LinkedIn Do’s and Don’ts

LinkedIn is a service that individuals use to find jobs and also seek out employers, but did you know there are many services LinkedIn offers that you might be using wrong? By reading our LinkedIn Do’s and Don’ts, you are bound to find a few ways to improve your profile!

DO

Choose a great profile photo.

First impressions are essential. By creating a good first impression, you will establish the baseline for all thoughts and opinions a potential employer will make of you. Did you know how long it takes to make up for and eventually reverse a bad first impression? By having a clear, professional photo, your chances of making a good first impression automatically increase.

“A photo can go a long way to convey passion, energy, charisma, empathy, and other soft skills that are hard to write about.” The Muse

Keep your page up-to-date.

There are many different functions on LinkedIn that allow you to keep followers updated on your professional career. One of the most important sections to keep updated is your profile section, which is located at the top of your profile. Keeping your profile section up-to-date is important because it is the first section viewers see when they open your page and can give potential employers a quick synopsis of who you are. In this section, you can include where you currently work (with your position title), your education, and a short summary about yourself. Another vital section on your page to keep updated is your ‘experience’ section. Showcasing past jobs and responsibilities you’ve had is important as, for some readers, this section can be viewed essentially as a resume.

Take advantage of the Summary section.

The Summary section is crucial because it allows you to tell viewers about yourself in your own words. Show off your personality, touch on your professional experiences and skills, and tailor it all exactly the way you want it to be presented. According to Career Horizons, “your summary should be around 3–5 short paragraphs long, preferably with a bulleted section in the middle.” Don’t miss an opportunity to showcase your writing skills and personality for potential viewers.

Include multimedia

When given the chance to show off your expertise through work you have produced, do it! Having multimedia on your page will likely help you stand out when compared to competition. Including any multimedia work you have done on your page gives employers an accessible showcase of your skills. You can include multimedia In your ‘Summary’ and ‘Experience’ sections on your profile.

DON’T

Don’t add people you don’t know.

Although it is important to have many connections on LinkedIn, it is not professional to add people that you do not know. Did you know that if enough people deny your invitation, LinkedIn can shut down your account? White it is important to have at least 50 connections, it is essential you know who you are connecting with.

Don’t forget to add your contact information.

Although it seems like a common thing to remember, many people look over the ‘Contact Info’ portion of their LinkedIn profile without realizing it. You can find this section under your profile settings. If you do not list any contact information, it makes it difficult for a company to reach out to you.

Don’t forget to be social.

LinkedIn is meant for many things, but one of its most important functions is to be social with others—this is social media after all. Sharing recent news and staying active on LinkedIn shows others that you are comfortable on LinkedIn and know how to use it effectively. It is easy to make a profile and then leave it dormant, but it is important to use LinkedIn fully, especially when you are in job search mode.

We hope these do’s and don’ts help you to improve your presence on LinkedIn and the overall impact of your profile. Whether you are seeking employment, or simply looking to get the absolute most of social media, these best practices will get you moving in the right direction.

Do you know of any other LinkedIn practices that weren’t included here? We’d love to know them!

Influencer Marketing

Influencer Marketing

Influencer:

The individual whose effect on the purchase decision is in some way significant or authoritative (Cambridge English Dictionary)

How influencing works:

Influencers on social media, as vessels for advertising and marketing, have become a phenomenon that many brands have turned to. Influencer marketing benefits the brand by  exposing it to a large number of people in their target audience. This exposure is secured through compensation paid to the influencer. Successful influencer marketing often requires a great deal of coordination and planning between parties. A brand must identify and establish a relationship with an individual who matches their target audience. Depending on the arrangement, the influencer might also receive free products. The influencer must then post about the brand in a creative way for the purpose of engaging their followers. Influencers are effective because their followers look up to them are more likely to receptive to the products they recommend.

Types of influencers:

Mega-influencers:

Mega-influencers are individuals who have more than one million followers on their platform. These influencers are mainly celebrities, such as musicians, actors, athletes, etc. Mainstream brands often reach out to celebrities for advertising purposes, as bigger celebrities often have the greater ability to influence their fans and followings. Mega-influencers are able to reach a broad audience, which is why brands spend the extra money for their endorsements. Some of the most expensive celebrity influencers include Beyonce, Kylie Jenner, Khloe Kardashian and Selena Gomez. Although celebrities are not the ideal influencer for every brand, research can help brands identify when a celebrity will work best for for them.

Khloe Kardashian

Khloe Kardashian’s primary social media platform is Instagram, where she has more than 76 million followers. Khloe has been an influencer for brands such as Amazon and Calvin Klein. It is rumored that Khloe makes around $250,000 per post.

Jonathan Morrison

Jonathan is an influencer in the tech and business world. Jonathan’s main platform is his Youtube channel where he has over 2 million followers. In many of his Youtube videos, he is giving paid reviews for gadgets and also giving away free products to viewers.

Carly Waddell

Carly first gained media attention by being a contestant on The Bachelor in 2015. Since then, she has reappeared on the show and gained many followers. Today, she is a social media influencer for health products, baby products, and everyday usage products.

Macro-influencers:

Macro-influencers are individuals who have between 10,000 and one million followers. These influencers mainly post about everyday lifestyle or business matters. Pet influencers, beauty influencers, food influencers, and travel influencers are just a few of the kinds of individuals who are considered to be macro-influencers.

Lindsay Arnold 

Lindsay Arnold is a professional dancer on Dancing with the Stars. Lindsay’s following includes a large number of younger females and she has partnerships with many food, health and travel companies.

Tuna 

In 2011, Tuna’s owners created an Instagram account for their dog, who became famous online. Tuna has over 80 thousand followers and has been featured by Cosmopolitan, The New York Times and many other sites. Tuna’s posts feature the partnerships with many pet-friendly hotels around the world.

Micro-influencers:

Micro-influencers are individuals who have fewer than 500,000 followers. These influencers are individuals who partake in an everyday work-life, who relate with their followers through real-life authenticity. These influencers can create a relationships and develop trust with their followers.

The Planet D  

Dave Bouskill and Debra Corbeil are a husband-and-wife travel influencing team. They have traveled to over 100 countries and have partnerships with American Express Canada, Intrepid Travel, and Expedia. Their main source of blogging is on their personal website and Facebook account.

Tina Jui

Tina Jui is a breakfast food blogger via Instagram, and her website known as The Work Top. Tina has over 50,000 followers and is an influencer for all things cooking. She makes sponsored posts for food brands, specific cookware items, and also does sponsored giveaways.

Why influencer marketing works:

Influencers create a personal level of trust between themselves and their followers through relating to them and having similar interests. Followers value an influencer’s opinion because they are ‘fans’ of the influencer, and often feel a personal connection to them or aspire to their lifestyle. Big brands have taken notice that having an influencer mention their brand can be one of the best ways to inspire consumer trust.  Some followers even rely on influencers to learn about new brands and products, which can make influencer marketing a cost-effective method of getting the word out under the right circumstances.

The 7 Deadly Sins of Online Marketing

7 deadly sins of online marketing
Sin is defined in the original biblical language as “missing the mark.”  It is we when do not live in a way that embodies the goodness for which we were made. A “deadly” sin could be further defined as being so far off the mark that our behavior becomes damaging to the point of being destructive. When we apply the term “deadly sins” to the topic of marketing, it means we are “missing the mark” and even partaking in some practices and behaviors that turn out to be destructive to our objectives and goals. Could you be committing any of the 7 deadly sins of online marketing?Continue reading

Why People Follow Brands on Social Media

Amidst the low quality selfies, hilarious pet videos, and mouth-watering cooking tutorials, social media users in recent years have found a new kind of post on their feeds. This post, if done right, simultaneously advertises and entertains, capturing the user’s brand loyalty as well as their spending dollars. Brands, realizing the opportunities that come with social media, have pounced on the chance to put their products or services directly in their customers’ news feeds. With 78% of consumers relying on companies’ social media posts to help them make purchasing decisions, according to a study done by Forbes, it’s not all that surprising that people would choose to mix their social sharing and shopping research on the same platform. But what compels a user to follow a brand in the first place?

Why do people follow brands? Incentives

As much as we’d like to think that consumers are following our page for a good laugh or the informational content we spend hours producing, it turns out there is a little more to it. Before they can become a loyal and engaged user, there has to be good reason for them to click the “follow” button. A whopping 56% of social media users surveyed by MarketingSherpa said they originally followed brands to see promotions or coupons regularly. In a similar vein, 44% said they followed to enter a contest, get a discount, or win a gift card. Evidently, many are most interested in what companies have to offer them.

Incentives really serve two purposes. First, they attract new users to follow your account, buy your products, or (ideally) both. Second, they keep loyal customers coming back again and again – an equally important task. Discounts or promotions serve as reminders to consumers, positioning your brand at the top of their minds.

Why do people follow brands? Content

According to the same Marketing Sherpa survey, less than half of all consumers (38%) follow a brand for their informational content. Those how-to posts, reviews, and tip sheets you slave over? Apparently they’re not as alluring as the twenty-percent-off coupon that takes you a few minutes to throw together. Even fewer (31%) follow for entertaining content such as funny videos, memes, or bits of pop culture. But don’t let this discourage you, as informational or entertaining content serves its own purpose in attracting and keeping the right customer. As we discussed in our 80/20 Rule of Content Marketing post, all of your social media efforts are in vain if you are not aware of and catering to your target market. While a discount will get you a new follower, your content is ultimately what will determine whether or not they stick around after the promotion is over.

Good content is what turns your brand’s account from a bulletin board of coupons to a social page where users can stay engaged.

♦♦♦

In the delicious and complicated soup that is social media marketing, it’s important to remember that each ingredient gives your social platform a different flavor. Pushing out too many incentives can make your brand seem impersonal, but too much informational or entertaining content might allow customers to forget that you have something to sell them. Striking a balance between the two gives you the best chance of accomplishing the dual goal of attracting a large following and keeping them coming back for more.

Factors Impacting Your Social Media Management Costs

Which major factors can cause social media management costs to go up (or down)?

Social Media costs go up and down as your social media needs change. There is no “one size fits all” approach. However, there are some factors that impact the social media costs to fluctuate. Being armed with the knowledge can help you plan and prepare strategically for times when you need the budget to fluctuate.

  • Strategy
  • Frequency of posting & engagement
  • Quality of posting
  • Scope of creative services (graphic design, video creation/editing, writing service)

 

1) Strategy

Before a social media campaign’s frequency, quality, and creative services can be determined, a strategy must be developed. How detailed should your social media strategy be? Social media strategies begin with determining the specific target audience, selecting the right platforms to reach that audience, and then defining the goals, how you will measure success, and actions are considered a conversion. These aspects can be as general or as highly detailed as you see fit, but they must both be in place to effectively determine your social media costs. In our experience, we believe the more detail in your strategy and plan, the better your execution will be, and the better you can control the social media costs in the future.

For our comprehensive guide to defining your target market, click here.
Goals, Measurements, Conversions – What are you looking to achieve with your social media campaign? Knowing your goals will help your social media team (whether they are in-house or an agency) put together a strategic plan to accomplish the goals. Some goals to consider are:
    • increasing followers to boost brand awareness and website traffic
    • engagements and interactions including comments, likes, shares, re-pins, lists, etc.
    • customer service and answering customer questions through social media messaging
    • lead generation through sign-ups, downloads, phone calls, brick-and-mortar visits, etc.
    • online sales

Continue reading

Facebook Notes or Facebook Instant Articles?

facebook instant articles and notes

Facebook Instant Articles or Facebook Notes—which should your business use?

With marketers continuously looking for new ways to leverage their content marketing strategies, all developments in publishing platforms must be evaluated. Facebook is a social media giant and an influential marketing platform. Despite its ubiquity, Facebook offers features that are undervalued for content marketing purposes. Those features? Facebook Notes and Facebook Instant Articles. First, let’s very simply define each tool. Then, we will explore the highlights with pro-con lists.Continue reading

Are You Done With Social Media?

done with social media jemully

“I’m done with social media.”

Every once in a while, we hear people say things to this effect. I know I’ve heard a variety of reasons, and undoubtedly many more exist. These are some of the more common ones:

  • The detox effect that comes with “unplugging,” even for just a little while
  • Putting social media out of sight and out of mind frees up our mental faculties
  • Potentially massive time savings make time for more productive activities
  • Recognizing that social media can bring out the worst in you, and then choosing to avoid it

These reasons are pretty substantial on paper, but I’m not really convinced that quitting social media actually works for any extended period of time without a zealous, unrelenting commitment. Social media isn’t a light switch to simply be turned off.Continue reading

SURVEY – Find out how Small Businesses in West Texas market themselves

west texas small business marketing survey

How do you market your company? Do you know how other businesses in your area market themselves? Take Jemully’s West Texas Small Business Survey and learn about the marketing practices of peer companies.

Survey Takes About 4 Minutes To Complete

The purpose of this survey is to provide a snapshot of the marketing practices of small-to-medium sized businesses in West Texas. This survey will provide participants an opportunity to think critically about their own business, and a chance to measure themselves against fellow and neighboring businesses in West Texas. For the best possible results, please answer this survey honestly and accurately.Continue reading

Why You Might Desperately Need Brand Management Clean-up

Now that social media is the place for marketing, businesses need an increased focus on consistency in brand management.

We see it all the time–social media profiles for the same business contain varying and confusing information. Facebook will have one logo, while Twitter shows a different one. Their LinkedIn hasn’t been updated in months or there is a link for an March special and it’s June.

Which profile is up to date? Are these social media profiles for the same business or separate ones?

You do not want customers to ask these questions. You want current and complete social media profiles to further your brand identity. Ours is a world of fast clicks and quick scrolls, and instant brand recognition is imperative.

Continue reading

National Poetry Month

national poetry month

As you may be aware, April is recognized as National Poetry Month and also, Gardening Month. (Two of my favorite things, if you’re keeping count.)

In an effort to reclaim a bit of my life from busyness and encouraged by the reminder of National Poetry Month (#npm), I have been reading poems aloud to my 2 year-old, usually over breakfast. He digs it; I dig it. This is the beginning of a beautiful little tradition for us.

Poetry may not officially be as ubiquitous as it once was, but I don’t buy into the idea that technology or the internet is killing it. Our days are full of poetry, whether we note it or not. We live it; we write it; we read it. Poetry is in our Facebook and Twitter feeds, flitters through our Instagram, and is in our text threads. And of course it’s in the music we listen to, with the exception of pop radio (#lyricssnob). Social media isn’t just meaningless nothings drifting around the web and it isn’t all about the business side of things, either. Not everything written on social media or a blog is poetry, but I see poetic expressions of life all the time. Social media–not unlike poetry–is essentially about connection. Some of us prefer one medium to another, and so poets, like all creatures, must adapt.Continue reading