Social Media Marketing Archives

Hand holding a phone with an Instagram image of a bridge in a forest.

Top 10 Tips to Quickly Build Your Instagram Following

This article was updated in March 2024.

In ever evolving world of social media, Instagram still stands out as one of the main platforms for organisations to build their brand, to connect with their audience, foster engagement, and ultimately, drive growth. Instagram remains a great place for businesses to showcase their personality, values, and offerings too, if you do it right.

To help you harness the full potential of Instagram and propel your brand to new heights, we’ve compiled the top 10 tips that cover everything from using hashtags effectively to sharing captivating visuals and engaging with your audience.

Instagram in 2024

But first a little about the app in 2024. Instagram is a photo and video sharing app owned by META Platforms. There are currently 2 billion users, and 62% of them access the platform at least once per day, spending an average of 33 minutes there. Over 90% of users on Instagram follow a business, but two-thirds of profile visits to businesses come from people who aren’t following that business. The largest segment of Instagram users are millennials aged between 18 – 34 with a pretty even split between men and women (leaning slightly more to men than women).

Since its launch in 2010, the platform continues to grow and evolve. Over the past few years, Instagram has undergone significant transformations and introduced new features aimed at enhancing user experience and providing more opportunities for businesses to engage with their audience. These changes have included the launch of Reels in August 2020 (replacing Instagram TV), offering users a platform to create short, videos set to music.

Additionally, Instagram has expanded its shopping capabilities, allowing businesses to sell products directly on the platform through Instagram Shop, and product tagging in posts and Stories. Other notable updates include broadcast channels that allow companies to directly engage with followers at scale. Alongside these advancements, Instagram has prioritized user privacy and safety by implementing features to limit unwanted interactions and filter abusive content, ensuring a more secure and enjoyable experience for all users.

Brands that benefit most from Instagram (and those that don’t)

Brands that benefit most from using Instagram are those in visually-driven industries such as fashion, beauty, travel, and food, where showcasing products or experiences can engage audiences effectively. Lifestyle brands can leverage Instagram’s visual platform to inspire and connect with followers, while e-commerce businesses can drive sales through product promotion and shoppable posts. Additionally, personal brands, influencers, and nonprofits can utilize Instagram to build communities, raise awareness, and foster meaningful connections with their audience. Ultimately, brands that prioritize visual storytelling, community engagement, and authenticity are best positioned to thrive on Instagram’s dynamic platform.

While Instagram can be a valuable platform for many brands, certain businesses may not benefit as much from having a presence on the platform. These include highly regulated industries like finance or healthcare, B2B companies that may struggle to engage their audience, niche industries with limited visual content, brands offering low-engagement products or services, and those with limited resources for content creation. For these businesses, other marketing channels may be more effective in reaching their target audience and achieving their marketing goals. Ultimately, it’s essential to carefully consider whether Instagram aligns with the specific needs and objectives of your brand before investing time and resources into building a presence on the platform.

10 tips to build your brand in Instagram

Master the Art of Hashtags: Hashtags are the bread and butter of Instagram—they help users discover new content and connect with like-minded individuals. To maximize the reach of your posts, use a mix of 3-5 popular and niche hashtags relevant to your brand and industry. Research trending hashtags and incorporate them strategically into your captions to increase your visibility and attract new followers.
Share Stunning Visuals: They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and on Instagram, this rings especially true. Invest in high-quality photography and create visually appealing content that stops users mid-scroll. Experiment with different styles, compositions, and editing techniques to find a visual aesthetic that resonates with your audience and aligns with your brand identity.
Embrace Instagram Stories and Reels: Instagram Stories offer a dynamic and ephemeral way to engage with your audience and share content in real-time. Take advantage of features like polls, questions, and interactive stickers to spark conversation and encourage engagement. Whether you’re giving a behind-the-scenes look at your business, sharing product demos, or hosting Q&A sessions, Instagram Stories are your secret weapon for driving engagement and building connections with your audience. Instagram Reels are a feature within the Instagram app that allows users to create and share short-form videos, typically lasting from 15 to 60 seconds.
Curate a Beautiful Feed: Your Instagram feed is your digital storefront—it’s the first thing users see when they visit your profile, so make it count. Create a visually cohesive and aesthetically pleasing feed by maintaining a consistent colour palette, theme, and visual style. Use tools like Instagram’s grid preview feature or visual planners to plan your content in advance and ensure a seamless browsing experience for your followers.
Share Compelling Client Stories: Your clients are the heart and soul of your business, so why not showcase their success stories on Instagram? Share testimonials, case studies, or user-generated content featuring happy customers to build social proof and credibility. Not only does this humanize your brand, but it also fosters a sense of community and trust among your audience.
Engage Authentically: Building a loyal following on Instagram isn’t just about posting great content—it’s also about engaging authentically with your audience. Take the time to respond to comments, answer questions, and acknowledge user-generated content. Show your followers that you’re listening, and they’ll be more likely to engage with your brand in return.
Follow, Like, and Comment: Don’t be afraid to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty on Instagram. Follow accounts in your industry, engage with their content, and leave thoughtful comments to spark conversation. This not only helps you connect with like-minded individuals but also increases your visibility and attracts new followers to your profile.
Use Linking Strategically: While Instagram’s bio is the only place where you can include clickable links, make the most of it by using it strategically. Direct users to your website, blog, or landing page by including a clear call-to-action in your bio. You can also use features like Instagram Shopping or swipe-up links in Instagram Stories (if you have over 10k followers) to drive traffic and conversions.
Share Behind-the-Scenes Content: Give your audience a glimpse behind the curtain and show them what goes on behind the scenes of your business. Whether you’re sharing photos from a team brainstorming session, a sneak peek of an upcoming product launch, or a tour of your office space, behind-the-scenes content humanizes your brand and builds a deeper connection with your audience.
Collaborate and Cross-Promote: Partnering with influencers, brands, or other businesses in your niche can be a powerful way to expand your reach and attract new followers. Look for opportunities to collaborate on co-branded content, giveaways, or Instagram takeovers to expose your brand to new audiences and leverage each other’s followers.

In conclusion, mastering Instagram for your brand requires a strategic approach and a commitment to authenticity, creativity, and engagement. By implementing these top 10 expert tips—from mastering the art of hashtags to sharing compelling client stories—you’ll be well on your way to growing your brand on Instagram and connecting with your audience in meaningful ways. So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and start building your brand on Instagram today or get in touch with us so that we can do that for you!

6 Best, Scroll-Stopping First Post Ideas to Introduce Your Business on Instagram

Mastering Social Media to Grow Your Small Business in Terrace and Kitimat

Next week, Mhairi will be heading up to Northern BC to present ‘Mastering Social Media to Grow Your Small Business” at the Terrace and District Chamber of Commerce on February 27th then on to the Kitimat Chamber the next night. The Terrace event is full but there are still a few spots in Kitimat. Click on the link to register below.

Just because you know what social media is, does not mean that you necessarily understand how to use it to grow and develop your business. This workshop focuses on understanding social media, what is it and how it’s connecting people.

Learning Objectives:

Learn how/if social media should be an important part of your marketing strategy.
Understand what opportunities are available for you to leverage social media for business growth and prospecting.

Tickets: FREE
Light dinner included

Terrace and Kitimat businesses welcome!

Marketing Predictions and Digital Trends for 2018

Ten years into the great social media experiment and 2017 was the year we saw Facebook hit the 2 billion user mark, the proliferation of real-time video across social platforms and the continuing email renaissance. With 2018 coming up fast upon us what better time to reflect on the past year, to dust off the crystal ball and to predict what 2018 will bring for marketers.

This post is divided into five sections to mirror the disciplines Out-Smarts focuses on websites trends, SEO – getting found when people search online, email marketing, social media and overall marketing strategy.

Website Design Trends

We know that Google is going to continue to emphasize the importance of mobile in 2018 so expect to see function taking precedence over form with a focus on usability and minimalist site navigation and content proliferating. It’s going to be interesting to see how the content is king crusaders balance their obsession with publishing content with minimalism and mobile. Expect to see more valuable content related to buyer intent rather than simply content for the sake of putting something out there.

Will 2018 be the year when small businesses finally catch up? 50% of small businesses still don’t have a website; we’re hoping this new year will be the one the laggards finally catch up. It is interesting that social media adoption for small business is much higher than website adoption. The popularity of social media is likely because of a low barrier to entry of social platforms. However, it is important to consider that you don’t own your Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter pages (or any other social media presence you might have) the social media company owns it. What happens if they switch directions or go out of business? A website belongs to your business, not to a third party.

Watch out for more animation (logos in particular) and websites that incorporate GIFs in 2018 too – hopefully, they’re less cheesy than their Flash predecessors. Artificial Intelligence is going to be everywhere in 2018 too as enhancements make Chatbots get better and better at answering questions and simulating conversations with website visitors.

Search Engine Optimisation

Don’t let anyone tell you that keyword research is no longer important. It is and will continue to be, but there will be a shift in 2018 to focus more on semantic search, buyer intent and topics rather than specific keywords. SEOs will focus more on having their site show up at the right time when people are actually considering a purchase, rather than having the site show up to attract particular personas.

Another aspect that should be on your SEO radar in 2018 is voice search which means you need to hone your long tail keywords, i.e. keyword phrases that are hyper-specific to what you are selling.

Image search will continue to grow in 2018 so now might be the time to make sure all the images on your website have well thought out and optimized alt tags.

Email Campaigns

The email renaissance will continue in 2018. Get ready to watch videos embedded directly in email campaigns. Technological enhancements in email clients will continue to lead to more and more email apps that support embedded video. Right now less than half of all email clients can play embedded videos but thanks to Apple mail, iOS and Samsung this is changing. Up until now, most senders have opted to embed a fake play button in the email with a link to the video on a separate site or by GIF.

Including video in emails can lead to big increases in open rates – Campaign Monitor

Watch for more sophistication in list segmentation too. Segmenting campaigns so that specific audiences receive emails that contain content tailored to their unique perspective.

Social Media

2017 was the year of streaming video in social media; LinkedIn In and Twitter followed Facebook Live’s lead and began supporting live streaming video content. In 2018 watch out for growing adoption of these technologies and more creative live streams.

Over 8 billion videos or 100 million hours of videos are watched on Facebook every day (TechCrunch, 2016). – via Buffer
Not doing short video is not an option – Kat Hahn

In 2018 we will also see the increased adoption of short-lived content, content that’s only available for a short period of time before it disappears, – like Instagram stories and Snapchat. Marketers must start developing strategies to maximize the reach and impact of ephemeral content as well as considering tactics to get this content noticed.

On platforms like Instagram and Facebook, only a tiny percentage of followers actually see the content you share on your page. To get noticed in 2018, you will need to invest in ads on these platforms. Consider video ads to spice things up a little.

Social media analytics, measuring tools and management solutions will become more sophisticated in 2018 with an emphasis on enterprise social marketing integrating all platforms.

How Marketing Strategies will Evolve in 2018

I am going to go out on a limb here and predict that 2018 will be the year that our obsession with all things digital and only digital will end. It’s also going to be the year we’re going to start calling our discipline marketing again (rather than digital). Marketing in 2018 will encompass all aspects of the marketing mix, both online and off and marketers will use the means most likely to help them attract their target audience.

Consider this, there are 65 million business pages on Facebook, 90% of businesses use social media. These are substantial numbers, but for marketers this means that it is becoming increasingly difficult, not to mention more expensive, to get noticed. If you want to attract your target audience’s attention in 2018, then widen your horizons and consider sending them a direct mail piece (depending on the audience) in a nice coloured envelope with handwritten wording. It will likely be the only physical mail the recipient gets that day (or maybe that week or month!), they’re going to open it, and if your copy is effective they will act on it!

Conclusion

2018 is going to be an interesting year; technological advancements will continue to speed up. To be effective as marketers, it’s going to be important not simply to jump on the bandwagon of the next big thing but to consider options strategically and with your target audience in mind (rather than from a product or service-centric perspective). That said, video popularity has been growing year over year and won’t stop. Cisco predicted that video would account for 80% of internet traffic by 2020. So if you do nothing else, consider how you might incorporate video into your digital approach in 2018.

How to Advertise on Facebook – Updated

Okay, so you’ve developed a presence on Facebook for your business and want to start using Facebook Ads, but where do you start? How do you advertise on Facebook? When you start delving into Facebook’s advert guides, it can all feel a bit confusing, but don’t fret! We are here to help guide you through the process. Since our last post about how to advertise on Facebook, their Adverts are still a very strong tool, but now with more options. Follow these tips and you will be up and be advertising on Facebook in no time.

Facebook Reach / Audience

Before we begin, let’s take a look at Facebook’s stats, which are quite impressive. Back in April of 2012, Facebook bought Instagram and as a result, it has opened up your reach to a wider audience. This means you can link your business’ Instagram page to your Facebook Advert account and your ad will automatically show up on both platforms. Together Facebook and Instagram have almost 2 billion users visiting their sites each month. Even with competitors like Twitter, LinkedIn and Snapchat, Facebook is still number one when it comes to the number of users and potential consumers.

Do You Have a Facebook Business Page?

Before you start, make sure you have a Facebook Business Page as you cannot create ads via your personal Facebook page. While there are a number of ways to access Facebook ads, we recommend signing up for “Business Manager” and creating an “Adverts Manager” account to design and manage your ads. One of the benefits of doing it this way is that it allows businesses to give access to multiple people working together on an advert campaign and to easily see who is working on what. You can even assign your employees specific role-based access to adverts in order to control what they can see on your account. Once you’ve signed up for an Adverts Manager account it will walk you through each step.

Determine Your Marketing Objective

Every campaign starts with an objective so determine what yours is. Not sure? Facebook helps you determine your marketing objective by defining each type of objective they offer to help guide you to the outcome you want for your campaign. When you are setting up your ad campaign, you will see a list of all the possible objectives (see image below). You can click on each objective for its definition to help you decide which one is best for you and your business goals.

For more detailed information, read Facebook’s “Advertising Objectives” article in their help section.

Some of these options offer what Facebook calls a “split test” which is also known as A/B Testing. It allows you to create two adverts to test and compare which one does better. Speaking of testing, it’s always a good idea to test two adverts at the same time. They should only have one to two different variables such as different images. Run them for 1-2 days and see which one does better.

Define Your Audience & Advert Placements

After you have identified your objective, the next step is to identify your target audience. Facebook makes it easy and steps you through the process. This is where you will spend most of your time defining whom it is you want to reach with your ads.

You choose your audience based on demographics, their behaviours, interests, and/or their contact information. There is a handy-dandy Audience definition (graph) to the right-hand side of the audience page (see the image below for an example). Use it to gauge how well you’ve defined your target audience. It will tell you the difference between how many people you are actually reaching versus how many people you could be reaching. To reach more of your targeted audience, increase your bids and budget.

You can also choose where your adverts will be placed or you can let Facebook automatically select this for you. We recommend that you select “Automatic Placements” when you first start out. The available placements are:

Facebook feeds (mobile and desktop)
Facebook right-hand column
Instagram
Audience Network

Know Your Ad Budget

It’s important to know your budget before you start creating your advert campaign. Facebook has an ad for every budget making it affordable for everyone. It’s also important to know that there are two different types of budgets: Daily Budgets and Lifetime Budgets.

A Daily Budget is what you’re willing to pay for an ad per day. What you spend on the first and last days are prorated depending on the run time for those days. Meaning what time did the ad start on day one and what time did it end on the last day. Those two times may be different which is why the cost is prorated. The default minimum cost per day is still $1.00 for Daily Budgets. However, that doesn’t mean you’ll be charged $1.00 every day your campaign runs. For example, one day it might be $1.50 and another day $0.50 to maintain an average daily budget of $1.00. You can increase your daily budget to improve your ad’s exposure and reach. Remember, Facebook will always let you know the maximum amount you’ll spend during your campaign, so you don’t have to worry about going over budget.

A Lifetime Budget is what you’re willing to pay over the duration (lifetime) of an ad. Facebook tries to apply your budget evenly over the length of time the ad runs. The default minimum cost for Lifetime Budgets is $30.00, and like the Daily Budget, you can increase it to any amount you want which will improve your ad’s exposure and reach. Whether your ad runs for a week or a month, the cost will be at what you set it.

If you are just starting out, using the default Daily Budget option of $1.00 or even increasing it to $5.00 is more than enough to test the waters and see what works and what doesn’t. You can always change your budget once you’ve figured out which ad campaigns have worked the best for you.

Schedule Your Ad

Don’t forget to choose a schedule. There are two options:

Run my advert set continuously starting today.
Set a start and end date.

It’s up to you which option you choose, but if you’re someone who is a tad forgetful, then choose a specific time range. You can always stop the ad whenever you want. Remember the length of time your ad runs, also affects your budget. The longer it runs, the higher the cost. We recommend that you run an ad for no more than 3 weeks as Facebook ads tend to get stale by that point. You can always replace it with a new ad campaign with fresh images and text.

If you’re wondering how Facebook determines the cost of their ads, well it’s a bit complex and it doesn’t help that Facebook is constantly adjusting their formula. The exact cost associated with your advert being shown to someone is determined in Facebook’s Advert Auction. To learn more about it, read “Understanding how bidding and our ads auction work.”

Choose a Facebook Advert Format

Facebook adverts offer more format options than ever before. There are five to choose from: Carousel, single image, single video, slideshow, or Canvas. While most of these formats are self-explanatory, Carousel and Canvas are not.

Carousel lets you show up to 10 images and/or videos in a single ad. When people view your ad, they can scroll through the carousel cards. One of the benefits of Carousel is that it lets businesses tell a story through carousel cards or to showcase one long image that is divided between the carousel cards.

Canvas is Facebook’s newest format and it allows you to combine both images and video. You can tell a more in-depth story about your products and/or services. It is customizable and there is no one way to create a Canvas ad. If you choose to design a Canvas ad, it’s best to plan in advance what type of experience you want to create for the viewer and to have all your media materials ready in advance.

Your ad will appear on desktop, mobile news feed, feature phone, and Instagram, so it’s important to follow Facebook’s guidelines when designing your ad. You want to ensure it looks good everywhere it appears whether it’s on Facebook, Instagram or your mobile phone. Listed below are the recommended design guidelines to ensure your ad displays the way you want it to:

Recommended image size: 1,200 x 628 pixels
Image ratio: 1.9:1
Text: 90 characters
Headline: 25 characters
Link description: 30 characters
Your images should have minimal amounts of text. Facebook adverts that contain images with little to no text tend to cost less and have better delivery than adverts with image text. So, what count’s as text in your advert image? Logos, watermarks, and numbers.

For a comprehensive list of design guidelines for each marketing objective, read Facebook’s “Adverts Guide.”

It’s easy to use your own images. Just remember to size them properly beforehand otherwise, they won’t upload or they will be cropped. Don’t have any of your own photos? You can use the free stock images provided by Shutterstock via Facebook.

There are three areas on your advert to add text: Text, Headline, and Link Description. You don’t have to use all of them. What text you include is up to you, but it’s always a good idea to have a call to action. You can even use Facebook’s “Call to Action” button which offers a number of options such as contact us, learn more, download, signup, and etc.

You now have the option to add a Facebook Pixel to your ad campaigns. The Facebook Pixel is a piece of code that you install on your website. It allows you to more effectively measure the performance of your ad campaigns and it helps you determine exactly who sees your ads. Learn more about it in our blog post, “How do Facebook Pixels Work – Getting Set Up.”

While designing your ad, there is an advert preview pane to the right that updates every time you make a change. There is also a drop down menu that shows you what your ad looks like on other platforms or you can use the arrow buttons to scroll through. You can experiment with your ad’s format, images, videos and text until you are satisfied with the results. You can make your advert as fancy or simple as you like.

Tracking The Results of Your Facebook Ads

Okay, so you’ve created your ad, hit the “Place Your Order” button and it has been reviewed and accepted by Facebook. What’s next? Track and measure the performance of your advert campaign using Facebook’s adverts analytics tools. Information is presented in easy and simple visual reports. Your report includes topics such as reach, actions taken, details on the audience that you reached and more. Reports are also tailored based on which marketing objective you chose. Use these analytic tools to determine if your campaign was a success and met your objectives and goals. The data can also inform your future campaigns.

Are you ready to get started? Need help? Just let us know. Facebook ad creation and management is just one of the many services we provide.

About the writer: Gloria Botelho is a practicum student from the Digital & Mobile Marketing program at Simon Fraser University. Gloria lives in East Van and is obsessed with cats, flowers, street art and all things Portuguese.

Listing Your Business on Google

Is your business listed on Google?

Listing your business on Google is a great way to help you get discovered and it also goes a long way to validate your business. In Canada most of us use Google to search the Internet so having a presence there is vital.

To find out if your business is listed on Google, simply Google the name of your business. If the right results show up on the right hand side of the page then you’re listed thanks to Google. Checking this before setting up a new one helps avoid the headache of duplicate listings.

Note that if you’ve ever set up a Google + page then you likely have a Google business listing and you may have 2 since Google also set up a bunch for every business it could find.

Listing your business on Google / claiming Your Google Listing

Once you’ve determined whether you have a page or not, go here to create your listing OR click on ‘Claim this listing’ (you’ll find this below your phone number on the results to the right of your screen when you Google your business name).

Google will step you through a process to verify your name address and location. Make sure all of the details are correct then click on the check box to verify that you are authorized and that you agree to the terms of service. Google will then call you with an automated message giving you the four digit code you need to complete the verification process.

Note that this will set up your business listing AND your Google+ page as well as Google maps.*

Once you are set up you should add more detail about your business along with photos, and your logo to brand your presence.

*It is important to differentiate between Google+ which is Google’s attempt at a social network and Google My Business which is a directory. You should have both and they should be linked so when you are setting them up remember to login and use your Google account when stepping through the process (the one you use for Adwords and Analytics too!).

Why you should have a Google Business Listing

1. Gets your business discovered online locally – and this is huge
2. It shows the world that you are for real!
3. Provides valuable links from Google back to your website
4. Helps your customers quickly and easily find you both online and off

If you need some help with this get in touch.

Social Leadership – What It Means To Me

Yesterday I was invited, at the last minute, to join a panel of articulate and gifted women to present and discuss women in leadership for the Women in Leadership Foundation mentorship program here in Vancouver. I was honoured to be part of such an esteemed group that included Cindy Hogg – Moving the Human Spirit, Agnes Garaba – SAP – Head of HR Canada, Stephanie Redivo – GIRLsmarts4tech & SAP – Senior Project Manager and Ingrid Kastens – Executive Director Pacific Community Resources Society. As is often the case with me, I jumped in with both feet without giving it much thought then began to panic: “what will I say”, “what do I know about leadership” said the pesky voices in my head. So I broke it into bite sized chunks.

Thanks to Gwen Gnazdowsky for facilitating this great event and to Sherry Baumgardner for sharing the lovely photos below.

What Leadership Means to Me

For me leadership is all about sharing my knowledge with others so that they can learn from me and from the mistakes and successes I’ve had along the way. It is also about learning from the experiences and knowledge of thought leaders – people to whom I am very thankful to every day because they share their insights and help me stay abreast of developments in such a fast changing industry (shout out to Mari Smith, Chris Brogan, Brian Solis, Seth Goden, Mitch Joel, Scott Stratten and all the influencers who tirelessly lead and share).

Leadership is all about inspiring others to do great things but it’s not about doing it for them nor is it about forcing them to do things your way. I’ve had some great bosses over the years but not all of them have been great leaders (or even good ones for that matter!).

Leadership and Social Media

Social media gives us a vehicle to lead and to be influenced like never before. We live in a time when technology allows us to inspire others and lead in brand new ways. Twenty years ago leadership was more about personal one on one connections. You could read books by leaders but there was little or no interaction. You could influence and be influenced by colleagues, bosses and partners but it was difficult to influence a wider audience.

I am not saying that personal, one on one leadership connections are no longer important to leadership (they are still paramount) but now things are different and we’re so fortunate to live at a time when we can augment personal relationships to influence, interact and collaborate with like minded people across the globe online.

During our panel the other speakers talked about connections, about trust, about corporate culture, about partnerships and about inspiring creativity. Social media enhances our ability to do each of these.

Key Components to Social Leadership

1. Connections – social media allows us to connect with younger generations in the forums they are most comfortable with so that we can help and influence them in positive ways. It also allows us to connect and learn from those influencers, to grow those connections into valuable relationships and to take advantage of their sage advice to have a positive impact on you and your career or business. Humans have produced more information in the last 2 years than ever before but if you are following the right people rather than haphazardly following everyone and anyone you will be exposed to great content.

2. Content – social media allows us to share our wisdom and learnings and to disseminate great content that we find online with other interested parties. One of the purposes if this blog is to share content that is valuable and might inspire other businesses and marketers. As an influencee, the ability to listen effectively is key here, to know how to use hashtags and lists.

3. Communication – social media allows us to communicate with much wider audiences and to connect one on one or one to many like never before. Effective communication is the top attribute for effective leadership and yet many CEO’s who have the opportunity to do so don’t or won’t. Blogging, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube offer leaders a vehicle to communicate and influence in very personal and positive ways.

Social Leadership and Inspiration

As someone who runs a small company working with select clients, the opportunity to talk on this panel got me thinking about the ways I lead. I was surprised to realise that whilst I don’t always have the opportunity to lead many subordinates in traditional hierarchical, corporate leadership roles (and I am quite glad of that!), I lead in other ways. Practically everything I do from influencing and assisting clients, partners and associates to grow online, to sharing blog posts, to Tweeting valuable content, to mentoring other women and to speaking and teaching, is intended to unfluence and inspire others in positive ways and for that opportunity I am grateful.

11 Tips For Staying CASL (Canadian Anti Spam Legislation) Compliant – Small Businesses

With the Canadian Anti Spam Legislation just days away from becoming the law, here are 12 tips to help you get opt ins and to remain email compliant. If in any doubt or you have any questions, consult a lawyer.

1. Sort your lists – if you already have an opt in process then those contacts on the list that have opted in (either on your website or through filling out a form) don’t need to re opt in. Remember to keep track of them. The rest do, so get ready to send out a communication to those you have implied consent from to get them to give you express consent.

2. There are several exemptions rules such as family members who don’t not need to opt in. Read this post. If your business is as a political party or charity then you are exempt from the rules too.

3. Make sure that your opt in email and all further communications include:

- clear unsubscribe links so that people can remove themselves from the list easily and at any time
- your name, company name and address
- an outline of why they are receiving your communication

4. After you have send out your opt-in email, you have to remove the people from your list that don’t opt in so make sure you have accounted for this in your email process and that you are easily able to track. Most newsletter tools like MailChimp facilitate this although there are varying degrees of easiness in doing so. Delete those that don’t opt in so that you never, ever contact them again.

5. Put in place processes to help you track future subscribers both online and off. This should include having a double opt in when people subscribe via your website (this is not mandatory but more of a safety net just in case). In person you should create a template that states clearly what people are signing up for then have them fill out their contact info to be added.

6. You can’t collect email addresses at trade shows any more and simply add them to your newsletter and you shouldn’t anyway because it’s rather a slimy tactic. Instead have people fill out a form that states clearly that they are subscribing. There are also apps like Chimpedeedo that facilitate this. We haven’t use these so if you have please share your take.

7. If you have a subscription opt widget in on your website make sure it is worded right so that peope know exactly what they are subscribing to. Remember the double opt in for this too.

8. Each newsletter or communication you send should state clearly why you are sending and have an easy to unsuscribe link preferably right at the top. Again most newsletter providers make this easy for you to do.

9. Get consent from people in real life – you can’t just add someone to your list because you met them at a networking event. Verbal consent is okay but it is hard to prove so a good idea might be to get new contacts to write newsletter subscribe on the back of their cards. Make sure and keep them in a file though just in case.

10. Never harvest or buy email email addresses. EVER. This is cheap and tacky and says exactly that about your brand. Who wants to do business with someone or some company they can’t trust from the get go?

11. Add value rather than overtly selling. No one likes to be inundated with emails that have the sole purpose of selling your products or services in a cheap and nasty way so instead why not find creative ways to add value for your recipients and tell them something valuable that they don’t already know. Get creative.

When is it okay to make contact Electronically – CASL