Whether you’re a blogger looking to increase the number of visitors that your blog draws on a daily basis or own an e-commerce site and would like your site to rank highly in organic search results, knowing how to leverage SEO can mean the difference between obscurity and popularity.

This guide will teach you the basic concepts of SEO so that your website can start benefiting from increased traffic coming through organic search results.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the basics of SEO and offer tips for optimizing your website to achieve better search engine rankings and more conversions.

SEO 101

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility and ranking of a website, specifically how high up on a search engine result page it gets. You’ve probably used Google or Bing at least once in your life to find a website that you could purchase something from, or perhaps solve a problem that you were having.

Well, the websites that you found on those search engines are what SEO is all about—helping people like yourself find it when they’re looking for it. By identifying the terms and phrases people use to find content and businesses like yours, you can optimize your website to be found for those terms.

To do this, SEOs use certain techniques to make it easier for the search engines to find the site’s content and understand what it’s about. When you implement some of these techniques, you can increase your rankings on a search engine result page (SERP) and get more organic traffic.

How To Get Started With SEO

Now that you understand a little bit about what SEO is and how it can help your website, let’s take a look at how you can start optimizing your own website.

1. Determine What Your Audience Is Looking For

The first step in optimizing your website for SEO is to figure out what your audience is looking for. What are the terms and phrases that people use when they’re looking for businesses like yours?

You can do this keyword analysis by playing around on Google with different keyword combinations and adding words that come up as suggestions. You can also use a keyword research tool like Ubersuggest, which not only suggests keywords but also shows you the number of monthly searches for those keywords, so you can more easily determine what terms to target on your site.

2. Focus On Providing Value

The overall goal of SEO is to improve the quality of your site so that people searching for it will find exactly what they’re looking for. So before you worry about page visits and Google rankings, you need to make sure you’re doing your part by providing value for your users.

Once you know what your customers are looking for—specifically the questions they’re trying to get answered—it’s up to you to fill those gaps.

This is where conversion optimization comes in. If people are looking for an answer to a specific question, you want to make sure that they leave your site with that question answered, whether that means they buy your product or sign up for your email list.

3. Optimize Your Site’s Structure

Now that you know the basics of SEO and how to provide value for your audience, it’s time to start thinking about the structure of your website. This includes the design, layout, and organization of your content.

When you have a website, the different pages you have should be organized in a way that makes it easy for visitors to find exactly what they’re looking for.

Think about how someone who is searching your site would find a specific page or post—what terms would they search in Google? How would they navigate to that page from other related pages on your site?

You can use Google Search Console to see how people are finding your site and use a plugin like Yoast to optimize the pages of your site.

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SEO is a long-term investment and results may not be seen immediately. However, if you’re patient and continue to put in the effort, your website will see improved rankings over time.

But with millions of photos posted every day, how do you stand out?

Here are some basics on increasing your engagement on Instagram to ensure more people see your posts and remember your brand. 

1. Be Consistent

If you only post every now and then, people are going to forget about you. As you build a following, people will look forward to what you post and expect to see regular content. You need to be posting regularly if you want people to see your posts and engage with them.

2. Tell Stories

It’s not enough just to post a beautiful photo. The art of storytelling matters on Instagram, too. People want to feel like they’re part of your brand and what you’re doing, which means you have to share the stories behind your images.  

Give people a glimpse into your world by telling stories about the photos you post. This will help them feel more connected to you and they’ll be more likely to engage with your posts.

3. Use The Right Hashtags

Hashtags are a great way to get your posts seen by more people. When someone searches for a hashtag, all of the posts that use that hashtag show up. 

Make sure you use relevant and popular hashtags to ensure that your posts get seen by the most people possible.

4. Focus On Value

You could have the best-looking photos on Instagram but if you don’t have value in your posts, no one’s going to engage with them.

Make sure that all of your posts are giving people something, whether it’s a tip, a piece of advice, or just something to make them laugh.

5. Use All of Instagram’s Features

Stories, Reels, Highlights — Instagram has come up with tons of new features you can use to share content and engage with your followers. When you use these features correctly, you can get more people to see your posts and increase the amount of engagement on your page.

So when IG comes out with a new feature, make sure to try it out and see how you can use it effectively.

6. Collaborate With Other Accounts

When you connect with other accounts on Instagram, you’re opening up new opportunities for collaboration and engagement. When you collaborate with accounts that have similar audiences, you can connect with more valuable followers that are likely to want what you have to offer. 

You could also invite followers and collaborators to share an image with you. By doing this, both of your accounts will get more engagement because you’ll be promoting each other’s pages.

It’s important to be strategic when you connect with other accounts so that your efforts aren’t wasted trying to promote someone else. Choose accounts with similar audiences to ensure both parties benefit from the collaboration. 

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If you follow these tips, you’ll be well on your way to increasing your engagement on Instagram and getting more people to see what you’re posting.

Here are nine trends you need to have on your radar to make sure your social media strategy is on point.

Get Active on TikTok

Love it or hate it, the TikTok hype is real. The app has over 1 billion users and is only growing in popularity. With its short-form video content and creative filters, TikTok is a great way for brands to show the lighter side of their company and capitalize on trends.

Plus, it can help you reach a younger audience, which is important for long-term success. Plenty of businesses aren’t taking TikTok seriously as a marketing platform, so you have an opportunity to get ahead of the competition. 

Prepare to Spend More Money on Smaller Social Media Platforms

While Facebook and Instagram still reign supreme, research is showing that people are less interested in being sold something while they’re scrolling through birthday party pictures and meme accounts. This is pushing marketers to smaller platforms like TikTok, Pinterest, and Snapchat. 

As a result, these smaller platforms are likely to explode in the new year. The more you can build a following on these platforms now, the better off you’ll be as we enter 2022. 

Implement Direct Social Media Shopping

When people are ready to buy, especially on social media, they want as few steps as possible to reach the cart. Direct social media shopping will be one of the top trends in 2022, so your business should prepare to offer this option. If you don’t, you may miss out on sales.

Stop Pushing Your Business Phone Number

As far as customer service goes, talking on the phone with customers is becoming a thing of the past. When people contact you, they will more than likely be looking for an email or live chat option first as it’s more convenient. If you’re still pushing your phone number as the only way to connect, you’re hurting your business.

Prioritize Short-Form Videos

In the spirit of convenience, saving time, and short attention spans, long-form videos are on the way out. 2022 will see a rise in shorter, “snackable” videos that can be quickly digested and provide value without taking up too much time. Unless you’re posting complex, high-value content on YouTube, stick to videos that are two minutes or less. Your customers prefer it that way.

Work with Some Influencers

Just like word-of-mouth advertising, today’s consumers trust their favorite influencers and creators way more than they trust traditional ads. Whether you’re paying an influencer to review your product in a video or you’re sending them a discount code to share with their followers, influencer marketing will be a keystone of any successful social media strategy.

Brush Up on Your Paid Advertising Skills

As effective as influencer marketing is, conventional advertising isn’t going anywhere. Understanding how to structure your paid ads and where they’ll work best is crucial for getting the most out of your ad budget. 2022 will be all about smart ad placement and targeting. If you’re not already well-versed in paid advertising methods, now is the time to start learning.

Implement a Social Listening Strategy

If you’re not familiar with the term “social listening,” you need to get on board. Rather than play another unsuccessful guessing game with your customers, social listening promotes being a part of the conversation so you can understand what your audience wants from you and the public perception of your business. The more you know about your customers and their wants, the easier it will be to give them what they’re looking for.

You’ll Need a Social Audio Strategy

And finally, you can’t ignore social audio. Audio-only content like podcasts and platforms like Clubhouse and Anchor FM are taking social media by storm and establishing themselves as must-haves for any successful social strategy. If you’re not already incorporating social audio into your plan, you’re going to be left behind.

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As your business looks ahead to 2022, these are the nine social media trends you can expect to dominate in the new year. Keep them in mind as you plan your strategy and you’ll be sure to stay ahead of the curve!

If you need some help getting your business prepared for the next year, click here to book a strategy session with SiMar. Together, we can get your business is ready for the future!

Social media can radically transform your business.

As much as we might long for pre-Instagram days, social media is here to stay. And it’s important for businesses to maintain an online presence if they want to stay competitive.

The fact is, social media provides businesses with a unique opportunity to connect with customers in a way that no other marketing tool can. Social media allows you to build relationships with customers, create brand advocates, and generate leads.

Of course, social media isn’t a magic bullet. It takes time and effort to use it effectively. From attracting traffic and generating leads to building relationships with customers, here are five ways social media can help power up your business.

1. Building Brand Awareness

The more people who know about your company, the more customers you can attract. Social media is a great way to get the word out there.

With billions of active users, various social media platforms provide businesses with a massive audience to reach. You can use social media to share your company’s story, post about new products and services, and engage with customers.

Social media also helps you build brand awareness over time. As people see your company mentioned more online, they’re more likely to remember it and consider doing business with you. Every time you post and share online, you have an opportunity to increase the number of people who see, interact with, and trust your brand.

2. Generating Leads

In today’s digital age, it’s more important than ever to have a lead generation strategy in place to stay ahead of the competition. 

By sharing your company’s content on social media, you can attract people who are interested in what you do and looking to learn more. You can also use social media to offer exclusive deals and discounts to followers, which can entice them to become paying customers.

If someone is unsure about your product or service, social media offers an opportunity to learn more through educational content. You can also answer questions on social media comments to address people’s concerns and reservations, driving more people to purchase your product or service.

3. Enhancing Customer Relationships

One of the best aspects of social media is that it allows you to connect with customers on a personal level. You can build relationships with them by responding to their comments and messages and sharing content that they’ll find interesting.

Today’s consumers are all about authenticity. They want to know the human behind the brand, have their voices heard, have their opinions valued, and purchase products from companies that care about them.

That’s why social media is so important for building relationships with customers. By being active on social media, you can show your customers that you’re paying attention to what they have to say and eager to interact with them.

Rather than viewing social media as a selling tool, try thinking of it as a community-building tool. When customers feel like they’re part of your community, they’re more likely to become loyal advocates for your brand.

4. Driving Traffic to Your Website

Social media helps people learn about your company and directs them to your website. You can use social media posts and paid ads to drive traffic from social networks directly to your site. Clickable images and posts that link to a landing page with product information, a coupon code, or a discount code also direct traffic to your website.

When people click through to your website from social media, they’re interested in what you have to offer and want to learn more or purchase. There’s a good possibility that these visitors will become customers, because they’re already interested in what you do. 

5. Helping to Predict Trends and Build Better Products.

Social media has many advantages over traditional marketing, such as television or billboard ads. One of its main advantages is that it facilitates direct interactions between businesses and their customers. In addition to feedback that customers provide on their own, you can ask customers what they want, what they like, what they don’t like, and what they want to see from you. 

This feedback is essential for predicting trends and building better products that serve your customers. You can also see what your competitors are doing and how customers are receiving them to learn more about how to improve your products, marketing efforts, and interactions.

Social media gives businesses the ability to get real-time feedback from customers. This feedback can help you make informed decisions that will ultimately help you grow your business.

Leverage the Power of Social Media

Social media is an essential part of any business’s marketing strategy. It allows you to connect with customers, build relationships, and generate leads.

The next time you’re thinking about how to market your business, consider implementing a social media strategy. You might be surprised at how much it can help boost sales and take your business to the next level.

But here’s the sticking point: few courses are 100% original. So if you want your course to be heads above the rest, you first need to figure out a strong branding strategy that attracts your ideal customer. 

You thought you’d done all the hard work creating the course, right? 

Don’t worry. These three simple tips take the stress out of branding and help you create an authentic and unique online presence. 

Know Your Purpose 

Why did you choose to create this particular course? Knowing your reason why helps you figure out your purpose. Check out this Simon Sinek TED Talk about purpose—it’s a great starting point.

There are hundreds of courses out there. So, to stand out, you need to figure out your unique selling point (commonly called your USP) and value proposition (VP), two essential aspects of branding. 

Writing down the answers to these questions can help you find your purpose and USP. And you can create your VP from there. 

• – What do I do? 
• – What courses do I offer?
• – How do I do it? What makes my course different from others out there? 
• – Why do I do it? What was my reasoning behind creating my course?

Know Your Brand Promise

Big brands are instantly recognizable by their brand values, so figure out what you’d like your brand values to be. One way to do this is to imagine what others say about your brand when you’re not in the room. 

Some examples of brand values are honesty, warmth, integrity, loyalty, dependability, and creativity. 

Make a list of all the values you’d like your brand to stand for and choose the top five. From your top five, create a brand promise. For example, this is Patricia Washington’s from Redefining Wealth’s brand promise:

“My brand promise is that every time people come in contact with me, there’ll be a certain level of vulnerability and authenticity no matter what. I want people to feel like I’m the girl next door.” 

Know Your Target Audience 

Your course will likely be in a specific niche. So to market it successfully, you need to know your ideal customer. Consider things such as: 

• – Who are you here to serve? For example, if it’s a yoga course, are you working with new yoga students or the more experienced? What age are you targeting? 
• – What does your ideal audience want to gain from taking your course? How do they want to feel? Focus on pain points so you can really tap into the emotions behind the problem they want to solve.  

Your Business Is Always Evolving—So Should Your Branding

After establishing the answers to these questions, it’s time to launch your course. However, branding is never static. As your brand grows, it may change slightly. And as long as it’s always recognizable as your brand, it’s ok to evolve.

But what exactly are the benefits of hiring a digital marketing agency? And how do you know if it’s the right time to invest? 

Today’s post will explore 5 reasons why a digital marketing agency is the key to your brand’s growth, as well as pinpointing the signs you’re ready to make the leap. 

What Is A Digital Marketing Agency? 

A digital marketing agency is a team of well-versed, experienced marketers who specialize in various marketing paths. They work together with a clear vision on marketing campaigns to help grow and develop your brand.

How Do You Know When You Should Hire A Digital Marketing Agency? 

In business, timing is crucial. So, here are 5 signs that you’re ready to outsource and hire a digital marketing agency:

1. Your marketing strategy is no longer working, and it demands a fresh, new outlook. 

2. You physically don’t have the time to dedicate to your marketing efforts. 

3. You’re feeling overwhelmed, which may be manifesting itself through inspiration blocks, unproductivity, or lack of confidence. 

4. Your brand is desperate for new leads, but you’re finding it challenging to capture them. 

5. Your brand isn’t clearly defined and washes out to your competitors. 

Why Should You Hire A Digital Marketing Agency?

Now we’ve addressed 5 symptoms suggesting you need a digital marketing agency, let’s consider why a digital marketing agency is the right route for your business. 

1. It Frees You To Work On The Elements You Want To Work On 

When you decided to launch your business, it’s likely you didn’t realize quite how time-consuming marketing is. In fact, it can be so time-consuming that you’ve lost many opportunities for business growth due to your chain of marketing and exposure. 

Outsourcing this, however, means you’re able to work on the elements you choose to. Plus, you can be sure that the team you outsource it to will be well versed in marketing strategies. 

2. You’ll Be Working With Experts.

You can listen to every podcast, download every freebie, and follow every Instagram post within the industry and you’ll still be dipping only your little toe into the marketing field. 

As such, when you work with a digital marketing agency, you can rest assured that you’ll be working with experts. Armed with the latest SEO and social media algorithm knowledge, alongside the know-how to launch a successful marketing campaign across multiple platforms, you can ultimately guarantee growth. 

3. There Are Plans To Suit Almost Every Budget Which Grow As Your Brand Grows

One of the best things about a digital marketing agency is that they can accommodate almost any budget. So if you’re a startup, you need only a small package. Then, as the results pour in and you see a clear, positive return on investment, you’ll be able to upscale your package.

In other words, as your business grows, your digital marketing agency’s efforts and inclusion grow too. 

4. You’ll Be Given Evident Results. 

Many business owners market their business without evaluating their data. However, a digital marketing agency is well versed in the metrics and key performance indicators. In fact, digital marketing agencies are highly data-informed, and they use this to shape your marketing strategy.

Members of the agency will track the data and explain what the metrics mean, so you can see the efforts of the team paying off and assess how your strategy is functioning. 

5. You’ll Be Able To Expand Your Brand’s Reputation Across Multiple Channels 

Omnipresence is almost impossible when working as a solopreneur. Being a one-person band means you have your limits. It’s impossible to create high-quality content according to the users of various platforms.

However, with a digital marketing agency, your brand can master omnipresence, allowing you to capture more leads and never miss an opportunity to sell again. 

Digital Marketing Agencies Allow Your Brand To Grow

In a nutshell, digital marketing agencies are adaptable to your brand. While the prices and packages can adjust depending on the size and position of your business, one thing remains consistent: their goal for your growth. 

If you’re doing business without SOPs, you need to stop!

But if you don’t know what SOPs are…that may have gone over your head. 

Here’s the definition of SOPs, the impact they have on your business, and why your brand’s growth depends on them.                                                          

What Are SOPs?

SOPs stands for Standard Operating Procedures. These are brief, clear documents that contain actionable steps and workflows.

Ultimately, SOPs create easy-to-follow flowcharts for individual tasks.

An example of an SOP would be a documented flowchart of your onboarding process or employing a new team member. 

The SOPs will outline the general direction and process of particular elements of your business.

Why Your Business Needs SOPs To Grow

Think about a brand you admire. Chances are, that brand uses SOPs to keep their processes consistent and their growth on the increase without too many variations. 

The benefits of SOPs are extensive. Here are four reasons your business depends on SOPs:

1. You’re Laying Down Consistency Across Your Team

Everyone knows that consistency is vital when it comes to business growth. As your company evolves, you’ll need to outsource and build a team – if you haven’t already. 

With that in mind, it’s fundamental that everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet.

A standard operating procedure will ensure that every team member performs the same process for the good of your company and your employees. 

2. SOPs Make Hiring And Retaining Employees So Much Easier 

When you onboard new employees, you can save time, money, and resources by introducing them to your standard operating procedures. Within minutes, your new employees will be able to understand what needs to be executed, how, and in what order. You’ll be giving them clarity so they can fulfill their true potential. 

This also takes the pressure off of you, as you’re able to provide a document for direction rather than needing to explain it step by step verbally. 

3. SOPs Help You Locate Any Gaps In Your Business 

Until you write it all down, you’ll likely have holes in your processes. But, if not, there are definitely elements you can improve upon, making them swifter, smoother, and more effective. 

Creating and perfecting your standard operating procedure allows you to view any gaps within your business to fill them for business growth. 

4. You’ll Be Improving Reliability Levels In Customer Service. 

As mentioned previously: consistency is vital. This is accurate for your team but also for your customers. Should there be a complaint, feedback, questions, queries, or any other interaction between your brand and its buyers, you’ll need to ensure everyone is treated the same way. 

Without this consistency, your brand will be viewed as unreliable. So, create and streamline your SOPs for maximum consistency. 

Stop Doing Business Without SOPs. 

With these four reasons why your business’s growth relies on standard operating procedures, you’ll need to begin documenting the processes within each factor: marketing, sales, customer service – to name but a few. 

Above all, SOPs promise consistency within the brand, which translates to reliability and trust. Both of these are crucial for business growth. In fact, they’re so vital that businesses cannot grow without them. 

But, simply having a website isn’t enough. Your site has to work for you and impress your visitors.

So, knowing whether your website is working or not is fundamental for business success. 

With that in mind, here are 5 signs that your website is working.

5 signs that your website is working

Remember, if none of these are happening for you, you can contact us here at SiMar for a free website audit! 

1. You’re Gaining A Frequent And Steady Stream of Traffic 

Gaining traffic consistently means your keyword implementation is working. 

If you’re not getting any traffic to your website, it’s indicating that your website isn’t optimized for search engine optimization.

2. Your Call to Actions Are Getting Clicked 

Your website should be crafted to provoke action. Your homepage, in particular, will have multiple calls to action, separated with different sections. 

It’s essential, too, to map out your user’s navigation journey first. This will play a significant role in the positioning of your call-to-action buttons. 

3. You’re Capturing More Leads 

If you’re marketing your lead magnet on your website, you’ll gain an insight into its impact through the number of email addresses you gain. So keep an eye on your email marketing platform to monitor the increase in lead capture over time. 

It will also be worthwhile to split test your email opt-ins surrounding copywriting and design, whether it’s positioned on your homepage or if you have a separate landing page for it. These results will indicate what works best for your audience. 

4. Your Links Are Functioning 

If you have broken links, your website will be punished by search engines. User experience (UX) is crucial and is considered a high priority by many search engines.

You can conduct a simple test by clicking on all of the links on your site to ensure they’re pointing toward the right page, and it does so without any complications. 

5. Your Website Is Mobile-Friendly 

Again, this can be tested by yourself exceptionally easily.

Many business owners create and design their websites themselves without investing in a professional designer and copywriter. They’ll purchase a template but will sometimes forget to check for mobile optimization.

In the first quarter of 2021, mobile devices generated a whopping 54.8% of global website traffic. 

Use your smartphone and tablet to ensure your website is mobile-friendly. Without this, you’ll be isolating and setting a negative tone for a wide range of potential leads. 

Get Your Free Website Audit With SiMar! 

Unless you know a diagnosis, you can’t treat the problem, right? 

That’s where we come in.

We’ll deliver a personalized website audit so you can discover your website’s strengths and fallbacks, allowing you to solve the problem and use your website for brand success. 

And did we mention it’s 100% free? 

Get in touch, with us today, and we’ll start working on your free audit as soon as possible. 

With 1.3 million new social media accounts being opened every day on average, many people live their lives through various social platforms. These include, but aren’t limited to, Facebook, Instagram, Tik-Tok, Twitter, and LinkedIn. 

Due to social media playing such a large role in our lives, marketers and business owners understand the massive amount of opportunity within social media marketing. And, if done properly, a solid social presence can revolutionize your business. 

What Is Engagement In Social Media Marketing? 

Social media engagement is what every marketer strives for with their social media campaigns. It’s what communicates a successful post and overall strategy.

Engagement consists of many different sub-metrics, which can be infinitely valuable when crafting and re-evaluating a current strategy. These sub-metrics include:

– The number of shares

– The play rate

– The number of likes

– The number of comments

– The number of saves

The engagement rate shows you how many people have interacted, in some way, with your post.

Why Is Engagement So Important For Social Media?

Your engagement rate shows you how many people have paid attention to your posts. This will tell you if your social content resonates and creates the impact you set out to create in your social media strategy. 

Engagement is the first step toward profiting from your content and marketing efforts, so it’s arguably the most important and telling metric when using social platforms to market your business. 

How to Keep Your Audience Engaged On Social Media

Now that we understand how engagement works and why it’s so important, let’s look at how to keep your audience engaged on social media. 

Remember, engagement is absolutely pivotal. If you can cultivate a loyal following with a high engagement rate, you’ll see your efforts paying off quickly and effectively. 

1. Analyze Your Current Engagement Rate 

Before improving your engagement rate, you need first to know where your social media platform sits on the engagement scale.

For example, on Instagram, generally speaking, anything between 1% and 3% is classified as a ‘good’ engagement rate. 

Learn where your engagement rate is currently so you can monitor it as a KPI to assess whether your strategy is working.

2. Determine Your Strategy

After considering your current engagement rate, you need to outline your new strategy. This should all revolve around your ideal buyer or client, considering carefully what form of content will capture their attention and encourage engagement most. 

Lean on your foundations. Specifically, consider your ‘why’ and ensure your content communicates this. 

3. Conduct Audience Research 

This step will inform the second, too. 

Conducting audience and market research will indicate what type of content resonates most with them.

Reflect on your audience avatar, and find a handful of social media channels that encompass similar qualities to that of your avatar. Trace their activity, paying particular attention to how they engage with business and brand pages. 

Try to spot patterns between each of the accounts, looking too at what they are posting.

4. Conduct Competitor Research 

Similar to audience research, competitor research can open up a world of possibilities. 

You should aim to research direct and indirect competitors, focusing on what they post and where. 

This is especially useful if their target audience is similar or even identical to yours. Focus on the metrics of their posts before breaking down why the post was or was not successful.

These findings will play a prominent role in your new social media strategy. 

5. Provide Value 

The key to social media marketing is to provide value. This can be through educational, inspirational, or motivational posts. You’ll need to know what your audience is hungry for so you can then cook them up some content with value sauce. 

People act when they are triggered to act. Therefore, providing value will create an emotional response, particularly if you address a pain point and offer a solution. 

Social Media Marketing Revolves Around Engagement 

Social media plays such a pivotal role in our lives in 2021. Being a business owner nowadays means leveraging the power of social media to benefit our businesses. 

However, it’s not as easy as simply posting a few cute photos. 

Everything needs to be underpinned with strategy, with a solid reason for posting that particular piece of content. 

Use the 5 methods above to keep your audience engaged on social media so you can build a presence and grow your business. 

If you answered “no” to any of those questions—you might not be leading your team.

So, boss, we’re going to make you a leader.

Boss vs. Leader

It’s important to differentiate between a boss and a true leader. A boss simply manages their employees. They provide their staff with tasks, give them direction, and focus on the results, penalizing employees if they’re not completed on time or adequately. On the other hand, a leader guides their team to success by showing, not just telling. They lead by example and support their team through both challenges and accomplishments. A leader knows that when everyone succeeds, the business succeeds.

Top Qualities of a Leader  

If you’re ready to be a strong leader and lead your team to greatness, here are some of the qualities you should implement within your daily interactions with your team:

Good Communicator

Without authentic and effective communication, a boss cannot lead. Team members should understand exactly what is expected of them and feel comfortable going to their leader to clarify if they need it. Communicate well on your end and allow your door (physically or figuratively) to remain open should your staff need anything from you. But, don’t just leave it at that—check in with your employees regularly to discuss progress, then give AND get feedback.

Respectful

All good leaders have to leave their egos behind. Treat your employees with respect – as equals. Sure, you might be their senior in business and have a higher pay rate, but if you don’t respect your employees and they don’t respect you, you’re not a leader. Leaders never ask subordinates to perform tasks that they themselves wouldn’t complete. Remember, a leader is in the trenches with their team, not just directing them.

Dedicated Teacher

Leaders truly care about the personal development and improvement of their team. By bettering each member of the team, the team itself can grow stronger and more successful. So, ask your employees which aspects of the job they’re passionate about, then teach them more about that topic. Encourage them to pursue higher education or certifications that will instill confidence in them while helping the business grow. Develop a program that provides staff with funds to attend job-related conferences or workshops.

Lead With Heart

Great leaders understand that the team is only as strong as the weakest team member. And even if you don’t feel like you were one of those people who are “born leaders,” it’s possible to learn how to lead. Embrace your role as a leader to guide and support your entire enterprise to success. What quality makes you an amazing leader?