How Can I Create a Good LinkedIn Profile as a Thought Leader
Are you a thought leader? Or do you wish to be one? If so, then LinkedIn is the most suitable platform for you. Why? Having a strong LinkedIn profile as a thought leader is key to building a robust professional network, establishing their personal brand, and advancing their career.
Let us start by listing why it is important to have a good LinkedIn profile.
- Drive professional visibility– LinkedIn has emerged as a key platform for professionals belonging to different sectors to come and interact on a common platform. Possessing a well-crafted profile will allow you to showcase your skills, achievements to potential employers, or clients. Further, it will help you establish a robust professional reputation.
- Building connections– LinkedIn will provide you with the opportunity to connect with like-minded professionals, such as colleagues, mentors, employers, clients and industry stalwarts. A fabulous profile can help you build a strong network that further helps you get a dream job or increase chances of purposeful collaborations.
- Showcase your potential– LinkedIn has a number of short certification tests on its platform. This allows you to take part in the test, answer a few questions, and rewards you with a certificate in the form of a badge which can be spotted on your profile.
From the above, it may be conferred that creating a strong LinkedIn profile especially as a thought leader is necessary and takes into account certain key elements. These include:
- A catchy headline– Be creative! While writing a headline, try making it informative, indicating your area of expertise while making it creative to attract people to your page. Try writing beyond just job roles and mention what other best-suited characteristics you possess. Remember, this is one of the first things people will see after your name. What do you want them to see?
- Profile photo– Don’t leave the profile photo space blank, instead upload a professional and friendly picture with a subtle background. Needless to say, the picture must be high in quality and in line with your personal brand. A pro-tip here: avoid using a full length picture, instead highlight your face, let it be seen for easier recognition by your colleagues, potential employers, and don’t forget to smile!
- Concise summary– The summary section of a LinkedIn page basically summarizes all your professional achievements, and highlights your achievements, skills, and accomplishments. As the segment suggests, make it short and crisp, do not drag what you wish to say.
In addition to this, don’t forget to include your educational achievements, your professional skills, and any awards and recognitions. Do mention any cause you have been associated with, in your profile, as this will be a great way of knowing about your social and environmental beliefs. - Engage– Along with being active on the platform it is also important to engage with your audience. Regularly comment on posts uploaded by your connections, and share whenever possible along with your own thoughts.It is also important to stay active in groups that you are part of and regularly comment or ask questions to showcase your presence.This will not only improve your relationship with your connections but help you establish yourself as an authority in your field.
- Stay Active– It is a given that you must have an active LinkedIn profile to build a strong profile. You must post valuable content regularly- it could be your personal thoughts or a piece of content you found somewhere else.It is best if you update content related to your business/ line of work as this will help your connections understand your work better.
In summary, building a strong LinkedIn profile as a thought leader requires a mix of compelling personal brand, engaging content, along with consistent engagement with other thought leaders in your sector.
To keep learning about ways you can improve your visibility on LinkedIn and expand your connection reach, follow us on Linkedin. If you would like your Linkedin account managed for you so as to achieve your goals, book a 30 minutes- FREE consultation slot with us here.
What Chatgpt means for Content Creators
By the time you read this, the world is probably already going ga-ga over Chat GPT and how useful it can be for a business. Is it really worth the hype?
Let us first understand what ChatGPT really is.
A large language model developed by OpenAI, Chat GPT platform has been designed to generate human-like responses to text-based prompts, like statements or questions. Simply put, when you enter a question or statement into the chatbot, you will receive a well-put response in return.
The AI-model can be used for numerous purposes, including natural language processing – which involves allowing the computer to interpret, understand, and generate human language which is similar to how humans communicate with one another, language translation, and generating human-like chatbot conversations.
Not only this, in March 2023, Open AI unveiled ‘ChatGPT 4’ claiming it to be “more creative and compatible than before”. In addition to providing responses to various questions/ cases, the chatbot is slated to offer multilingual support, enhanced language understanding, improved training efficacy i.e. less data required to be trained on, and supporting applications like- image recognition and analysis. But what does this really mean for content creators like me?
Before we dive into what chatGPT holds for content creators, let us first evaluate the pros and cons of using the platform.
Pros:
- Speed: Clearly, chatGPT can produce content much faster than a human writer, permitting you to generate large amounts of content within a short period of time.
- Consistent: ChatGPT helps maintain a consistent tone and style throughout your content, which may be difficult to achieve with multiple human writers.
- Cost-efficient: Using the AI-chatbot as a content creator may be more inexpensive than hiring a team of writers, as you will only have to pay for the initial training and maintenance of the model.Today, the basic version of ChatGPT is free for all to use, it provides real-time answers to the inputs provided- this works out to be cost-effective for all businesses.
- Large vocabulary: ChatGPT has access to a vast vocabulary, allowing it to produce content on a wide array of topics.
Cons:
- Absence of creativity: While ChatGPT can generate content at great speed and consistently, it may lack the creativity and originality of a human writer. It may also offer generic or formulaic content that lacks depth. For instance, when drafting an article on a personal encounter, such as when you visited an expo or took part in a seminar, your views and experience cannot be penned by ChatGPT, it will take a human to bring the experience to life.
- Restricted knowledge: While ChatGPT has access to a large chunk of information, it may not possess the same level of knowledge and understanding as a human writer with subject matter expertise. This may lead to an incomplete or inaccurate piece of information included in your content.
- Huge dependance on data: The AI- chatbot highly relies on the data it has been trained on, which may lead to biases or limitations in its output. It can also generate content that is similar to available content, which can lead to plagiarism or copyright infringement. For example, when writing about how successful a B2B marketing tip is, it will take data from what is available on the internet. Only, a human can express the consequences of implementing a particular B2B marketing strategy in their business, as the result varies from entity to entity.
- Lack of emotion or empathy: ChatGPT may not be able to convey emotions or empathy in its writing, which can be important for a particular type of content, such as storytelling pieces.
In our opinion, while OpenAI’s chatGPT can be a useful tool for content creation, it may not be a complete replacement for human writers.
Listed below are some reasons why we think ChatGPT may never eliminate the need for content creators:
- Creativity and originality: While ChatGPT can generate responses based on input, it cannot create original ideas or concepts. Content creators will be needed to come up with unique and innovative ideas for content.
- Personal touch: In continuation to the above point, content creators extend their own personal touch and style to their content, making it more engaging and relatable to the audience. ChatGPT will be able to generate text, but it lacks the human touch that content creators offer.
- Adaptability: Content creators can adapt their content to changing trends and preferences. On the other hand, the AI-chatbot may not be able to do all this as effectively as it relies on pre-existing data and input.
- Diversity: Content creators come from a number of experiences and backgrounds, allowing for a diverse range of perspectives and ideas. ChatGPT may be restricted in its ability to generate content from diverse perspectives.
Verdict: From the above it can be conferred that while ChatGPT is a powerful tool for generating text, it cannot completely replace the need for a content creator. Content creators offer a unique set of skills and perspectives that an AI language model cannot replicate.
It is a given that technology will constantly evolve, after ChatGPT, Chat GPT 4 will soon be live but what will always draw a line between human and AI content creation is creativity and emotions. And that is why I believe that the future of content creators is secure, especially if they regularly upskill themselves. Which includes, regularly reading trends in the social media world, and working on writing enhanced story threads.
Fun Fact: This blog was not written with the help of Chat GPT! What are your views on it?
Vanilla Skills continues to offer personalized content that suits the tone of your business and replicates your emotions, as an entrepreneur.
To know how we can help your content stand out, connect with us here and we will give you ample reasons why you do not need to depend on AI-chatbots.
Top 5 Organic Ways in which Social Media Marketing can Boost B2B Sales
As a B2B marketer do you often struggle to find the best yet organic ways of leveraging social media for your business? The possibility in the world of social media is infinite and while there are many ways a business can market on social media, it is essential to know the best ones.
Listed below are some of the trusted organic ways social media marketing can be used to generate leads and increase sales for B2B businesses:
- Building a strong online presence: In today’s social world, having a strong online presence is key for B2B businesses. This includes having a well-designed website, an active social media account, and a strong social media strategy that ensures that potential customers can find your business online.
- Leveraging content marketing: We believe that content marketing is a powerful tool for B2B businesses. By creating fun yet valuable content that educates the audience about your offerings, you can establish yourself as an industry thought leader and attract more potential customers to your business.
- Get personal: B2B businesses have unique needs and requirements. By providing customized solutions that meet their needs, you can
always differentiate yourself from your competition and build a robust, long-lasting, and trustworthy relationship with your customers.
One great way is account-based marketing or ABM- which includes a strategy that focuses on targeting certain accounts or companies instead of targeting a wide audience. ABM includes identifying a set of high-value accounts that are most likely to become customers, and creating a personalized marketing campaign to engage with those accounts on an individual basis. - Customer is king: In a B2B world, excellent customer service is necessary. By extending prompt and friendly customer service, you can build trust with your customers and keep them coming back for more.
- Use referrals and testimonials: What people say about your business, says a lot about you! Encourage satisfied customers to refer others to your business and use their testimonials to showcase your expertise and quality of service.
The above mentioned points are some of the ways in which you as a B2B marketer can boost sales.
Vanilla Skills has helped many businesses increase their reach to their potential customers using social media. Do contact us to know how!
Here’s How Good Content Can Generate Leads for your Business
Do you know you can use purposeful content to market your business? Want to know how? Let us start by understanding what content marketing really is and how it can help grow your business.
The process of content marketing involves creating and sharing valuable, relevant., and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience. By extending informative and useful content, you can establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry and build trust with potential clients. This, in turn, can help drive growth in your business and lead to brand awareness, and website traffic, and ultimately, help you with more leads.
Let us look at some of the ways in which content marketing can facilitate lead generation:
- Attracting clients: By creating and sharing high-quality content that clearly defines what your business has to offer, your company can attract clients who are interested in your products and services. Over the years, Vanilla Skilled has helped many B2B clients increase their client base through reliable content marketing. We understand your business better and help curate content based on your requirements. Book a 30-minute consultation slot with us for FREE here and get to know how we can help you better!
- Educating potential customers: By sharing insightful information through content in various forms like text, voice, video, images, and infographics, you can share what you have to offer with your customers. This can help build trust and credibility making it more likely that they will communicate with you and your company.
- Forging relationships: Content marketing allows businesses to build relationships with clients by providing helpful information and engaging with them on social media. You can create polls, ask for opinions, and communicate with clients to know them better and inform them how your business can help them. It is important to ensure the content is in line with the workings of your business.
- Generating leads: By including call-to-action (CTAs) in your content, you can encourage viewers to take the next step, converting them into customers. Posting engaging content regularly that creates curiosity in the minds of viewers about your business may also lead you to generate more leads.
As they say, pen is mightier than the sword, we would like to tweak this a little and say what goes on your social media is mightier than what does not. Always remember to put the best content forward.
Vanilla Skills is here to help you market your business the social media way!
We constantly evaluate the changing trends in social media communications and suggest the best content marketing strategy to you. Contact us to help you better.
The Insider’s Guide to Benefits of Using Hashtags
On a Monday morning when you scroll your Twitter account, you must have noticed #MondayMotivation trending. Ever wondered why most users resort to using hashtags when posting an image or text? Let us first understand what hashtags are.
A hashtag is a word or key phrase preceded by a hash (also called pound) symbol i.e. #. It is widely used on social media to help those who may be interested in a particular topic and allows them to find the topic by using a hashtag followed by a keyword. This helps in drawing attention to a post and encourages interaction.
Why Are Hashtags Used?
Hashtags or # help expand your reach beyond your immediate followers. With the use of hashtags, one can start, tap into, and engage with new conversations on various social media platforms. Moreover, hashtags also help join conversations and participate in trending topics. This helps create a sense of community and encourages engagement.
Some of the benefits of using hashtags are listed below:
- Enhanced discoverability: Hashtags will allow content to be found easily by people who may be interested in the topic. When a user searches for a particular hashtag, they can view posts that include the searched hashtag, making it easier for users to find your content.
- Branding: Hashtags help users promote their brand and create brand awareness. Through the use of a unique hashtag, one can increase the visibility of their brand across a number of social media platforms.
- Driving engagement: Through the use of relevant hashtags users can drive their engagement rate on their social media posts. By using # with posts, users can attract more followers, drive likes and comments, and encourage people to share their content.
- Tracking campaigns: Hashtags help with tracking the success of a social media campaign. By designing a unique hashtag for a campaign, one can track the total number of posts, likes, and shares related to that campaign.
- Trending topics: Using hashtags help join conversations around trending news, events, and topics. Using a relevant hashtag can help users attract traffic to their page and boost visibility.
From the above, you may have understood that hashtags have emerged as a key social media marketing tool. Yes, they are relevant and will continue to be so in the times to come as they serve as a way to categorize content and make it more discoverable to those who may be interested in a particular topic. They are effective in driving reach, and connecting people around shared causes and interests.
So what hashtags do you use regularly? Do tell us in the comments.
How Do I Retweet a Person’s Best Tweet as a Reply to Another
Hi,
I think I understand your question but let’s simplify it to avoid confusions.
Say you want to comment to A’s tweet in B’s tweet. What you need to do is:
- Go to B’s tweet and click on the upward arrow next to the heart, copy the link to the tweet. e.g. Say you want to post the link to my tweet as a reply to your cousin; use the arrow next to the heart on my tweet to copy the link to Tweet (see screenshot)
- Go to A’s tweet and click reply, write your comment (optional but recommended), and paste the link to the tweet of B that you copied in step 1. To continue the example above, go to your cousin’s tweet and click reply (1st icon below the tweet that is shaped like a call out). Now paste the link you copied.
What Does Your Favourite Social Media Platform Say About You?
Are star-signs a yesteryear thing? Well we can’t comment on that! But what we can tell you is surely far more intriguing, we promise. If you want to read something about your personality, based on the social media platform you love, you have come to the right place… er, right blog.
So, without much ado, let’s get to it, shall we?
LinkedIn:
If you are a LinkedIn lover, you are a goal-oriented person and have strong work ethics. A professional & a visionary, who’s always seeking new opportunities to make it big in the world. You plan your day systematically and try to be on schedule because you believe in the old saying: ‘Time is money.’ Your resume is always updated and you take pride in talking about your professional achievements. You dream to quickly climb the corporate ladder and be known as your industry expert. Your professional outlook to everything is absolutely inspirational but your friends & family often pull your leg about it.Your family wasn’t exactly thrilled when you dragged them to do team building activities on your latest beach vacation, just for the caption ‘ working with my home team!.’ Hard work and dedication are your mottos but adding an element of humour and fun would add to your offline connections!
Twitter:
If you’re a Twitter fan, it means you have lots & lots of opinions and you want the world to know about them as soon as they pop up in your head. Being on top of the happenings of the world (even if it makes you mad most of the time) is your thing. You value voice and are not afraid to tweet your mind or share your views on something important. But you also get excited about all the things in your life & aren’t afraid to share with the world. You are (or consider yourself to be) the funny friend as you have some of the funniest best one-liners.Short, sometimes sour, sometimes sweet, and to the point is your style as you can convey your message within 280 characters or less.
YouTube:
If the ‘you’ in YouTube stands for you, it means the world is your stage. Your YOLO attitude has given you many stories, which you love sharing. You have a passion and work tirelessly towards enhancing your skill. You are addicted to different tutorial videos. You are a great listener and are willing to lend a ear to whoever needs it. This habit has given you the ability of distinguishing fake information from genuine. You approach life with patience, a virtue installed in you by that tediously slow buffering. Despite having a lot to talk about, from conspiracy theories to current affairs to pro tips, you choose to remain silent, the world needs to see that dynamite of talent that lives within you. You adore the adulation your viewers give you. An increase in views and shares is enough reason for you to party on a monday night and a slowdown is enough to make you sulk on christmas eve. You get awestruck very quickly and also tend to live your life vicariously through your favourite YouTubers.
We reveal our most interesting personality traits in the most interesting ways even when we think we don’t. Bet you didn’t know that just a favourite social media platform can reveal so much about you. We hope you loved reading this fun article and maybe even discovered a thing or two about yourself.
Instagram:
Having Instagram as your dearest, says you’re a person who lives for the camera. You have always secretly felt like a celebrity and insta fame is what you wanted!
Your room may be a mess, but the backdrops of your pics are always swoonworthy! You love seeing the beauty in the world, even the most mundane moments and capturing them without hesitation. You are always ready for good times and as a result, your friends love having you around. You share your coolness quotient with aplomb, be it through reels or pictures.. Therefore, you try to be a perfectionist & have high self-expectations. But this also means that you tend to go beyond capturing special moments but focus too much on creating moments worth capturing. You constantly compare yourself to others due to which you often worry your life isn’t ‘insta worthy’. But then you switch your ‘self-love’ mode back ‘on’ with a loving GIF!
Pinterest:
Having Pinterest as your one true love shows that you adore creativity and novel ideas. A neat freak who seeks inspiration everywhere to make life more organized. You are confident and strongly believe in the ‘do it yourself’ approach. Your amazing taste has inspired many and you have often been a trendsetter. Although, sometimes you may act like a hoarder of ideas and go crazy with creating masterpieces for your loved ones. Yes you are that mommy who spent 6 months creating the perfect party for your daughter’s birthday. Having hacks always at your disposal makes you the go to person in the group. Making yours and others’ life easier is all the fun you need. But this strong & independent personality also means that you find yourself exhausted often. Afterall ‘readymade’ is the boon of modern times. Go enjoy the novelty of ordering from zomato once in a while.
Snapchat:
If the white ghost from the yellow room is your best friend then it means that you live life on your own terms. You don’t care what others think of you. You take pride in your friendships and cherish them in the form of streaks. The silly & goofy acts are proof of your self-confidence. You live every second to the fullest. You believe every problem has a filter, and if not a graphic or sketch would certainly do the job. That child in you is not only still alive but is thriving. But at the same time, you value privacy and value the disappearing features of this platform, and secretly wish you could use those features in your real life too! You take your time in getting to know & trusting people. You are thick skinned and don’t get bogged down by others’ opinions. You enjoy the fun element in life and love sharing fun moments with your inner circle.
Facebook:
If Facebook is your favourite choice, it means that you are a very sociable, loving & caring person. You love staying connected with your childhood friends, relatives, classmates, etc. and have used FB to reconnect with so many people. You enjoy the birthday reminders and ensure you wish all your Facebook buddies. You love the memories that pop up on your feed and enjoy sharing the same. You enjoy checking what’s everyone been up to, sharing insightful videos & aren’t afraid to ask questions. Likes and kind comments give you quite a pep. Sharing your knowledge excites you so much, whether it is sharing the number of your favourite tailor or complaining about a particular airline. Scrolling sometimes unknowingly gets you a bit too engrossed in other people’s lives, but you don’t consider your act stalking, after all you have always been naturally curious!
If you have enjoyed reading this article as much as we enjoyed writing it for you, don’t forget to share it with your friends. May be you could compare notes over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine. Don’t forget to check our other blogs out, and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, & Pinterest.
Emoji Day Many Emotions Little Stories
Hello,
Emoji lovers, this one is dedicated to you and to your sweet/ sad tiny tales.
Just like the aroma of coffee is exciting, so are emojis which bring daily conversations to life and make them exciting. How dull and boring our chats would be if we couldn’t indicate our facial expressions in accordance with our emotions or state of mind. I bet you agree!
Emojis make it so much more fun!
Some of us are addicted to them and religiously add a smiley after almost every line.
Sometimes a kiss for a thank you, or a thumbs up for a ‘go ahead’. There is an emoji for every emotion!
And then there are a range of emojis depending on how silly or hilarious the joke is!
Oh and yes! Peeved? The rarely used red faced emoji, throw that in!
Whaaaa??? Surprised? Show it with an emoji, because there is one for that as well!
Looking to get out of a conversation that you are bored with? This is your emoji!
Lethargic? These will do the job and save you the trouble of typing that you are feeling lazy! Tell everyone how you feel with one tap!
When you don’t have an answer don’t look our way! We don’t have an answer either!
And when you have a lot of thinking to do
Lovers don’t shy away from these emojis, we know you use them frequently… Slap on those kisses!
Group conversations can just go on a different tangent… wondering what is being said?
Did you get a conversational black eye, so to speak? We feel for you!
Hungry kya? Mummies! Do I need to say anything more?
Want to play bad or good…? Yes, pun intended! Use this bad boy or er…um good boy…
So, we thought we would throw a little trivia your way: Why do you think most emojis are yellow in color?
People in Europe, Canada, and the United States, associate yellow with gentleness, amusement and spontaneity. In China, yellow is associated with happiness, glory, wisdom, harmony, and culture.
Hence, it seems to be the most appropriate color to express, feelings, reactions, etc.
We’re sure you have a favorite emoji, and that you use it at least 20 times a day! If you do, RT this with your favorite emoji or leave a comment in the comments section.
Better still, drop in at our office to see the many emojis we have on our walls! They bring a smile to our faces, especially on a dull day.
Want to share a virtual hug? Give us a shout-out!
The Secret Sauce To Nailing Your Content Marketing For Sales
If your content marketing is not yielding ROI, this is an article you don’t want to miss.
We have been creating content for our clients for marketing using social media for over 9 years. In the process, we have learned some critical lessons that we are sharing with you in this article.
Before you begin, the first step is to identify your target audience(s). They form the crux of your content marketing exercise. They need to be kept in mind for every piece of content you create. You can have multiple target audiences. Not every content will be for all of them. When you begin creating your content, ask yourself who is the target audience for this piece, and what would they like to see today? Make your post for one set of target audience. When the content is for everybody, it is for nobody.
The next step is to define your goals as best as you can, for every step of your sales funnel, or whichever goals you are trying to achieve. For the purpose of this article,we will focus on sales as a goal.
Whether it is to capture attention, capture interest, create desire or get them to take an action, each piece of content needs to help accomplish at least one of your goals.
Now the challenge is to get the audience to want to see more of your content. This can happen if your content is
- Informative: The internet is overloaded with information. If your content is giving that same data which the target audience can access anywhere else on the web, why would your content entice them? Try giving content that holds actual value to your target audience. Data based content talks about the various advantages of owning a particular product or service, informative content will go beyond and provide the audience with guidelines on the specific product or service which would be most suitable for them and why. Once the audience knows you provide them with informative content, they gain a sense of brand trust. They start looking upon you as a domain expert and also valuing your communications.
- Relatable & Funny: Humor is the seasoning on your content. But just like any seasoning wouldn’t do on your pizza, any kind of humor wouldn’t work in your content marketing. Be clear about the kind of humor your target audience will appreciate. Make it relatable. A meme on politics isn’t likely to tickle your teenage target audience’s funny bone. Be cognizant of not making jokes on your target audience.They are not likely to appreciate your jokes and if that is the case, the joke will only be on you.
So go ahead and add value to your content with that essential ingredient of humor. The tiny nuggets of laughter you give them will make them find your brand more and more endearing. Over time, this will create brand loyalty. - Emotion triggering content: Emotions are an integral part of humans. People often find themselves making decisions or doing things that trigger certain emotions in them. B2B sales are surely practical, result oriented decisions but that shouldn’t deter you as a content marketeer to create emotional triggering content for this target audience as well. Certain content triggers emotions (positive of course) and draws the audience. It also encourages the audience to engage more freely with your content, which helps build a connection with your brand. Once the audience feels a sense of camaraderie with a particular brand they tend to strongly consider it while making a purchase decision.
- Unique: Thinking out-of-the-box when it comes to creating content is both exciting and rewarding. Both the visual and written content needs to capture the attention of your target audience. The novelty and uniqueness of your content will attract the audiences regularly towards it. A great example of unique content is Amul. They have been selling the same butter, but they always seem to have fresh unique content up their sleeves.
- Solution based – When you create content for your target audience, you first need to understand their pain points and what kind of solutions you can offer them. Based on the kind of problems your audience faces, you can offer solutions via our products/ services. The sales pitch then could be direct or indirect based on where you feel your audience is in their buying journey. Whether they are in their awareness stage or geared to take action, you can target them right with your solution based content. This builds brand equity and customer interest.
We’ve been creating sales content using these lessons learnt over the years through our content marketing work for our clients, and achieving tremendous breakthroughs for them. We’ve observed enhanced social media performance to have a cascading effect on sales. The effects of excellent content are first reflected through better matrices like reach and engagement followed by a build-up in visibility and thereby leads and sales.
So try our secret sauce for nailing your content marketing. Do share how it enhances your sales. And if we could lend you a hand, don’t hesitate to reach out to us on contact@vanillaskills.com