Social Networking News - SiteProNews https://www.sitepronews.com/category/articles/social-networking-articles/ Breaking News, Technology News, and Social Media News Thu, 21 Mar 2024 15:09:24 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.9.10 Using PR to Reach Gen Z https://www.sitepronews.com/2024/03/25/using-pr-to-reach-gen-z/ Mon, 25 Mar 2024 04:00:00 +0000 https://www.sitepronews.com/?p=136030 As more and more members of Generation Z continue to enter adulthood, this generation adds its distinct perspective to public discourse, joins the marketplace, and helps shape marketing strategies. Public relations and other communications professionals need to keep up to connect with them effectively. But who is Gen Z, and how can we reach them […]

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As more and more members of Generation Z continue to enter adulthood, this generation adds its distinct perspective to public discourse, joins the marketplace, and helps shape marketing strategies. Public relations and other communications professionals need to keep up to connect with them effectively.

But who is Gen Z, and how can we reach them best? The secret lies in understanding their unique characteristics and developing PR communications strategies with them in mind.

Who is Gen Z?

Gen Z (aka the “Zoomers”) is comprised of people who were born approximately between 1997 and 2010. This generation is between that of Millennials and the new kids on the block — Generation Alpha — and their parents are usually members of either Generation X or older Millennials.

So, from a communications standpoint, what do these demographics mean for marketing? One of the most notable things about Gen Z is that they were the first generation to grow up with widespread access to the Internet, smartphones, and social media. They also tend to spend a lot of time on these platforms.

To Reach Gen Z, Stay on Top of Social Media Trends

Studies show Gen Z spends more time on social media than the American adult population on average. In one survey, 54 percent of Gen Z respondents said they spend four or more hours on social media every day, and only four percent say they use it for less than one hour per day.

Members of Gen Z also tend to spread their attention across different platforms. According to another survey, over 80 percent of American Zoomers watch YouTube on a monthly basis, and the same amount visit TikTok and Instagram. In case you’re worried that Facebook is fading away with this demographic, more than half of Gen Z still use it.

Since Gen Z is made up of digital natives, they tend to engage more with quick, funny, engaging content from brands. In general, they boost posts that allude to popular culture and participate in viral trends. They also like posts that demonstrate authenticity — those that show the realities of people and organizations behind the scenes. To reach these users, marketers and PR professionals need to stay on or ahead of these curves.

To Reach Gen Z, Prioritize Corporate Social Responsibility

As a McKinsey & Company report explains, “Young people today have come of age in the shadow of climate doom, pandemic lockdowns, and fears of economic collapse.” In consequence, many members of Gen Z want to help forestall climate change and move the needle further toward equality. To cite McKinsey again: “More than any other generation, Gen Z collectively demands purpose and accountability, the creation of more opportunities for people of diverse and underrepresented backgrounds, and rigorous sustainable and green practices.” 

Gen Z is therefore deeply concerned about what big corporations are doing when it comes to climate change, wage gaps, and political donations. Research shows that Gen Z prefers businesses that demonstrate Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), with over 90 percent of respondents reporting not only strong feelings, but also a willingness to hold companies accountable.

As to how they hold these companies accountable, the short answer is by doing their homework. Members of Gen Z are quick to look claims up on their smartphones to double-check their veracity. This is not to say Gen Z tries to catch people out on lies — that’s not their intention — they’re just the first generation to have the resources to hold every person or company in the media to a certain standard. If that isn’t met, they will let you know.

In short, to win their support, your company has to help the world, not hurt it, and words about CSR need to be accompanied by corresponding actions. 

To Reach Gen Z, Don’t Perpetuate Bias

Given Gen Z’s sensibilities, brands also can’t afford to continue trading in outdated stereotypes and discriminatory messages. These risk marginalizing your brand to only the small percentage of Gen Z that continues to adhere to conventional ideologies of previous periods.

In particular, the women of Gen Z are finding their voices. For example, many no longer automatically blame the woman during public controversies. Consider the breakup of actress Sofie Turner and musician Joe Jonas. While Jonas’ team tried to paint Turner as a party girl who isn’t involved with her kids, Gen Z users took to the Internet, dug up videos that contradicted that portrayal, and took this story down with a few TikTok videos. As a result of the subsequent backlash, Jonas needed to distance himself from these previous claims.

Brands should keep this climate in mind while developing their messaging. When promoting weight-loss products, for instance, make sure to stay body-positive, and be conscious of any kind of nepotism to avoid embarrassment. Don’t promote a millionaire as self-made if they actually come from wealthy parents! 

If you want to position your brand as promoting equality, make sure to check what political donations it has made. If these aren’t in alignment with the Gen Z audience you’re trying to reach, they can make your brand’s marketing look disingenuous.

An Emerging Force for Good

Gen Z stands for the environment, equality, and humanity. They are a massive force on social media and in consumer markets, as well as for elections. As more and more of them enter adulthood, their influence will continue to grow.

Brands need to consider Gen Z in their marketing and PR strategies or risk being ineffective, embarrassed, or even exposed. To win this generation over, communications professionals will need to rethink business as usual.

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From Likes to Long-Term Engagement: Mastering Advanced Instagram Influencer Strategies https://www.sitepronews.com/2023/12/12/from-likes-to-long-term-engagement-mastering-advanced-instagram-influencer-strategies/ Tue, 12 Dec 2023 05:00:00 +0000 https://www.sitepronews.com/?p=133262 In today’s digital age, influencer marketing has taken the world by storm, and Instagram is at the forefront of this trend. With over a billion active users and a highly engaged audience, it’s no surprise that businesses turn to an Instagram advertising agency or Instagram influencers to promote their products and services. However, the focus […]

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In today’s digital age, influencer marketing has taken the world by storm, and Instagram is at the forefront of this trend. With over a billion active users and a highly engaged audience, it’s no surprise that businesses turn to an Instagram advertising agency or Instagram influencers to promote their products and services. However, the focus has shifted from gaining likes to creating long-term influencer engagement. 

This article will discuss advanced strategies to master successful collaborations with Instagram influencers. These strategies will help you reach your marketing goals and establish a strong and sustainable relationship with influencers. So, let’s dive in and explore how you can elevate your Instagram influencer game and see long-term results.

Set Your Objectives

In today’s digital landscape, influencer marketing has become vital to any successful social media strategy. With Instagram being one of the top platforms for influencer collaborations, businesses must set clear objectives before diving into partnerships.

  1. Define Your Goals: Before starting any campaign, it’s essential to understand what you want to achieve through influencer marketing. This could be increasing brand awareness, driving sales, or reaching a new target audience. Clearly defining your objectives will help guide your decisions and measure the success of your partnerships.
  2. Know Your Target Audience: Identifying your target audience is crucial for finding the right influencers to collaborate with. Consider their age, interests, and location to ensure a successful partnership that resonates with your target audience.
  3. Set a Realistic Budget: Influencer partnerships range from free products to paid collaborations. Setting a budget that aligns with your goals and expectations is essential.

By setting clear objectives, businesses can ensure that their collaborations with Instagram influencers are strategic and effective in reaching their target audience.

Define Your Target Audience

Knowing your target audience is crucial for any successful Instagram influencer campaign. It refers to the people most likely to engage with your Instagram content and to your brand. To define your target audience, consider the following points:

1. Identify demographics: Understand the age, gender, location, and interests of your audience. It will help you tailor your content to their preferences.

2. Study audience behavior: Analyze how your target audience interacts with similar brands and influencers on Instagram. It will give you an insight into their preferences and habits.

3. Determine pain points: Identify the problems or needs of your target audience and how your brand can provide a solution.

By defining your target audience, you can create more targeted and compelling content that resonates with them and increases engagement. It will also help you choose the right influencers with a similar audience and can effectively promote your brand on Instagram.

Creating a Compelling Content

The success of your Instagram influencer campaign heavily relies on the content you create. To engage your target audience and drive conversions, creating compelling and relevant content that resonates with them is crucial.

1. Know Your Audience

Before creating content, it is essential to have a deep understanding of your target audience. Research their demographics, interests, and behavior on Instagram to tailor your content accordingly.

2. Be Authentic

Influencers are known for their authentic and genuine content. To maximize your partnership, allow them creative freedom while staying true to your brand’s values and message. It will make your content more relatable and trustworthy to their followers.

3. Collaborate with Influencers

Influencers know their audience best, collaborating with them for content ideas and creation can result in highly engaging and impactful posts. It also helps in building a solid and long-term relationship with the influencer.

4. Use Visuals and Storytelling

Instagram is a visual platform, and using high-quality images or videos can capture the attention of your audience. Combine this with storytelling to make your content more compelling and memorable.

With these tips, you can create content that generates likes and drives conversions on Instagram. Keep experimenting and adapting your Instagram content strategy to see what works best for your brand and target audience.

Choose the Right Influencers

When it comes to influencer marketing on Instagram, choosing the right influencers is crucial for the success of your campaign. You want to choose the right influencers who align with your brand values and have an engaged and relevant audience.

  1. Define your target audience and research the demographics of the influencers’ followers to ensure a good fit.
  2. Look for influencers with a high engagement rate rather than just many followers.
  3. Consider collaborating with micro-influencers who have a smaller but highly engaged niche audience.
  4. Look at the type of content the influencer posts and ensure it aligns with your brand and campaign objectives.
  5. Research the influencer’s past collaborations to see if they have a history of successful partnerships.
  6. Feel free to reach out and have a conversation with potential influencers to get a feel for their personality and communication styles.

By carefully selecting the right influencers for your campaign, you can ensure that your brand message reaches the right audience and that the collaboration mutually benefits both parties.

Explore Your Content Strategy

When collaborating with Instagram influencers, having a clear content strategy is crucial for success. Your content should align with your brand’s image and values and resonate with your target audience and the influencer’s followers. Here are some key points to consider when exploring your content strategy:

1. Define your goals and objectives: Before creating content, determine what you want to achieve from the collaboration. Is it to increase brand awareness, drive sales, or improve brand credibility?

2. Understand your target audience: Research the influencer’s followers and understand their interests, behaviors, and demographics. It will help you create content that will resonate with them.

3. Collaborate with the influencer: Involve the influencer in creating content. They know their audience best and can provide valuable insights and ideas.

4. Be creative and authentic: Don’t just promote your products or services. Instead, showcase them creatively and authentically to engage the audience and build trust.

5. Utilize different content formats: From photos to videos to Instagram Stories, use a variety of content formats to keep your audience engaged and interested.

By exploring your content strategy and continuously adapting based on the performance of your campaigns, you can create impactful and successful collaborations with Instagram influencers.

Optimize Your Online Presence

A solid online presence is crucial for any business, especially regarding influencer marketing on Instagram. Your brand’s online presence is a first impression for potential collaborators and customers.

To optimize your online presence:

  • Be consistent with your branding: Ensure all your social media platforms, website, and marketing materials are visually cohesive. It will help create a solid and recognizable brand identity.
  • Engage with your audience: Interacting with your followers and responding to comments and messages will show that you value their opinions and are invested in building a relationship with them.
  • Collaborate with other influencers: Working with influencers in your industry can help expand your reach and bring in new followers and potential customers.
  • Utilize Instagram features: Take advantage of Instagram’s various features, such as Stories, IGTV, and Reels, to showcase your brand’s personality and engage with your audience more creatively and interactively.

By optimizing your online presence, you will not only attract the attention of potential influencers but also establish a strong brand image on Instagram that resonates with your target audience. It will ultimately lead to more successful and impactful collaborations with Instagram influencers.

Post Unique Content Regularly

In order to keep your audience engaged and interested, it is crucial to post unique content regularly on your Instagram account. This means creating diverse and creative content that showcases your brand and speaks to your target audience. Various content also keeps your feed visually appealing and prevents followers from getting bored.

One way to ensure you regularly post unique content is by planning and scheduling your posts in advance. It allows you to have a consistent flow of content without constantly coming up with ideas on the spot. Additionally, consider collaborating with influencers to create new and exciting content for your audience. This keeps things fresh and introduces your brand to a new audience through the influencer’s followers.

Remember, in the world of social media, content is king. Posting unique and engaging content regularly will keep your current followers interested and attract new ones. So, make it a priority to regularly create and share unique content on your Instagram account to keep your audience captivated and grow your brand.  By posting high quality and attractive content can help to get a high engagement rate with Instagram Reels.

Track the Metrics of Your Campaign

Once you have implemented your advanced Instagram influencer strategies, it is crucial to track the metrics of your campaign to measure its success. It will help you determine the ROI of your influencer partnerships and provide valuable insights for future collaborations.

Some key metrics to track include:

  • Engagement rate: This measures how actively your followers interact with your content. It is calculated by dividing your total engagements (likes, comments, shares) by the total number of followers.
  • Reach: This reflects the number of unique users who have seen your content. It can give you an idea of the potential impact of your campaign.
  • Conversion rate: This measures how many of your followers have taken a desired action, such as purchasing after seeing your influencer’s post.

Regularly monitor these metrics and compare them to your initial objectives to see if you are on track. You can also use analytics tools from Instagram or third-party platforms to get more in-depth insights. Adjust your strategies and tactics based on the data you collect. It will help you continuously improve and optimize your campaigns for better results.

Conclusion

The rise of influencer marketing on Instagram has significantly shifted how businesses approach social media partnerships. While likes were once the primary metric for success, the focus has shifted towards creating long-term engagement with influencers to drive authentic and meaningful connections with their audience. 

As discussed in this article, mastering advanced strategies such as defining clear objectives, targeting the right audience, creating compelling content, and optimizing your online presence can significantly enhance the success of your collaborations with Instagram influencers. 

By continuously tracking the metrics of your campaign and adapting your approach, businesses can ensure a successful and impactful influencer partnership. So don’t hesitate to experiment and adapt to the ever-changing landscape of Instagram influencer marketing, and watch your brand’s engagement and reach soar to new heights.

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From Likes to Actions: Social Media’s Role in Securing a Greener Future https://www.sitepronews.com/2023/11/23/from-likes-to-actions-social-medias-role-in-securing-a-greener-future/ Thu, 23 Nov 2023 05:00:00 +0000 https://www.sitepronews.com/?p=132595 My steadfast conviction lies in the transformative potential of community, the core function of social media itself – uniting individuals, shaping norms, and ultimately molding behavior. If change is to be realized, it must echo and resonate through the channels of social media. On social media, everyone has a voice, and everyone’s voice is heard.  […]

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My steadfast conviction lies in the transformative potential of community, the core function of social media itself – uniting individuals, shaping norms, and ultimately molding behavior. If change is to be realized, it must echo and resonate through the channels of social media. On social media, everyone has a voice, and everyone’s voice is heard. 

It poses the question – what role will social media play in driving sustainability behaviour on a mass scale to drive the green transition? 

Currently, social media is primarily used for keeping in touch with family and friends, filling spare time, and reading the news, but it can be used for so much more. The focus is already shifting to using it as a tool to raise awareness, mobilize support, and advocate for change. Research conducted by Unilever, the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) and a group of nine influential creators from TikTok and Instagram, has discovered social media has more of an influence on sustainable behavior than news, TV documentaries, and governmental campaigns. 

One study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology revealed that social media posts containing climate content are more likely to generate engagement and be reshared, which ultimately increases awareness of sustainability-related issues. Another study published in a sustainability journal shared that social media has the potential to support the achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by offering a universal platform for sharing ideas, best practices, and insights concerning the environmental crisis. 

Social media is used every single day by billions of people across the globe. These platforms present a real opportunity to promote sustainability and sustainable behavior. Harnessing this unique power, individuals and businesses can generate collective impact, helping to secure a greener future. So, how can social media be a game changer for sustainability? 

The answer is creating, together with early adopters, a social media platform which would be the driver for a paradigm change. Our early adopters are sustainable, curious, and sustainable enthusiasts who shape the community and actions and create the socially contagious effect of good actions. We are already seeing marketing making the switch to responsible marketing or marketing 2.0 based on empathy and more influencers advocating for important causes. 

The same transformation can be seen in the digital world with social media. Users spend, on average, over 2 hours on social media each day, looking for meaning. They need to use this time to search for collaborative purposes instead. When used correctly, social media can help us better understand issues concerning the climate crisis and find ways to make a difference. There are many ways we can use social media as a platform for good to achieve the society we envision. 

It can help us achieve a sustainable world through its opportunity to raise awareness and mobilize support. On social media, users can use their voices and share their thoughts. Through this, they can inspire others and encourage them to venture into a greener lifestyle. Social media can be utilised as an educational resource to teach people about the importance of tackling climate change and how to make more sustainable choices. 

Social media can be a beneficial resource in making people aware of sustainable products and encouraging eco-conscious behavior. Through social media, businesses and individuals can also share their success stories, which shows others that the journey is achievable and that they can make waves too. Collaboration is essential in the fight against climate change, and social media facilitates worldwide collaboration. It brings together people from all different walks of life from all around the world. 

Users can use these platforms to share ideas, resources, and knowledge, joining forces to drive even more positive change. We have already seen the power of social media for advocacy, with hashtags acting as powerful instruments for activists, bringing important movements to the forefront: #MeToo, #BlackLivesMatter, #SmallStepsBigDifference, and so much more. We have also witnessed social media being used as a tool to amplify crucial causes. 

Challenges like the Ice Bucket Challenge for ASL or Movember have attracted millions of partnerships, establishing further support around the causes. These are prime examples of viral altruism, which supports the rapid and monumental spreading of social norms, trends, and information. The four ingredients to build on viral altruism are social influence, affective reactions, meaningful engagement and constant moral elevation. 

Through these elements, we can translate social momentum into sustained real-world contributions. On social media, brands are told to post content that falls under SMART dimensions. Dr Sander Van der Linden argued in 2017 that social issues like climate change score very low across these dimensions. Social norms surrounding climate change are not very well pronounced in that most do not see it as a moral issue. Rather, they typically view climate change as a psychologically abstract and distant issue. 

To explore social media’s true potential for driving the sustainable transition, however, we need a platform that practices what it preaches. We need a platform specifically for sustainability that is also driven to enable users to scroll with impact. While topics like climate change are certainly brought over to traditional social media platforms, this is not enough. A sustainability-focused platform would facilitate those important discussions while also educating and raising awareness.

Social media platforms should do more than raise awareness though. We need to close the loop by pointing users to things they can do to live more sustainably. This is where behavior tracking, like using a lifestyle carbon calculator to assess your carbon footprint can be a real game changer. A carbon calculator assesses the environmental impact of one’s lifestyle, exposing impact blind spots so they can make informed decisions concerning sustainability. 

By sharing small actions towards sustainable living on social media, we can motivate other people and organizations to follow suit. Social media users are ready to use social platforms as impact hubs and have already started doing this. We have seen this shift with the arrival of Facebook applications like “I am Green”, which garnered over 2 million members. This initiative allowed users to display their environmental attitude as a badge on their own social media profiles. 

The time for purpose-driven businesses and organizations to use social media platforms to speak to receptive audiences and inspire change is now. Social media can be harnessed as a disruptive force to amass support around sustainable living. As Actor and Environmentalist Leonardo Di Caprio said: “Climate change is the most urgent threat facing our entire species, and we need to work collectively together.”  Social media is that space that will allow us to raise awareness, collaborate, and inspire each other on the road to change. On social media, the voice of one person can reach billions of people, and it has become a powerful weapon for social and environmental change that can ignite the climate movement. In the race to net zero, the time to use such a weapon to save the planet and leave behind a better world for future generations is now.

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Amplifying Your Message Through Audio Media: How to Get the Most Out of Your Radio and Podcast Appearances https://www.sitepronews.com/2023/09/22/amplifying-your-message-through-audio-media-how-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-radio-and-podcast-appearances/ Fri, 22 Sep 2023 04:05:00 +0000 https://www.sitepronews.com/?p=131378 Gaining brand recognition or getting your name out there in front of a target audience can happen through several different mediums. Radio shows and, in recent years, podcasts have always been a valuable resource for marketing.  Nearly 100 years ago, radio shows captured the attention of the public, and brands found a way to use […]

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Gaining brand recognition or getting your name out there in front of a target audience can happen through several different mediums. Radio shows and, in recent years, podcasts have always been a valuable resource for marketing. 

Nearly 100 years ago, radio shows captured the attention of the public, and brands found a way to use radio shows to market to their target consumers. Although radio still endures in today’s media landscape, podcasts have risen to be the audio media du jour for brands, organizations, and thought leaders alike.

Still, many brands and businesses may wonder what the best practices are for getting the most out of radio shows or podcast appearances. Here are some valuable tips to help you leverage the power of audio media in the modern age. 

Be Prepared 

One of the biggest mistakes people make when appearing on a radio show or podcast is going in unprepared. No matter if it’s your first appearance or you’re a seasoned pro, “winging it” probably won’t yield the best results. Before appearing on a show, you still must do your research to ensure your message will resonate with them on a personal level by tailoring your message to that show’s specific audience. 

Perhaps your company has developed a new skincare line, and you’ve been invited to appear on a podcast that caters specifically to new mothers. In that case, you should go in ready with talking points that pertain to the skincare concerns of mothers. This will get you the best ROI for your time, as that particular show’s target audience is bound to be interested in what you have to say. 

You should also practice the delivery of your key points before your radio or podcast show appearance, especially if you tend to get nervous speaking or this is your first time on a particular show. Taking time to adequately prepare for your appearance will ensure the successful delivery of your key message. 

Be Concise 

Time on podcasts and radio shows is never infinite, as their showrunners typically have tight timelines in which to fit their guests. Make sure you know what your time limit is ahead of your appearance, so you can practice keeping your message concise. 

Tell a Compelling Story

Marketing is all about storytelling. What has made radio shows so popular in the past — and podcasts so popular today — is that many of them weave compelling stories that listeners cannot get enough of. 

Making your brand’s story or your own personal one just as compelling will hook listeners and make your brand or business memorable, especially if you can use personal anecdotes and real case studies to leave a stronger impact on listeners. Try to engage them emotionally and create a connection that resonates with them with the goal of giving them something to remember you by or, better yet, relate to personally.

Be an Active Listener and Engage with the Host 

There are few things more frustrating than listening to a radio show or podcast where the host does all the talking and the guest seems frozen, or is giving short, curt answers to questions. Conversely, it can be frustrating to listen to a show where the guest talks over the host — both can be less than ideal listening experiences. 

When you appear on a radio show or podcast, always remain an active listener and thoughtfully answer the host’s questions, and engage with the host in a conversational way. This will make for a far more pleasant listening experience for those tuning in. 

Leverage Social Media and Online Platforms  

If you are appearing on a radio show or podcast, leverage that appearance by promoting it on social media and online platforms. Everywhere your audience interacts with your brand — whether through Instagram, your website, or Facebook — they should know that you’re appearing on a show and where to find said show. 

Once the show airs, you can get even more traction from your appearance by sharing the show and encouraging your audience to share and engage with the show via feedback, comments, and continuing the conversation online. Use hashtags, tag relevant individuals, and don’t forget to actively engage with your audience through comments and direct messages. Building an online presence around your appearance can lead to more appearances, as well as an expanded audience.

Podcasts are incredibly popular these days, with 41% of people in the US tuning in to listen to at least one podcast a month. Likewise, industry research shows us that radio still remains the most popular form of media. Taking advantage of the broad audience for both of these audio media sources can be a boon for your brand or business, expanding your reach and revenue simultaneously. 

By telling a great brand story, engaging with the show host and with listeners after the show has aired, and using social media to promote your appearance, you can get the most out of radio and podcast shows.

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How to Grow an Online Following https://www.sitepronews.com/2022/11/23/how-to-grow-an-online-following/ Wed, 23 Nov 2022 05:00:00 +0000 https://www.sitepronews.com/?p=123351 Building a large and loyal audience on social media doesn’t happen overnight, or even after one viral video. Content creators with millions of followers pace themselves and don’t give up. If you’re looking to boost your online following, the first step is to find a niche you can create intriguing content for. Once you have […]

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Building a large and loyal audience on social media doesn’t happen overnight, or even after one viral video. Content creators with millions of followers pace themselves and don’t give up.

If you’re looking to boost your online following, the first step is to find a niche you can create intriguing content for. Once you have that niche, grow your following by posting regularly, engaging with your followers, and networking with fellow creators.

Finding Your Niche

If your goal is to grow an online audience, focus your content around a specific topic. In other words, find your niche and own it. Where can you offer expertise? What do you talk about effortlessly? What topics do you enjoy researching? Where do your passions naturally turn? As you answer these questions, ideas for niche topics should become fairly obvious.

As you accumulate niche content, you’ll begin to attract followers as an authority — and, hopefully, the best source of information — on the topic. For example, as a dental hygienist, I noticed an overwhelming lack of information on oral hygiene and decided to focus my social media content there. My content in this niche rapidly gained a large following. Pursue your passion, and people with an interest will follow.

Engaging Followers and Networking with Creators in Your Niche

Increasing your audience starts with engaging followers. Think of building an online audience like building a relationship. Your task is to create a back-and-forth conversation. Your content may be fascinating, but if you don’t offer people the chance to talk, they won’t stay long.

Entice your followers to share their thoughts, and when they respond with DMs and comments, answer them. When viewers see an active conversation, they’re more likely to join in on it.

Get to know other creators who post content in your niche. These people are not your competitors — they are your friends. Collaborating with them boosts your authority and excites your viewers. Making guest appearances on other channels and hosting experts on yours provides access to new audiences interested in your content.

Start networking with these creators by following their channels, liking their videos, and commenting on their posts. If you notice someone posting great content, share it and give them credit. When they reciprocate, build a relationship and make plans to collaborate. This positive atmosphere goes a long way toward attracting followers on social media platforms.

Posting Engaging Content

Posting niche information is not enough; your content has to be engaging enough to hook followers and keep them coming for more. Be an expert on your audience as well as your niche. For example, when I post to TikTok, I know I’m likely to reach followers between the ages of 16 and 24. I also know this audience is best targeted through a combination of humor and education.

I started by posting primarily comedic content in my niche. When I won a loyal audience, I began introducing more educational content by answering questions from followers and offering tips on dental hygiene.

Posting Consistent and Regular Content

If you hope to grow your following, posting consistently is essential. Regular posts enable your content to rank higher in search engine results. Search engines index fresh content in your social media posts and display them when people search for those same keywords on search engines such as Google or Bing.

Posting regularly allows you to know your followers better. The more often you post, the easier it is to see which posts engage followers and which fall flat. You can establish patterns between the posts that attract new followers and higher views.

Designing content on a regular basis requires commitment. Success on certain social media platforms — such as Instagram or Pinterest — means posting multiple times a day. On TikTok, where I generate content, brands post an average of 1.8 videos per week, and the top 25% of active brands post content five times a week or more. Research finds a correlation between the frequency of your posts and the size of your audience. Accounts with 1,000-5,000 followers publish around one weekly video, while accounts with over 1 million followers post three or more.

When it comes to content, my advice is quality over quantity. However, quantity cannot be ignored. When you have chosen a platform, research how often the popular creators in your niche post, set a schedule for yourself, and stick to it.

Content batching is a technique that saves time, maintains consistency across your posts, and enables you to post regularly. Instead of planning your daily topic, shooting footage, creating graphics, editing, posting the content to your channel, then starting all over again the next morning, batching involves producing a week’s-worth of content at once.

Preparing a week’s worth of content at once may seem time-consuming, but it spares hours in the long run. When you engage in one task, rather than bouncing from one to another, you focus your energy and accomplish far more.

Remember, building your online audience takes commitment and dedication. Discover your niche, then post engaging and regular content. You’re in it for the long haul, so dig in, do what it takes, and don’t be discouraged.

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How LinkedIn Can Help You Find New Clients https://www.sitepronews.com/2022/10/17/how-linkedin-can-help-you-find-new-clients/ Mon, 17 Oct 2022 04:00:00 +0000 https://www.sitepronews.com/?p=122955 Many describe LinkedIn as an online version of your business card. However, unlike a traditional business card, LinkedIn is a targeted marketing platform that is designed to connect you with your ideal clients. LinkedIn is also a great tool for landing new clients. You can network with people you already know, see who they know, […]

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Many describe LinkedIn as an online version of your business card. However, unlike a traditional business card, LinkedIn is a targeted marketing platform that is designed to connect you with your ideal clients.

LinkedIn is also a great tool for landing new clients. You can network with people you already know, see who they know, and invite them to connect.

Now that you know LinkedIn is a great place for prospecting, let’s look at how to actually use it.

1. Optimize Your Profile

First impressions are extremely important, and your profile on LinkedIn is no exception.

First, make sure your profile is professional. This means using a professional headshot, writing a concise summary, and including keywords.

For keywords, check out your LinkedIn recommendations and endorsements. These will give you an idea of what types of things clients are saying about your services. Then, incorporate them into your profile.

2. Use Groups to Find Clients

LinkedIn Groups are a great place to meet and connect with potential clients. There are groups for every type of business and industry. Search for groups related to your area of specialization.

Once you find a relevant group, start contributing. Answer questions, comment on posts, and start a conversation.

Over time, you’ll build a reputation for being knowledgeable, and people will start to recognize your name.

3. Use the LinkedIn Premium Features

LinkedIn Premium is the paid version of LinkedIn. However, it also includes features that can help you grow your brand.

One feature, in particular, is InMail. InMail allows you to send personalized messages to people who match your targeted search. With a basic LinkedIn account, you can only send messages to people in your network.

With LinkedIn Premium, you can target your ideal clients, and send them messages directly, regardless if they are in your network or not. LinkedIn guarantees higher response rates with InMail so it’s definitely worth checking out.

4. Use the Power of LinkedIn Ads

LinkedIn’s Sponsored Content and Text Ads are another paid feature that can greatly expand your reach and increase your visibility.

LinkedIn sponsored content allows you to publish long-form content on LinkedIn.

With Sponsored Content, you can target specific demographics, interests, and locations. You can also choose who your audience is, and only reach people who fit your criteria.

LinkedIn’s Text Ads are similar to Google Adwords, but LinkedIn allows you to target your ideal clients based on job title, company, industry, location, seniority, and more.

5. Use LinkedIn to Manage Customer Relationships

LinkedIn is much more than just a professional networking platform. LinkedIn allows you to manage and track all of your client and prospect relationships.

This allows you to keep track of who you’ve worked with, how you’re working with each client, and what you’re currently working on.

Utilize CRM LinkedIn tools to manage your network, add insightful notes and tags, easily export LinkedIn contacts, and bulk disconnect from connections that no longer add value to your network.

6. Post Regularly

Consistency is important. Without consistency, you risk losing followers. Post regularly to keep your followers engaged.

Posting regularly can also help you stay top of mind when it comes to connecting with new clients.

To keep up with a consistent posting schedule, you can create a LinkedIn content calendar. In your calendar, include topics you want to cover and plan out your future posts.

Additionally, you can use social media scheduling tools to schedule your posts in advance, so you can stay focused and get the most out of your time.

7. Publish Valuable Articles and Case Studies

Publishing valuable content will help establish you as an authority in your field.

The key is to include keywords in your posts, so they show up in LinkedIn’s search. When people search for topics related to your work, they’ll find your content.

Case studies are another great way to add value to your posts. Share an example of how you worked with a client or company. If you work in a specific industry or type of service, consider publishing case studies related to that industry.

8. Ask for Recommendations

Recommendations are a great way to increase your credibility and show potential clients that other people trust you.

Ask clients to write you a recommendation on LinkedIn. You can also ask colleagues and business contacts to write a recommendation.

Recommendations are powerful, so it’s important to ask for them. Just remember, people are more likely to write a recommendation if they feel connected to you so focus on building strong relationships first.

Now It’s Your Turn

LinkedIn is a powerful tool that can help you grow your business. By tapping into the power of LinkedIn, you can generate more business leads, connect with your ideal clients, and expand your network.

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Unobvious Ways to Stay in Touch With Your Customers https://www.sitepronews.com/2022/10/06/unobvious-ways-to-stay-in-touch-with-your-customers/ Thu, 06 Oct 2022 04:00:00 +0000 https://www.sitepronews.com/?p=122846 According to a recent local marketing study, 87% out of more than 1,000 respondents read customer reviews on the internet before they buy a product or order a service. What does it mean for businesses? The answer is — the more positive feedback customers leave about your brand in digital services, the more trustworthy and […]

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According to a recent local marketing study, 87% out of more than 1,000 respondents read customer reviews on the internet before they buy a product or order a service. What does it mean for businesses? The answer is — the more positive feedback customers leave about your brand in digital services, the more trustworthy and attractive you are to new audience. In this post, we’ll dive into the ways of generating reviews to help your company be attractive and stay in touch with customers.

Why You Should Seriously Think of Including Review Generation in Your Marketing Strategy

Why reviews are so important? Because they build loyalty and show your potential customers the most prominent positive and negative angles of your business. People can surf websites, and social media with stylish company accounts, but when it comes to the real people’s opinions it appears that they are much more crucial. Negative reviews are a subject to smartly manage. But some strengths mentioned in a review can easily influence the decision about visiting a company. Today, we want to talk about how a company can motivate customers to share reviews about their positive experience? RocketData gives five useful tools for your business to try.

5 Tools for Your Business to Generate Reviews

1. The Most Traditional Way — Email

Let’s start from the most classic way to engage customers into leaving feedback. A customer receives an email when he does a targeted action — visited a company, bought a service or a product, contacted a manager. Usually, right after such moments clients are already “close enough” to share their opinion on customer service or product’s quality. So, it’s time to ask them what they think.

What should your email contain to increase the chances a customer will leave a review:


– The right subject of an email that motivates: “Get a discount for your review”, “Free consultation for your opinion”, etc.

– A specific name of a real manager and a relevant topic: “Good afternoon, this is James from Rocket Presents. You sent a present using our service and we’re really eager to know whether you’re satisfied”.

– Catch phrases
It should be clear for customers how leaving a review will bring them benefit and it’s essential for them not to spend much time on it. Here come special phrases-amplifiers like: “help others to make choice”, “just a minute to make us better” “we improve with your reviews”, etc.

– Being grateful
You can motivate customers to leave positive reviews by expressing gratitude for their feedback. Say a couple of thankful words or even suggest a discount or a bonus for their opinion.

It will also be a great idea to include in your email a request to put a rate to the company (usually, from 1 to 5, or from 1 to 10). Create different landing pages for such survey.

If the customer puts a rate up to 7, they will drop into a landing page where they will find special feedback and will be asked to write what they didn’t like or what your business and improve. If they rate your company more than 7, they will be directed to the list of company locations where they can share their positive experience.

2. Signature in Your Email

Now, we slightly move to the last but not the least part in companies’ email communications — manager’s signature. Most of businesses underestimate such a simple but influential tool to generate reviews. Here is, why you shouldn’t.

In most cases, signature is the clearest way for customers to contact your company or a certain manager. Which can also become a reason to leave positive reviews about the service in your company. But you can go even further — add to the signature an invite to leave reviews on location-based services or on your website and insert a link to corresponding site. Use the smart approach to create a catchy call-to-action so customers have no chance to miss this out.

You can generate such signatures in the following services — Hubspot Signature Generator, Wise Stamp and others.

3. Quick and Clear — Messenger or SMS

Want to interact with customers who already familiar with your brand? Then choose SMS or Messenger. SMS is a good old and quick way to ask your client for a rate or review. Or you can also use more modern option — the Messenger.

It is a short version of an email, so you can use our advice from the previous points on how to create an appealing message. Only remember that here your thoughts and CTAs should be more direct and concise. Usually, messages are sent on the net day after a customer turned to a company and smoothly show them care and concern about the quality of product or a service they got.

Here is one more important thing — get clients’ consent to newsletters before you send any messages. In other case, you may get an irritated customer and his feedback won’t be so positive as you expect. You can get consent by a special form that notifies customers that their contact will be used to send news and messages from your company or on the special page of your website. For example, when people register gift cards or other bonuses.

4. Unexpected… — Remarketing

It may seem not so obvious, but it is a great tool to collect customers’ feedback. If you take your brand for serious and are ready to invest in your image, then this is the way for you. Concentrate on the audience that visited your website, bought a product or a service from your company, create a juicy visual, relevant CTA and free your ad out.

5. A Customer-friendly Way — QR Code

QR stands for a quick response. Ideal to follow and in a second leave a review. Customers can easily scan any POS materials (menu, banners, cash register, packs, etc.) or even a sticker with an app or smartphone and get redirected to a form for leaving review. There is no long links, so you can print QR code anywhere on materials in your locations and even on different surfaces in your points of sale. Just mind that it is should be placed where it is convenient to scan for clients.

You can generate a QR code that will lead your customers to your listing in Google Business Profile or to your website form. By the way, it may be the most ecological way for customers, cause the need to make only one step to get to a review form.

Where to Collect Customer Feedback

Depending on the region, you can find a list of location-based and review services that are the most popular. You can select two types of such platforms for your business — the main (the most popular like Google, Yelp, TripAdvisor, etc.) and the additional sites (specialized on separate industries and niches, e.g., medicine, HoReCa, sports). You should define the most priority sites for your company and take care of not only being present there, but also getting fresh and positive reviews that you can analyze and improve. Marketers can always do it by themselves, but if your business has 10+ locations it can be hard to manage all the data on your own. So, it is a good idea to turn to platforms that can collect, manage, and analyze reviews in a single account.

To Sum Up

Reviews are crucial for any company, because they build a very important part of business’s reputation — customer loyalty. To say more, if a company has rating below four on Google 53% of clients even won’t consider visiting it.

Reviews help people to make right decisions about the purchases or visits, as well as help companies improve their service and products’ quality. That shows that we should bother about the stars in location-based services and work hard to generate more positive reviews from people who interact with our companies. That is, use all the ways and tool smartly and with a thorough thought, and get the results your business deserves.

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Instagram Ranking Update: IG Now Gives More Value to Legit Content https://www.sitepronews.com/2022/08/23/instagram-ranking-update-ig-now-gives-more-value-to-legit-content/ Tue, 23 Aug 2022 04:00:00 +0000 https://www.sitepronews.com/?p=122418 It happens to everybody. Asking the same questions, I mean… How many followers? What’s my Ranking? Why is my 2022 reach so low on Instagram? Is it going to go up any time soon? What am I doing wrong? How can I change it? And now, that Instagram is making some changes and is updating […]

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It happens to everybody. Asking the same questions, I mean… How many followers? What’s my Ranking? Why is my 2022 reach so low on Instagram? Is it going to go up any time soon? What am I doing wrong? How can I change it?

And now, that Instagram is making some changes and is updating its Ranking, more will follow… Questions, I mean. What does the Instagram update do? How does Instagram will rank content from now on? How will I rank higher on Instagram algorithm?

The meteoric rise of Social Platforms has inevitably introduced numerous changes to our lives. From our most personal moments to our professional decisions and approaches. Everything’s getting more different every day, everything’s getting constantly updated. So, let’s see what’s going on right now with IG’s latest updates!

The intent behind the famous’ Meta-Owned platform series of Updates, is to promote the publication of more original content, boost the flourishing of authentic creators and young talent, while trying to reduce content farms and the domination of feeds by re-posting tactics. The general idea behind those changes is to tone down the presence of aggregator sites and give more space and credit to the true creators!

Still…You Might Have Some Questions…

IG’s Chief, Adam Mosseri, has posted on his twitter Account:

We’ve added new ways to tag and improved ranking:

  1. Product Tags
  2. Enhanced Tags
  3. Ranking for originality

Creators are so important to the future of Instagram, and we want to make sure that they are successful and get all the credit they deserve.

And with a short video, Mossari tried to break down the platform’s thinking+ideology and explain the why’s of these Updates.

Even so, questions are still being raised!

What are these changes really mean? What will happen in case of posting content from other platforms? Or what will happen if a bigger profile re-posts your content? Could you be penalised?

Here is a short version of the clarifications provided!

Content edited outside Instagram won’t be penalised! You can create it and then introduce it via your Gallery. Posting history will be a factor! The platform wants to identify content aggregators. If you re-post continuously from other accounts, you will most probably reach a decline. And finally, yes…Mossari admitted that IG’s content ranking is a work in progress!

Needless to say, marketers using IG will have to adjust to these Updates and find new ways to market and advertise their products, maintain or even augment their visibility on the platform and eventually increase their sales. In the beginning, play the game with a new set of rules, might feel somewhat uncomfortable and abrupt (as all sudden changes do!), but in the long run (and taking the right steps) it might end up being beneficial and profitable in multiple ways.

New Paths to Blaze in a New State of Being!

These changes will encourage users and marketers to become more creative. The ways to reach the desired public will be re-considered and possibly your basic idea and original strategy will be enriched and rejuvenated!

A targeted group can always become wider!

A better photo can say more than thousand words!

and

A post can touch more hearts!

Even before IG’s latest Updates, our society had already changed again. These Updates could function as a wake-up call! They might be the erethisma that will take us out from our comfort zones and make us create freely and discover new result-full techniques!

The Social Age is challenging and demanding. Today, maybe more than ever, constant movement and transformation are signs of vitality, survival and growth. Don’t be afraid to change, to openly commit to and support timely and relevant issues. Generating authentic, sincere, original and unique content, is the only way to stand out and successfully promote your product in the vastness of the social media space.

(It feels wrong even to think it but…) Being human(e) has never been so pressing and necessary! Sensitivity, empathy, conversational approaches and plasticity, in order to be able to follow all the social and communicational shifts are required! A deep and truthful interest should be the starting point of every marketer. To thrive in the most practical aspects of the market, the theoretical basis and strategies must be sound, innovative but most of all relevant!

The new attitudes, new beliefs, all trends and tendencies must be expressed in ways that will connect and relate you to the right audience! Be precise and focused! Target wisely! Use your Insta-Stories creatively! Use Highlights in your Profile! Create the right Hashtags! And, of course, allow users to buy through your feed.

It Is Time to Readjust

The 2022 New Instagram Updates are here and for the bold and creative these are good news! Legit Content is gaining more value! Original thinking is being promoted and creative ideas will guarantee bigger sales. Welcome these Updates as a chance for your profile and business to be valued in a more holistic way! Accept these updates and welcome them as a blessing in disguise. Now, is the time to:

  • Re-connect with our Society’s new challenges
  • Re-establish your brand in a more (or all-) inclusive environment
  • Re-fresh your communication strategies
  • Re-approach your existing client-base
  • Re-link your business with the increasingly demanding young consumers
  • Re-consider your existence in an Updated ecosystem
  • Re-set your goals and align them with an even brighter tomorrow

Publish pictures that will positively shock with their raw nature, combine colours with black and white imagery, use short, roughly-cut videos where every frame is a creative hit! Create swift, clean-cut phrases, filled with meaningful ideas. Words are worlds, your words your worlds. Today success comes through originality and authenticity. Be valiant! Think of all the possibilities!

The future is now, everything’s now! Grasp it!

And if you feel, at some point, that you hit an inspirational wall, there are always useful sources that can lead you out from your Instagram Marketing Strategy dead ends, and take you to places where tangible, revolutionary and practical solutions flourish non-stop!

Don’t be legit because you have to or need to…be legit because this is you truest self!

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From Users To Players: The Future Of UX Design In the Metaverse https://www.sitepronews.com/2022/04/20/from-users-to-players-the-future-of-ux-design-in-the-metaverse/ Wed, 20 Apr 2022 04:05:00 +0000 https://www.sitepronews.com/?p=121038 With over 4.8 billion internet users across the globe, the digital world is continually adapting to accommodate new forms of communication and interaction within the social sphere. As E-commerce booms and social platforms multiply, it’s clear that a digitally native world is only around the corner. With the demand for all things digital consistently growing, […]

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With over 4.8 billion internet users across the globe, the digital world is continually adapting to accommodate new forms of communication and interaction within the social sphere.

As E-commerce booms and social platforms multiply, it’s clear that a digitally native world is only around the corner. With the demand for all things digital consistently growing, the demand for tech and design innovation comes hand in hand.

As virtual evolution continues to become more prominent on the back of new forms of VR/AR technology revolutionising the online sphere, user experience has become key essential as we form our relationship with new technology. As new software continues to extend the capabilities of digital immersion, it’s no surprise that UX has become a hot topic for virtual reality experts.

As we see consumers shift from users to players as the metaverse era begins, traditional forms of marketing continue to become redundant. From content design and 3D tools to new communication interfaces that promote immersion, read on to find out how the metaverse could change UX design like never before.

What Is the Metaverse? 

So what is the metaverse? We’ve all heard the term thrown around on tech platforms and during Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta reveal, but what does this actually mean for the UX designers who will need to pave the way for the future of effective marketing online?

The term metaverse was first mentioned in the 1992 science fiction novel, Snow Crash, written by Neal Stephson. Using the word metaverse to describe his image of a 3D world that users could virtually exist in, he predicted that technology would one day enable us to live in a real-time, online environment that we could change, grow and interact within.

In the modern-day, the Influencer Marketing Hub define the metaverse as “something that is always active, exists in real-time, players have individual agency, it’s a self-contained and fully functioning universe and contains user-generated content.”

As we toy with this shift from consumers to players in a user-generated content dominated online environment, it’s clear that the metaverse will continue to transform consumer attitudes and demand a more active user experience design across a number of sectors.

From e-commerce and the corporate market to gaming and entertainment, it’s clear that the metaverse expects more of marketers, but just how much could this revolutionise the industry?

How It Will Change the Future Of Marketing

For smart marketers, the metaverse could be a game-changer in regards to gaining exposure and boosting revenue online. As VR continues to slot itself into a number of sectors across the globe, the metaverse’s advertising potential is infinite.

The key here is prioritizing new forms of immersive design and smart consumer content that can not only easily insert itself into the virtual world but encourage consumers to interact and communicate with it.

Especially for Gen Z demographics, where 87% of young users are already interacting with current metaverse platforms such as Fortnite from the comfort of their smartphones, the benefits quickly outweigh the costs for companies aiming to gain exposure. In fact, providing an immersive experience within the metaverse that enables a player to connect and interact with a virtual version of a product or service will translate into higher conversion rates in the real world.

For example, the London startup fashion agency, Dimension Studio saw their profits double in 2021 as a result of experimenting with new forms of UX marketing in the metaverse. The User Experience focused company that specialises in the future of volumetric content and creating immersive experiences within the metaverse is one of the first pioneers in the future of 3D forms of UX design.

Partnering with Balenciaga’s Afterworld game, they created a new form of virtual production that enabled a player to step onto a platform within a virtual environment and physically test out Balenciaga’s pieces on their augmented avatars.

Using new forms of 3D UX design to their advantage, dabbling within the metaverse has made them $6.5 million in revenue as a result.

Commenting on the success, Metaverse expert, Cathy Hackl stated that the future of marketing and advertising needs to be thought about in 3D.

“The professionals of today need to start thinking in 3D because the professionals of tomorrow will already be thinking in 3D,” commented Hackl in a recent interview with Vogue. “Agencies will need to partner with people that have game design experience and game theory. They’re going to need those people that not only know how to create beautiful things but actually know how to make things work in a gamified way inside virtual worlds.”

What Does This Mean For UX Designers?

It’s clear that UX designers will need to shift their mindset in the wake of the metaverse. Rather than designing for passive consumption, the future will centre around active design that encourages consumers to act on their creation and continue to blur the lines between what is real and what is virtual.

Shifting From Users To Players

Designers will need to think of consumers as players, rather than simple users of technology. 

In order to improve user experience across online platforms, UX designers need to create a wholly immersive experience that enables a player to live and interact with a virtual world, rather than simply experiencing it.

Immersive design will need to be applied to all forms of UX, even outside of metaverse world-building. This applies to website design, content creation and advertisements too. As the line between the virtual and real continues to blur, designer decisions need to focus on inserting a product, service or advertisement within the metaverse seamlessly. Consumers are much more likely to interact with UX design that feels natural, authentic and consumer-created.

As technology continues to make metaverse players increasingly smart. It’s time for designers and modern marketers, to get smarter.

How To Improve UX Design For the Metaverse

So how can you start preparing for metaverse design? A fully virtual world may only be around the corner, but UX designers still have time to adapt. Here are some of the tweaks you can make to your UX initiative as metaverse design continues to revolutionise the industry.

Start Storytelling With Your Design

The metaverse is massive and is only predicted to expand in the coming years. With a large following comes a large number of experiences across a diverse consumer group. The key for UX designers is finding a way to connect all of these user experiences to create a compelling story that hooks an audience amongst competitors.

Therefore, it’s time to start prioritising storytelling within your content. In order to gain awareness and exposure, telling a story with your design will not only immerse your consumers but distract them from a product or a service, for a more natural consumer-led experience with your brand. 

Better still, learn how to integrate your UX design into their existing virtual stories. Find a way to promote or advertise using an existing narrative within the metaverse.

For example, on gaming platforms such as Roboblox, skateboarding brand Vans, introduced a skatepark into the metaverse, the purely existed for users to interact with during their own virtual narratives. After seeing 48 million visitors that boosted revenue for the brand outside of the metaverse, story integration can be considered a key tactic for UX designers.

Sit Back and Observe 

The metaverse is still relatively new, so a smart move for new UX designers on the block would be to simply sit back and observe. 

Take a closer look at your competitors and start user testing. Taking an audit of your current engagement stats, audience characteristics and site analytics using tools such as Google Analytics and Finteza is a great foundation for success.

Designers need to see how their audience currently interact with the metaverse and understand how their products will behave in new virtual surroundings.

Incorporating 3D Tools & VR Design 

In order to effectively design for the metaverse, UX professionals are moving towards new 3D modelling alternatives such as Tvori and SketchUp that will enhance modelling and prototyping in a 3D virtual world.

It’s also important for UX and UI designers to get more equipped with the new forms of VR/AR tech on the market. Utilising elements of augmented and virtual reality within daily life will allow designers to step into the shoes of their consumers and visualise the image they want to create for immersion success.

The Future of Metaverse Marketing

Did you know that 58 million people in the US are currently engaging with at least one form of AR/VR tech at least once a month?

As the demand for virtual immersion online continues to grow in line with the metaverse, traditional forms of marketing just dont cut it anymore. Interactive experiences and communication is now a must if you want to stay on top of online competitors, and UX design stands at the forefront of this.

On the back of Facebook’s 2021 Meta rebrand and gaming platforms such as Fortnite and Roboblox leading the way, the metaverse is expected to transform consumer advertising and interaction design within the next 5 years.

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How to Succeed in Building a Valuable Network for a Successful Business? https://www.sitepronews.com/2022/03/08/how-to-succeed-in-building-a-valuable-network-for-a-successful-business/ Tue, 08 Mar 2022 05:00:00 +0000 https://www.sitepronews.com/?p=120597 Introduction A strong professional network is an important component of career success. A network helps you to develop and refine your skills, stay on the cutting edge of your industry, and boost your job prospects. Networking bolsters your career by enabling you to broaden your skills, stay on top of trends in your industry, and […]

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Introduction

A strong professional network is an important component of career success. A network helps you to develop and refine your skills, stay on the cutting edge of your industry, and boost your job prospects.

Networking bolsters your career by enabling you to broaden your skills, stay on top of trends in your industry, and enhance your career opportunities. Your network can help you advance your career and access more job opportunities.

But in a competitive job market, how to ace your professional networking? Don’t worry we have got you covered there.

Why is Network or Connection Important for Business Success?

Professional networking helps open a path to opportunities. It facilitates getting ahead in a competitive job market, meeting prospective clients, and gaining better access to career resources.

To increase your chances of success in any competitive industry, you should attend professional networking events. These are gatherings at which you can find new leads and inspirations, and learn about opportunities in your field.

It can be difficult to find employment opportunities, particularly if you are looking for a job in the field with too much competition. Professional networking with people in your business network may expose you to job openings that cannot be advertised by newspapers or online job boards.

When discussing a career with people in your business network, let them know that you are looking for a new opportunity. It is a good idea to mention your expertise and experiences and to make it known that you are open to accepting offers.

Small business owners can generate leads with the help of professional networking. For example, some people may be willing to offer help, especially if you are looking for new business contacts. On the other hand, they may even go out of their way to provide you with personal and professional expertise.

Never forget that even though you are submitting business proposals modestly, you need to follow up on leads with courtesy and value other people’s time in a very professional manner.

As a business develops, it is crucial to engage in professional networking to stay ahead of the competition. Developing professional relationships can help you maintain an edge in the business through technology and allow you to keep up with changing trends.

Building business relationships give you access to internal information that can help your business stay ahead of competitors with new strategies.

How to Build a Valuable Network for a Successful Business?

Craft an Elevator Speech

An elevator speech is a summary of your experiences, skills, and achievements that you can deliver in 60 seconds.

To promote yourself professionally, define your goals and consider how to use networking to reach them. It is important to know your goals when networking in order to be successful.

For example, networking can help increase the profile of your organization by telling clients about its services and products.

Networking can also help you actively sell yourself and your company by pitching to executives. And networking can simply be a way of introducing yourself and what you do for a living.

Build a Professional Network Online

Professional networking sites are a useful tool for staying in touch with your business network and for making new connections. To take full advantage of the online environment, you should supplement it with more traditional methods of communication.

Professional networking sites can help you stay connected with your business network and make new contacts, but remember that making an online connection is just the beginning. You will have to nurture these networks to turn them into lasting and fruitful relations.

The online community Meetup offers a platform that connects individuals who share common interests. New members can search for meetup groups in their geographic area and are invited to attend when they are created.

If you’re not sure what kind of a group you’d want to join, you can start a group of your own. When you create a group, it will appear in the network’s events section. It will notify you if there are any other users who share the same interest as you.

Host Virtual Events for Networking

Use virtual events for networking. Virtual events allow professionals to attend professional networking events from the comfort of their homes. Virtual events are a convenient way to network with others.

Hosting virtual events for professionals is an effective way to reach a large audience. It’s also convenient for participants to attend professional events from the comfort of their homes.

With a high attendance rate, you can provide multiple opportunities for your audience to increase exposure to your brand or company.

To connect with others professionally online, take an in-depth look at virtual networking event ideas and how to host them effectively.

Professional networking can take time, effort, and creativity. If you’re wondering how to build professional connections online through events, check out some virtual networking event ideas and ways to host them.

Contact People You Have Already Met

When seeking new connections, try reaching out to friends, family, colleagues, and former bosses who may offer you new job opportunities or introduce you to the people who matter most in the industry.

Use networking events, email, phone calls, and handwritten notes to stay connected with the help of your friends and family.

Think about ways to connect with others: coffee meetups, email, phone calls, handwritten letters, and/or social gatherings. When people make a conscious effort to maintain meaningful relationships with others, networking is much more likely to pay off in the long run.

The experts at The Muse even have a few suggestions for how you can take advantage of your friendships to make new connections.

Keep Searching

As you meet people and interact with them, be sure to tell them that you are looking for a job opportunity. You may also want to mention that you are seeking business partnerships and networking opportunities.

When you are meeting with your friends or attending a neighborhood party, use the opportunity to talk to others and find out what they do for a living, how they got into their field of interest, or what opportunities are available in the area.

While socializing in a casual setting, look around and name some of the things you see. Notice how that helps you focus your attention on the setting. Then, try to make eye contact with people you notice and engage them in a friendly, positive way.

These interactions can provide opportunities for you to improve your social skills and develop your confidence in face-to-face business situations.

Virtual Speed Networking

Speed networking is a means of rapidly expanding your business contacts, accelerating your business growth, and increasing your visibility in the marketplace.

With Speed Networking you meet a large number of business contacts in a shorter period of time. It is a convenient and effective way to expand your contacts and boost your business growth with Godspeed.

At a speed networking event, you can meet new people, reveal what you are looking for, share your skills and experience, and get to know others in your field.

How to Manage the Relationship of a Large Network After Building It?

Choose the Right Contact Management System

As part of an integrated marketing strategy, your Contact Management System should be the hub of your business. It’s the platform that stores all of your key contact data as well as communications with every customer and lead.

Contact management systems are complex programs, and there are several things to consider when choosing a program for your business.

With so many options available, it is important to research what is best for your industry, business size, sales and marketing strategy, and goals.

Some of the best Contact Management Systems available are,

Centralize Your Database

The most effective contact management strategies include a centralized database that stores all contacts within a single application. This will generally be your Contact Management System, which is why you should follow the step above and choose the right one!

What can you do by having a centralized database?

  • You can find all your key insights in one app.
  • Finding the correct data for other members of your team becomes way easier without the need for constant logins.
  • You can save your time by training your team for different platforms and tools they don’t need.
  • Improve collaboration between departments by encouraging information exchange.

You need to first identify the main apps in your stack that are collecting data to start centralizing your data. You can then sync your data eventually with our Contact Management System.

Maintain a Clean Contact Database

To experience a smooth contact management system, start with maintaining a clean contact database. You cannot deliver a brilliant customer experience if you have incorrect data about your customers or clients. And neither can you have smooth-running business operations and reporting inside your company.

Even though you can adopt adjusting lead generation forms and introduce clear processes for your team to follow, you cannot avoid it all. This is why your business needs the right contact management system to maintain a clean address book for you.

It is necessary to do regular data clean-ups, like every quarter. How do you do that?

As a part of cleaning up, you should take out time to remove:

  • Contacts that you are no more associated with.
  • Outdated or incorrect data.
  • Hard-bounced email.
  • Duplicate Contacts.

Automatically Sync Updates

Remember: Contact Data is one of the most crucial parts of your business and you cannot have it dispersed in different places. To even have different contacts or incomplete contacts with your team works as a drawback for you and your business.

This is why we suggested for you have a centralized contact database in the second point. Having a Contact Management System in your organization that offers you a feature for automatically syncing your contacts would help keep the contact data of and for your team members in one place.

Simply put, all you have to do is find a good contact management system with great integrations like Google, Outlook, Microsoft, and more. And then sync your contacts with these platforms to fetch all the contacts in one place that is available on all the different platforms.

This way, all your contacts will be in one place and available to all (whoever is allowed to give access to it). In addition to this, the cloud system of this Contact management System will update the details of a particular contact in all the other devices that this account is connected to.

Collect Data to Enrich Your Insights

By syncing your data with other platforms and devices, you can easily and automatically enrich the insights you have at ease.

For example, if you are at a meeting as a marketing representative of your company then you can update the minutes of the meeting as notes in the contact itself.

Apart from notes, you can also add reminders for yourself or for your team members under a contact name. This will help you in reminding about the pending tasks or meetings that are approaching. These features would help in collecting data that is needed to enrich your work with insights.

To manage the relationship of a large network after building it you can try this software.

Leverage Your Network’s Power to Grow Your Business

Customer Feedback

The only and sole purpose for any and every business to exist is because it provides a solution or value to a certain group of customers. This means that customers are your most valuable source in bettering the value that your business provides.

So if you want your business to keep growing and improving then ask your customers for their feedback as help!

You can start by asking questions that concern their likes and dislikes about your business. Because for a fact no business is perfect, this makes finding areas of improvement a task that is endless.

Marketers tend to overestimate their ability to predict the needs of customers, and thus often come up with ideas based on hunches or assumptions about their preferences.

Questions like “What do you think of our company?” can help you gauge how customers feel about your business and will give you a clearer idea of where they find value in your solution, and where you can improve.

Give Readers What They Want

Web content is often defined by unique, valuable information. In other words, “content is king.”

While some types of content, such as product descriptions and press releases, are important in building domain authority and attracting prospects, it’s only effective if the right people want to read it. But coming up with good content topics can be difficult.

Solicit feedback from subscribers by sending an email outlining each post’s value proposition and soliciting the reader’s thoughts. This will let you know which blog post topics remain relevant to readers and can help you determine where to focus your blog efforts in the future.

Feedback from readers can help you determine if your content is interesting and informative for your readers, which can help shape where you focus your future content efforts.

Referrals

One of the best ways to grow your business is by getting word-of-mouth referrals from your satisfied customers.

Referrals can be built into your marketing strategy in the form of calls to action that encourage customers to spread the word about your business.

Probably the best way to grow your business is by leveraging your existing customers and giving them every opportunity possible to refer you to their friends.

Why should you do referral marketing anyway? The answer is because it probably has the biggest potential in terms of marketing and acquisition. How? Referrals don’t cost a single penny to you or your business.

Could there be a better reason? We don’t think so.

Social Media

Your customers’ primary internet-facing profiles are on social media websites like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. With a contact management system that logs this information, you can meet them where they are most comfortable.

A contact management system that logs this information can help you personalize outreach to them.

You can learn a lot about your contacts by using social media tools to monitor their online behavior.

Consumer response on social media platforms provides valuable feedback. By collecting social media contact data and responding promptly to comments, you can develop positive relationships with consumers.

Conclusion

All in all, we hope we were successful enough in imparting comprehensive knowledge on how important professional networking is when you are starting or running a business.

And needless to say, with the tips, tricks, hows and whys, benefits, and more we have mentioned above, professional networking will be easier than expected for you with the right contact management systems.

Contact Management Systems will not just let you manage your contacts but will definitely help you network better and maintain the right history of communication for better relationship building.

The post How to Succeed in Building a Valuable Network for a Successful Business? appeared first on SiteProNews.

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How to Spot Fake Social Media Influencers https://www.sitepronews.com/2022/01/03/how-to-spot-fake-social-media-influencers/ Mon, 03 Jan 2022 05:05:00 +0000 https://www.sitepronews.com/?p=119956 When it comes to paid marketing channels, influencer marketing tops the list. Today, consumers usually like to do some research before making a purchase decision. Although, for most consumers, seeking the opinions of influencers is usually the case. Their opinions or product reviews influence the purchase decision of the consumers. So, it’s no surprise that […]

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When it comes to paid marketing channels, influencer marketing tops the list. Today, consumers usually like to do some research before making a purchase decision. Although, for most consumers, seeking the opinions of influencers is usually the case. Their opinions or product reviews influence the purchase decision of the consumers.

So, it’s no surprise that brands are leveraging their influence to reach their target audience and increase sales. But what if the follower base of the influencer your brand has partnered with is fake? To be more precise, what if the influencer is fake and all his/her followers were bought?

Brands all over the world have drastically increased their investment in influencer marketing. After all, the revenue generated from influencer marketing is equal to or more, than other paid marketing channels. But partnering with influencers costs, especially if they have an enormous follower base and are sought after in their industry. But if the influence is fake, all that money goes to waste, because the influencer doesn’t have a genuine and engaging follower base.

Since these influencers have no genuine followers, brands get nothing out of the money they invest in them. Although, it’s not just money. Influencer marketing campaigns require extensive planning, preparation and the dedication of your social media teams. All these resources go to waste, which further leads to setbacks in your marketing plans.

In this piece, we are going to discuss some effective ways to identify fake social media influencers. Let’s get right into it.

The Impact of Influencer Fraud

Being a victim of influencer fraud can be disastrous for brands with the biggest impact being the financials. While major, more influential brands may recover, small and emerging businesses might not be so fortunate. Small businesses have limited resources and influencer fraud can just bleed them dry.

Also, the money isn’t the only thing brands lose. The time spent by your social media team could have been put to better use to drive engagement, boost social media presence, and increase conversions. Fake influencers don’t offer genuine engagement, because they have no genuine followers.

Partnering with influencers can also damage your brand reputation. Users do not consider fake influencers credible, and if your target audience finds that out before you do, they will raise questions about your credibility.

How to Spot Fake Influencers?

Now that you know why influencer fraud is a major concern, let’s dive deeper and discuss ways to identify fake influencers.

Analyze Follower Profiles

The easiest way to identify fake followers in an influencer’s follower base is by checking the follower profiles. You can start by looking for follower profiles that do not have a profile image or a bio. Genuine users customize their user profiles with all relevant details, a profile picture, along with a unique bio.

Follower profiles that do not have the relevant details or even the minimum of a profile image are usually fake followers. If these followers comprise most of the influencer’s follower base, they are most probably fake.

Another thing to note is that fake followers also use images of other genuine profiles. In that case, you can simply perform a Google image search using their profile image to verify their credibility.

Check Follower-Engagement Ratio

The follower-engagement ratio is another important statistic that you can use to gauge the credibility of an influencer. Genuine influencers that have spent time and effort usually have an engaged follower base. So, the first thing that you need to check is how much engagement the influencer gets. If the engagement is poor compared to the size of the audience, it is advisable not to partner with them. Even if the influencer hasn’t intentionally bought followers, poor engagement statistics are not great to start a partnership.

Analyze Engagement Quality

Engagement quality is also an effective way to identify fake influencers. While some only buy followers, others go far as even buying engagement, although the bought engagement is usually generic. Just look at the comments on the influencer’s posts. If most of the comments include “nice”, “looks good”, or “great pic”, the audience is most probably fake.

It’s one way to still identify possible issues even if the influencer buys engagement and passes the follower-engagement ratio test.

Check for Sudden Spikes in Follower Growth

Analyzing the follower growth of influencers can also help you identify fake followers. As fake influencers buy fake followers, their follower count will have sudden spikes showing a drastic increase. Using a third-party analytics tool, you can analyze the follower growth of influencers and identify such sudden spikes. It will help you verify if the influencer has bought fake followers or not.

Look for Bot and Inactive Accounts

In the last decade, every social media platform has witnessed a massive increase in automated bot accounts that inflate the follower counts of users that pay for them. These bots follow multiple accounts but don’t have many followers themselves. Therefore, you can use the follower-following ratio to identify automated bot accounts.

We can also conclude a high number of inactive accounts means fake followers for the obvious reason that the user/follower no longer uses the account or the social platform itself. The other reason is that Twitter has been updating its algorithm which has led to multiple bot accounts being abandoned because of the security updates.

Wrapping Up

Influencer fraud is a major concern for brands and marketers, but by analyzing the right metrics, you can identify them with ease. The foremost thing that you need to do after you identify them is to avoid partnering with them. You can also create a blacklist so you don’t have to do it all over again.

Another thing to note is that manually analyzing followers is not always possible. Imagine going through millions of social media accounts. Sounds exhausting, right? In such cases, you can use a third-party tool like FollowerAudit to identify fake followers for you.

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Technologies Helping Singles to Avoid Loneliness https://www.sitepronews.com/2021/12/22/technologies-helping-singles-to-avoid-loneliness/ Wed, 22 Dec 2021 05:05:00 +0000 https://www.sitepronews.com/?p=119852 Human interactions aren’t just for passing the time; they also contribute to your physical and mental well-being. Past research explains why loneliness causes depression, cognitive decline, and poor sleep quality, and cardiovascular dysfunction. One reason why loneliness is so painful is that you don’t have to be alone to feel it. Loneliness involves detaching from […]

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Human interactions aren’t just for passing the time; they also contribute to your physical and mental well-being. Past research explains why loneliness causes depression, cognitive decline, and poor sleep quality, and cardiovascular dysfunction. One reason why loneliness is so painful is that you don’t have to be alone to feel it. Loneliness involves detaching from a place or people, even among friends and family. If you’re wondering what to do to avoid loneliness,the answer lies in embracing technology. The absence of active singles in your area isn’t an excuse to wallow in loneliness. Here’s how to avoid loneliness through technology.

1. Dating Sites

Free dating sites are no longer limited to hookups. Growing internet coverage and busy work schedules are taking the stigma out of finding love online. More people have embraced internet dating in the recent past to make it a multi-million-dollar industry. According to past statistics, America’s internet dating revenue was $602 million in 2020 and is expected to hit $755 million by 2024. A separate study suggests that couples who meet online want to have families more than offline couples. Internet dating presents numerous benefits.

First off, it’s easy to start. All you need to do is choose a dating platform, create a profile, and meet new people. Additionally, dating sites increase the possibility of meeting your match. Unlike offline encounters where you can approach anyone, dating sites use your profile information to match you to a suitable partner. Dating sites are also a convenient way of avoiding loneliness.You can talk to a potential suitor as long as you wish before meeting them in person. Online dating presents a large pool of suitors, allowing you to be as picky as you wish.

2. Avoiding Loneliness with Artificial Intelligence

Gone are the days when users would scroll endlessly through dating profiles to cure their loneliness. Artificial intelligence uses more than just shared interests to match individuals. For example, AI may use your matches’ common facial features to recommend partners and end your loneliness. Moreover, artificial intelligence can scan your profile picture for objects that might reveal your interests. Assuming your photo has a guitar, AI can match you to other music enthusiasts on the app seeking to end their loneliness. AI also prevents fraud by detecting suspicious activity. For instance, AI may flag profiles soliciting money from other users in exchange for love.

Artificial intelligence can also identify fake profiles based on messages, fake images, and IP addresses. Likewise, AI ensures members use dating apps for the intended purpose by filtering out pornography and political content. This goes hand in hand with correcting spelling mistakes. It’s not uncommon for users to ignore texts containing bad grammar. Again, artificial intelligence cures loneliness by encouraging offline meetings after a certain period of online interactions. AI also offers first-date ideas depending on users’ personalities and interests.

3. Chatbots

Initially meant for customer service, chatbots are now providing singles with comfort when loneliness hurts.With weakening social interactions, it’s understandable why loneliness hurts people so much that they seek intimacy from digital systems. Unlike human companions who come and go, chatbots are always available during moments of loneliness. There’s no limit to when and where you can vent to chatbots.

Computer specialists have also programmed bots to flirt on their behalf on dating platforms owing to the process’ time-consuming nature. This is according to a past Mashable story. Data expert Jeffrey Li created an algorithm that accessed his Tinder account and swiped on 100 women daily. Li would then start talking to these women after the bot landed a match. Programmer Robert Winters took this bot a step further by giving it the ability to hold basic conversations. Though Tinder eventually banned Winters from the site, the bot was part of 200 conversations at one point.

4. Virtual Reality

Virtual reality promises remote social connections that are more immersive than other communication channels. Unlike dating sites where you can lie about your appearance, VR dating cures loneliness by engaging multiple senses. In addition to seeing and hearing, this technology allows you to feel your partner through epidermal VR. Long-distance relationships are easier because you know your partner’s real-time behavior.

VR also eliminates the anxiety of meeting people in person. A past study suggests that virtual dates tell more about an individual’s personality than online dating platforms. You can also choose virtual date locations. For instance, you can stroll through your dream city or go to outer space. If you love adrenaline, you can recreate the feeling of crossing a shaky bridge or jumping off a plane.

Conclusion

Technology cannot cure all your loneliness. However, you can use it to avoid loneliness when circumstances prevent you from meeting people directly. How much loneliness can a person take? Tell us how to avoid loneliness using technology in the comments.

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How to Make Your LinkedIn Profile Rise above the Noise [4+ Tips] https://www.sitepronews.com/2020/11/26/how-to-make-your-linkedin-profile-rise-above-the-noise-4-tips/ Thu, 26 Nov 2020 05:00:02 +0000 https://www.sitepronews.com/?p=111698 While the US unemployment rate has dropped to 7.9 percent as of September 2020, the job market is still largely recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, job seekers now have to jump at any opportunity to stand out from the crowd to sustain amidst today’s challenging times. That’s when LinkedIn comes into play. […]

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While the US unemployment rate has dropped to 7.9 percent as of September 2020, the job market is still largely recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a result, job seekers now have to jump at any opportunity to stand out from the crowd to sustain amidst today’s challenging times. That’s when LinkedIn comes into play. Having a strong LinkedIn presence won’t only help job seekers register on an employer’s radar, but it’s also the ultimate tool to amass connections and stay on top of industry trends.

Good news?

This guide explains how to optimize your LinkedIn profile and wow employers so that you can start work on Monday.

Get a Custom URL

If you aren’t a power user of LinkedIn, your profile URL likely consists of a nauseating mix of numbers and characters that looks something like this, “linkedin.com/in/sQys&za9&#.”

Problem?

Most recruiters expect job seekers to list their LinkedIn profile on a resume, so they can check your online presence as well as ensure whatever you’ve written in your application (e.g., work history) checks out with your online profile. Hence, if you don’t get a custom LinkedIn profile URL, it’ll look clunky and less professional on your resume.

So—here’s how to get a custom profile URL:

  1. Click on the “Me” icon at the top of your LinkedIn profile.
  2. Click “View profile.”
  3. Click “Edit public profile & URL” in the right rail.
  4. Click the “Edit” icon next to your public profile URL.
  5. Write your new custom URL in the text box (e.g., your name)
  6. Click “Save.”

Make It Easier for Employers to Find You

If you want to get more job offers via LinkedIn, you need to let recruiters know you’re open.

To do it, head over to your dashboard and look for a “Career interests” bar just below your LinkedIn summary.

There, you’ll be able to specify:

  • Up to five job titles you’re interested in.
  • Preferred job locations.
  • Start date (depending on whether you’re actively applying or just browsing for offers casually.)
  • Job types (e.g., full-time, part-time, or internship)

Make Your Profile Hulk-Level Strong

Now that you’re done with the basics, it’s time to move on to more advanced optimization strategies for your LinkedIn profile.

For starters, make sure to provide as much information about yourself as possible. That’s because users who fully fill out their profiles are 40 times more likely to get job offers from recruiters, according to a recent LinkedIn study.

So—put in some legwork to:

  • Craft an engaging profile summary.
  • List your work experience (use numbers whenever possible) and education.
  • Add certifications (if any).
  • Highlight your accomplishments (from past or current roles.)

As for the “Skills” section, you can leave it for now, as we’ll tackle it later.

Make Your Skills Marketable

So far so good.

Now—it’s time to move onto the skills section.

First off, keep in mind that you can only add up to 50 skills to your LinkedIn profile. Hence, be sure to hand-pick the skills that you feel are the most relevant. 

Generally, a good place to start is to open up your resume and transfer the skills you have there to your LinkedIn profile. 

In this case, when typing the skills, it’s good practice to pick the ones that LinkedIn suggests instead of adding them manually. Otherwise, recruiters might have a hard time finding your profile.

Afterward, you can also put in some elbow grease to search for LinkedIn profiles similar to yours and see what other working professionals list in their “Skills” section.

Lastly, don’t just focus on adding hard skills (e.g., Excel, SEO), but also consider adding soft skills. To help you, below are five soft skills that companies need the most in 2020:

  • Creativity
  • Persuasion
  • Collaboration
  • Adaptability
  • Emotional intelligence

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7 Ways to Earn Extra Income While Bootstrapping Your Business https://www.sitepronews.com/2020/05/29/7-ways-to-earn-extra-income-while-bootstrapping-your-business/ Fri, 29 May 2020 04:00:47 +0000 https://www.sitepronews.com/?p=108204 Entrepreneurs have to dream big even when they’re working for somebody else and only starting out with their business. It’s this mindset that will help them endure hours of moonlighting and trying to earn a couple of extra bucks to support their business idea.  Even some of the biggest brands out there were bootstrapped while […]

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Entrepreneurs have to dream big even when they’re working for somebody else and only starting out with their business. It’s this mindset that will help them endure hours of moonlighting and trying to earn a couple of extra bucks to support their business idea. 

Even some of the biggest brands out there were bootstrapped while their founders took up side gigs. Apple’s Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak both had jobs at Atari and Hewlett Packard, respectively, while they were building their first Apple I in the garage during the early 1970s. The rest is history, and this example is just one of many that prove hard work pays off. 

Here’s a list of jobs you should consider for making some extra dough while growing your business. 

1. Make Networking Your Side Hustle

As an entrepreneur, you definitely need to know a thing or two about networking and establishing connections with other businesspeople and prospects. That’s why it makes sense to capitalize on this skill until your own business takes off. Besides, while you’re already at it, you’ll additionally hone your expertise and maybe strike a couple of valuable relationships for your own venture. 

According to surveys, 85% of jobs are filled through networking – a stat that clearly illustrates the power of this practice. 

You can offer your services to other businesses and help them get in touch with potential business partners or prospects. This will, of course, require you to understand the industry very well, but matching two parties that need each other can be a great way to earn some money. 

Another option is to organize meetups and similar events that will help entrepreneurs interact and connect among themselves. 

2. Teach Online Courses 

One of the best and easiest ways to earn some extra income is by teaching online courses. 

No matter what your area of expertise is, you can offer it to other people and get paid for sharing your knowledge. 

What’s great about this is that you can find people interested in your teaching services easily on different platforms offering these kinds of services. For example, if you’re a native English speaker, you can offer some conversational classes to people from other countries who’d like to improve their spoken language. 

As an entrepreneur, leadership is something that you have to pick up in the process, and this is another skill that you can teach others. Many people can benefit from such a course, as it’s not something that traditional schools and colleges teach – especially if it’s backed up by the lecturer’s own experience in the field. 

3. Become a Freelance Writer 

As an aspiring business owner, you probably know how important blogging is for attracting and educating your target audience and keeping them on your website. 

Again, your knowledge and expertise in a particular field prove to be an asset that keeps on giving – you can make a few bucks by becoming a freelance writer. Pick your niche, write a couple of good articles for your own website, and then start offering this service to others willing to pay for it. 

It won’t take up too much of your time if you’re familiar with the topic, which should be the case if you opt for industry-related topics. 

4. Try Your Hand at Options Trading  

Options trading is a serious business that people do for a living, but you can start small and see how it goes. It’s a good idea because you can do it from home, dedicate only a couple of hours a day, and still make some money. 

Options are defined as contractual agreements between two parties – buyers and sellers. These agreements can be over-the-counter, meaning that they can take place outside an exchange, or standardized, meaning that they’re listed for trade on exchanges.  

Of course, in order to learn the ropes and make this work for you, you’ll first need to do plenty of research on becoming an options trader. Fortunately, the risk is limited, meaning that you won’t jeopardize your capital if things go south. 

5. Start a Dropshipping Business

This is one of the best and most popular ways of making an extra income because you don’t need a big budget and risks are pretty low. On the other hand, there will be 2.05 billion digital buyers globally in 2020, and you can have a share of this huge potential. 

Since you’ll basically be selling items directly to customers without having to physically store them in your inventory, you’ll be acting as an e-commerce middleman. Your main job will be to properly market the products you’re selling and find a way to attract customers. 

So, you don’t need a warehouse because you forward orders to the manufacturer who carries and ships goods that you’re promoting. As you can see, everything is pretty clean and elegant – all you have to do is build a visually appealing website and landing pages, invest in some ads, and reach out to prospects. 

6. Become a Virtual Assistant 

Virtual assistants can help companies significantly reduce operating costs, which means that there are a lot of available positions in this field. The benefits of this job include working from home, the ability to make a decent income, and an option to choose your working hours. 

This is a job suitable for extremely organized people who are capable of multitasking successfully. Your tasks will revolve around administrative work, such as scheduling meetings, taking care of email correspondence, entering data, as well as social media activities. 

It can be a bit tough until you learn the ropes, but in time, it can turn out to be a great way of making some money on the side while still having enough time to develop your own business. 

7. Create Transcripts 

Transcription jobs are decently paid, and you can do only a couple of hours a day and still earn enough. 

What’s even better is that you don’t need any particular skills other than those that you already possess. No particular experience in the field is necessary either, but it’s crucial to be focused and capable of typing very fast. You should know, however, that medical transcriptionists need a degree because they fall under the category of health workers, and their job is to transcribe recordings of medical reports. 

Your task will be to listen to audiotapes and create transcripts. The only problem is that sometimes these recordings can be bad, the sound somewhat muffled, and some speakers can use different accents.  

If you want to make your dream come true, you need to invest in it. Making an extra income will help you bootstrap your business without having to rely on expensive loans and other risky options.

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A Complete LinkedIn Profile Optimization Guide to Attract Recruiters https://www.sitepronews.com/2020/01/21/a-complete-linkedin-profile-optimization-guide-to-attract-recruiters/ Tue, 21 Jan 2020 05:00:19 +0000 https://www.sitepronews.com/?p=105780 Have you optimized your LinkedIn profile yet? If you haven’t, perhaps now is the best time to start. Over 90% of recruiters are active on LinkedIn. What this means is that you have the best shot at getting the job of your dreams by simply reaching out to recruiters in companies you want to work […]

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Have you optimized your LinkedIn profile yet?

If you haven’t, perhaps now is the best time to start.

Over 90% of recruiters are active on LinkedIn. What this means is that you have the best shot at getting the job of your dreams by simply reaching out to recruiters in companies you want to work with.

That’s not all. Read on to learn the art of attracting recruiters on LinkedIn:

Optimizing your profile image

The people you will get the opportunity to network with on LinkedIn are there to either advance their job search, to head-hunt potential employees, to advance their business, or to simply connect with like-minded people in the industry. 

Long story short, LinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. This means that it is best to keep your presence on LinkedIn strictly professional. 

Your profile picture matters. So make sure that you have one and see to it that your profile picture is not in informal attire. Instead, upload a clear headshot picture on LinkedIn with formal attire upon a plain background. Ask someone to click your picture with a good quality camera. 

And here’s the catch:

People with a profile image are more likely to get approached by potential employers just because it showcases that at least there’s a real person behind the profile, not a bot.

So it’s probably best to have a professional-looking profile image that is open to the public as it helps build the trust factor and encourages a potential employer to get in touch with you.

Writing an attractive Headline and Summary

You just have 120 characters to communicate your professional expertise, so be informative and original when writing a profile headline. Don’t forget to add domain-specific keywords in your profile headline to increase your searchability for recruiters. 

If your name is Bella Swan and you’re a business analyst, you can simply write that as your profile headline followed by 2-3 key skills or expertise areas.

Example: 

Certified Business Analyst | Business Analysis & Strategy | Data Analytics | User Engagement

Moving on to your profile summary, it should be sharp, crisp, informative, and well presented. To make the most of your summary, draft a short summary with clear lines describing your major skills and past accomplishments in your domain.

There are no summary templates that guarantee a 100% success result but the one thing which can take you ahead of the competition is giving a personal touch to your summary.

Adding a short video introduction of what you can bring to the table – your major areas of expertise and what results you can furnish for the company – can help keep the dice rolling in your favor. So, if you’re comfortable with that, go all out and make that video right away.

However, that said, you can choose to skip this because not everyone is comfortable with making videos, and that’s okay.

If your profile summary is informative and well-articulated, you’re already halfway through your journey.

Optimizing the Experience Section on LinkedIn

Most recruiters tend to skip to the experience section when glancing at your LinkedIn profile so put your best foot forward while drafting this section on LinkedIn.

It’s the same concept as writing an experience section for a paper resume, but you have the liberty of adding more information on LinkedIn.

Below are some things to keep in mind before writing the necessary information in the experience section relating to format and what it takes to master the craft of detailing your professional contributions. 

  • Use one-liner points to talk about your designated roles and responsibilities under each job profile.
  • Always start with an action verb and try to replace commonly used words like ’handled’ or ‘managed’ with power verbs like ‘directed’, ‘spearheaded’, etc. In other words, use action verbs to create more impact.
  • Try to use performance figures wherever possible. Doing this will help you showcase the visible results of your professional contributions.
  • Group every 2-3 points under a unique subheading along the lines of your target profile. 

Get Recommendations & Endorsements on LinkedIn

Blowing your own trumpet and glorifying your own skills will not guarantee you a job.

But getting recommendations from your colleagues will definitely help build credibility. 

In the eyes of recruiters, recommendations are seen as a testament to your competence in your functional roles and expertise areas in the organizations you have worked with. As such, recommendations serve as an acknowledgment of a professional’s abilities.

The same rule applies to endorsements.

While getting endorsements for your skills is great, getting it from just about anyone is not advisable. 

Recruiters are not stupid. They will most likely scrutinize your LinkedIn profile.

Seeing recommendations and endorsements from people with whom you have no working relationship will be seen as extremely shady.

For example, reciprocity of recommendations and endorsements by friends who you have no working relationship with is easily detected and frowned upon by LinkedIn, so we advise you not to indulge in such black hat activities.

Pro Tip:

Don’t reciprocate any recommendation or endorsement on LinkedIn for at least 90 days as LinkedIn sees this practice as inorganic.

Adding Skills in your LinkedIn Profile

You can add up to 50 skills in your skills and endorsements section so you should always choose the most appropriate skills that describe your professional caliber in the best possible way.

While you pick the skills that resonate with your functional areas, make sure that you prioritize those skills best describing you as a professional.

For example, for a Content Marketer, skills like “content marketing”, “facebook marketing”, is more relevant than more generic skill-sets such as “creativity” and “multi-tasking”.

Pro Tip: 

LinkedIn suggests skills when you type them in the skills section based on your industry and the most searched keywords by recruiters.  So make sure that you include these suggested skills as long as it resonates with the skill-set you actually possess.

Conclusion

LinkedIn is the third-largest social media platform so every job seeker should make use of this professional network to attract recruiters. 

In this article, we have covered all the major aspects to help you optimize your LinkedIn profile in order to make it recruiter ready. By applying the above-mentioned tips, you will be able to showcase yourself professionally. And, if that’s not enough, you can check out these hand-picked profiles by Linkedin so you can gain more clarity on how you can shape your own profile. 

In case you missed it, here’s a quick summary of the key takeaways of this article:

  • If you don’t have a profile picture, add one. A clear headshot image will do.
  • Write an attractive headline and a well-articulated resume summary.
  • Fill up your employment details in all your work experience.
  • Get recommendations and endorsements from people you have worked with.
  • List your skills and prioritize the skills that most resonate with your professional role.

The post A Complete LinkedIn Profile Optimization Guide to Attract Recruiters appeared first on SiteProNews.

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