7 Social Media Marketing Mistakes You Need to Avoid

In today’s digital world, social media has become the go-to place for brands and businesses. It’s no longer optional. It’s an essential way to reach your audience, generate leads, and grow your business. 

As someone who has worked as a digital marketer for years, it pains me to see businesses and healthcare providers who struggle to get results on social media because they keep making the same mistakes over and over again. They may seem like minor mistakes, but they can cost you reach, engagement, and even followers. 

Here are seven social media marketing mistakes you need to avoid. 

Buying followers

Having a massive following on social media is impressive. You might be tempted to buy followers, especially if you’re struggling to gain online traction, but please don’t. Why? Because purchased followers are likely bots and inactive accounts. 

What’s the point of having 10,000 followers when no one even reads or engages with your post? Plus, Instagram recognizes and purges fake accounts. So buying followers is nothing but a waste of money. 

Not having a social media marketing plan 

Doing social media marketing without a plan is like driving a car without knowing where you want to go. The last thing you want to spend countless hours creating content without a clear objective. 

So ask yourself, what do you want to achieve? 

  • Is it to generate leads? 
  • Is it to increase brand awareness?
  • Is it to increase the engagement rate?

Having a clear vision of what you want to accomplish will be easier for you to measure results. Thus, allowing you to create a concrete plan of action to outline what you want to achieve. 

Being boring

There are more than 8.9 million posts per day on Instagram alone. With millions of posts being published every day, it can be easy to get lost in the noise. 

If you want to stand out from the competition, you need to be different. Use different content types. Share videos, visually appealing images, and mix them up with plain texts. 

Keep your images and videos as high quality as possible. Most importantly, try to make your captions compelling while adding value to your audience. 

Being on all social media platforms

New social media platforms pop up almost every day. Most business owners try to open an account on different social media platforms, hoping it would help them reach a wider audience. Sure, it can help increase your reach, but is it worth your time? 

The key is to identify which social platform your audience uses the most and then focus your time and effort into engaging your target audience. The last thing you want is to spread yourself thin across too many platforms. 

Focusing on quantity over quality

Social Media Week recommends posting on social media 5-10 times a week to increase engagement. That means you need to post at least one post a day to get results. 

But here’s the thing… Just because you’re posting regularly, it doesn’t mean you’ll get positive results. If you want to increase your engagement rate, focus on publishing your quality content rather than the number of posts.

It doesn’t matter if you publish posts five times a week, as long your audience finds them interesting and valuable. 

Failing to engage with your followers

So you regularly post content on social media. That’s great! But the question is, do you engage with your followers? 

Social media is a two-way engagement platform. You can’t just post content and then leave. We know creating high-quality posts can be time-consuming, but you also need to make time to engage with your followers. 

Ask questions. If someone asks a question, answer them. Interact with people who comment on your post. Showing your followers there’s a human behind your page goes a long way in building a relationship with your audience. 

Deleting negative comments 

Negative comments are unavoidable. At some point, you’ll come across a dissatisfied client or someone who misunderstands your message. 

It can be tempting to delete negative comments on social media, but please resist the urge to do so. Why? It can imply that you don’t care about the person’s feelings, giving them enough reason to dislike your brand. 

The first step to resolving a conflict is to apologize sincerely. Then, invite the commenter to send you a private message so you can deal with their problem privately. Use this as an opportunity to make the situation right. 

Final thoughts 

We all make mistakes, and sometimes, we aren’t even aware of them. They may seem like minor mistakes, but they can negatively affect your business in the long run. The first step is to become aware of these mistakes. 

If you need help with social media marketing, please feel free to reach out to us for a free 30-minute consultation call. We can help you create a social media strategy to help you reach your prospects online. 

7 Social Media Marketing Mistakes You Need to Avoid

7 Social Media Marketing Mistakes to Avoid for Your Family Medicine Practice7 Social Media Marketing Mistakes to Avoid for Your Health and Wellness Practice

7 Social Media Marketing Mistakes To Avoid for Your Mental Health Practice

Digital marketing is becoming the new wave of healthcare marketing. With the growing competition in the healthcare industry, it is important to stay on top of digital marketing and keep your organization at the forefront of change.

Today, the competition is getting tougher and patients are getting smarter. Many of them even turn to Google for quick answers to health-related concerns. If you want to get more customers to your door, then you need to get in front of your audience and have a solid online presence. Otherwise, someone else will. This is why it’s important to have a healthcare marketing plan — so you can reach potential and existing patients at the best time.

Ever wonder what it takes to create a successful healthcare marketing campaign?

We listed down some tips that you can incorporate into your marketing plan right away.

Know your target audience

A successful healthcare marketing campaign starts with knowing who your audience is and what they value. To produce great results, you first need to create a well-defined persona profile.

Vividly picture who is it that you want to attract to your doorstep and what matters most to them. The more specifically you define your audience, the more likely you are to inspire a positive response.

Carefully and precisely defining your target audience will ensure that you’re not making the wrong assumption about what your audience values. Plus, it will improve your efficiency since you’ll have a good idea about what media to use and how to shape a compelling message that brings a response.

Combine healthcare and social media

Today, social media isn’t just a place for family and friends to stay in touch. People also use them to promote their business and reach their audience. 

The power of social media extends to all industries, including healthcare. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn can help you reach a wider audience and connect with your followers. It can also help you drive traffic and leads to your website.

Now that you know who your target audience is, it will be easier for you to reach your key audience. Tapping into online communities and sharing health information can be a game-changer in your healthcare marketing plan. Keep in mind, though, that each platform has its own voice and audience. When you create social media content, make sure that the message is tailored to different audiences and channels.

You can also use paid advertising to increase brand awareness, improve visibility, and widen your reach. Don’t worry. You don’t need to spend a huge sum of money in order to get results. In fact, you can run a Facebook ad for a minimum budget of $5 a day. So go ahead and try it out, and adjust your budget later on.

Make wellness a lot more fun

Health and wellness is a serious topic, but that doesn’t mean that your campaign should be boring and uninspiring. Let’s take cues from UnitedHealthCare’s successful healthcare marketing campaign – We Dare You.

UnitedHealthcare created an interactive campaign that dares people to make one small change to live healthier lives and document it on social media. Each month, there are new challenges and quizzes aimed at inspiring people to live a healthier lifestyle. There are prizes involved too.

The multi-awarded “We Dare You” campaign not only led to healthier habits, but it also fostered an interactive online community of brand loyalists.

Establish an email marketing plan

Email marketing is an effective means of transmitting messages to your current and prospective audience. In fact, studies suggest that email marketing is 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers as compared to Facebook and Twitter. When done right, it can help you grow your practice and reach a larger amount of patients.

With email marketing, the audience is openly receptive, and relative cost is low, and the rate of return can be exceptionally high. You can promote your services in a cost-effective way while building a relationship with your patients.

If you’re new to email marketing, you might want to start with growing your email list. To do that, you need to focus on reaching as many people as possible. Don’t worry. Getting your first 100 email subscribers isn’t as complicated as it seems. With an irresistible lead magnet, a killer landing page, and the power of social media,  you’ll be able to grow your email list in no time.

Google yourself

Studies suggest that physicians and other medical practitioners receive up to 45% of new patients through referral. Though most patients would consider the referral of other doctors, family, and friends, the majority of them will run a Google search of your name and check out your reputation before booking an appointment.

The survey revealed that 60% of patients wouldn’t book an appointment with a medical practitioner that has bad reviews. This is why you should Google yourself now. It might seem silly, but it’s actually important. 

By running a quick Google search of yourself, you’ll have a good idea of how your practice looks from a consumer’s perspective and know where to start when creating your digital strategy. You also want to make sure that all the information about you is correct and updated. 

If you unearth some negative results when you Google yourself, try to have the post taken down. But if that doesn’t work, then the best thing you can do is suppress them with positive content.

Be a source of helpful information

In today’s digital world, most people’s inclination would be to open up a browser in Google and research about their own or their loved one’s condition. With so many people turning to the internet for answers, it is important that healthcare marketing is there to be a helpful and supportive guide.

Regularly post high-quality content that answers people’s questions. This will help them learn more about medical conditions they may be searching for or procedures they may have to undergo. It is also a good idea to share important and relevant medical information to help people improve their health. This will help build your credibility and position yourself as an authority in your field. People may not run off and make an appointment, but you will be in their minds the next time they get sick.   

6 Tips for a Successful Healthcare Marketing Campaign

Healthcare Marketing Tips for Your Family Medicine Practice.Healthcare Marketing Tips for Your Nutrition Practice

Healthcare marketing tips for your mental health practice

6 Ways to Use Youtube as a Marketing Tool for Your Business

Most people think of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram when we talk about social media marketing. But Youtube is the second biggest search engine globally, and it’s also considered a social media platform.

With over 2 billion monthly average users, Youtube isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. If you’re looking for ways to get your products or services in front of your target audience, we highly recommend that you include Youtube into your marketing mix.

Here are six ways you can use Youtube as a marketing tool for your business or healthcare practice.

Grow your audience

With over 2.3 billion users worldwide, Youtube is the biggest video-sharing platform in the world. The numbers are growing year after year. Simply speaking, creating a presence on this platform means having an endless flow of potential customers.

Unlike other social media platforms, people use Youtube as a search engine. They type something into the search bar, and then your videos come up in the search results. That means you get qualified traffic, not just some random people who stumbled upon your content. They are interested in what you have to offer.

By publishing videos on Youtube, you’re not just exposing your brand to a huge audience; you’re actually getting potential leads, clients, and customers.

Connect with your target audience 

Youtube provides a powerful yet informal way of connecting with your audience. Remember that Youtube is a competitive platform, with 500 hours of video uploaded every minute.

If you want to capture your target audience’s attention, then you need to create videos with your audience in mind. Remember, it’s not all about you; it’s about your followers.

We also recommend creating a content calendar to plan and organize your upcoming content. Plus, you’ll spare yourself the stress of coming up with a topic on the spot.

Use the platform to show your expertise 

Besides watching countless hours of entertaining videos, one of the main reasons why Youtube is so popular is because it provides users with quick answers and solutions.

A lot of people are searching for health-related topics online nowadays. As a healthcare professional, you can quickly provide your audience with informative and educational videos related to your practice. There is no better way to share your knowledge than through video.

What may seem like common knowledge to you can be extremely valuable to your audience. Go ahead and share tips, give advice, or create how-to videos for your audience.

Providing your audience with educational and informative content will not only maximize your visibility but you’ll also be seen as a great resource and an industry expert.

Tell your brand story 

As a business owner, you’re probably looking for ways to get the word out about your products or services. But here’s the thing… People are tired of ads. So how do you capture your target audience’s attention without annoying them? One way you can do that is by telling your brand story.

In today’s competitive marketplace, you can no longer afford to be a faceless entity. People want to talk to real humans. Telling your brand story will help you stand out from the competition and help humanize your brand. The result is a brand that is as profitable as it is captivating.

Use video content to boost SEO ranking 

If you do a quick Google search, you’ll notice that videos appear more often on the search engine results. Why? Because Google loves video content. This is why it’s a necessary tool for your business.

When creating video content on Youtube, it is best to add a link to your website. While having lots of views is great, remember that you’re using the platform to encourage viewers to take action. You want to drive them to your website, where they can get more details about your offer.

Another idea is to incorporate video into your blog post or landing page. This will not only help you rank on Google, but it will also attract inbound links.

Be consistent with content production 

If you’re planning to use Youtube as a marketing tool, you need to commit to it. You can’t just post two videos this week and then be gone for a few months. Youtube is fast-paced by nature, and content becomes obsolete quickly.

If you go weeks or months between posts, people are likely to forget about you. Posting consistently and frequently will help you build loyal followers and strengthen your brand.

Decide how frequently you’ll post content. You don’t need to publish videos every day. But if you’re starting, we highly recommend that you publish videos two to three times a week to help your channel perform well in the algorithm.

Commit to posting video content multiple times a week and stick to your posting schedule. Also, let your followers know when you’ll be posting, so they can tune in the next time you have a new video up.

Final thoughts 

While every social media platform provides some benefits, there is one platform a lot of business owners seem to forget – Youtube.

Having a solid online presence on Youtube provides immense possibilities for increasing brand awareness, generating leads, driving traffic, and increasing conversion rate. If you still haven’t embraced the power of video, you’re seriously missing out.

 

6 Ways to Use Youtube as a Marketing Tool for Your Business

6 Ways to Use Youtube as a Marketing Tool for Your Family Medicine Practice6 Ways to Use Youtube as a Marketing Tool for Your Nutrition Practice

6 Ways to Use Youtube as a Marketing Tool for Your Mental Health Practice

How to use LinkedIn for both personal and business

In today’s blog, we are going to cover LinkedIn, and LinkedIn is actually the oldest social media platform. It has been around since 2002 but it wasn’t considered a social media platform back then. As of now, there are over 660 active monthly users and in 200 countries and over 30 million companies on LinkedIn that are actively using it each and every month. This is huge, this is huge. LinkedIn, I feel, is a very overlooked platform. A lot of people still think of LinkedIn as just a recruitment tool, just to find jobs, and that is not the case whatsoever. LinkedIn has come such a far way and they have really implemented some really cool things to help you grow your business, and it is… I see a lot of B2B but I also do see a lot of B2C, business-to-business, and business-to-consumer.

I wanted to cover today the differences between your personal profile and a company page. LinkedIn works similarly to Facebook where you have one username and password and from that username and password, it brings you to your personal profile which then you can get into your different groups and your company pages. Once you log in, this is what you’re going to see. You’ll see your personal profile over here, you’ll see your news feed which is the people you’re connected with, the topics you follow, the company pages that you follow, this is where it’s coming into your personal news feed, okay. Then you have your pages on the left-hand side, you have different groups that you’re a part of here if you’re doing any events, also hashtags. Hashtags are huge on LinkedIn which is great because you can really find those niche hashtags and follow them similar to Instagram.

Personal LinkedIn Profile Tips

On your personal profile, there are a few things that you can do on your personal profile that you cannot do on a company page such as write an article. This is great if you are actively blogging, you can write a… You can take some of the content from your blog or your entire blog and put it into here. You can have a weekly thought, you can have… If you are a physician, you can have maybe a weekly FAQ article that just highlights the questions that your patients had asked you through the week that you’re just typing in here, answering, and maybe each week can have a theme. You can add an image here, and this is a great way to just really add value to your personal profile. Now, with the personal profile, you can also add your photo, a video, and a document. These two things are just for your personal profile.

Again, it’s similar to Facebook in a way that you… It’s easier to get connections on LinkedIn and when you post onto your personal profile and you’re building that personal brand, you’re going to get more engagement than you would on your company page. It’s important to use both of them ’cause they each have great features and they each serve a purpose. If you’re utilizing LinkedIn, make sure you’re utilizing this write an article feature and you’re posting to your personal profile as well as your company page. If maybe you’ve had LinkedIn for a long time, but you haven’t updated your profile, let’s start there. So making sure that your profile is filled out. This is space for advertising or your personal brand. To me, this image speaks of digital marketing. We’re always on the computer and this is something that I really… It just kind of resonated with me. You have a professional headshot or it’s you, it’s not you and your kids or you and your husband, this is more about you and your expertise than it is the personal side of things. You want to make sure that you have all of your information filled out and that…

One great thing about LinkedIn is it will tell you what else you need to add to your profile. It will give you a percentage of your profile as, like here, you can add… It’ll tell you what else you need to add. And they’re always adding new things it may not always be 100% filled out. You want to make sure that you have the about section filled out that this is talking about what it is you do use keywords in here: Healthcare, digital marketing, content marketing. Make sure that you’re utilizing those keywords of what it is you do. You can also have featured videos and this is something that you want to make sure you update and as you can see, I have not updated I’m going to come back in here and make sure that I update my featured videos as well. And maybe add that to your monthly list is as you’re creating different videos and blogs or infographics, you can add different things to this featured section, you want to make sure that this stays up-to-date or even if it is maybe a year old video, but content that’s super valuable and things that are able to provide that value to your audience even if they click on it and it’s a year old.

This is just your profile, this is your activity, this is what I’ve posted, things that I’ve liked, things I’ve commented on, things I’ve shared, this is what your activity is. And then it goes into your experience. You do want to make sure that your profile is 100% filled out before you start posting because people are going to view your profile and they want to know who you are and what you do. Once you have your profile updated and you start utilizing these different features on your personal profile in what’s called My Network, you can start adding connections, and, again, with LinkedIn I love how niche you can get. You can really look for those people that you want to connect with and as you can see, I have a ton of invitations. I’m very picky about who I want to connect with, sometimes, I will let them sit here. I’ll look at their profile, I’ll see if it’s really something that makes sense for me to connect with. If not, then I click ignore.

My connections on LinkedIn, I want to make sure that they are quality over quantity. I don’t care about this number but I want people that I’m connected with that are going to engage on my posts and make sure that we have things in common. Maybe they would be a great referral partner, maybe a potential client, and that’s the important thing about your connections. LinkedIn is going to give you suggestions on who to connect with based on your profile. This is going to say similar roles as me or in the location, I’m in. This is great because, again, it gives you that opportunity to connect with people that you may not have a chance to connect with and one of the great things is once you hit this connect button, you can also, you can click connect but then you can, if you’re searching for someone, let’s say… I’ll just say a family, let’s do a family physician. Okay. And I’m obviously wanting to search in people because I want to connect with these people and right here… Oh, great. Ken, I want to connect.

 Once you click connect, I can add a note, “Hi, Ken. I was looking at your profile. I love what you’re doing.” So before you click that Connect, be sure to click on their profile, learn a little bit about them, see if they’re actually active. Right now, it says that he has commented on things. You can look at if he’s posted any articles, you can see when the last time he posted. And the reason why I say… he hasn’t posted anything for a year. The reason I say that you want to do your research on someone before you connect with them, again, is that quality. You don’t want to connect with people that aren’t active because then they’re not seeing your messages and they’re not going to be responding because they are not actively using LinkedIn. Make sure that before you click that Connect button and you add a note that you take a look at their profile and more importantly, their activity. What have they been posting?

Even if they haven’t posted anything but they have shared a lot of things or commented on things, that’s okay. A week ago, he liked this post that’s great. He may not be actively posting but he is actively using LinkedIn. That’s a great connection. So this is how you build the personal side of your LinkedIn account. Now, let’s go into the company page side of things. If you click here underneath your profile and you go down to, it will say, company and we have a few company pages but we’re going to go to Social Speak Network. And on here, this is your company page. Again, you have this header, utilize it to highlight what you do. Digital marketing management for healthcare professionals, that is what Social Speak does. I’m here and it is… I keep referring back to Facebook because when you have, especially now, if you just set up a Facebook business page, to increase those likes, it’s hard because you have to actively be inviting people or paying for ads, and that’s how LinkedIn is as well. It’s hard to increase this follower unless you are actively doing an ad campaign on LinkedIn to increase those followers or inviting people.

This is a great way to do this: As you’re adding connections, you can click here and invite more connections and you can look at… Again, I don’t want every single person I’m connected with to like my page, I want specific people that I am connected with that are in the healthcare and health and wellness industry to like my page because our content’s going to resonate with them the most. Again, each month as you’re adding that featured content to your personal profile and you’ve been adding new connections each month, invite them to like your company page. This helps increase the followers and it gives you your analytics, how many visitors you’ve had. We’ve had six new visitors in the past 30 days, which is down from last month, that lets me know. We have no new followers, hat lets me know, “Okay. Is my content not right or I’m just not getting people to the page?” Monitoring those analytics is a good idea to do, and you can really dive deeper into what does this means and it will let you know to share trending articles, invite your connections to follow.

Using LinkedIn for Business

LinkedIn does a great job of actively promoting you on what you need to do, or prompting you on what you need to do next. This is your company page, these are the hashtags that we follow, these are the posts that we put up every day. We do post daily on our LinkedIn platform and you need to create that content strategy of what works best for you. And so, you just need to know, is it going to be one time a week, is it going to be three times a week, five days a week, what does that look like for you and stick to that consistent schedule. One thing with LinkedIn, and you can see, you can add a document to your LinkedIn company page but you cannot do the article. You can, however, do a poll which is great to really dive into your audience and see, what are they thinking? How can you interact with them? And maybe doing different polls as a piece of your content strategy to help increase that engagement is a great idea try out that feature for your company page.

The other thing is, on your Facebook business page, you can go to your page and can click the little share button and post it directly to your personal profile. With LinkedIn, you cannot do that. What you would do is follow your own company and then as you post to your company page, it’s going to show up in your news feed and then from there, you can click share. And when you click share, it’s going to bring up exactly similar, again, to Facebook. You can type in, “This is a great blog that we just published.” Make a comment to the post that you put up, add hashtags, and then click post. These are just a few different ways to utilize LinkedIn to increase your network, grow your followers on your company page and start building your business.

Utilize LinkedIn just as you would Facebook. Take the time to engage yourself on here. Take the time to upload a video to your personal profile and to your company page and if you’re utilizing a scheduling tool such as Buffer or HootSuite, you can also schedule posts to your personal and your business account. If you’re utilizing HootSuite, you can upload a video to HootSuite for your company page but you cannot upload a video to HootSuite for your personal page. If you want to do those videos, I suggest just coming directly to LinkedIn and posting. You can also download the LinkedIn app and post directly from there, which is great. It’s very user-friendly, just jump on there. The mobile version’s great. You can upload your videos, your pictures, write an article from the app as well. Just figure out how you want to use LinkedIn, jot down some ideas, jot down who do you want to connect with. If you don’t have a company page, if you go under Work and at the bottom, it will say Create Company Page, that’s where you can create your page there.

Groups are great for LinkedIn and, again, you’re going to be posting in those groups as your own personal profile but groups are a great way to be able to share your blog posts, your videos, answer questions, ask questions and get involved with very niche groups. You can browse groups and make sure that they are a good group for you. And then, if you do have a job, you can also post a job on here utilizing LinkedIn Premium, or they have different options depending on what your needs are. Take time to go through your LinkedIn profile and see how you can have it work for you and implement this into your social media strategy. If you are needing help with LinkedIn and you just don’t know where to start or what that strategy should look like, let us know. Let’s schedule a free consultation and go over your LinkedIn strategy. Thank you.

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6 Reasons Why Doctors Should Use LinkedIn

UPDATED BLOG POST – You’ve heard LinkedIn is important but is it really? The short answer is yes.

LinkedIn is a social networking site that allows professionals and business people, regardless of their industry, to connect. With more than 600 million users in over 200 countries, it is the world’s largest professional network on the internet. Despite its popularity, many people ignore this platform simply because they do not understand how powerful it can be for exposing and growing their business.

Do you have a LinkedIn account? Here are 6 reasons to create one or dust off your long-forgotten one.

Opportunity to network

We’ve all heard the phrase “It’s not what you know, but who you know”. LinkedIn was built with that proposition in mind.

If you’re looking to build a strong network, LinkedIn is the best place to start. It is great for building strong networks with other healthcare professionals. It has a decent search feature that can help you find people in your industry. There are also numerous healthcare groups on LinkedIn that you can join. Use your LinkedIn connections to build a community. It is up to you to decide how much time and energy you want to put into this process.

When you’re an active LinkedIn user, your opportunities to interact with other healthcare professionals are virtually limitless. Professionals who are using the platform are open to networking, connections, and possibly, professional referrals. If you reach out to them in a genuine, non-spammy way, they’d be more than happy to have you in their network.

Demonstrate your knowledge and expertise

LinkedIn is essentially a digital translation of your CV. It is a great place for keeping all your career information. In fact, there is an entire section available devoted to recognitions and awards you’ve won. This could be an excellent way to tell your audience that you’re good at what you do.

Many people have a Linkedin account. The problem is that their profile is incomplete. Remember, your profile is the first professional impression people will have of you. Completing your profile with your experience, skills, and credentials will increase your credibility. Think of it as your online CV. Go ahead and show off your skills, academic accomplishments, and professional successes.

Content sharing

Unlike other social media platforms, where the focus of sharing is generally personal content, LinkedIn is a suitable platform for professional content.

The open publishing format of LinkedIn provides users an opportunity to both teach and learn. Here, you can share content that reflects your line of work and presents your thoughts and ideas to a wider audience. You can share blogs that have the potential to create a buzz around your name, participate in discussions and express your thoughts or views on certain topics.

Publishing high-quality content regularly creates trust with your connections and positions you as an expert in your field. If your post is featured on LinkedIn Pulse, your reach is exponentially increased.

If you’re not getting enough engagement on your posts, you may want to check out our blog on how to make your LinkedIn posts stand out.

Tap into industry news

In today’s competitive job market, it is important to stay up-to-date with industry news and trends in order to thrive. With new regulations and technologies affecting the healthcare industry, there are lots of industry news to stay on top of. LinkedIn makes it easier for you to stay relevant in today’s evolving healthcare landscape.

Joining industry-specific groups allow you to connect and interact with industry peers. From here, you can get the latest news, post, and announcements.

Be found online

Whether you like it or not, people are going to look you up on Google. And it’simportant that your patients, students, and other industry professionals find you online.

The good news is that Linkedin profiles have high authority with Google. That means, if you have a LinkedIn account, it will appear toward the top of the search results page.

LinkedIn is a great tool for managing and controlling your professional digital reputation since you’ll have direct control over how your online identity is presented. Plus, it will be easier for future patients to find you. Your profile will not only appear when they search your name but also when searching for your specialty.

Further your personal branding

Your brand is what people say about you. Try Googling yourself to see what comes up. These are the first impressions people will have of you.

In today’s digital world, first impressions are formed online, and Linkedin is the best place for people to “meet” you. Your profile is a showcase of your skills, experience, and achievements. It is a great way to present your professional experience, tell your story, and the goals you want to achieve. Make sure your profile is 100% complete. Don’t forget to update your profile photo.

Remember, you will never get a second chance to make a first impression, so make sure that you do it right. Make one that will differentiate you from the competition and reflect who you are.

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6 Reasons Why Healthcare Providers Should Use LinkedIn

how to write high quality blog posts quickly

In 2018 we published a blog on how to easily write a blog post for your business. This is a supplemental video to that blog with updates for blogging in 2021!

Namely, don’t hesitate to write shorter blogs if they fully answer the question at hand.

With the rise in mobile searches and voice searches, Google has prioritized some answers that get straight to the point rather than blogs that include the answer within a long drawn-out piece of content.

You’ve been told that you need to write blogs for your business, you now understand these blogs need to be >2,500 words, but how do you find the time in your schedule to actually write a good blog post?

Everything in marketing always comes back to finding systems that will work for your schedule to write an educational and informative blog post quickly.

In this post I’ll be going through my top tips for writing a good blog post quickly.

If you are just tuning in, over the past few weeks we’ve been talking about how to perform keyword research and find related keywords to include in your blogs:

Ok, so let’s jump in an get started.

First and foremost, when you write a piece of web content, it should be about something you are knowledgeable about.

If you are a psychotherapist who specializes in EMDR, but have never done Brainspotting, don’t try to write a blog post explaining the intricate details of Brainspotting. (I’m not an expert in either, so for our psychotherapist clients, I pass the writing of those blog posts to one of our all-star copywriters.)

As you are creating your content strategy and your blogging calendar, try to include blogs that are timely and relevant, but make sure you feel comfortable actually sharing information on them.

A 2,500 blog post may seem daunting as you are getting started, but it really doesn’t need to be when you follow the tips outlined below.

Tip 1: Once you have your topic, see what other articles have been written about it

Before you even get in the writing zone, do a quick Google search about the topic you want to write about. Remember, you want to get a sense of what those related keywords are to include in your content anyways, so this step has a dual purpose.

For this post, my search was for Write a Good Blog Post Quickly.

Guess what comes up?

A blog titled 5 Ways to Write High-Quality Content – Fast

5 Ways to Write High Quality Content Fast

Hey! That looks right on the mark for my blog post.

Ehh, actually after a quick read-through, this blog doesn’t include all the information I want to, but that’s okay! I know it is highly ranked on Google for my proposed keyword and includes super basic topics:

  • Have a brainstorm of ideas you can pull from
  • Batch your time
  • Know your own self and when you are most creative
  • Write ahead
  • Keep it simple

These are great tips, but again, I want to be more technical in this blog post on easily creating systems for writing a blog post quickly.

Don’t worry, my efforts to research what other people are already writing haven’t gone to waste.

If you do find a blog post that nails your topic on the head, make a quick note of the outline they follow including:

  • The headers they use
  • What keywords or topics stand out
  • The general flow

Then … CLOSE THE WINDOW. This is your blog and you need to make sure you aren’t plagiarizing. You want to make the blog post your own not a word by word replica of what you just read.

So why is it okay to open up an article or two that just don’t include the information you want to include? Well… It could be that you want to write about something completely off the grid or it could be that nobody has actually taken the time yet to post a detailed enough guide on the topic you want to explore.

If I open up an article that just doesn’t seem to include the information I want to share, I take a moment to consider what I would include in my blog post that is missing from the blog I just read.

Not sure what Keywords to include in your Blog?

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Tip 2: Take a Moment to Write Down What is Missing from the Blog Post you just read

Let’s go back to 5 Ways to Write High-Quality Content – Fast. Though the author has some great content tips, he’s missing some major items that help me write my own blog posts effectively.

Namely, the author is missing the steps to:

  • Research what other pieces of good content are ranking on Google
  • Create an outline for your blog post
  • Transcribe audio or video to create not only great written content for your website, but also to include multimedia in your blog posts.
  • Include filler adjectives and words
  • Outsource writing for blog posts

The post also has an incorrect fact about how short, concise content is the way to go. You don’t want to ramble on and on, but you want to give valuable information that will actually benefit the reader rather than a quick 300 word blog post (I’m already at 800 words and only on tip 2 for writing high quality blog posts quickly… you better buckle up).

Creating a list of what is missing from the example blog posts will help you create an outline for the informational blog that you want to write for your website.

Tip 3: Write down an outline for the content you are writing for your blog post

You now have the list of elements that are typically included in blogs related to your chosen topic.

You also have the specifics that are missing from the posts that you would like to include in your blog post.

AND, from before you even started your blog, you have the keywords you wish to include and the related keywords from Google.

Even though you already have this information compiled, I always find it helpful to write an actual outline for your blog post.

Why?

There are a number of reasons why you should, but most importantly it is because:

  1. You are a busy professional who will get called into a meeting or be interrupted by a conference call.
  2. You are a mom (or parent) like Amber and myself who will need to change a diaper, make sure homework is getting done, or run their child to T-ball.
  3. Do you really have the focus to write 2,500 words in one sitting?

As you get interrupted, it may feel like you can jump right back into the task at hand, but in reality, it takes your brain a few moments to get back on track and figure out where you are with your blog post.

Creating an outline allows you to more easily spend 15-30 minutes here and there on the blog without out feeling like you are spending half the time rereading what you’ve already written and trying to decide where to go next in the blog post.

Having an outline also keeps you on track for the final parts of your blog. Many writers often cut their blog short towards the end because they are just over the process of writing. Having an outline allows you to take a break, but not loose focus.

This process is called Batching your time (see I am including some of the information from the blog post example).

Tip 4: Batch your time while you are preparing to write and actually writing the blog post for your website

As I just mentioned, batching your time is the process of focusing on one at a time rather than trying to multitask.

Here, it means not checking your email or jumping to Facebook while you are writing.

Each time you shift your focus, your brain needs to reorient itself.

In the process of writing your blog post for your website, there are some things you can do to help you batch your time:

  1. Focus on each step in sequence: Keyword research and finding related keywords, researching similar blog posts, creating your outline for your own blog, actually writing the blog, going back and editing the blog, finding images for your blog, writing the title of your blog post.
  2. Don’t try to edit your blog post until you’ve gotten all of your information down.
  3. If you realize you need more information to write thoughtfully on a topic, but you’ve already done your initial research and are in your writing stage, make a note and then jump to the following section that you can write about. Unfortunately, if you jump back to reading articles, trust me, your blog will take 10 times longer to write.
  4. I’m sure I have more, but because I am using this blog as a way to show my own blog writing process, I’m jumping to the next section because additional points are not coming to me at this time. I may come back and add them, but for now, I move on. 🙂

So again, you want to think of writing your quality blog post as a process. Just like anything else in business, processes help to make you efficient and effective. Batching is one way to help you write your long blog post quickly.

Tip 5: Don’t Write! Transcribe from Audio and Video to Create your Blog Post

This is one of my favorite tips for busy professionals who just don’t seem to have the time to get into a writing groove.

10 minutes of audio creates a blog that is about 2,500 words long.

So, after writing your outline for your blog post you could use an audio converter or record a video to transcribe your words to text to include in your blog post.

Some tools I recommend are Google Docs and YouTube.

Let’s take a look at Google Docs first. 

Head on over to Google Drive and click to create a new document. Better yet, you could create your outline as a Google Doc so you can add to it on the go if needed.

Under Tools, there is an option for Voice typing (Ctrl+Shift+S).

voice typing google

Click this, start talking, and your document will start filling up with words.

Now when I do this speech to text, I do find that I need to edit the text as I go. I’ll talk for about 5 sentences, stop the recording, and then edit what was written. You may be able to do the entire document based off your outline and notes, however.

The iPhone speech to text works well, as well. I’ve actually ‘written’ blogs while out for walks with the girls, but Apple will stop transcribing every couple of minutes, so you need to make sure you don’t keep talking with nothing being written down.

I’m sure there is other software you can use that also records your audio for use in a Podcast. Or you can send the audio file off to Rev.com for transcription at $1/minute. Totally worthwhile if you have spent hours trying to get into writing, but not filling the page with any content.

The other option is to use YouTube to transcribe a video.

Using your computer camera or your phone, record yourself talking through the outline you created.

When you upload your video to YouTube, you may need to first verify your account (enter in your phone number in the settings) to post videos that are over 10 minutes long.

Typically, most of our clients who generate a transcription of their blog upload their videos as Unlisted or Private, though I am all for listing these videos as Public to get more of a reach – blogs with videos perform really well, YouTube is a search engine, and you can share your video to social media (always think of how you can repurpose your content as you create it). Make sure the space you are in looks professional if you also plan to publish the video as Public and include it in your blog post.

After you have uploaded your video, click in to edit it and find the link that says Subtitles/CC.

youtube subtitles

You will be prompted to select your language (I use English though at times I’m not sure).

Then, click under Published where English is listed again.

subtitles for youtube

On the next screen you can download the subtitles created by YouTube as .srt.

save subtitles you tube

 

I’m not sure what a .srt file actually is, but all you need to do is convert it to a .txt file online and you will be able to open it with your computer. In the past I’ve used Subtitle Tools for the conversion, though a Google search for “Convert .srt file to .txt for free” will work just fine.

The text that is created will be formatted a little strangely with about 7 words per line and no punctuation. Honestly, I get a little overwhelmed by this, but the ability to create the video and written blog in one go is well worth the effort to run through your post and edit it.

Your outline makes this easier as well. 

You can work through small chunks and sections by pasting the text under the corresponding blog header. Please let me know if you often work through your transcripts, I’d love to feature more tips about converting a YouTube video into a blog post.

Again, if spending $10-$20 isn’t a problem, you can submit the video to Rev.com and utilize their transcription services.

Tip 6: Outsource your Blog Writing

We frequently outsource blog writing. I’ll keep this section short, but you can find experts in your industry who cost anywhere from $0.03 per word to $0.65 or more per word. So, depending on your budget and time you have available to provide an outline and edit your blog post, you may decide for yourself what budget for the blog writing really makes sense.

We utilize freelancers on Upwork.com and WritersAccess.com to find niche bloggers for our clients. Again, as I mentioned earlier, I’m not an EMDR or Brainspotting expert, so why would I spend hours trying to write that blog post when someone else can write it for a fraction of the cost of my time to research.

Depending on your industry, you can also probably find Guest Bloggers who would write a post on your site for free if they can include their bio and a link back to their own website.

With Guest Bloggers, just make sure their content is unique and reserve the right to edit it slightly so the headers include your focus keywords and related keywords.

I love guest bloggers because they often then will share the link to their own networks or link to it from their website, which then in turn helps get new visitors to your website and helps in SEO.

How to quickly write a great blog post for your business, #blogging #bloggingtips, learn how to write a long blog, how to blog for your business, blogging for business

How to quickly write a great blog post for your business, #blogging #bloggingtips, learn how to write a long blog, how to blog for your business, blogging for business, #business

Wrap Up

Writing a high quality, long blog post doesn’t need to be a difficult task. Depending on how you work you may find that you are better suited to transcribe and audio or video file rather than sitting down and typing.

The most important starting point for any blog, however, is to make sure that you create an outline. I just sat down and busted out this blog before 9am, but it is on a topic I am VERY familiar with (have you checked out our blogging course yet?).

You may not have time to finish a blog in one chunk, so be sure to batch your time to most effective and efficient.

What long blog posts are you working on writing? I’d love to check out your work!

Not sure what Keywords to include in your Blog?

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Interested in learning more? Take a look at these articles:

Blogging in 2017 – The Startling Truth About Blogging

Blog SEO Checklist

4 Reasons Why Contests Should be a Part of Your Marketing Strategy

6 Ways to Grow Your Business Using Clubhouse

Everyone is talking about Clubhouse right now and for good reason. Where else can you listen in on conversations with influential entrepreneurs, celebrities, politicians, and venture capitalists?

Most of you have probably heard of Clubhouse by now, but if you still haven’t joined, here’s what you need to know about this exclusive, invite-only app and how you can leverage it for your business.

What is Clubhouse?

Clubhouse is an audio-based social media app. Here, users can listen to conversations, interviews, and discussions between interesting people on various topics. It’s something akin to a live, free-flowing podcast.

Unlike other social networking apps, Clubhouse is currently invite-only. You can’t just download the app and create an account. You have to secure an invite to get in. But here’s the thing… Members-only have two invites to handout, so that person must like you enough to get an invite.

The second hurdle is that is only available on the iPhone. So if you’re an Android user, you’re currently out of luck.

Here how you can take advantage of the app’s community and turn it into an asset for your business.

Optimize your Clubhouse profile

To make the most of your Clubhouse profile, we highly recommend that you optimize your bio.

Use the first three sentences in your bio to tell people who you are, what you do, and why they should follow you. Don’t forget to include keywords throughout your bio. This way, if they search for the keyword, your profile will come up.

Make sure your profile looks professional. Remember, the goal is to captivate your potential audience in case you don’t get the chance to be heard on stage.

Build an engaged following

One of the best features of Clubhouse is the ability to build an engaged community grow your sphere of influence.

Since Clubhous isn’t as saturated, this is your chance to ride the wave and get on top. If you constantly engage in conversations and reach out to the right people, you’ll be able to grow your following in no time. Use your time on the platform wisely, and you are likely to see your brand’s community grow and strengthen.

Make new connections

One of the biggest reasons why Clubhouse has grown so quickly is because it has some big-name users. We’re talking Oprah, Elon Musk, Kevin O’Leary, etc. Here, you’ll also have the opportunity to connect and network with people within your industry.

Find like-minded people by joining clubs related to your business or within your industry. Stay for a few minutes and listen to conversations. If you like it, stay. If not, then move to another room. Follow people who seem interesting.

Keep up with current news and trends in your industry

You may not realize it, but Clubhouse is actually a great tool for social listening. You can keep tabs on your competitors or follow influential people in your industry. By doing so, you’ll be able to keep up with the current industry news and trends.

Chances are, your target audience may also be on Clubhouse. You may immerse yourself in the conversation to gain a deeper understanding of your audience’s sentiments, needs, and behaviors.

Learn from experts

We all know the value of networking and learning from experts within our industries, but imagine the value of learning from tech giants and multi-million dollar CEOs.

Clubhouse doesn’t just give you an opportunity to learn from industry experts and big players in the industry, it also makes it possible for you to tune in on their conversations, ask questions, and even share the stage with them.

If you have a business problem you’re struggling with, you can start a conversation with leading experts in your industry and see what solutions they’d recommend.

Position yourself as an industry expert

Everyone on Clubhouse is there to add value, and you should too. As you enter different virtual rooms, you have the option to listen or join in on the conversation. If you have something valuable to add to the discussion, request to be on the stage. You can voice out your opinion, share your experience, or give advice about certain issues or problems. This will not only help you build your reputation as a thought leader, but it can also increase your Clubhouse followers.

Another way to establish yourself as an industry expert is by creating rooms on topics you are passionate about and providing valuable conversations. In Clubhouse, your followers will receive a notification when you go live, giving them an opportunity to tune in or join in on the conversation.

6 Ways to Grow Your Business Using Clubhouse (1)

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How to create custom graphics in canva

Today, we’re going to talk about Canva, and we’ve talked about Canva a few times in the past. The reason I want to bring it up again is it’s such an important tool to your digital marketing strategy. Canva is going to be your go-to resource if you are doing any type of social media, blogging, YouTube videos, you’re going to be able to create all of your custom graphics through Canva. And the one thing I love about Canva the most is that they make it super user-friendly, they’re always introducing new aspects to the platform, and it really allows you to stand out from the crowd and you don’t have to be a graphic designer in order to do this. That’s what I love most. When you come to Canva, there is a free version and a paid version. We use the paid version, I think it’s $12.95 a month, and it’s amazing. What you’re going to do is you can come in here and click “Create a design.” As you can see, there are so many different types of designs you can choose from.

Things you can do with Canva

Canva helps with presentations, obviously, all social media posts, logo design, posters, you can do videos on here, you can create a flyer, you can do Instagram stories. There are so many different types of graphics you can create with Canva. The one I’m going to show you today is one that you’re going to use most often, and it is going to be social media. The social media is a 1080×1080. This is a square image, and the great thing about this image, the size, is it works on all social media platforms. It works on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and even Pinterest. I’m going to go ahead and click the social media option. And then, once you come into here, it’s going to allow us to look at different templates. Now, with these templates, there are free and there…it’ll say, “Free.” If it doesn’t say, “Free,” but you’re already paying for the service, it’s included with your pro monthly subscription.

There are hundreds of different templates that you can use, and this is where I like to educate our clients on choosing between five and 10, and it seems like a lot, but five to 10 different templates that they like to save them time when they come in here to create their social media posts. For our clients, when I’m writing the post, I will have certain templates I use for each of them that I can customize. You can customize the image, the font, the color scheme. Just for the sake of time, what I’m going to do is I’m going to click this one. And again, we’re not talking about a baby shower, show your cookies, but let’s say I want to have this image in the background. I’m going to create a social media post. I can come here to photos, and I can start typing in what it is I’m looking for. I can look at social media and any of these images. Canva has again, royalty-free images, and they usually pull from Pixabay or Pexels. And if you are… Right here where it says, “Pro,” if you are paying for the pro service, those are included in your monthly subscription. If it says, “Free,” you could use either one of these if you are logged into your pro account.

Social Media Images

As you can see there are tons of different social media images to choose from. I can choose any of these. I’m going to go ahead and again, sometimes it can be a little time-consuming because you’re always looking for that perfect picture. Let’s take this one here, and I’m going to drag it over to this image, and it will automatically take place on the screen. If you double click onto it, I can adjust which way I want this to go. Then, I can change the font, the color scheme. I want this image to be my brand colors. I’ve already uploaded my images… Or excuse me, my brand colors to Canva. You can create your own brand with your fonts, your colors, your logo, and I’m going to change this to here. I’m going to take this out. I’m going, here, say, “Social media tips for the healthcare industry.”

Now, this font is not the font that we use. This isn’t our brand font, I’m going to click here. And again, you can upload your own fonts here, but Canva does have a ton of free fonts as well. I’m going to go ahead and choose Raleway. And then I don’t want these all to be in the capital, I’m going to come here to “More” and then click the As. That will allow it to go back to just having… If I made those letters capital. I also am not too fond of the spacing for these letters, I want them to be closer together. What you’re going do is come here to spacing, and letter, you can move them in, and then the lines you can move in or out. Now, one thing with Canva, when you’re using a template, is usually the text will be grouped together. I just want this text here. Just this text to scoot up, not this text here. What I’m going to do is now that this is highlighted, I’m going cover here to ungroup. Once you ungroup them, that means now they’re their own text boxes, and then here I can say, learn more at www.socialspeaknetwork.com. 

I want to make sure that these are, they are Raleway, but the spacing, I don’t like, I want the lettering to be closer together, and I want these to be unbold and maybe a 22 font, that’s what that could look like. Now, I can go into… I can also add my logo, I can come into here into logos, and then you can… Let’s add a yellow logo, and I can put this right here and this back in the middle, and then let’s say I want this picture to be a little bit, I don’t want it to be so transparent, I can bring this all the way up to 100 and there I have my social media image.

Animating Images on Canva

The other great thing is, let’s say I want to add a page. Maybe these are social media tips for the healthcare industry, and I want to go into three different tips, I’m going to go ahead and click here to add a page. And I want to add a video to this. I’m going to type in social media, and these are videos that you can use as well, I’m going to bring this over here, I’m going double click on it I can choose the screen that I want, and I may not like that one as much, maybe I will use this one or… Oops. This one, let’s get rid of. Now this will play. You can move it this way, maybe I’ll just leave it like this it shows, it doesn’t show the percentages, but you can up here, click this and you can edit how long this is for, okay, you can see kinda what that idea is, I want to say… I’m going to put a text box here that says tip number one, and then let’s just say, choosing the right platform.

Now, a couple of things here. With this video background, it may be a little hard for my audience to be able to read my text, even though I make it bold and it still is a little dark or it’s a little hard to read, I can click onto this video and I want to trim that because I don’t need it to be 27 seconds long. I can just have it be three seconds long, and what I can do is I can click done, and then I can make the transparency fade out a little bit. I can also come over here to the area of this element, and maybe I want to add a box, but I’m going make it this wide, and I’m going to bring it up, and I want this to be a little transparent and the video, not to be transparent anymore, I want that to be full, and then I’m going bring up my content, okay? Here, if you click onto the background image, I want this to just be three seconds, it doesn’t need to be five seconds long.

Right now, I have a 6.1-second video, then I can come to add a page for my tip number two, and maybe I don’t want to do necessarily a video, I’m going to go back to digital marketing for a photo and… Oops, digital marketing. And I’m going find the photo that I want, I’m going to bring that over here, and then and again, I’m going add my text, I may want to keep the same element of this background here, I can copy that, and then bring it down here. I can also copy my text box and bring that down here, and then I can edit the text box, it would say tip number two.

Now I want to maybe bring this text down to the middle of this box, and maybe this color is going to be a little bit different, I want this one to be here, and then I want to… What’s called animate this because I want to have it be a little bit different. I want it to be three seconds, and I want to still make it look fun and interesting, but not necessarily a video, you can have it tumble in, you can have it fade. You rise, zoom in. I think I’m just going to do this tumble in, okay, and then I’m going just do one more tip, and I want to go back to the templates. With the templates, you can see this one here is an animated video and you can… You’ll notice that because it will have the play button, and I want to look for another animated template that we can use, and as you scroll through here, and again, there are many different templates that you can use, and even if you see a template that you like, you can still animate it, I may just search… Oh this one here, let’s do this one.

Using Video in Your Social Media Images

I want to do a video, and I’ll do digital marketing. I’ll bring this one here, maybe over a little bit more, and actually, maybe this will be video marketing… I’ll just leave this here. Now I want to make this a little bit bigger. And then again, I want to be able to ungroup this context box, I’m going click ungroup, I’m going move it over, and then I’m going say tip number three content strategy, and again, this is not the text I want to use, we’re going use Raleway, and you want to make sure you have that consistency, again, we’re going to make sure that we’re not doing that, and then you want to know what was that font. It’s Raleway 50 bold. I want to say here, Raleway, 50 bold, and I want it to be black text to go along with what I have on my tip number one and tip number two. Now, here, I want to make these, I have my brand colors, going back to your board there, I want this content, the text, the words to be closer together or the letters, there we go, I want this to be this light bulb, I like the light bulb, but I want it to be my brand colors, and then we can say, check out more tips at socialspeaknetwork.com. Okay, and then we want to make sure we’re bringing this over, that this needs to be Raleway, and I’ll make this 20 unbold and I’ll put this back into the black.

This video here, I want to trim to just three seconds because I don’t want it to be a 45-second video, I want it to be consistent with what I had above. Now if you click play, you have a branded quick 12-second video that allows you to put your own content on here and still being able to grab the attention of your audience. With Canva, again, it’s very simple to use, and it’s important to make sure that you are trying the different features that it has to offer, your Instagram Stories… Instagram Stories are a great way to build your followers and to be able to stay on top of mind with your audience. Here, you can do an Instagram Reels video, layout Instagram Stories. It allows you to really personalize every single graphic that you put on to your digital marketing, you can do your blog images through here, your YouTube thumbnails, your YouTube intros, really everything, in here, you’ll be able to see they have different featured images that you can use and this is great because if you upload a reel, they always pick the worst thumbnails, that’s why it is important to have branded graphics. 

If you need help creating branded graphics for your company or help to manage your social media. We are here to help, you could book a free 30-minute consultation, and we would love to help you build a consistent brand on your social media and your digital marketing. 

 

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6 Easy Tips to Make Your LinkedIn Posts Standout

By now, you probably already know that Linkedin is a great place to generate leads. And publishing valuable content on the platform positions you as an authority in your industry, so you started writing content.

You spent hours researching, writing, and editing. Finally, your article is ready for publishing. Beaming with excitement, you clicked “post”. A few minutes later, you checked again hoping to see some likes and comments. Unfortunately, there is none.

Here’s the thing… If you’re not getting views on your LinkedIn posts, then you’re missing out on thousands of potential leads. The good news is that you can boost your engagement rates with just a few tweaks.

Follow these tips to write Linkedin posts that attract views and engagement.

Headlines are crucial

If you’re not getting enough views and engagement, then you’re posts are probably missing one of the most powerful user attractions of all – an intriguing headline.

In a world full of noise, it is your headline that captures the attention of your audience. So take the extra time to consider what headline would grab people’s attention.

When writing a headline, you should always ask the question: “would this make me want to read on?”. If it doesn’t, then try again.

Create content that strikes a conversation

A lot of professionals and entrepreneurs are using Linkedin to promote their business. The problem is that many of them would just pump out content, promote their services, and then leave.

You see, you can’t just post content, leave, and expect unlimited traffic. It doesn’t work that way. Start treating your audience like real people. Talk to them. Genuinely ask people to give out their opinion on industry-related topics. Ask questions to get people talking.

By keeping the conversation genuine rather than salesy, you’ll leave a much better impression. Eventually, your engagement rate will rise, you’ll reach a wider audience, and grow your business in the process.

Tell your personal brand story

If you scroll through your LinkedIn feeds, you’ll notice that most people are sharing some tips, tricks, advice, etc. After all, we know that posting valuable, informative content is one way to capture the attention of your audience, right? Well, it does. But if you want to cut through the noise, then you need to differentiate yourself from the others — and telling your brand story helps.

If there’s anything the internet has taught us, it’s that everyone has a story. And believe it or not, people are more interested to read about your story than listen to your sales pitch. Your story may seem ordinary to you, but others may find it interesting. Go ahead and share your story with the world!

Make images work for you

You probably already know that social media posts with an eye-catching image get more views and engagements. It turns out, the same principle applies to LinkedIn. In fact, studies suggest that LinkedIn posts with images receive an average of 57,000 views; whereas, posts with no image only receive about 6,000 views. That’s a huge difference!

What does this tell us? Visuals play an important role in capturing the attention of readers. Using a visually attractive image with your content will make your posts standout in the LinkedIn feed.

Lower the reading level

Linkedin is a social media platform for professionals and entrepreneurs. The majority of them are well-educated, read frequently, and can understand complex content. So why would you lower the reading level? It’s all about the ease of comprehension.

Writing copy that is 5th to 6th-grade level is not talking down to educated readers. Rather, you want your audience to easily grasp and digest your content. If you go much higher than that, it will require concentration. Remember, the most powerful LinkedIn content is straightforward and easy to read.

You can use the Flesh-Kincaid score to determine whether or not your content is easy to comprehend. A higher score means the article is elementary.

Timing is everything

If you want to get your posts read, then you need to publish them at the most opportune time. You need to keep in mind that LinkedIn is primarily used by business professionals. That means you should publish your posts on weekdays.

Research shows that most articles are read between 1:00 and 2:00 PM, 4:00 and 5:00 PM, and 7:00 and 8:00 PM. Try to schedule your posts around these times.

Final thoughts

LinkedIn is such an awesome place for networking. It allows you to connect with some of the biggest names in the industry, as well as your prospects. One of the best ways to build a relationship with your connections is by providing value first — which you can do with your content.

Follow the tips above to establish your presence and strengthen your reputation. But if you need help writing killer LinkedIn content that hooks readers, we are here for you. Click that Free Consultation Link for a free 30-minute consultation.

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Benefits to Retargeting ads

Today’s blog discusses remarketing ads or retargeting ads. Specifically, we’re going to be focusing on Facebook, however, this also applies to Google or any other ad network that you’re on, as long as you have that tracking code on your website, that then tracks what people have been doing with either the ads, or with your website once they get there.

First of all, why should you have retargeting ads for your marketing?

There are five main reasons that I think of when it comes to remarketing ads. These include:

  1. Brand Awareness
  2. Create more qualified leads
  3. Show Your Audience Compelling Content that Aligns with Their Interests
  4. Automate and Streamline Upsells and Sales
  5. Increase ROI with Retargeting Ads

 

Listen to the Digital Marketing Podcast

Read the Transcript

Hi there, Caitlin McDonald here with the Social Speak Network, and today we’re going to be talking about remarketing ads, or retargeting ads. Specifically, we’re going to be focusing on Facebook, however, this also applies to Google or any other ad network that you’re on, as long as you have that tracking code on your website, that then tracks what people have been doing with either the ads, or with your website once they get there.

First of all, why should you have retargeting ads for your marketing?

There are five main reasons that I think of when it comes to remarketing ads.

Raise Brand Awareness

The first is to raise brand awareness. It often takes people between seven and 12 touches in order to make that purchasing decision with your company, and so by having retargeting ads you are really building that brand awareness. The second reason is to increase the marketing efforts from your other platforms. So let’s say you have an email campaign, or you’re working with another company that drives a lot of traffic to the site, you’re paying money to get people there the first time, you might as well make sure that they are then converting into clients of yours, or customers of yours. So remarketing really helps to make sure that people who are being driven to the site through other efforts, then are growing with that brand awareness and learning to know, like, and trust your business.

Create more qualified leads

Next, it helps you create more qualified leads. And the reason why this is, is because you can actually utilise retargeting ads to track somebody and to drive somebody through your sales funnel. So what we sometimes do, is we’ll show ads to somebody who’s been to a landing page, but not a thank you page, or we’ll show ads to somebody who has been to a thank you page, or looking very high top of the funnel, maybe somebody has just been to the home page of your website, but never drilled down to specific content. Having the retargeting ads really helps to drive more qualified leads, because we are progressively getting somebody to interact more and more with your content, with your website, with your services, so that when you actually get on the phone with them, or they actually get to the sales page, they’re ready to say, “Sign me up now.”

Show Your Audience Compelling Content that Aligns with Their Interests

Next, number four. Is that through using retargeting, you can actually show people more compelling content. If you know what pages of the website, or what products, or services, people have viewed you can actually create a whole campaign to show them more similar content, or similar products, related products, or even the same product, over and over again through different media and through different links, so that you really are showing them that you understand what they are looking for and interested in. If we’re talking about a website let’s say, that has both books and products on it, and somebody keeps on going to the book section of the website, they’re probably not as interested in the product services of the website, so you want to make sure that they’re seeing more and more information about potential books that they could be interested in. If you notice that somebody never goes to the book section of the website and only looks at the products, then they probably are going to be more interested in there.

You can also think about the same way with videos. Let’s say somebody watches part of a video, Facebook allows you to target people who have only watched three seconds let’s say of a video. You can show them content that’s related to that first three seconds of the video, and show somebody who’s watched more of the video more advanced content, so that you are really helping them move through that sales funnel, without them having to remember to come back and go to your website, or check you out.

Automate and Streamline Upsells and Sales

Now, the fifth reason is to help automate and streamline some of the upsells and sales moving forward after somebody has purchased that initial product. So if you know somebody has gotten to the thank you page after checking out, then you can show them more advanced products, or related products and services that are going to help them even more with whatever journey they’re on with your business. And so this is a great way to help get repeat customers, or help them share your offer with other people. Imagine having a Refer a Friend ad pop-up after you’ve made a purchase for a website, this would be a great way, an easy touch, to get them to interact with your business more and to engage their family and friends with your business as well. And so we highly recommend creating multiple different types of retargeting campaigns on Facebook and testing out linking to things like blog posts, product pages, posting videos, boosting posts, and diving in deeper with webinars or more advanced pieces of training.

So by doing this, again, really you’re working to build that brand awareness, working to drive people down through that sales cycle at lower cost than just showing somebody one ad and forgetting about them, and also making sure that people don’t get bored seeing the same thing over and over again. You want to make sure that you’re showing them related content that is very interesting to them, but not the same offer over and over again, especially if they’ve already clicked to learn more and decided not to move forward.

I hope that this has been helpful, about the reasons why you should make sure to include remarketing or retargeting in your ads on Facebook. It is pretty easy to set this up. You need to make sure that you have the Pixel installed on every page of your website, and that you’ve created audiences for either specific pages on your website, or categories of blog posts, or things like thank you pages, or landing pages about specific topics. You can group these together in different audiences and then just select that audience as you are creating the ad campaign. Additionally, if you have an email list, let’s say one of the things that you’re working on is growing an email list, you can then re-target to these individuals, or create a lookalike audience to continue growing your email list at a lower cost. We’ve done this for a few clients where their big goal is growing that email list with qualified candidates. And so we take the list that’s already built of qualified candidates, we load it as an audience and then we create a look-alike audience, so that we’re sure we’re targeting similar people to the folks who have already pushed forward and moved forward. And so this is a great way, again, using remarketing and re-targeting tools, to drive the cost of your marketing down.

Increase ROI with Retargeting Ads

If you can squeeze a few more conversions out of each person who sees the ad, or each campaign, excuse me, then it’s definitely well worth your effort to spend the time to create the remarketing campaigns. Of course, pay attention to what website, or what pages people are going to on your site, how they’re interacting with the content, and from there you’ll be able to drive your business forward with Facebook ads.

Now, if you have any questions about how to run these ads on Facebook, or get your account all set up, we’d love to have a conversation with you. Head on over to socialspeaknetwork.com, click that Free Consultation link and we can hop on a 30-minute phone call just to get acquainted. If this has been beneficial for you, click that Subscribe button and of course follow us for more information. Thanks so much and I’ll see you next time.