Did you know that having a logo could actually boost your social media campaign?
How you wonder, right?
I also didn’t think that having a logo could mean much for my small freelance business until I thought of getting one and so I decided to look for the best logo designer that was within my budget.
A logo especially on your website helps site visitors to identify your business. A logo will also increase your online presence. This has made well-designed logos important components of an online marketing strategy.
Still wondering why a logo is important to your social media campaign? Let’s find out!

1. It will Give your Social Media Campaign a Visual Representation
If you have a well-designed logo, you need not explain to people what your brand is. The logo speaks for itself and your brand.

Why is this important for your social media campaign? 
When people see your logo on social media they want to see something that tells them about your brand. If it’s creative enough they will remember it which means they will remember your brand.

2. It will Attract Clicks
A logo is your sense of identity. Is your sense of identity attractive to your audience? If your answer is yes and your logo effectively communicates who you are and what you’re about, it might just be the visual in your campaign that attracts you a new click, a lick, a re-share or a re-tweet. This definitely gets your campaigns more visibility raising their effectiveness. Have a logo that is attractive enough to make more people curious and fascinated enough to want to know more about your brand and what it has to offer.

3. It will Build Trust
A logo is a stamp of professionalism and authority. People are more likely to trust a company that has a logo than one without. When running your campaigns, your logo will earn your trust. People will want to keep reading your content because they believe you’re a genuine entity and not spam.
A logo that is prominent on your social media campaign content will make your brand stand out and will be enough to make your target audience want to build a relationship with you. Isn’t that one of your social media campaign goals?

                                           "Design is the silent ambassador of your brand." ~ Paul Rand.

4. It will Drive your Web Traffic
Your logo is the first representation of who and what you are. People will see your logo and try to guess what you’re all about even before you give them any details. They will be curious to find out if indeed they are right about you.
Place your logo prominently in your campaigns and add a link directing your audience to your website where they can find all the information they need.

5. It will Improve Your ROI
As people continue to see your logo, click your links to find out about you, they will start to like and trust you. Once trust has been established, they will start getting interested in your products and they might even convert to repeat. A good logo will put you at the top of your audiences’ minds which in turn increases your conversion rates. If someone is looking for a product category that you offer and they see your logo in the search results they will recognize you instantly and go to your page. This can potentially lead to increased sales.

A good memorable logo is extremely important when it comes to the overall success of your social media campaign. It is the one thing that identifies you and your brand to other people making them want to become your loyal customers.

If you don’t have a business logo yet, it’s time to find a designer and get a logo created for your business and add it to your social media campaigns! Click here to complete this form to help you get a great logo!

Do you already have a logo for your business? What has been the reaction to it so far? Let us know in the comments section. ​

Part 2 - In an earlier post, we talked about how Pinterest can leverage your business visibility and increase your sales and online presence. Here are some basic tips to get you started.
First off, choose an account name that promotes your business or brand. If you'd like help with branding, click here and complete this brief questionnaire. It's a good place to start.

A good relevant account name will help those who use Pinterest to have an idea who you are and what you're about. If you're good with photo editing or graphic design, you can start working on effective pictures/designs to best showcase your work and what you're selling/promoting, or hire a trained VA to do it for you. Create "boards" based on various topics of your choosing that relate to each other and are consistent with your brand and message. You can see what your pins are doing and how your profile/brand fits in with others by using the Analytics page. Pinterest Analytics allows you to gauge interest and see which pins are truly useful to your business. These tips will help you utilize Pinterest in a way that will help you build interest and possibilities in your brand or product.
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In what way do you thing Pinterest can help your business thrive?

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 Pinterest has been popular for quite some time and you may be wondering how you can use it to scale your own business and create income by using a source you already use on a daily if not weekly basis. Fear not, because this is definitely something you can (and should) do! Pinterest allows you to share photos or graphics that are attached to a website or business that allows you to at times buy items, learn how to make things, or learn more about a topic that interests you. Why not utilize these aspects in your own business?
​For example, you can attach a photo of your latest soaps or candles, create a link to your business or store, and then customers who see the photo and want your products, will buy them straight through the link and bingo! You get visits and even purchases without a lot of extra work on your part. Better yet, these pins stay around forever, so you could end up seeing the benefits for longer than you'd expect. Even established bloggers use pins to bring traffic to their blog or to create referral revenue from affiliate marketing. Having a VA help you with your Pinterest reach could be a huge benefit to your business as well. Check back soon for tips on how to leverage Pinterest to build your business! 
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What do you think?
In what way do you think Pinterest can help your business thrive?

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Step Out Of The Box.. 
Don't fall into a trap. With a little outside-the-box thinking and some prioritizing, you can develop an enviable list of contacts. From pinpointing networking opportunities in your corner of the world to jumping on internet forums and groups, these ideas will help you build strong, worthwhile business relationships.  Here are 5 Creative Networking Ideas To Build Connections.

Work Your Current Network
Think you don’t have any business connections? You’re probably wrong. Friends, family, former colleagues, the owner of your favorite coffee shop or the parent of your kid’s bestie are all potential contacts. So, talk business with your circle to make sure the people you see and interact with the most actually know what you do. And when an opportunity presents itself, offer help.
Remember: The world is a whole lot smaller than it seems. Aunt Josie might have no need for a website, but her best friend or co-worker’s daughter may be launching a boutique and very interested in working with you.

Get Involved in Networks and Social Media Groups
Perfect for people with limited time and minimal access to in-person options, industry-specific forums and social media groups are networking gold mines. Start searching through LinkedIn and Facebook for groups related to your work and those geared toward entrepreneurs. Forums and portfolio sites also offer loads of opportunities. Bonus: Branching out, away from social media, expands your pool of potential connections.

Joining loads of groups and forums at once makes it difficult to actively participate in conversations, so start small. Join one group and dedicate a daily coffee break to perusing comments and dipping your toe in conversations. Offer value with every comment, joke around, support other members and watch your list of contacts grow.

Find or Create A Local Networking Group
Platforms like Meetup aren’t just for finding people to take a cooking class with or enjoy a lazy float down the river on a Sunday afternoon. They’re also perfect for putting together a casual meeting or more in-depth group discussion with other small-business owners and entrepreneurs in your area.
If there aren’t any existing groups nearby that pique your interest, consider starting your own. Chances are there are plenty of people toiling away at home or burning the midnight oil in your area who’d love to have a supportive, mentally stimulating get-together.

Check Out Co working Groups or Collaboration Platforms
Physical co-working spaces and collaboration platforms like Slack give you the opportunity to work alongside people across industries and make valuable connections with like-minded, passionate individuals.
Co-working spaces charge a relatively small daily, weekly or monthly fee to set up your office amongst entrepreneurs and creatives from various backgrounds. Whether you want to settle in to an open work space, secure a private office or put together a team, the ability to see potential contacts daily makes developing relationships easier. A quick Google search will let you know what’s available near you. Or, check out sites like Coworker or Liquid Space for options. If there's aren't any co-working spaces in your area or you're partial to the quiet of working from home, consider joining a collaboration platform.  As you build your network and work with others on projects, use the platform to stay connected during slow times or when you need a fresh set of eyes. Check out these tips for other suggestions.
 
Get Involved In Your Community
Even if most of your business is online, you can still find worthwhile people to connect with right in your own town. Make it a point to reach out to and talk with new and established business owners. 

Keys To Successful Networking
Now that you know where to look for networking opportunities, how do you build lasting, mutually-beneficial relationships? Be supportive, listen closely and prioritize managing the relationships you develop.

Work active networking into your schedule just like you do every other business task. 
Block off a set amount of time once a week to make friendly check-in calls or send out a catch-up email. And, make sure you respond to messages and calls with a similar level of urgency as you would a client or customer.

Time conversations and events so they coincide with when you’re most energetic and engaged. 
Avoid scheduling midweek evening meetups if you’re typically exhausted and ready to meld with the couch at that hour. And don’t try to fit phone calls in first thing in the morning if you’re the type who needs a cup (or six) of coffee to form coherent sentences.
**Ask questions, listen intently and provide value. **The back-and-forth opportunities that networking provide are invaluable, especially for self-starters. But remember to open your ears and close your mouth. People will be more apt to help you if they feel heard and encouraged.

**Be yourself, not the business version of yourself. **If you attend a meetup, set up shop in a co-working space or dive into an online community with “always be selling!” in your head, you’ll gain minimal traction. Friendliness earns you more insight, referrals and ideas than playing the role of salesperson.

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If just thinking about a social media strategy is giving you heartburn, don't worry. Good content ideas are all around you if you know where to look. To help make the leap into the world of social media marketing and online selling easier, take a peek at the tips below.
If you're a small business owner, you've probably heard about the importance of content marketing and social media marketing for growing your business. But getting started on social media can be a challenge. Which platforms should you be on? How do you know if what you're sharing is resonating with your audience? Most important of all, what content should you be sharing to begin with?
If just reading these questions is giving you heartburn, don't worry.  Good content ideas are all around you if you know where to look.  To help make the leap into the world of social media marketing here are five quick content suggestions for getting started.
  
1. Customer Testimonials 
Positive customer testimonials can be hugely valuable in your marketing (so if you're not collecting them, you should start). Even better, with just a few small tweaks, they can be reused as great social media content. Just share a snippet of a positive testimonial over a nice product or lifestyle photo.
Don't have Photoshop? That's no problem. There are a number of free or low cost apps that let you manipulate photos to include nice filters, captions and more. Canva is also handy for creating perfect images for your website, which you can then reuse on social media. In addition to testimonials, you can caption your photos with inspirational or humorous quotes or other content that you think will connect with your followers.

2. Behind-the-Scenes Photos
It's a scientific fact that people love seeing how things are made. Okay, maybe there's no scientific research behind this claim, but it's definitely true that behind-the-scenes content is one of the easiest things for small business owners to share online. If you're a maker, the odds are good that you're spending a significant portion of your day creating products anyway. Why not document that process in either photos or video?
Giving your customers a behind-the-scenes look into your operations will help them not only understand how and why your product is better, but also give them insight into you and your employees.

3. Employee Profiles
Taking customers behind-the-scenes to show products are made is one way to build an authentic connection with your customers. Another way is to highlight your employees (including yourself). To build a great brand, you need to have personality, and there's no better way to let it show than in a fun, candid series showing the men and women who live out your brand values every day.
Employee profiles can take a lot of forms, from short videos to blog interviews. Maybe you can turn over the reins of your social media account to one of your employees for a day. Experiment with different formats until you find one that fits your brand personality and lets your employees stand out.

4. Tips and Tricks
The internet is already filled with tips, tricks, and all kinds of “life hacks," so it may not seem worth the effort to share content like this for your business. But showing your customers how best to use your products or services is more than just good content, it's good for your brand.
One of the most important components of content marketing is making sure that the content you share is providing value to the audience. Instructional information, tips and tricks and other “how-to" content helps show that you're not just interested in boosting your sales, but also in improving their lives. Developing this type of content is also fairly easy. After all, who else knows your product better than you?

5. Caption Contest
Finally, a quick content idea that is sure to generate engagement is a contest or special promotion. There are a lot of different types of contests you can run on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, but one of the easiest to do is a caption contest.
While you're documenting behind-the-scenes content, capture some fun, candid photos of yourself or your team. You can then share these on social media and ask your followers to caption them. The person who shares the funniest caption wins a prize. It's that simple. Many brands rely on these types of quick contests to get engagement from their followers and it's a fun way to show off your brand's personality.

​At the end of the day, social media and content marketing are just tools to help promote your business. They don't have to be scary or complicated to be effective, so if you're just getting started try some of these tactics on for size. The more you experiment, the better you'll get and before long you'll be running your social media channels like a true pro.
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Tip 5- Do Facebook Live Videos on Your Business Page 

As much as many of us dislike it, Facebook is giving top priority to Facebook Live videos (and Facebook ads) while giving little or no priority to other posts on Facebook business webpages.

You still should have a Facebook business page, for sure - but chances are that many people will not see your blog posts or discussions in their news feed unless it is a Facebook Live video.
If you’re a fitness professional or another small business owner or entrepreneur, Facebook Live is a GREAT way to demonstrate how to properly perform physical exercises, complete a workout, or perhaps  share some quick fit tips. You certainly won't get better at live video by NOT doing them - so just start! I know I need to take my very own advice here and it is defiantly a goal of mine for 2017.
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Tip 4 - Start Your Own Facebook Group
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The same rules however, apply from above,nevertheless the best part here is - YOU are the group admin. For that reason, occasionally, you can promote your products or services. And, I do believe most people in Facebook groups expect or understand this.
Just keep in mind the 80-20 rule: Post and share valuable, free content 80 % of the time and market your own products or services only  20% of time.

Due to Facebook's latest algorithms, business webpages are not being seen as much. So, FB  Groups (and live videos) appear to be where it's at in 2017! I feel like almost every small business or entrepreneur whose email list I am on has launched a free Facebook group.

This may work a few various ways:

1- Begin by starting a general fitness group for your neighborhood community targeting a specific population or goal.

2 - Create a Facebook community that coincides with your blog or business (just don't promote your business or blog posts all the time - that can annoy your followers.
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3 - Or, create a private Facebook group that coincides with your free challenge and put it to use to support one another and this will add extra value to the challenge. You can then turn this into your community that is theme related to your business.
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