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  • Top Strategies for Generating More Traffic to Your Website with Pinterest

    Top Strategies for Generating More Traffic to Your Website with Pinterest

    It’s the fastest-growing social media channel by overall member growth. Its popularity is totally surpassing Twitter and it brings in 3X the traffic of Twitter, LinkedIn, and Reddit combined.

    So, what is this marketing wizard?

    It’s Pinterest, of course!

    It used to be that the only way to pull in traffic to your website was through paid ads. Not only are those days long gone, but often you’ll now find that PPC ads are a big turn-off to your potential readers.

    Nowadays, it’s all about the power of social media referrals.

    Believe me: I am the biggest advocate for the use of Pinterest as a marketing tool.

    In fact, I’ve been generating 30K unique visits per month from Pinterest alone, and it’s time for you to do the same.

    The Pinterest 411

    Before we get started, it’s important we set out the basics. There are a few things you ought to know about Pinterest before diving in.

    • Understand your target audience. That way you’ll reach more of the right people. Put yourself in your target audience’s shoes: what would they be searching? Design your title and captions accordingly.
    • Don’t focus on followers. Pinterest is the only social network where followers really don’t matter. It’s all about re-pins, likes, and comments: basically, it’s about the engagement.
    • Pinterest is a powerful search engine. Especially with new updates such as Smart Feed, Pinterest tailors the way pins are viewed on a user’s feed to help provide more relevant content based on their Likes, Interests, and Boards they follow.

    Got it? Awesome. Now let’s get your Pinterest pumping!

    #1 – Amp Up Your Pinterest Profile

    It’s simple, really: the better designed your Pinterest profile, the higher your number of referrals. By optimizing your profile in every way possible for your visitors, you’ll receive more engagement on your posts and, consequently, more jumps over to your website.

    Sounds good, right?

    So let’s start at the beginning. Some of these are going to sound simple. Yet, you’d be surprised at how often they are overlooked.

    And as Pinterest continues to expand, these starter steps will become more and more crucial.

    • If you have a personal account, convert it to a business one. It’s free and easy to do, makes you look more professional, and opens you up to many more services than you’d receive on a personal account (just like Pinterest Analytics, where you can track your performance).
    • Add keywords beside your name. For example, instead of writing your name, add a keyword you’re known for. Take a look at how I did mine: Pauline Cabrera – Web Designer. Whenever people search for the word “Web Designer” my profile shows up in the “Pinners” list.
    • Look Savvy. Build trust by completing your profile. Make sure to include links to social networks, verify your website URL, create a custom URL, and upload a profile picture relevant to your industry.
    • Add important keywords to your bio. This can help boost you up in Google search rankings for people searching for those keywords, as well as pinners using the Pinterest search engine. Every little bit helps!
    • Add your location. This will help you boost local traffic, if that is a priority for your brand.
    • Turn off your “Search Privacy” settings. You want your boards and profile to appear in search engine results, right? Then you need to make sure you turn off this setting within your Account Settings.
    • Don’t abuse keywords. You’ll just look spammy. Make sure your keywords flow naturally through your profile.
    • Put your best boards in the top row. As a general rule, you should always keep your most attractive or important content “above the fold” on your website (the part of the screen that is first visible to visitors). That way, visitors are more likely to stay on the page and scroll down to see more. These could be your most popular or updated boards, or those relevant to current events.

    #2 – Create and Optimize Your Boards

    Next, it’s time to get creative and boost your visibility. Having a visually appealing and powerfully communicative set of boards will grab your visitor’s attention, hold it, and drive visitors towards your website. You’ll need to optimize your boards to make sure you reach your target audience.

    Now we’re getting to the fun part.

    • Prettify your boards. Clear, organized boards with gorgeous cover photos make for a Pinterest account that is irresistible to follow.
    • Use descriptive titles with keywords. Your Pinterest board could show up in the first pages of Google’s search result if it’s optimized for the search. So, make your boards as descriptive as possible. The more specific, the better.

    When you search for “30th Birthday Ideas,” a Pinterest board shows up in the first page of the search results. Amazing, right? So when people click that, the owner would send traffic to the pins added in it.

    • Create more relevant boards using targeted keywords. For example, I’ve created a general board called “Social Media Marketing,” but will also create targeted ones such as “Pinterest Marketing for Bloggers” and “Facebook Marketing for Small Businesses.”

    Create a spreadsheet where you can brainstorm keywords that are relevant to each other and refer back to it for inspiration. You can even use the Pinterest search suggestions to find the keywords that regularly crop up together! (For an even more advanced approach, give these tools a try: http://keywordtool.io/ or https://ads.google.com/intl/en_uk/home/tools/keyword-planner/

    #3 – Pin Like a PRO

    Building on this, you’re now ready to get pinning. And remember: it isn’t as easy as just pinning images here, there, and everywhere. You need to be on your A-game if you truly want to harness the marketing potential of Pinterest.

    • Use large, tall, eye-catching images. All your images should be 735 pixels wide by 1102 pixels long: if your images are smaller than this, they’ll be overlooked by a Pinner’s home feed. I use Photoshop to resize, or Canva if I’m in a hurry (a great resource for non-graphic designers!).
    • Write a detailed and thoughtful description with your main keywords.Avoid stuffy descriptions. Use keywords that make sense alongside genuinely interesting content.
    • Add the correct URL’s. Always use the actual URL rather than the main one. Pinterest doesn’t allow URL shorteners like bit.ly, so avoid using those.
    • Use search-friendly file names for images. Google can’t read images. What it can read is your image file names. When you’re saving the images you want to upload, use file names with one or two keywords. Basically, don’t save with the default numbering from your camera: change it to something like “chocolate-wedding-cake.jpg,” or whatever it is your image features.
    • Implement rich pins. Rich pins are gold for businesses: these “super” pins allow you to include additional information (such as price, availability, and location) about the image, pulled directly from your website. So they automatically update as your site does, standing out and make shopping and finding information far easier. Find out how to add your own here.
    • Use a catchy title. Pins that feature “How-To’s,” checklists, and infographics always work well for me. The key is to not give all the information away in the image, to help you get more click-throughs.
    • Avoid hashtags in the pin description. Pinterest has officially announced that if you use too many hashtags in your pin description, it could demote your pin’s search ranking. Why? Because they see it as spammy. So, avoid it like the plague.
    • Use different images and titles. It’s important to find out which works best. For me, I like to experiment with various visuals to see if one outperforms the other. It’s paramount for your own market research to find out what your audience finds most attractive. Here are some examples. Based on Pinterest Analytics, the left one sends me more traffic than the right one. 

    #4 – Pin Strategically

    You wouldn’t implement a business plan without a strategy, so why should your Pinterest marketing be any different? A strong strategy for your Pinterest activity will enable you to maximize your return by attracting a higher percentage of viewers and, as a result, more traffic to your website.

    But how do you do that?

    • Pin regularly. As with all social media, an active and consistent presence will increase your chance of generating traffic and make you a trustworthy source. Courtney from Bufferapp found that between 5 and 30 pins per day is optimal. The best times to post are 2:00 – 4:00am and evening hours every day, as well as 5:00pm on a Friday and 8:00 – 11:00pm on Saturdays. It’s also worth making use of Pinterest scheduling tools such as Tailwind or Viraltag. They’ll help you figure out the best times to post throughout the day.
    • Schedule your pins. It helps you avoid flooding your followers’ feeds, spacing out your content and keeping it fresh and continuously updated. Again, use Tailwind or ViralTag to schedule your pins.
    • Pin multiple types of content. I’m talking infographics, GIFs, and videos, as well as straight-up images. Show variety and keep your page exciting and dynamic.
    • Re-pin your best pins to different boards or group boards. Maybe some new pinners haven’t seen your best content yet? This is a great way to bring it to their attention. You may use the Pinterest Analytics or Tailwind analytics (if you have one) to find out your top pins.
    • Track your performance. Use Pinterest Analytics to see how people are describing your pins and what they are pinning alongside your content. This can be useful in knowing how to arrange your boards. You can also track the demographic of your audience and that can be useful in planning the type of content to post in the future.
    • Avoid self promotion. Pinterest has said that it is “…designed to share content you love, so don’t use it purely for self promotion.” And that means no selfies.
    • Don’t just pin the same content on two boards at the same time. At least give a few hours’ delay between the two.
    • Fix broken or dead links. Pinterest focuses on the quality of user experience, so if you’re not managing dead links or expired pages, expect consequences. You can use tools like Board Booster or Pin4Ever for help with this.
    • Share pins related to current trends and events. It’s been reported that pins based on trending topics receive a 94% click-through rate… so it’s worth staying current.  

    Still not sure what’s the best content to be pinning? Check out these interesting stats on how to determine what to pin:

    • Over 80% of pins are re-pins. Be that extra 20% that gets re-pinned daily. Pin as much directly from your website as possible, or upload images on their own.
    • Different days of the week have varied “most popular” topics. Mondays are best for fitness, Tuesdays for tech, Wednesdays for quotes, Thursdays for fashion, Fridays for humor, Saturdays for travel, and Sundays for food and DIY crafts.
    • Tutorials, guides, DIY, and recipe pins receive a 42% higher click-through rate than other pins.
    • Medium-light images receive 20 times more re-pins than those that are dark.
    • Images without faces get re-pinned 23% more than those that contain faces.

    #5 – Delete or Optimize Underperforming Pins

    This is a tricky one. While it’s important to only hold onto boards and pins with high engagement (as this helps your profile scores–and hence your website traffic–shoot up), it can be difficult to know when to cut the ties. Why? Because there’s always the risk that you’ll delete a pin too soon and lose out on sudden traffic.

    It’s a marathon, not a sprint. It can take time for your pin to make its way around, due to Smart Feed.

    So how do you get around this?

    For me, I always try to optimize my pins with low engagement (think those with 1 – 2 pins or comments). Then, get promoting.

    One way to do this is by joining some “pinning” trains on social media (Facebook and Google+ groups) where admins post threads encouraging members to pin other people’s pins. Give it a few weeks and see if you gain any response.

    If your pins are very old and outdated with really low engagement, delete them. And if they look spammy, get rid of them!

    Here’s another handy method for you to quickly get rid of your low level content using Board Booster:

    • Create a temporary public board in your Pinterest account. This will be the new home of your low-engagement pins.
    • Using Board Booster’s Pin Mover, set the query to move all pins with less than 2 re-pins to the temporary board. Set tool to search multiple boards and duplicates (this could take any anything up to a few hours!)
    • Run the search. Keep in mind that Board Booster will charge 1 cent for each moved pin.
    • You’ll now see that all the pins in your temporary board have less than 2 re-pins. Delete the board and the pins in them.

    #6 – Make Your Website Pinterest-Friendly

    What’s the use in making your Pinterest the most superbly optimized network ever for your brand if your website isn’t doing its bit?

    You need to make sure that your site is perfectly geared-up to complement your Pinterest. The two need to work hand-in-hand.

    • Use Pin It hover buttons on your content. Remember: the higher engagement on your pins, the more visible you are to Pinterest. This is down to Pinterest Smart Feed, which shows the “higher quality” pins (AKA, those with larger levels of engagement) at the start of a search. Drive engagement on every platform. Take a look at the featured image on this blog post; see how I have the “pin” button? That shows up when people hover over my images. I’m using SumoMe for this.
    • Add a follow button. The more followers, the more chance you’ll receive new re-pins.
    • Include “pinnable” images in every blog post. You know the drill: visually enticing, tall, and with text.
    • Fill out the ALT tag on your images. This is the information that Pinterest pulls in for the Pin description. It needs to be short, interesting, and keyword-rich. Don’t bother repeating the post name. Instead, give an engaging introduction or ask a question to your viewers. Here’s a tutorial on how you can do this. See the ALT text part?

    #7 – Get Social

    As with all digital marketing, community management is vital in raising engagement and boosting traffic. You need to keep it as social as possible and really put the time in to spread the word about your brand.

    • Be responsive. Reply to your comments and like pins of people who have re-pinned your content. Remember to tag their names when responding to comments. Just dedicate about 10 minutes to this per day. It’s totally worth it.
    • Follow people in your niche. In particular, influencers and those who post quality pins.

    #8 – Link Up with Established Pinners

    It’s a foolproof Pinterest tactic. By collaborating, you’ll find it easier to not only curate boards, but also grow your own followers.

    You can do this by:

    • Creating your own collaborative boards and getting others to join you.
    • Joining high-value group boards. Check out pingroupie.com to find some cool ones!

    #9 – Use Promoted Pins

    Promoted pins bring attention to your most important content and helps you to create traffic and engagement campaigns. But if you’re investing money in those pins, you need to make sure you are amplifying their effectiveness.

    Ready for the good news? It’s easy as pie!

    • Use your most compelling images with a text overlay.
    • Include detailed descriptions with a call to action.
    • Promote images with the vertical aspect ratio – the bigger and more dominant, the more noticeable they will be on pinner feeds. The result? More click-throughs. 

    #10 – Keep Up With Changes

    We all know that the Internet is constantly changing, and nowhere moreso than in the world of social media. Now you’ve put in all the leg work, it’s important that you keep on top of it. Be sure to track any changes in Pinterest by monitoring the Pinterest blog. That way, you’ll always be able to react and keep your content fresh and relevant.

    And, hey, presto! You’re now ready to truly harness the power of Pinterest in bringing traffic to your website. With these simple tools, you can now maximize the benefits of this up-and-coming social channel.

    And don’t forget to let me know how you get on in the comments below!

  • Maximising The Value Of Star Performers And Dealing With Bad Apples

    Maximising The Value Of Star Performers And Dealing With Bad Apples

    As managers, our focus is invariably on keeping the team on track, aligned with one another and the mission. But overall performance can be strongly affected by certain individuals; either by outstanding individuals or by ‘bad apples’. These outliers are key to building the dream team and reducing risk.

    So, how can these two extremes be managed to maximise success while eradicating pain points?

    I don’t believe there are many real ‘bad apples’ – intrinsically most people want to do well. Traction, by Gino Wickman, approaches the problem in a more useful way. There are three types of underperformers: the wrong person in the right seat; the right person in the wrong seat; and the wrong person in the wrong seat.

    Wrong person, right seat

    These people might look great on paper, but in practice are a cultural mismatch. To avoid this, keep an eye out for warning signs, for example, staff taking other people outside for ‘chats’ or being negative. You need to confront the individual before it escalates. Negative behaviour can be toxic – your culture risks losing credibility with the rest of the team.

    To tackle it, outline behaviours in reviews, providing examples and evidence. Most people will try and overcome this, or leave of their own will if they’re really not a good fit.

    Right person, wrong seat

    If someone fits the business, but not the role, there are three areas that might be holding them back; self-motivation, self-management, and skills. Often people can be promoted above their capabilities because they show talent in a different role – it’s known as the Peter Principle, that people tend to get promoted to the level of their incompetence. If they have the right motivation and attitude try to up-skill them with training.

    If that doesn’t work look at other roles within the company that would suit them better.

    It can be tempting to leave your star employees to their own devices. But it’s just as important to help them develop and keep them motivated.

    If self-management is the issue, try putting a work-in-progress board above each team member’s desk with all the things they’re working on plus updates. They’re forced to take responsibility for their tasks, and review them regularly!

    Wrong person, wrong seat

    If someone is wrong for the company and the role, and that doesn’t change, you might need to let them go. In these cases, the most important thing is to do things by the book and be generous to your leaver (with notice periods and so forth), for an easier exit in the long term.

    It’s not just about the legal side of things either. Being decent to leavers and keeping them onside (as far as possible) is important for your brand. Disgruntled leavers can cause untold brand damage in the worst cases. When HMV announced mass redundancies to their employees, marketing staff took out their anger publicly on HMV’s own Twitter account.

    Right person, right seat…

    It can be tempting to leave your star employees to their own devices. But it’s just as important to help them develop and keep them motivated. You will need to invest time to understand the different individuals. I used to manage two guys, one of whom a good ‘talking to’ would always push them to prove themselves, whereas for the other it would cause the other to panic and break down!

    Developing goals for high-achievers is important for their development. SMART goals are one option or Traction uses the idea of Rocks with three to seven goals that must be achieved within three months (for companies, teams or individuals).

    Continually monitoring progress is an essential part of that goal-setting process. We use Monthly Business Reviews, one-on-ones looking at highlights and issues from last month and defining objectives for the next, and Crucials, weekly actions crucial to the business.

    Finally, great staff will need rewards to keep them keen and motivated. Feedback and praise are a huge part of that, but pay, bonuses and, perhaps most importantly, promotion, should also be considered. This is especially important for junior staff – if there’s no progression available, you will get leavers.

    Develop a clear promotion framework with bands of salary – once an individual is at the top of their band, progress them to another responsibility. If someone has progressed as far as they can go in the framework, how about letting them manage key areas like a new product launch, giving them real independence and responsibility?

    Where some underperformers can be ‘culture terrorists’, your star performers can fulfil the opposite role, illustrating what success looks like and inspiring others in the team.

    Depending on your business culture, perhaps think about creating some friendly competition, for example, have screens showing people’s achievements against their targets.

    In the end it’s all about culture and values, ensuring that your culture enables success, validates achievement, but also challenges underperformance. Both underperformers and high-achievers play a vital role in realising the culture that emerges in practice – as a manager it’s your job to make sure everyone’s moving in the right direction.

  • How to Create a Custom WordPress Login URL

    How to Create a Custom WordPress Login URL

    During the installation process, WordPress creates two default login URLs. I’m sure you’re already familiar with at least one of these, but the two are:

    • wp-admin.php
    • wp-login.php

    This happens during every WordPress installation. Given that these repetitive login URLs are a potential security risk (more on this later!), it’s somewhat surprising that WordPress doesn’t give users the option to create a custom login URL, don’t you think?

    Well, even if WordPress doesn’t allow you to customize the login URL by default, it is perfectly possible to do so. If you’ve ever wondered how to change the default URLs, read on, as I’m about to show you!

    Why Should I Change the WordPress Login URL?

    Before we begin, though, let’s take a look at three reasons why you might want to create a custom login URL.

    1. Protect Against Brute Force Attacks

    Security is undoubtedly the main reason for webmasters to change their login page – changing login URL protects against the most common type of website security breach, a brute force attack.

    Now, brute force attacks involve exhaustive “guessing” of login credentials until the correct combination is found. This means a brute force attack needs to crack three variables to succeed:

    • Username – don’t choose something obvious, like “admin.”
    • Password – again, avoid the obvious and go for a complex password.
    • Your login URL – the gateway to the WordPress dashboard.

    In other words, when you continue to use the default login URLs, wp-admin and wp-login, you leave yourself more vulnerable – a hacker only needs your username and password to access your site. When you change your login URL, you are making the bad guys work significantly harder.

    It’s also worth pointing out that, even if an attacker can’t correctly crack your login credentials, they can still use a lot of bandwidth in their attempts. Moving your login page combats this problem.

    2. Hides WordPress Vulnerabilities

    Despite powering one-third of the internet, the WordPress platform isn’t perfect. Like any software, WordPress is never 100% immune from bugs and vulnerabilities.

    On one hand, the size of the WordPress community means we have lots of good people working hard to fix any problems. On the other, and largely because of the number of websites covering WordPress news, any security vulnerability gets a lot of press. When news of a known vulnerability breaks, the malicious hackers instantly know where your defences are potentially weak.

    By changing your login URL, you’re protecting yourself against a tell-tale sign that your site uses WordPress, thus distancing yourself from any known problems. This alone won’t keep you safe, of course, but it’s an easy place to start.

    3. Rebrand the Entire Login Screen

    If you run a WordPress-powered membership website, your visitors/customers probably access your content via the login screen. When they’ve paid good money for access, the default login screen is, well, somewhat underwhelming, right?

    The same applies to the login URL – non-WordPress users might also be confused why you’ve gone for wp-admin or wp-login in your URL. It’s not a huge problem, but the devil is in the details, right?

    To solve this problem, many webmasters prefer to switch the default login screen for something more aesthetically pleasing. Hence, they design a custom WordPress login page, complete with a brand new URL.

    How to Change the WordPress Login URL

    With the motivations covered, now it’s time for the practical stuff: In this section, I’m going to walk you through the necessary steps required to customize the WordPress login URL.

    As you’ve probably guessed, this can be achieved with the help of a plugin. There are a number of plugins up to the task, including:

    Today, I’ll be demonstrating how to use the latter: WPS Hide Login. The plugin is super-lightweight, so it won’t slow your website down.

    The plugin doesn’t delete the default URLs; it simply makes them inaccessible. Instead, users will access the WordPress admin via your newly created URLs. This is advantageous as, should you wish to delete the plugin, your website will return to its former state with the default URLs.

    Let’s start by installing the plugin. From the WordPress dashboard, navigate to Plugins > Add New > search for ‘WPS Hide Login.’

    It should be the first plugin returned. When you’ve found it, click Install Now > Activate Plugin.

    A quick word of warning: as soon as you hit Activate, the plugin will block access to the default login URLs – wp-admin and wp-login. The plugin will change the login URL by default to www.example.com/login. Remember this in case you get locked out. And, as soon as you’ve changed the login to your preferred URL, make sure you take note of it. You will not be able to access your website the standard way.

    That warning might sound scary, but it’s just precautionary. I don’t want to be responsible for anyone getting locked out of their website! Fortunately, the plugin is really easy to use.

    The next (and final) step is to navigate to Settings > General. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and you should see a WPS Hide Login section. In the blank field, write your desired WordPress login URL. Then, hit Save Changes.

    Hey, presto! Now, when I attempt to access the default login URLs, my access is denied. Instead, I see this:

    But when I try to visit my chosen login URL, I see the familiar old login screen. And that took, how long to configure? All of 30 seconds?

    It’s also worth pointing out that your new login URL can cause problems if you’re using a caching plugin. To solve this problem, the plugin developer states that you should “add the slug of the new login URL to the list of pages not to cache.” This isn’t necessary for WP Rocket users, as the two plugins are already fully compatible.

    Want More Security?

    It’s worth noting that simply changing your login URL won’t improve your website’s security. It just makes your site harder for the bad guys to detect.

    If you want a plugin with lots of impressive security-enhancing features and functionalities up its sleeve – as well as the ability to customize the WordPress login URL – look no further than iThemes Security Lite.

    A dedicated security plugin like this offers comprehensive all-round protection, which gives you some much-needed peace of mind. And, as one of the best all-in-one security plugins around, I can recommend downloading iThemes Security for a multitude of reasons – you can also consider upgrading to the premium version if you want even more features.

    If you wish to change the WordPress login URL using iThemes Security, here is a quick tutorial. (Because of all the extra security features, this plugin is “heavier” than our first plugin, meaning speed-conscious webmasters might prefer to use the WPS Hide Login plugin. As such, I have presented it as an alternative, rather than the only option.)

    As with before, let’s start by installing and activating the plugin.

    iThemes Security is a far more advanced plugin than WPS Hide Login. Changing the URL is just as easy, but it requires you to sift through a lot more settings to get there. Navigate to the newly created menu item, Security > Settings. Next scroll down to the Hide Login Area section, around two-thirds of the way down the screen. To speed things up, the drop-down go to menu on the right of the screen allows you to quick-jump there.

    Check the Enable the hide backend feature box to expand the section. In the Login Slug field, write your new custom login URL. You should also leave the Enable Theme Compatibility box checked – it does exactly as the name implies! Finally, click the blue Save All Changes button.

    Again, remember to note down your new login URL, as you will no longer be able to use the old ones.

    Final Thoughts

    That concludes today’s tutorial. If you’ve ever wondered how to customize the login URL, well, now you know! Best of all, using the plugins featured in today’s post, you’ll find the process to be quick, easy, and painless. If you have any questions, ask away in the comments section below, and we’ll do our best to help!

  • 15 Pinterest Ideas for Great Social Media Posts

    15 Pinterest Ideas for Great Social Media Posts

    For small business owners, Pinterest is commonly one of the most valuable social platforms online. With upwards of 291 million active users, Pinterest stands out as a popular, high-traffic, and high-converting site for small business owners and marketers in various industries.

    What’s more, since 55% of U.S. shoppers call Pinterest their favorite social media platform, it’s a great place to make sales and earn more clients.

    The only tough part of using the platform is coming up with Pinterest ideas to drive that engagement.

    Fortunately, we’ve got 15 fool-proof formats that will make it easier to come up with Pinterest ideas and use them to your brand’s advantage. Read on.

    15 Pinterest Ideas to Help Your Brand Stand Out Online

    Whether you’re new to the platform or you’re just looking for some simple ways to improve your presence on Pinterest, these 15 Pinterest ideas are a great place to start:

    1. Develop and share how-to posts

    How-to posts make up a large percentage of Pinterest’s total posts.

    Ranging from information on how to cook a whole chicken to video tutorials that demonstrate the construction of pallet chairs, these how-to posts feature a winning formula: they’re engaging, in-demand, and informative.

    As such, how-to posts, guides, and tutorials have a 42% higher click-through rate than any other type of pin on the platform. How’s that for success?

    2. Create various boards relevant to your brand

    Pinterest is a highly visual platform, and it looks best when it’s fleshed out with multiple boards, options, and images. As such, it’s smart to create multiple boards for your company’s Pinterest presence.

    In addition to giving you more chances and places to grab a reader’s attention, these boards also make your profile feel cohesive and professional.

    For best results, keep your boards related to your brand or product, but have fun with them. For an excellent example of a company that does this, check out General Electric.

    The company’s “Hey Girl” board is filled with science-centric “Hey, Girl” memes that are enough to make anyone fall in love.

    3. Interact with other accounts by repinning

    Pinterest can’t exist as a one-way street, and one of the most critical things you can do on the platform is to interact and engage with other brands. When you come across a company you relate to on Pinterest, re-pin their content onto one of your boards.

    In addition to shaking up your content and giving your visitors something fresh to interact with, this also helps build relationships with other brands and strengthen your Pinterest web, so to speak.

    Plus, since 80% of all the Pins on Pinterest are re-pins, you know there’s a high likelihood of your re-pin promoting another re-pin. For best results, use the search bar on the Pinterest home page to search for other content by keyword.

    4. Create custom cover photos for each board

    If you don’t set the cover photos for your various boards, Pinterest chooses them for you. In many cases, these auto-populated photos are poorly cropped or irrelevant to the board itself. As such, it’s critical to put in the effort to choose the images yourself.

    Editorial calendar company CoSchedule does this by creating custom images for each of their boards. Ideal for creating a cohesive Pinterest presence and making your boards visually appealing, custom graphics are a must-have for anyone who wants to grow online with Pinterest.

    5. Play with the shapes of images on your boards

    When it comes to your Pinterest boards, don’t feel like every image you create or re-pin must fall into a cookie-cutter shape. Again, Pinterest is a highly visual platform and adding square, rectangular, and elongated images to your collection is a great way to keep people interested.

    For best results, include a mixture of traditional, square images, and tall images (which research has proven are more eye-catching than wide images).

    6. Make your images more colorful

    Today, images that feature more than one dominant color earn 3.25 times as many repins per image than visuals featuring a single dominant color. This means that, if you’re going to create Pinterest graphics, it’s in your best interests to develop a brand color scheme and stick to it.

    Remember, however, that while color can be an exciting touch, too much of it can easily get overwhelming.

    7. Collaborate with other users and collect Pinterest ideas on group boards

    What’s the point of a social platform if you’re not going to get social with it? One of the biggest benefits of Pinterest is that it allows users to create group boards.

    Once created, these group boards can be used to collect pins, share Pinterest ideas, and create a more dynamic content environment that appeals to readers more closely.

    For best results, only partner with other pinners or brands who complement your company and can add something without making your marketing message seem muddled or confusing.

    8. Use a posting app to schedule your Pins

    While Pinterest might seem like it’s all fun and games, there’s some science involved in the platform, as well. To get the most traction possible from your pins, consider using a post planner or a posting app to post them at the most rewarding times.

    CoSchedule reports that the best times to Pin on Pinterest are Saturdays between 8-11 p.m. and Fridays at 3 in the afternoon. Beyond that, you can also pin between 1-3 p.m. on weekdays, 8-11 p.m., or 2-4 a.m., all of which should promote a spike in your engagement rates.

    9. Use Rich Pins to make interacting with content easier

    Easily one of the biggest things to hit the world of Pinterest in the last few years is the Rich Pin. Unlike traditional pins, which only comprise an image and a snippet of text underneath, Rich Pins feature additional information within the pin itself. To date, there are six different types of rich pins:

    • Place: Place-focused Rich Pins feature the name, address, map, and phone number of a particular place.
    • Product: Product Rich Pins feature availability and “where to buy” information, as well as real-time price.
    • Article: Article pins feature a description of the story, a headline, the author’s name, and an option to save the story for future reference.
    • Recipe: Recipe pins include cooking time, ingredient lists, and serving information so people can decide what to make and when.
    • Movie: Movie Rich Pins contain information like reviews, cast members, and ratings right in the pin.
    • App: App pins allow pinners to download an app without navigating away from the Pinterest app. They are compatible with iOS apps only.

    Bear in mind that, to access Rich Pins, you’ll need to get started by prepping your website. You’ll also need to test your Rich Pins on Pinterest before they go live. It’s a simple process, though, and Pinterest offers support if you get stuck.

    10. Run Pinterest ads to boost engagement

    While few marketers think of advertising on Pinterest, the platform can be a valuable place to do it. Pinterest ads have tremendous potential to increase engagement and draw people to your website or products. To develop your Pinterest ad, you’ll need to follow these steps:

    • Choose one of your best and highest-performing pins. This pin will be seen by a wide selection of people, so it’s critical to choose wisely.
    • Target your pin. When you launch a Pinterest ad, you’ll be able to decide who sees it by setting up targeting, so the right people see it at the right time.
    • Set your budget. Next comes the time when you get to choose whether you’ll pay based on visits to your site or engagement.
    • Track your results. Once you’ve set up your ad, track it to find out what’s working and what’s not.

    11. Put the “Pin it” button on your website and blog

    The best way to make use of social media is to connect your social platforms to the places where your other content “lives,” like your website and blog. To do this, you’ll need to add the “Pin it” button to these places.

    Simple to install and easy for users to interact with, the “Pin it” button allows you to widen the reach of your content by enabling users to share content from your blog or website to Pinterest. This, in turn, makes your audience larger and helps leverage all your content, not just the material you’re physically posting on Pinterest.

    12. Include CTAs in your pins

    To create a pin that gets lots of shares, repins, and engagement, include a CTA within the pin itself. One great place to see examples of this is with financial pins. Check out this example to get a feel for what an in-pin CTA looks like.

    By telling people what to do right inside the pin, it’s easier to promote engagement and spike curiosity.

    13. Create list posts

    List posts are incredibly relevant, valuable, and engaging – wherever they appear. To make the most of your Pinterest content, be sure to create a fair number of list posts. The beautiful thing about these posts is, in addition to the fact that they immediately create reader interest, they’re also relevant for companies in virtually all industries.

    For best results, focus on list topics that showcase the benefits or drawbacks of something. These create emotional responses in your readers and help create an exciting reading experience.

    14. Keep your pins cohesive

    While it’s a bit tougher to adhere to a color theme or design trajectory on Pinterest than it is on another platform, like Instagram, where you have more control, it is possible. Except for the content you re-pin, aim to ensure that the content you share and create adheres to a certain design standard or features a particular color scheme.

    These small considerations, when observed faithfully, create a cohesive and beautiful presence that helps your customers recognize your brand anywhere it appears on the web.

    15. Pin frequently

    There’s no way to rise to the top with Pinterest if you’re not pinning frequently. Experts in the Pinterest engagement industry typically recommend pinning ten times a day.

    While this may seem like an overwhelming number, it can go a long way toward improving your overall presence and giving your followers something to look forward to.

    Plus, the more you pin, the more relevant you’ll be in the fast-changing Pinterest universe!

    Bonus: Create Pins Around Trending Topics

    Once you’ve absorbed the above 15 tips, remember this final thing: trending topics are critical on Pinterest.

    Research shows that creating pins related to trending topics can boost click-through-rate by 94%. Keep your eye on Pinterest’s “popular” section and pin similar content to help your Pinterest presence grow.

    Pinterest Ideas to Help You Grow

    For companies that want to build their online strategy, Pinterest is a great place to start. Simple to use, highly visual, and made for the mobile era, Pinterest represents the new face of marketing, and it will only become more important in the coming years.

    While it can be tough to come up with fresh, new Pinterest ideas that will help your company grow, these 15 are a great place to start.

    From developing pins that focus on trending topics to creating custom board covers, collaborating with other Pinterest users, making your images more colorful, and publishing informative, how-to posts, there are dozens of fantastic ways to stand out on the Pinterest platform and help your brand get noticed.

  • 9 Social Media Marketing Mistakes You Need to Stop Making

    9 Social Media Marketing Mistakes You Need to Stop Making

    It’s literally impossible to market effectively without a heavy social media presence these days, and for some businesses, social media can be enough of a platform to fulfill all marketing goals.

    No matter what you’re looking to market, you absolutely can’t afford to make social media marketing mistakes in an increasingly connected world, so follow these tips to get your message across as effectively as possible!

    #1 Client Comes First

    This is really important to remember. You might want to expand your client base or focus on different products, but remember that your current clients are your followers, and to keep them as clients then you will need to speak to them too.

    This doesn’t mean you can’t market your new stuff and reach out to more people, but never forget to post content directed at your loyal customers.

    #2 Keep Your Word

    To be successful in any business, you need to do what you say you’re going to do, or your client will lose faith, and you will lose them. On social media, this is even more important, as everything is time-stamped and what you said is right there on their screen. If there’s a competition, an announcement, vlog, or new product that you say you will post on Friday, then it really does need to be there on Friday.

    #3 Focus!

    This encompasses a lot of factors. Focus on what you want your customer to do, whether that is to ‘like and share’ or add something to their basket, or sign up for something.

    Don’t ask them to do all three.

    Also, focus on information relevant to you, don’t post random things that are irrelevant, and never forget your target audience in your post – focus on them or your message could be lost.

    #4 Know Your Audience and Engage With Them

    You need to know what your audience wants, and social media is a really great way to get to know them and make them feel valued.

    Respond to comments, like other relevant pages and posts, link back to yourselves on relevant posts so your audience really feels like they know you, and that you care.

    #5 Always Have a Plan!

    Having a plan is essential, followers won’t just come to you. Decide how much you’ll invest – if not in money, but in time – in social media marketing, and stick to it. Plan your content, have a clear strategy, don’t rely on likes for random posts, as those likes may not be from your target audience, or anyone interested in your product.

    #6 Use Tech To Track

    Use everything at your disposal, though google analytics is normally the first step, to see what time, day, and content is attracting the most content, and try to build on that.

    Figuring out what times and whether articles, videos, gifs, or whatever is driving traffic is a great thing to know and build on.

    #7 Use the Right Platform

    If the majority of your users are finding you on Facebook, then focus on that, you don’t need to be on every single platform to be effective.

    There is no use using Snapchat to get through to people on Instagram, you are wasting your time and energy when you could have a time-saving and effective strategy.

    #8 No Fakes

    Everyone can tell when your followers are fake, it’s very simple when your base and your likes are so drastically different. While it may be harder, having an organic base that has supported you and interacts with your feed looks way better to the public.

    #9 Make Sure You Proofread!

    The public in general on social media are extremely unforgiving when it comes to grammar mistakes, and factual errors are so easily checked by google that you will be called out straight away.

    And when you’re looking to market something, whether it’s yourself or a product, you need the trust of a customer, they need to feel that they can put their faith in you.

    That is unlikely to happen if your posts are accompanied by a bunch of negative comments regarding your accuracy.

    You need to appear smart, competent, and reliable, and a great way of doing that is making sure your content is perfect before you post.

    There are some amazing online resources specifically designed to ensure your content is awesome, and there is no good reason not to use them!

    Some of the best ones to ensure grammatical correctness are:

    • Ginger Software– this app is really great for non-native English speakers, as it includes a dictionary, grammar checker, and will even help rephrase complex sentences to ensure your writing is clear and high quality
    • Hemingway App – this is an amazing site for marketing as it emphasizes strong writing styles, removing adverbs, overly long sentences and other awkward features that may appear in your work
    • Type my essay – some people, however, will always prefer a real person looking over their work and providing suggestions, comments, and improvements. For a personal touch from an expert, you can try the following online writing tool.
    • Readability-score – it’s essential to write your marketing posts with your audience in mind. Check the reading level of your text with this website to make sure you’re not treating doctors like thirteen-year-olds or vice versa
    • Edit Minion – this is a new site, but really effective at analyzing short passages and picking up on the common mistakes that spelling and grammar checkers often miss. This is super quick and completely free
    • Assignment help – here experts will review your work and will be able to improve your language and strengthen your message.
    • Autocrit– is an awesome way to review your texts in an in-depth way, that picks up on mistakes a human often doesn’t – like too many adverbs or the passive voice
    • Word count tool – if you’re not using word, this little site is a handy way to monitor the length of your content – you should be aiming for at least 300 words per post, and this can make sure you’re hitting those targets.
    • PhD writers – the tool suggests a professional to look over your work and pick up writing errors that a computer can’t, and offer helpful suggestions.

    As all of these resources are available online, and many of them ae actually free, it would be madness to not utilize all the help you have available to you, and produce the most effective social media marketing ever.

    There are no excuses for inefficient or ineffective social media marketing – follow the above steps and success will follow you.

  • Finding Investment For Your Business: Due Diligence Works Both Ways

    Finding Investment For Your Business: Due Diligence Works Both Ways

    There’s nothing quite the same as experiencing that eureka moment when you decided your idea was more than just a pipedream and it’s time you did something about it.

    Telling your friends and family, brainstorming until you run out of Post-it notes, designing a great business model… these are the first steps towards becoming your own boss, and it feels great.

    That’s when the stress kicks in.

    The majority of entrepreneurs I meet rely on bootstrap finance to kick themselves off, but there comes a time when you really need to think about how you plan on ensuring your business has some steady cash flow to implement the necessary next steps.

    I’ve written a lot about alternative finance and the different routes available for startups today.

    For an investor, willingness to give away a lump sum of cash to a startup who has limited past experience and a very fragmented idea of their financials and future profits is intimidating due to the amount of risk attached to that deal.

    Consequently, investors are very cautious and will ask questions and perform as many checks necessary to inspire enough confidence in your business model to justify their signature on the dotted line.

    It’s hard for startups not to bite the hand off any investor offering much needed capital to facilitate growth. However, this is where a lot of entrepreneurs go wrong.

    This being common knowledge, it’s hard for startups not to bite the hand off any investor offering much-needed capital to facilitate growth.

    However, this is where a lot of entrepreneurs go wrong.

    Due diligence doesn’t just work one way; you need to have enough assurance in your idea, your team and your pitch to make an investment deal work for you.

    When you’re pitching, think about your hook – tell a story and get them excited, don’t just bog them down with figures that may or not come to fruition. Illustrate your passion and remember that, as a startup, all good investors will expect you to fail at first, so never overpromise and under deliver.

    It’s important to demonstrate how your investor can realise their investment by outlining a prospective exit strategy.

    Whilst it’s very important to talk about numbers, scale, growth and margin, don’t leave out how you plan to execute your strategy.

    Ideas in themselves don’t make money. It’s excellent execution that delivers results.

    Appointing an investor to your board is like a marriage, you need to work with them day to day. ​

    As an entrepreneur, you need to know what kind of investor you’re looking for. It’s not just about finding a person with deep pockets to keep financing your company; it’s about finding someone who believes in your product almost as much as you do.

    Appointing an investor to your board is like a marriage, you need to work with them day to day. Whoever you chose is likely to be on the board for years, therefore, you need to consistently work on the relationship, which will take time to nurture.

    It should also be a pre-requisite that your potential investor has experience scaling and selling a business in the same industry as you.

    Remember that the best thing about angels, other than their money, are the contacts they’ve managed to curate over years of experience. The doors that could be opened by appointing an angel investor absolutely have the potential to transform your business.

    By sitting on your board, the investor will play an essential role in discussing and setting the strategic direction of your business. By pulling you away from the day-to-day to focus on the strategic issue of what maximises value creation they will hone your strategic thinking and steer the direction of the business.

    This is exactly why working with the wrong investor could be a major deterrent for your business.

    If you’re in the phase of pitching for investment, be sure to ask every relevant question you can think of can and learn as much as you can about them and their experience, before you make a decision.

    If they’re a right fit, this could be the first step towards success, not only in this round of finance but future rounds (depending on your relationship management).

    On the contrary, if they’re not right, don’t be afraid to walk away, otherwise, you’ll end up with a pile of legal fees trying to get out of a sticky situation.

  • How To Get More Engagement For Your Youtube Channel?

    How To Get More Engagement For Your Youtube Channel?

    Do your research

    YouTube has a great tool, the YouTube Keyword Tool, which reveals the phrases people search and how often. The word “how to” is search over 8 million times a month in Australia!

    This tool will give you some ideas about what the people want and how often they want it. This information is gold when it comes to content planning and video optimisation (see point 2).

    Video optimisation: being as descriptive as possible

    Videos & channel pages can show up in YouTube & even Google search results – if done right, this could lead to heaps of additional exposure!

    To do this, we need to give the YouTube robots as much information as possible so that they can understand our content. Use the research from point 1, do following:

    Write snappy titles

    Try and summaries your title in a short, keyword rich 1 liner. I.e. “VW Gold GTI 2014 Australian Review”. Don’t be afraid to tweak your existing titles

    Write a comprehensive description

    Explain what your video is about. Try to write about 150-300+ words per video.

    Firstly, write a short paragraph which summaries the entire video.

    Then secondly, create additional meatier paragraphs.

    Thirdly, add links to anything relevant such as the official webpage – we do this to try and help user continue their journey once finished.

    Completing this step, will also help improve your chances of being shown as related video. Remember, a picture tells a thousand words and you are talking to a robot – it can’t see what you can see!

    Feature your sparklers!

    If something really cool or someone really famous appears in your video make sure you mention it in your description. Robots won’t know this till you tell them. If you’re talking about a product mention the full name. I.e. ‘VW Golf 2.0 GTI 2014 Review’ is waaaay more descriptive than ‘VW Golf Review’.

    Accurately describe your channel

    Your channel page is like your homepage, it is the gateway to your video content and kind of acts like a content page would in a book.

    With that in mind, it is really important to include a keyword rich description on your YouTube About page as it will help YouTube understand what your channels theme is.

    Encourage users to subscribe

    Subscribers are like votes; the more you have the more important you are. To get more subscribes we need to communicate the value that you have to offer. What’s the benefit if they subscribe? Why should I follow you? You can do this in 3 ways.

    Verbally prompt users at the end of your video to subscribe. Eg. “For more weekly XXXXX tips press subscribe”

    Show an annotation at the end of your video prompting users to subscribe. Do this inside your video manager

    If you have a website or another Social channel then add the ‘YouTube Subscribe Button’ to your website and post regular prompts on your social channels. Be sure to highlight why we should subscribe.

    Be 100% Complete

    It’s all about experience. YouTube channels with 100% information on their profile perform better than those with less. Create an about page. Fill in all your fields. Be as descriptive as you can.

    Engage commenters

    YouTube users love to comment. YouTube knows that higher quality videos tend to have more comments. Therefore, videos with more comments tend to get more exposure.

    Often, channel owners or companies negate to reply as quickly (if at all) as they might on a Facebook page.

    This often leaves users feeling under appreciated. If someone asks question or critiques your content you should engage with them.

    Tag with pride

    YouTube can better understand your video if you write tags that are really relevant to your content. Try to think; what questions does my video help answer? Include these as part of your tags.

    Create lots of short ‘How to’ videos

    We saw earlier how the phrase ‘How to’ was one of the top searched queries on YouTube. The beauty of phrases such as these are that they happen all year round (evergreen).

    If you have the skills to answer a common question then you should look to create a quick video about it.

    Try to do one video per question. For example; ‘How to jump start a car’ or ‘How to pot a plant’, ‘How to re-wire an Australian plug’ or ‘How to clean a Playstation’. Views from videos like these will quickly add up, driving more exposure.

    Build relationships influencers & competing channels

    Try to collaborate with other YouTube users who run similar channels. Comment on their videos and try to offer some extra value with your own knowledge.

    Where appropriate, link to your videos but be careful not to spam – YouTube & the channel manager could remove your comment.

    Post your content on websites & forums

    Outside of YouTube you should also look to be sharing your content in relevant communities such as forums or blogs.

    As a rule of thumb, in forums try to answer questions instead of creating new threads/subjects. To find relevant posts use the ‘search’ function.

    Post regularly & consistently

    YouTube uses a complicated algorithm which probably looks at thousands of factors. One of those is ‘dormancy’ or frequency of update. Where essentially channels which aren’t updated often enough gradually become buried or no longer trusted. Keep your channel regularly updated.

    Try to post weekly, or bi-weekly.

  • How to Improve Your Website Security

    How to Improve Your Website Security

    Websites are easy targets for hackers and adequate security is crucial in order to not only protect the site itself, but also any personal or business data.

    Here are some practical tips to improve your website security:

    Hosting

    As a technical minded person, I can honestly say even I get confused and baffled by the world of hosting. But your hosting company is your first line of defense and how secure your site is depends on the type of hosting you have.

    This of course is made harder by the huge choice of cheap hosting. However, the cheaper options more often than not mean you are sharing your space with tens, hundreds, if not thousands of other sites and, if one of them does something untoward (SPAM anyone) you’ll also be burdened with the consequences.

    Not to mention the potential of being infected by a virus. So choose wisely.

    Password

    Password strength is something that is very often neglected, but is a vital first line of defense. A good method is to have several difficult passwords for different logins…

    • Bank
    • Blog
    • Email
    • Online Subscriptions

    The ideal password should contain a mix of lowercase, uppercase, numbers and special characters, by doing this you can use names and numbers to create complex and memorable passwords. For example, a wife’s name and date of birth could be:

    Helen1983

    H3l3n_*_1983!

    Here’s a link to check how secure your password is: https://howsecureismypassword.net/

    Essential Plugin

    There will always be attempts to break into your blog. If you have a WordPress blog there are several plugins to stop these attacks, the easiest of which is Login Lockdown. This simple plugin limits the amount of times someone can attempt to log into your blog before blocking them completely.

    Updates

    This is another simple yet all too often overlooked part of managing a blog. For those running a WordPress blog you will have seen the update plugin and update WordPress warnings. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not ignore them, these aren’t merely updates to some functionality issue or some additional feature; more often than not these updates contain security patches which if not updated will leave your blog open to attack! So please check your blog and keep it updated.

    Security

    How often have you gone for a coffee, logged into the free WIFI and typed away the username and password?! Did you know that someone could be snooping and picking up your passwords? My advice would be avoid public WIFI if you need to login to your site.

    Further Measures

    Please note that multiple plugins can and will slow down the speed of your site, so do take care when loading them on your site. However, as with your home PC, a firewall serves as a layer between your site and the outside world.

    These plugins require a little more than a basic install and activation, but they are worth considering:

    WP Simple Firewall:

    http://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-simple-firewall/

    This is a simple yet effective plugin. It is relatively new and the lack of a premium upgrade catch makes this one a good plugin to test and secure your site with. Note that if you do install this, you can uninstall Login Lockdown.

    Dealing with SPAM…

    Spam can slow your site down and fill your comments area with garbage! For this I would recommend one of two plugins:

    1. Akismet

    Built in wordpress plugin. Requires you to register a WordPress account.
    https://wordpress.org/plugins/akismet/

    2. Anti-Spam

    Another simple and effective plugin that works really well at minimising spam.
    http://wordpress.org/plugins/anti-spam/

    Hopefully these tips will help you improve your website security.

  • The Touch Points You Can Use To Hire On Values And Build Company Culture

    The Touch Points You Can Use To Hire On Values And Build Company Culture

    Whether it has been consciously designed or not every business has its own unique culture and you can always tell what that culture is by simply spending some time inside the business.

    Regardless of any values you’ll find written on the walls or championed on the website, the truth will out.

    Culture is an atmosphere. Culture is a feeling. It cannot be hidden, and it cannot be cheated.

    Even the most inspirational cultures find themselves under constant threat. Threats from targets not being met, threats from competitors, threats from growth. Yes, growth is a serious threat to any culture, for it often leads to new people entering the workplace.

    With new people, come new dynamics and consequently new challenges.

    So how do we navigate the risks involved with bringing new people into your business?

    Whilst CVs have proven themselves to be ideal for understanding a candidate’s experience and skills, embellishments aside, they offer little insight in terms of what really makes a person tick.

    That’s why we have interview processes, as ultimately we are looking to answer one simple question with any new hire: can we trust them?

    Trust them to deliver, to fit in, to add value, to take the business forward.

    Most people wouldn’t get married to someone after the first date, so how do we establish enough trust to make a decision to hire?

    Today, most businesses try to adopt a ‘hire slowly, fire fast’ approach to recruitment, getting to know candidates better before making a decision, yet so much of our hiring processes are built to establish reliability, not trust.

    And even the ‘fire fast’ aspect can create some accountability problems for a business. Imagine for a moment that you were unable to fire at all. What would your recruitment process look like as a result?

    It may sound crazy but Next Jump has adopted such an approach. A job for life. Their attitude to hiring can be found on their culture page which simply states: “We don’t hire employees; we adopt family members. We don’t fire… we coach.”

    Whilst this approach may not suit everyone, there is much to learn from their approach to hiring and talent development and it all starts with values.

    Just as culture eats strategy for breakfast, values trump performance. Values are the currency of trust.

    So, why values? Taking the literal meaning, values are “principles or standards of behaviour; one’s judgement of what is important in life”. Sounds pretty simple, right? So all we need to do is ask people what their values are and we will know if they are a fit for our business or not… not quite.

    Values only manifest themselves in our behaviours, which in turn determine the actions we take and the results we achieve.

    This is true not just in business, but in life.

    What do values come from?

    So, how are values formed? Our experiences in life inform our beliefs, which in turn shape our values.  Once established our values rarely change and provide us with an operating framework, guiding all of what we do. It is for this reason values are critical to the success or failure of any new hire.

    Just as culture eats strategy for breakfast, values trump performance. Values are the currency of trust.

    So how do you hire to values? The law of attraction will play a big part in this process, so try not to make your company, or a role within it, appealing to everyone or chances are you will fail to attract the people you really want.

    Start with a wish list, but along with skills and experience spend equal time thinking about ideal personality type and behaviours.

    What characteristics are you not willing to compromise on?

    Consider every point of engagement as a potential filter to eliminate those who do not match your wish list.

    Once you know the type of person you want you’ll need to create a job description, but don’t limit that description to tasks. Take the opportunity to convey the experience of working in your business. What does an average day in your company really feel like?

    Every touchpoint with a candidate is an opportunity to demonstrate your culture and express what makes your business unique. Think about how you want your dream candidate to feel when they read the job description – you never get a second chance at a first impression.

    Equally, consider every point of engagement as a potential filter to eliminate those who do not match your wish list. Don’t be afraid of putting people off. The more unsuitable candidates you can eliminate at this stage; the more time you can spend getting to know those who do possess the qualities you are looking for.

    Crafting interview questions

    Next, you’ll need to think about your interview process and technique. I would suggest always setting some form of challenge to respond to. This can be something relatively simple that’s designed to test a candidate’s attention to detail or you can ask them to prepare a short presentation to gain the first-hand experience of their approach to problem-solving.

    The way we approach one problem is typically representative of how we approach all problems, so this exercise can be very insightful. You should also look to include focused, open-ended interview questions to encourage storytelling, whilst mixing things up with the occasional high leverage question to gain insight into how they see themselves.

    Storytelling questions such as ‘tell me about a time you did x or y’ can be related directly to your company values and will encourage candidates to draw from real-life experiences. High leverage questions are designed to provide maximum insight with minimum effort and again can be linked to your values.

    Storytelling questions can be related directly to your company values and will encourage candidates to draw from real-life experiences.

    A great example of a high leverage question comes from The Luck Factor by Dr Richard Wiseman, which argues that people who see themselves as lucky are generally happier and easier to work with than those who don’t. The question, in this case, would be: ‘how lucky are you on a scale of naught to 10?’

    You should also include questions designed to see beyond a candidate’s response to the role on offer. Asking them about what their ideal job would be can expose hidden skills and talents which your company may later benefit from.

    Finally, think about how you accept a successful candidate into your business. Acceptance is another opportunity to make a lasting impression, so make it memorable.

    Also, be sure to say no to those candidates who are unsuccessful.

    Not only will they value hearing from you, but your brand reputation will get a boost from treating every candidate like a human being.

    Of course, the process doesn’t stop at saying ‘yes’ – in reality, that is just the beginning. Your induction process needs just as much thought and attention as your selection process.

  • The Importance Of Instagram Videos And How To Use Them For Your Business

    The Importance Of Instagram Videos And How To Use Them For Your Business

    Are you wondering how to set up Instagram videos and how you can make your business more visible?

    Are you wondering how to make images and videos work for your business? Then let me tell you the importance of Instagram videos and how to use them for your business.

    Instagram is not only for those in the food or fashion industry; it is for all businesses big or small.

    It is one of the many social networking platforms that you could use for your business to take pictures and videos then share them on Instagram or other social media networks like Facebook, Twitter and the likes. Learn more about this social platform and you will see the importance of videos marketing and how to include it into your marketing strategy.

    Instagram is centered on visual content where users can edit or post photos and short videos of up to 15 seconds but no text updates like what is commonly used in Facebook or Twitter.

    How to Create an Instagram Account

    Before you sign up for an account, you need to download the app to your mobile device since Instagram is a mobile-only app. It is a free app and can be found in both Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. There are two ways of signing up; one is by connecting through Facebook and your personal information is automatically gathered by Instagram which includes the email you used for Facebook and your profile picture. And the second is by putting in your email address which is preferred by some to keep personal and business information separate.

    Just like most social networking platforms, you would have the option to edit your profile information and the likes. But in this article, we will focus on making Instagram videos and how to use them for your business.

    The first thing you need to know is how to navigate the app. It is pretty simple since at the bottom of the app are the five buttons where you need to go, and these are the Home tab, Search tab, a Camera button, an Activity tab and, of course, your Profile tab.

    How to Create an Instagram Content

    As I mentioned earlier, Instagram is all about photos or videos. Just tap on the camera button and it will ask you if you want to take a new photo or a new video, or simply select something from your phone’s gallery. After you tap on the next button, you can already start editing your photos or your video.

    The next tab is for the Filters, Lux, and Tools. Filters are where you can scroll through photo filters that are available to you and help you to change the colors of your images, making them more attractive. Clicking on the desired filter will automatically change your photo, so it is easier to choose the right one. When you tap on the name of the filter, it will show you a slider to adjust its transparency. This is how the #nofilter came to be because it shows your true photo without being enhanced by Instagram filters.

    The Lux will adjust the sharpness or exposure of your photos. The Tools section, however, has several options like Brightness, Contrast, Saturation and Highlights which are all self-explanatory. And there is an Adjust feature which straightens or rotates your images. Vignette will darken your photo’s edges and Tilt Shift will blur the outside of the images.

    Instagram videos are a bit similar to the options for your images but with slight differences like instead of 3 options, Instagram videos have 4 options.  The first option is still about adding Filters. Second is how the video will fit on the screen. Third is choosing a cover frame. And fourth is all about the audio if you want to mute it or not.

    Now, why is learning to put an Instagram video so important for your business? Because of the ways you can interact with your target audience and your subscribers:

    #1 Instagram Direct – lets users interact privately. Just go to Instagram’s homepage, that’s where you can find Instagram Direct. It lets you send a photo/video which you upload from your gallery. And if you want to send a message instead, you can choose the Send Message option, and you will be taken to a chat screen where you can type your message.

    #2 Mentions – just like in Twitter, Instagram lets you @MentionSomeoneHere which can call the attention of whomever you “mention” on your Instagram post.

    #3 People Tagging – just like in Facebook, Instagram allows users to “Tag” a certain photo or video to widen the scope of your image or Instagram video.

    #4 Liking Photos or Instagram Videos – is the simplest way to connect with someone in Instagram. But instead of the “thumbs up” sign of Facebook, Instagram has a “heart” symbol to show you like the photo or the Instagram videos you’ve come across with.

    #5 Instagram Comments – lets you comment on photos and videos via a simple tap on the comment button which will take you to a text box where you can type your message, then hitting the Send button will complete the Instagram comment.

    #6 Hashtags – lets other users find your #Instagram content like what’s being used in Twitter and Facebook already. These #hashtags let you check out the competition or those on a similar niche as your brand.

    #7 Photo Locations – allow users to add their location which will automatically map out where you’ve been and generate local followers and of course gain additional interaction. You can also see nearby locations which could attract more customers.

    How to Advertise on Instagram

    Another way that you can use Instagram for your business is through advertising which will appear on the users’ home feeds. Advertising on Instagram can be done with Photo Ads, which allows you to posts photos. But since it is used in advertising, there is an added option to “Learn More” about the “Sponsored Label” found in the photo.

    Instagram videos can also be used as Video Ads which is similar to the Photo Ads since it has the “Learn More” button and shows the “Sponsored Label”. The difference between a standard Video post and an Instagram Video Ad is that the Video Ad has now a 60 seconds length, while your usual video post is only 15 seconds long.

    If you want to use multiple photos, you can use Carousel Ads where users can swipe through the photos and see more of what you are trying to advertise.

    Creating an Instagram content could be challenging at times, but your photo or your Instagram videos can reach a wide array of your targeted audience which is great for any business or brands. It allows you to share a visual story which could get your subscribers wanting more. Instagram can showcase your creativity which can lure your target audience to your business.

    Instagram could give your business that much needed boost because with these photos and Instagram videos, you can disseminate information about ongoing events and promotions. Or even embed these Instagram posts on your website to show your followers and subscribers that your brand or business has an Instagram account, and they are more likely to follow you there too.

    Do remember that links do not work on Instagram. It will only work on your profile, so no use of putting it in the captions or photo comments. Instead add a note on the Instagram video captions or on the photo comments that the website link can be found on your profile. This can help your audience to a specific webpage.

    Wrapping it Up

    After creating an Instagram account, be sure to learn how to fully navigate it properly so that you can abuse the full potential of Instagram and how it can help your business. Use Instagram Direct, Mentions and People Tagging to maximize the reach of your photos and Instagram Videos. Be constant in liking photos or videos to interact with your audience.

    Links don’t work in Instagram comments or captions, and best to put it in your profile instead. Use #hashtags and steer clear of the 30 hashtags allowable in Instagram. Keep it to a minimum. Don’t be a hashtag abuser.

    Make use of the photo locations options to entice local subscribers to your brand or business.

    If you’ve got the resources, then delve into the world of Instagram advertising and explore even more possibilities to broaden your reach.

    Use other social networking platforms to share your photos and Instagram videos. Use automation if you have and if you can. Be diligent in sharing; schedule it if you know how. Hope you’ve seen the importance of Instagram videos and how to use them for your business.