Small Business

size doesn't matter content

Size…Really Doesn’t Matter

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What size should my content be? How long should a Blog be – what about White Papers?

How long should my email copy be?  How often should I send them?

The answer is – there isn’t an answer.  Size and quantity IMHO don’t matter – QUALITY does.

My email subscribers get at a minimum of 2 emails per week.  Sometimes more depending on what is going on.  The length of those emails ranges from 250 words to over 1000 – to be honest I never look at the word count because I don’t care.

What I care about is the content.  Is it engaging?  Is it relevant?  Is it entertaining?

You will NEVER nail this for everyone – because everyone is different.  What is engaging to one may be boring as all hell to another.  What is relevant to one will be obsolete for another what is entertaining for one will ghastly for another.

My advice to content writers is to be authentic (you can read more on that there), be transparent and know your audience.  Write for the majority, write from your soul – write as if you are sitting down and drinking a glass of wine or coffee with someone face to face.  Write as you would speak.

How do you know if you are engaging, relevant and entertaining?  Look at your metrics.  What are your open rates on your emails?  Dive into your Google Analytics to see who’s reading your blogs (PS don’t forget to share them on social – that’s where we get our biggest engagement).  If your numbers aren’t where you want them to be – review your content.  Something is off – chances are you aren’t writing to your audience.  Take a step back are dive deep into your Target Client Profile – who are they REALLY?  Then regroup.  It may take you several iterations to nail it – so don’t give up!

Consistency wins each and every time.

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The Power of Flexible Work Schedules

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At the Red Barn, we have a standard 8-4 schedule, but we still consider it a flexible work schedule – meaning Jenn and I will typically log in to Skype around 8 am EST to connect and Jenn usually checks out around 4 pm to head to the gym but that’s about as structured as we get.

I learned early on in my career that my most productive and creative time is before the sun comes up.  (I’m writing this before 5 am)  I also know that by 2 pm on most days my brain is done for the day – mainly because I’m up at 4 and I’ve put in a good 8 hour day.  I try my best not to schedule meetings in the afternoon – but that doesn’t always happen because like any business I have customers and it’s important that I meet them where they need to be!

I know the productive times of my team and I let them work when they are in the zone and I surely don’t push them to do work when I know it will be a struggle – unless we are in an all hands on deck situation for a client.  PS – we try to avoid those moments but it happens!

Knowing your team is critical.  Knowing when they are productive is key if you want to run an efficient and effective ship.  This also includes watching for the “I need a mental health day” cues.  Everyone has a bad day or even a day when you just “can’t” for whatever reason – I just hone in on those cues and give my team the option to go home, quit early or run away from life for a few hours if that’s what they need to do.

In the end, I focus on getting GOOD work out the door – I really don’t care when that work gets done. I do care HOW it turns out.  I don’t care if someone wants to not work on Monday and would prefer to work on Sunday – I just need to know ahead of time.  I also don’t really care about the number of PTO days taken – in fact, I usually have to remind team members to take their vacation time.  Because I don’t hang PTO over their head and I only track it because I have to for HR reasons – the PTO time never gets abused.  Well, at least it hasn’t up to this point.

The flexible work schedule doesn’t work for every employee or for every business – but if you are open to trying it and seriously letting go of the corporate structure mindset – you just might be amazed at the results. Need an example – look at Microsoft – they had a 40% productivity boost when they switched to a 4 day work week.

Happy Employees = Happy Clients = Increased Revenues

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Social Media – Quality vs. Quantity

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Does even thinking about posting to social media stress you out? How many times to post, what to post, when to post, etc.? Are you putting content out just for the sake of putting content out on social media? Are your followers just not engaging and your audience isn’t growing? When it comes to social media posts, quality beats quantity every time.

The norm has always been that consumers expect companies to have content readily available to consume – blogs, social media, enewsletters, downloadable ebooks, white papers, etc. They still look for this type of content, however just having a large library of stuff isn’t enough – consumers want quality of resources from companies they do business with – not just fluff.

First, we need to back up and define what quality means to consumers – it’s targeted, more personalized, highly creative messaging. Content that is focused on better understanding and interacting with your clients. Even small brands can easily produce content that looks just as good as the big dogs.

When a prospect is looking to learn more about your company, yes, they will Google you and visit your website, but they will also look to see what social media channels you are on, the type of content that you post, and how long ago you posted. Just throwing posts up that your customers and prospects don’t care about is not going to help you engage with them. However, one good quality post on Facebook can do way better than five poor quality posts.

Some tips to posting high quality content are:

  • Photos – they don’t need to be done professionally, but make sure they are well lit, not blurred or grainy.
  • Videos – also need good lighting and good sound.
  • Sharing Blogs – need to be interesting and relevant topics but also have good spelling, punctuation and grammar. It should be around 500 words or more to keep readers on your website for longer which is a good SEO signal to Google.
  • Sharing 3rd Party Content – share content from reputable sources that don’t require signing up for memberships. Articles from newspapers, magazines, etc. are usually good sources
  • Your content – only 20% of your content should be around your business – if you are constantly pushing a sale people will unfollow you

I get asked a lot about the best times to post on social media. There is no concrete answer to this. You need to post when and where your audience is going to see your posts. Why post on Twitter if your audience is on Facebook? If your audience primarily engages in the mornings, don’t wait to post until the afternoon.

Don’t get hung up on the numbers. Many people will engage in campaigns to buy likes or followers. This might seem great in the short term, but these people are most likely not your ideal clients and will never engage with you. At the end of the day, your goal is to be seen as an expert, a trusted advisor, and of course to get traffic to your website as that is where the sale is. If your engagement is low, then ask yourself if it is the quality of the post or is that the content isn’t resonating with your audience.

When it comes to social media posts quality will always beat quantity. You aren’t Gary V or Jenna Kutcher – you don’t need to keep up with the quantity of posts that they put out daily – they have teams of people who do this for them. For the DIYers – just focus on the quality. That’s all you need to do.

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customer experience

Marketing Trends 2020 – customer experience

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What we do as an industry has dramatically changed over the past decade.  We’ve shifted from trying to convince people to buy, to do, to act, to honing in on our customer’s journey and customer experience.

CX will rule Marketing and Advertising in the next decade.

The Customer Experience (CX) is king. People no longer want to be told what to do, instead they want to be educated, they want to be wooed and they want an AMAZING customer experience – one that they willingly will pay more for.

Read that again:  They will pay MORE for a better experience.

Not that cheap, one and done is gone – there will always be price shoppers, but the trend is more on “show me what’s in it for me” as in the customer not the vendor.

So how do you have a Fab CX?

  1. Put yourself in YOUR customer’s shoes. You need to know them inside and out.  What makes them tick, why do they buy from you – and why do they not?  Knowledge is complete power here.
  2. KNOW your Value Proposition and make sure your team does too. It comes from the top.  Empower your team to make decisions on behalf of bettering your client experience.  Be it a refund, sending flowers, giving a bit more – the list goes on.  In the end you’ll not only increase client retention – but employee retention. Happy Employees = Happy Clients.
  3. Over Deliver – I mean OVER DELIVER. Just woo the socks off them.  Be Chewy – train your team to LIVE your value prop and DELIVER. DELIVER. DELIVER.
  4. Share your happy client stories – but let it be focused on them – not you. There is an art to it as to not look self-serving.  Again, put yourself in their shoes

Marketing today is less about telling people what you do and more about showing people how you can improve their life and help them – even if it doesn’t involve what you sell.

CX should be at the core of your 2020 business and marketing strategy.

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collaboration

Why Collaboration is EVERYTHING

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I learned very early in my career that finding a mentor is key to success – learn from others who have been down the path you want to go.  I also learned that being a mentor to others is not only gratifying it’s important to the success life cycle. So what does that have to do with collaboration?

 The Cycle

You don’t need to reinvent wheels – you simply need to take the design of the wheel, the research already done on the effectiveness of the wheel – and put your own spin on it.  The magic happens when that original wheel inventor actually learns a thing or two from you and your new spins on his/her design.

This is called Collaboration.  In the process of gathering intel and learning you are SHARING your wisdom in return.  The cycle of success keeps moving and growing the more you collaborate, learn and share. 

Starting

  • The secret to mastering the success life cycle is knowing who to collaborate with. It begins with YOU.  You must clearly define what you want, where you want to go and what you want to be.  Write them down.
  • Next you need to find others who have successfully achieved what you want. Social media is a perfect example of how this happens ALL THE TIME.  Want to run a marathon?  Head over to twitter, Facebook and Instagram and Google and search out expert marathoners. Become obsessed with learning everything they do from what they eat, how they train, how much they sleep and what they wear.  Adapt it to your lifestyle and go.  Ask questions, give feedback to others – soon you will be the expert and sharing your stories to help others!
  • Consider IRL collaborations. Meeting people face to face or IN REAL LIFE trumps online connections 90% of the time – if you are very intentional who you are connecting with.  It’s all about having a solid support system – the inner circle of folks who you deeply trust and feel comfortable sharing with.
  • Let go of your ego. Being a newbie or a learner is not a sign of weakness, nor is being a mentor to others a sign of superiority.  This is about collaboration and serving.  Egos should be checked at the door.

If you want to win the long game – don’t do it solo.  Know success is a journey – there will be ups and downs, having a support system will get you to the finish line a hell of a lot quicker than going solo.

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Network Marketing

Is Network Marketing “REAL BUSINESS” and why it matters

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If you are making money – the answer is YES.   

 I think there is a stigma around the MLM (Multi Level Marketing) that’s not always warranted.  The visions of Ponzi pyramid schemes runs through people’s minds and all of a sudden one’s spidey senses are in hyper-drive at the mention of “joining the cult”.   

 Here’s my $.02.  Some networking marketing companies are not worth even considering, while others offer amazing opportunities for people to make a good deal of money if they are up for the hustle. 

  1.  None and I mean NONE will get you rich quickly.  It’s a sales job – it will take time.  Usually 3-5 years.
  2. If you want to be a big dog, you have to work like a big dog – I mean St. Bernard work.  
  3. It’s called Network Marketing for a reason – you have to share, talk it up and connect.
  4. You have  to BELIEVE in the product you are selling if you want to be one of those Big Dogs. 100% honesty and transparency will sell – if you don’t really believe in the product or service – you won’t be successful, at least on a big level.
  5. Speaking of success – it’s different for everyone. Some just want to make another $100 per month, some just want products at wholesale while others want to make 5-6 figures.
  6. For the most part – Social Media will 100% be your friend.  Again – it’s all about the network marketing part of it. 
  7. You need to understand the compensation policies – IE how you get paid, BEFORE you sign on the dotted line.  Every single one is different. 
  8. Speaking of policies – it’s YOUR responsibility to read the fine print.  Talk to others who have done it, research the hell out of the company – what are the complainers complaining about.
  9. Know that not everyone will think what you are doing is fabulous – haters will be haters. 
  10. Chances are your family and your BFF will not be your “partners” – INITIALLY.  If they are, they probably won’t be the hustlers – it’s just how it goes. 

 I’m a firm believer in multiple streams of income, MLMs do that.  So, am I currently involved with any Network Marketing companies?  Yes.  I’ve done several in my lifetime – either I liked the products or it was a great way for me to make a few extra bucks.  All were a decent experience. Currently Dave and I have a business with Isagenix –the comp plan is great, I love the products and it\’s easy to share what we do. . It makes sense for our nomadic lifestyle and we’ve met some cool people.  We still have our companies – this is just another income stream for us. 

How to choose one?  Do your homework, find one that fits your lifestyle and interests you!  Dave and I are long distance runners, and really active – so we gravitated towards the health and wellness part of the company we are with.  Again – it made sense for us.

What has been your experience?   

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website-mistakes

The great website debate

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We\’ve been doing a ton of websites lately and talking to even more people about the types of websites they need, how to access the back end of them, and basically the process of building a website. I’ve seen so many companies bamboozled by people who take advantage of the unknowing and the website naïve. It pisses me off and makes me sad.  So I’m going to offer a Website Nightmare  – Please don’t do this EVER checklist.

Here goes:

  1. Be very, very, very leery of someone who says you need a custom built CMS site – you don’t. What will happen is that person who designed the site will eventually disappear and you will be left with something that can’t be updated, fixed, and it’s just God AWFUL to maintain. There is NO need with all the WordPress prebuilt CMS templates out there.  No need. Don’t do it unless you are a HUGE corporation with in-house coders that can collaborate and work with the developer. Small businesses – use WordPress.
  2. Don’t get sucked into industry driven “templated” sites – that are often prefab CMS systems. You pay a monthly fee – but they own everything. Stop paying them and you have no site. Try to move it to another vendor – you can’t.  Once again you are at their mercy.
  3. Don’t use CANNED content – typically from industry driven companies who promise the Best Sites for REALTORS, Insurance, Financial Advisors, Manufacturers – the list goes on.  Canned content is useless – don’t do it.  You need to tell YOUR story, not someone elses.
  4. You should ALWAYS OWN your site – always.  Once the designer is done doing their magic – you have all the logins, passwords et al. The intellectual property is YOURS not theirs. From photos to copy to design. ALWAYS.
  5. If it sounds too good to be true – it probably is.  There are many overseas designers who do an amazing job and they will be far more cost effective than using a local person – the problem is they usually come in “pools” – and if you have a problem – good luck getting someone on the phone.  Who you worked with today will be different than who you work with tomorrow.  Now if your site is for a one day event – go for inexpensive. If it’s for your company – go local.
  6. Cost – it varies depending on what you need.  Some websites DO cost $20K, some should only cost $3K, some will cost $100K. Do your homework.  If someone is half the price of everyone else – RED FLAG. Danger Will Robinson – you probably aren’t comparing apples to apples.

Don’t get bamboozled. We’ve seen too many people stuck with something they can’t update, can’t move, can’t…well just can’t do anything with and they end up spending money completely redoing it.

Questions – call us. No BS from Jenn and I – we’ll be up front and honest with what you need versus what you have (or what you’ve been offered!)

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Copy-Competition

Why you should STOP copying your competition

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The old saying goes “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”, but when it comes to your marketing, it’s just NOT a good idea. For centuries, we’ve been using other’s ideas, creative, and art as inspiration for our own work – and that’s fine if it’s used to spark ideas of your own. BUT if you are just copying every move your competitors are making, you are just setting yourself up for failure.

At Red Barn, we love a good life hack or a process or software that helps us save time and energy, but when it comes to copying competitor’s content – we draw the line. Copying other’s content is a big no-no because it can actually hurt your marketing strategy and your business. Let’s go back to why you started your business, because you wanted it to be uniquely yours including your content. Here’s several reasons why copying your competition is just a recipe for disaster.

  1. They don’t know what they are doing either. Just because your competitor has interesting and flashy creative it doesn’t mean that it’s actually working. Unless you have access to their analytics to confirm, you could be making the same bad mistakes as your competition. Also, your competition could be just as clueless as you AND they also could be copying another competitor – and now it’s an endless cycle! No matter how good the creative seems, there is simply no guarantee it will work for you.
  2. You might have a different target audience. Every business has their own Target Client Profile – or target audiences. Your competition may actually be targeting a difference audience than you, and an audience that you have no intention of targeting. You and your competitors each have your own unique strategy in regard to targeting your audience, without knowing the thought and reasoning behind the marketing, you simply won’t know if that creative is appropriate for your audience.
  3. It doesn’t set you apart. Customers aren’t dumb, they will recognize if you are doing copycat marketing. Not only are you showing them that your business lacks creativity and is unable to promote your business in your own unique way, but by copying others you’re also not getting valuable data. You need to see what works and what doesn’t for your business and use your own data to adjust your marketing accordingly. Your marketing should be authentic and original to you and your business – that’s why your customers want to work with you – because of who you are.
  4. You’re limiting yourself and your marketing. Not only are you limiting your creative ability to target your prospective clients, but your creative won’t be nearly as effective as your competition because you won’t know exactly how to execute it like they do. If you have someone who does your marketing, you’ll also be limiting them and their creative ideas and expertise and producing great creative in the future.
  5. You are confusing your customers. You are not giving your business its own unique brand and identity. You’ll also confuse potential customers, as they will see the same style and messaging of creative from both you and your competitor.
  6. You don’t have the same budget or resources. Even though you have an idea of what your competition is doing, there may be a lot of software, staff, budget, or even a marketing company behind the scenes that are all working together.

Your competition’s content and marketing strategy may seem easy and obvious to you from the outside, but it could be very complex with a lot of systems running on the inside. The best content is fresh and new and also is optimized. You can’t emulate and replicate a company that has a full-time in-house content marketing team, in addition to external agencies or consultants, who also help with their content marketing when you are a small business on limited resources. It’s just not feasible.

What you should do instead of copying your competitors

  1. Determine your goals – create your own marketing strategy that will outline your own content creation, paid search, email, social media, SEO, social media, and design (digital and print). You should have a focus and target client for each of these channels. Some of your goals for social media may include increasing engagement on Facebook, driving more repeat traffic to your website, etc. Having your own goals and strategy will allow you to stick to your own plan and not follow your competition – which could conflict with your goals.
  2. Start using the right tools and people. To be efficient and productive you need to use the right tools. If you need to segment your email lists, then use an email marketing software that makes it easy. If you want to schedule social media out in advance, use a tool that lets you do that. And make sure you have the right people doing the right things. Don’t use staff who hate writing and have poor grammar to write your blogs. Use the best people for the job to create and execute your content marketing strategy – this could be an outside firm too if it’s something that can’t be managed in house. Learn to delegate when needed or when it makes sense.
  3. Do your research and don’t stop reviewing metrics. If you do your research right, you should be able understand some of the reasons why and how your competitors are doing what they are doing. You’ll also want to track your own metrics and adjust your marketing accordingly. Less traffic on LinkedIn and more on Facebook – boost your Facebook posts to capitalize. More email opens with specific topics or subject lines – adjust and implement more like those. You can also subscribe to email newsletters of your competitors so you can see what they are doing, how they onboard new subscribers, what their subject lines are, etc. You shouldn’t copy, but it’s a good idea to know what they are up to.

Don’t underestimate the damage that copying your competitor’s creative can cause when it comes to your marketing efforts. If you have questions or need some advice, give us call or send us an email. We love talking about this stuff!

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Should you use Email Automation?

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There is a big difference between having an email marketing program and having an AUTOMATED email marketing program. The word “Automation” tends to send people into the panic zone – conjuring up visions of AI, robots, machines, “Danger Will Robinson” and the like.

Well, indeed it’s a bit computer geeky to set up the email automation, it is in fact far more human than sending one off emails.

First let’s get the lingo down.

Non Automated: If you are sending out an email and you have nothing set to “Trigger an Action” when someone clicks on something, opens something, or doesn’t do either of those – then you are not using email automation.

Automated: If you are setting up an architecture behind the scenes with Boolean cues i.e. “if this…than that” then you are automating. We marketers create workflows that automatically send emails to subscribers based on what they do or do not do.

Pros of Email Automation

First off, at Red Barn we do both. My weekly Thursday and Monday emails (SIGN UP HERE) are not automated. They are called just broadcast emails. If you don’t open them or don’t read them we aren’t prompting you to do something else.

Back to the pros…

Using Email Automation allows you to personalize and deliver customer-centric content that is specific and relative to your clients. In other words – you are speaking to them on a more personal level.

For both prospects and clients.

We use email automation to nurture prospects through the customer journey – bringing them along the Know, Like, Trust trifecta. We pepper them with content that will help nudge them to the trust and ergo buy phase. Perhaps they downloaded a quiz or an article, liked us on Facebook, went to a certain page on our website – all might trigger a unique email experience to them. Speaking to them on a personal level. “Hey Jenn, thanks for downloading that paper on Email Marketing – here’s something else you might like XXXXX”

We use automation to nurture clients in our Business Success Framework program – helping Corporate Executives launch Coaching and Consulting Careers. Everything from – \”Hey, you’ve got this\”, to \”Hey, I see you haven’t completed Module 2 and you are probably missing something AMAZING.\”

In the end – almost any action a person takes when engaging with your brand can be tracked and incorporated into an email marketing automation.

Found this handy stat on CampaignMonitor.com – “email marketing is the king of the marketing kingdom with a 4400% ROI and $44 for every $1 spent.”

When you are ready to dip your toes – call us. WE LOVE EMAIL MARKETING AUTOMATION.

Should you use Email Automation? Read More »

Social Media – How to Manage the Different Platforms

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We work with a lot of small business owners – some have been in business for decades and others we’ve helped recently launch – and one of the questions we ALWAYS get asked is, “Do I really need to be on social media and what platforms should I use?” We get it, Social Media is a monster to try to understand. From figuring out the different platforms, to creating profiles, to figuring out what to post and when, it can be so overwhelming and confusing for those just starting to dabble in it or who haven’t expanded much beyond either Facebook or LinkedIn.

To answer the question above – YES, you absolutely should be on social media. BUT you don’t have to be on every platform. The key is to be on the platform that your potential buyers and current clients are on. If you market to teens and younger generations, they aren’t going to go looking for your company on LinkedIn, but they will look for you on Instagram or Snap Chat. Just like someone looking for a Realtor or CPA wouldn’t try to find someone on Twitter or Snap Chat – they would look for you on Facebook or LinkedIn. To help you out, here’s a list of the most popular social media channels and who is using them. Demographics sourced from Spredfast.

Facebook: It’s still the most popular social media network in use with over 2 Billion users and regardless of your industry, your business should have a Facebook page. You can use it to share photos, Facebook Live video, company updates, and content that your followers would find useful. You can also list what your company does, the hours you are open, your phone number, website, etc. Facebook also has some of the best analytics and advertising tools. Users range from 18 to 65+, are equally men and women, and cover all income ranges. There are 179 million users on mobile and 90 million users on desktop per month.

Instagram: Now owned by Facebook, Instagram is becoming more popular with over 800 million users. Instagram is a visual platform that’s based entirely on photo and video posts. You can’t share articles or other content easily, and no URL’s are allowed in posts. Depending on your industry, this may not be a great fit. Brands that do well are often photographers, health and fitness, real estate, clothing, shoes, beauty products, etc. The person running your account have a good eye for detail and at least basic photography skills, so the photos and videos posted to your account are high-quality. Users are primarily 18- 49 years old, more women than men, and include all income levels. This is primarily a mobile based platform.  At Red Barn we’ve recently decided to re-engage our Insta Life!  Check us out @redbarnct.  W

Twitter: This seems to be the platform that many people either love or hate – with over 317 million users. It’s great for posting quick updates, videos, photos, and links to blogs or other articles, but it certainly isn’t for everyone. You are limited to 240 characters per tweet. It’s a great tool to easily interact with other users and many companies use it to handle customer service. This may not be the best platform if you prefer more visual posts or don’t have a lot of your own content to share. If you have interesting content, Twitter is a great tool for quickly spreading the word and if a user with a lot of followers retweets you, your content could go viral. Twitter is very quid pro quo – in order to be successful, you need a mix of your own content and sharing and retweeting other interesting content. Users range in age but are skewed more to the 18-29 audience, with slightly more males using the platform than females. Users range across all incomes and surprisingly more people use Twitter on desktop vs. mobile.

Pinterest: This is another very visual platform that allows users, over 200 million, to save and share content by “pinning” them to digital bulletin boards. You can organize your content and boards by different categories. From the business perspective, the platform has special pins called Rich Pins which brands can use to add specific information to their pins, like product details and even location maps. Every pin includes an image or video. This is another platform that isn’t for everyone. Brands that work in DIY projects, fashion, exercise, beauty, photography and food usually do very well here. There are 20% more women on the platform than men, users range from 18 – 64 years old, and cover a range of income levels. There are over 70 million mobile user’s vs only 27 million desktop users per month. Like Insta – we are playing around with building up our Pinterest game – it’s a work in progress.  The goal is to drive more people back to our website.  We will keep you posted!

Snapchat: This is another mobile only platform with over 300 million users. It’s a visual platform that is known for its disappearing content. Users can send video or photos to other users or post to their public Stories (which disappear after 24 hours). Content can be saved and uploaded to other platforms, and users can now chat, message, create events, and share media content within the platform – something that previously wasn’t available. Snapchat has a ton of filter options for photos, and since the content isn’t forever, many people find less pressure to post more polished content. Only followers can see your stories, so building an audience is key to getting engagement on your content. 70% of the users are women, and users range from 13 – 34 years old. This is a mobile only app with no desktop option.

YouTube: Now owned by Google, YouTube is a video-sharing platform with over 1 Billion users where people can view, upload, rate, share and comment on content. Business often use YouTube to host their creative, visual or educational component. Your videos should be polished, although they don’t have to be professionally produced, but they shouldn’t be done with a shaky cell phone camera. You don’t even need to have your own channel to take advantage of advertising. Many businesses partner with popular YouTubers  for product placement, because these users already have engaged audiences. Users are primarily between the ages of 25 and 44. There are slightly more males using the platform than females, and traffic is evenly split between mobile and desktop.

LinkedIn: This is a much more business centric platform with over 106 million monthly users. It is hands down the best platform for professional networking. It’s a great place to promote your business, find top talent, and showcase yourself as an industry expert in your field. Posts should be much more conservative than you would share on other platforms. Many people create personal profiles to act as a digital resume since businesses will post jobs and research candidates using the platform. LinkedIn also has very specific industry groups that users can join – this is a great place for you to be since you can answer questions, share content, and be an expert and draw people to your company\’s page and website. Most users range from 18 to 64 years old, are in the $50k a year and up income range and are split almost even between men and women. People prefer to use this platform on desktop vs mobile.

If you aren’t sure if you should be on a platform, spend some time exploring it. See what other businesses are on there, if your competition is on there, and if your target clients are on there. It’s far better to be good at 2 platforms than to be mediocre or poor at 4. It’s important to stay consistent and post content that is going to bring your followers value. Wanna follow Red Barn on social media? You can find us here:

Facebook: @RedBarnConsulting

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