Social Media With Rita

So, you want to be a social media consultant? If so, there is nothing stopping you. In theory, if you know how to use Facebook, Twitter and all the other social media sites, you could set up a consultancy tomorrow.
But that’s just the theory. The reality is that you need a sharp set of skills to succeed as a social media expert, particularly if you want to gain the trust of successful companies. And given there is a lot of competition out there, it is critical that you can set yourself apart.
So, if you want to enjoy success, there are some critical things to do that will enable you bring a lot more to the table. Here’s a few ideas to get you started.

Measurable, provable results
No business owner is going to let you loose on their social media channels without seeing proof of what you can do. It’s an age-old problem for consultants who are just starting out. You need clients to prove your worth, but you can’t prove your worth without clients. The answer is more simple than you might think – although it might mean giving your time away for nothing. Ask a family member or friend with a business if you can help them get started – or improve – their social media channels. Create a case study by recording everything you do, and the results you achieve,. Do well, and it’s a nice piece of evidence that you know what you are talking about.

Communication
When you are approaching potential clients, it is essential that you come across well, right from the off. So, communication skills are vital. Don’t forget, great communication is about listening just as much as it is about talking. If you struggle with either aspect, consider doing some business communication training.

Multimedia skills
Social media is all about making use of all different kinds of media. Think about what comes up on your Facebook feed. There will be humorous images, blog posts, videos, and infographics. There will be links to podcasts, GIFs, and all kinds of other things. If you want to be a social media consultant, you will need to have a good knowledge about how all these mediums work.

Analytical prowess
As a social media consultant, you will live and die by your ability to get the right results. But every business will be different, and have a variety of expectations. For example, one minute you will be working with a business who only wants to get more targeted likes. The next day, however, you might be working for a company that is having an enormous sales push. Either way, you will have to learn to be analytical to ensure you are giving them a return on their investment. Math, spreadsheets, data – it’s all imperative to prove your worth.

Pattern recognition ability
Finally, can you spot patterns that are starting to appear in all the data you look at? If not, social media may not be the perfect outlet for your talents. Recognizing patterns is becoming one of the most important factors in good social media practice. And if you want to differentiate yourself from the competition, it’s an essential skill to learn.

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Getting confused by the tangled up world of social media is nothing to be ashamed of. If you’re a business owner, trying to navigate the social media landscape can be a real challenge. If that’s the situation you’re in, you should look for ways to simplify your approach. Here’s how you can do that.
Focus on the Platforms Where Your Customers Can be Found
There are so many different social media platforms out there these days. If your business is trying to maintain a presence on them all, it will be impossible to do the job properly. Most businesses don’t need to use more than 3 or 4 platforms. There is simply no need to use them all. So, choose the ones where your target customers are most likely to be found. If you want to appeal to young adults, places like Tumblr, Facebook and Instagram will be key. But you won’t find many people over the age of 45 on sites like Tumblr and Instagram.

Increase Engagement with Images
Studies have shown that posts and tweets that have an image attached to them are more likely to be interacted with. So, if you want to grab people’s attention and stop them skipping past, you should start to add images to your posts. You could also add videos if you want to add another dimension. When you do this, people will be more likely to stop and take notice of the message you’re trying to deliver. Engagement is key on social media, so don’t ignore this simple way of improving your technique.
Listen to the Experts
Sometimes, you need a little help to fulfill your potential. This applies to your business’s social media approach as much as it does to anything else in life. There are certainly people out there who know more about social media and how to use it to reach customers than you do. So, why not take advantage of these experts and listen to what they have to say? Social media management companies can help you if you don’t want to carry out the tasks by yourself.

Understand What Makes a Post Successful
You probably want all your posts to engage with customers and spread far and wide. This usually doesn’t happen though. For a post to get shares or for a tweet to get retweeted many times, it needs to have certain qualities. First of all, it needs to have some relevance to the people who like your page or follow you. They have to see something interesting, entertaining or informative in it. If they don’t, why would they have any desire to share it with anyone else out there?
Be Yourself
Finally, you should try to be yourself. If you are the one running the business and the one controlling its social media output, you should be yourself. That way, the business will develop an authentic and believable voice on social media. And that voice and tone will also become consistent across all the different social media platforms you use. If you sound inauthentic, your social media strategy won’t be very successful at all, so just be yourself and see how it works out.

Although many business owners aren’t aware of it, social media has become a huge part of HR and recruitment over the past few years. From relationship building to large-scale hunts for top veteran talent, there are countless ways in which social media is changing the way we all think about HR. If you haven’t already integrated social media into your recruitment efforts, then there’s a fair chance that you’re lagging behind some of your closest competitors. I’m sure this isn’t a nice prospect to consider, so it’s time to take action! Here are some of the biggest reasons to integrate your social media presence with your HR.

One of the biggest reasons to mesh HR and social media together is the wide variety of talent pools you can draw from. If you were told to find someone to fill a vacancy through social media, then I’m sure your first stop would be LinkedIn. Sure, this platform is specifically made for professional networking. However, if you think that it’s the only network that’s valuable for executing a recruitment drive, then you’re greatly mistaken! While LinkedIn may have been your only real choice a few years ago, recruitment has quickly become multi-channel. Twitter and Quora have proven handy in sifting through candidates to find the best talent, and various Facebook groups exist specifically or career networking. Aside from that, there are many niche and industry-specific platforms which are steadily gaining popularity. Furthermore, social networks can be a great resource for finding blog posts and articles to educate yourself on HR. This can be extremely useful when it comes to nitty-gritty details like understanding TUPE.

By making social media a big part of your HR strategy, you can also up the quality of candidates you have to choose from. Whether you’re going for niche groups or not, the way you apply social media can have a massive impact on the quality of candidates you get for a posting. If you pay for an ad on a site like Indeed, you’ll probably get a fair amount of responses. However, that doesn’t mean that you’re not missing out on candidates who are better suited to your company. Let’s say that you have a position to fill, and the perfect person for the job is already employed. There are things they don’t like about their job, but they’re not quite ready to start looking for something else. However, if they or one of their friends happens upon your listing on Facebook or Twitter, and they decide that they’d love to work for your company, you could end up with a valuable new addition to the team. By utilizing social media channels, you can cast your net a little wider, and ensure that you’re not cheating yourself out of the perfect candidate.

Social media also offers you a powerful channel through which to shape and improve the image of your brand. When a company’s social media presence becomes large enough, it becomes the primary source through which people get information on the brand. If you leverage this in the right way, it can attract candidates who share your vision of your niche or industry, as well as your company’s values and culture. The modern professional learns about individual businesses by reading engaging blog posts, news features, conversations with their friends and family, and various other forms of interaction. If you can craft all that buzz to your advantage, it will do wonders for your business’s Social media also offers you a powerful channel through which to shape and improve the image of your brand. When a company’s social media presence becomes large enough, it becomes the primary source through which people get information on the brand. If you leverage this in the right way, it can attract candidates who share your vision of your niche or industry, as well as your company’s values and culture. The modern professional learns about individual businesses by all reputation. The information explosion that’s constantly happening on different social channels works both ways. Just as users have a huge amount of access to information on businesses and their staff, you have a massive resource for finding out more about your potential candidates. A whole encyclopedia of skills, experience, and culture is at your fingertips, so don’t let it go to waste!

Another reason why you should be utilizing social media as part of your HR strategy is that it’s by far the best resource for finding freelancers and remote talent. As I’m sure you’re aware, what people consider the standard makeup of a business has changed massively in recent years. As a business owner, it’s no longer a given that you have to find an office to house all your workers and equipment, and provide them with  comfy chairs for desk work if you want them to be efficient, or set strict working hours for all of your staff. In fact, all you really need to start a profitable operation these days is the skills to provide a service, a computer and an internet connection. When you’re looking to recruit remote workers and freelancers, social media is going to be your greatest weapon. If you’re after cheaper or more specialized skills, or simply want to make more contacts in a certain geographic area, then you should be utilizing as many social channels as possible. Proactive networking through LinkedIn and other platforms will give you access to a huge variety of talent, scattered all over the world.

As you can see, social media can be an incredibly powerful tool in bringing new talent into your company. However, it also has another big application which you need to be thinking about: engaging your current employees. Although a lot of people use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to escape from work, it can be a very effective method for broadcasting important news and updates to everyone at the company. If there’s been a sudden change of plans for a meeting, or you’re buying a new piece of equipment soon, a simple status or group message will ensure that all your staff are up to date. If you’re planning a team-building day, or some kind of charity event, then you can use it as an open forum and get ideas from your employees. This, in turn, can help to strengthen your brand. Utilise this end of social media in the right way, and your staff will become much more engaged with the business as a whole.

If you thought that HR and social media were completely divorced, then I hope this post has changed your tune!

Social media is one of the most powerful marketing tools in the world today. With social media, you reach a massive online audience and add to your business brand. You can connect different networks to create a marketing campaign that is both strong and accessible. You can even lead customers where you want them to online and build up the search ranking of your site. As you can see, there are numerous reasons to use social media more in your business. However, to keep your social media campaign at the most effective level, you need to keep up with the latest trends. Here are the biggest and the best in 2016.

Social Media Buy Buttons

In the past, if you wanted customers to buy a product you had to lead them away from your social media page with a link. Not anymore because now you can use buy buttons. With a buy button, you can advertise a product or service on social media and get customers to buy straight away. There’s no redirection and no chance of customers getting lost once they leave your page. One click and they have made a purchase. It’s easy to setup, and it’s easy for customers to use. It’s no wonder this idea has taken the marketing world by storm.

Customer Content Generation

You don’t have to waste time making content for your business. Not when you can encourage customers to create content for you. It’s a great idea because a consumer is more likely to trust another customer rather than the word of a business. There are plenty of different ways to do this. Restaurant trends include encouraging customers to take pictures of their food and posting it. If your chef’s presentation skills are top notch, it might encourage a lot more customers to stop by. For other businesses, customers can be encouraged to share tips, reviews or even stories based on a product.

Live Feeds

Customers constantly expect to be updated with fresh information and interact with businesses. Live feeds are the best new way to do this. With a live feed, you can directly reach your customers, and you provide regular updates. They are easy to setup, and all you need is a camera and something to say. Once you have that, watch thousands of people click on your live feed. Remember to promote it, using social media before you set it up.

SEO

You’d be surprised by how many customers you’ll pick up by SEO when consumers search for social media. 33 percent of all organic searchers will click the first link that comes up at the top of the page. That’s why it’s important your social media has SEO content as much as your website. You have to make every source of engagement as strong as the others. If someone else’s social media page comes up when searching for your services, you’ve already the lost the battle.

These are just some of the social media trends that you’ll need to keep a check on in 2016.

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Starting a new business venture can be an exciting and daunting prospect. Any entrepreneur will tell you that it requires hard work, some risk and a bit of luck. But the feeling of creating a successful business, something that you created out of nothing, is simply amazing. Where some new businesses fail is not seeing the potential benefit of social media. It is something that has seemed to have dominated our phone screens, laptops and desktops. But it isn’t just there for you to keep in touch with your friends, it’s fast becoming a solid tool for businesses and here’s why.

Your potential reach is 1000’s, maybe millions

That’s right. You read that right. Social media has the power to get your business and service in front of the eyes and ears of many potential customers. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram can all add to your business. By posting something you may encourage an existing customer to share your post, their friends may the share or like, so will their friends. The cycle is endless and could allow you to reach so much more people than you would in some commercial advertising options. It’s free to post on your business pages and such, the potential is huge.

Branding is everything

Just like you, many other businesses and entrepreneurs are aware of the benefit of social media. So this is where you have to think outside the box. Branding can play a huge part in this. Consistency is key when it comes to posting on social media. You must do it and do it often. You add a picture to back up your words. Don’t just post any old thing; people can easily not engage with you.

A marketing strategy will always help you get on top

Having a marketing and social media strategy in place will help you to post consistently and stick to your branding. However, starting a new business venture can pose many other things on your to-do list. While social media is important it may not be high on your priority list. Even though it should be. Getting professionals to help you create a strategy, could be an excellent move on your part. Companies like CandidSky know exactly what they are doing. They will know how to interact and reach your target audience. Once you have done that they will also be best placed to advise how you build on the original success.

Adding a face to the business could be a smart move

People buy from people. But the internet has made that difficult to achieve. So adding your face to the brand could be a great step forward in your marketing strategy. You don’t need to plaster your picture all over your logo’s or website. Just adding a personal picture or portrait of yourself will make people feel more comfortable with your business. As it grows, you could introduce staff members in a similar way.

I hope this highlights some of the benefits your start-up venture will get from social media.

Want to know how using social media can boost your SEO rankings? There are some links between the two great online marketing areas that you can use to your advantage. In today’s guide, I’m going to go through some of the key factors to look out for – so let’s dive in straight away.

It helps you build links

The more links you have from quality sources, the more emphasis search engines will give you for your rankings. So, not only will quality content get links shared and seen by many, but they could also end up as a reference on someone else’s blog. It’s a powerful indicator to the likes of Google that you have something interesting to say about your chosen subject. And, it’s a great way to prove your industry authority to your readership, too.

It gives you more followers

The more followers you have on social media, the more relevance Google will give your influence. And that means higher rankings, more visitors, and more sales. However, there is one thing to look out for – the quality of your followers. Google won’t take kindly to a Facebook page with thousands of bought followers, and those numbers will be discounted. Look here to find out more – http://www.salon.com. It’s important to build a following up in an organic, natural way if you want to see results.

Sharing has an impact

Social sharing is, for all intents and purposes, social proof. While Google doesn’t give a lot of credence to these social shares on an individual basis, you will find more joy if they happen regularly. You need to be looking at the biggest numbers for the highest impact, but all social shares help in a way; however small. Try appealing to your followers to share your posts across their social networks. It will help make you a lot more visible to others, too, and it should see you grab some new fans.

Location, location, location

Local optimization is becoming more important than ever these days. Head here for more details on why – http://losangelesseo.org. And, social media channels give you an awesome opportunity to send locality based signals to the search engines. How? Get involved with local events, talk to other brands and businesses in your area, and even attend trade shows business events. Make sure you post about your activities at the event and focus on the location. If you can get some conversations going, you will attract followers. And, you will also signal to the search engines that you are a business to know about in your community. To learn more about local SEO optimization, go here- http://www.losangelesseo.org

Branding

Branding is vital for any business, as you already know. But, when you create a buzz around your brand on social media, it can also affect your rankings. Why? Because every time someone searches for your brand name, Google takes note. And, you will start to rank higher for your non-branded keywords. It’s a win-win. Concentrate on improving your social media output and you should start seeing meaningful results.
Need any more social media help? Take a look at my blog articles for more brilliant tips!

You may have noticed that social media apps are more than a little popular these days! The likes of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat are worth billions. They’re sit at the top of the App Store chart on a daily basis, and they’ve become an ingrained part of our lives. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to design and build the next Twitter?

Well, it might sound like fantasy, but it is possible. Anyone can come up with an idea for an app, and sketch it out. Take your idea to expert app developers, and bring it to life. It sounds simple, but it all relies on one fantastic idea. At the core of these apps is a fantastic heart and foundation that entices users. So, how do you create your own?

Mimic real life – Creating a social media app is all about taking a social experience, and putting it on the web. That’s the beauty behind Facebook’s model. They took basic social interactions, and put them online. Instagram is nothing more than showing people pictures, and telling friends about what you’re up to. If you want to create a new social media experience, take a real-world interaction, and put it online.

Start sketching – You can go over ideas in your head for as long as you want, but the best trick is to start sketching. When you start drawing the app, and sketching out how it will look, the ideas start to come naturally. After all, an app is a hands-on, creative experience. Don’t worry about being too detailed or specific yet. Just get a feel for how the app will work, and what it will do. make hundreds of little sketches, and pull all the best ideas together.

image

Do some research – At the same time, dive into the world of social media apps. Get a sense of what else is out there, and make sure your idea is unique. Does your app already exist? What could yours do better, and where is the gap in the market? Think like Snapchat. There are already hundreds of messaging and photo apps out there. But, they found a way to make it unique, by introducing self-destructing images. That unique idea now values them at more than $10 billion!

Make a wireframe – With some good sketches and plenty of research, you’re not ready to design the app. There are plenty of wireframing software kits out there. They allow you to quickly and easily put together a flow for your app. Using simple drag-and-drop boxes, you can create a blueprint of the design.

Get feedback – Before you finally hand everything over to the expert app developers, get some feedback. Show your designs to your friends and family. Most importantly, show them to your target audience. Take their thoughts on board, and make any final changes. Go back to the drawing board, and make sure it’s perfect.
Finally, you can hand the blueprints over to your app developers, and let them build the tricky parts. All that’s left to do is market your app. Congratulations, you just created your first social media application!