LinkedIn Smart Networking

LinkedIn for Lead Generation and Relationship Building

LinkedIn can be a tremendous driver of website traffic and leads, especially for companies who sell products and services to other businesses. In fact, a 2012 study by HubSpot showed that LinkedIn generates 277% more leads than Twitter or Facebook!  As with all social networking for business, the key is to subtly promote your business without using LinkedIn as an advertising platform. This post focuses on using your personal profile to build connections. Your business LinkedIn page is limited to posting updates and products.

Complete and Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile

This could be an entire post of its own, but we’ll cover the basics here. Try not to leave any section, or any field in a section blank. Make sure your profile image is uploaded (no one wants to do business with a faceless avatar) and professional. Though that photo of you on the boat with your son is fine for your Facebook profile, it doesn’t belong here. This is a place for your professional head shot – close …

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Is-Quality-King-Social-Media-Marketing

Social Media Content – Why Quality Matters

Some say “content is king” when marketing your business. We say QUALITY content is king. Whether you’re blogging, updating a status, or tweeting for your business – what you share matters. So often when people don’t get the engagement they want from social media marketing, the problem lies with their quality of their content.

Just like most things in life, much of your social media marketing ROI is dependent on what you put into it. In this case, we mean the quality and consistency of the content used in particular. Here are a few areas every business owner should evaluate from time to time to keep quality in their content.

Tips to Evaluate Your Social Content

Is Your Content Consistent? This is a big one. Higher engagement results when fans can depend on your content. You should post to social media platforms at least once a day. In fact, many companies find improved benefit in posting multiple times a day. This will help establish your company’s presence and credibility. Insider Time-Saver Tip: Use Buffer or

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Is your LinkedIn Company Page a Ghost Town?

How to Grow Your LinkedIn Company Page Following

LinkedIn is the highest lead-producing platform in all social media for many businesses (especially B2B companies), yet the bulk of the activity seems to happen between people – not on company pages, and that makes sense.  But, what if you are involved in multiple businesses, or, what if you are responsible for maintaining the LinkedIn company page of a business you don’t plan to work for for the next forty years?  Being the conscientious employee you are, you don’t want to leave their LinkedIn presence desolate when you move on.

So, how can you get a little more action on your LinkedIn company profile?

Optimize your LinkedIn Company Profile

Seems like a no-brainer, but it’s worth double-checking to make sure you have a compelling cover and profile photo, all the details are filled in and current on your page, and your services section is filled out.

Share Relevant Content

People use LinkedIn for professional networking, so tailor your updates accordingly. Unless your business is about cats, sharing a popular Facebook cat meme on LinkedIn might not go over well. Focus more …

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Instagram Logo - Business Tags

Make Tags Work for Your Business – Instagram

Using images with social media is a sure-fire way to engage your customers. Don’t take our word for it.  Research from HubSpot shows that using images in posts boosts fan engagement by 53%. With the ever increasing popularity of photo-driven social media sites, savvy business owners are learning to use such platforms, including Instagram, to their advantage.

Instagram Rolls Out Tagging Feature

You may have noticed a recent change to your Instagram account – a new feature that allows you to tag people in the pictures you upload. What does this mean for your Instagram business account? Tagging will help you connect with customers and fans, thus increasing business engagement.

Tagging Helps Fans Get Behind Your Brand

Ask any business owner and they will tell you that success depends largely on fan loyalty. Fan appreciation and trust is just as crucial to thriving in business as are quality product and services. You can provide the best product or service available, but if you lack loyal customers, sales will plummet. This new tagging …

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Google Plus Business Pages make you like Iron Man

How Google Plus Business Pages Make You Like Iron Man

Yup, you read that right. Forgive me, but I just saw the movie “Iron Man 3” and am still swooning a bit.

When I compare Google Plus business pages to Iron Man, I’m really referring to the suit of armor as the business pages and the person inside as the business owner.

Companies and small-business owners are finding protection (and a sense of awesomeness) in being able to separate their social media channels into more clearly defined territories. Sure, you can party it up like Tony Stark on your personal page, but when you need to go save the world, you don your professional page image – your Iron Man suit – and it’s all business.

Hopefully you’ve been on Google Plus long enough to get the feel for how to work your profile by finding great content, interacting with folks, etc. If you haven’t, you have no business creating a Google Plus business page. I say this with love because I know all too well the phrase “biting off …

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Could your social media strategy be as maddening as talking to tech support?

When Social Media is Like Bad Tech Support

A seemingly endless string of tech support chats yesterday made me wonder – are there things social media marketers might be doing that could make customers THAT frustrated? Heaven forbid!

Here’s what was so wrong with the way “customer service” happened for me yesterday, and how we can avoid doing the same in social and online marketing.

You Don’t Ask the Right Questions

Your customers have no way of knowing that some of the information they have could be vital to solving the problem. Do not expect them to provide it all up front. Not asking for all the relevant information means that you are going to give the wrong answers and waste their time. Draw them out.

Socially speaking, don’t assume you know what your customer’s struggles are. Ask them! If you don’t get a response, ask again, and in a different way. Make sure that the terminology you use it not overly technical. When you use tech-speak, most people will shut down, too embarrassed to ask for clarification.  Don’t make them feel foolish.

Use social media to ask …

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Why I Won't Give You That Proposal - Yet

Why I Won’t Give You a Proposal

“How much does social media support cost?” Since my days as a website designer, I’ve been asked about cost before anything else is said.

Asking, “How much is a website?”  is like asking, “How much is a house?” The answer, of course, is also the same – it depends! The same is true for social media support.

Why I Won’t Give You That Proposal – Yet

This stance might seem foolish at first glance, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t sometimes tempted to just send it out right away.  The business might be so compelling, and the business owner so interesting, that I almost can’t help myself.

One-size-fits-all simply does NOT work in online marketing. Yet, perhaps because people are used to being able to find pricing on websites, many business owners still want a proposal before sharing their business and goals. Indeed, we find that many companies don’t even know what their goals are. We are happy to help you in this discovery process. You will no doubt find that the clarity it gives you goes beyond …

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Gavel - Could using images on social accounts get you sued

Could Using Images on Social Media Get You Sued?

Question: Is a picture worth _______

a thousand words, or a thousand dollar lawsuit?

Answer? It depends!

With the ever expanding use of images in social media, the reality is that many people and businesses are putting themselves at the risk of being cited for copyright violations. Bloggers, Pinterest users, and Facebook users are at risk. In fact, most of you have already used a copyrighted image.  Think that statement seems over the top? It’s not.

I want to share a story that sent chills up my spine. It behooves all social media users to read this blog post – it could spare you the stress and expense of being involved in a lawsuit.

Blogger Sued for Using Photos

Roni Loren is a published writer. She’s the National Bestselling Author of The Loving on the Edge and blogger for Blog Her. That being the case, you may assume that Roni is familiar with copyright regulations. You’d be correct, but that wasn’t enough to stop the lawsuit.

Roni explains, “Like most …

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Negative Facebook Feedback

Why am I Getting Negative Feedback on Facebook?

Who of us doesn’t want to be liked? The very question is absurd. Of course we want to be liked – both on a personal and professional level. Of course, there are some out their who maintain the “I don’t need people to approve of me” line of thought, but for most of us acceptance is all too often an indicator of success.

Negative Feedback and Facebook

Why does this matter in the social world? If you have a Facebook business page, you’re familiar with Facebook Insights. What you may not be aware of,  is that hidden deep within these insights  is a tool designed to track negative feedback on your page.  Before you scurry off,  pulse racing, desperate to know who doesn’t like you, there are a few things you should know.

How Do I Know if I Have Negative Feedback?

From your business page, look for the  ”Insights” panel (look for a mini graph). Click “see all.” Here,  on your Insights home page you will see your posts sorted by dates. This is where we can track feedback for …

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