Social Media: Get Savvy on Your Socials

‘It's just as important to have your own personal account as well as a company account. This enables the public to gain an insight not just into the business but into the lifestyle that it affords you, and that's what sells.’

061 ocial media is a huge part of our lives these days, and whilst it may seem ironic considering that we are a face-to-face business where human connection is our primary focus, we can’t deny that we are living in the Digital Age. As a result, we are using a variety of methods such as Hot-Desking, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook to expand our recruitment reach. The days of posting an ad in the newspaper are long gone and social media is expanding our network to an extraordinary degree. S

Branding. It’s important. Social media is fast becoming a central aspect of creating a successful business model. When you go on to open an office of your own, it is paramount that you establish a strong brand identity, a clear company culture and ‘shareable’ online presence. According to an article written by Entrepreneur, Chidike Samuleson, ’Since Instagram's inception, the platform has redefined social-media engagement. It is now the ultimate territory marketers set out to conquer, meaning competition is fierce and success has become increasingly elusive. But the good news is that thriving with Instagram marketing isn't about burning millions of dollars or hiring the most prominent influencer to share your posts. Rather, it requires more of a more nuanced approach to making an impression on the right target audience.’

Back in December, we organised a workshop with social media guru, Chris Taylor, on how to build a brand and boost followers on Instagram. If you think about just how many times you check your IG page every day (on average people spend 53 minutes per day free-falling through the infinite scroll!), to disregard this platform would be a wasted opportunity. Rob Cotterell from RedSeven was one of many to attend the seminar. He described how ‘Over the last couple of years we’ve been a lot more engaged with social media. Chris’s workshop really confirmed that Instagram is the way forward and inspired us to up our game in terms of our online content, branding and presence. People are updating their feeds and are scrolling through the content literally every hour’.

The workshop covered many things, including how to concept your social media accounts successfully. Paul Coombe explained how ‘it really opened my eyes in terms of scheduling posts, how to work on curating a timeline for content and when is the best time to post in order to reach the greatest number of people’. Rather than simply telling people ‘what you do’, it’s about crafting the content in order to ‘tell a story’. That’s what engages the public and gets them clicking on your account. ‘The visual story-mapping is so important’ and means that people are more likely not just to visit your page in the first place, but to re-visit and invest in the story of

'The days of posting an ad in the newspaper are long gone and social media is expanding our network to an extraordinary degree.'

your business and follow your progress.

One of the main focuses of the workshop was the importance of building an Instagram account for the Individual Entrepreneur as opposed to having one that is just representational of the Company itself. In this way, viewers are offered a far more personal insight into the world of the Entrepreneur; the connection established is one that feels noticeably more human, thereby grabbing the attention of the viewer in a way that resonates. Josh Keeble, a recent addition to Promotions Company, explains how his personal account, his ‘pictures, hashtags and comments speak for (him) and actually provide quite a well-rounded impression of who we are, what we do and how we do it. If someone wants to go to Miami, wants to go to Ibiza, have the opportunity for rapid progression, promotions and rewards, to be a part of a team, big conferences, Entrepreneurial meetings and thrive, then they see that we can offer them that lifestyle and career’. But he doesn’t just show people the good stuff, ‘it really is the good, the bad and the ugly’. It’s important to be authentic in your presentation of brand. Obviously there is an element of curation; however, you have to show people the real deal. For example, one day he ‘might post a picture of (himself) in a little coffee shop, and then that sits next to a photo of (him) in a Renaissance Hotel with a suit on. That’s the transition I want to share with people; it’s reality’. We’re not saying you shouldn't filter what you post - you absolutely do need to have a clear idea of what is appropriate! - however, it’s important to show an accurate representation of who you are. It’s about being the real deal. After all, authenticity sells.

This leads us onto recruitment. A secondary aim of the workshop was to encourage Owners to start recruiting via alternative means; whereas before recruitment was many via online advertising, platforms such as IG and LinkedIn are really opening up the market. If you can improve your visibility on IG, you will broaden your audience reach and consequently your levels of recruitment will start to increase. Most of our Offices are now using platforms such as IG as well as LinkedIn to headhunt fresh talent. ‘It’s the social media too It’s also about doing it in a non-conventional way; continued--->

'Social media is fast becoming a central aspect of creating a successful business model.'

'Since Instagram's inception, the platform has redefined social-media engagement. It is now the ultimate territory marketers set out to conquer, meaning competition is fierce and success has become increasingly elusive.'

'It’s important to be authentic in your presentation of brand. Obviously there is an element of curation; however, you have to show people the real deal.'

063 you can call someone up with a standard CV any day of the week, but the reason why we’re getting so many people through IG is the fact that they are starting to contact us saying ‘I love the vibe of your team, I like what I see, how do I get involved?’ (Josh). When thinking about your target audience, it’s important to bear in mind the demographic that you want to reach out to. In order to share this content with the right people, it’s essential that you are up to speed with ‘demographic-appropriate’ hashtags. Paul Coombe, for example, who will be opening up in Oxford needs to ensure that he is targeting an Oxford-specific demographic in order to successfully establish an online presence ahead of opening the physical office. That demographic is going to consist more of students and young entrepreneurs seeing as it’s a University Town, so knowing that will help him to craft his posts accordingly. Tactical hashtags are also a means of accessing those people that aren’t necessarily thinking of a career in this industry and connecting with people that aren’t necessarily looking for a job in this industry.

Think about what would grab your attention. If you want to attract unconventional people - ‘diamonds in the rough’ - to bring a fresh energy and alternative approach to your team, what would they want to see? Perhaps not so much the industry-based content, but rather the lifestyle that working in this sector affords us. This was certainly something that attracted Paul Coombe to the job after working in horse-racing for 22 years: ‘the great thing about this industry - the travelling part of it - is that it shows you that if you work hard, you can live an amazing lifestyle and take part in some incredible opportunities’. The integration of trips to places such as Sri Lanka into the business calendar is pretty extraordinary. Paul explains how ‘in showcasing this lifestyle via social media, people realise what an amazing industry and network we are part of, and consequently they want to get involved which is great!’. Just last week they had a guy from Australia get in touch with them via IG. He’s already been in for an interview and is joining the company on Monday! The international reach that these platforms afford us is extraordinary.

Over at RedSeven, they’ve got Ed Collis heading their social media accounts and something that they have started to implement is the documentation of their trips and meetings through video. Every month, RedSeven hosts ‘Owner’s Day’ where they invite one of their Sales People to experience a new activity. In January they went to Daylesford Farm - an organic farm owned by Lady and Lord Manford - and enjoyed a private cooking school course. They were taught by top chefs how to cook a variety of delicious dishes, followed by a collective dining experience. Ed was there to document the experience - ‘I think that video is really important medium with which to share experiences, it’s the most dynamic and really allows people to feel immersed in the world of the business’. ‘All of our brand ambassadors have their own Instagram pages where they are sharing what they’re up to, meetings, trips etc. so it really does provide a fantastic insight into the working ‘day-to-day’ routine of the company which is great for prospective recruits.

Sam Rathling’s LinkedIn workshop focussed on building a profile, building our network and consequently building relationships in that network. Generally being ‘active’. The mentality in the past has been one of finality - once something is posted online, it’s done and our role is complete - but that’s not the case anymore. You need to constantly be updating your feed, posting new content and making an effort to connect. It’s timeconsuming, but it’s essential. What we’ve taken away from the workshop with Sam (LinkedIn Bound) is that LinkedIn isn’t about selling to people, it’s about story-telling. This helps to establish a sense of intrigue and eventually connects us with the most appropriate people to join our company.