Social Media Strategies – SiMar

Carving Your Career Path: Which Way to Take?

Allison Todd — Tue, 17 Oct 2017 23:17:19 +0000

For years, people are advised to find the one job they love and take the plunge. This, according to many, is the ultimate secret to a successful, longer-lasting, and fulfilling career. It is the pinnacle of finally arriving in a destination that you long to have. But what happens when you love two or three or more things? Should you abandon all others and just choose one?

Most, if not all, people have multitude of interests they are most willing to pursue. While many decide to settle for one where they will likely get hired, some go the painstaking route. It should not be that way though. When it comes to carving a career path, you have within your power to carve a path for yourself where your interests can intersect delivering you a complete sense of fulfillment. To do that, here are some insights to take note:

Be practical and try to look beyond the “love” factor. While passion is indeed one of the main driving forces in landing a job, fulfillment can be somewhat subjective. A flight attendant or a pilot whose main passion in life is to travel may, at some point, find themselves in a grueling position in the quest for work-life balance. This is also the same to artists and musicians who follow their passionate path only to end up somewhere they don’t actually want. Be practical. Go for a full-time job that will bring you sustainability and fulfillment while still pursuing other interests on the sidelines. No one is stopping musicians like Bono and the Edge or Justin Timberlake from pursuing their passion while crafting businesses. Do you know that actor Tom Selleck also tends to his avocado farm? Diversify if you must, but find a sustainable one, too.

Never go into short-selling yourself. Society tells everyone to “sell themselves” in order to get hired, and just because there’s low vacancy doesn’t necessarily mean you have to settle for a mediocre job. You are meant to succeed, but it is entirely up to you to ensure that you do. Your talents and capabilities are untapped potentials. All you need is to focus on your strengths, recognize your weakness and find ways to go around them, pursue the seemingly impossible, ignore regrets, and learn from your mistakes. You do not really have to conform to what society designed for you. Always find ways to live beyond what society touted you to be and adjust your thoughts and behaviors on this pursuit.

Take risks, even unprecedented ones. You have heard it many times and you will hear it over and over again—success is failure turned inside out. Many individuals do not dare to take the plunge in pursuing jobs overseas or cross-country because they set limitations upon themselves. Many do not pursue new opportunities because they are so attuned to their current jobs, even when it pays them peanuts or does not offer avenues for growth. Seize the opportunity while still young. Risks are part of living. The idea is to use such risks to your advantage.

A dream job, stripped of all the back-breaking details in the office, is part and parcel of life. To end up in your happy place, you need to ensure that you keep a balance between passion and survival. Take the risks. Seize every opportunity that comes your way. Learn and believe. At the end of the day, the career path you take will become the very essence of what you need and who you really wanted to be.

How to Detox Your Business

Allison Todd — Tue, 17 Oct 2017 09:59:07 +0000

It’s the day before a major report is due, the moment before your biggest client meeting, or the day before your big event – do you feel the “heaviness” in the air? For an entrepreneur who maintains a close watch on their business, it should be clear by now that maintaining a healthy workplace and maintaining a vibrant business culture are two of the toughest challenges. Business relations can have their ups and downs, like any relationship. However, too much complacency can often lead to its ultimate downfall. Hence, it is highly essential to “detox” your business and remove all of the impurities. This is where your leadership matters the most.

As a business leader, you will be tasked to craft creative ways that will not only address pressing business issues but also create enhancements and sustainable solutions. In some cases, the easiest route is to ignore or delay resolutions. However, don’t delay the issues too long or similar to decay, it will begin to effect the core of your business. So you want to do something, but unsure what to do?

Toxic Sources

When detoxing a business, don’t just address the surface issues. It is essential review and analyze the big picture and all business aspects to include:

Employee Retention. Do you have high and fast turnover and unsure of the root causes? Now is a good time to do a business detox. If employees tend to leave their jobs before they 1st year anniversary, you have a problem. Part of the reason could be due to the ever-changing mindset of millennials (that’s another blog). Although not far from plausible, and not always a bad thing, the reason your employees are leaving can show you various underlying issues like low employee morale, low creativity or low productivity.

No Avenues of Growth. Another common problem in the workplace that creates toxicity is the absence of opportunities that foster growth. Employees have high hopes and expectations. A business where employees are prevented from moving forward or learning more about the business, will eventually find itself in a quandary.

Lack of Competition. People are often raised to be competitive. It is part of the human DNA to compare or to compete in the hope of enhancing one’s self-confidence and …..winning! Dear businesses, don’t forget a little competition is healthy. Take note, no one ever wants to lose unless for a good cause. So make sure you attach a cause to the competition, because everyone can’t win.

Monotony. Change is always resisted. At the same time, employees tend to respond negatively to monotony. Whatever you do, avoid your employees feeling like they are stuck in mud. When there seems to be no movement, that usually means there is no movement. People begin to lose their enthusiasm, bad moods become commonplace and the creative mindset gets muddied. Avoid monotony at all costs.

Overall, know that toxicity in any form, can push your business in a downward spiral. When completing the business detox, it is essential to share this with all parties involved. This will send a clear message that you are addressing business problems rather than allowing them to deteriorate your business success. Wearing a blinder will only make it worse. Take action to resolve your business issues and minimize the damage—then, monitor and make necessary improvements.

Tips On Organizing A Successful Team Building Event

Allison Todd — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 09:45:41 +0000

Running a business does not rest on a single shoulder. It requires both cohesive and collaborative efforts. For every effort to be a success, the need to rise above passion and dedication is a must. It needs a team to work hand in hand with clear goals set. When thinking of developing a highly efficient team, the need to organize team building activities must be carefully considered. But going beyond the catch-all term that tends to only deliver the “fun” side of the story, organizing one can be quite overwhelming.

Team building helps nurture a productive workplace. When organizing one, however, it is imperative to invest time and resources in finding the right solution. Here are some ways to jumpstart your creative prowess in organizing one.

1. Make use of regular work days or hours to schedule a team building activity. Your employees or members of the team may not say it out loud, but putting extra time on weekends to attend a mandatory office-related event won’t just cut it. Choose a Wednesday or a Friday over lunch or breakfast—and provide food, of course.

2. Consider holding the event outside the office. Employees tend to interact freely when offsite. While the idea of using the company boardroom may sound fetching, organizing the team building session in another meeting space will give them a sense of liberty and the notion that such is not part of “regular” work.

3. Aside from the venue, do make sure that planned activities are clear and accessible to everyone. Without a doubt, fun activities like tug of war or relay races or other sporty activities can provide fun in team-building efforts, some may feel left out due to prevailing physical or health conditions. To ensure inclusion, choose appropriate activities that will involve everyone. Hold a brainstorming session weeks prior to know their sentiments.

4. The key is to set clear expectations. Make sure to inform your staff the intent of such activity. Whether it is to realign company goals or to come up with more efficient operational system in place or to cohesively integrate new employees with the old ones, your staff should know that it’s not just an ice breaker or an excuse to get off work for a few hours. The clearer the expectations, the more focused the efforts will be.

5. Place collaboration at the core of the event. Stress to your staff that competition, though healthy, is not the only way to succeed. In doing so, choose activities or contests that encourage them to work closely together.

6. Consider integrating the culture of philanthropy into your company’s team building efforts. Infuse the virtue of volunteerism as a way for employees to work together with the intent of doing something for those in need. Get everyone involved on community or local fundraisers. This will not only motivate them to be better employees but as responsible citizens, too.

7. Don’t forget to thank your staff for making the event successful and to gather feedback. Allow them to do so in anonymity so they can objectively provide truthful reaction on the event. Use both negative and constructive feedback as a blueprint for the next team building activity.

Team building activities create a more productive workplace with plenty of avenues for growth. Invest time and resources in organizing these events on a regular basis. Use your creative prowess or perhaps, hire an outside trainer to make the activity even more purposeful.

Personal Spring Cleaning From A Womanpreneur’s Perspective

Allison Todd — Sat, 07 Oct 2017 23:54:17 +0000

After the wintry spell, fall is nearly upon many businesses. Sure thing, this is the perfect time of the year to rev up your engine and crank your accelerometer to optimize your business goals. Spring brings a certain promise to every womanpreneur who wants to start anew particularly after a huge slump. It is also meant as a wake-up call for those procrastinating due to perceived risks in the future of the business.

Like vegetations that sprout as the sun’s magical rays finally seep through melting snow in its path, this is a time to start from a clean slate and to look for signs of opportunities and growth. Business spring cleaning is going to challenging. No doubt about that. But womenpreneurs may have the advantage.

So, how will you harness the invigorating energy that spring brings to your business? Are you ready to begin a new business cycle on a high note? Here are tips on how to start the new business cycle right.

1. First stop: de-clutter. Nothing is more distracting than a table filled with papers, files, folders, and such. It is high time to segregate the necessities from the undesirables. Clean up your table as fast as you can. Beneath those mounds of paperwork, you may stumble upon an agreement or a business plan that may sound ridiculous last year but useful now. Dust. Scrub. Repaint if you must. Basically, do not leave any flat surface remain untouched.

2. Give your computer a breath of fresh air. Open an account on DropBox and lodged past files and documents in there. Consider also having a backup hard drive to hold those files. Label them carefully. The more you will extract old files, reports, and documents that’s so last year from your laptop or PC, the more it will run efficiently.

3. Don’t forget cleaning up your online DNA. Give your website and social media pages the necessary spring cleaning, too. Perhaps, it is high time to “re-dress” your website’s look. A quick run on your dashboard will be so much fun. Social media profile badges may also have to be changed. Turn off those notifications. Realign your settings in a manner that’s conducive to your goals.

4. Reassess what you have done to your business and to your life. Do a no-nonsense month-by-month blow on the things you have done vis-à-vis your vision and mission. Are the marketing strategies you and your team painstakingly craft followed to a tee? Did you exceed or fall short from your goals? Are customers staying or going? How powerful does your online presence become? Make past performances as your gauge in setting goals and action plans to ensure improvement and growth this year.

5. Boost your business prowess. You can do so by having yourself and the whole workforce re-trained. Enroll your steering committee into a training class or a seminar. Have your operation workforce go into training for new skills. It is time to stretch everyone’s capabilities to the hilt, including your own self.

6. Give your own self the break you deserve. Perhaps, you have toiled high and low in the past months due to a slump or various challenges of the business. After all other aspects have been addressed, now is time to give your own self the pampering it needs. Go on an off-grid getaway. Reconnect with loved ones and friends. Meditate. Cleanse and purge your system from all the toxicity of last year’s struggles. Strengthen your mind and body—and come back with a renewed sense of purpose.

Always regard every cycle of the business with care. Every womanpreneur know that like running a home, doing an annual spring cleaning for your business will definitely create more opportunities for growth. Do so regularly and enjoy newly strengthened motivation to forward your goals.

Posting Secrets To Rock Your Instagram Campaign

Allison Todd — Sun, 24 Sep 2017 19:08:08 +0000

Is timing also a concern in Instagram? Like Twitter and Facebook,posting time has also been a fodder of discussion to Instagram users. While recent polls mentioned that the best time to post on social media (regardless of platform) is between 7pm to 9pm, it cannot be held true for everyone as target markets can be varied– different geographical location, different audience and different time zones. But why find out the right time to post on Instagram though? Well, if you are not familiar with IG’s algorithm changes last year, you should know by now that highly engaging posts are being “prioritized” on your newsfeed. This means that a post with more likes and comments will be visible to more people, increasing its reach and success potential.

So, what to do to rock your Instagram campaign? When thinking of generating more engagement to your Instagram posts, here are some posting secrets to remember this 2017:

Off-Work Hours. Schedule IG campaigns on hours where your audiences are most likely not on-board any work commitment. Lunch break usually falls between 11AM to 1PM while dinner engagement is usually at 7PM to 9PM. People nowadays, if not socializing, are checking their Instagram accounts for updates. So, schedule your posts on Hootsuite or any social media scheduling platform during these times.

Weekdays and Weekends. To be sure, make your campaign run for the whole week including weekends to expand your reach. Week days are known to be effective for B2B companies as majority of businesses still operate on these days. Weekends are highly advisable for B2C companies and are also great for fun campaigns. Wednesdays and Thursdays are also known to deliver the most punch in terms of engagement.

Time Zone Savvy. Always take time to consider your target audience time zone. If you are in the East Coast, for instance, but the bulk of your followers come from the West or from another continent, then, adjust your posting schedule according to their time zone.

3 o’ Clock Habit. Considered to deliver the lowest engagement rate in many geographical locations, the hour between 3PM and 4PM must be avoided by B2B companies as this is where most deadliest deadlines rest. B2C companies, however, can have fun experimenting on this timeframe.

Indeed, timing is everything when it comes to business– social media notwithstanding. When trying to optimize your campaign’s engagement, it is of utmost importance to use analytic tools that can help you a head’s up on various aspects directly affecting your posts. Aside from pinpointing geographical location, age, gender, and buying habits, it is also best to check the time they are most active on Instagram and start your campaign rolling from there. Find an airtight scheduler and keep track of its progress. As always, your dedication and commitment will matter a lot on making your posts a success.