NINE SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS FOR 2022 CONTʼD PG 8

from JanFeb 2022

SUPPLIER NEWS

News {Business Development} Nine Social Media Tips for 2022

By Adriano Aldini, Imprint Canada ere has been a steady, inexorable move to online shopping, networking and meeting that was accelerated by the global pandemic. Your audience lives and breathes online now more than ever before, so the importance of your social media strategy cannot be overstated. ere are 4.2 billion active social media users, nearly double the number of people online just ve years ago.

As staggering as those numbers are, even more relevant is the amount of time people spend online. According to Hootsuite, social media users spend an average of two hours and 25 minutes on social channels every day. You have nearly 2.5 hours a day with current and potential customers to build brand awareness, develop customer relationships, and make direct sales through your social channels.

How can you make your content and channels stand out in a national or global market? e rst step to re ning your digital presence is to do a social media audit. Once you know what is working to gain traction and what isn’t, you can begin to plan.

1. Plan your social strategy

For a small business, having a social media strategy is essential for increasing brand awareness, reaching your target audience, and driving sales.

With a strong social media strategy, you’ll never run out of ideas on what to post — and you’ll soon have an engaged community at your ngertips.

What is a Social Media Strategy for Small Business?

A social media strategy encapsulates everything you want to do and achieve on social media. It details what you’ll post, the platforms you’ll use, and de nes measurable goals that will support your speci c business needs.

Smart social media strategies for small businesses can increase brand awareness, build your audience, and increase revenue.

However, this growth won’t happen overnight. It requires a consistent and strategic approach.

Signing up to social channels is free, but your time is not. e time you spend cra ing, curating, posting, and boosting content is valuable and needs to impact your business. Start by de ning your goals. Do you want to grow your audience? Do you want to become a trusted source of information and advice? Do you want direct social sales?

Start with your top three marketing objectives and determine how social media can help achieve these.

Follow the SMART framework. Your goals should be Speci c, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. Choose metrics that will have a genuine impact on your business: 10,000 followers are great, but not if they aren’t driving sales.

Spend some time trying di erent approaches. Until you start posting, you won’t know what is resonating with your audience. Be prepared to adjust and pivot.

2. Research your Competition

Review the social media channels of the top performers in your industry. What is engaging their audience? Are they missing opportunities you can exploit? If you’re a new entrant or a more minor player in an industry dominated by multinationals, you won’t be able to out-spend or out-market your competition. You can o en do what larger corporations can’t, be genuine, authentic, and build a true connection with your customers.

Research to learn what to emulate and where you can differentiate.

3. Build a Social Calendar

By planning ahead, you can identify and incorporate any special days that align with your industry, prepare content for holidays, and determine your content needs. You can schedule posts ahead of time or just have them ready to go.

Remember, if you have posts scheduled and some signi cant event happens, you may need to delete or change your message. Many brands have made the error of allowing content to post when the world was captivated by a tragedy.

4. Choose your Channels & De ne your Voice

In our September/October 2021 edition, we broke down the ve major social media networks and how to best leverage them. You may want to refer to that article for more details on each platform.

Most brands will need to be on multiple channels to reach di erent segments of their audience. You might nd you are handling a lot of customer service on Facebook and getting new leads from Instagram. TikTok might be vital for building brand awareness while your blog can demonstrate that your brand is a source of valuable knowledge.

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Social Media, continued from page 6

Your brand voice is like your company’s personality — it’s how you speak to your audience. And it might slightly di er from platform to platform.

If you’re struggling to pinpoint your tone, consider your brand’s values and mission. Are you formal and serious, or more relatable and friendly?

Consider how would you talk about your business, products, or services to a friend as you re ne your brand’s tone of voice!

5. Build Your Audience & Build Relationships

Boosted content can help you reach more people and build your audience. Filling your pages with engaging content and sharing valuable insights and information will help build customer relationships. Remember, algorithms drive all social platforms. If you post something and no one interacts with it, the platform will stop showing that content to other users.

Your platforms should always be hosting two-way conversations. If your channels are just pushing your products and looking for sales, you won’t be building an engaged audience.

Encourage customers to interact. Post engaging content and be sure to respond to comments. Post short surveys. Invite customer questions and stories. Seek feedback.

Increasing your following is great, but customer retention builds loyal customers, which leads to increased sales.

People like to do business with brands they trust.

6. Build a Cohesive Digital Presence

More than 44 per cent of people use social networks to research a brand. Regardless of where a customer lands (website, Facebook, Twitter, etc.), your brand identity should be clear. Are your logos up to date? Do colours and images properly re ect your brand? Is your content aligned with philosophy and message?

7. Sell with Social

Social commerce had a global market value of 89 billion in June 2020. You can sell directly to your customers where they are already spending their time. Social sales are the next evolution in the convenience of online shopping. Customers can now buy a product right from the post where they learned about it.

According to Hootsuite, Social media users spend an average of two hours and 25 minutes on social channels every day. You have nearly 2.5 hours a day with potential customers to build brand awareness, develop customer relationships, & make direct sales through your social channels.

8. Post Quality

Post regularly to keep your audience engaged, but ensure every post is adding value. Focus on quality over quantity. Posting three times a week with valuable and engaging content is better than daily posts that aren’t interesting or relevant.

9. Track and Measure Your Progress

What gets measured gets done!

Now that you’ve nailed your content strategy, well done! You’ve done the hardest part.

But don’t forget, the key to a successful social media strategy for small business is consistency.

Monitoring your analytics to see how many people you’re reaching and how they’re interacting with your posts is vital to your strategy as they show you what’s working — and what isn’t. ere you have it — a quick how-to guide for creating a social media strategy for small business.

Take the time to develop SMART goals, de ne your brand voice, and choose platforms that align with what you’re trying to achieve.

And if you create consistent content and analyze your metrics, you’ll be one step closer to creating a successful long-term strategy.

Reboot, continued from Page 1

In the midst of so much angst, division and uncertainty in the world that seems out of our control, people need to be reminded about what is within our control.

Teams and companies need a reboot.

Most teams and companies are still guring out how to help support their people and engage with them remotely, in hybrid settings, and in-person gatherings.

With all that people have been navigating: new standard modes of communication, the expansion of remote workers, global health, issues of racism, social injustice and equity, political and economic uncertainty, supply chain breakdowns... they are still also expected to maximize the experience, product or service that you are delivering to the marketplace.

Here are six mindsets to reboot your team:

1. Clarity

Is your Mission clear? Is your Vision clear? Are you Values for how your team is committed to travel clear? Is your Strategy for the next priorities clear?

Take this time as an opportunity to reboot and make sure all are aligned with clarity. e outcome is that everything on the path forward becomes clearer.

Your team may not have all the answers, but they’ll have energy and clear direction on how to take the next step.

2. Inclusivity

Leaders in the world play an enormous role in widening the circle so that more diverse backgrounds, ideas, perspectives, and experiences have a seat at the table.

Teams and organizations will lead the way forward in society by modeling how to have civil, respectful dialogue and educate people on the strengths of diversity, equity and inclusion. When our teams are inclusive and welcoming, it breathes life and energy into all. We’re stronger together.

In the midst of so much angst, division and uncertainty in the world that seems out of our control, people need to be reminded about what is within our control.

3. Agility

Possibility + Adaptability is the name of the game in a changing world. Leaders have to practice an occasional reboot that allows their mind to nd new ways of doing things and the courage to adapt to opportunities that emerge.

If leaders return to the “this is the way we’ve always done it” mind-set then they will sit back and watch their people leave the room.

To say people have been a little stressed during the past 20 months would be an understatement.

4. Grit

Resolve + Toughness is critical to help people navigate their way through obstacles, challenges, negativity, nger pointing, and division.

Leaders help their people reboot to stay focused on the present moment and the actions that are needed in order to take the next step.

Toughness isn’t about being physically stronger than others, it is about being able to be vulnerable with your people and still have the resolve to nd solutions, together.

5. Rest

Teams and organizations have an unhealthy association with the concept of rest. In the US last year, employees le 768 million days of vacation on the table with their employers. at equates to nearly $66 billion of lost bene ts.

We’ve forgotten that the research actually shows that deliberate rest is essential to elite performance. When we allow our bodies, minds and hearts to deliberately rest, we breathe more e ciently and are better at everything else. People want to feel like they are a part of something bigger than themselves, they want to feel appreciated, valued and cared for.

6. Ownership

Accountability + Action are mindsets and oxygen that the best leaders and team cultures on the planet breathe. ey connect the things they say they will do with positive accountability and action.

Accountability isn’t a negative word, it’s a positive mantra that all take ownership of. In a world where people are quick to gossip, point ngers, and be critics about what isn’t working, the best leaders reboot themselves and their people and shi conversations from blame to solutions-focused. e best cultures proactively help their people navigate through obstacles, together. ey intentionally choose to inhale positivity and the six mindsets above and exhale negativity, blame, gossip and division. e ecosystem of their culture is grown, developed, cultivated and led with intentionality, one breath at a time. e process for developing high-performing and engaged teams never stops and the best leaders, teams and organizations are committed to rebooting how they hire, onboard, do performance evaluations, develop emerging leaders, and recognize excellence. e best leaders invest in their teams, together. If you’re experiencing a lack of energy, passion or hope for the road ahead, it may be the air you’re breathing. It may be time for a reboot.

About the Author:

Jason V. Barger is the globally-celebrated author of Thermostat Cultures, ReMember and Step Back from the Baggage Claim as well as the host of The Thermostat podcast. His latest book Breathing Oxygen is set to be released in early 2022. As Founder of Step Back Leadership Consulting, he is a coveted keynote speaker, leadership coach and organizational consultant who is committed to engaging the minds and hearts of people and growing compelling cultures. Learn more at JasonVBarger.com or on social media @JasonVBarger.

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Hybrid Meetings, continued from Page 1 Remedy: Embrace discipline

Workplaces with positive meeting cultures o en have rigorous requirements of their meeting leaders and attendees. When a meeting goes into hybrid mode, discipline becomes even more important. e leader cra s the agenda, assigns ownership where others must contribute, estimates the time needed for each meeting segment, and outlines any required preparation.

People who work in cultures with good meeting discipline adhere to a few more rules too. For example, don’t meet if there isn’t a reason to get together and an email will su ce, and don’t schedule a gathering before you’ve planned the agenda. If you are on the receiving end of an invitation, don’t accept anything that doesn’t come with a plan. If that’s not an option, at least ask if the meeting requires you to prepare anything in advance.

Ailment Two: People don’t have time to complete meeting pre-work.

“I would have prepared, but I didn’t have time to get through 200 pages.” Reading requires undivided attention, and unless a few hours materialize from the ether, people with heavy time demands will o en struggle to digest large documents.

Consequently, meeting time becomes brie ng time instead of collaboration and discussion time. is is not good when people meet in person, and it’s worse when some attendees go remote.

Remedy: Take advantage of your virtual platform’s recording feature.

Virtual platforms have opened a door to a new way to present pre-work. Instead of sending people 90 standalone slides to digest, how about recording 30 minutes that discuss the highlights? People can listen to you talk while they are checking email, going through paperwork, or otherwise multitasking, and you’ve moved your brie ng out of the meeting and freed time for discussion and questions. e better job you do making pre-work easy, the more likely people will do what you want them to do.

Ailment Three: Participant groups are not equal.

O en, the people in the room count more than those online, and those dialing in from a distance might as well be on Mars. Nobody acknowledges them, nobody makes eye contact, and nobody asks for their input. Who is frustrated? Everyone. e people together feel as if they do all the work, and those at a distance feel ignored and undervalued: not a good formula for happy times in the workplace.

Remedy: Level the playing eld.

To get the most out of hybrid meetings, everyone should get a seat at the physical table and the virtual table. What this means is having people log in on laptops from the same conference room so everyone can use the chat and creating name tags or placeholders at the physical table to represent those attending virtually. e digital presence will allow everyone to see facial expressions. e physical reminders will help the leader and others remember to address virtual participants more o en.

Ailment Four: Conversations are awkward and unnatural.

“Brian, you’re on mute.” “Patty, go ahead. I didn’t mean to answer at the same time you did.” “I’m hearing an echo. Can everyone mute.” “Bill, turn on your conference microphone. We can’t hear you.” “What’s that horrible buzzing sound?” “ Bad audio is brutal. It stops the ow of natural conversation, causes people to check out, and is generally irritating.

Remedy: Attack sound problems from multiple angles.

Mute master is an essential role for someone to occupy or several people to share during virtual meetings. Mute masters silence those who have inadvertently unmuted, and they do it without a lot of fanfare. With the click of the mouse, background noises disappear just as soon as they occur.

Now that we’ve addressed the sounds we don’t want, let’s look at words we do and how to get them. Skilled meeting leaders build the request to unmute into their narrative when asking for people to contribute. “Brian, could you please unmute and give your report.” With a gentle reminder, most people will do what’s asked.

In addition to those basics, to reduce the likelihood that people will talk over each other when you ask a question, ask for hands and answer stack. “Great. I see we have questions or comments from Larry, Katie, and Greg. Let’s take them in that order.”

To further reduce noise and speed up responses to short questions by leveraging visual cues and the chat function. “Type ‘yes’ in the chat if you have a hard stop at noon today.” “By a show of hands, who agrees we should move forward with a pilot program?”

Ailment Five: People are caught o guard.

“Sam, what are your thoughts on that?” “I’m sorry could you repeat the question?” People can tune out and go on mental vacation regardless of a meeting’s format. When a virtual element enters the picture, the odds of someone missing something increase.

Remedy: Provide a warning that a question is coming.

As a meeting leader, you can take a simple action that will go a long way toward helping your colleagues stay focused. “Jimmy, I’m going to talk through this next slide about credit risk. I’d then like you to add a little colour and tell us about trends you are seeing in the southern market.” Not only is Jimmy going to listen to you for the next few minutes, he’s also going to get his nger ready to unmute himself or to turn on a conference microphone. As a bonus, Jimmy will also appreciate that you didn’t put him on the spot and may like you better.

Hybrid meetings o er challenges – some familiar and some new. Regardless of the source of your meetings’ ailment or ailments, with careful actions, you can move these here-or-there gatherings from horrible to healthy in short order.

About the Author: Kate Zabriskie is the president of Business Training Works, Inc., a Maryland-based talent development rm. She and her team help businesses establish customer service strategies and train their people to live up to what’s promised. For more information, visit www.businesstrainingworks.com.