Well that was quick....One month in already and what have we learned? For me personally, it was I took far too much time off and ate way too much at the beginning of the year and have been frantically trying to lose the weight since! As an aside, I have also been working very hard working on my first quarter and actually very happy with my goals for this year. Thank you Asana :D
Yes, that's right. I said website. I know I am the "social media" person but this is still an extremely useful tool to build your business on. I would recommend any and all businesses to get a website, even a cheap or entirely free one. The website maybe "naff" initially but you get to claim the name and start your brand properly.I have been a long term fan of WP Beginner and can recommend them and WordPress as excellent sources. Have a read of this to really start yourself in excellent habits!
Instagram has been for some time the platform to build your business on. It can seem a bit daunting however as the expectation is that you update the feed daily and the stories multiple times a day! I have find Later as an excellent resource for guidance and support. This absolutely brilliant guide is a must for all business owners who wants to get the most out of this ever-growing platform.
Instagram have also changed their API as of this month and have now made it possible for you to schedule a video and send it to your Instagram account! This is quite a significant change I think. It again frees up more of your time and makes content planning and scheduling even more streamlined. Learn more about this change and what third parties can assist you with this in this post!
As you are probably aware - having a group for your business these days is getting to be quite the thing! I have a wee group of my own which I have been horribly neglecting of late but have this month been kicking back into life. This year I have a STRATEGY and intend to build a much better relationship with my group Social Media STOMPies. This Hootsuite blog about how to use groups for business is essential reading.
You may notice that you are being reminded this month about groups you have been invited and haven't committed too. To this end you may notice a drop in "members" if you are an owner of a group as well.
On a personal note I am not thrilled with this! However, let's wait and see what it looks like when it shows up. I currently use WP for my own website template and use Wix for a client's. I was thinking of suggesting to the client that we move from Wix to WP as the manouverability is so much better (usually) on WP but with this change coming up soon - who knows. Nah...not looking forward to it at all....
In my opinion not enough people are taking the value of Twitter seriously enough. It is all too often seen as "just" an event tool. They say "let's trend!", which is great of course and even just setting up your Twitter to do just that is fine I guess. The downside is it's actually that simple to trend. It takes time, diligence and people. Lots and lots of tweets as well.... Throw a little bit of strategy into the mix, maybe an influencer or two....IF you are going to use Twitter then you need to use it properly. It is a horrible waste of time if all you do all the time is share other peoples content and never generate your own. This really useful blog from Ian Cleary on Postplanner is excellent to get you started in Twitter for your Business. 2019 is the year to really ramp this up!
Any Business Strategy guidance that you may have found on the internet is going to be very, very basic! The only real way to build a business strategy is to build one yourself and maybe work with a mentor/consultant to develop it further. No new business owner can imagine every single little issue that comes up so doing all these little, itty bitty articles that you see online is enormously time consuming and potentially wasteful. They all genuinely have value in and of themselves but not one will be able to answer your strategy queries without a little bit of one to one help.Here in Ireland, you will find consultants, day workshops and LEO Mentors who can help your business with this very valuable tool. If you are going to be taking your business that step up this year, invest in getting it done properly. It saves a lot of time and money in the end.
Keeping your images fresh and eye catching is well worth doing. Even your older content that is evergreen could benefit from a new image? Never, ever change the URL but updating the words or replacing the images will do your content a power of good.Also update images if you haven't done a headshot for a while. If you are a customer facing brand like me, it doesn't hurt to update it every couple of years. Don't forget to ask from the photographer for different sizes to fit different platforms and ask for some space around your photos if you want to put words around them. Check out below:
Not all adult education takes the form of Diploma or a Degree. You don't need to entirely deplete your savings to improve. If you can work out what areas you need to strengthen are then it makes it a lot easier.Some people prefer to use free training like Udemy. However, the local LEO will be running courses throughout the year that are always well run and are heavily subsidised. If you do have a few pennies to rub together though, you may want to go the online route and use a reputable college who can give the training you require. There is also people such as myself too. I personally couldn't provide you with a recognised qualification. However, I could still provide you the support you may be looking for to build up knowledge and confidence in an area you feel you need the help with.
Being ready to start a business is one thing but actually starting properly is something else entirely. I genuinely couldn't recommend the Start Your Own Business course enough that the Local Enterprise Office runs. It's affordable, supportive and gives you a lot of the tools you need to get started with.
Over the last few months I have been shedding Facebook Groups and also networks that were costing me more than I was benefitting from.If you are in a Group that you either joined a couple of years ago or were invited to by someone else then this is the time to recheck them and make sure you still want to be a part of them (as discussed above). They are potentially taking up valuable newsfeed space and could be more detrimental to your algorithm than if you were getting content from someone you wanted it from.There are some groups I am a part of that suit me as they are a "support system" rather than a place to derive business from. As a Sole Trader it can be lonely being in business, I totally get that. So when I make friends online and offline with people that have supported me over the years I measure my time with them as a big plus.Whatever your business is, don't neglect your personal welfare and start binning Facebook Groups left right and centre. Sometimes keeping these groups is more for your mental health and nothing to do with business or money.
I am a Mentor, former speaker and sponsor (and more than likely will do it again!) for Women's Inspire Network and their Facebook Group is membership only now. I personally get a lot from them as they provide very regular and informative webinars and of course the twice a year gatherings! Their next one is in Donegal and I will be giving away a ticket to one lucky winner next month to someone in my community. Tickets are still available but the Early Bird is over and you can only get them at the standard rate of €87.40 via Eventbrite.
This is a brand new and obviously "local" Facebook group set up only just before Christmas that wants to follow the successful model of Meath Small Business group. It's about keeping business local and supporting the smaller and independent business. As we tighten our belts due to the ongoing Brexit farce it's worthwhile looking after the "little guy". They will be the one to feel the pinch first if the UK fall out of Europe with a "No-Deal". If you are local or know someone that is, please do join!
I hope you have enjoyed this round up and in a slightly different format! If you've got this far in reading then thank you! Please do subscribe for ongoing updates and useful events and blogs and I wish you all the success you can have in 2019!
9 Steps to a Winning #SocialMedia Strategy (By Rebekah Radice)
If you have any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to contact me!
Working with clients Nationwide from base in Mullingar.
