by Anne Clark | Sep 21, 2022 | Business
Social media has become as commonplace a part of our lives as the internet itself. It’s also a powerful tool that can help you build relationships with your customers, increase your visibility and even garner new customers. So why not use social media to its full potential? Here are just some of the ways that using social media can benefit your business:
Social media gives you a website presence.
Social media is a website of sorts. It’s the place where your customers hang out, and it can be used as part of your marketing strategy to promote your website. You can use social media to generate traffic for your site, which means that people are coming back more frequently and spending more time on it.
If you have an active business page on Facebook or LinkedIn, you will be able to stay connected with customers who want more information about what you offer and how they can work with you in some capacity. They may also share links from their own websites that lead back to yours if they like the content enough!
Social media increases your visibility.
Social media increases your visibility. Your audience can find you easily, which will help you get more business, sales and leads in the long run. You’ll also be able to reach a wider audience that you might not have reached otherwise.
Social media offers a way to target an audience more effectively.
Social media offers a way to target an audience more effectively.
You can target by age, gender and location; you can also target people by job title, company size and industry. The best part is that this type of targeting is usually free!
Social media gives you an opportunity to build relationships with your customers.
Social media gives you an opportunity to build relationships with your customers.
Social media allows you to respond to customer needs in real time, which can often be the difference between a happy customer and one who chooses to take their business elsewhere.
Social media keeps you one step ahead of the game.
Social media keeps you one step ahead of the game.
When you think about it, social media is a great way to stay on top of trends, be more responsive to customer needs, identify new markets and even find new suppliers.
If that weren’t enough, social media is also a great way to find new customers!
Use social media to engage and connect with your customers!
You can use social media to connect with customers and build relationships that last. Social media gives you the opportunity to interact with your customers in new ways, build trust, and enhance their experience of using your products or services.
Social media is a powerful tool for business. It can be used to reach out to customers, enhance your brand and build relationships with your audience. By staying up-to-date with the latest trends in social media, you put yourself one step ahead of your competition.
by Anne Clark | Sep 15, 2022 | Business, Digital Marketing
On September 14, 2022, Canva brought together its global community for Canva Create 2022: The Future is Visual.
What a fantastic and engaging event. The smallest details certainly made it fun, from the presenters where the colours to match the icon updates they were presenting.
The juicy stuff….
Here is what you can now also get in your Canva account, drum roll please …..
Canva Docs.
Say hello to a visual-first document creator that allows you to design docs supercharged with videos, images, graphics, charts, and graphs.
Website Creation
Create free one-page websites with Canva. Choose from free and paid domains, drag and drop content, and go live within moments.
Whiteboard collaboration
Brainstorm creative ideas and collaborate with teammates in real time. All Canva users and teams now have access to Whiteboards.
Video Background Remover
You can already do images, and now you can do videos! #squealwithexcitment No need for a green screen or advanced software – remove the background of any video with just one click.
Presentation Data Elevation
We’ve teamed up with data visualization tool, Flourish, to give you the ability to add interactive charts, maps, and stories to your Canva designs.
Print Catalog with a sustainability factor
We’re expanding our print catalog with more stationery, marketing materials, signage, and merch, so you can bring your brand to life on more products. Plus, for each print you order, we’ll plant one tree.
by Anne Clark | Jun 20, 2022 | Business, How To, Social Media
Log into your Canva account, if you haven’t got one, you can set up one up here.
Step 1.
Log into your Canva account
Step 2.
Create a new image (make it the size you need)
Step 3.
Add your content to the first 1 to 5 posts (depending on what you’re repeating)
Step 4.
Once you’ve created your posts, go into Grid View (you will find this icon at the bottom left-hand corner of your Canva desktop screen)
Step 5.
Copy your first set of slides, and paste them in at least 4 times.
Step 6.
Click into Slide 1 again. Choose the page animation button, choose the type of amination you want to use,
Reduce the animation time down to 5 seconds. Apply to all slides.
Step 7.
Go to your Share button (top right-hand corner)
Step 8.
Click on the Download button
Step 9.
Change the file type to gif and then click download.
You have now created your gif file, if you need to make adjustments, simply go back into your Canva file and make any necessary adjustments you want.
by Anne Clark | Jan 11, 2022 | Business, How To
Linkedin introduced in 2021 a new great function to create a newsletter to connect regularly with your target market and connections. In this article, I am going to step you through what to do and how to create a LinkedIn Newsletter.
Before you start crafting your newsletter, you need to activate your account to creative mode.
Setting your profile to creator mode
To activate your profile to Creator Mode.
To do this simply,
- Log in to your LinkedIn profile
- Click on your profile
- Scroll down to the Resources section
- You will see Creator Mode as the first option, click this to ON.
Setting up your Newsletter
Newsletters are created in LinkedIn via your Write Article post options.
When you are creating it the first time, you will need to set up your Newsletter first.
To do this,
- Go to your profile overview feed
- Click on Write Article
- You will see a button called ‘Create Newsletter’, click this button
- Create your Newsletter title (please note you can change this at any time)
- Select how often you will publish your newsletter.
- Add your newsletter description
- Upload an image for your newsletter (would recommend profile headshot for better audience connection)
- Make sure have ticked the box for Invite my connections and followers to subscribe, and
- Make sure you have ticked the box Subscribe me to my newsletter.
Writing your content
Now that your newsletter is set up, you can start writing your content. This is done through the Write article feature.
Now that your newsletter is set up, you can start writing your content. This is done through the Write article feature.
If you need to change your Newsletter name or image, when you click into the Write article section, you will see an editing pen and word so you can make the edits there.
Simply write your article as you desire. You can add images and also links.
Once completed, click Publish.
Alternating between your Articles and Newsletter feature
Now that you have set up your newsletter, does not mean you can’t write individual articles. When you go into your Write article section, you will see a button next to publish the will show your newsletter name, when you click it you can see a dropdown menu to select either ‘create an individual article’ or ‘newsletter’.
What happens after you publish?
Once you publish your newsletter, connections and followers will receive and notification of an invitation to subscribe. This is found under the Network section (same place as invitations to connect with people received). They will also be given the option to subscribe to your newsletter.
For clients I have helped launch their newsletters, we have hit over 100 subscribers in less than 1 day.
Need help?
Whether you are digitally challenged, or simply time-poor, please feel free to contact me to see how I can support you.
by Anne Clark | Nov 11, 2021 | Business
Getting your business out to the wider community can feel daunting and for some a costly exercise. It doesn’t have to be this way. Here are 10 ways to advertise your business for free. These are no one-time gimmicks, but things you can implement constantly as a marketing tool.
Email Signature
Don’t just have your contact details at the end of your email, have a summary paragraph or links to products or services you offer. There are always opportunities to increase your audience if recipients pass your email on, or they might well click to find out more about you.
Social Media Banners
On your social media platforms, use the banners to tell visitors about what you specialise in and who you are. Visuals are what gets people’s attention and have them go on to read or learn more. Don’t waste this opportunity with a pretty picture or your logo.
Newsletter footer
Use your newsletter you send out regularly to talk about who you are. Have a standard footer that has a short bio on who you are and an accompany image of you. Often people sign up for newsletters or mailing list due to an enticing opt-in but it doesn’t necessarily mean they know exactly what the business does. This is your opportunity to remind them.
Blog Bio
Writing blogs regularly for your business? Why not consider having a footer that is your bio on who you are with your photo. It’s a great way to introduce your business to new visitors who are reading your blog for the first time, and it’s a reminder to regular visitors what your expertise is.
Business Cards
Utilise the back of your business card to market what you do. One side with your contact details the other with your promotional info.
Facebook personal profile banner image on
Today business owners are involved in many groups, posting comments and networking with like-minded business people. Facebook gives us the opportunity in our ‘about’ section to encourage people to follow our pages. But why not add to this by using the public banner image to cross-promote your businesses.
Sourcebottle or HARO (Help Out A Reporter)
Sourcebottle and HARO are free online services that enable reports to connect with industry experts to be featured in their articles, blogs and shows. Register your details and give yourself free exposure.
Psst….make sure you have a professional headshot as these sing out how professional you are and will see you landing better opportunities than a photo someone took of you at a party!
Flyers / cards / notes
If your business is sending out products to customers, utilise this by adding a flyer of your other services. The receiver will learn more about you and is likely to hand the flyer on to a friend or colleague.
For service-based businesses send out thank you cards/notes or even seasonal cards, and use the back of the card to advertise your services. Your imagination is your only limitation!
Location, location, location
Place your business cards are prominent locations your audience is likely to hang out (with permission of course). It could be in cafes (whilst they’re waiting for their takeaway latte), events or community centres.
If you have a small budget, you might even want to consider buying signage that can go on your car. How many times have you been in traffic and read the information on a car advertising a service? Many times you’ll have followed up to find out more information on the service.
Free online advertising sites
Getting your name on the web can be challenging. We always think we have to be a big well-known blogger to be google search friendly. However, if you register your details on various free business listing sites, these do help increase your chances of being found on the web.
It is important to know that people are always watching, talking and connecting. Opportunities can present themselves at the most unlikely times and places, always are ready with a business card to hand out.
by Anne Clark | Oct 7, 2021 | Business
You’ve thought about creating an opt-in on your business to entice your target audience to sign up to your mailing list. This is a great move, whilst social media is amazing to connect with your target market, you don’t own those platforms and if they were to close down tomorrow….you will have lost all your market. Therefore, building a mailing list is a great way to target your market and keep them. Creating an opt-in, which is like a freebie, showcasing your expertise is an attraction piece to entice your audience to join your mailing list.
For many business owners this seems easy but for others who have never done it before here is a guide to help you along.
What does your audience need?
Firstly, you need to define what your opt-in is. What is something your audience wants from you? For example; people what to know how to start working with a VA, hence this is my website opt-in ‘How to start outsourcing’.
The types of opt-ins you can have are:
- Email series
- Ebooks
- Video series
- Worksheet
- Mini e-courses
- First chapter free of a book you’ve written
- Discount on a product or service
Hosting your database
You need to determine which email system you want to use to manage your database and create your newsletters from. Your options are MailChimp, Aweber, Active Campaign, Infusionsoft, Ontraport, Contact, and there are plenty more. How to do determine which one to go with.
Creating your autoresponder
Once you have created your opt-in, determined how you will have it run and selected your database company. You will then draft your welcoming email that will accompany your opt-in enticement.
Strategy Tip: Don’t just have your opt-in information on your email, at the end of it, add information about your other products and services. This is your opportunity to advertise your business for free!
Test your system
Once you have created everything make sure you test it so you can see what you’re audience will experience and make any necessary changes you need to.
Marketing your freebie
Now that your system is set up, start marketing it. Post enticers on your social media platforms. Use your Facebook App to add a sign up feature.
Add a Pop up on your website to ‘say hi, sign in here!’ (so to speak). Don’t assume people will easily find your sign up. Have an embedded sign up and a pop up one, so you have double opportunities to get your audience to sign up.
Unlimited opportunities
You are never limited to having 1 opt-in, so don’t be afraid to create others. Programs like Pop Up Ally allow you to have different opt-in feature on different pages of your website. This is through the paid feature. You can learn more here.
Feels all too hard?
Guess what? I offer this service and can do it all for you. Feel free to contact me to find out more.
