Brian E. Boyd Sr.'s Blog, page 2

Why LinkedIn Matters For Marketing

Do I really need a LinkedIn profile?

If you are a working professional, the answer is an unequivocal YES! You might be thinking, “LinkedIn only matters if you’re looking to change your job.” WRONG! While many may use LinkedIn as a job searching tool, it is actually the best place to connect with business professionals and do marketing outreach in your field.

Why LinkedIn?

Unlike other social media websites, business is the primary focus on LinkedIn. Think of LinkedIn as the perfect blend between the polished professionalism of a company website and the friendly interaction of a social media profile.

With more than 467 million users, LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network, gaining more than two members every second. As a matter of fact, 57% of companies have a LinkedIn Company Page. This makes it the perfect platform for B2B marketing, finding leads, and making sales.

Here are some tips to consider when creating and optimizing your LinkedIn profile:

■ Profile picture: Use a high quality professional photo (any size between 400 x 400 pixels and 20,000 x 20,000 px)

■ Cover photo: Use an image or a quote that will reflect your field or personality (1584 px wide by 396 px high)

■ Headline: Tailor it to your audience

■ Experience: When sharing your work experience, relevance is key. Only use experience that is pertinent to your field.

■ Recommendations: Recommend others and ask for recommendations from close contacts

■ Endorsements: Endorse others and ask others to endorse you

Profile is set! What now?

Great job— now the real work begins: Just like any other social media platform—BE social! Here are some actions you can take to get your started:

Add connections. LinkedIn helps you search for connections based on who you might know and makes suggestions for you. Think about your top targets and contacts and add them.

Join groups. Join groups in the areas where you can find buyers, clients, influencers, and competitors—you can join up to 50 groups! Follow members in the group and send them a message to connect with them— you can follow up to 5,000 people.

Follow companies. Start following companies that are important to you when considering your customers, prospects, competitors, partners, and vendors.

Share updates. Share content regularly that your followers will find interesting and informative. Just like any other social media platform, keeping an active profile drives engagement!

Want to take it up a notch? Here are some ways you can use LinkedIn to create leads and generate sales:

Search for important prospects, influencers, and referral sources. In the “Advanced” search on the top of the main page, you can look up people you want to connect with people at companies you’d want to connect with. For cold connections, it’s a good idea to follow someone before you connect with them. To do so, join a group they have joined and once you are accepted into the group, you can follow them.

Identify relationship targets. Highlight those people with whom you are not connected, and don’t currently know. Review their profiles for similarities or reasons to connect. If any of your mutual connections are strong relationships of yours, send them a message and ask them to introduce you.

Look at who’s viewed your profile. Look to see who is viewing your profile. If you haven’t connected already, reach out to make the connection.

Send messages. This is the most important step of all! Optimizing your profile means nothing if you aren’t actively reaching out to connect with potential leads. As you add new connections, send messages—say hello, catch up, check in, or set meetings with people who are worth your while. Don’t give up on the process!

Source:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ultimate-list-linkedin-statistics-matter-your-business-dara-fontein/

This post was written by Angela Sharkey. Angela is BrandStar’s Social Media Manager.

The post Why LinkedIn Matters For Marketing appeared first on Beacon.

5 Ways to Beat Writer’s Block

*2-3 minute read*

1. Give Yourself a Break

It’s impossible to be creative 100% of the time—you’ll burn out pretty fast, so give yourself a break! Watch a movie, go for a walk, get some exercise, and then come back with a fresh perspective. If you’re uninspired, your readers will be able to feel that through your writing, so make sure to channel that creative spirit whenever you can.

2. Gain Some Inspiration

Kick-start your creative juices by doing something that inspires you. Listen to your favorite band, change your environment, make a cup of coffee, even go sit outside under a tree, anything to free your mind and refocus your creative direction. Sometimes all you need is a change of scenery.

3. Refocus

Sometimes the problem is not a lack of inspiration but a lack of concentration. It’s easy to get distracted when you really need to focus, so turn off the TV, turn on some music if that helps you concentrate (but not the kind that makes you want to sing along

Challenge yourself. Say, “Yes!”

 

Many people experience or have experienced a “job lull” or some sort of feeling of boredom with going to the same office, with the same people, with the same to do list,

E V E R Y D A Y. More often than not, we’ll blame our boss or our colleagues, or that darn “older generation” for making it this way. Why do we have to work 40 hours a week? Whose idea was that? (No seriously, I’m still asking…) Why can’t we work from home or at a really cool coffee shop downtown? Can’t I just get my work done in the AM and then take off the rest of the day?

What if we stopped the whining and complaining and actually looked forward to work? Stop the blame game and take responsibility for your daily tasks! Here are some ways that I recently challenged my own negative ways of thinking and turned my job lull into a job peak!

Say yes to your boss. Typically, when your boss asks you to do something for him/her, it results in us going into grump mode, begging for someone else to do it, or coming up with ways to ignore them until it goes away. What if we actually said yes to that new thing? Recently, I helped my boss with a training meeting. Sounds simple enough, but it’s one of those things that we don’t always want to say “Yes,” to. It ended up being a great experience. I was basically made out to be the smartest person in the room besides my boss and was able to put my face and name in front of a lot of VIPS at the company. Plain and simple. Trust the process. Say, “Yes!”
Watch that Ted Talk/Webinar. If your job allows time for higher education, then do it! This doesn’t mean you have to go back to school. All it means is you get your work done, then turn on your listening ears and listen to a webinar, take notes, watch a Ted Talk, take notes. Find something relevant to your daily workload and LEARN something. Share with your team and repeat as often as you can.
Help a co-worker. Is your to-do list done? Now double check it, is it REALLY done? Okay, good…then ask a friend what you can do for them. Is someone swamped with extra work? Is someone experiencing the pain of a new client or worse the pain of a current client who’s a pain in the – you – know – what? Don’t just sit there, dive in and help!
Challenge yourself. Is there some part of your job or someone else’s job that you always wanted to learn? Why don’t you ask around and see if you can meet with someone in another department to find out how your jobs coincide or how they don’t and just learn something new about your company. Take initiative. Find out who the nice person in each department is and ask them. They’re more likely to talk to you.

Top 5 Favorite Social Media Giveaways

So, you’ve been posting on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for quite some time and you’re slowly gaining followers with little engagement…what to do? I have a secret that’s a sure-fire way to spark social interest for your brand…host a giveaway!

Here are my top 5 favorite social media giveaway ideas:

1. Share-to-enter: This one is perfect for reaching new target markets to generate followers. Running a share-to-enter giveaway is simple. Create a post telling people they need to repost your giveaway post (on Instagram) or Retweet your giveaway Tweet (on Twitter) to enter. Just to note – you can’t do this on Facebook, but you can on Instagram and Twitter because of Facebook’s promotion guidelines.

2. Gift card: Everyone loves getting a gift card. This type of giveaway gives expedited exposure to your brand on social. Before you promote your gift card, decide on how you would like people to enter the contest. Share or “tag a friend” actions deliver results, but you may also want to request email addresses. You can do this by creating an online form for users to easily submit their email as an addition for each entry.

3. Photo contest: Here’s a fun one for your fans. Running a photo contest allows you to collect user-generated content that you can use for future marketing campaigns. For example, you can ask the audience to post a picture in the post comments of their favorite reading spot for a chance to win a book. Be creative with it – you’d be surprised what people are willing to do for a prize!

4. Facebook tab giveaway: A Facebook tab giveaway is custom created and added on a brand’s Facebook Business page to run a contest or giveaway promotion. The tab offers multiple entry passages such as, Visit us on Facebook, Retweet a post, Enter your email address, and more. The more the visitor submits information or performs an action, the more entries they are gaining. A great website that offers this app to create custom contest tabs is Rafflecopter.

5. Tag-a-friend: In this type of giveaway, participants comment on your photo and tag a friend in the comment section of the post. The benefit of the “Tag a Friend” contest is to increase the reach of your brand through your followers.

Hopefully, these different examples of social media giveaways have given you some direction for your next online giveaway. Don’t forget that these contests don’t promote themselves. It’s important to remember to put in effort to get the word out. Whether via website or e-mail list, get as many people as you can to sign up to win and offer something worth entering for!

This post was written by Morgan Williams . Morgan is a Community Manager with Media Connect Partners.

The post Top 5 Favorite Social Media Giveaways appeared first on Beacon.

Situational Leadership Can Boost Morale And Productivity

In any workspace, you’ll find a variety of disparate personalities who possess unique strengths, weaknesses and skill sets. Since colleagues aren’t carbon copies of each other, why should you lead them the same exact way?

A common mistake made by leaders of many organizations is the tendency to treat everyone on their team exactly the same. It’s true that a good leader should incorporate consistency in message and actions, but he or she must also adjust managing style to fit each team member’s personalities and constantly changing circumstances. If you use a one-size-fits-all management style, you might wind up stifling your team’s unique abilities and dampening their creative spark.

A recent Gallup survey found that only 13% of employees are engaged at work, indicating the vast majority of working adults probably don’t have a meaningful connection with company leadership, nor do they enjoy the work they’re doing.

Situational leadership dictates that it is up to the leader to change his or her style, rather than the job of the followers to adapt to the leader’s style. A good leader should analyze each situation based on a variety of factors. They must be flexible enough to modify their managing style to suit the individual personalities while adhering to the corporate mission. For instance, some employees may excel when working independently, while others may need more one-on-one contact and feedback.

This is where BrandStar’s company-wide values – our T.R.A.I.T.S. – come in. Incorporating these core principles into our leadership methods is an important way to help our respective departments run smoothly.

Teamwork – the “T” in T.R.A.I.T.S. — lays the foundation for everything BrandStar stands for. Teamwork doesn’t just mean working well with those who occupy the same level on the organizational chart; it also applies to leaders and the team members who report directly to them. When members of the team feel like the leadership group is taking a personalized approach to managing them, a mutual respect – the “R” in T.R.A.I.T.S. – is fostered.

Tone often doesn’t translate properly in emails or instant messages; there’s nothing like some old-fashioned face time to build a better rapport and improve clarity. Devoting just a little extra effort getting to know the team is the key to developing trust, the second “T” in T.R.A.I.T.S. when you’re managing a variety of personalities. The more effective a leader is at developing relationships with the entire team, the more he or she can delegate responsibilities, trusting that the job will be done correctly.

Additionally, a University of Warwick study from 2016 found that workplace happiness led to a 12% increase in productivity and that companies that invest in employee support and satisfaction tend to succeed in producing happier workers.

The bottom line is when people are feeling positive and well-supported by management, they tend to channel their creativity more efficiently and solve problems better. The challenge for leaders is getting the most out of their employees by demonstrating the willingness to adjust their style to suit a broad a range of personalities and skill sets.

Forrest Haag is the EVP, Digital for MCP/BrandStar.

The post Situational Leadership Can Boost Morale And Productivity appeared first on Beacon.

Stay Fit While You Sit

*1-2 minute read*

Staying in shape and maintaining a healthy lifestyle is very important to one’s overall well-being. While this can be difficult for many, it is especially challenging for those with a desk job. Here are five slightly amateur, but helpful tips on how to overcome the effects of having a sedentary job.

Walk around when you can. Scary enough, it is said that sitting has become the new smoking and can actually lead to various illnesses so getting up and walking around about every hour or so would make a difference. Also, take advantage of your lunch break! Once you’re finished eating find a nearby park to walk around if you can or even just somewhere around the office.
Drink lots of water and snack frequently. Yes, I said snack! But I’m not talking a bag of Cheetos and some cookies! Eating 5 smaller healthy(ish) meals a day, every 3 hours or so, as opposed to 3 larger meals keeps the metabolism moving and will help prevent weight gain from a sedentary lifestyle. Drinking lots of water is also an important habit to acquire. It aids metabolism and prevents you from feeling hungry when you’re actually not. Plus, taking those extra steps to the restroom won’t hurt!
Download a mobile app. There are plenty of apps you can download on your mobile device for free! These apps offer an easy way to track your caloric and water intake, calories burned and more depending on the app. You can also create challenges with other users and friends! They also provide a suggested amount of calories per day based on your goals, lifestyle, and other factors. I suggest Lose It! or Fitbit if you have one.
Workout! Maybe this should be tip number one…whether your thing is running, weight lifting or HIIT make time before or after work a few days a week to release those endorphins; they make you happy! You don’t need a gym membership to get a good workout in; there are plenty of workouts that only require body weight. Or, it could also be as easy as just taking your pet for a walk.
Want to go above and beyond? Invest in a standing desk or an under the desk cycle to get your workout in while you work. This will also save you lots of time in the afternoon to do whatever you need to get done.

This post was written by Haylie Schaffer . Haylie is a Community Manager at Media Connect Partners.

The post Stay Fit While You Sit appeared first on Beacon.

6 Tips for Working from Home

*2-3minute read*

1. Set Out a Work Space

Creating a comfortable and professional work space will help you get into “the zone” and set the tone for a productive day. Make sure to carve out a little space filled with your computer, resources, pens, diary, and everything you need to feel “at the office” at home. It’s very important NOT to work in your bedroom as this creates an association in your brain that your bedroom is a work space—which will cause impaired sleep, extra stress, and will inhibit you from relaxing in your personal space.

2. Keep a Tight Schedule

Whether you work office hours or create your own schedule, writing down your to-dos and goals for the day/week/month will help you stay productive and on top of deadlines. If you’re old school (like me), make daily lists in your diary and tick them off as you go along. A great online to-do tool is Wunderlist—an app that allows you to add recurring to-dos, tick them off, and set alarm reminders. Make sure to sit down and be ready to work at the start of your day so that you don’t feel rushed. Make that cup of coffee, flick through emails, and then get to work and smash out the day’s work.

3. Dress for Success

It’s tempting to stay in your PJ’s all day when you work from home, but it’s been proven that people who get up, dress up, and make-up are more productive. Setting the tone for a great day of work doesn’t just start with your environment, it starts from inside, so take pride in yourself and you’ll find you take more pride in your work, too.

4. Eliminate Distractions

It can be really easy to get distracted when working from home. The phone rings, the family interrupts you, your dog does something super cute, all these things pull your focus away from the tasks at hand. Setting a private work space will help eliminate distractions. Creating boundaries will help others know that you’re working—and stop potentially embarrassing moments where your family doesn’t realize you’re in a meeting! Make sure you have everything you need for a peaceful and focused work day and then focus that energy into producing great work.

5. Take Breaks

Working from home sounds amazing, until you realize that you hardly EVER take a break. Sitting for extended periods of time at the office is detrimental to your health, and it’s just the same at home. Get up, make a cup of coffee, do some sit-ups or jumping jacks, have a quick conversation with your online colleagues, do SOMETHING to give yourself a break. You may even want to schedule these in, lest you forget and fall into the downward spiral of never-ending work.

6. Learn to Unplug

As someone who works online, and especially in social media, it can be really hard to unplug and unwind. When you’re done with work, take some time to do something away from your computer. Force yourself to not constantly check work emails on weekends, or view them every time they pop up on your phone. Try not to work too much overtime and burn yourself out. Give your all during your work hours so that you can confidently unplug knowing that you had a productive day. And most importantly, remember that balance is essential and necessary for a healthy, happy work life.

This post was written by Kirstin Venn. Kirstin is a Social Media Content Specialist Lead with Media Connect Partners.

The post 6 Tips for Working from Home appeared first on Beacon.

Let’s Do Some Spring Cleaning

The sun is shining. The birds are chirping. Our days are longer now that we have lost an hour. Let’s talk about spring cleaning! Here are a few spring-cleaning tips to help your office and life flow better.

Spruce up your work area:

Add a small vision board to remind you of any short-term goals you are looking to achieve. Why wait for the New Year to make plans? Spring into those new visions starting with the new season.

Productivity is a must:

Take a 15 minute break throughout the work day.  This rejuvenation will enable you to complete your tasks more accurately, which will lead to fewer errors and increased productivity – win-win! 

Rearrange your desk:

Try something new. Add a new desk set and/or pictures. Perhaps a small arrangement of fresh flowers. Give yourself something fresh and new to look forward to as you work.

Inspirational thoughts and quotes:

Start this new season or even each week with a new inspirational quote. These are great items to spring into your workload. You could even invest in a motivational calendar to stay on track with your goals.

Navigate and pace yourself:

Take a moment to reschedule and reorganize your workload to ensure that you are getting the most out of your workday.

Growth:

Attempt to learn something new every day.

 

 

 

Challenge yourself to try something new:

Develop a special skill or talent. Now is a good time to look into a hobby of some sort.

Lose unproductive work habits:

Focus on the great things you do.

Encouraging words make a difference:

If someone feels inadequate, encourage him or her.

Acknowledge others’ abilities and efforts.

Never allow yourself to become bored with a project:

Sometimes it is better to walk away than BURN OUT.

Invest in yourself.

New day every day:

Remember it will start over and there will be a chance to do it again.

Gradually organize:

Nothing happens overnight. Start off small and work your way to the larger projects.

 

 

This post was written by Alisa Walker. Alisa is the Administrative Assistant for Media Connect Partners.

How to Make a Seamless Cover Photo

In 2011 Facebook introduced cover photos; since then many different approaches have been taken towards its placement and design. However, one of the most popular ways to date is the “seamless cover photo.” This is done by overlapping your profile and cover photos so the two appear as one whole image. Many have tried to achieve this polished look, but don’t always succeed due to sizing issues. Well, let’s see if we can get this right.

Here are some things to consider when creating your seamless cover photo.

Facebook profile pictures are always 160×160 pixels. However, when preparing your image for upload, always ensure it is 180×180 pixels; as this is the minimum upload size. When uploaded, Facebook will automatically trim off the extra 20 pixels. With this said, always be mindful of these extra pixels that will be cut off when cropping your image.
The cover photo is supposed to be 851 x 315 pixels; it is better to make it slightly bigger to give yourself space to move it around if needed. Also ensure you see where the profile picture sits on top of your cover photo before uploading.

These are the dimensions as specified by Facebook:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This template should also make your process much easier:

http://www.hyperarts.com/download/Facebook-Timeline-Masthead_Page_TEMPLATE_Jun2013.psd.zip

Here are some great ideas too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

This post was written by Shanelle Marsh. Shanelle is a Graphic Designer with Media Connect Partners.

Nonprofits Need Social Media

Nonprofits are doing a lot of work in the community, but sadly, they are not getting the exposure they desperately need. Understandably, these sectors are operating on small budgets – grants that have been awarded to them by corporate sponsors. With such a disadvantage, there is no reason why they can’t be innovative, especially where social media is concerned.

 

About two months, I was reminded of how effective social media can be for nonprofits. After an episode of Empire aired on Fox, in which the main character, Luscious Lyons learned that he had ALS disease, the debilitating illness began to trend on Twitter.

 

This is not a first for ALS. Who could forget the ice bucket challenge that sparked a conversation about ALS on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, and generated donations? People wanted to learn about ALS, participate in the challenge and help nonprofits, namely the ALS Association raise awareness and funds. That’s exactly what they did and the ALSA benefited big time. They fostered $22.9 million dollars in donations.

 

After the 2010 earthquake that rocked Haiti, Twitter lit up. The Twitter-tracking service Sysomos reported that 2.3 million tweets included the word “Haiti” or “Red Cross” for two days (the day of and the day after the earthquake). In addition, the American Red Cross was able to raise millions of dollars because of the social media platforms that it used to its advantage.

 

On the contrary, there are some nonprofits that are not using social media to raise awareness and make their presence felt in the community. I used to volunteer as a mentor for an organization whose mission is to remedy the school dropout crisis and provide opportunities for deserving low-income students.  I searched for them on Facebook so I could like their page and share some of the great things they were doing, but the were nowhere to be found.

 

After some time, a page was created and I received an email to like them on Facebook. To my dismay, nothing the organization did –like the huge college fair they hosted at a major resort – ever got posted. I addressed it to the director of the program who informed me that it was just something they were trying out.  I didn’t understand their lack of enthusiasm to attract more mentors, donors and parents who could use the program’s help.

 

They always encouraged me and the other mentors to spread the word about their open enrollment dates, events and fundraisers. I don’t know about the others, but sometimes I forgot or just didn’t care because the organization didn’t seem to care.

 

With that being said, nonprofits should really make it a priority to market themselves – cheerfully – via social media.  With all of the social media platforms available for use, they can generate visibility, network with other nonprofits and potential sponsors, engage with supporters and seek volunteers, and showcase their staff and efforts. Overall, social media is the best way to achieve high impact at a low cost.

 

 

Here at MCP, we have lots of experience with nonprofits. So if you are part of one who needs to expand their strategy to social media, give us a call. We would love to help you accomplish great things for your organization. 1.800.627.1265

 

This post was written by Ifonia Jean. Ifonia is the newest team member to join Media Connect Partners. She is a Social Media Content Specialist.