The post Robots are taking over Instagram: Everything you need to know appeared first on Tailgunner.

Presenting your preferred examples

So you’ve found a glorious website that works in a way you would like for your own brand. Nice! We’ll certainly do our best to create your brand a website with similar style and functionality, but a few things are going to affect how well this works: your product/service, your budget, and your deadline.

The team at Tailgunner are problem solvers. We’ll do our best for your brand on the budget and timeframe you give us.

Where unrealistic expectations arise, we understand that this isn’t your fault. We wouldn’t expect you to totally understand the technical concept of web design, so we’ll shed light on what’s realistic and what’s less so in regard to your resourses.

Honesty is policy

We like to be upfront with our clients in the meetings we hold. If a task is looking a little unlikely, we’ll show you a few other angles in which we could tackle things. You might not get an identical copy of your favorite website example, but you’ll get the best possible quality version for your own brand within the timeframe and budget you’ve set for us. If things change, we’re pretty flexible…but it’s important to keep that communication open when such events arise!

Just like building a house

Like a totally jaw-dropping architectural project, more resources will produce better results. You wouldn’t get the exact same beautiful building built if you wanted it in less time and with less money – the same principal applies to your web design.

The post Getting the best out of your Web Design Brief (Part 2) appeared first on Tailgunner.

Whether you’re looking to start a website from scratch or to simply update a current one, we recommend reading this blog series before you get to the brief:

Expectations vs reality

In a magical Disney-esque dream world where everything ends in a ‘happily ever after’, you could expect a design brief to go as ‘a-b-c’ as this:

• Client gets in contact
• Client requests website
• Website is created
• Designer gets paid
• Website works well
• Everyone is happy

And then pigs fly, right? Here’s a more realistic look at that process, as experienced by most web designers today:

• Client gets in contact during/after a hectic (sometimes incomplete) pitching period
• Client requests website (either hugely visual-specific or completely ambiguous)
• Website is made (but not without a healthy dose of email exchange, edits and waiting games for board approval etc)
• Designer gets paid (often with delays, last minute negotiation, and a myriad of follow-up emails)
• Website is buggy (usually if the project has been rushed)
• There’s rarely a happily ever after…it’s more like a ‘happily ever- oh wait one more thing…’

No matter which side of the brief you’re on, client or creator, there’s always room for error, but also for improvement. For a project to run as smoothly as it possibly can, it’s going to involve some solid communication.

Effective ‘Coms’

Not to be confused with an endless stream of emails during the design process itself, effective coms between client and creator need to take place during your first project meeting.

Cue the Mission Impossible music and bring your game face, because the project rests upon how well this meeting goes!

At the brief meeting

Stay on target

There’s a time for brainstorming, and there’s a time for brief-building. In a small-business brainstorm meeting, we can chat generally and discuss marketing matters, target audiences, brand backstory – whatever you like!

In a brief-building meeting, however, it will save both parties a lot of valuable time if we ‘stay on target’. We’re here to talk about your website, and we’re really excited that you’ve chosen us to create it for you!

What to bring to the brief table

The best thing you can bring is a clear expectation of what content you want and where you want it. No clear content makes for a very obscure concept.

A shop (ecommerce) website, for instance, should have a clear description or set of products and some idea of how they’d like these sold. For clients needing a website to deliver information effectively, you could prepare a ‘priority’ list that arranges content in order of importance (what you want your audience to see first).

The speed of your project tends to rely heavily on how much practical info you can provide your website creator with in regard to the content and its arrangement. You can save yourself weeks of back-and-forth emailing with a few hours of practical prep before your meeting.

In short: specifics avoid guessing games and save money. Win!  

Keep an eye out for the next installment of this article where we’ll chat about presenting your preferred website design examples for your project.

The post Getting the best out of your Web Design Brief (Part 1) appeared first on Tailgunner.

Times are changing. Just as the internet morphed into the user-bolstered 2.0, companies are looking to the customers themselves for brand-boosting opportunities. With a little social media smarts… you might just see your customers magically transform into successful sponsors before your eyes.

Act with tact: a word of warning before we go any further

Did you happen to catch this month’s Pepsi drama? Take heed: this advertisement campaign is the perfect example of a brand blunder that not even the fame of a Kardashian/Jenner could redeem. There are many things to be learned from this incident, and we’re certain there are endless articles overflowing with negative critique you can dive into online…but for the sake of today’s topic let’s focus on a lesson that your small business might easily glean.

Your audience is not stupid.

That’s right. Even a much-beloved celebrity will find it a challenge in this day and age to inspire a desire for spending within your audience. So who’s going to bring your brand home to your target audience? If not a celebrity, then who else could possible have such sway?

It’s going to take someone a little closer to home: someone they can relate with on a more realistic level. Someone whose progress has been visible – even admirable – to your audience from their very first post.

Cue Influencers.

Influencers: who are they?

In New Zealand, we’re more than familiar with the concept of ‘tall poppy syndrome’. Influencers are individuals on social media who are extremely appealing to target audiences. This is because they seemingly come from humble beginnings, and have worked hard to harness an audience of loyal followers and supporters. They live inspirational lives which we – the audience – get to peek into through ‘windows’ such as YouTube Vlogs or Instagram pictures.

Social media influencers can bring an element of sincerity to the advertising table, and if they happen to genuinely like your product then you’ll have several beautiful posts and reviews to look forward to (yay for customer-created content)!

These people are conduits of loyal customers, sending them seamlessly to your company. If a trusted influencer is on your side, you could be in for a very successful ride.

Influencer marketing: how does it work?

While it might seem like their lives are naturally beautiful and orderly, a good influencer will actually infuse a great deal of structure into each post that they release. From location tags to lighting, an influencer does the work of a model, photographer, director and marketing manager simultaneously. If it were a marketing genre, we might call it casual-professional.

So how will they use their awesome influential powers to promote your brand or product? Primarily through product placement, naturally…though this is not as obvious as the product placement that we are used to seeing on TV commercials or celebrity pages. A good influencer will be subtle and smart with their product placement; usually the product will be integrated into a positive analogy with an accompanying image.

Where do we find these magical people and how do we get started?

When hunting for your social media influencer, you should treat the process as though you’re looking for a new employee. Let it be strongly emphasised that these people need to line up with your brand’s values and/or morals, otherwise you risk having your products associated with unsavoury content (a matter that is completely out of your control).

Take time to scroll through a potential’s page and their posts and see if they match a few of our suggested guidelines:

• They keep it positive, but not ‘gushy’.
• They keep it PG (your product isn’t going to get a lot of attention if an influencer’s followers are sticking around primarily for their body).
• They take high-quality photos (these are perfect for resharing on your own feed).
• They have successfully featured similar products or services to your own brand’s.

You don’t necessarily need to go to an agency to acquire your social media influencers. Spending an hour or two a day on social media (primarily Facebook, YouTube and Instagram) will give you a good understanding as to who’s using your product or similar products, and who’s going to work well with your brand to officially promote them.

Get a little guidance with Tailgunner!

Whether you’re totally keen or just curious about social media marketing and influencers, we can help! Our social media expert Seth is available to talk social strategy for small businesses in New Zealand. We’re excited about this new and rapidly evolving form of marketing, and we can’t wait to see your business soar online and off.

The post Under the influence: using customers to collect customers appeared first on Tailgunner.

You wouldn’t show up to work in a garish pastel pantsuit, so why should your logo stay stuck in the 80’s-90’s? Even a few early 2000 logos are lacking that modern, timeless factor that many 2010-7 logos are strongly sporting these days. A relevant rebrand is every bit as important as updated technology for your business, so what’s stopping you from investing in that redesign?

If it’s going to take a little persuasion to see you settle on a new logo, then we’ll just let the benefits do the talking…

Cool and convenient

You’ll probably notice that a lot of big brands are taking time to sharpen up their logos, both figuratively and literally. Not only does a new logo give a business a fancy new face in the marketing world, it’s also extremely convenient to dispense – online and off – for business-related material.

Back in the day, our logos would be small, pixelated files that would be impossible to place over certain colours or textures. They would also be next-to-impossible to place in certain areas, especially if they feature tiny details or plenty of text.

Today, logos are designed to be ‘pen proof’, meaning your logo should look just as effective blown up on a billboard as it does next to your brand’s name on a company pen. Modern logos come in blissfully adaptable files, so you’ll be free to sit them anywhere you like on documents and websites; hovering over any colour without fading into the background (or pixelating beyond recognition).

A fresh start

A rebrand is – without doubt – the best way to breathe new life into a company. You could liken it to the feeling of walking into a newly renovated home with modern furnishings and a fresh coat of paint – you’re the first to enjoy the fancy new ‘makeover’, and you made sure it was done your way. A new logo provides the same ‘shiny and new’ satisfaction for yourself…and your clients. No matter where you place in the marketing cycle, we all love a swish new rebrand. It’s exciting and it intrigues us.

It also shows the world that you care about your company enough to see it ‘spruced up’ for a new era. You’re not going to let your company expire, because your brand shows that you want the best quality brand you can possibly offer your clients today, tomorrow, and in the future.

A chance to make it personal

Many companies fly under the ‘flag’ of an old brand that they have most likely inherited. While this might have been convenient at the time, it can tend to have you feeling a little disconnected from your business (as though you’re still working for someone else’s company). You can trust a rebrand to bring the business back into your hands. You’ll make your own mark on your newly inherited company; being part of the logo designing process is the best way to put your own personal spin on any given business.

Talk to Tailgunner

Our design team live for logos. Whether it’s an update or a brand new brand, we can’t wait to bring your brand to life visually through a modern, well-designed piece. We offer general graphic design services too, and no task is too small! Be it a Facebook banner or a business card (or even just a bit of design-orientated banter), you can chat to Tailgunner today!

The post Three reasons why a rebrand is going to be the best bet for your business appeared first on Tailgunner.

Then there’s blatant negativity. A comment will come out of nowhere on one of your posts – cold and uncalled for. How are we to react professionally in such circumstances? It’s time to put on your most positive and professional customer service face, because today’s blog is going to show you how to flawlessly handle any future flouts of negativity across all your social networks:

Going boldly

Bringing your brand to the social networking scene can be somewhat intimidating for a few of our clients. They fear the thought of a company profile as it offers an open invitation for audience members to make unfair attacks via comments, Facebook ‘reactions’ and reviews.

Our social media guru Seth believes strongly that such circumstances can be converted for the benefit of your brand. How? Well, in the same way a disgruntled customer approaching a counter can be tactfully handled by a polite employee – before the eyes of onlooking shoppers, mind you – your social media interaction with a negative commenter or reviewer can show the customer-focussed quality of your superstar staff!

We’re all in each other’s business online, so you can bet that you’ll have an audience waiting and watching for your response to a negative review. Embrace the spotlight and take this chance to show both current and future customers how well your brand handles a challenge.

Distinguishing the disgruntled from the dramatic

About 80% of the time, a negative review will be over-dramatised to stir a healthy dose of ‘shock factor’ into an individual’s otherwise underwhelming experience. The other 20% of the time, you’ll be lucky enough to encounter an individual who has simply had a bad experience, and seeks to proactively inform you in the hopes that you’ll be able to fix their issue or prevent it in the future. Where the latter is the case, you’ll be able to comfortably converse with this character and assure them that an amendment or solution will be offered immediately, and to the best of your ability.

In the case of the former scenario…you’ll need to handle things a little more delicately.

Diffusing the drama bomb

Sometimes a friendly, understanding ear is all an unhappy person needs to amend their bad experience. Remember that nothing should be too small or insignificant for you to offer your full respect and attention.

However, when your respect and attention is not enough to quell the unrest of an aggravated audience member, an offer of compensation will generally do the trick. If you are able to offer refunds, replacements or vouchers…do so.

Our best tip: don’t dwell on the dilemma long enough to let it get you down. If the motivation behind a negative comment or review is simply the customer’s ploy for ‘free stuff’, then you have shown that you are the ‘bigger person’ by handling the situation with a hospitable, humble, and ultimately positive attitude.

Rest assured, because this is a great way to build trust and shine your customer service skills to current and future customers.

When things go too far

Let’s take you back to our ‘disgruntled customer in the shop’ analogy that we mentioned earlier.

In a real-life shop scenario, any customer caught raising their voice or threatening a staff member would and should be asked to leave the store immediately. You are more than within your rights to call the police should such an attack take place. Thankfully, in the case of social media, you are safely sitting behind a screen. There won’t be any violence, but that doesn’t mean hate speech is suddenly acceptable either.

What are my options?

Most (if not all) social networks will have an option to report and block an abusive individual. At the very least you should be able to hide or delete their comments. If you feel that the negativity has gone too far, then you should use these protective tools as you see fit.

Please don’t feel pressured to tolerate threatening talk from your audience members simply because the banter is being broadcasted publicly. If you feel comfortable enough to respond, start by inviting your unhappy commenter or reviewer to message you privately (where you might discuss the issue further). Assure them that this issue matters to you, and that you’re here to help. If this results in continued abuse from the commenter or reviewer then there’s no point fanning their flame.

We can help!

We understand that your business or brand is like your baby: you don’t want to see it bullied. As long as your brand stands on a firmly customer-focussed foundation, and your team is working to maintain a willingness to deliver the best possible product or service to your audience, then you have nothing to fear online.

The team at Tailgunner often receives calls from concerned business owners who have encountered negativity online. Whether you need help deciding how to handle the complaint in a social-network-appropriate manner, or you’d like a hand taking the technical steps to block an offending individual…we can help.

Get in touch with Tailgunner today, and make sure to watch our Facebook, Instagram and blog section for future tips and tricks that will see your business or brand succeeding on the social network scene.

The post How to handle hate: keeping your profile professional appeared first on Tailgunner.

How it works

To a user, you simply see the dots below the post and know to swipe. First right ,then left to return to the first image. To you, uploading is simple, though somewhat restricted. Filters need to be applied in a blanket fashion, so you’ll ether resort to editing each image for the slideshow individually or applying a ‘one size fits all’ filter for the sake of the slides.

This feature is new, so any PC Instagram uploaders aren’t going to be up-to-date with it yet. You’ll need to access it through the Instagram app on your mobile: it appears in the ‘upload a new image or video’ screen (you’ll see a ‘multiple’ option), where you may select up to ten pics or vids to post. After that it’s filters, text and tagging. Now you’re ready to go!

Is it going to last?

Absolutely. If you’re a regular Instagram user then you’ve probably been pining for such a feature for a long, long time. Socially, it’s extremely handy if you took a bunch of great shots in the space of one event – now you don’t have to be stuck picking your favorite!

From a business perspective, you’re free to upload multiple images of one subject without spamming your audience’s feed with photos and videos of the same thing. You won’t believe how many ‘unfollows’ happen when a brand decides to post several pieces in one go…

The benefits for your business

Well, where to begin? Let’s say you’re a contractor and you’ve just finished a project for one of your clients. You take a collection of photos of the project process from start to finish, and now you’re free to share the best ten in one smooth-swiping slideshow! You could use the nicest image or video of the finished product for the thumbnail, then include the process pics and videos in a way that tells a story for the remaining ten slides.

Perhaps you’ve got a brand new range of products that you’d like to release all at once. You can avoid ‘feed bombing’ or ‘feed spamming’ by sharing images and advert clips of the whole collection in the space of this stylish and simple slideshow feature.

Get creative and have fun with Instagram’s new feature. It can only benefit your feed! If you’d like to discuss using this feature or any other aspects of Instagram for social media marketing then don’t hesitate to get in touch with the team at Tailgunner!

The post Instagram is bettering itself for business: here’s how! appeared first on Tailgunner.

Soaring sales and increased conversions

If you’ve got products to sell then video marketing is your new best friend. Studies show that by merely featuring a product video on your site’s landing page, you can increase conversions by more than 80%!

Why?

Well, sight is the most dominant of our senses so it therefore makes sense that videos would captivate and influence us more than a paragraph of text or a catchy theme song. If pictures tell a thousand words then continuous moving pictures will be able to simultaneously stimulate and inform your potential customers in a matter of seconds.

Most importantly, videos inspire a sense of trust in your viewers. It’s all well and good to see pictures of a product, but watching it in action and seeing it explained will direct sales.

Ready for ranking

Anyone with an online marketing aspiration knows that you want to be on Google’s good side. Guess what: Google loves videos.

Why?

If folks are spending a decent amount of time during their visit to your website then that’s going to get you in Google’s good books. Videos inspire visitors to stick around on your website longer than they might have without the spot of footage/animation. Google can get behind a website that people are taking their time on: the search engine receives signals saying that visitors are not simply clicking off your site as soon as they land on it, and it assumes you have quality content to offer its browsers.

Pro SEO tip: don’t forget to give your videos informative titles and detailed descriptions packed with keywords related to your business! You don’t want all your creative efforts being wasted: SEO will ensure that your content is getting noticed where it needs to be.

If you’d like to increase traffic to your page using SEO, we can help! Check out our SEO services for more information.

Sell it to cellphones

Another major benefit of video content is it can seriously appeal to your mobile audience. YouTube has reported that mobile video consumption has risen by an astounding 100% in the past year, and that’s only improving as device screens and cameras are sharpening.

Why?

Navigating across an entire website in search of valuable information can be extremely difficult if you’re out and about and doing so on a little mobile screen (with your thumb, too). By including videos across your website you can quickly and efficiently communicate a bunch of information to your viewers in an instant.

For example, if you offer an experience or attraction that tourists might enjoy then you’ll definitely benefit from a video.

Picture your target audience member: a tourist trawling through the various websites that advertise activities in their area. Rather than reading through paragraphs of description, they tap on and view your website’s landing page, and the video that’s advertising your attraction. They instantly know what you have to offer, where you are, and how much fun they’d seem to have if they choose to come and visit.

Often we’re sold on the product, place or people featured in your videos before we bother to investigate the price tag! Videos are powerful influencers indeed.

Next month we’re going to explore the benefits of video further as we investigate the part they play in social media marketing.

If you’re interested in implementing video on your website or Facebook page then we can help! Get in touch with Tailgunner today for info on video creation for business.

The post The benefits of video for business: websites appeared first on Tailgunner.

Instagram

This crisp, clean, visually-focussed social network is perfect for clients with eye-catching imagery to share. Instagram sells the concept of an experience, which is why brands often employ popular Instagrammers to share images of themselves using the product: faithful audience members – in an effort to mimic the Instagrammer’s lifestyle – will shop for the same products that they see featured in the photos.

While Facebook draws attention to and offers information about your brand, Instagram aims to do this visually by instilling a desire within your audience to acquire the items or places promoted in your eye-catching images. For this reason, Instagram would be suitable to a brand who are selling a product that can be displayed and – if possible – styled (such as shoes, headphones or skincare). Neat places such as restaurants and tourist attractions do very well in Instagram, too.

Instagram is not a ‘wordy’ social network, so it’s not ideal for any client intending to communicate a lot of information to their audience (not as ideal as Facebook, of course). You can highlight the occasional competition or sale on Instagram, but you’re limited to the amount of detail that you can include with your eye-catching images.

A few noteworthy features that Instagram brings to the table are:

• • a clean, crisp social network with limited ‘noise’ from advertisements etc
  • strong emphasis on imagery (will showcase a place or product beautifully and efficiently)
  • an effortless tagging feature that allows you to tag people and places in a clean – yet obvious – way when sharing photos (encouraging a sense of community and drawing the attention and endorsement of your audience and other brands)

One other characteristic of Instagram that we have noticed throughout the management of our client’s Instagram accounts is that it seems to be a healthy environment in which to gain the interest and ‘likes’ of local audiences. You’ll often receive the encouragement and occasional endorsement of local (sometimes bigger) brands too, as they tend to like, comment or reshare your posts.

There is an underlying sense of friendly endorsement between certain businesses and organisations which you might not achieve – to the same ‘casual’ extent – on Facebook or any other social network.

You can check out the Tailgunner Instagram fore more tips and tricks on Social Media Marketing and Web/Graphic Design.

Pinterest

Many of the clients we work with have signed up for Pinterest accounts that they hardly or never use. Pinterest is a fantastic online tool for certain types of businesses, and knowing whether or not you’re the perfect fit for Pinterest prior to making an account could save you and your brand a lot of time and effort (be that wasted or invested).

You should invest in Pinterest if:

• • • your brand promotes lifestyle related products or services (such as fashion or interior design)
    • you are promoting a product or service that compliments the commonly appreciated content shared on Pinterest
    • you have visually stimulating imagery of your products that you’d like to share in order to direct traffic to your website (ideally for online shopping purposes)

A perfect example of a Pinterest-promoted client would be a brand selling sheet sets. You might find it challenging getting your sheet sets noticed on their own, but nestled among several ‘Bedroom Design’ boards on Pinterest…you could soon find your sheets become a staple for shoppers looking to achieve the bedroom aesthetic they have accumulated visually in their Pinterest board.

Pinterest features delightfully simple organisational elements that sort content into neat boards. It’s the perfect place for an inspiration-seeking audience to sign up to, so keep that in mind when considering signing up yourself. If your brand isn’t there to offer visual stimulation or inspiration then Pinterest won’t be a suitable social network for you to dedicate precious time to.

Social media marketing for business in New Zealand has become a powerful tool for brands to use to their advantage. The best part is that this medium of marketing is constantly evolving and improving, so we’ll only see things get better for businesses on social media as time goes by.

The key to successful social media marketing is effectively understanding and managing your audience – this includes knowing where (and through which social networks) we can help you reach them.

If you’re looking to take advantage of social media marketing for your brand then Tailgunner can help you there. We can work with you to create effective profiles: seeing your business networking online in the right places, while maintaining consistent branding across all platforms.

If you’ve got any questions about social media for marketing then you can give us a call for a free (no-obligation) chat on 0800 932 101, or send us an email to hello@www.tailgunner.co.nz.

The post Continued: Choosing the right social network (Pinterest and Instagram) appeared first on Tailgunner.

We know that you’ve got an audience of potential clients out there who are eager to learn about your product or service. The tricky part can be finding which social network this audience are currently active on, and that’s where we come in.

Working with a myriad of clients ranging from tradesmen to pharmaceutical companies means Tailgunner can effectively assign brands to specific social networks – networks that will work for you.

Let’s take this topic on one social network at a time as we explain the ways in which each account could either help or hinder your brand:

Facebook

It’s hard to go wrong with this social platform, seeing as Facebook has undergone endless updates to transform itself into an extremely effective marketing tool. It’s very rare that we would ever advise a client against Facebook: it’s packed with extremely useful features designed to help companies connect with both potential customers and loyal customers alike.

Facebook boasts a broad range of marketing tools for businesses to use to their advantage:

• view your ‘post reach’ data and popularity on neatly-graphed analytics
• schedule posts into the past, present and future
• update and inform your clients regarding events and company happenings
• raise product or service awareness in an entertaining and informative manner

Facebook offers a built-in shopping feature, though we would recommend clients stick to a purpose-built ecommerce website to trade goods and services. Facebook’s shopping feature is neat, but it is still young and in need of time and polishing.

A professional ecommerce website can sell your products and services in a way tailored to suit your needs and the needs of your client. With online shopping becoming so wildly popular in this day and age it’s important to have an online shopping experience that stands out and encourages customers to return to your store.

If you’re looking to create a fresh, professional and user-friendly online shopping experience for your clients then we can help! Check out our website package page for more information on our web design services. You can also browse our gallery and view examples of online stores we created for previous clients.

Twitter

When used well, Twitter can be a powerful marketing tool for businesses large or small. Without the right social media strategy, however, Twitter can tend to be a tricky one when it comes to promoting a brand: be it person, product or service you wish to promote.

In our experience, Twitter – being an extremely popular and therefore crowded social network – requires its users to implement and stick to a strong personality; one consistently maintained in each post and social action.

A few features that make Twitter unique in the world of social media are:

• ‘Trending Topics’ – show that your brand is involved in the community and concerned about current events
• quickly communicate announcements to your audience (short posts appeal to people’s short attention spans)
• ‘Twitter Cards’ – use your Twitter Card posts to link users to your website (eg: ‘sale alert’ or ‘new blog post’) with eye-catching images

Unless you plan on being very active and involved with your audience on Twitter, we recommend Facebook for your brand. Alternatively, you could invest in professional social media management to efficiently and successfully maintain your brand’s Twitter account.

Linkedin

Whether you’re looking to stay connected with industry professionals, network with potential clients, attract talent to employ or simply empower your brand as an online influence then Linkedin is the right social network for you. While Facebook allows your brand to comfortably connect with an online audience of potential clients, Linkedin places heavy emphasis on connecting with other businesses and personalities that can help build your brand’s online presence.

Linkedin offers features such as the following to help you and your brand achieve helpful connections:

‘Who’s viewed your profile’ – which, as the name states, allows you to gather valuable data regarding the network of people interested in you or your brand
Helpful, well-informed suggestions for people and pages you should connect with (meaning other people and pages will start to see you and your brand pop up in their own ‘suggested connections’ section)
‘How you’re connected’ – a newer feature that highlights any ‘links’ you have with others (extremely useful if you’re looking for a strong point with which to initiate communication with another Linkedin user)
‘Mentions’ – similar to Facebook’s ‘tagging’ feature, you can stay updated on any mentions made on Linkedin regarding yourself or pages you are interested in (great for keeping you in the loop and opening conversation)
‘Groups’ – the ultimate network-expanding tool, ‘groups’ allows you to join similar profiles relevant to your industry (making it easier for newcomers to discover you, and easier for everyone else in your group to keep in touch)

Unlike its social media counterparts, Linkedin is the business-focussed network where companies and clients alike can come to connect and be informed or inspired.

Linkedin is the perfect place to be sharing business articles and advice, as well as any brand-related information and updates you’d like to share with your network. While Facebook and Instagram can lean toward the entertainment side of the social spectrum, Linkedin motivates its users with a sense of success-focussed networking.

Keep an eye out for Part Two of our Picking the right social networks for your business blog next week! We’ll be looking at Instagram and Pinterest: their key marketing features and whether or not they are the right social networks for you.

The post Choosing the right social network for your business appeared first on Tailgunner.