LinkedIn? Is that still a thing?

Oh, wait, that’s the “social media network” for finding a job, right? Can that even be considered “social media”?

LinkedIn has often been considered a black sheep of the social media networks because it doesn’t really feel, well, social.

But, it does, in fact, check all the boxes on what Wikipedia considers social media. (You can check those out here).

What makes us think less of LinkedIn is that it tends to have a singular purpose and not a place we would regularly “hang out” like we do on Facebook or Instagram or even Twitter.

That being said, LinkedIn is like it’s very own business networking event. It’s not just for job seekers anymore.

LinkedIn has grown up a little and now offers a valuable place to find and connect with new leads.

Is Networking on LinkedIn right for me?

Before deciding if LinkedIn is the right place for you to network, you should know the demographics of who’s there.

According to Omnicoreagency.com:

• There are currently 154 million LinkedIn users in the US.
• 61 million users are senior level or above.
• 40 million users are students or recent college graduates.
• There are 87 million Millenials on the platform.
• 44% of LinkedIn users earn more than $75,000 per year.

What does that mean for you? If you have a product or service that targets professionals of any age or are in a B2B industry, then LinkedIn may be a great place to get new leads!

How to Network on LinkedIn

First, let me say this is not another post telling you how to optimize your profile page. Yes, that’s important, but there are plenty of articles out there that will teach you how to do that. Here’s one of my favorite by the awesome John Nemo.

I find a lot of LinkedIn trainings only focus on how to set up your profile. But what then?

It’s important to have a strategy around what you will do once your profile is created. Unfortunately, “If you build it, they will come” only works in Kevin Costner movies.

This article isn’t focused on what to post in articles or the news feed. Our primary plan to network on Linkedin is to reach out and connect via messages.

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But First: Know your Audience

Working with coaches and speakers for almost 15 years, I’d guess this is probably the number one reason they don’t use LinkedIn more often.

LinkedIn works best when you know who you want to connect with. Need help with this? Check out our article on finding your target audience.

I don’t mean that you have to personally know the head of HR at Zappos. And it doesn’t even mean you would have to know their name.

What it means is knowing the title, interests, and other demographics of the person you want to connect with.

You see, LinkedIn has this really amazing people search.

You can search by name, title, company, college, location, industries and more.

Some of this detail is searchable within the actual search feature and some of it is just a magical thing that happens when people customize their profile headline to contain certain information.

For example, my headline used to read:

I help coaches, consultants, & speakers grow their businesses & have more time by providing virtual assistant services.

Because of this, I would get connection requests on a regular basis from people looking to connect with coaches.

Your first step, then, is to make a list of the types of people you’d like to reach out to.

Then do a search for those types of people!

I recommend targeting your first level connections as a starting point. This is a warmer audience and LinkedIn allows you to message them for free.

Break the Ice

The best Linkedin networking scripts I’ve found are created by John Nemo. If you haven’t heard this guy, you should really check out his podcast, he’s quite entertaining!

The next step is to make that first contact. Here’s where a lot of people go wrong. Their first message is all about them. They want to reach out and instantly share all the details about what they are selling. When someone does this to me, it’s an instant “unfriend”.

Instead, break the ice. Take a little time to check out their profile. Find something in common. It’s Linkedin NETWORKING after all, not Linkedin cold calling!

For example:

• Did you attend the same school?
• Are you from the same town?
• Do their group interests align with yours?

Yes, it takes a little more time to read through each profile to find something you might be able to connect on but it’s well worth your time.

Once you’ve found something, message them and start a conversation around that topic.

Gently Lead In

Your next message will be a soft offer. Perhaps you have a free optin or webinar the prospect may be interested in. Nemo suggests not just sending them a link but inviting them to raise their hand. If they say they are interested, THEN send them a link. It will come across far less spammy that way. It also helps you to track who is actually engaging with your messages.

What’s Next

Nemo has an entire process for Linkedin Networking that he’s outlined in his book, Linkedin Riches. I highly recommend you get the Kindle or paperback version so you can best use the scripts he shares.

Of course, if you’d rather have someone else set up the details and work your initial leads, that’s a great area to outsource when you have the right team in place.

Virtual A Team is actively using the Nemo approach to Linkedin Networking with a few of our clients and our own business. If you’d like some help implementing this approach into your business contact us for a free consultation.

Networking on Social Media

If you aren’t ready or Linkedin isn’t the right fit for your business, check out our other Networking Articles:

How To Network on Facebook

How To Network on Instagram

Once upon a time, social media management was easy. You could occasionally throw up a link to your blog article and people would comment.

However, the scenario has completely changed now. Websites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter are no longer making it easy to get engagement. They want to keep their audience on their own sites. In addition, they are making it harder and harder to get people to see your content without paying.

It takes a lot of effort to create the right social media plan and then to implement your strategy at the best time.

Taking advantage of this fact, many businesses (especially online ones) have taken to social media to advertise and drive more traffic to their websites. Unfortunately, the number of social media websites out there have increased exponentially and every one of them is a potential market that you can exploit.

So, how do companies, large and small, keep up with their regular posts on all these various media you ask? They use programs called Social Media Management tools. Essentially, these are tools that help you manage all your social media content together and plan which post goes online at what time. Thus, you will need to use these to keep up with the competition (or possibly beat ‘em too). Hence, we compiled a list of some of the best social media management tools out there.

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Why can’t I do it myself?

Sitting at home working with a team around the world and running an online business might seem like an amazing idea. Unfortunately, the amount of work that needs to be done is still quite a lot, especially in the social media sphere. It isn’t the kind of work that you can just pass off to your intern either. There are two main reasons why you should use these tools: consistency and time.

I can remember when I was still bootstrapping my business and had more time than money. I felt like I could handle the social media without the added expense of a monthly fee for one of these services.

Unfortunately, the task quickly became a full-time job as more and more sites came out. Each site has different ideal times to post and different ways to post. It was getting to be too much to keep on top of it all.

Social Media Management Tools Help with Consistency

One of the keys to successful social media marketing is to be consistent with your activity. You can’t post every two years and expect your followers to stick around or engage with your content. But more importantly, you can’t post a ton of content on a single day and completely abandon the followers the next day.

This is when things started going downhill for me. I thought I could keep on top of it but it was often the first thing to go when I got busy. Then I’d try to play catch up and everything would come out at once.

Thus, you need to plan out your content and split it over a few days and different social media to attract as much traffic to it as possible. This works especially well if this is one of your cornerstone content driving all the boys to the yard.

Social Media Management Tools Save Time

In order to remain consistent, you would have to post the content regularly throughout the day on different social media sites as needed. However, you may not always be free during these times of peak traffic and that ends up affecting your consistency.

Furthermore, you may have more important aspects of your business to concentrate on at that point. Thus, when you have some free time, social media management tools allow you to schedule all your posts to be posted on different social media. The app takes care of the rest. This will help you save a lot of time in the long run.

Of course, employing a social media management tool also saves you the hassle of using multiple excel spreadsheets and keeping track of which post has been posted where. There are several other benefits depending on the tool as well. So without further ado, here are some of the best social media scheduling tools we have come across.

Smarterqueue

Smarterqueue, true to its name, allows you to select your queueing times much easier than other similar services. Moreover, it will automatically queue posts that are doing well (or if you want) without any effort from your side. It can also automatically set up a schedule for you based on your preferred posting times. Smarterqueue gives you the option to share directly from a website you are viewing using a bookmark which helps you save a ton of time. Great analytical software that comes with this is just an added bonus.

Social Media options

Twitter profiles, Facebook profiles, pages and groups, Pinterest, Instagram profiles (Using push notifications), LinkedIn profiles and pages

Pros  

• Allows you to re-queue good content multiple times automatically using several variations,
• You can post using a bookmarked link from any website,
• Has a Find Content feature that allows you to search social media platforms,
• You can import content from an RSS feeder,
• Excellent stats to review what posts are working,
• Easily reshare your best content.

Cons  

• Inability to reply to comments or messages,
• Post limit on every profile applied every day (but this number is high),
• App functionality is very limited.

Pricing 

Smarterqueue is priced rather reasonably making it our top recommended tool (and the one we personally use). The simplest option can be bought at $18 a month which allows you to control 4 social media profiles. If you want more, you can go for the business plan at $35 with 10 profiles or the Agency plan allowing 25 profiles at $82. A custom option is also available at $18 plus whatever add-ons you feel you need.

Hootsuite

Hootsuite is one of the classics when it comes to social media management tools. The UI is extremely simple and rather easy to use. There are multiple pages and you can open multiple columns (RSS feeds)  in each of these pages. Each column can represent a single aspect of some social media app out there, for example - the inbox from one of your Facebook pages. From these RSS feeds, you can schedule new content or manage your account to a certain extent.

Social Media options  

Twitter profiles, Facebook profiles, groups and pages, LinkedIn profiles and companies, Wordpress blogs, Instagram personal and business profiles (Using push notifications), Youtube channels and Pinterest Profiles.  

Pros 

• No need for additional installments - can be accessed from the browser,
• Engagement possible from platform,
• Provides suggestions for sharing content

Cons 

• Adding extra users proves to be quite expensive
• Comes with a tag saying “Posted by HootSuite”  

Pricing  

There are multiple plans available, but the most common ones are professional, team and business. This can cost you about $18, $95 and $652 respectively a month. There is also a customizable option that allows you to tailor the number of social media platforms profiles you want to access. The price would also change depending on the number of users you want to give access to.

Buffer

Buffer is a hot favorite in the industry when it comes to such tools. It has a great UI and frankly just a pleasure to use. This smart software will not only help you schedule your posts, but it will also post your content at the best times possible to get the highest amount of traffic directed to your site. It allows you to choose different preset posting times for all the different profiles you have. Then you can simply drag and drop in the calendar to adjust the times. You can also access the detailed reports to tweak the times your posts go online.

Social Media options  

Twitter profiles, Facebook profiles, and groups, LinkedIn profiles, and pages, Pinterest Boards, Instagram personal and business profiles (Using push notifications)

Pros

• Gives you suggestions on what kind of content to post,
• Chrome extension allows you to quickly share any link to your platforms, essentially allowing you to “collect” content as you go.

Cons

• The social media platforms are quite limited,
• No categories for posting,
• You can’t reply to your messages on the social media profiles

Pricing

While the free version allows you to access 3 social media profiles, the pricing starts with the “Pro plan” allowing you to access 8 profiles. The small business (25 social media profiles), the medium business (50 profiles) and the large business (150 profiles) are priced at $99, $199 and $399 respectively.

Agorapulse

Agorapulse allows you to take care of all your social media needs under one tab. You can reply to comments, inbox, and tweets seamlessly. Alternatively, you can assign it to your team members as well without worrying about two members replying to the same comment. You also have endless scheduling options for your posts allowing you to gain full control of your social media. Like all other tools on this list, Agorapulse also offers its own comprehensive analytics reports.

Social Media options

Instagram profiles (Using push notifications), Facebook profiles, pages and groups, Twitter profiles, LinkedIn profiles, and Youtube channels.

Pros

• Bulk uploading is possible,
• Extremely comprehensive analytics giving you demographics data too,
• Ability to engage with social media directly from the platform,
• It’s more than just scheduling, it’s full management.

Cons

• Pricing is on the higher end but provides a lot more features.

Pricing  

Agorapulse has multiple plans available for purchase. The most basic one - Micro, sells for $15 a month and allows you control over just one profile. The small and medium plans sell for $49 and $99 a month respectively. On the other hand, the large package will end up costing you $199 a month with access to multiple profiles. An enterprise plan can cost you up to $299 a month. However, if you opt-in for the annual subscription you can get hefty discounts on these prices.

Sprout Social

Sprout Social is another great social media tool designed like Agorapulse. It allows you to check out various feeds and comment on them as well. Similarly, you can also reply to the inboxes across the different social media. You can set up multiple projects, depending on which blog you are working for or which site you want to promote. You can assign different tasks to your team members and monitor the status quite easily. Moreover, a feed showing you content related to your interests allows you to curate content more easily. Great analytics reports are just the icing on the cake.  

Social Media options

Instagram (Using push notification), Facebook profiles, groups, and pages, Pinterest, LinkedIn profiles and Twitter profiles.

Pros   

• You can create your own chatbots,
• Engagement from platform,
• Bulk uploading is possible.

Cons 

• The pricing is on the upper side,
• Designed more for agencies,
• Low uploading options.

Pricing   

The pricing of sprout social is almost criminal. The basic package starts at $99 a month per user. While the number of social media profiles you can use remain the same in consecutive plans, the analytics power increases. The highest package available is priced at $249 a month per user. However, there is an intermediate option at $149 too. Businesses can also choose to opt for the Enterprise bundle which allows you to customize your requirements and pay accordingly.

Tailwind

Tailwind is an amazing scheduler focusing on Instagram and Pinterest. With a browser extension, it allows you to post to multiple boards at the same time reducing your work tenfold. It also has a feature that automatically selects the best times for uploads and schedules your posts accordingly. Tailwind’s analytics sends you a detailed report weekly with traffic details and how your posts performed. It also introduces a feature called “Tribes” which is essentially a group on Tailwind full of people sharing content on a particular topic. These are great for curating content to your social media and having more of your content shared. The analytics also look into how you are performing in these tribes.

Social Media options

Instagram and Pinterest

Pros

• Browser extension available for sharing on Pinterest
• Ability to post to multiple boards together
• Posting to Instagram does not require a manual step

Cons  

• The number of social media options is extremely limited.

Pricing 

The price of this tool is rather average considering that you have to pay $10 for a month for just one profile - this can either be Instagram or Pinterest. So, if you want both Pinterest and Instagram, you’ll have to pay double. You upgrade for more tribes or SmartPins. Alternatively, you have a free trial which lets you pin up 100 posts with no time limit.

Coschedule

Coschedule is another favorite of social media marketers around the globe. It has a well-designed calendar which allows you to schedule posts with ease and assign tasks to your team members before the post is due to be shared. Coschedule integrates well with most other marketing software like google analytics making it an even powerful tool. It also has the option to re-queue posts which are doing well in getting the attention of your audience.

Social Media options  

Tumblr blogs, Facebook profiles, pages and groups, Twitter profiles, LinkedIn accounts, Google+ pages and profiles, Pinterest accounts, Instagram accounts (Using push notifications)

Pros  

• Amazing analytics that even checks the header of your social media post and suggests changes
• Wordpress plugin available allowing you to schedule posts directly from Wordpress

Cons

• Lacks the ability for bulk upload
• Extremely expensive for beginners to use  

Pricing

Coschedule offers a 14-day free trial (no credit card details required) for all its plans. Otherwise, it has 3 main plans with a range of choices within them. The individual plan can cost anywhere from $0-$49 a month. The business plan can cost anywhere from $60 to $1200 a month while the Agency plans can cost anywhere from $60 to $300 a month. Each of them supports different numbers of social media profiles and additional features.

Conclusion

When you are trying to choose social media management tool, there are a lot of factors like cost, features, a number of users allowed and even the social media platforms supported to consider. You need to decide which of these factors you care more about and accordingly make the right call for your business.

If you want, you can even use some of these tools together. One of my favorite combinations is to use Tailwind for Instagram and Pinterest and Smarterque for everything else. You can come up with a combination that suits you best.

So, get rid of all the excel sheets you had while queueing your posts. Just get one (or more) of these tools and let your life become infinitely easier. This way, you can focus on what really matters - growing your business.

Need some help to pick the best social media for business?

We’ve mentioned marketing strategy before and I’m sure we’ll mention it again. There are a million things to consider when putting together a marketing plan (like stock photo sourcing). One of the first and most overwhelming for many solopreneurs like you is picking the right social media platform. There are many options, from generalist giants like Facebook to more niche networks like Goodreads. How do you know where to find your audience, how to most effectively present your products or services, and what site is the best fit for you and your business? Unfortunately, that’s not always an easy question. Picking the best social media for business doesn’t always follow a “check the boxes” formula. However, here’s a game plan to help you figure out where to go.

Define Your Target Audience

First, you need to know who you’re trying to reach. Using tools like Google Analytics, Survey Monkey and Google Survey you can figure out what demographics describe your audience. The characteristics that you can discover with these tools include things like age and gender. These characteristics will help you figure out which social media networks to focus on. You should also take some time to visualize an ideal client. Who are they, what is their income, what are their pain points, and what are they looking for?

If you aren’t sure how to go about defining your target audience, this is a great time to step back and bring in a professional. This first part of your marketing plan is foundational and will make all other forms of marketing easier. Everything is built on the combination of who your target market is with what you’re marketing to them. If you don’t know either of these, we can help you get a clearer perspective before moving forward.

Discover Where They Are

Picking the best social media for business starts with finding where your audience is hanging out. Now that you know who your target audience is, how do you find them online? You may get some hints from the survey methods mentioned above. There are also numerous tools to help you figure out where your fans hang out. Tools like Social Mention and Sprout Social allow you to see where and how your brand is already being talked about. Once you know where your clients are talking about you, you can go there to nurture your brand presence.

Pew Research Center is another great resource. They report on social media use with some regularity. Their stats can give you insight into where your audience might be more likely to see your posts. If you aren’t already being talked about, you can start with research like that provided by Pew. Then you can use tools like Social Mention to gauge response when you start sharing.

Determine Where Your Products And Services Sell Best

See where your competitors are marketing their products through tools like SimilarWeb, What Runs Where, and Simply Measured. Different tools give you different data, but any of these can show you where your competitors are active and which of their ads have been most effective. Once you know, for example, that their Twitter posts bring more visitors to their website than their Pinterest posts, then you know that your audience will likely behave a similar way. This sort of insight can show you exactly where to invest your time and effort.

You can use these and similar tools to also discover where your target audience is shopping for products or services like yours. This is a strong vote for the best social media for business. Engaging on social media can put you on the right track. For example, you can ask open questions about where people would go to find a specific product or service. Quora and industry-specific forums are a great place to ask questions like this. If you keep track of the answers you get, you’ll start to get a clear image of the clients that need your services and where they shop.

Each social media site also tends to attract buyers and sellers of particular products and services. Facebook is an excellent place to start since your business’s Facebook profile can be used as an indicator for SEO ranking. No matter what you’re selling, investing your time in a business page on Facebook is a safe bet. If you do create a Facebook business page, be sure to link it to your website and other social media accounts to make sure that clients who find you there can find you elsewhere as well.

As far as other networks are concerned, B2B products and services do best on Linkedin. Travel, fashion, and health and beauty products, on the other hand, are popular on Pinterest and Instagram. Twitter is a powerful customer service platform and is a growing consumer hub. These are just some of the largest names, but there are more targeted platforms like Goodreads for books, and Care2 for social and environmental movements. Pew and other research centers can provide more in depth demographics, and the social media sites themselves often provide demographic reports to business interested in using them. Do your research, or get help from one of our experts.

Decide What Network Works Best For You

Finally, it’s important to consider what social media platform will work best for you. For some formats, it might be worthwhile to create a test or personal account before you commit. You might discover that you don’t like the character limit of tweets, or that the organization of Pinterest boards is overwhelming. On the other hand, you may learn from client interactions that you would benefit from a YouTube channel, or that your target audience is more active on Dogster than Instagram. You have time to test a few different platforms before throwing everything into a few select networks. Your favorite places lend some weight to the best social media for business because you’re much more likely to spend time there.

You should also keep in mind how many platforms you can manage. Using a tool like SmarterQueue to schedule and manage your social media presence can help stretch your time and effort. It would also be smart to consult with an expert who can help. A virtual assistant can help you pick 2-3 social media platforms and strategize your posts and marketing techniques.

If any part of this seems overwhelming, don’t worry. Virtual A Team has your back. From developing an initial plan to creating and posting the actual marketing content, we can help you make the impact you want on the best social media networks for you and your business.