Social media is now part of everyday life with over 4.4 billion expected users by 2025. As such, it’s a no-brainer that brands use it to communicate with their customers.However, just as it’s crucial to practice proper etiquette when conversing in-person, you also need to do the same online.Poor social media etiquette can lead to terrible consequences for an erring company. For example, in 2018, Snapchat lost an estimated $800 million after making a post that seemed to trivialize domestic violence.

Social Media Etiquette

Here are some benefits of practising proper social media etiquette:<ul><li>It makes your brand empathetic.</li><li>It helps you recover from fails.</li><li>It makes your social media campaigns more productive.</li><li>It helps you focus on what’s important.</li><li>It keeps you on the good side of the law.</li><li>It keeps you top-of-mind.</li></ul>

The Benefits of Social Media Etiquette

Your core values should resonate in your content. So if one core value is respect, you’d want to keep sassy comments out of your social media.On the other hand, if your brand is big on humor, then snarky comments would be on-brand.

Do's Of Social Media Etiquette: Stick to your Core Values

79% of customers expect a response in the first 24 hours of reaching out to your brand on social media.So, DO respond as soon as possible. Responding quickly to positive feedback reinforces a customer’s liking of your brand.Slow response, especially to complaints, makes customers feel like they’re left on read—and we all know how that feels.Nike Support (@NikeSupport) replies to customers every few minutes, which is probably one reason why people love them on social media.

Respond Quickly

If people come to your page and see an incomplete profile, it gives the wrong impression and they’ll feel you’re not serious enough about engaging with them.So, complete your profile and include useful information, for example, contact information when appropriate.Glossier’s Instagram profile, for example, contains information you need to know about it and includes its website where you can get more information.

Complete Your Social Page Profile

Hashtags can boost engagement, but too many hashtags on a post can make you look unprofessional and annoying.Displaying good social media etiquette will require you to use only hashtags that are relevant to the post.Coca-Cola’s branded #ShareACoke hashtag is an excellent example of a brand that used hashtags well.

Use Hashtags Correctly

While your audience and industry should be factored in, a good rule of thumb is to post at least once a week.If you don’t, there’s the risk of losing out on opportunities for driving brand awareness.

Post Regularly

Humor is subjective, and what’s funny to you might be insensitive or downright offensive to others.If you’re not sure about how a joke would be taken, then it’s better to keep it locked away.Aside from Wendy’s, another brand that’s hacked funny social media replies and posts is Innocent Drinks.

Don'ts Of Social Media Etiquette: Don't Overdo Humor

Don’t be desperate to get followers. It can be off-putting to see a business ask for followers every chance it gets.By posting valuable and authentic content, you’ll be able to grow your follower count and get high-quality interactions that will attract even more people.Fenty’s social media posts include testimonials from women of different nationalities and ethnicities, which is one reason for its rapid growth.

Don't Be Desperate

Followers will quickly get tired if they see too much on social media from your brand.Balance is key. If ever you’ll post more often than before, tell your audience beforehand and explain why. Then they’ll be less likely to unfollow you during your spree.

Don’t Over-Promote the Business

Tempted to use a bot to respond to your customers? Then you’re on your way to losing them.Users are smart, and they can sense when a response is automated. If you can’t be online 24/7, share the hours when customers can reach you on the platform. Twitch Support’s bio contains its scope of assistance and open hours.

Don’t Use a Bot for Replies

DO YOU WRITE IN ALL CAPS? Then you are likely stressing out your audience. Why? BECAUSE IT FEELS LIKE YOU’RE SHOUTING AT THEM!Even Twitter’s official business website for brandsadvises against tweeting in all caps.So, stop with all caps. They aren’t funny and come off as rude and aggressive. Use all caps only when something is truly important (or exciting), and you definitely HAVE to call your audience's attention to it.

Don’t Write in All Caps

Social media can be a minefield, and only good social media policies can guide brands and employees around it.  Respecting othersAlthough employees have the right to say what is on their minds and can post content on their personal time, it’s important to encourage them to be polite and calm on social media.Thinking before replying or posting online can de-escalate a potentially bad situation.

Social Media Etiquette for Employees: Respect Others

Social media isn’t the place to discuss sensitive company matters or disclose internal information.As an employee, you might not realize that you’re discussing sensitive or internal matters, so the best thing is to take no chances. If it’s not your place to do so or you’re unsure, then move on without discussing such matters online.

Respect Privacy and Confidentiality

There’s a rush that comes from being the first to ‘break the news.’ However, doing so might come at the cost of losing your job.So before you post or comment, ensure you’re entitled to share the information. Even if it doesn’t get you dismissed, some information you share might hurt others and ruin relationships.

Don’t Always Want to Be First

Your employer is paying you for your time, so act accordingly. Don't abuse their trust even if your employer allows you to use social media while at work.If you’re the social media manager, stick to the professional accounts. Using that time to attend to trivial, personal stuff is unfair. It’s also risky because you could end up mixing up accounts and posting something you shouldn’t with your professional account.

Don’t Use Social Media on Your Employer’s Time

Be mindful that you represent your employer. Thus, post information like you’re posting on their behalf.Use good judgment when posting online. For example, if someone posts negative information about the organization, don’t fly into a confrontation. Instead, tell someone in charge who can handle the matter or give you instructions on how to handle it.

Be a Good Company Ambassador

These Dos and Don’ts of social media etiquette might seem challenging to follow. However, following them can save you and your company a lot of stress.Several brands have experienced the power of cancel culture firsthand, and you can avoid their experiences by practicing good social media etiquette.When you care about your audience and put yourself in their shoes, you can have a good culture of social media etiquette that will benefit your brand.

The Bottom Line

Don't get cancelled! Protect your brand online with this guide to social media etiquette and manners. 

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Marketing & Sales

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Business

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Society, Arts & Culture

Sense and Sociability - The Corporate Guide to Social Media Etiquette

When we feel powerful, we make ourselves big; we stretch out; we take up space. We're basically opening up. However, if we feel insecure, we make themselves smaller. Maybe we're hunching, crossing our legs, wrapping our ankles or holding onto our arms.Non-verbal language governs how other people think and feel about us. We make sweeping judgments and inferences from body language. Those judgments can predict meaningful life outcomes, such as who we hire or promote or who we ask out on a date.

The effects of our body language

When people win a physical competition, they naturally put their arms up in the V and their chin slightly lifted. They will do it even if they've never witnessed someone doing it. However, when they feel powerless, they do the opposite. They close up and make themselves small.  When we come in contact with other people, we complement the other's nonverbals. For example, if someone is powerful with us, we tend to make ourselves smaller.

Natural body language

We know that nonverbals govern how we think and feel about others. But body language also governs how we feel about ourselves. For example, we smile when we feel happy. Conversely, when we're forced to smile, it makes us feel happy. When it comes to power, it also goes both ways. When you feel powerful, you're more likely to open up, but when you pretend to be powerful, you are more likely to feel powerful.

We are influenced by our own nonverbals

Powerful people tend to be more assertive and confident, more optimistic. They take more risks.  Studies showed that a two-minute power pose leads to hormonal changes that configure your brain to be either assertive, confident and comfortable, or stress-reactive.<ul><li>People with a high-power pose experienced a 20-percent increase in testosterone and a 25 percent decrease in cortisol, meaning they feel more assertive and less anxious.</li><li>Those who adopted a two-minute low-power pose had a 10-percent decrease in testosterone and a 15-percent increase in cortisol.</li></ul>

The two-minute power pose

Before you enter the next stressful evaluative situation, for two minutes, try a Power Pose. Configure your brain to cope the best in that situation. Get your testosterone up and your cortisol down.  Leave the situation feeling like you really got to say and show who you are.

Tiny tweaks can lead to big changes

Needing to feel motivated? Enjoy these inspirational Ted talks that will change your perspective and make your day better.

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Love & Relationships

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Communication

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Personal Development

Understand yourself and those around you.

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Psychology

7 Days of Inspiration 

Body language affects how others see us, but it may also change how we see ourselves. Social psychologist Amy Cuddy argues that "power posing" -- standing in a posture of confidence, even when we don't feel confident -- can boost feelings of confidence, and might have an impact on our chances for success. (Note: Some of the findings presented in this talk have been referenced in an ongoing debate among social scientists about robustness and reproducibility. Read Amy Cuddy's response here: http://ideas.ted.com/inside-the-debate-about-power-posing-a-q-a-with-amy-cuddy/) Get TED Talks recommended just for you! Learn more at https://www.ted.com/signup. The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. Follow TED on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/TEDTalks Like TED on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TED Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/TED

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Videos

Body language affects how others see us, but it may also change how we see ourselves. Social psychologist Amy Cuddy argues that "power posing" -- standing in a posture of confidence, even when we don't feel confident -- can boost feelings of confidence, and might have an impact on our chances for success. (Note: Some of the findings presented in this talk have been referenced in an ongoing debate among social scientists about robustness and reproducibility. Read Amy Cuddy's response here: http://ideas.ted.com/inside-the-debate-about-power-posing-a-q-a-with-amy-cuddy/)

Get TED Talks recommended just for you! Learn more at https://www.ted.com/signup.

The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more.

Follow TED on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/TEDTalks
Like TED on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TED

Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/TED

The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. You're welcome to link to or embed these videos, forward them to others and share these ideas with people you know.

TED's videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy: https://www.ted.com/about/our-organization/our-policies-terms/ted-talks-usage-policy. For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://media-requests.ted.com

Your body language may shape who you are | Amy Cuddy

Your body language may shape who you are

According to new research from the Kellogg School, how data are visualized can significantly impact our interpretation of what we’re seeing sometimes for the worse. Our efforts to simplify charts by grouping data into smaller numbers of “buckets” (say, two bars on a chart as opposed to ten) seemed to lead people to mistake correlation for causation. Graphs can be powerful, but it’s imperative that you know how to pick the right one for the right data. “You can lead your colleagues and customers to think more rationally about these kinds of problems.”

Correlation isn't causation

An experiment was done to find out whether these styles(bar charts, line charts, scatterplots, and plain text) differ in how "casual" they make the data appear to people. 4 correlations were chosen to display visually. 4 different visualizations for each scenario. Each participant saw 4 styles one representation of each scenario. After they controlled for the relative plausibility of each scenario, the type of style didn’t observably impact ratings For the causal statements: Participants rated information they saw in bar charts as the most causal and scatter plots as the least causal

Line Charts, Circles and Bars 📈📊

The same experiment was done, this time they developed bar charts, line charts, and scatterplots with three different levels of aggregation. This time the type of chart had only a small effect on participants’ ratings of causality. Much more significant, however, was the effect of aggregation level. Across all different visualization styles, people saw aggregated data as more causal than less aggregated data.

More Aggregation, More Assumptions of Causality

Be mindful when you aggregate, because the assumption people have may become a causal one. So think carefully about how you present your data and maybe iterate with your own design team or with your data analysts so people don’t misinterpret what you’re trying to say. Even the most sophisticated tool rarely, on its own, identifies causation. “It’s just really, really good at finding trends. So if you see an exciting trend, don’t automatically assume causality, Shapiro cautions instead, look at it skeptically.

How to Visualize Responsibly

Some data-visualization techniques lead us to assume causality where it doesn’t exist.

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Product & Design

See an Exciting Trend in That Chart? Proceed with Caution.

<ol><li>To lay out global standards for organizations to create and administer an environment where the psychosocial well-being of employees is as clearly defined and care for as their physical safety.</li><li>Offer a helpful baseline for HR professionals across industries to evaluate how effectively their organizations are providing a psychosocially healthy atmosphere, without the need for in-house specialists with deep expertise in mental health</li></ol>

The Goals of the ISO 45003 Psychological Health and Safety at Work

<ol><li>A stigmatized (often nonexistent) support system. Our current situation has highlighted the lack of supportive environments, unsustainable and unfair workloads, and ineffective recognition practices.</li><li>A diverse workforce has different mental wellness needs. Having a blanket solution applied to everyone, without considering their position makes them feel excluded instead.</li><li>Burnout remains pervasive and prevention is the best cure. Employees are facing difficulties in dealing with burnout because it remains to be their responsibility to solve it.</li></ol>

3 Common Mental Health and Wellness Issues Organizations Face

<ol><li>We need to discuss mental health more openly at work and underscore the importance of creating a psychologically safe space for each and every employee. The ISO guidelines are asking to create a culture of protection for employees that speak up.</li><li>The quality and reach of the mental health programs are what's important. We should consider the diversity of the workforce and their particular needs.</li><li>We need to implement and maintain support systems in the workplace for burnout prevention.</li></ol>

Strategies For Change: Handling  the 3 Mental Health and Wellness Issues 

Traditional solutions to mental health and wellness issues won't cut it anymore because it's becoming an increasingly important subject. Organizations seeking transformative solutions may need to have fresh eyes for the following:<ul><li>How we view employee mental health</li><li>Our company's role in leadership and how it's changing the company culture around mental health; and</li><li>The effectiveness of our strategies for today's workforce</li></ul>

A Significant Opportunity for Organizations Ready for Change

For too long we have let companies applaud us for being workaholics without considering our mental health and wellness issues. This article shows those in leadership roles, how they can prioritize our psychosocial health just as much as they focus on our physical safety.

Organizations can improve workplace safety by not only focusing on physical protection but the psychological needs of employees.

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Corporate Culture

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Mental Health

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Human Resources

A New Era of Workplace Safety: Prioritizing Psychosocial Health

Used in courses taught at Stanford Continuing Studies, this book quickly became a classic. A favorite of small business owners and entrepreneurs, this business book lays down a step-by-step process for you to follow in order to create a holistic social media strategy for you to grow your side hustle brand.

Social Media Marketing Workbook: How to Use Social Media for Business 

The key to success on social media is to build a strong and consistent social media marketing plan, and this is exactly what the author aims to provide. In this business book you’ll get actionable ideas that will help you generate brand awareness, increase traffic, leads, and most importantly sales.500 Social Media Marketing Tips includes hundreds of actionable strategies for success on some of the biggest social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and more!

500 Social Media Marketing Tips: Essential Advice, Hints and Strategy for Business

In Henneke Duistermaat’s book, you’ll follow a 6-step comprehensive process that will teach you how and what to create to engage with your audience, what mistakes to avoid, how to optimize your copy for SEO, and how to make it convert your audience into leads and customers.The insight given here isn’t just theoretical; each chapter has assignments to help you practice what you’ve learned, along with templates and checklists, so you’re armed with everything you need to create the perfect copy.

How to Write Seductive Web Copy: An Easy Guide to Picking Up More Customers

Brian Meert will teach you:<ul><li>How to use Ads Manager to create your ad campaigns</li><li>How to create different ad formats such as Instant Experience and Dynamic Product Ads</li><li>How to create marketing funnels, get in front of the right target audience, and how to leverage successful ad creatives.</li><li>How to read Facebook reports and choose the right bidding type</li><li>..and much more</li></ul>

The Complete Guide to Facebook Advertising

This book is full of tried and proven strategies, guides, and tips that aim to help you build your email list and start generating revenue fast.You will learn how to:<ul><li>Build your list subscribers and learn how to turn them into potential customers fast</li><li>Better understand what it is your audience wants (and how to transform your emails to offer the value they are looking for)</li><li>Choose the best autoresponder tool that fits your budget</li><li>Create to email copy that will engage your subscribers, drive them to take action, ultimately convert them into customers</li><li>Avoid spam filters and blacklists.</li></ul>

Email Marketing Strategies 2019: Proven Tactics For Building Your First 10,000 Email Subscribers In 1 Month

If you are interested in making a significant impact in the digital world and stand out among all the noise, this book is right for you. More specifically, the author shares actionable tips on how to:<ul><li>Gain a diverse and more importantly dedicated online following</li><li>Create unique and engaging content that will provide value to your audience</li><li>Build a multi-media brand by using the most powerful social platforms, such as Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn.</li></ul>

One Million Followers: How I Built a Massive Social Following in 30 Days

This book takes the Pareto Principle of 80/20 and integrates it into sales and marketing so you can more effectively (and efficiently) grow your side hustle. It essentially illustrates how you can save 80% of your efforts by concentrating on the right 20% of your market. While this sounds complicated, it’s actually a really easy, and pleasant read.Chapters are short and to the point, and always end with a summary so you can digest what you learned, and come back to for reviews. Whether you’re about to start a business or a season entrepreneur, this book is a must read.

80/20 Sales and Marketing: The Definitive Guide to Working Less and Making More

If you are thinking about leveraging LinkedIn for your new business or side hustle, this book will definitely help you by:<ul><li>Showing you how to build your “road-map for results” using a clear and concise four part methodology.</li><li>Showing you how to find and engage with your target audience.</li><li>Illustrating the best ways to increase your LinkedIn effectiveness (with simple and easy to follow steps) and how to use your time on the platform.</li><li>Showing you strategies for building a high-quality network of connections.</li></ul>

42 Rules for 24-Hour Success on LinkedIn

In this book you will find examples and actionable, easy to implement tips such as:<ul><li>Steps to start growing and establishing your influence on Twitter</li><li>How to start growing your audience</li><li>How to start engaging with your audience</li><li>Types of content to be posting as well as efficiency tips</li><li>How to use Twitter to gain a competitive advantage</li></ul>

The Tao Of Twitter

In these pages you will learn:<ul><li>How to avoid the 9 biggest mistakes that could severely hinder your chances for success</li><li>How to find, interact, engage, and convert your ideal audience</li><li>How to create a sustainable and recurring profit</li></ul>It’s a great book for entrepreneurs who need guidance while starting their business.

The Startup Owner’s Manual: The Step-By-Step Guide for Building a Great Company

Within these pages, author Kim Walsh Phillips gives you strategic, easy to follow tips on how to:<ul><li>Increase your followers (using a 21 day blueprint)</li><li>Create and run lead generating campaigns through the use of hashtags, product launches, and contests.</li><li>Create content that attracts and engages your idea customers (using a lead magnet blueprint you can easily follow)</li><li>Build your brand and authority to become an influencer on the platform</li><li>Set up marketing funnels that convert followers into customers.</li></ul>

Ultimate Guide to Instagram for Business

This business book combines the authors’ experiences and insight they’ve generated from interviewing over 100 content creators, to create a detailed, step by step guide to success on YouTube. In these pages you’ll learn:<ul><li>How to increase your views and channel subscriptions</li><li>How to set up your channel and videos to start generating money</li><li>Best practices on how to utilize the platform in an effective but efficient manner</li><li>How some of today’s top creators managed to get where they are now (and how they did it)</li></ul>

YouTube Secrets: The Ultimate Guide to Growing Your Following and Making Money as a Video Influencer

Within these pages, author Susan Hollister helps you:<ul><li>Learn how to find and target your ideal audience</li><li>Make yourself visible to your audience and capture their attention with strategically formulated and engaging messages.</li><li>Discover how to make your brand compelling to your target audience and create a sound business identity.</li><li>Learn how to optimize your side hustle campaigns and get the biggest ROI possible.</li><li>Learn how to plan, track, analyze, and evaluate how your campaigns are going.</li><li>Discover the power of ads, and how they can be used to maximize your ROI</li></ul>

Facebook Marketing: World Class Strategies for Optimizing Your Page, Getting Lots of Likes, and Creating Compelling Facebook Ads

In these pages you will learn:<ul><li>How to delegate, automate, and systematize your Twitter marketing efforts, all under 15 minutes a day.</li><li>How to create and optimize your twitter account.</li><li>How to create tweets that convert your followers into buyers.</li><li>How to create a marketing strategy and funnel by following an easy to understand sequence of steps.</li></ul>

How To Make Money With Twitter: A Complete Guide To Twitter Marketing And Monetization

This is not like any other business book on the list. In fact, it does not focus on starting, marketing, or improving your business; it focuses on you.The author of this book says it the best “…in life, the question is not if you will have problems, but how you are going to deal with them. Stop failing backward and start failing forward!”

Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes Into Stepping Stones for Success

In these pages the author will take you through a step-by-step process (you can follow along) to teach you how to:<ul><li>Identify “winnable,” highly competitive, and valuable keywords to optimize your content for SEO</li><li>Optimize your web pages and posts to be discovered, easily crawled, and most importantly favored by Google via On Page SEO practices. </li><li>Create content that not only liked by search engines, but is also valuable and engaging for your audience.</li><li>Leverage Off Page SEO. </li><li>Utilize social media to boost visibility.</li><li>Leverage Local SEO </li><li>Read and analyze metrics by mastering Google Analytics.</li></ul>

SEO Fitness Workbook: The Seven Steps to Search Engine Optimization Success on Google

Written by Google expert, Benjamin Mangold, this business book is for side hustlers, such as yourself, that want to grow their brand through solid digital marketing campaigns.It’s separated into 2 parts, with the first focusing on advertising, and the second on analytics.

Learning Google AdWords and Google Analytics

You will learn:<ul><li>How to determine your true content niche.</li><li>How to attract, convert, and retain customers with your content.</li><li>The step-by-step process of creating and curating high quality content.</li><li>How to leverage social media and email to create, reach, grow, and convert your audience.</li><li>How to measure the performance of your content</li><li>How to become more efficient (reduce time and budget needed for creation.)</li></ul>

Epic Content Marketing: How to Tell a Different Story, Break through the Clutter, and Win More Customers by Marketing Less

This business book will guide you through the steps needed to formulate long lasting relationships with influencers by using tactics, guides, examples, and case studies. More specifically, you’ll learn how to:<ul><li>Avoid common challenges that will hinder forming connections with influential people</li><li>Create a solid brand and lay the foundation and become “influencer ready”</li><li>Build, nurture, and retain long-lasting business relationships</li><li>Leverage your network of connections to find your ideal clients</li></ul>

Beyond Influencer Marketing: 

You will learn how to:<ul><li>Convert your current audience to new customers or clients.</li><li>Increase profits from existing customers.</li><li>Avoid hurdles, challenges and misconceptions, of operating and growing a small business.</li><li>Avoid “big business” strategies that actually might hinder an SMB, and focus on strategies that will work for you.</li><li>Differentiate yourself from competition.</li><li>Use direct response marketing to your advantage.</li></ul>

The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand Out From The Crowd

In these pages you will learn:<ul><li>What SEO really means and why its important for growing your business.</li><li>The distinction between On-Site and Off-Site SEO and how to combine both for optimal performance.</li><li>The step by step process of how to build high quality links that will boost your site’s authority, traffic, and rank on Google.</li><li>What tactics to avoid in order not to get penalized by Google</li><li>Basic and advanced backlinking strategies that have been refined to grow your business</li></ul>

OFF-SITE SEO GUIDE: A Hands-On SEO Tutorial For Beginners & Dummies

In these pages you will learn how to:<ul><li>Use Instagram to strengthen your business and build a strong following</li><li>Build an effective marketing plan for the platform</li><li>Use Instagram to sell directly to your audience</li><li>Avoid common mistakes</li></ul>

Instagram Power: Build Your Brand and Reach More Customers with Visual Influence2nd Edition

When it comes to growing your business online, the first place many (including us) look to are the best business books and actionable articles we can generate insight from. Given our team has come…

Discover the world of business and economics.

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Economics

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Startups

22 Best Business Books for Entrepreneurs in 2019

Dr. Amy Edmondson (who coined the term psychological safety), defines it as, "a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes."
This is a critical factor for high-performing teams.
Teams with strong psychological safety are less afraid of the negative consequences that may result from:
<ul>
<li>Taking smart risks</li>
<li>Making mistakes</li>
<li>Sharing their opinions within their team</li>
<li>Being candid with one another.</li>
</ul>

Psychological safety in the workplace

<ul>
<li>Teams that feel empowered to share their perspectives with each other, especially when their opinions differ from the rest of the group.</li>
<li>These teams are more likely to take initiative and consider the full picture of each situation. This in turn enables the team to innovate and find effective solutions.</li>
<li>Psychological safety is also critical to a team's ability to give and receive candid, respectful feedback. </li>
<li>Google's research on characteristics of high-performing teams identified psychological safety as their top indicator of the performance of a team.</li>
</ul>

Why does psychological safety matter?

One way to measure psychological safety in your organization is through employee surveys. Consider asking questions that measure employees' perceptions of psychological safety both at work and within their team.
When reviewing your results, focus your data analysis at the team-level, rather than within the organization overall. While it's valuable to have an understanding of the level psychological safety throughout your organization, any action that you take to improve psychological safety will be most effective within teams.

How to measure psychological safety

<ul>
<li>Build self-awareness in your team (recognizing how you prefer to think and behave)</li>
<li>Demonstrate concern for team members as people.</li>
<li>Ask for questions, different viewpoints, and considerations that have not yet been voiced.</li>
<li>Provide multiple ways for employees to share their thoughts.</li>
<li>Show appreciation for ideas.</li>
<li>Encourage team members to use positive language to inspire honest conversations.</li>
<li>Be precise with information, expectations, and commitments.</li>
<li>Be clear about what changed and why and give your team members time to process the change.</li>
<li>Own up to mistakes and celebrate failures as learnings.</li>
</ul>

How to create psychological safety at work

Want to build a high-performing team? Start with creating a safer work evironment

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Books

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Problem Solving

teamwork

Teamwork

leadershipandmanagement

Leadership & Management

Fostering Psychological Safety In The Workplace

When it comes to performance, a trusting environment is essential. Here are nine strategies to help you create psychological safety in the workplace.

Strategies to Create Psychological Safety at Work

<ul><li>Are you trying to build brand awareness?</li><li>Generate visibility and leads?</li><li>Generate ideas for content?</li><li>Share your insight, ideas and articles?</li><li>Get informed on industry news and trending topics?</li></ul>Whichever the case, you’ll need to have clear goals to formulate an appropriate strategy, who to follow, and what kind of information to share.

Have a clear purpose  

<ul><li>Are you using a personal Instagram page or a business page?</li><li>Do you have the correct contact information on your business page? (Email, physical location, business phone number)</li><li>Have you linked Instagram to your Facebook business page?</li></ul>You can achieve the above by simply connecting your two profiles together.

Setup the proper account

<ul><li>Have you included a link back to your site?</li><li>Did you include a description of your brand and what your business is about?</li><li>Possibly add achievements/highlights that attract new followers</li></ul>This is your chance to share any relevant information you would like visitors to see. You want to highlight why someone should follow your account.

Fill out your Instagram bio

<ul><li>Does it connect to your company or brand?</li><li>Is it something that’s easy to remember?</li><li>Will it come up in search results? (Instagram and Google)</li><li>Are you using a consistent handle across all social media?</li></ul>This will be the username that your audience will know you by on Instagram. Make sure it is easy to remember and relevant to what you’re trying to achieve.

Create a memorable username

<ul><li>Are you using the correct dimensions?</li><li>For your profile picture</li><li>For your Instagram Stories feed</li><li>For organic Instagram posts</li><li>Do you have a relevant profile picture?</li></ul>Instagram is an image/video based platform. All the content is guided to draw attention to the video or picture. Make sure to use the correct dimensions in the applicable spots.

Post relevant images and videos

<ul><li>How consistently are you posting? Everyday? Multiple times a day?</li><li>What are you posting?</li><li>Is it products your business offers?</li><li>User generated content?</li><li>Are you optimizing your posts to achieve your overall purpose?</li><li>Using hashtags the proper hashtags</li><li>Text that encourages engagement</li><li>Is there a tool you can use to automate this process?</li></ul>There isn’t a limit on how often you should be posting on Instagram. However, if your content isn’t engaging, Instagram’s algorithm will start ‘hiding’ your content from your followers.

Define what you’re posting

<ul><li>Have you done hashtag research to find the best keywords to ensure optimal reach?</li><li>Are you using all hashtags available to you?</li><li>Should you be using all hashtags?</li><li>Does your caption connect with your audience?</li><li>Is it humanizing?</li><li>Are your captions too short or too long to read?</li><li>Should they be that long/short?</li><li>Are you encouraging followers to like and comment on your content in a non spammy way?</li><li>Are you tagging influencers/brands that could potentially boost your post’s engagement?</li><li>Are you adding a link in your bio when promoting a webpage?</li></ul>

Optimize your post structure

<ul><li>Is it overly branded content?</li><li>Are you heavily pushing for a sale on Instagram?</li><li>Is it content your audience will use to generate trust with you?</li></ul>On Instagram, you ultimately want more followers, high engagement, and traffic back to your site. This is only possible if you post content your audience will trust.

Define your content

<ul><li>Are you liking and commenting on your follower’s content?</li><li>Do you encourage conversation/commenting on your posts?</li></ul>In today’s world, engagement means everything. How would you feel if your favorite musician liked your post on Instagram? With that same mentality, your audience looks up to you.

Engage with followers

<ul><li>Do you have an influencer marketing strategy on Instagram?</li><li>Have you connected with any potential influencers?</li><li>What tools are you using to find influencers in your niche on Instagram?</li><li>Are you tagging influencers/brand and encouraging them to like/comment on your post?</li></ul>If you promote great content, chances are, influencers will encourage and promote it. However, you still need to get under their radar.

Are you tapping into any influencers on Instagram?

It comes down to two things: creating content and interaction. Without content, there’s nothing to interact your audience with. Without interaction, your content wouldn’t be optimized.

The key to Instagram success 

With over 800 million active users on Instagram, it’s a no brainer for businesses to expand their marketing efforts to the platform. If you’re oblivious on how to use Instagram for your business…

How To Create A Business Page On Instagram To Attract More Customers

Make it easy for people to find you and reach out to you. That means making sure you have an online presence.<ul><li>Have a website that clearly states the name of your business and what you do. </li><li>Include a contact email; not just a contact form. Reporters will likely be reaching out to multiple businesses, and they want to be able to track that they’ve reached out to you.</li><li>Make your location address prominent (if applicable). List the city where you are based and your business phone on your website where they’re easy to find.</li><li>Include social handles where you are most active so reporters can learn more about you and how you engage your audience. </li></ul>

Have a website with pertinent contact information

Reporters, producers, casting agents — all of them are scouring social channels to find their next story or star. When covering food trends, for example, reporters will search Instagram or TikTok looking for purveyors who are partaking in that particular trend.Additionally, if you build an engaged following, you become more attractive for media opportunities as publishers and producers see that you have an audience. You don’t have to be on every single channel. Pick one or two that you can consistently keep updated.

Be active on social media

If a reporter is doing a story on wellness trends in Los Angeles, for example, they may start their research by Googling spas in the area. You want to show up in those results.In addition to having your business name, address, and phone number on your site, confirm your business is listed in Google My Business, Yelp, and even the local Yellow Pages, and optimize those listings.

Make sure your business is optimized for local SEO

Here are 7 tips on how to attract media attention for your brand 


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