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How to use LinkedIn for both personal and business

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

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 Ways to Grow Your Business Using Clubhouse

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.

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How to Create Custom Graphics in Canva

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

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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6 Ways to Use Pinterest for Your Healthcare Marketing Plan

6 Ways to Use Pinterest for Your Healthcare Marketing Plan

For most people, Pinterest is nothing but a big visual search engine. It is a platform users turn to when looking for  DIY projects to tackle, put-together outfits to wear, or recipes to make. But a lot of people fail to realize that Pinterest also provides a great opportunity, not only for businesses but also for healthcare providers and organizations.

Pinterest isn’t the first platform you’d think of when promoting your practice, but it can introduce your practice to a whole new audience. Plus, it can help you drive traffic to your website, generate leads, and even attract new patients.

So if you’re still not using Pinterest for your healthcare practice, now is the best time to get started.  Here are 6 ways to use Pinterest for your healthcare marketing plan.

Create pin-worthy images

Pinterest is an image-sharing platform. It is filled with appealing eye candy. So if you want to get gain some traction on the platform, then you need to create eye-catching and attractive images.

Unlike other social media platforms, Pinterest’s images are tall and vertically-oriented. The ideal image size is 1,000 x 1,500px and an aspect ratio of 2:3. Also,  including texts in your images can make a difference. Not only will it make your pins more enticing, it will also help users know exactly what your pin is about at a glance.

Educate your audience

According to Hootsuite, two-thirds of Pinterest users are women, and the majority of them are mothers. As moms, they are always looking for new ways to keep their kids healthy. If you’re a pediatrician, you can use the platform to educate them and promote healthy eating. You can share kid-friendly recipes, suggestions for making living a healthy lifestyle fun, or help moms identify health concerns in kids.

If you’re an OB/GYN, you can promote good breast health with pictures of what to expect during a mammogram. Or if you’re a cardiologist, you can create a pin on the importance of a stress test, and how to prepare for the said test. Simple pins like these can help take some of the anxiety out of such tests and would help your audience understand the importance of these tests.

Create boards centered around your specialty

Pinterest isn’t just about sharing your content and images. It’s an excellent platform where you can expand the idea of what your brand is.

Create boards that are centered around your specialty and make sure that it resonates with your audience. If you’re an OB/GYN, you could pin educational resources related to prenatal care, fertility tips, and gynecology information. If you’re a yoga instructor, you can create boards about yoga poses, yoga outfits, meditation, and healthy recipes.

The key is to create boards that interest your target audience. The more users engage with your content, the more likely will Pinterest see you as a great pinner. As a result, your content will be more visible in searches. Win-win.

Drive more traffic to your blog

Do you have an updated blog that you post content to? Pin your posts! Doing so can help drive traffic to your blog.

To capture the attention of your audience, the visuals need to stand out. It’s a great way to entice readers to click through your blog post. Keep in mind, though, that you don’t need to pin every blog post on Pinterest. Consider pinning blogs on topics that already have an audience on Pinterest.

To really maximize your pin’s potential, you also have to focus on your copy description. Provide enough information to entice a pinner to click through your blog.

The main goal is to draw people’s attention to your boards, get people to share your posts, and attract clients who are looking for your services. Keep these tips in mind when creating content for Pinterest. It won’t be long before you start seeing them coming to your website to find out more about what you offer.

See what topics are trending

One of the best things about Pinterest is that it gives you an opportunity to see and understand topics that are trending at the moment.

Pinterest acts as a search engine all on its own. Simply type in the keywords on the search bar to see what’s showing up on Pinterest already. Before you start creating pins and driving traffic to your website, it’s a good idea to look around on the platform to see what shows up. You can also check what your competitors are doing in the space.

According to Entrepreneur.com, pins related to trending topics see an average of 94% increase in click-throughs. Use the platform to find trending topics and use the information you gathered to position your products and services.

Promote your event

Pinterest might not get as much attention as compared to other social media channels. However, it remains to be a powerful platform for getting your content discovered and connecting with your audience. That said, this image-centric platform would be a great place for promoting upcoming events.

You can do this by creating boards specifically for your event. Make sure to include all relevant information, including the venue, behind-the-scenes photos, freebies, etc. Also, keep in mind that pinners are planners. In fact, 75% of pins are saved 1 to 2 months before an event. So make sure that you start pinning your event-related content months before the big day.

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Tiktok 101: 6 Tips for Healthcare Professionals and Organizations

Tiktok 101: 6 Tips for Healthcare Professionals and Organizations

Tiktok is a video-based social network that allows users to create and publish short videos. The app has been downloaded more than a billion times worldwide and is now considered the trendiest social media platform.

Some of you might be rolling your eyes right now, thinking it’s not suited for you. Sure, it isn’t a serious platform. But as of now, it’s the social media platform with the most opportunities to go “viral”. It provides a great opportunity for you to build a solid online presence and position yourself as an industry expert.

Here are some tips for marketing your practice on Tiktok.

Choose a username that reflects your practice

Your username is one of the most important aspects of your social media account. When you create a profile, make sure that your username is catchy and easy to remember. If possible, try to drop subtle hints about what you do.

Dr. Kim Chronister, a licensed clinical psychologist in Beverly Hills, is a great example of a healthcare professional who’s also an influencer on Tiktok. She’s known as @drkimchronister on the platform. She’s killing the keyword game by making it obvious of her expertise.

Create content that drives traffic

The key to going viral on Tiktok is to create content that your audience finds valuable. So ask yourself, “What are the problems your target audience is looking to solve?”. Now create video content that would help them solve that problem.

You can leverage the platform to attract new people to your Facebook group, get more Youtube subscribers, revive your Instagram account, or drive traffic to your website. You can say something like, “if you want to learn more about this, check out my Instagram or visit my website.”

Engage with your audience, especially the younger ones

Once people learn about your profession, they’ll start asking you health-related questions. Some will even ask for tips and advice. You can use the platform to answer these questions and provide solutions to their problems.

Dr. Jones, known as @MamaDoctorJones on Tiktok, is a gynecologist who uses the platform to educate teens about sex education.  Her contents are engaging, and her willingness to be a bit silly on the app helps her get her message across.

In one of her popular videos, she talked about what you should do if a condom breaks during sex. The video has racked up over 11 million views. If the teen demographic doesn’t get adequate education about sex, then you can use the platform to provide reliable information.

Keep the “duet” feature in mind

While scrolling on Tiktok, you might notice two videos appearing side-by-side on the screen. It’s called a “duet”.

Duets allow users to collaborate, respond, or interact with other’s videos. You can create a video with a colleague or an influencer. Or better yet, invite your audience to join you on screen. This is a great strategy if you’re looking to grow your following.

Address misinformation

Living in the digital world, we have access to a wide range of information. Unfortunately, not all of this information is reliable.

With so much information available online, it can be difficult to separate the facts from fallacies. Tiktok is a great way for doctors and other health professionals to reach their younger audience. Use it to educate people about illnesses, general health, and much more.

Rose Marie Leslie, a medical resident better known as @drleslie on Tiktok, shares valuable information about vaping or birth control on the platform. With studies showing that vape use is at an all-time high with teens, Dr. Leslie often talks about vaping and vaping-related illnesses.

In one of her videos, she showed the chest x-ray from a patient with vape-related lung injuries. Dr. Leslie said that she’s been receiving tons of messages from teens who have stopped vaping after watching her video.

In another video, she debunks douching and other scented vaginal products as “a load of medical bologna”. She emphasized that these products can actually increase the likelihood of yeast infection and bacterial vaginosis.

Use Tiktok to humanize your brand

Many of the content on the platform is funny and entertaining. This is why a lot of professionals are hesitant to create an account on Tiktok. But you don’t necessarily have to dance or crack jokes to capture the attention of your audience. You just have to show them your human side.

Remember that your audience are humans and they want to speak with real humans too. People are more likely to trust you if they can connect with you on a more personal level. Make an effort to talk to them as you would with a friend.

By letting your personality shine through your videos, you become more approachable and relatable in the eyes of your audience.

Final thoughts

More and more healthcare professionals are flocking to Tiktok to teach teens and young adults about health issues that matter to them.

As of now, there is very little competition on the platform. This presents a massive opportunity for you to reach a wider audience at a relatively low cost. So if you’re looking to build a solid online presence on the platform, now would be a great time to start.

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How to Leverage Facebook Groups for Your Medical Practice

How to Leverage Facebook Groups for Your Medical Practice

You probably belong to at least 3 Facebook groups, right? But have you ever considered creating one for your practice? If not, then you should.

In this blog post, we’ll show you how to leverage Facebook groups for your medical practice. Read on to discover how to use Facebook groups to support and grow your practice.

Build a community

Your practice or organization most likely has a Facebook Business Page. We highly recommend that you create a Facebook group in addition to your page as a way to engage with your audience on a more personal level.

People who will join your group are likely your most loyal patients and followers. They’re spending their free time reading your posts and sharing them with their family and friends. With Facebook groups, you have an opportunity to engage with them directly and show them that you care.

Establish authority as a thought leader

If you want to build authority as a thought leader, a Facebook group is a great way to get serious.

The key to building thought leadership is to blog regularly. Make sure, though, that your blogs are relevant to the industry and add value to the reader’s lives. Your Facebook group is an excellent place to share your blog posts as well as articles on trends and issues that impact your industry.

Thought leadership also requires staying up-to-date on the latest news and trends. Is there a newsworthy topic or a new law affecting the industry? Feel free to share your thoughts and opinion within the group.

Beat Facebook algorithm

It’s no secret that Facebook rewards engagement. In fact, Facebook pushes the post back up to the top every time someone reacts or comments on the post. The more people in your group are posting and interacting, the further your reach in the newsfeed will be.

To keep the flow of content going, regularly post things that will spark interaction among group members. Another idea is to ask open-ended questions. If they’re a really chatty bunch, let them dictate where the conversation is going. Ideally, you’re a benevolent leader who chimes in with support or wisdom when needed.

Provide value to the community

Most people turn to the internet for medical information. Some would visit health sites, while others would go around asking people for advice.

Suppose someone in your group asks specific questions about their condition and treatment, the best thing to do is to send this person a private message and invite him/her to your practice to discuss their question in person. This will help keep their information safe and ensure that you do not violate HIPAA.

Of course, you can still answer to the best of your understanding without sharing or asking for additional private information. You can also share some health tips, advice, as well as some helpful articles to further educate them.

It is a good idea to have rules in place about what is and isn’t appropriate to post. You want to keep the patient’s information private, while still fostering a sense of community and belongingness.

Create a sense of exclusiveness

Everyone wants to feel special, right? Private Facebook groups can provide just that. You have the option to keep the group private and hidden to emphasize exclusivity, keep the community tight-knit, and to keep the quality of discussions high.

You can create a group that is dedicated to your email subscribers. Each subscriber gets a link once they opt-in, so they can join the group. And since it’s a private group, only those who are inside the group can see who’s in the group, the posts, etc.

People can request to join, but you’ll have to screen them first before they can enter. Having some sort of fo qualification for admittance to the group naturally builds a stronger community. People feel like they’re a part of a special club.

Patient support group

People who are dealing with chronic illness, mental health issues, and other conditions can benefit from a support group.

By meeting and talking to people with the same condition as them, they will realize that they are not alone. That they aren’t the only person in the world who is experiencing the same problem. Plus, it gives them hope, seeing others in the group who are further along their road to recovery.

A support group can be their safe haven. Here, they are free to share their feelings and life circumstances within a safe and supportive environment.

As a healthcare professional, you are free to offer tips and advice to help patients deal with certain issues. You can also recommend some books and other resources that will further educate them.

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7 Social Media Trends for 2021

7 Social Media Trends for 2021

I know that 2020 was quite the year, and we had to make a lot of changes in our digital marketing strategies, so today we’re gonna cover seven social media trends for 2021.

1. Telehealth

The first one being telehealth. Telehealth is not going away, we’re going to have to continue the awareness that your practice is offering telehealth consultations and make sure that your patients feel safe and comfortable doing that, so continuing those posts, letting them know the process, and making sure that it is user friendly for them to schedule that telehealth consultation.

2. Patient’s Journey

Number two is sharing more about the patient’s journey, getting those testimonials because again, going back to having your patient feel safe, and if they are… If it’s a telemedicine or telehealth experience, we want to make sure that you’re telling the story of what that’s going to be like, how is it going to work for them, and also recognizing when a patient starts with you and what they came in for and being able to document that journey and that process that they’ve had and allowing them to tell their story, so really pushing that with them.

This could be written testimonials are great, but if they’re willing to do a thirty second to a one-minute video recording testimonial, that is amazing. And if you are able to tie their process into your social media posts, not using names, but situations, symptoms, being able to talk about their success, that is a great way to be able to implement that into your social media posts for 2021.

3. Videos

The third thing is videos, and we talk about this all the time, videos are not going anywhere, so it’s really important to make sure that you have that video strategy for 2021. This can be a series, so you can talk about, let’s say, January you can put together maybe a weight loss series and you answer questions about weight loss, you discuss maybe an eating plan, different recipes, and you’re putting out a video every week, and these don’t have to be long videos, these can be five to 10-minute videos. Maybe a little bit longer. These can be trying out Facebook lives, YouTube lives, you can schedule a YouTube live so people can sign up for it, similar to a webinar, but then it’s a live event. Going into then more interviews, so you can interview may be one of your doctors, you can have someone interview yourself, you can interview a patient, but really figuring out how you’re going to get more videos into your social media strategy is really important.

4. Repurposed Content

Number four, re-purposing content. So we are always, always, always working on content, this is our blog post, this is old social media posts and going back through your blogs and either, one, updating old blog posts and then re-purposing them onto social media pulling… If that content’s still relevant, then pulling pieces out of that blog post and also being able to create new images. If you’re using Canva, which we’ve talked about a lot in our previous blogs, if you’re using Canva, they have really cool new features of creating your own little animated social media image, or even they have video options on there as well, so creating a new eye-grabbing image or video to go along with that re-purposed content.

5. National Observance Days

Number five, looking at your national observance days, so this is something… Look at the ones that matter to your practice, to the local ones, the smaller ones… It could still be Breast Cancer Awareness month, it could be autism awareness month. Things that mean something to you on a personal level, and align with your practice’s mindset.

6. Industry News

Number six, industry news. Continue to share industry news. This can be from different resources, we always have our clients put together a list of resources between 10 and 15 different websites that they trust, that we can monitor and be able to share that content out to their social media platforms. So making sure that you have that, what we call that approved list to be able to share industry news, and this kind of breaks down into that 80-20 rule. 80% of the time, you should always be educating your audience, sharing news, giving them something that is… That they’re gonna be able to take something away. And then 20% of the time is about you, it’s about your practice, which goes into our last one, our tip.

7. Humanize Your Brand

Number seven, humanizing your practice. Really sharing with your audience what you guys are about, what are your core values, what are your missions, who is… Who are you… Maybe you’re the practitioner, maybe you’re the marketing department, but who’s behind the scenes, how does it work? And really showing your audience, so highlighting maybe a staff member, a nurse, a doctor, a practitioner every week, having a picture of them, or maybe a quick… That could be a part of your video, a quick little, “Hi, I’m so and so, I’m so excited to be working at” blah, blah, blah, and it gives that face connection, so they feel like if they are coming into the office that they know who’s going to be there, who’s going to greet them. If they are scheduling a telehealth consultation, they know who’s going to be on the other side of that screen, and it builds that loyalty and it gives them that comfort. So I think being able to humanize that brand and really get on a personal level is going to build those connections with your patients even more.

So these are just seven different social media trends that we see for the healthcare industry. If you need help putting together your social media strategy for this year or want to discuss different topics that are going to be a good fit for your practice, please schedule your free 30-minute consultation today. Thank you

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