Bankable Blog

Blog-reading should be an important part of your routine. For small business owners, it is a productive way to understand movements in your industry, find motivation for your work ethic, or even find new ideas to try with your business. Most small business blogs take 5 minutes or less to read, and can contain helpful information designed to assist you with operating your business. Are you interested in adding blog-reading to your daily routine? Do you need a place to start? We have five great small business blogs featured below that we have personally found to regularly feature excellent, informative content. 

Big Ideas for Small Business: http://www.barbaraweltman.com/barbaras-blog/

Barbara Weltmann is a well known small business taxation expert. Many of her postings are regarding taxes, financing, or planning your estate, but she also creates content that is highly topical to recent events. Her blog is a great place to browse for financial and legal advice, or just to read a new take on the latest event in the business sector. 

Buffer Blog: https://blog.bufferapp.com/

Buffer is a social media service that allows users to schedule out their content as they please. Users can load their social media posts into a queue that regularly outputs content at intervals and times that the user selects. In addition to providing a fantastic social media service, they also run an amazing blog. Their blog is largely focused on digital marketing tactics and advice. Need some information regarding social media, search engine optimization, or just finding new ways to reach consumers online? Buffer Blog is a great place to start. 

Kabbage Small Business Blog: https://www.kabbage.com/blog/

Kabbage is an online financial technology company based out of Atlanta, Georgia. Their blog has a jack-of-all-trades focus, as they make an effort to cover as many topics as they can. Their articles cover a range of topics such as accounting, marketing, and leadership advice. Overall, they feature a generous amount of quality learning opportunities through their content. 

Nextiva Blog: https://www.nextiva.com/blog/

Nextiva is a VOIP provider for businesses, and is a leading provider of cloud-based business communication solutions. They also offer a blog that tackles some of the more abstract ideas that are relevant to small businesses: leadership tactics, employee motivation, and productivity ideas. Their articles serve as great food-for-thought, and can help you change how you operate your business internally. 

Bplans: http://www.bplans.com/

Bplans distributes business plan and financial templates, as well as many other resources for small businesses. Their blog follows along in a similar vein of thought, offering content that provides assistance regarding many of the core needs of a business. This blog is absolutely a must-read for any small business operator. 

What is Google My Business?

Google My Business is a service from Google that allows an owner/manager of a company to formally register their ownership of their company with Google. This ownership allows Google to give the owner the power to edit the information that appears when somebody searches for the owner’s company. This information includes company address, hours of business, pictures of the company, and more. Overall, this tool allows companies to ensure that users are getting accurate information from Google searches regarding the company.

Above is an image of our Google My Business profile. We were able to select which pictures we wanted to show off, as well as include our company information, such as address, hours, and phone number. A well maintained Google My Business picture can make it much easier on Google users to obtain information about your business.

How to set up Google My Business:

1. Start the process by navigating to the Google My Business homepage
   1. Located here: https://goo.gl/6LCj9r
2. Click on the green “Start Now” button in the top right corner of the homepage
   1. First, make sure you are logged into the proper email account. This may need to be a @gmail.com address to properly work.
3. Fill out the form with your company and personal information
   1. Make sure to answer the question asking about whether you deliver products to customers at their location. This affects how your information is displayed.
4. After filling out the necessary form, you should have access to your business via Google My Business. From the homepage, you can edit basic information, such as business phone number, hours, and more. We recommend adding as much information as you feel is necessary to ensure users can obtain the necessary details about your business
5. Next, pick some flattering pictures of your business. Pictures of the building, the inside, and pictures of the staff are all solid options for pictures that will attract clients
   1. Go to the “Photos” tab from the homepage. You can put pictures in different categories, including cover picture, profile picture, exterior pictures, interior, etc.
   2. These pictures will be displayed on the business profile when users search for your business on Google
6. In the “Reviews” tab, you can view and manage reviews of your business
7. The “Insights” tab contains a lot of useful information about how people are interacting with your company via Google. It breaks down how people are discovering your company on Google, what kind of interactions they have, and more. Overall, it provides relevant information to the owner that reflects the needs of the consumer.
8. To complete your Google My Business profile, go through these 10 steps to optimize your profile: https://blog.getresponse.com/10-point-checklist-for-optimizing-your-google-my-businesssite.html.

Verifying your business:

To get the most out of Google My Business, a business should go through the Google verification process. The verification process proves business ownership, and allows the user to have full control over the business profile. To verify your business, follow these steps outlined by Google at https://goo.gl/8O9K3n:

Desktop

1. To request a postcard:
2. Sign in to Google My Business.
3. Choose the business you’d like to verify, then click Verify now.
4. On the postcard request screen, make sure that your address is displayed accurately. If it isn’t, edit the address before you request your postcard. You can also add an Optional contact nameto help your postcard reach you.
5. Click Send postcard.
6. Check the mail for your postcard. Most postcards arrive within 5 days. Don’t edit your business name, address, or category, or request a new code while you’re waiting—this may delay the verification process.

To enter the verification code:

1. Once you receive your postcard, sign in to Google My Business.
2. If you manage more than one location, click Manage locationon the location you want to verify.
3. Click the Enter codebutton in the blue banner at the top of the page.
4. Enter the 5-digit verification code from your postcard in the “Code” field.
5. Click Submit.

If your postcard is lost or missing, you can request a new one.

Mobile

To request a postcard:

1. Open the Google My Business app.
2. Tap Send postcard.
3. Choose the business you’d like to verify, then tap I don’t have a code.
4. Check the mail for your postcard—it should arrive in one to two weeks. Don’t edit your business name, address, or category, or request a new code while you’re waiting—this may delay the verification process.

To enter a verification code:

1. Once you’ve received the postcard, open the Google My Business app.
2. Choose the business you’d like to verify.
3. Tap Enter codeto complete the verification or I don’t have a code if you never received your postcard.

Once you’ve entered your verification code, your business information will be eligible to appear live on Google Maps, Search, and other Google services. By following these simple steps, you should be well on your way to have your business’ information more accessible to your target audience.

What is Hootsuite?

Hootsuite is a social media management tool. It is used to serve as a hub for multiple social media platforms, where users can control content, view feeds, and more.  In addition to manipulating multiple social media platforms at the same time, Hootsuite can generate statistical reports that display various data pertaining to the performance of the social media platforms in use.

Why should I use Hootsuite?

One of the most useful qualities of Hootsuite is the ability to schedule content in advance from one location. If a user has their content prepped for a month of posts, they can enter each post on each form of social media (including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) in 15-30 minutes. This is great for small business owners who get stressed about taking time away from working at their business to use social media. This also is a great way to make sure that content is equally spread out. Once the user identifies a target frequency for posting on each platform, they know exactly how many posts they need to come up with for the month to hit that goal. For example, if the target frequency is once a day for Facebook/Instagram, and twice a day for Twitter, then the user needs to come up with 30 posts a month for Facebook/Instagram and 60 for Twitter (assuming an example month length of 30 days, numbers will vary depending on exact number of days per month).

Hootsuite’s dashboard system comes in handy when it comes to monitoring all of your social media platforms at once. By setting up dashboards to show user engagement and comments, you can always see when a user has a question or concern for you. Did somebody Tweet at you with a burning question? With the proper dashboard setup, you will see it. Did somebody comment on a post on Facebook with a concern? It will be easily visible with Hootsuite. Not only can you see these posts, but you can respond via Hootsuite as well. Instead of going to each individual social media platform and looking at your profile to see if anybody is engaging with you, the user can be immediately updated just by scrolling through their Hootsuite feeds. This makes it much simpler to engage with the user’s audience.

One positive aspect of Hootsuite is that has multiple pricing points, including a free version. This allows different users to pay as much as is appropriate for their social media needs. Is the user an individual or small business who is just looking to manage their personal social media accounts? The free version will handle that. Is the user an organization that is looking to gain analytical insights into several different forms of social media? A paid plan may be more beneficial. Overall, it is useful for users to know that at the very least, Hootsuite offers a free trial of one of the paid plans so that they can try out some of the features that are only available to the paid versions of Hootsuite.

Hootsuite offers analytical information in the form of reports to users. The amount of reports that are available to users is dependent upon their Hootsuite plan. Users of the free version will have access to a small number of basic reports, such as Twitter and Facebook overview reports. Pro users will have a certain amount of points associated with their account to distribute to reports that are not available to free users, and Enterprise users have access to all reports. The paid reports are more detailed and specific than the free reports, but even the free reports still offer the ability to monitor results over time (audience engagement, follower numbers, etc.)

Small businesses should use Hootsuite because:

1. If used properly, most social media platforms can all be monitored from the same source.
2. Content scheduling can allow easier control of content.
3. Reports give analytical insight into social media performance
4. If used properly, Hootsuite can reduce the amount of time spent on quality social media upkeep.

What do I need to understand in order to use Twitter in a business capacity?

Hootsuite can seem a bit intimidating at first. One of its main flaws is that its interface can be a bit confusing at first. Breaking down the vocabulary associated with Hootsuite is a great way to start understanding the service. Here is a copy of Hootsuite’s glossary that has been edited down to some of the most essential terms that users will encounter in using Hootsuite. To view the full version, click here.

• Analytics: Hootsuite Analytics is a tool for measuring, analyzing and reporting social media data. Besides measuring web traffic, analytics can be used as a tool for business and market research. The Analytics section of the dashboard is where analytics reports can be created. The new Analytics Overview and Boards give you a real-time view of your social media data.
• Analytics Points: Points are used in old Analytics to create reports. Each module within Hootsuite Analytics has a point value. Points can be reused by deleting a report or removing a module from a report.
• App Directory: The App Directory is the section of the dashboard where apps can be added or removed, and where app settings can be adjusted (when applicable).
• Apps: Apps are third-party application or extension products designed for use with the dashboard. Apps are added as streams or plugins.
• Assignments: Assignments are a team collaboration feature. Twitter, Facebook and Google+ Page messages can be assigned for action amongst teams and team members, allowing comprehensive and efficient replying across your organization’s social networks.
  The Assignments section of the dashboard is where assignments are managed. This includes assigning, reassigning, responding, resolving and viewing assignments.
• Autoschedule: AutoSchedule automatically schedules content. Draft and queue messages in advance, and then let AutoSchedule publish them based on optimal engagement time periods, already scheduled content and customized settings.
• Bulk Upload Tool: The bulk upload tool uploads and schedules multiple messages at one time. While there is no cap on individually scheduled messages, up to 350 messages can be uploaded in bulk at one time. Only available in the paid plans.
• Campaigns: Campaigns are a Hootsuite feature used to build and launch interactive social contests. This includes photo or video contests, sweepstakes or full-screen social feeds. Campaigns can help grow email databases, acquire leads and gain demographic insights.
• Contacts: Contacts are followers or following on Twitter or Google+. Having someone as a contact ensures that their social media content is visible in streams. The Contacts section of the dashboard is where contacts are managed.
• Hootfeed: HootFeed formats a Twitter feed so it can be displayed (full-screen). Designed for use at live events, HootFeed populates Tweets in real-time.
• Hootlet: Hootlet is a free Chrome extension that enables content sharing from a browser. Designed to mimic the look and feel of the compose message box, Hootlet preloads the title and URL of the web page to share.
• Keyword Tracking: Keyword tracking refines Twitter queries, improving search stream results. Track up to three keyword or phrases in a single Twitter stream.
• Launch Menu: This is Hootsuite’s main menu, found along the left side of the dashboard. It lists each main dashboard section, along with the Sign Out button.
• Organization: An organization is the top-level of a business account. Teams, team members and social networks can be added to organizations to organize them in a way that reflects real-world company structure for optimal collaboration. Varying permission levels can be assigned within an organization.
• ly: Ow.ly is a URL shortener. To save characters in messages, links can be shortened into manageable ow.ly links from the compose message box. Ow.ly links are trackable, so they can be used with Analytics to gain insights into social media reach.
• Plugin: A plugin is a small piece of software that can be used to add new features to existing applications. Many apps in the App Directory are added to the dashboard as plugins.
• Private Social Networks: Private Social Networks is an area within the User Profile section of the dashboard. It lists social networks that have been added for personal use. Only the account holder can access this section.
• Publisher: The Publisher section of the dashboard is where content (scheduled messages, suggested content, messages awaiting approval) and content sources (RSS feeds, bulk message upload, content library) are managed.
• Settings: The Settings section of the dashboard is where account settings (profile info, authentication, security, billing), dashboard preferences, archived messages, RSS/Atom feeds, vanity URLs, dashboard notifications and AutoSchedule settings are managed.
• Streams: Streams are columns in the dashboard that display content from social networks. Each social network offers unique stream functionality. The Streams section of the dashboard is the main engagement interface, where tabs and streams can be added to organize incoming content, and where users can view profiles, reply to messages, use third-party app functions (where applicable), and much more.
• Tab: A tab, like one on a filing folder, is used to separate and organize the streams in the dashboard. Tabs can be reordered, renamed and deleted.
• Teams: Teams, along with team members and social networks, are structural blocks within organizations. These blocks can reflect real-world team or department structure within the dashboard.
• Tools: The Tools section of the dashboard provides quick access to Hootsuite Academy, information about the Partner programs, mobile apps and Hootsuite extensions and downloads.

Before using Hootsuite, you need to have a social media strategy. Hootsuite gives you all of the tools that you need to successfully execute a strong social media strategy, but if you don’t have one, the platform won’t be of much use. Get to know your audience, and understand what content appeals to them.

Action Checklist

Now that there is a core understanding of service itself, let’s take a look at a list of actionable material in order to make Hootsuite work for you.

1. Register your company’s social media profiles with Hootsuite
   1. Hootsuite is most beneficial when multiple forms of social media are connected, not just one.
2. Schedule your content in advance
   1. This prevents the last-minute scramble for content. Decide how far out you want to set content (every week, every month, etc.), and keep to that regular schedule.
   2. If you have a Hootsuite Pro membership or higher, you can use the Bulk Scheduler tool. This allows you to use Excel to upload up to 350 posts at the same time using a very specific format that Hootsuite lays out.
3. Make use of the Analytic Reports
   1. The free reports give basic information regarding the growth of a social media profile over time, as well as some basic engagement statistics.
   2. The reports that can be accessed with paid profiles offer more in-depth data that could yield beneficial results to those who are looking to understand their social media performance in detail.
4. Use streams to monitor each social media feed/see audience engagement
   1. By setting up streams, the user can see incoming Twitter mentions, Facebook comments, direct messages, etc.
   2. Using a combination of streams and the posting service on Hootsuite, a company could run successful Facebook and Twitter accounts without leaving the Hootsuite service. Instagram requires mobile confirmation within the app to post, but posts can still be scheduled.

External Hootsuite Resources

Here is a list of resources that are compiled from other websites. This guide has covered a lot of information, but there is still a lot more detail in Hootsuite that can be explored. We also offer a more in-depth, step-by-step guide to performing certain functions in Hootsuite here.

• http://socialbusiness.hootsuite.com/rs/hootsuitemediainc/images/hootsuite-quick-start-guide.pdf
  • This quick-start guide from Hootsuite covers how to set up your account with basic features such as streams and apps.
• http://mashable.com/2013/09/18/hootsuite-beginners-guide/#RA8aM_JwLsqR
  • This is a fairly simple resource from Mashable that has some good information. It is a little out of date, but most of the information still applies.
• http://www.rwdigest.com/hootsuiteuserguide.pdf
  • This is a larger guide that covers a wide amount of information. Again, a little out of date, but most of the information is accurate. Features screenshots and visual how-to’s.

Looking for some recommendations on how to implement Hootsuite into your social media strategy? If you’re a Bankable client, our Technical Assistance team would be happy to work with you on just that. Check out our Technical Assistance program offerings here and email us at jason@bankable.org if you have any questions.

Facebook Insights is an analytical tool that was developed by Facebook in order to help page moderators understand the analytical information that goes behind social media success. Facebook Insights can provide information on user demographics, historical performance, post reach, and more. Essentially, the tool is the key to achieving optimized Facebook business usage. Facebook Insights can only be accessed by users who are administrators of the page in question. This tool is extremely useful, but can also be confusing at a first look. In order to help ease users into the process of using Facebook Insights to improve your social media use, here are 4 of the most important areas of Insights to focus on.

First, go to your business page. This bar should be shown underneath the Facebook search bar, and above the actual business page. Click on the “Insights” tab, which will guide you to the Insights menu. Facebook provides a helpful list of resources to cover the basics of the tool here: https://www.facebook.com/help/search/?q=insights. Additionally, Sprout Social provides a great list of vocabulary terms that are helpful to review when diving into Facebook business usage. It can be located here: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/facebook-terminology-glossary/.

Starting with the Likes tab: “Total Page Likes” and “Net Likes” sections

The “Likes” tab is focused around the traffic of likes that come through the page. The top of the page features an adjustable bar where the time period can be seen. Preset choices for one week, one month, and one quarter can be selected, or there is a customizable range selector where the user can pick a starting and ending date of a time period to analyze. Below that is the “Total Page Likes” section. This section shows the amount of page likes and the trend in which they grew in the context of the time range selected above. This area can be used in order to get a broad look at the trend of likes historically.

Below the “Total Page Likes” section is the “Net Likes” section. The “Net Likes” area shows the number of new likes minus the number of unlikes. On the graph, the likes are illustrated by positive trends outlined by blue, and unlikes are illustrated by negative trends outlined in red. This is where the user can guarantee that they are actually making forward progress on like count rather than losing likes to unlikes. The user also has the choice to pick a benchmark on the side, where they can compare the average performance over time to the benchmark metric selected. The benchmark selections available are unlikes, organic likes, paid likes, and net likes. Organic likes refers to likes that happen without paid assistance from ads or post boosts, while paid likes are likes that happen as a result of paid assistance from ads or post boosts.

2. Reach tab: “Reactions, Comments, and Shares” section

The term “reach” refers to the audience size of your posts. It is the number of unique people who have seen posts from the business page. Reach is important to track and measure because it directly effects audience engagement and overall impressions (number of times a post from the page in question is displayed). The “Reach” tab, as the name implies, covers statistical information relating to the reachand engagement achieved by the page, as well as negative actions taken by users against the page (such as unlikes, hide actions, etc.).

Below the “Post Reach” section is the “Reactions, Comments, And Shares” section. This section breaks into the ground of engagement that the “Post Reach” section ignores. It measures engagement over the time frame that is specified in the bar at the top of the page. Three differently colored lines signify the trend of reactions, comments, and shares. These three categories can also be benchmarked in the sidebar to the right in order to gauge the average performance over time. This section is very important to look at in order to gauge the actual effectiveness and performance of posts. If your posts have high reach but low engagement, there may be a problem with the content that you are posting.

3. Posts tab: “When Your Followers are Online” and “Post Types” sections

The “When Your Fans Are Online” section details times of high activity in the users that follow the page. Essentially, this section will inform the user when the best times of the day are to post. The “Times” portion of this section initially displays a graph of the levels of activity at various times of the day. This information is an average of all days of the week. Above, in the “Days” portion, the user can mouse over each day of the week and the graph will show the specific trend for that day compared to the average. This section is extremely important, as it directly informs the user when posts should be made on the page in order to achieve the most reach and engagement.

In the same section, the “Post Types” button can be selected to show the success of varying post types. In this section, success is determined by reach and engagement. This section is extremely important, as it statistically shows the user how different kinds of posts perform historically on the page. This allows the user to determine what kind of content will have the most positive results when posted on the page.

4. People tab: entire tab

The “People” tab shows demographic information assessing the people who like the page, as well as people who view and interact with the page’s posts. The tab shows gender, age, and geographical location information for each section. The “Your Fans” section shows demographic information just for users who like the page. The “People Reached” shows demographic information for the number of people who had a post from the page served to them in the last 28 days. The “People Engaged” section shows demographic information for the users who have engaged with posts from the page in question. The “People Reached” and “People Engaged” sections also show how many of the users they are analyzing like the page. This section is one of the best ways for a page manager to assess their audience, and see what kind of audiences are being reached by the posts.

The reason these sections have been selected is because they represent information that is broad enough to benefit any page, while getting specific enough to allow pages to make specific inferences based off of their information. By utilizing the information found in these sections of Facebook Insights, users will not only be able to gauge their page growth and performance successfully, but will also be able to determine when and what kind of content they should post to best serve the audience that the page has gathered. Have any questions? Email Jason at jason@bankable.org. This blog is provided by the Bankable Technical Assistance program. For more info, see https://bankable.org/technical-assistance-programs/.