24
Aug 2018
0

Influence Factory – Feat. Mike O’Neil – LinkedIn Sales Navigator

LinkedIn is a super useful tool to utilize with social media because it allows you to make professional

Influence Factory – Feat. Mike O’Neil – LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Blogging , , , , , , Dean

LinkedIn is a super useful tool to utilize with social media because it allows you to make professional connections, enhance your networking skills, and even generate leads to make sales for your business. But, what if there was an easier way to find leads and generate sales this way? Thanks to LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator feature, you can find more referrals and make even more connections!

In this episode, our guest Influencer Mike O’Neil talks more about the power of LinkedIn and why Sales Navigator is a fantastic tool for Influencers.

A useful connection

At the start of this episode, Mike talked about the general benefits that LinkedIn has for its users – the biggest one being the power to engage with fellow colleagues and Influencers. When you create a LinkedIn account, you have the ability to message people and even comment on things that they post about on their page. On top of this, you can also write a recommendation for someone, or even endorse them for a skill that they list (for example, leadership or proficiency in Microsoft Office). Remember, other Influencers and potential leads can see these recommendations and endorsements, boosting your credibility and the reach of your Influence!

Influencer Marketing Pro Tip: When it comes to generating sales through LinkedIn, there are a few simple moves you can make to find and engage leads. At Social Jack, we offer 20 minute power moves that will help you meet your sales goals.

Find the key connections

Another useful feature of Sales Navigator is its ability to recommend leads for you. Remember, the service you want to sell has an audience, so you should NOT be targeting every single person! Doing so can make people lose interest or even hurt your credibility. Sales Navigator can help you find the individuals who will have the most interest in the product you want to sell. Once you see that, comb through that list and see if there are any major Influencers you can connect with to sell your service. If you can sell a service to them and get a recommendation, you will have successfully extended your Influence. However, even if you cannot do that, it may still help to spark the Influencer’s interest and help you find more leads. Make sure you are targeting the right people for your service!

Influencer Marketing Pro Tip: Are you confused as to how you can get the app to find these targets? Go into your settings and go to sales preferences. You can then fill in information about your target audience and specifically what you want from them. Once you do that, the app will start suggesting leads that fit your specified criteria!

Using other platforms

Sales Navigator is an invaluable tool for those looking to generate leads and expand their Influence. However, you should not confine yourself to only using LinkedIn. O’Neil also said LinkedIn has gone in the wrong direction from its main use. You should be making sales leads, but you also need to promote your personal brand in order to get people interested. For this, O’Neil recommends that you use other social media platforms to get noticed. You want to expand your reach as far as you can and using more than one platform helps. You can promote your personal brand and find even more leads by doing so. You can also make use of the information you get from Sales Navigator and target even more people!

Influencer Marketing Pro Tip: We can help you promote your brands on more channels. In our Influencer Development Program, we determine your key audiences and can create multiple social media channels, so you get the most out of your network.

In summary

When it comes to Sales Navigator, it can help you tremendously with finding leads. LinkedIn is special because it allows you to interact with your connections and even make recommendations, something that can help expand your Influence. You can also use it to find your key audience and well known Influencers that can help you expand. Although, you should additionally use other platforms to get the most reach from your audience. By using this tool, you can increase sales and become an even bigger Influencer!

Influence Factory LIVE airs Wednesdays at 12pm CST. Register here!

You can also subscribe to previous and upcoming shows on the Social Jack website.

We hope to see you in our next Influence Factory!

20
Aug 2018
0

Influence Factory – Featuring Wayne Breitbarth – “Leveraging your LinkedIn Profile”

LinkedIn is a fantastic networking tool that has been around since before Facebook and Twitter. This platform allows

Influence Factory – Featuring Wayne Breitbarth – “Leveraging your LinkedIn Profile”

Uncategorized , , , , , , , , Dean

LinkedIn is a fantastic networking tool that has been around since before Facebook and Twitter. This platform allows anyone to connect professionally with other people in their field and build a career. LinkedIn has become a network that anyone and everyone can use; however, not everyone knows how to use it to their advantage. Knowing how to best construct your LinkedIn profile could be the difference between a company overlooking you or reaching out to you. In this episode of Influence Factory, Wayne Breitbarth, author of “The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success,” teaches you how to leverage your LinkedIn profile for ultimate networking success.

The Original Social Network

LinkedIn has been around since 2002 and A LOT of things have changed since then. With new social networks popping up left and right, LinkedIn has had to make some changes to keep up with all other social networks. By adding features such as an accomplishments section and recommendations on how to strengthen your profile, LinkedIn has become stronger than ever. Even though LinkedIn has all these amazing features, it is important to know how to use them effectively to get the most out of your profile.

Get Your Point Across

This platform has a ton of sections and features that allow you to highlight all of your amazing achievements and show everyone how awesome you are! Just make sure you are doing it in the most efficient way. LinkedIn’s summary section is set up so people viewing your profile will only see the first two lines of the summary unless they click the “see more” button below it. Because of this, Breitbarth stresses how it is crucial to have all your important information at the top of your summary section. Most people will likely scroll through your profile quickly and scan it for the most important information. This is a great way to ensure that people will get a good understanding of who you are and what you can do immediately.

Not Your Average Resume

 

The original purpose for LinkedIn was to have a space to put your resume online and connect with professionals in hopes of getting hired. Today, the underlying purpose is still the same but with a little bit of a new take. Breitbarth says that “The beautiful thing about (LinkedIn) profiles is they don’t have resume rules.” It is a little less strict than an actual resume, because it’s like any other social media platform. You have a profile picture, there is a messaging feature to chat with other members, and you can even make posts. The only difference is that the people you are interacting with are also professionals in your related field of work.

Using Key Words

LinkedIn is a social media platform for professionals looking to connect with other professionals in related fields of work, but it is also used as a search engine to find specific people, skills or job titles. Utilizing key words can really make your profile stand out – literally! When you use LinkedIn’s search function, you can type in a word and LinkedIn will compute all businesses and people that use that word in their profile. The best place for you to use key words in your profile according to Breitbarth are, the headline, all job titles if applicable, and the skill section. By doing this, your profile will be easier to discover and you will gain a lot more exposure.

In Summary

LinkedIn is one of the first social media platforms and has stayed relevant in the ever changing world of social media by constantly updating and adding new features. Knowing how to properly utilize each feature is essential in order to get the most out of your profile. Using key words and organizing your information efficiently are just a few ways you boost up your LinkedIn profile. By following Breitbarth’s tips, your LinkedIn profile will surely bring you success!

Influence Factory LIVE airs Wednesdays at 12pm CST. Register here!

You can also subscribe to previous and upcoming shows on the Social Jack website.

We hope to see you in our next Influence Factory!

17
Aug 2018
0

Influence Factory – Feat. Neal Schaffer – Influencer Marketing

A key part of many social media campaigns in today’s day and age is the power of Influencer

Influence Factory – Feat. Neal Schaffer – Influencer Marketing

Article , , , , , , , , , Dean

A key part of many social media campaigns in today’s day and age is the power of Influencer Marketing. This form of marketing allows people to reach into their wells of power (AKA their network) and help sway opinion about a product or service that people should buy. What makes this interesting is that people are able to have more personal interactions with their audience members instead of doing a generic post. In order to use Influencer Marketing to its fullest potential, there are a few tips you should keep in mind.

In this episode, Neal Schaffer shares what he loves about Influencer Marketing. He explains the power it has and why so many people are jumping headfirst into it.

Make content, not war

Obviously, creating content is a key part of Influencer Marketing. You want to keep your network engaged with you by posting relevant, timely content; but, how do you present it to them? One way is a blog post. After all, a blog post allows you to be more personal and humanize whatever you talk about. However, there are various other effective ways that you can present content to your audience.

The other route you can take here is by developing visual content for your audience. You still need text for your social media post, but a visual can augment what you say very well! If you want to show off a product’s effectiveness, you can create a video to demonstrate it. Want to make a statistic really stand out? You can make a chart or an infographic to visualize the data! A photo can also help give some more ompf to your posts! Remember, you should make a post fun by doing something creative with what you offer or what people should know about. Make your content both clickable and engaging.

Influencer Pro Marketing Tip: Are you looking for ways to enhance your social media posts? Our Influencer Development Program will help you identify your target audience and then we can help you develop content that is both relevant and engaging!

Be an advocate of your work

Obviously, everyone wants to get invested in work that is meaningful to them. When that happens, employees tend to be very happy about where they work and essentially become an “ambassador” to their company and its brand. This is something that Schaffer called “employee advocacy.” The term essentially means that employees are representatives of the brand and can talk about in a positive light. This is something to leverage for your next Influencer Marketing campaign. If employees have a lot of followers, they can talk about their company. In doing this, they can get others to jump on board with the brand and use the services it sells. This goes to show how important employees can be online!

Influencer Marketing Pro Tip: If you are looking to sell a service on social media, look at your brand and the company’s brand. By seeing how you fit into the brand or why the brand matters to you, you can offer that personalized communication with customers. Customers like to see personality coming from a company because it once again HUMANIZES the brand. This will help you make those sales!

Employee Advocacy – LinkedIn

As the second most engaged social media network, LinkedIn is a great tool for employee advocacy. LinkedIn is a professional social media channel, so it makes sense to use employee advocacy here. On this channel, you are representing yourself, but also a company. In order to convince people to use any of your company’s services, you should show them why the company is great! Maybe your company is pushing a new environmental project or something that helps employees… talk about it! When people see your words, they can get a better idea of what your company’s values are and why they should get involved with them. This is the ideal channel to enhance the awareness and brand of a company while getting connected with other industry experts.

Influencer Marketing Pro Tip: Do you want to use employee advocacy on LinkedIn but don’t have an account or are lacking connections? Social Jack’s Influencer Development Program can help you build your profile and network so you can chat your company up!

In summary

Influencer Marketing is great because it allows you to get personal with your audience. You can do this by making your content more visual, grabbing the attention of your connections. The other thing that many people can do is employee advocacy. Happy and fulfilled employees are the best spokespeople for a brand, so you’ll want them to talk about your brand where they can! Finally, make sure you are on LinkedIn! This channel allows you to meet more connections but also allows you the perfect space to talk about your company and why people should use it!

Influence Factory LIVE airs Wednesdays at 12pm CST. Register here!

You can also subscribe to previous and upcoming shows on the Social Jack website.

We hope to see you in our next Influence Factory!

08
Aug 2018
0

Influence Factory – Featuring – Nick Myers – “Marketing with AI”

Artificial intelligence has opened up a whole new world of opportunities that many people never believed possible! From

Influence Factory – Featuring – Nick Myers – “Marketing with AI”

Uncategorized , , , , , , , , , , , Dean

Artificial intelligence has opened up a whole new world of opportunities that many people never believed possible! From the ability to have any question answered within seconds of asking, cooling and heating your house based on your personal preference, to having voice assistants schedule appointments for you with one quick command. However, AI isn’t justfor making our daily lives simpler – it can be a very useful marketing tool for us Influencers. Knowing how to utilize AI and voice assistants as a marketing strategy are amazing ways to help expand your brand. In this episode of Influence Factory, Nick Myers teaches us how to effectively market using AI and voice assistants.

 Understanding AI

 When most people hear the term “Artificial Intelligence” they think of how it is depicted in movies and television– as robots taking over. Scary, right? In reality, there are two types of AI: narrow AI and general AI. Myers describes narrow AI as the AI we have today; it only does specific things such as answer questions and schedule appointments for you. The second type of AI that Myers describes is general AI – meaning that it would be integrated into all aspects of daily life, having a higher level of intellect than narrow AI. But rest easy all you AI skeptics, Myers says that this kind of technology won’t be available for a super long time!

Bridging the Gap between AI and Marketing

 So, how exactly does AI relate to marketing? Myers brought up a computer program called Chatbots – a tool many companies use on their websites for customer service questions. As soon as you click on the website, a popup will read “how can I help you?” You can type any question you have about the service you are using, and the Chatbot will give you a speedy and helpful answer. Myers also believes that AI is helpful in marketing because it can sift through social media data, thus giving companies more insight about what their customers want. This can help companies tailor their marketing campaigns to better fit their target audience.

Trends in AI Marketing

Researchers expect that by 2020, about 55% of households in America will have some form of smart speaker, such as a Google Home or Amazon Echo. It could be beneficial for businesses to find a way to incorporate voice into marketing strategies, as the world is “going away from the visual and more towards voice,” Myers says. This technology also provides a one-to-one engagement that other technologies don’t. Figuring out a way to harness this trend of using voice instead of visuals could really set your marketing campaign apart from the rest!

The Future of AI Marketing

Myers believes that in the next 5-10 years, we will see an increase in Chatbots with social media and a definite increase in voice assistants. More and more Influencers are jumping onto the AI bandwagon, meaning a significant rise in the amount of AI technology available. Therefore, AI marketing could easily become the most dominant form of marketing in the future.

 In Summary

Artificial intelligence is an often misunderstood tool that many would not think to use for marketing purposes. There are many advantages to AI – such as a one-to-one connection to your technology, and being able to tailor your marketing campaign to your audience’s wants and needs. When used correctly, AI marketing could be just the thing to make your marketing campaign stand out! Hello, successful Influencers!

Influence Factory LIVE episodes air Wednesdays at noon central. Register here.

You can also subscribe to previous and upcoming shows on the Social Jack website.

We hope to see you in our next Influence Factory!

31
Jul 2018
0

My Feature in Nimble’s Latest Influencer eBook

In July, I was given the opportunity to be one of the 26 influencers featured in Nimble’s latest

My Feature in Nimble’s Latest Influencer eBook

Article , , , , , , , Dean

In July, I was given the opportunity to be one of the 26 influencers featured in Nimble’s latest eBook – “The Ultimate Influencer Playbook of 2018.” Of course, I took that opportunity to be put in the spotlight (well, that’s not the only reason why!). While it is certainly cool to be featured in what is essentially an Influencer Marketing Guide, I’m ecstatic that I’m able to share my knowledge and words of wisdom with my fellow influencers as well as marketers trying to navigate the world of influencer marketing. This advice, including the other Influencer Marketing do’s and dont’s addressed throughout the book by my peers, will ensure that reader’s Influencer Marketing campaigns are super successful.

Let me be the first to say, this book is awesome…it is split into different sections that break Influencer Marketing down as much as possible. The first one showcases absolutely outstanding Influencer Marketing campaigns that were proven to bring in success. Looking at these campaigns has given me new ideas for my brand – as an influencer, there is always room for growth!

After seeing these unbelievably amazing campaigns, the second section follows up with six “Influencer Marketing Strategies and Tips.” You will find my contribution to Pro Tip #4: Put an Offer on the Table, on page 18!

In my opinion, I feel that I have the most to say about this next section—”10 Surprisingly Common Mistakes to Avoid at All Costs.” No one likes to fail (although, we all need to at some point in order to learn, right?) On page 25, I discuss how crucial it is to have a Plan B. Having a backup plan is one of the easiest ways to avoid disappointment and failure within your campaign.

The following portion of the book is about building your “Influencer Marketing Toolbox.” I brought up two of my go-to tools that I constantly nag my social media team to use: Epictions and HashTagify.me. Epictions is an extremely neat app that shows us which groups of influencers are engaging conversations about specific topics, and which types of media better suit their specific needs. HashTagify.me helps us identify trends in hashtags, which most of you probably know are the easiest and more efficient way to connect to other people interested in what you’re talking about online. You type in a word or two that describes a topic, and it will spit out trending hashtags related to those subjects – certainly one of the most useful tools for influencers and marketers.

While reading the “Closing Thoughts” of this book, I felt #inspired. Even though myself and the other 25 influencers mentioned have been killing it out there, we never stop growing! Influencer Marketing is still quite new, meaning there is a LOT more to learn for all of us.

You can download The Ultimate Influencer Playbook of 2018 here, thanks to our friends at Nimble.

Thanks for the opportunity, Nimble, to be featured alongside some of the best in the bizz. Until next time, see you online!

27
Jun 2018
0

Influence Factory – Featuring Duffy Atkins – “Creating Engagement with Facebook Live”

Social media is a wonderful world; it allows us to connect to people by the snap of your

Influence Factory – Featuring Duffy Atkins – “Creating Engagement with Facebook Live”

Blogging , , , , , , , , , , Dean

Social media is a wonderful world; it allows us to connect to people by the snap of your fingers! Companies and Influencers use these invaluable tools to engage with their audience and showcase their brand’s personality. Many plan out the content they want to use in order to gain the best possible engagement from their audience. However, what if there was a way to engage with them LIVE via video? Facebook has a “Facebook Live” feature that allows any individual or company to have a live video feed and interact with those who tune in. In this episode of Influence Factory, Duffy Atkins of WGN News explained how to effectively leverage this feature to get the most engagement out of your audience.

Tell your story out loud

The best thing about the power of video is that your audience can seeyour facial expressions and actions that pertain to the story you are telling them. While you do want to tell people what you are thinking and feeling in a video, it can be a bit unnerving if you are a camera-shy individual. During this episode, Duffy talked about the importance of simply telling your story out loud to others. Even if you do fumble on occasion, people will appreciate your vulnerability on live video, making your story even MORE compelling. Bringing in other material to supplement your visual story will make your story even stronger; the stronger the story, the stronger your Influence!

Influencer Marketing Pro Tip: If you are still feeling a bit nervous about filming a video of yourself, say your story out loud before you go live. You can either do this in an isolated area or with a friend or colleague. Doing this can build your confidence in your story and make you feel more comfortable when you talk about it.

Get to (quite literally) know your audience

Influencer Marketing is all about a) knowing how to make meaningful connections and b) engaging said connections by providing content that is conversational and relevant to them. All Influencers must know who to target and what type of content to send their way. Thankfully, Facebook Live makes the tedious task of researching a target audience super easy for its users. When you use the live stream feature, your connections (and many others) can see the video. By clicking on it, you will see how many people and who is watching. Once you’ve done several streams, you can get a strong grasp of who your target audience is, allowing you to tailor your video to them and effectively engage in conversations during a stream.

Influencer Pro Marketing Tip: While you should tailor your live videos to your target audience, do not make your videos relevant to just them. You can use the knowledge that Facebook Live gives you and create ANY kind of content that would be relevant to your audience. This will ensure effective engagement at all times on your profiles.

Be real

You may hear the overused phrase “be your best self” used by your friends in today’s day and age – but, that phrase contains a valuable lesson when it comes to filming a live video. During the episode, Duffy also mentioned that you should be your most authentic self when doing live video. You can prepare certain things for your streams; however, you should not be afraid to show your real self during a video – do not sound too rehearsed! Why use video over regular posting, though? Regular posts tell what a company or Influencer’s personality is, while video SHOWS your personality, because people can see the Influencer’s interactions with others. Do not be afraid to show people who you really are – it can drive engagement up!

Connect to your audience like you would a neighbor

Another key point from Duffy’s episode is that doing a live stream allows you to freely interact with your audience while you are on air. This gives you the chance to have a conversation with them and answer questions they may have. A live stream is like a neighborhood; it is a community of similar individuals interacting with each other. Don’t be afraid to say hello to your audience and get them involved with your stream. Having them partake in fun elements of a live video will maintain interest and generate more viewers!

Influencer Marketing Pro Tip: Much like how you would tag any major Influencers who partake in events, be sure to give them a shout out on a video if they helped or were a part of the audience. By doing this, you can expand who sees the post!

In summary

Facebook Live is an invaluable tool that is changing the way that Influencers engage with an audience. This live feature gives them the place to tell a story and show their true selves to the world, and personally connect with your network. The feature also helps with research by showing how many and who is watching your video, allowing you to tailor your content to them in the future. By using this video feature, your can enhance your Influence!

Influence Factory LIVE airs Wednesdays at 12pm CST. Register here!

You can also subscribe to previous and upcoming shows on the Social Jack website.

We hope to see you in our next Influence Factory!

22
Jun 2018
0

Influence Factory – Thea Polancic

It’s not a secret that businesses are what drive our economy and drive revenue. However, many people have

Influence Factory – Thea Polancic

Blogging , , , , , , , Dean

It’s not a secret that businesses are what drive our economy and drive revenue. However, many people have a misconception about capitalism and how it can be cold and inhumane. Despite that thought, there is another avenue of thought called “Conscious Capitalism.” This idea of business focuses on how business can be a force for good even if it is for profit. In this episode of Influence Factory, Thea Polancic, Founder and Chair of the Chicago chapter of Conscious Capitalism, discussed how people can humanize the world of business and use that to become an agent of change.

What is Conscious Capitalism?

Breaking down those two words into their simple definitions would make you think this term is about businesses’ awareness of what they are selling to customers. While this is true, the actual meaning of this phrase is that businesses are serving the needs of their stakeholders from the customers, to the employees, to the suppliers of the industry. This thought hits on the idea that businesses (and specifically, business owners) should make it a business to care about each individual involved with a company. This ensures that a business becomes more of a personality instead of a corporate entity.

Influencer Marketing Pro Tip: The idea behind Conscious Capitalism can apply to your personal online branding as well. You are there to offer a service and make money, obviously. However, your actions should be focused on how you can best serve your customers and community. By simply interacting with them instead of just pushing a product, you can show your personality and how your service can help others. Connect your brand and service to a purpose!

The Impact of a Caring Company

Each individual employee in a company has a primary purpose of getting money through their job along with getting benefits. However, this is just a general reason why people want a job with a company. The other (and far more important) reason is that they want to work for a company that cares about them. During this episode, Thea talked about companies providing a meaningful environment to their employees. A meaningful environment is one that allows employees to help the company’s success by being allowed to share thoughts and opinions with their colleagues. Yes, employees are needed for a business’ overall financial success. However, when companies allow their employees to share their thoughts, it can humanize them and get people to fully believe in what the company stands for.

Another way that companies can do this is by engaging in a voluntary exchange with their customers. A voluntary exchange is what happens when both the buyer (customer) and seller (the business) engage in a market transaction that will benefit all parties involved. Remember, companies are selling a service, but that service needs to show how it can benefit the buyer. Showing a customer how this product can solve an issue will also show that the company cares about creating a meaningful relationship with them.

Influencer Marketing Pro Tip: These lessons can also apply to your online brand. Social media gives you a chance to get personal with these customers and really engage in meaningful conversation. Talk with your potential customers and show how your company can help; if you are managing a company’s page, talk to your customers and find out what you need to do in order to help them, or solve a complaint. This helps customers see a business as one that truly cares about their customers – not one that couldn’t care less about them.

Growing the Business for Everyone

Another point that Thea made during her presentation is the importance of considering everyone who is invested in a business. Every move you make for a business should be done to benefit everyone, not just yourself. This can be done by expanding your company with new connections. By reaching out to others or even enhancing your relationships with current employees. Remember that capitalism can be a force for good, and you need to make sure everyone who is making your business a success is benefitting from the success.

Successful Business Growth

At the end of the day, the main goal of any business is to expand their services to make money. In order to do this, there are a couple things you can do. First, encourage a leadership culture. Earlier, we mentioned that you should make employees feel comfortable sharing their opinions. Doing this allows for workplace innovation. Initially, new ideas may struggle and face some backlash from others, but don’t let this scare you – this is how all innovations start. Employees should feel comfortable with being uncomfortable because it can take a business to new heights.

The other option to help with growing a business is by enlisting the aid of a business coach. The advantage of the coach is that they will be a fresh set of eyes that can point out what is being done wrong, or even opportunities that are being missed. Business owners can have a bias that may keep them from seeing these errors or opportunity gaps. A coach can help you find where there is room for improvement, and elevate a business to new levels of productivity and innovation.

Influencer Marketing Pro Tip: If you are looking to elevate you or your business’ brand, our team at Social Jackis here to assist you. We offer various programs for Influencer Development, which include helping your business expand its network.

In Summary

The idea of Conscious Capitalism can apply to Social Media Marketing. Conscious Capitalism is all about making sure every person invested in a business benefits from the opportunity. A business should be offering a service and be able to have a purpose as to why people should use this product. Businesses should also make sure that they care about their employees, who will bring in incredible ideas, resulting in new innovations for the company. In case of any issues, businesses should bring in coaches who can help them enhance a brand and humanize it. Take these lessons and apply them to your own social media channels.

Influence Factory LIVE airs Wednesdays at 12pm CST. Register here!

You can also subscribe to previous and upcoming shows on the Social Jack website.

We hope to see you in our next Influence Factory!

20
Jun 2018
0

Influence Factory – Featuring Andy Crestodina – “Analyzing Your Marketing Campaign”

In order to understand the effectiveness of your digital marketing campaign, there are a wide array of tools

Influence Factory – Featuring Andy Crestodina – “Analyzing Your Marketing Campaign”

Blogging , , , , , , , , Dean

In order to understand the effectiveness of your digital marketing campaign, there are a wide array of tools that us Influencers can use – they tell us what did and did not work and new insights gained from a targeted audience. Tools such as Google Analytics can help us make sense of all of this information. In this episode, our guest Influencer, Andy Crestodina, shared insights as to how you can effectively analyze a campaign, what he discovered from past campaigns, and how to leverage effective Influencer Marketing for any campaign.

Understanding Search Engine Marketing

You have probably already heard of search engine optimization (making sure a link to your website is high on the list of websites that come up in a specific search). This is essentially a step up from that. With this form of marketing, the specific target in mind is an audience that you know will be looking for your company’s services. However, intent is something that affects this audience. On one hand, people with intent are those who you already know would want your services and may lack patience to see ads or content. The people without intent may not even know that they want your services. You can hit both audiences in search engine marketing. Go after those with the intent by making sure you come up high on a search engine’s results. For those who don’t know (yet) they want you, this marketing can also get them interested and make them want to learn more about what you can do for them.

Video as an Effective Tool

While this may be an obvious tool to use for marketing, it is one that is tragically underused. Video that is visual and done well can be extremely compelling. If you are producing any type of content, special service, or event for your company, doing a short video commercial about it can make it more noticeable. Videos are often placed at the top of search engine lists, so you have a better chance of more people seeing it and wanting to go to your website; therefore, gaining new customers. You should also put a coded link (to make it specific to the campaign and easier to measure) in the first comment as you have a better chance of people clicking it. Also, use captions so you can start a conversation for viewers and pique their interest.

Influencer Marketing Pro Tip: LinkedIn’s algorithm does a fantastic job of sending videos to highest parts of someone’s search and their own newsfeeds. Andy said that in his professional experience, he found that some videos on LinkedIn get a couple thousand views and clicks on their links. You can use a social platform’s search engine to maximize your results!

The Difference Between Social and YouTube Video

You might think that video for the two are one in the same, but they are actually quite different! A video for social media is when you speak directly to your audience and make them aware about a certain event or service. While that is a form of content, YouTube videos consist of more content that everyone can access from you. Again, the difference here is intent. People on LinkedIn have more of that intent to find what you are offering, so that is why it jumps to the top of their feed and sometimes starts playing once it appears on their screen. A YouTube video will often be for those who do not have that intent. These videos usually appear from highest to lowest in number of views on the main feed. Remember that for social media, many of those sites will OPTIMIZE videos! YouTube will bring up related videos based on your history, but they may not be exactly what you are looking for.

Use Ego Bait

This term is far simpler than you think – AND it can get a video noticed by even more people! For this to happen, you should be quoting and tagging a person or business in the video. In doing that, more people will see your video, including the person you tagged. Remember that someone you tag can be an “ally in sharing,” meaning that their followers will see the content. Because it is a video, it will go to the top of their feeds and searches. When you mention someone related to the piece of content, it can boost your views and clicks for your websites.

Influencer Marketing Pro Tip: a “thank you” is still one of the magic words. If you do not thank someone you tagged, or tag people who are not relevant to the content, they will be LESS likely to share what you created. When you thank them for being a part of the content, they will respond to it. You want to improve visibility of a social media post, so make sure your engagement with other Influencers is GENUINE!

Analytics on a Small Budget

A wonderful point that Andy brought up in this episode is that you should experiment with different tools for analytics, as many of them can be super useful to building your Influence! For example, if you use Quora, you will be able to see if competitors are featured in any kind of question. This can then give you the idea of whether or not you should purchase advertising space, which will improve your brand’s visibility. Another tool that can be used to track conversion links is called Campaign Tracking Code. Any action to drive traffic can be considered a “campaign.” You should be using this to make the code specific to that campaign for easy tracking. Many of these tools are affordable, and companies who work on small budgets can use them effectively while not using up all of their resources.

In Summary

Search engine marketing can be complex but using tools can ease the process. To do it, you need to know that search engine marketing is more for an audience with intent during their searches. Video is also huge for many search engines as it is more likely to show up on the top of a feed or list. If you tag and share content with those it is relevant to, you can get them to share it for you as well. You should also experiment and play around with search tools as there are many affordable ones that can provide your brand with useful results.

Influence Factory LIVE airs on Wednesdays at 12pm CST. Register here!

You can also subscribe to previous and upcoming shows on the Social Jack website.

We hope to see you in our next Influence Factory!

07
May 2018
0

Flash Class: How to Convert Connections to Clients – 5 Steps to Monetize Your Network

At Social Jack, we say that proper Influencer Marketing is all about “who you know,” but this can

Flash Class: How to Convert Connections to Clients – 5 Steps to Monetize Your Network

Blogging , , , , , , , , , , Dean

At Social Jack, we say that proper Influencer Marketing is all about “who you know,” but this can also be said about taking a prospect and converting them into a client. When you use your network properly, you’ll find yourself making clients out of your current LinkedIn connections. In this Flash Class, we will discuss the five ways you can monetize your LinkedIn network and add more clients to your list.

Understanding Social Selling

The first step of this process is gaining a basic understanding of the term “social selling,” as this has always been a major part of the sales process.  In our Flash Class, we define it as developing your relationships to make a sale. In this age, what makes this phrase more “social” is that your social media channels are a MASSIVE part of these efforts. These techniques on your channels can range anywhere from sharing relevant content to engagement with customers to social listening. In doing this, you are able to let your prospects know that you exist and are prepared to offer a service that can help them.

Influencer Marketing Pro Tip: If you really want to create a genuine sales lead, social media is your friend. A lot of companies will mine data from their channels to learn more about who is coming to their page and what they are like. This allows you to better find people who may have more interest in your product– something that is much more effective than cold calling and hard sells. If you are looking to help your company find leads, mention this tip to them!

Noting the trends with social sales

In order to better understand why social selling is important, you need to understand the trends surrounding it.  Did you know that 75% of B2B buyers utilize social media in order to make purchasing decisions? Buyers use social networks when they are in the final stage of making a purchase. This is due to the fact that many sellers will lay out as many details as they can on their social channels, so people can see what they are getting into. In doing this, they gain more comfort and confidence in their purchase. Social media is all about transparency and trust building. Make sure it is a part of your plan for sales!

The power of your unseen connections

Making those connections on LinkedIn is an essential part of selling. After all, the more people directly connected to you, the better chances you have of making a sale, right? Well, yes and no. While having more connections on LinkedIn CAN help you with finding sales, you do not need 500+ connections to become a social selling master. In fact, your LinkedIn network is growing in a way you may not realize. Let’s say you have close to 400 connections. While that is certainly an impressive feat for LinkedIn, you have WAY more than that. Each connection can refer you to their own connections, which increases your chances of getting a sale even more! 400 personal connections are a good start, but an actual network of 50,000 is even more helpful!

Stop the clicking roulette!

That’s right, when you are trying to be productive, other marketers will try to utilize disruptive marketing on you. When that happens, other people are trying to pull you in to get you to buy when you need to focus on generating leads. The other issue is that this can also mean you are just clicking that connect button and hoping that something good comes out of doing that. At Social Jack, we have seen this happen countless times to the professionals we coach, so we discourage that. Don’t just endlessly click, make your time online MATTER!

Influencer Marketing Pro Tip: In our experience, we see that the average professional can generate at least two quality sales leads for just twenty minutes of work on a daily basis. Your time online should be meaningful, and it can as simple as spending twenty minutes a day on LinkedIn. If you can get at least two quality connections, you can spend time developing a relationship and booking an appointment with them for a sale. Track this in an Excel sheet so you can see how many leads you get per day. This is a bit of a time audit, so you can hold yourself accountable if you see drops in appointments and find the best way to correct it.

Bonus Tip: We also offer an ROI (Return on Investment) Calculator that can help you track your sales as well.  This will help you see how many sales you are making and if you are hitting your weekly, monthly and yearly goals. Remember, you want to make results quantifiable—the easiest way to do that is by using this nifty calculator!

Your Profiles are Your Professional Brand

We talk about this in many of our Flash Classes; your profile showcases your brand! While it is quite clear that your profiles show your professional brand, many people forget to make sure that they are completely filled out—meaning that you have your most recent position listed, have a (recent!) profile picture and update your bio, because you are so much more than your title! When people visit your page, it should start a conversation with people and answer how you can help and why you are the expert in your profession.

Influencer Marketing Pro Tip: Your title on a LinkedIn page is the first thing that people see, which means it MUST be there! If it does not convey why you are an expert in whatever you are selling, they will leave. Keep it relevant!

Power Move – Home Page Scan

We already said it, but a person’s social media home page can say a lot about them! This can show who they are, what they do, why they are an expert, the list goes on really! What you want to do is connect to others who have similar interests in their fields. Use this to your advantage!  This can help you find people who might be interested in your product and allow you to enter into relevant conversations with them!

Power Move 2 – Network Diving

It’s time for a power move that you can use with those unseen connections we talked about earlier. A network dive is when you go into someone’s LinkedIn network (AKA their connections) and find referrals that way. This is another simple but extremely effective way to find prospects to convert into your clients.

Influencer Marketing Pro Tip: When you check someone’s connections, you can filter the results!  If you want to find people in specific fields or even specific locations, this will be much easier than combing through ALL of those connections just to find the niche you are looking for.

Power Move 3 – Conversation

Now, conversation is extremely important in social media. After all, liking or commenting on posts can help you engage your audience in a more personal way. However, what would you think about someone sharing a post that you created? Now, any engagement is good for your channels but getting a share is GREAT!  If someone is sharing your content, they acknowledge you said something meaningful that their connections should know. This goes back to the power of your unseen connections; one connection may share a post, but it is getting viewed by hundreds of their connections who may also share the post with their connections. It’s simple math, one share = hundreds of views. That is a formula for success!

Bonus Power Move – S.C.A.G.

To explain what this LinkedIn move is, it essentially means scan, connect, ask and get. Remember when we talked about meaningful connections on LinkedIn? Scanning is when you find someone in your field that would be interested in what you have to offer. You then “connect” to that person to get a conversation going. In that conversation, you then ask them by letting them know why what you offer is of value. By doing all three of those, it’s pretty obvious what will happen in the “get” stage!

In Summary

Remember, social media is a big part of getting clients in this day and age. You need to make use of your connections to generate endless leads. Remember that people are more influenced by social media when making purchases. By using this knowledge and your unseen connections, you will find yourself with plentiful opportunities to find a lead and make a sale.  If you need further resources, check out our Free Resource Center at Social Jack. You can access our Free Resource Center by signing up for a Basic Social Jack Account plus browse the worksheets and classes currently available.

We cannot wait to see you online!

We hope to see you in one of our next Flash Classes! Check out the full list at www.socialjackflash.com

 

16
Apr 2018
0

How to Rock Your Personal Brand – Building Your Influence

If you have ever received a referral for a job or new business, you know how critical your

How to Rock Your Personal Brand – Building Your Influence

Blogging , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Dean

If you have ever received a referral for a job or new business, you know how critical your online personal brand can be. People are only one click away from choosing you or moving on, and many times you will never know.

The Social Jack™ Team has helped thousands of business professionals develop their Influence and have put together a quick, easy to follow recipe to get on the right track. To make sure that people click on you when making that critical choice for a professional, read on.

Looking at Social Media as Events:

Although we aren’t supposed to “play favorites” we all have a social media channel we use the most. Some of us are Facebook, some are Twitter and others are Instagram. Regardless of what your favorite is, you should be looking at them as an “event” that you are going to. When you’re at an event, there will be times you really enjoy it and want to come back, and other times when you think it could be better (we’ve done hundreds of events, so we definitely understand!). You can apply this to you clients, as well. Every client has a different “event” that they like. To help your client, you need to find what “events” they like and help them refine it even more.

Influencer Marketing Pro Tip: Companies you want to “bring to your event” (aka social media) usually like to hire social media experts who are experts of multiple disciplines, or channels. Take the time to experiment with different channels. The more you can master, the more likely a company will want you for social media execution! 

Define Your Goals:

To get the most out of your social media, you need to figure out what your goals are for your social strategy. Maybe you are a Thought Leader who wants to get your name out there as an expert in your field. Maybe you want to bring more personality to a brand or event, or even advance your career. Developing your personal brand can achieve ALL of these goals. Once you have a clear idea of your desired outcome and learn the basics, you can build on your brand and reach those goals. Make sure that your goal is quantifiable and realistic! If you need help, we have plenty of worksheets in our Social Jack Academy to help you get started!

Tell Your Story

A brand is more relatable and personal when you bring your own story into it. Your personal accounts and the content you create tell this story, so it is important. To do this, think about some of the biggest turning points in your life. People want to know what got you to THIS moment, so you should be telling them the most defining moments in your life. Write things down over time so you can figure out the key points in your life that brought you here. When you write these down, you can also define the “theme” of your brand. This theme is your main idea – the thing you want followers to know about you. The key points are the roadmap of your personal brand; how you explain your journey from point A to Z. The more you write down, the more of your story you can use to execute your person brand.

Influencer Marketing Pro Tip: When writing things out, do what we call a “mind dump”. This simply means that you just write down whatever comes to mind about yourself. Do not leave out a single detail. From our experience, we’ve seen people come up with their own theme from even the tiniest details of their experience. More details, more personality for your brand! If you enjoy writing, think about taking up journaling.

Know Your Digital Impression:

When people come visit your profiles on social media, you want to give them the idea that you are approachable. If you have any pages that talk about you in third-person, it can be a BIG turn-off to people (aka potential clients) because it makes them feel like you are not personal or approachable. This is where you start to Google yourself. Google yourself. Do it. It’s not vain- it’s imperative. Make sure you go at least three pages back and see what is already out there for your personal brand. This search shows your “digital footprint” so you want to make sure it is as clean as possible! If there are any outdated profiles on you, make sure you fix that information ASAP and keep it current. This is especially the case for LinkedIn. If you need help, our Influencer Development Program has several modules that help you build a professional profile.

Your Profiles are Your Professional Brand

While it is quite clear that your profiles show your professional brand, many people forget to make sure those profiles are completely filled out. While this can mean having your most recent position listed, having a (recent!) profile picture, and updating your bio, you are more than your title. When people visit your page, it should start a conversation with people and answer how you can help and why you are the expert in your profession.

Influencer Marketing Pro Tip: Feeling limited by the character limit of your LinkedIn headline? If you need more space to develop your personal brand in your LinkedIn, the mobile app extends the character count by 80 characters. Make them count!

The Power of Your Connections

A major thing to help you better connect with individuals and expand your network is constantly developing and updating your profile so you appear in searches. Your current and prospective connections may already be looking for someone with your specific experience, but if you give a generic title or headline they won’t be sure of your abilities. When your connections see a defined headline, it makes you more credible and trustworthy. They will also be more likely to view your experience and want to work with you.

Influencer Marketing Pro Tip: Remember, you may have only have 300 connections on LinkedIn but you actually have more thank you think. Your connections can lead you to other connections so make use of your network! When you connect more, it helps you build your personal brand.

Power Move – Add Other Influencers

Once you lock down and develop your brand, you should strengthen your network by adding more Influencers!  If you want a better network, you want to attach yourself to powerful individuals in your industry. This will help you not only find kindred spirits, but also help you find people to speak at events or even work with.

Power Move – Conversation

You should connect to others, but don’t JUST connect – engage with your connections! You should be having conversations with these individuals, which can spark conversations with more individuals. This is what we call “social teaming”. When you have a good conversation with Influencers, you can boost your likes and engage with others. You can also see who else is talking about the posts and make a plan for what you should say. When you engage with someone in your field, they will see it and their connections will ALSO see it.

Measure Your Goals

You’ve updated your profiles, enhanced your brand and made use of those power moves. Now what? The only way you will see your improvements by measuring your results. This is what we meant earlier when we said to make these goals quantifiable. If your goal was to get more sales, keep a record of how many you made thanks to your social media presence. If you want to build more connections in your network, LinkedIn will show how many connections you have and how many people like what you post. When you measure your success, you will EASILY see your results.

In Summary

Remembers that your profiles tell your story. Our unique stories are what differentiate us from others. Use your profiles to bring your story to life and show people why they should work with you.  If you need further resources, check out our Free Resource Center at Social Jack. You can access our Free Resource Center by signing up for a Basic Social Jack Account plus browse the worksheets and classes currently available.

We will see your profiles online!

We hope to see you in one of our next classes! Check out the full list at www.socialjackflash.com