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How to Get More Facebook Likes And Followers: 5 Tactics That Actually Work

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Since its inception, Facebook has become one of the most successful social media sites to advertise on. With just under 17% of the population of the planet signed up to Facebook, you can get a much larger audience than any other site to view your posts and engage with your brand. But to make any waves on Facebook, you need Likes and followers. A popular way in recent years to gain Likes is to buy them, but not only is this not authentic, it also doesn’t get your brand noticed by actual potential customers. So how can you get the Facebook Likes that you need, without paying for them?

Here are some killer tips for creating a successful Facebook page for your brand without spending a penny.

Fill out your page

Filling out your page may seem obvious, but a mistake that a lot of people make is not to fill out their pages entirely. You can add plenty of information to your Facebook page including links to other sites that you have, and all the information that a customer needs, and this is what they are looking for. A sparse Facebook page makes it look like you aren’t taking this seriously and may even make them question if you are a legitimate business in the first place.

Use Insights

Facebook insights is free to use and an invaluable tool to use when advertising on the site. You can access this through your business page on Facebook, and what it does is it lets you see what is working for your page. Which posts are seen the most, liked the most, what other pages your followers are interacting with and when. This is useful as you can schedule your posts for when the most people will see it, and also get an idea of the other kinds of things you could do in the future to gain popularity.

Use a great picture and heading

Appearance is everything these days, and even more so on social media. If you don’t already have a recognizable logo, you need to get one. Make your Facebook page look good, and people won’t mind liking and sharing. You can look at similar businesses to yours to see how they did theirs and how you can do better.

Invite likes

Make sure to invite those who like your posts, to like your page. This can be done by using other sites to drive traffic, or in your Facebook settings.

Share relevant content

Users like pages that share other things they want to see. If you can find videos or posts that are related to your area of expertise or your industry, users will find your page more engaging and entertaining, and thus, will interact more with it. Unless you are already an extremely popular brand, users will quickly get bored if you only ever share your own content. This can also help to build relationships with other users and businesses.

3 Most Underrated Things Successful People Do, Unsuccessful People Don’t Do

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You’ve probably come to a point in your life wherein you’re wondering why other people have gone ridiculously successfully why some remained otherwise. With all the things that constitute a person such as financial means, education, childhood, talent, as well as skill – it seems that most of us are anything but equal.

So what makes others successful? Could it be the people that they know? Their high profile connections? While this can be true, it actually boils down to the fact that successful people do what an average person would not be willing to do. If you fail to get the gist of what I’m saying, then let me elaborate further.

Some of the most successful people and leaders regarded in our generation right now include Mark Zuckerberg, Brian Tracy, Anthony Robbins, and Zig Ziglar. We also have celebrity entrepreneurs in the likes of Sir Richard Branson as well as Oprah Winfrey. There are also countless nameless and faceless people in the society that we take for granted but are also very successful in their own rights. And the common denominator among all these people, regardless if they are famous or not, is the fact that they do the things that other people would never want to do. These are the same people who do the things that other people consider as time-consuming, unnecessary, too hard, or dull.

So do you also want to be successful? So here are some of the things that successful people do in order to maintain the level of success that they have but other people fail to do. You, too, can be successful just like them as long as you follow these steps.

Successful people create a routine

People who are successful have a daily routine that they follow. Most of the time, they wake up on a specified time (usually earlier compared with others) and follow a “to do” list. Their routines are considered to be non-negotiable, thus, barely disrupted by any distractions. For most people, this is just a routine. But for them, it is a way of life.

Successful people condition their mind continuously

This is often seen in most successful people. They all nurture their mindset with positivity all the time. They do not allow negative thinking to get the best of them. They make sure that they only nurture positive thoughts and do away with the negative ones. They do this not only by changing their mindset and perspective but through learning like reading books and listening to inspiring audiobooks.

Successful people have high standards and they follow it

As Anthony Robbins once said, “for one to be able to be successful, one must continuously raise the standards”. These people already have high standards but yet they even set the bar higher for themselves. While unproductive people are typically too scared to take a leap of faith, successful people, on the other hand, are willing to take calculated risks and reach higher into the stars.

The BIG Reason Why Online Marketing Is More Important To A New Business Than Ever

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According to the U.S Bureau of Labour, 15% of new businesses are unable to survive through their first year of operation, and only 50% make it past 5 years. Hence for any new business to stay afloat, it is important to drum up a crowd and customers. Considering the fast-paced and intricately connected world of the 21st century, entrepreneurs must understand and make full use of targeted web marketing.

In the United States, the online marketing industry’s current growth rate stands at 20%. Using web marketing allows businesses to advertise based on the audience’s interests and reach people across physical boundaries – this is especially useful for companies providing services that can be exchanged via phone/ email or where transportation costs of the physical goods are low.

Web marketing is the portal to personalized communication with the audience, at lower pricing and higher returns than print advertising. Keeping costs low on advertising will allow some wiggle room in expenses and open up the opportunity to re-invest in the business. Keeping funds focused on more important things such as the actual good/service of the company will allow for overall improvement, which will, in turn, leads to more customers.

Spending as little as $5 per day for paid advertisements on Facebook for paid advertising can increase post reach by over 750 people, while the average cost per impression on social media can be as low as $0.38. These impressions are important because it imprints your brand in the viewer’s brain subconsciously, which causes them to gravitate towards your product without actually realizing it.

An experiment was conducted in 1957 in which during a movie the phrase “Drink Coca-Cola” was flashed multiple times and speed too high to be recognized by the conscious mind. At the end of the movie, coke sales at the concession stand rose to over 50% percent. This method of ‘subliminal advertising’ is similar to the idea of paying for increased impressions on social media – just entering an idea into a person’s subconscious can be enough to attract them towards your product. For example, just seeing the word ‘coke’ in this article, will increase your chances of having a coke, as opposed to any other drink, the next time you reach for a soda can.

Aside from paid marketing, many businesses also maintain a social media presence in the form of Facebook pages or twitter/Instagram accounts. As of 2015, there were nearly 30 million small businesses worldwide running pages on Facebook. Though statistics don’t support organic social media marketing as useful in gaining new traction, it is still significant in keeping current and past customers engaged with the company.

Researchers in Canada found that our attention spans have fallen from 12 seconds to 8 seconds in the past 15 years. This means that readers can no longer be expected to remember information from print ads and recall them while making choices. Having a web presence ensures that the audience is directly linked to your business and is continuously reminded of your goods/services.

5 Simple Ways To Fund Your New Business

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It’s a pretty big step and a much bigger investment. You are not just simply giving your time and effort into it but you would also need to use some cash to finance it.

If you have an idea and you believe it can be a great business, you would want to embark on it of course. But without the money, that would be hard if not impossible. Here are some tips for you to get the money that will finance your new business idea for it to start rolling.

Raise money through your friends and family

This is the most common way to raise the money you need for any start-up. But also remember that when you make your loved ones’ creditors, their financial future may be at risk as well as your relationship. Clarify to them what you need. Are you asking them to loan you money? Or are you asking for some equity? These matters should be clear from the very start. Financial projection should be in place as well. They need to see, that the chance of seeing their money back is greater than forever losing it. There are risks involved in running your own business and this should be emphasized when you hit it with them.

Try Crowdfunding

There are special platforms to use for crowdfunding. Here, you can spread the news about your new product or service and then you will have to wait for interested investors to come and see you for it. If the thing you are offering is really something interesting, then good investors will see that there is a future for it. You can make campaigns for your product on these platforms to spread awareness. KIckstarter.com is one of the most famous and effective sites for crowdfunding so that’s a resource you need to tap.

A loan from a bank

The standards of lending had become stricter as time goes by. But there are still those banks that lend funds for small businesses and start-ups. You can apply to any of them to start your business. Just make sure that you will keep up with your promise to the bank. Also, just make sure that you pay the bank back so that you won’t get a bad record which could affect your future request for any loans.

Pledge some percentage of your earnings in the future

You can borrow from people you know with the condition that you will pledge a portion of your earnings to them in the future. If you are confident with your capabilities and the product you are launching, then you could try this route.

Use your credit card

This is probably one of the riskiest ways of financing your business. For your repayments, once you fall behind, the chances would be something like having a whacked credit score. But this would only happen if you let it. You need to be responsible for your use and payment of credit card otherwise it could affect your credit rating and you won’t be able to borrow from the bank in the future.

Financing your business is a real challenge and many are just not up to the challenge. There are many ways to get on it though. You only need to find the best one that would suit you so you can get your new business rolling.

8 Ways You Can Use Body Language to Influence People

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Did you know that majority of your success comes down to what your body language says?

Alex “Hitch” Hitchens (Will Smith’s dating guru character in the movie Hitch) said “60% of all human communication is nonverbal body language; 30% is your tone, so that means 90% of what you’re saying ain’t coming out of your mouth”- now that sounds pretty spot on because Whenever two people are communicating to each other face-to-face, most of the communication is actually happening through body language.

It’s a highly known fact that your posture, facial expressions, gestures and even tone of voice When properly used, can actually be your key to achieving success because it can help you grow business relationships, influence people and telegraph power and authority. Here are ten tips on how to use body language to project confidence, charisma, and authority.

Maintain eye contact

Maintaining positive eye contact is very important so that the person you’re talking to can see how sincere and transparent you are. You want the other person to see that you’re 100% confident with what you’re saying and that all your cards are on the table – you have nothing to hide.

Lower the pitch of your voice

The pitch of your voice can sometimes determine how confident you are. People with higher-pitched voices are usually seen as anxious, skittish or high-strung – it gives the vibe that you’re trying to be more confident by drowning out other people’s voices. Just keep it low, calm and collected – that gives off a much better vibe.

Keep your posture erect

Hav you noticed that tall, commanding people look a lot more powerful than the average Joe? That’s because status, authority, and charisma gets nonverbally displayed if you’ve got a great posture. Erect postures and heads held high make you look like you’re a person of power and substance so you’re more likely to influence people’s decisions.Even if you’re sitting down, you can improve your posture by placing both your feet flat on the floor and widening your arms away from your body.

Minimize nervous gestures

Nervous gestures such as being fidgety, twirling your hair or drumming your fingers on the desk shows that you have no confidence in what you’re saying. if at any point you find yourself doing any of these things you need to just relax yourself and take a breather because looking nervous doesn’t do you any favours.

Try to use open gestures

Using open gestures are a great way to show that you are a credible, confident and transparent person. If you have your arms crossed or your hands were hidden away, it usually gives off the vibe that you’re trying to hide something. Relax your movements and don’t be afraid to show the palms of your hands – that makes you seem more warm, personable and trustworthy. If you’re seated, try to keep your legs and arms uncrossed at all times and try to keep your legs far apart and your shoulders back. Try not to lean forward, lean back instead – leaning forward makes you look more eager than usual.

The power of pausing

Pausing every now and then while you’re talking is an effective way of telegraphing confidence – even better if you can mix your pauses with a smoldering look. For example, you might say, “I think this software will definitely boost your business because of its incredible features… (pause and look into the other person’s eyes with a smoldering look)…What do you think?” Focus on short pauses not long pauses because long pauses can actually affect communication negatively, but it’ll have a positive effect as long as it’s not too long. Pausing gives the other person you are speaking to an actual moment to digest what you just said, making the information much clearer for them to …

Smile like a boss

Let’s face it, people love warm, happy faces. Smiling at someone gives off the vibe that you are personable, genuine and totally approachable. Have you ever noticed that if you smiled at someone there’s a huge probability that the other person will smile back? The human brain prefers smiling face because it gives off the trustworthy vibe.

Solid handshake

A powerful handshake is something worth practicing again and again because most people can appear to look more authoritative and credible if they have a great handshake. When you make palm to palm contact with someone try to give a firm handshake and match the hand pressure the other person is applying as closely as possible. Try not to crush his hands – dominating someone is not a great way of winning them over.

In conclusion

Body language is a language without actual spoken words hence why it’s called non-verbal communication. We use it all the time socially and especially in our businesses and careers.

Facial expressions, body movements small gestures, and even straight posture, can all convey a message or add something to it. Keep in mind that while these tips are a good general guide for interpreting body language, it’s crucial to remember that all these tips won’t necessarily apply to every single person.

5 Steps to Achieving Any Goal in Life

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Are you willing to do whatever it takes to be successful?

Let’s face it; most of us dream of being successful in our chosen fields but for a majority of us that’s pretty much it – just dreaming about being successful and not doing anything about it.

How do you expect to be successful if you’re not even prepared to take any actionable steps to achieving your goal?

Instead of sitting around daydreaming, why don’t you stand up, dust your pants and actually do something about it? The longer you sit there daydreaming about possibilities the harder it is to stand up and make something of yourself.

So where should you start?

Here’s a five-step process to creating an effective action plan that should push your drive for success to another level.

Discover your motivation

Before you decide to come up with some actionable steps to help you achieve your goals, first you need to ask yourself – what’s your motivation?

Do you want to be famous?

Do you want to be rich beyond your wildest dreams?

Do you want to be successful so you can provide for your family?

Think about what’s going to motivate you on this journey to success and then look at the big picture. Once you’ve pinned down your motivator then that’ll serve as a reminder whenever you feel lazy or experience failure.

Devise your plan

Once you’ve discovered your main motivator it’s time to actually sit down and devise a plan. To do this you need to ask yourself four questions:

What do I really want to do with my life?

What’s the actual reason behind my goal?

Am I willing to do whatever it takes to achieve my goal?

What steps can I take to achieve my goal?

Start your journey

Now that you’ve created an action plan, it’s time to put your plan into action.

You need to really manage your time effectively if you want to be successful in your chosen field. You need to figure out what sort of research you need to take on in order for you to be successful, fix your schedule to make sure that you have a balance between doing the research and taking mini steps towards achieving your goal and phase out interruptions or steer clear of things that can hinder your progress. If you really want to achieve your goals, you need to surround yourself with things and people that will help you achieve them.

Sticking to your action plan may just be the hardest step in working towards achieving your dreams, but once you’ve found a way to stick to the plan and remain motivated – I guarantee that you’ll feel that you are finally on your way to becoming successful.

Track your progress

Having an action plan without a way to measure how much you are advancing towards your main goal will most definitely leave a big hole in your journey to success.

You need to figure out a way to measure whether or not you’re progressing at all. Unless you can find a way to track your progress, you won’t really know if you’re on the right path.

Keep in mind that if you’re doing the best you possibly can already – don’t think that you should be doing a lot more. This type of mentality can burn you out. Just do the very best you can and make sure you’re tracking your progress, as long as you’re consistent and working as hard as you possibly can, that should be enough.

Don’t be discouraged by failure

If you’re not failing at all then that means you’re not working hard enough.

If at some point in your journey you’re experiencing failure, keep in mind that this is normal. Everyone experiences failure even the best of the best.

Former president Robert F. Kennedy once said: “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.”

Successful TV host Ellen DeGeneres also said: “It’s failure that gives you the proper perspective on success.” She was even quoted saying “When you take risks you learn that there will be times when you succeed and there will be times when you fail and both are equally important.”

Don’t be that person who decides to quit when the battle has just started. If you stumble upon a roadblock just stick to your main motivator and focus on your action plan again. Remember that failure is merely a stepping stone to success.

Take time out to enjoy your journey

Once you’ve got your motivation and action plan in place and you’re finally on your journey to success, take time out to

enjoy the journey on a constant basis.

Make sure that you celebrate even the smallest successes. Go shopping for a nice outfit or get a full body massage and

relax – enjoying the journey is equally as important as doing the journey itself because these are the moments that one day

you’ll look back on and cherish.

In conclusion

Success is not for everyone because not everyone is willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen.

Once you’ve determined what you want in life, you’re 100% motivated and you’re willing to do whatever it takes to be successful – then it’s only a matter of time that your dreams become a reality.

Some people just like to dream big and not do anything about, some people like to procrastinate way too much and eventually end up in a rut, while some are dedicated to really pushing ahead in life and making a difference in the world.

Which one are you?

5 Basic Things Every Newbie Entrepreneur Needs To Know About Starting A New Business

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 image via Shutterstock / Kiselev Andrey Valerevich

Starting your own business is never easy, it takes time, money, effort and most of all – perseverance! Now if you are currently considering starting your own business at the moment, here’s the top 5 things you need to look into before taking the big dive.

1. Put together a business plan

The sad fact is that most businesses don’t actually make it past the first year because they have poor cash planning, inadequate market research and most of all, they don’t have a proper business plan. The very first thing you should do before starting a business is create a business plan. That business plan should highlight where you want to be in the next 5-10 years and should also highlight your goals as well as provide details on how you will achieve these goals. Nobody else has to see it; this is your own personal guide on how you will grow your business.

2. Will you be providing a product or service?

Of course, if you’re planning to start a business you should already know if you will be offering a service or selling a product to the consumer. Most budding entrepreneurs start a business based on their knowledge and expertise on a specific industry sector, others start a business based on something they’ve always been passionate about and some start a business because they can see a ‘hole’ in the market which they want to infiltrate. Keep in mind that once you’ve decided on what business you’ll be starting you then have to determine what would make your business different? Will you be offering a cheaper product or a faster service? What would make your product or service better than the competition? What’s unique about your business that others would pay attention?

3. What will be your business structure?

There are actually a number of choices to choose from when it comes to business structure, the most common ones though are sole trader, partnership and limited company. The typical choice by most people is the sole trader business structure because it’s the structure with the least hassle. However, this business structure can affect your personal security. If you’re wondering what the better choice is, well here’s a brief description on the 3 business structures: As a sole trader you carry all the risk – which means that if something goes wrong in your business then you are personally liable for all the costs. If you are thinking of entering a partnership structure with a bunch of friends, keep in mind that this could all change at some point due to the demand in the business. Now if you are thinking of setting up a limited company, yes you may lessen your individual liability, however, it’s not cheap to maintain a limited company structure because you’d have to pay a yearly government fee – and this will be tough on you especially if you won’t be making any money yet in the next 3 years. If you are seriously thinking of setting up a company for the first time, it’s probably best to obtain professional advice from either a solicitor or accountant so that they can explain the risks and costs involved.

4. What will you name your business?

Finding a name may sound like the easiest part of the process – but think again! Some companies take years before they can come up with a suitable name for their business. Think about it this way, the name of your business will be its brand for life, whatever name you come up with is what you’ll be working with for the duration of the business. Here are some questions you should ask yourself: Does the name suit the product or service you are offering? Is the name original? Can you trademark the name? Is the name available online? It’s always good practice to register the name of your business to the Fair Trading office to make sure that no one else has the exact same business name as what you have.

5. How are you going to market the new business?

Marketing is a crucial part of any business, without proper marketing your business is as good as dead. The big question is: what approach will you take to reach your specific target market? Do you need to look into magazine ads, billboards, social media or maybe direct mail to reach your target market? Your marketing approach will of course depend on what your product or service is, it’s basically trial and error at the start. Just take the plunge and start your marketing efforts and whichever one works for your business is what you should stick on. If you don’t know where to start it may be a good idea to check out what you’re competition is doing, you can always do the same thing but just give it a twist to make it more favourable for your business.

3 Destructive Habits Holding An Entrepreneur Back From Success

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image via Shutterstock / Stokkete

Ask any entrepreneurship expert and they would tell you that the core principle that dictates a bankruptcy is poor cash flow. Even if a business is in a lot of debt but follows a solid system of positive cash flow, and a close monitoring of returns and payables, bankruptcy is less likely to happen. If you are a rookie entrepreneur, you may want to watch out for seemingly simple things that can potentially hurt your business, and lead to its insolvency.

Small, Unnecessary Purchases

So you’ve just opened your business and you start buying all these interior design accent pieces that can’t really promise an influx of customers. In some cases, some owners get too obsessed with “cheap” buys not realizing that these small amounts pile up too. Think of the few hundred dollars spent on décor and a nice coffee table that could have been used to pay your power bills. Remember, the goal is to have a fast return on your investment, so you may want to stop spending on unnecessary, inexpensive buys because those “discounted” prices add up too.

Hiring too Many Staff too soon

The success of your business is extremely proportionate to the amount of work that you put into it. At the onset of your venture, try to minimize your expenses, including employee salary. If you can do away with just one or two helpers, then by all means, hire less. Most successful startups have owners who went through sleepless nights, survived on home-cooked meals, and some even had to be their own store’s painter, janitor, and handyman. Salaries are part of overhead expenses and if you can cut cost on overhead, you can direct your funds on better channels such as marketing and lead creation. The last thing you want is to overlay your employees because you can’t afford to pay their wages any longer.

Poor Accounting

There is a misconception that small businesses do not need painstaking accounting work. You raise a capital, earn, and that’s about it… Wrong!

The fact is, small businesses need more accounting work in tracking how the money spent on rent, stocks, supplies, and contingencies compared to big, stable corporations who already have a system in place. Other miscellaneous expenses should also be listed and itemized so you can check if you’re spending too much on minor things. This will also help you decide on expenses where you can cut down and save. Ideally, your operational expenses should not exceed your average daily or monthly income. If you lose sight of where your money is going, it may be too late for you to realize that your business is slowly losing money, and everything can be gone at your own expense.

If you’re frugal and prudent enough, you’ll know the things that deserve a chunk of your startup capital, and those that can wait for later. Maintaining healthy cash flow can be tricky, and there WILL always be lean months where you’re almost just break even. Regardless of these challenges, resilience and the ability to adapt and redesign your business strategies can draw the line between bankruptcy and brand endurance.