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How Small Businesses Have Evolved Over the Years

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Business evolution“How has small businesses evolved over the years?” I hear many people ask.  Not long ago some people would have been unaware that a company or business was operating in certain parts of the country or a small secluded village or town.  Keeping track of the best and most expanding business firms in your own Country or globally was difficult.  With the expansion of the internet and the world being more connected, even small businesses remain in the limelight.

The internet now plays a huge role for most businesses on a global scale with the increase of online marketing tools and consumer participation.  Email marketing has been an important tool over the past years for small businesses, but today this usage has increased alongside the use of social media marketing which has exploded if compared with five years ago.

There is also an increase of businesses using, or using more automated business solutions ie inventory, payroll etc

Even most households and individuals are now directly connected to the internet in one shape or form; you really don’t need to own a PC anymore in order to get connected!

A survey was completed a few years ago and showed that it was harder to run a business then than 5 years ago…

  • 55% said the economy has hit their business hard
  • 49% said it’s harder to keep pace with technology
  • 40% said there’s more direct competition

Only 12% of the respondents said that it was easier to run a business than it was five years ago, and of that group of small businesses, 89% citied online marketing tools that make it easier and less expensive to market their business.

The survey also showed an uptick in the importance of supporting local businesses with customers.

When asked whether they think being locally owned and operated is a major reason customers support their business today 51% of respondents said yes, up from the 42% who thought so five years ago.  Even a little private bakery that one wishes to open can sooner succeed with the right investment in marketing, service and product.

Businesses are now more connected and continue to expand their social circles both through online and offline networking which has increased and become more popular today with some small businesses sending representatives to networking functions weekly, fortnightly or more frequently.

Now, with just a few clicks your company or organization can go viral and with the click of a few photographs your work can be viewed and recognised.  With a simple press of the “Send” button, you can instantly get your message out there to a global audience and the opportunity to increase sales and expand your business.

 

 

 

 

Survey Source: Small Businesses: Then and Now Survey, Constant Contact, 2013

Picture courtesy of FlowCentric

Top 5 Reasons you should consider business outsourcing

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Business Outsourcing image

 

As someone who owns their own business it can be tempting to try and do everything yourself. However, whilst this can seem like the best way forward it isn’t always the most sensible or productive. Sometimes you need to think outside of the box and determine new ways to bring in new talent to your business. Looking into business outsourcing is a great way of doing this and can benefit your business in so many different ways in the long run.

Save Yourself Time

Getting someone else on board can be a great time saver.  If you have someone on board that knows what they are doing and doesn’t require any hand holding from you then it will save you value time, rather than trying to do all the tasks yourself.  This then enables you to pick and choose the tasks you want to do and to delegate the ones you don’t. You’ll then have more free time to focus on other priorities.

Flexible Workers

Having permanent people on board can seem like a good idea, but it can also feel like an expensive one at times. By outsourcing certain parts of your business you can pick and choose when they work for you and what they do. Many outsource companies offer flexible working patterns which, allows you to pay purely for the time spent working on your tasks, rather than you having to fork out for a full-time wage or employee.  Many flexible workers and Virtual Assistants are responsible for their own taxation and home office setup including equipment, yet another benefit to consider.

Bring New Skills into Your Organisation

When you outsource work you also have a good chance of bringing new skills into your business. You may know your business inside and out, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you know everything! Having a fresh set of eyes, skills and new experiences on board can really benefit your business and definitely a positive reason to consider outsourcing at least some of your work.

Trying Something New

If you are looking to try something new when it comes to your business then it can be handy and beneficial to get someone new on board. The benefit of this will be that they are able to bring new skills to the table whilst contributing new ideas and possible ways in which your business could work better.  They may even share past experiences with other companies and use this experience to ensure your transition goes smoothly.

Minimal Effort

Hiring someone to outsource your work to should be a straight forward process. In fact many companies have set procedures in place to help make it as smooth as possible for you. If you choose a company with experience then the chances are they have been through this with other clients beforehand so will know exactly how to minimise disruption to your business.

The good news is that many outsourcing companies will have details of their services and customer reviews on their website. This means that finding someone that is the perfect match to your needs and your business shouldn’t be too long winded or any hassle. You just need to spend a little time researching your options to find the perfect fit.  If you would like to know more about outsourcing and how it can benefit you & your business, then feel free to contact us for more details here.

 

 

 

 

Photo courtesy of Active Rain

Top social media platforms for businesses

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Today’s world is the world of technology that connects us faster than anything else. Some businesses who have utilised the web have reported booming sales & profits, so if you also aspire to join the ranks of web entrepreneurs who are making millions, the opportunities for online businesses are seemingly unlimited. Social networking sites have made the task simpler and easier to convert the fans, friends, followers and subscribers to dedicated customers. Social networking sites are a great way to promote your new or existing business. Creating back links to your website on your social media platforms is a useful way to gain a greater global audience and to encourage sales growth.

Social Media image

Being a web entrepreneur you know all the social media sites available today but the question that springs to mind is, which ones should you leverage? You may choose to use them all to promote your business but in reality if you run a small business, using all platforms is not a feasible option because it becomes difficult to invest the time needed. So, with your limited resources, which platform is best for you?

Select social media sites based on their best usability to your business:

Facebook: Facebook is a great “social utility” for your business.  On Facebook, you not only connect but also expand your network, so create your business page and share your business news & updates. Strong brands get a lot of active following, so if you have a strong brand value, Facebook may be the best option.  However, if you are a nascent player you’ll need to focus your efforts on to page promotion which will help you acquire new customers. The majority of new businesses use Facebook as their first social media platform, whereby maximum `likes’ are driven by pictures.  Studies show that more than 90% of `likes’ are derived from photos.

LinkedIn: LinkedIn is a professional B2B network site that helps you connect to other professionals and promote your business amongst groups. LinkedIn aims at career opportunities and is a good place for recruiters, whilst 91% of marketers use LinkedIn. Many business contacts are made daily on LinkedIn which results in it being the leading social media platform for B2B opportunities.

Pinterest: Pinterest is a trusted information and advice source for online customers whilst also enabling businesses to increase their sales by visual displays (pins). Many users on Pinterest are there to get shopping inspiration, and it has performed exceptionally well in shaping the mind set of shoppers to make purchases. You can use Pinterest to gain more customers by creating and sharing pins of interest. When individuals find something that they like on the web, they can `pin it’ to their Pinterest Board and access it anytime.  A lot of top brands use Pinterest to promote their products by way of visual demonstration.

Google+: If your customer acquisition strategy involves SEO, then Google Plus (Google+) is your stop.  The more +1’s you receive on your posts; the greater your chances to improve your search rankings. High-value brands use Google Plus actively as a part of their social media campaigns. So if you are serious about your Google ranking, you cannot afford to miss Google plus among your social media platforms.

Being new to social networking sites, you may wonder if marketing via social media is just a lot of hype. Will this actually make a difference or will anyone actually read your posts? Doubt certainly creeps in, and you wonder whether your business will grow or not? But don’t despair! Try giving a digital handshake to your potential customers. It will undoubtedly take time to build your audience on your social media platforms but with some thought & lots of dedication you’ll develop a strong and dedicated following and take your business towards success.  If you really don’t have the time to invest in this important aspect of your business then an easy solution would be to outsource this work to an affordable Virtual Assistant who can add value by providing remote business support without the red tape.

 

“Social media is important for your business, it helps you gain greater exposure.”

Facebook Looking to Reduce ‘Overly Promotional Posts’

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Facebook looking to reduce promotional postsAs a business owner you’re undoubtedly using Facebook as one of your main digital marketing mediums, but if you’re not, why not!? After all, it’s a fantastic place to engage with your customers and prospects and get a really personal feel for everything that people expect from you as a brand.

However, an announcement that appeared on the social network’s newsroom blog last Friday may have an impact on the amount of exposure your business page gets going forward.

Now Facebook algorithm updates are nothing new and are something we’ve come to expect. But this recent one looks set to have a greater effect on companies who have previously been using their brand pages for promotional purposes.

As part of their ongoing user experience improvement programme, Facebook are striving to make people’s newsfeeds full of more stuff they want to see and less stuff they don’t want to see. Some of the feedback they’ve apparently received from the Facebook community is that people don’t like posts from pages they’ve liked which come across as ‘overly promotional’.

The devil’s advocate in me though is slightly bemused by this revelation. Surely when a person likes a page, be it a business, celebrity or whatever, they are signing up to receive all future updates from that page, including ones that are promotional in nature.

Reading between the lines, rightly or wrongly, leads me to believe that Facebook may have an ulterior motive behind this change of scope. It figures that if ‘overly promotional’ posts will lose exposure, businesses will need to conduct paid advertising campaigns to continue their reach.

The social network, however, says that as a result of the change there will not be an increase in the amount of ads that people see. This begs the question as to what will fill the gaps that are left by the reduced number of liked page posts.

So what constitutes an ‘overly promotional’ post? Well according to Facebook its posts that coerce people into buying a product or installing an app; posts that push people to enter a competition with no real context; and posts that mimic paid ads on the site.

Posts like this:

Tiger therapy

Even though the change isn’t due to take effect until January 2015, it’s definitely food for thought for businesses that utilize Facebook to engage with their followers.

So what should you do going forward?

Well one area that still proves to perform well on Facebook is native video. In fact, native videos get some 1 billion views a day! When we say ‘native video’ we’re referring to videos that have been created solely for and published directly to Facebook, and not simply links to stuff on YouTube.

Therefore, if you’re concerned about the impending promotional page decline, but not sure if you want to embark on a paid advertising campaign, why not experiment with native video? Of course, there’s no guarantee that it won’t also be subject to an algorithm change in the future, but at least for now it’s a pretty safe bet.

Introducing WEST by Box, Facebook and Pinterest

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Introducing WEST

Last week, the Facebook Newsroom announced a new initiative that the social network has launched in conjunction with Box and Pinterest. WEST, as its known, stands for Women Entering and Staying in Tech and, in my mind, is a fantastic program.

When it comes to Computer Science, there has long been a gender gap in the industry, both in workforce’s across the globe and in the educational pipelines where tomorrow’s generation of Computer Scientists will emerge.

In fact, the United States Census Bureau has reported that technical roles in the country will continue to increase and are expected to reach 1.4 million by 2020. However, the number of women filling these positions has been steadily declining since the 1990s.

That’s why Facebook, Pinterest and Box have teamed up to create WEST, a one-on-one mentorship program that is designed to help more women adopt and ultimately flourish in these types of technical role.

The aim is to bring together highly experienced women from the top technology companies across the industry to help build and maintain a focussed mentorship program. It will be driven by the day-to-day work that these individuals do and geared towards the exciting technical opportunities that are becoming available.

Opening in 2015, WEST will be looking to attract female mentees in their early to middle career stages. It will feature a series of 1:1 and group interactions face-to-face, as well as online sessions over the course of a year.

Initially, the program will be open to women in the Bay Area in the U.S. but if it proves successful then we can hope to see an expansion going forward. I for one, hope that UK women will be able to take advantage of this great initiative in the future.

Mentorship is something that is very powerful and can help shape an individual’s life including their career choices, lifestyle outcomes and overall success.

Influential individuals, like Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, have long voiced their opinions about the need for more women in technical roles. The Facebook COO famously said in an interview with 60 Minutes that, “A man and a man at a bar at a hotel during a work trip – that looks like mentoring. A man and a woman at a bar at a hotel on a work trip, that doesn’t look like mentoring to anyone.”

It speaks volumes that three huge companies, like Facebook, Box and Pinterest, have decided to undertake this venture. They obviously want to tackle a problem that has been developing for some time. Hopefully, their lead will make other businesses take note and perhaps even offer similar programs.

When industry giants make a decision to create a bespoke mentoring program for women from the ground up, it can only lead to more diversity in the technical industry as a whole going forward.

You can find out a little more about WEST here. There’s even an application form but unless you live in the Bay Area in the United States it’s obsolete at present.

What’s your view on WEST? Should women be given a helping hand with mentorship programs like this or will doing so ultimately put men at a disadvantage?

I’d love to hear your thoughts below…

Announcing three new Facebook improvements

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Announcing 3 new Facebook improvementsIt seems that Facebook have been doing some listening recently. That in itself is nothing new, as social networks are always striving to improve the user experience. However, Facebook haven’t just listened. They’ve actually acted too.

In fact, over the past few weeks the Facebook News Room have announced three important changes that are designed to improve the social networking experience for their users going forward.

Each change could have warranted a write up of its own, but I actually thought it better to bundle them into one post that serves as a single point of reference.

The changes are also outlined in the order that they appeared on the Facebook News Room and I’ve included a link to each original story for further reference purposes.

Click-bait articles now being suppressed

You may or may not be familiar with the term ‘click-bait’ but once I explain what it is you will undoubtedly recall seeing it on your internet travels.

Click-bait articles are those stories you see with a really eye-catching headline that is designed to stir your suspicious nature and make you click. But while these headlines are alluring, they tend to not give much away in terms of the article’s actual content.

This is click-bait and Facebook don’t like it one bit:

Click bait

Going forward, Facebook are going to weed out this type of low-quality, spam-style story so that more pertinent updates from friends and liked pages appear in people’s news feeds.

Facebook will reduce the number of click-bait articles that appear on their site in two ways.

First, they will track the amount of time a user spends reading an article before bouncing back to Facebook. Their thinking is that low-quality articles will have a faster bounce rate than higher quality pieces.

Second, Facebook will analyse the ratio of people clicking VS the number of shares or likes an article gets. If something attracts a lot of clicks but few shares/likes, then it’s likely to be click-bait.

Original story: http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2014/08/news-feed-fyi-click-baiting/

A better ad experience

Advertising on Facebook is huge business and when someone is presented with an ad that appeals to them, it makes for a better experience all-round. Likewise, marketers who manage to get their ads in front of people who they appeal to, will see their efforts reap greater rewards.

Previously, hiding an irrelevant ad on Facebook was a simple one-click affair:

Irrelevant ad on Facebook example

Going forward, however, Facebook are going to start asking people why they chose to hide a particular ad.

For example, if someone hides an ad and states their reason for doing so as being ‘offensive’ then there’s a strong chance that that ad will be found offensive by other people too and so shouldn’t be shown.

As well as collecting the reason, Facebook are going to also start paying more attention to those people who rarely hide ads. This is because Facebook deem the signal sent from these infrequent hiders to be much stronger and therefore carry more weight across the ad network.

Original story: http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2014/09/news-feed-fyi-listening-to-peoples-feedback-to-show-better-ads/

More timely stories to surface

Facebook have come to realise that sometimes posts from friends and liked pages are more significant at certain times and less so at others. For example, during a live sports game or latest episode of a TV series, relevant updates need to appear in a timely manner. Once the event is over, however, those posts inevitably lose a lot of their significance.

FB Trending topics

It appears that trending topics are going to play a larger role in the future and Facebook will look to promote posts that relate to trending stories, so that they appear higher in people’s news feeds. This will ensure that any updates about a current hot topic are more likely to find their way to the top of news feeds.

Also, Facebook will look at the comments and likes that a post gets, paying specific attention to when these occur. They believe that a post which is fervently liked and shared soon after it has been displayed but then drops off a bit later, is more likely to be relevant when it was posted.

Posts like this will appear high up in news feeds to start with before gradually falling away as their relevance decreases.

Original story: http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2014/09/news-feed-fyi-showing-more-timely-stories-from-friends-and-pages/

 

Analyse the numbers behind your tweets with Twitter Analytics

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Twitter analytics

 

Twitter will undoubtedly be part of your social media arsenal but if it’s not, why not? After all, Twitter has evolved into a highly effective audience engagement tool and any brand that’s serious about its image should have a lively Twitter following.

Since its foundation in 2006, Twitter has undergone an evolution which has seen more and more features added to the social network over the years. And now it’s time for Twitter Analytics to enter the public spotlight and be rolled out to everyone.

Actually, it’s been quite a month for social media analytics what with Pinterest’s new analytical platform now available to users who have a business account and now Twitter Analytics getting the green light for widespread usage.

But what is Twitter Analytics and will it benefit you as a Twitter user?

Twitter Analytics is a tool that advertisers and some verified users have been using for a few months now. Anyone who uses Google Analytics will embrace Twitter’s platform with open arms. The two function very similarly, with Twitter Analytics offering everything you could want in a tool for analysing your tweets.

First, there’s the ability to see how many impressions your tweets have received; in other words, how many times users have seen your tweet on Twitter. You can also discover how many people have marked your post as one of the favourites; the amount of times people have clicked on your profile; the number of replies and retweets and so on.

Additionally, there is the functionality to actually see how many people directly engaged with one of your tweets and you can also gain an insight into what their engagement was – great for content marketers wanting to see what’s hitting the spot with their audiences.

Twitter let everyone know that their analytics platform was now available to all in the most apt way – via a tweet!

Twitter engineer Ian Chan tweeted: “Absolutely thrilled to open up access to analytics.twitter.com to EVERYONE. Check it out, and let us know what you think!

As with most things though, there are certain criteria that your account needs to meet before you can start using Twitter Analytics. First and foremost, your account must have been open for at least 14 days and not be protected, restricted or suspended. Furthermore, your posts need to primarily be written in English, Spanish, French or Japanese.

Twitter’s decision to open up their analytics platform to everyone is actually rather symbolic. Historically, the only way for non-advertisers to gain insights into the numbers behind their tweets was by using third-party applications. Twitter Analytics means that more people than ever can now monitor their tweets and keep track of what’s engaging their audiences.

Both brands and individuals alike can start understanding the metrics behind their Twitter accounts and realising true value. The ‘average’ Twitter user may be wondering what all the fuss is about and ultimately not take advantage of the platform, but this revelation is definitely something that I’m excited about.

Twitter have created a new Help Center page which explains more about Twitter Analytics and includes some FAQs among other things.

Once you’re ready to give it a shot for yourself you should head over to analytics.twitter.com and start checking out your own dashboard.

 

 

5 Crucial Elements that all Business Websites Must Have

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5 Crucial elements that all business websites must have

 

How many times have you heard the phrase, “Check out our website for more information?” I’m going to suggest that the answer is on an almost daily basis. That’s because our business websites have become such a crucial part of our success and we want people to utilise them. After all, they champion our brands, promote our products and give useful information to our visitors.

However, no matter how elaborate or how simple your website, there are certain elements that it absolutely must incorporate. This checklist is obviously open to interpretation and there will undoubtedly be other aspects that you want to include, but I would definitely start with these five as a bare minimum.

A Logical Design

Stunning graphics, a plethora of multimedia wizardry and all manner of bells and whistles are great, but if your website is difficult to navigate your visitors will soon get fed up. They might even go to one of your competitor’s websites to find what they want! That’s why a logical design is an absolute must.

Websites are often designed on paper first and the layout finalised before anything else. Logically-designed websites feature easy-to-navigate menus and intuitive signposts. For example, when was the last time you visited a website that didn’t have a familiar-looking navigation bar running across the top?

Clear Contact Information

This is particularly important if your website is in addition to a bricks and mortar business. A lot of the time people visit your website with the sole purpose of finding your contact information. Therefore, it needs to be clearly displayed – even on the homepage – and not be hidden away out of sight.

You may run the risk of losing potential sales if you neglect to display your business’s contact details and offering them openly helps to build trust and stronger relationships with your customers. It’s also important to provide a range of contact options like email, telephone and physical address (if appropriate).

A Blog

A business blog (like this one) is a great way to reach out to your clients and prospects. Not only does it give you a platform on which to provide useful information, but it also gives your business a voice. And the beauty of a voice is that it helps to build an online reputation and, more importantly, a loyal following.

Moreover, your blog can even help boost your search engine rankings and by providing useful, original and engaging content, your visitors will keep coming back again and again. At the end of the day, the more followers your blog attracts the stronger your brand will become.

Social Media Integration

You will have probably lost count of the amount of times you’ve visited a website and been presented with a range of social media buttons. That’s because businesses want to boost their social media following and if you’ve visited their website then chances are you’ll like their Facebook page, start following them on Twitter or add them to your Google Plus circles.

Social media activity sends strong signals to search engines and so business websites incorporate it wherever possible. After all, by ‘liking’ a company’s Facebook page you are basically signing yourself up to receive further updates from them. It’s kind of like building a mailing list.

Mobile Compatibility

Now more than ever, people are using their smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices to access your business’s website. Therefore, it absolutely has to be mobile compatible. At the very least you need to have a bespoke mobile version of your site or a responsive design that adapts to mobile devices.

Your customers and prospects will be very disappointed if they try to use your website on their mobile devices only to find out that it’s a horrible experience. If your competitors have fully mobile compatible websites then you need to ensure that yours is at least as good, if not better.

 

 

 

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

Flexible working now available to all UK employees

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Flexible working now available to all UK employeesIf you’re one of those people who finds themselves fighting a never-ending battle between balancing your personal and professional commitments then this post is definitely for you.

Last month, the UK government announced that from June 30 every employee in the UK would be able to request flexible working arrangements – a right that up until now only applied to certain carers and parents with children under 17.

On the face of it you might be wondering what’s in it for businesses? Well, the government estimates that the new plans will lower absenteeism, improve productivity and reduce staff turnover, which will realise economic benefits of about £475 million over the next 10 years.

But what exactly is flexible working and what do the new rules actually mean? Let me explain further:

What is flexible working?

Flexible working is when an agreed change is made to an employee’s working pattern. This can actually manifest itself in many different ways but the most common types of flexible working are flexitime, home working, job sharing, part-time working and changes to working hours.

The new rules are thought to be particularly attractive to young people who are just starting out in their careers and want to undertake additional learning or training and older members of staff who are approaching retirement.

Who is now eligible to apply?

Anyone who has worked for their employer for at least six months (26 weeks) continuously is eligible to apply for flexible working. Known as ‘making a statutory application’, employees can make one flexibility request per year and their employer must consider it in a ‘reasonable manner.’

Not all applications, however, will be automatically approved under the new rules; they simply allow all employees to make flexible working requests.

Why might an application be rejected?

Obviously, not every flexible working application will be successful and there will be times when employers have to decline requests. However, employers can only decline a request for one of the following business reasons:

  • the burden of additional costs
  • an inability to reorganise work amongst existing staff
  • an inability to recruit additional staff
  • a detrimental impact on quality
  • a detrimental impact on performance
  • detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand
  • insufficient work for the periods the employee proposes to work
  • a planned structural change to your business

These are the same reasons under which previous flexible working requests could be declined and the new rules don’t change them in any way.

How will applications be dealt with?

In a ‘reasonable manner’ by the employer is what the law states. The application process will ultimately see the employee have a face-to-face meeting with their employer in which the flexible working request will be discussed.

Employers then have three months in which to notify their employee of the decision – unless a longer period is agreed beforehand with the employee. A clear business case must be included with any rejections and the relevant business reason from the list above stated.

All flexible working applications will be dealt with on a first-come first-serve basis by the employer. This means that conflicts may occur and if they do, businesses are advised by the government’s Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) to try to reach a compromise with the employees involved.

So if you’ve ever longed to reduce your hours or experience the benefits of flexitime, now is your chance!

 

 

Image courtesy of franky242 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

5 Tips for Boosting Your Social Media Following

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5 Tips for boosting your social media following

Establishing a social media presence for your brand is one thing; boosting it, however, is quite another. That’s why large organisations often have dedicated teams with substantial budgets specifically to handle the social media element of their business.

That’s because it’s simply not possible to create a social media page for your brand, post a few updates and expect people to find you; let alone start liking and following you! Furthermore, one of the main points of social media for business is to get your brand’s followers to actively promote your products and services through their own social media network.

But what chance is there of that happening if you can’t boost your social media following in the first place?

The answer is very unlikely, which is why I’ve compiled a list of 5 tips for building an engaged social media audience and loyal following.

Be careful with your content

Social media should not be used to constantly plug your services and attempt to sell your products. An approach like that is a sure-fire way to lose followers and, even worse, brand credibility.

Instead, post content that people find genuinely useful and interesting. This will inevitably engage your audience more strongly and encourage more retweets, shares and likes – the things we all, as social media marketers, definitely want.

Try to follow the 80/20 rule: 80% useful information and 20% promotional content. That way your sales pitches won’t feel quite so incessant.

Identify your influencers

Regardless of your industry, there will be key individuals who act as influencers and have the ability to sway your target market. Identifying who these people are and forging a relationship with them can be the key to your social media success.

After all, these people already carry a lot of clout when it comes to your prospective followers, so getting them on-side is a great strategic move. For example, share their posts that appeal to you, respond to community discussions that they start and try to identify what issues matter to them, so you can engage with them more directly.

Run Competitions

It might sound a bit archaic but running competitions and contests is an effective way to boost your social media following. The bottom line is that people like free stuff and the chance to win something is appealing.

Don’t worry if you’re not sure where to start when it comes to competitions. Websites such as Offerpop allow you to devise and implement your own bespoke promotions. Moreover, there is the ability to stipulate that only your followers can enter your promotions.

Just be sure to make the competition interesting and appealing to your target audience and offer a prize that will make them want to engage.

Experiment with paid ads

Facebook and Twitter both offer paid advertising platforms that are a great way to further your reach and ultimately attract some new followers. Both networks offer very detailed options when it comes to paid ads, so you can be sure that you are targeting exactly the right demographic for your brand.

Why not try paid advertising on both platforms and see what kind of success you realise? You might find that one reaps bigger rewards than the other and choose to concentrate your efforts accordingly.

Promote your social presence

This has to be the simplest way to boost your following, but often there are times many businesses pass up perfect opportunities to promote their social presence. For example, every time you communicate with customers and potential customers you have an opportunity to plug your Facebook page, Twitter account or Google Plus profile.

Add social media links to your website homepage, offline marketing material, email signatures, business cards – basically any touch points that you have with your customers.

It’s also a good idea to give them a reason for them to connect with you on a social media level, so highlight your competitions, useful content and influencer backings wherever possible.

These are just 5 of the many tips that I share with my clients to get the very most out of their social media campaigns.

 

 

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net