary. Explain your qualifications and what makes you the right person for the job. Write in a conversational tone; showcase your accomplishments, discuss your career goals and avoid an overload of industry jargon.

Keep It Updated

A crucial component of LinkedIn success is an up-to-date profile. As your career grows, add relevant information to your headline, summary, education and work experience. Ensure that your profile picture is an accurate representation of your current appearance. Input new skills and expertise as you go – this section of your profile lets readers know what you’re good at and is highly searchable, which is great for SEO.

Add More

Detailing your work experience is essential to attracting potential employers and valuable networking opportunities. LinkedIn allows users to upload documents, images and even videos to specific jobs, and this is especially beneficial for individuals in creative fields. Liven up your profile by attaching images of successful projects, be it graphic design work, a website or architecture. Use video to demonstrate activism, event planning, community work and related expertise.

Polishing your LinkedIn profile is all about getting creative, standing out and showing off. While an appropriate photo is the first step, a creative caption, one-of-a-kind summary and interesting visuals are key to an engaging demonstration of your education, skills and work experience. Keep your profile up-to-date with your latest responsibilities, positions and training and you’re well on your way to reaping the rewards of LinkedIn.

Image Credit: Lotis Social Media

This is understandably a big decision: outsourcing your social efforts is tantamount to handing over the keys to your brand messaging, since you’re essentially agreeing to let someone else speak under your company voice. The case for doing so, however, is sound: according to Forbes, over 60% of small business owners who tried managing their social accounts by themselves saw virtually zero return on investment in the first quarter or 2013 because they weren’t doing it correctly. If you’re willing to take that step and let the experts handle it, choosing the right online marketing team is essential, as the closer a relationship you have with your marketers, the more personal and sincere their Tweets, Facebook posts and all other interactions will come across as. In a nutshell, personalization of messaging combined with adherence to social media fundamentals is the key to success, which is why businesses that use social channels the right way end up with nearly double the leads of businesses that don’t.

Go Boutique For Communication’s Sake

Sometimes less is more. Small boutique design agencies typically have hyper-focused, close-knit teams that cover all core areas of web marketing (design & build, SEO, social, blogging, development) while offering the crucial element of close client communication. Choosing an agency that allows you to have regular Skypes or conference calls with the actual person who will be posting under your company’s name makes an enormous difference. For all their experience and wide client bases, large agencies usually don’t offer that personal touch unless their internal communications are extremely streamlined (which, trust us, is rare).

Brand copywriting for social media is a sensitive beast: the exact words used in your individual posts and tweets can mean the difference between leads generated and going completely unnoticed. Without knowing the fundamentals and best practices behind how to engage your social audience, it’s difficult to get value out of your time commitment if you’re managing your profiles yourself. In other words, setting aside a budget for boutique-style social media management services may be one of the best marketing decisions you ever make.

Image Credit: Angel Investment Network