How the LinkedIn Algorithm Works Now and What It Means for Your Content.

LinkedIn’s algorithm has changed.

Again.

For businesses, founders and leaders trying to build visibility, that can feel exhausting, not to mention confusing. Every few months, there seems to be a new rule about what to post, when to post, how long to make it and whether adding a link will send your reach into freefall.

But underneath all the second-guessing, the direction LinkedIn is moving in is relatively straightforward.

The platform is becoming less focused on instant engagement and more focused on relevance.

It wants to show people content that matches their professional interests, comes from voices they are likely to trust and holds their attention for more than a passing second.

In many ways, that is positive.

It should mean less pressure to chase quick likes, manufacture engagement or create shallow posts simply because they fit the latest format. But it also creates new challenges.

Understanding what works can help your content reach the right people. Allowing the algorithm to dictate everything you create can make your content repetitive, calculated and increasingly difficult to distinguish from everyone else’s.

The opportunity is to work with the platform without losing the human thinking that makes your content worth reading in the first place.

LinkedIn increasingly rewards clear relevance

One of the most important changes is that LinkedIn is getting better at identifying what a post is about and who may be interested in it.

It learns from the subjects people read about, the accounts they interact with, the posts they pause on and the conversations they take part in.

For businesses and individuals, this makes having some consistency in what you talk about more important.

That does not mean every post needs to make the same point. It does mean that regularly jumping between completely unrelated topics can make it harder for both LinkedIn and your audience to understand what you want to be known for.

For example, the main themes for a business might include:

  • the challenges its customers are facing
  • the expertise within its team
  • lessons from its work
  • developments within its sector
  • its values and way of working
  • the thinking behind its services

Over time, those themes help create an association between the business and the problems it understands.

That is positive because it gives smaller businesses and subject experts a better chance of being discovered beyond their existing network. You do not necessarily need thousands of followers if LinkedIn can identify that your content is relevant to the right people.

The risk is that businesses begin narrowing their content purely to satisfy the system.

A clear focus is useful. Becoming so rigid that every post feels like a slightly different version of the last one is not.

People still follow people and businesses because they are interesting, thoughtful and recognisably human. Relevance should give your content direction, not remove its personality.

Attention matters more than empty activity

LinkedIn also considers whether people spend time reading a post.

This is often referred to as “dwell time”.

In simple terms, LinkedIn can see the difference between someone briefly scrolling past a post and someone stopping long enough to take it in.

That does not mean every post needs to be long. It means the content needs to earn attention. A strong opening may help someone stop, but there also needs to be enough substance behind it to make staying worthwhile.

That is good news for people with genuine expertise, experience and perspective to share.

It creates more space for considered posts that explain an idea properly, explore a challenge or offer a point of view. It may also reduce the value of posts built around a dramatic opening followed by very little of substance.

However, there is a downside.

Once people hear that time spent reading matters, some begin deliberately stretching posts to keep readers on the page. Simple ideas become unnecessarily long. Sentences are broken into dozens of lines. The reader is made to work far harder than the point justifies.

That is not good content. It is content designed around a metric rather than the person reading it.

The aim should not be to keep someone on a post for as long as possible. It should be to hold their attention for as long as the idea deserves.

Original perspectives have more value than generic advice

LinkedIn is also placing greater emphasis on professional relevance, credible voices and subject knowledge.

For leaders, founders and experts, this creates an opportunity to share more of the thinking that usually stays inside meetings, conversations and day-to-day work.

A generic post might say:

“Five ways to improve your marketing.”

A stronger post might begin:

“One of the most common mistakes I see small businesses make is creating more content before looking at the value already sitting inside what they have.”

The second version carries experience. It tells the reader something about the person behind the post, not just the subject.

This is important because expertise is rarely just a collection of tips. It is your perspective on the problem, the patterns you have noticed, the mistakes you have seen and the lessons you have learned through doing the work.

LinkedIn becoming better at recognising that kind of relevance is positive. It gives real experience more chance of cutting through.

But it also increases the temptation to perform expertise.

We have all seen posts that make ordinary observations sound like revolutionary discoveries, or present a single personal experience as gospel.

Strong visibility does not require you to position yourself as the leading authority on everything. It requires you to share what you genuinely know, explain what you believe and be honest about the limits of your experience.

Credibility comes from clarity and consistency, not from sounding certain about everything.

Genuine conversations matter more than engagement tricks

Comments remain an important part of LinkedIn because they show that a post has created interest or conversation.

But the quality of that interaction matters.

For a long time, posts were routinely finished with questions such as:

“Agree?”

“What do you think?”

“Thoughts?”

Sometimes those questions are natural. Often they are there because someone has been told that every post needs a call for comments.

People can tell the difference.

When a post has made a complete and interesting point, it does not always need to ask the audience to do anything. A strong closing thought may create more genuine discussion than a forced question.

This is another positive shift.

It means you can focus more on creating something worth responding to and less on trying to prompt a particular action.

The negative is that some will continue to find ways to manufacture engagement. Comment groups, formulaic questions and deliberately divisive opinions may create activity, but that does not mean they create trust.

A post with ten thoughtful comments from relevant people may be more valuable than one with hundreds of superficial reactions.

The aim is not simply to make the algorithm believe people care; it is to create something people genuinely care enough to respond to.

Consistency helps, but volume is not the same as visibility

Posting regularly helps LinkedIn understand your themes and gives your audience more opportunities to see your thinking.

But regular does not need to mean constant.

There is little value in posting every day if you are only doing it to remain active. More content does not automatically mean more credibility.

For smaller businesses and busy leaders, this is an important distinction.

A realistic rhythm of two or three worthwhile posts each week may do far more than five rushed posts created to fill a schedule.

Consistency builds familiarity. People begin to recognise your name, understand what you do and associate you with particular subjects. Familiarity matters because most people are not ready to buy, enquire or recommend you the first time they see a post.

Remember, patience is a virtue. Visibility works over time.

The downside is that the demand to remain visible can easily become another content treadmill. Businesses begin posting because they feel they have to, rather than because they have something valuable to say.

The result is often more content, but less meaning.

The strongest approach is to find a rhythm you can sustain without lowering the quality of the thinking.

The most valuable response may be invisible

Likes and comments are easy to see, which makes them easy to treat as the main measure of success.

But many of the most valuable responses to LinkedIn content happen privately.

Someone may:

  • Save a post
  • Send it to a colleague
  • Visit your profile
  • Look at your website
  • Follow your page
  • Remember your name
  • Mention you in a conversation weeks later
  • Contact you without ever having interacted publicly

This is positive because LinkedIn content does not need to go viral to work.

A post that reaches a smaller but highly relevant audience can create far more value than one that attracts broad but disconnected attention.

For an SME, one relevant conversation may matter more commercially than hundreds of likes. The challenge is that these outcomes are harder to measure. When immediate engagement looks low, it can be tempting to assume the post failed and change direction too quickly.

Not every strong post produces an obvious spike. Some of the most important work content does is building recognition, trust and memory gradually.

That requires patience, which is not always easy in an environment full of public metrics.

Promotional content needs to offer something before it asks for something

Businesses still need to promote what they do.

There is nothing wrong with talking about a service, event or offer. The problem comes when the content gives the audience no reason to care beyond the fact that you want them to buy something.

A stronger promotional post usually begins with the customer’s problem, a relevant observation or a point of view.

For example:

“Busy leaders do not need another person telling them to find more time to create content. They need a better way to turn the thinking they already have into something visible.”

That naturally creates space to introduce a service designed to solve the problem.

The positive side of LinkedIn’s move towards relevance is that promotional content can still perform when it contains a meaningful idea. The negative is that direct announcements, event links and service descriptions may struggle when they are presented without context.

This does not mean every promotional post needs to disguise itself as something else.

It means the audience should receive some value before being asked to take the next step.

Be careful of the rules that are not really rules

The internet is full of confident advice about the algorithm, much of it outdated and wrong.

Post at exactly this time. Comment for fifteen minutes before publishing. Never edit a post. Always use three hashtags. Put every link in the comments. Reply within the first hour.

The algorithm is personalised, constantly changing and influenced by far more than any single tactic.

What works for one account may not work for another because the audience, subject matter, network and existing behaviour are different.

The danger is that businesses spend so much time trying to follow every piece of algorithm advice that they stop thinking about the people they actually want to reach.

The algorithm is a distribution system. It is not your audience.

So, what should businesses do now?

The current direction of LinkedIn should encourage businesses to create content that is more focused, more relevant and more substantial.

That is the positive.

The platform is increasingly interested in whether your content matches someone’s interests, whether they spend time with it and whether it reflects genuine knowledge or experience.

But those same indicators can become negative when they are treated as a formula.

Relevance can turn into repetition. Dwell time can turn into unnecessary length. Expertise can turn into performance. Consistency can turn into volume for volume’s sake. Engagement can turn into manipulation.

The answer is not to ignore the algorithm completely. Understanding how the platform works can help you make clearer decisions about what you create and how you present it.

But it should never become the starting point.

Start with the people you want to reach.

  • What are they dealing with?
  • What do you understand that could help them?
  • What have you seen, learned or changed your mind about?
  • What perspective can you offer that genuinely comes from you?

Then think about how to make that idea clear, relevant and easy to engage with on LinkedIn.

The aim is not to create content that pleases an algorithm.

It is to make your thinking visible in a way that helps the right people understand who you are, what you know and why they might trust you.

The algorithm may help that content travel.

But the human thinking is what makes it worth finding.

AI, Human Thinking and the Future of SME Marketing

AI is changing content. For small businesses, that can be incredibly helpful indeed.

It can help draft posts, write emails, summarise calls, generate ideas, repurpose existing content and get past the blank page we all struggle with from time to time.

But easier content creation doesn’t automatically mean clearer marketing.

It doesn’t automatically make a business easier to understand, easier to trust or easier to buy from. And it doesn’t automatically give you an advantage.

That’s where the future of SME marketing gets interesting.

Small businesses are already under pressure to show up in more places, more often, with more consistency. LinkedIn, email, newsletters, blogs, video, podcasts, webinars, website content, sales content, internal updates, client stories, thought leadership; the list keeps growing.

AI may make some of that easier to produce. But it doesn’t remove the bigger question: What are you actually trying to say?

AI adoption is growing, but the picture is not simple

The evidence is clear that AI use among UK businesses is rising. Research from the British Chambers of Commerce reported that 54% of UK firms are now actively using AI, up from 35% in 2025, 25% in 2024 and 23% in 2023. That’s a significant shift in a short space of time. (britishchambers.org.uk)

At the same time, wider UK Government research has painted a more cautious picture, finding that around one in six UK businesses are currently using at least one AI technology, with adoption varying by business size and sector. (gov.uk)

That difference tells us something important. AI adoption is not happening evenly. Some businesses are already experimenting heavily. Others are still unsure where to start, what to trust or how to use it in a way that genuinely helps.

And even where businesses are using AI, adoption doesn’t always equal confidence.

YouGov’s Business Sentiment Tracker found that businesses still cite concerns around accuracy and reliability, data privacy and security, ethical concerns and lack of internal skills as barriers to AI adoption. (YouGov.com)

So, while AI is clearly becoming a big, big part of the small business landscape, many businesses are still working out what good use actually looks like.

That’s especially true in marketing.

The danger is not AI. It’s generic content at scale.

AI can be very good at producing something quickly. A caption. A blog outline. A set of email subject lines. A rough LinkedIn post. A summary of a webinar. A few campaign ideas.

That can be genuinely very helpful, particularly for small teams with too much to do and not enough time to do it.

But the risk is that businesses start mistaking speed for strategy. If everyone can produce acceptable content faster, acceptable content becomes less valuable.

The market doesn’t suddenly become clearer. It becomes noisier. More posts. More newsletters. More articles. More recycled opinions. More content that sounds polished enough, but not specific enough to make anyone remember it.

That’s where the real challenge begins.

AI can help you say something. It cannot, on its own, decide what your business should be known for.

It cannot understand the nuance of your relationships with clients. Or know which experience has shaped your point of view. It cannot feel the difference between something that sounds impressive and something that sounds true.

It cannot always judge whether a piece of content will support a real conversation with a prospect, partner, client or stakeholder.

And it cannot replace the thinking that sits behind every business.

The future of small business marketing will not simply belong to the businesses that can publish the most. It will belong to the businesses that are easiest to understand, easiest to trust and easiest to remember.

Small businesses need direction, not just output

For many small businesses, the problem has never really been a complete lack of content. The problem is often a lack of direction.

Ideas are sitting in client conversations, team meetings, founder stories, sales calls, webinars, reports, presentations, podcasts, case studies, emails and everyday experience. There is value everywhere. But it’s rarely captured properly, shaped clearly or used consistently.

That’s why so much content feels scattered.

A business posts because it feels it should. A blog is written and then forgotten. A webinar happens and is never repurposed. A founder has a brilliant conversation with a client, but the thinking never becomes visible. A team creates content from scratch every month while older ideas sit unused.

AI may speed up production, but it doesn’t fix that underlying issue. In some cases, it can make it worse.

If the direction is unclear, AI can help you produce unclear content faster. If the message is generic, AI can help you make it more polished but still generic. If the business doesn’t know what it wants to be known for, AI cannot solve that by generating another batch of posts.

That’s why human thinking becomes more important, not less.

The future of SME marketing is likely to be more human, not less

This may sound counterintuitive at a time when AI tools are becoming more capable, but we truly believe the direction of travel points towards a greater need for human voice and human judgement and expertise.

As content becomes easier to create, audiences become better at spotting content that doesn’t really say anything.

People are not short of information. They are short of relevance, trust and useful perspective.

For small businesses, that means the content that cuts through will increasingly be the content rooted in real experience. The kind that shows how a business thinks. What it notices. What it believes. What it has learned. How it works. Why it cares. Where it has a point of view.

This is particularly important for expertise-led businesses.

If you sell knowledge, judgement, service, relationships or advice, your marketing cannot rely on surface-level content. People need to understand your thinking before they trust your offer. They need to see the people behind the business. They need to feel that there is substance, not just activity.

That’s why founder, CEO and senior leader visibility is becoming more commercially relevant.

Not because every leader needs to become an influencer, or because every founder needs to post every day. But because trust is often built before someone ever books a call, sends an enquiry or asks for a proposal.

It’s built through repeated signals: useful ideas, clear opinions, consistent presence, practical insight and a voice that feels credible.

People-led content is becoming harder to ignore

LinkedIn’s recent moves also point to a more people-led B2B content environment. Reuters reported that LinkedIn is investing further in business advertising, creator partnerships and video, with CEO-generated video posts on the platform up 68% over two years. (reuters.com)

That doesn’t mean every business leader needs to rush into video, or that every founder needs a podcast, a daily posting habit or a carefully polished personal brand.

But it does suggest something important about where attention and trust are moving.

People want to hear from people.

In B2B especially, the people behind the business often carry the insight, experience and perspective that make the company feel credible. For small businesses, this creates both an opportunity and a problem.

The opportunity is that smaller businesses often have direct access to the most interesting thinking in the organisation. The founder, owner, CEO or senior expert usually holds the stories, experience and point of view that make the business distinctive.

The problem is that those people are usually busy.

They don’t have the time or headspace to keep creating content from scratch. They may not know what to say. They may dislike the idea of “personal branding”. They may worry about sounding forced, scripted or too self-promotional.

So, the value is there, but it needs drawing out.

The most valuable content is often already inside the business

This is where the conversation around AI and marketing becomes much more interesting, because the future isn’t really about choosing between AI and human content.

It’s about understanding what each is for.

AI can support the process. It can help organise ideas, speed up drafts, repurpose material and reduce some of the admin around content creation.

But the value still starts with human thinking.

The best content often comes from the conversations businesses are already having. The questions clients ask. The challenges leaders are seeing. The patterns emerging in the market. The mistakes people keep making. The things a founder wishes more people understood. The values that shape how a business works when nobody is watching.

That’s not generic content. That’s valuable content.

And for small businesses, it’s commercially valuable because it helps people understand why they should trust you, remember you and speak to you.

Where Leader Brand fits

At Colour Me Social, we built Leader Brand around a simple idea: One hour. One conversation. A month of content.

Not because leaders need another job. Not because every founder, CEO or senior expert needs to become a content creator. And not because the world needs more posts for the sake of it.

Because the most valuable content often already exists inside the business. It’s in the judgement, experience, stories and point of view of the people leading it.

A guided conversation gives that thinking somewhere to go.

From there, it can become LinkedIn posts, articles, video prompts, newsletter content, podcast ideas, webinar themes, speaking points and wider thought leadership support.

The leader stays close to the thinking. The content still sounds like them. But the pressure of creating from scratch is removed.

That matters because visibility without substance is just noise. But substance without visibility is easily missed.

The strongest small business marketing will increasingly sit somewhere between the two: clear thinking, shaped properly, shared consistently and used across the channels that matter.

In a market where AI can help almost anyone produce content, the real advantage is not just output. It’s original thinking, shaped clearly and shared consistently.

AI can help. But it cannot be the whole answer.

AI will continue to change how businesses create content. It would be strange to pretend otherwise. It will make some tasks faster. It will help small teams do more. It will reduce friction. It will become part of everyday marketing workflows.

But it will not remove the need for judgement, clarity, voice, trust or commercial direction.

In fact, it may make those things more important.

When AI makes content easier, the advantage shifts. It no longer sits with the businesses that can simply publish. It sits with the businesses that have something worth saying, know who they are saying it to, and can communicate it in a way that feels clear, useful and human.

That’s the future of SME marketing.

AI may make content faster.

Human thinking is what makes it worth reading, trusting and acting on.

Why Every Leader Needs a Strong Social Voice (And How to Do It)

These days, leadership isn’t just about what happens in the boardroom – it’s curated, shared in your social voice and judged online. Your digital footprint is your modern-day badge of credibility.

The Stakes Have Never Been Higher

  • 82 % of employees will research a CEO’s online presence before even considering joining that company. So whether your socials are live matters, especially when talent is doing their due diligence.
  • 92 % of professionals are more likely to trust a company whose senior executives are active on social media—presence builds trust, period.
  • 71 % of consumers are more likely to buy from a company if its CEO is active on social media—leadership visibility drives behaviour.
  • 70 % of consumers feel more connected to a brand when its CEO is active on social, and 72 % feel equally close when employees share stories too. Connection is the new currency.

The Influence of Authentic Connection

When a leader shows up authentically and humanly, the payoff is far bigger than vanity metrics:

  • Talent is magnetised. Leadership that’s visible and values-driven makes people want to belong.
  • Credibility gets real. You don’t need polished PR; you need to sound human.
  • You become part of the greater conversation. Whether it’s ESG, AI or purpose, your voice now shapes stakeholder perception.
  • Sales and trust align. Visibility and authenticity often mean shorter sales cycles and stronger brand loyalty.

Why a Strong Social Presence Creates Impact

A well-defined leadership voice does more than boost visibility. It creates tangible business outcomes.

1. Attracting and retaining talent
Employees don’t just want a job; they want to work with leaders who inspire them. A strong social presence demonstrates vision, values, and humanity – the things that make people choose to join and stay.

2. Building trust and credibility
In an era of information overload, trust is currency. People look to leaders for clarity, reassurance, and perspective. Sharing your expertise, your values, and your story helps build the trust that underpins every relationship – with employees, customers, investors, and partners.

3. Shaping the narrative on big issues
From AI to climate change, diversity to the future of work, stakeholders expect leaders to engage with the issues shaping the world. A visible, authentic voice positions you not just as a business leader, but as a thought leader who is actively shaping the conversation.

4. Driving commercial growth
Leadership visibility is no longer separate from business outcomes. Buyers, partners, and clients are influenced by what they see and hear from executives. When leaders show up consistently online, they shorten sales cycles, open doors to new opportunities, and create the kind of trust that drives revenue.

Yet So Many Leaders Still Miss the Mark

Why doesn’t it happen more?

  • Time-starved – there’s just no space in the diary for “posting.”
  • Message misfires – don’t know what to say or how to say it, without sounding corporate.
  • Inauthenticity – the fear of being “cringe” prevents realness.
  • Bad support – agencies and ghostwriters can’t capture nuance at the speed leaders need.

The result? Silence. Or worse: bland, forgettable chatter.

Enter: Leader Brand – Own Your Social Voice

This isn’t another content service. It’s the antidote to strategic silence.

Here’s the simple, no-BS process:

  1. A guided monthly chat – just one conversation.
  2. We extract the real strands – key quotes, tone, themes.
  3. We spin that into a suite of content – blogs, social posts, videos, audiograms. All your voice.
  4. You approve, we publish or support publishing. No ghostwriting. No corporate clichés. No AI vanilla noise

Why Leader Brand Works (Even in a 24/7 Era)

  • One conversation, many assets. Big impact, zero overwhelm.
  • You stay in control: your voice, your stories, your rhythm.
  • Visibility with integrity. You become the leader people want to follow, not the one they tolerate.
  • Business outcomes follow. Talent, trust, influence, when the messenger is real, the message lands.

Ready to Own Your Social Voice?

Start with one conversation. We’ll amplify your authenticity.

👉 Discover Leader Brand

Marketing in 2025: A Guide for SMEs to Stay Ahead

As technology evolves and consumer expectations shift, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will encounter fresh opportunities and challenges. Marketing success in 2025 will hinge on more than just keeping pace with trends; it will require strategic alignment with what truly matters—authenticity, meaningful connections, and leveraging the right tools for maximum impact.

This guide explores the critical areas SMEs should focus on, from harnessing AI to creating impactful content and building strategies that resonate.

The marketing landscape: What’s changing?

Before developing strategies, it’s essential to understand the forces shaping the marketing environment. Consumers will be more informed and discerning than ever. They demand transparency, value, and memorable experiences from the brands they support. At the same time, the explosion of content across platforms makes it harder for businesses to stand out.

Key changes SMEs should be aware of include:

  • Hyper-personalisation: Customers expect personalised experiences tailored to their specific needs. Generic marketing is no longer sufficient.
  • AI-driven insights: Artificial intelligence continues to transform how businesses analyse data, target audiences, and optimise campaigns.
  • Content saturation: With more businesses creating content, competition for consumer attention has intensified.
  • Sustainability and social responsibility: Consumers increasingly prioritise brands that align with their values, especially those addressing environmental and social issues.
  • Emerging platforms and formats: Content consumption methods are diversifying, from short-form video to immersive technologies like augmented and virtual reality.

Harnessing AI to transform marketing

Artificial intelligence is no longer a future concept; it is the here and now and a necessity for SMEs striving to compete effectively. AI extends beyond automation—it enables smarter decision-making, enhanced customer experiences, and significant savings in time and resources.

How SMEs can leverage AI:

  1. Predictive analytics: AI tools analyse consumer behaviour to anticipate trends and personalise campaigns. For instance, AI-driven CRM platforms can suggest products based on past purchases.
  2. Chatbots and virtual assistants: Automated customer service tools ensure prompt responses and effective issue resolution, even outside business hours. Advanced chatbots are increasingly conversational, boosting customer satisfaction.
  3. Content creation: AI can generate blog outlines, social media posts, and even video scripts. While it doesn’t replace human creativity, it streamlines content production.
  4. Ad optimisation: Platforms like Google Ads and Facebook Ads rely on AI to identify the most effective audience segments, keywords, and ad formats.
  5. Sentiment analysis: Understanding customer sentiment is crucial. AI tools analyse social media comments, reviews, and surveys to provide actionable insights.

Pro tip: Use AI for repetitive tasks and data analysis, but infuse your campaigns with human creativity and empathy. This ensures your marketing feels personal, not robotic.

The content that will cut through the noise

It’s noisy out there, right? In an era of content overload, standing out requires more than producing more content—it means creating the right kind of content. SMEs need to focus on delivering value, resonating emotionally, and ensuring authenticity.

Storytelling at the core

Stories remain a powerful way to connect with audiences. Whether it’s your brand’s origin story, customer success stories, or content highlighting your mission and values, storytelling fosters emotional resonance. Narratives that make your audience feel seen and understood can leave a lasting impact.

Example: A local bookstore could share a series of videos featuring customers’ favourite books and the reasons they matter. This approach not only promotes products but also fosters a sense of community.

Short-form video content

Short-form video continues to dominate platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. These formats are ideal for engaging younger audiences and delivering concise, impactful messages.

Why it works: Short videos combine visuals and sound to create memorable, shareable content.

Tips for SMEs:

  • Create how-to videos featuring your product.
  • Share behind-the-scenes glimpses of your business.
  • Participate in trends authentically, ensuring alignment with your brand.

Educational and value-driven content

Consumers seek information and empowerment, not just sales pitches. Content that educates your audience fosters trust and establishes your authority within your industry.

Ideas for SMEs:

  • Publish guides or tutorials related to your product or service.
  • Host webinars or live Q&A sessions for direct audience engagement.
  • Offer free resources such as templates, checklists, or e-books.

Example: A graphic design studio might create a free e-book on branding basics tailored for small businesses.

Interactive and community-centric content

Interactive content deepens customer engagement and fosters stronger relationships. Examples include polls, quizzes, or user-generated content (UGC) campaigns.

Why it works: Interactive content involves customers in meaningful ways, while UGC builds trust by showcasing real people interacting with your brand.

Example: A clothing boutique could launch a “Share Your Style” campaign, encouraging customers to post outfit photos featuring the brand’s items with a branded hashtag.

Staying agile in emerging platforms

While platforms like TikTok and Instagram remain vital, 2025 will likely see the rise of new or evolving spaces. SMEs should stay attuned to trends and be open to experimentation.

The rise of immersive experiences

Augmented and virtual reality technologies are becoming more accessible, enabling SMEs to create immersive brand experiences. These tools can elevate customer engagement through features like virtual store tours or AR-based product try-ons.

Example: A home décor business could offer an AR tool allowing customers to visualise furniture in their spaces.

The power of niche communities

Platforms catering to specific interests or professions, such as Reddit or Discord, are gaining popularity. SMEs can benefit from participating in or creating niche communities to build deeper connections with engaged audiences.

Authenticity and values: The real differentiator

In 2025, marketing is about more than selling products—it’s about creating meaningful relationships and standing for something bigger than your bottom line.

Show your values

Consumers expect brands to be socially and environmentally responsible. SMEs can stand out by aligning their actions with their values.

How to do it:

  • Be transparent about your supply chain and sustainability efforts.
  • Support local causes or charities that align with your mission.
  • Share progress on social responsibility initiatives.

Example: An eco-friendly brand might document its journey toward achieving 100% sustainable packaging by 2030.

Focus on community impact

SMEs are inherently tied to their communities. Highlighting contributions—whether through sponsorships, support for local artisans, or volunteer initiatives—builds goodwill and loyalty.

Key takeaways for SMEs in 2025

  • AI is your ally: Use it for data analysis, task automation, and creating personalised experiences.
  • Content must resonate: Focus on storytelling, short-form video, and educational materials that provide value.
  • Authenticity is essential: Be transparent, socially conscious, and community-focused.
  • Stay agile: Experiment with new platforms and formats, but remain true to your brand’s voice and values.

Success for SMEs won’t stem from attempting to do everything but from consistently doing the right things authentically. By building genuine connections and leveraging available tools, SMEs can not only survive but thrive in an incredibly competitive environment.

The Colour Of Marketing, With Roger Jackson, SenseCheck

As part of our monthly content series, The Colour Of Marketing, we spend quality time listening to the thoughts and insights of the people who know what’s what when it comes to the world of SME marketing. In this edition, we talk with Roger Jackson from SenseCheck about the power of getting marketing feedback from outside your bubble.

Hi Roger, thanks for taking time to speak with us. Firstly, how did you get involved in the world of small business/SME marketing

I always had a vague career plan to start a business one day, but that was rather accelerated when I was “fired” from my corporate job. Well, it was called  “by mutual agreement,” but it gave me a buffer of cash to start my first consulting firm. From there, I launched various businesses, notably moving to Australia, before hitting on the Shopper Intelligence idea. I have been working on that system for the last 20 years, selling data to CPG companies and supermarket chains around the world.

What are the unique challenges SMEs face in marketing compared to larger companies?

Big brands have many inherent advantages. Being “well known” is a massive plank of how marketing actually works. Consumers buy the things they already know about to save mental time and effort. B2B buyers buy what others buy to feel safe. The brain itself conspires to stop us from noticing new things. In addition to that, the inevitable lack of resources, small budgets, few experienced people, difficulties in doing good market research, the inability to afford top agencies, and the challenges mount up. The final problem is that most SMEs are a hothouse where a small number of people live in a bubble of passion and belief, so they can be poorly placed to see things as the outside world does – and that harms marketing efforts.

What are some common mistakes SMEs make in their marketing efforts?

Allied to the point about being in your bubble, the main issue is talking too much about themselves and not enough about the customer. Given all the barriers to anyone accepting a new idea, your message has to work incredibly hard to punch in, and the only way in is to connect to your prospect’s world quickly and compellingly. The temptation is to imagine that your customers will automatically read your material and get interested in the marvellous things you are doing. They won’t. They don’t yet have any reason to. In B2B, SMEs are often also fearful of getting it wrong and being seen as flaky. Thus, their marketing ends up being horribly dull, which doubles down on a prospect’s lack of interest in reading about you!

How can limited budgets impact the marketing decisions of SMEs, and what strategies can help maximise results?

Low budgets mean SMEs can’t do marketing as the big guys do, ie long-term brand building using multiple media tools. Instead, an SME has to be like a sniper compared to a shotgun. A few things done well, precisely targeted to exactly the right people (at the right time). Good salespeople always knew to do that, to put effort where the best results were likely, and this applies to all other elements of marketing. Indeed, many in B2B are better off with a good salesperson and no marketing in the short term (it’s how we started). This is about defining a very tight target market and knowing as much as you can about them so you can get to them with efficiency and spot-on messaging.

In today’s online world, I think the secret sauce for small businesses is around content – producing genuinely helpful material that prospects love (and the Google algorithm appreciates). Answer their questions and share your expertise to help them (before you sell to them!) Second the ability to take creative risks and so brave things that stand out, buying more bang for your buck. The huge risk is that none of your marketing is noticed, so your money is wasted.

How can an external perspective help identify blind spots in an SME’s marketing approach?

The crucial thing is to be aware that you are in a bad position to judge any marketing work. If you are interested in creating the material, then you already know what you are actually saying. And guess what, you see that in it. You can’t help it. The only way to assess if your marketing is saying what you hope is to ask a third party. I lose count of how many ads I see on LinkedIn that don’t even say what their product is. That’s blindingly obvious to the advertiser, so they don’t notice its absence. You need a feedback tool. Market research may be available, but that can be tricky. We assert that any length of arms and independent and objective eyes can help. And by the way, this isn’t the same as showing it around the office (they are in the same bubble) or asking your friends (your mum). Most will just want to be nice to you.

What are the benefits of having an external expert review an SME’s marketing idea or strategy?

An external perspective will spot gaps (things you missed) and tell you if your material “works” well. That helps you refine it to get it to work better. But the reviewers might also ask questions and point out things that really make you think about your strategy. Just one suggestion could really shift the dial.

What should SMEs look for when selecting an expert to provide a second opinion on their marketing strategy?

You must find someone who will be truly objective and honest. That’s not easy. Agencies and paid consultants will want to maintain the relationship and retain you as a client. You must be sure that they place the truth over self-interest. Once someone has been involved with you for a while, of course, they “go native” too and hop into the same bubble as you. You really need to find fresh eyes on a regular basis.

How does SenseCheck work?

We have a huge panel of time-served marketers who are willing to look at any piece of marketing and give their thoughts. It’s like a confidential “phone a friend” for small business marketers. They have been there and got the T-shirt, and they will take a quick look and give you their immediate gut feel response. In effect, it acts as a proxy for your prospects when they see the same material. You get five independent points of view compiled into a simple report. Then, it’s up to you what feedback to act on. They aren’t there to make life hard or to slate you – it’s always helpful and constructive. The goal is to make you a hero.

How do you see the landscape of SME marketing evolving in the next few years?

AI will help us all generate more stuff at a lower cost. Maybe even better stuff. But by definition, more stuff in the world will make the competitive challenge even harder.

What role will companies like SenseCheck play in helping SMEs navigate future marketing challenges?

We hope that getting validation will become habitual and a necessary step in any marketing process. This will save a lot of wasted money and unnecessary stress and worry.

Are there any emerging trends in SME marketing that highlight the need for fresh perspectives?

AI promises much for marketers, but AI is just aggregating learning from material already out there. It can’t predict the effectiveness of what it generates. Moreover, it’s only responding to the prompt you gave it – which itself might not be exactly right. That step of validation is still crucial.

Thanks for speaking with us, Roger.

Next month, we will be speaking with author and LinkedIn personal branding expert Damian Corbet about how business leaders can better use their personal brand on LinkedIn to humanise the face of their business.

How To Use Your Networks To Amplify Your Content

The challenge now is no longer in the creation of content but, instead, on how to get that content to its intended audience.

With millions of posts, tweets, and videos uploaded every day, it goes beyond “just posting”; your content has to cut through the noise. And this is where leveraging your networks comes in. In this never-ending roar, your networks—whether colleagues, friends, followers, or professional contacts—can help amplify your content so it makes the cut.

The following article explores content visibility challenges, the rewards of leveraging your network, and practical ways to maximise exposure and interaction with your content.

Understanding the Barriers of Not Using Your Network

Of course, the biggest challenge for anyone or any business that creates content is that the algorithms of these platforms themselves change. Social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram work in such a way that the content able to provoke reactions will be on top. If your content does not instantaneously get likes, shares, or comments, it likely will be buried under an avalanche of other posts. Even high-quality content can go unnoticed if it doesn’t gain traction quickly.

Also, organic reach for content is at an all-time low. For instance, Facebook has severely minimised the visibility of organic posts compared to paid advertisements. If you don’t have a network to tap into with your initial engagement, chances are your content won’t even reach a fraction of the potential audience.

Plus, the competition is brutal, with content being churned out left, right, and centre. Creative ideas on their own just don’t cut it; you need amplification strategies.

The Benefits of Using Your Network to Amplify Content

One of the best ways to crack through these barriers is by using your network. Here’s how:

Expanded Reach: By sharing your content with your network, the same content can be shared further into their networks to create a ripple effect. In short, a single share of your content would make it available to as many people as possible, way beyond your capacity to reach them.

Improved Credibility: Shared content usually improves your network’s credibility. Your connections believe in you, and when you share something, they’re more likely to find it valuable. This plays an important role, especially on professional networks like LinkedIn, where trust needs to be developed.

Higher Engagement: Your network is a catalyst for increased engagement. Pushing your connections to like, comment, or share what you are posting further boosts its visibility. Increased engagement sends a signal to algorithms that what you post is of value and, therefore, encourages more distribution.

Content Longevity: When you use your network to share content, it can lead to a more sustained level of engagement. Instead of your post disappearing after its initial burst of visibility, continued sharing and interaction can keep it relevant for a longer period.

How Networks Increase Reach and Engagement

Understanding the mechanics of how networks extend reach and multiply engagement is key to unlocking the full power of your network:

Algorithmic Favour: As mentioned, social media algorithms favour content that has early and consistent engagement. Activating your network to engage with your content immediately after you post it will help increase the chance of the platform’s algorithm picking it up.

Social Proof: It is in the behaviour of humans to be more likely to try things that others have tried before. If people within your network share, like, or comment on your content, it indicates social proof of the value of that content, making engagement easier for the rest.

Network Effects: Each time an individual in your network shares your content, it exposes your content to their network. This launches a series of reactions through the network effects that could enlarge the radius of your content further than any possible method of doing it manually.

Relevant Audience: The people in your network share a keen interest in your content, meaning the audience you start with is relevant. In turn, this relevance is what will trigger the likelihood of your content clicking within this audience and being shared by them to their own audiences, thus amplifying reach across a larger yet equally relevant one.

Content With A Purpose: The competition for attention has never been tougher. Being able to cut through the clutter takes more than pithy headlines or beautiful design; it requires a deeper connection with your audience rooted in a clear and compelling purpose.

Practical Strategies for Networking

Knowing the benefits is one thing, but applying them requires strategy. Here are some practical ways to leverage your network to amplify your content:

Personal Outreach: Don’t rely just on passive sharing. Reach out to key connections and ask for them to engage with your content. A personal ask goes a long way instead of general announcements.

Develop Shareable Content: Always consider creating shareable content. This means content that will, by its very nature, be relevant, captivating, and valuable for the audience.

Good types of content include Infographics, insightful articles, and thought-provoking questions.

Actively Participate: Amplification works two ways. Be active in viewing content that the people in your network will be sharing: comment, like, and share their posts. The better you engage with other people, the better the chance that they will return the favour.

Make the Best Out of Groups and Communities: Most platforms have groups or communities with a specific interest. Shared information in such spaces will naturally boost visibility because the content is shared with precisely the right audience.

Utilise Influencers: If you have any connections with them, work with the key influencers related to your industry. They can massively magnify your content by sharing it with their huge and responsive audiences.

The takeaway?

Today, with a highly cluttered digital environment, high-quality, standout content will take you far. But even with great content, if you don’t know how to employ your network strategically to amplify your content, then your content is pretty much dead in the water. This way, you can hugely enhance the reach and engagement of your content by understanding barriers to visibility of that content and the power of networks. Don’t forget that your network is more than a list of contacts—it’s a dynamic tool that multiplies your content far beyond what you could ever do by yourself.

Why Content Repurposing Is Your Go-To Best Friend

Let’s face it. Whether you are a business owner or work in marketing, consistently creating fresh, engaging content is not just daunting; it can be creatively draining and oh-so time-consuming. However, with a little tweak to your strategic approach, you can significantly remove the above challenges by reusing existing content in new formats. Put simply, you can extend the life of your content, reach broader audiences, and enhance your overall marketing efficiency. And what’s not to love about that?

Join us as we explore why content repurposing is an essential tactic, its benefits, and some practical tips on how to do it.

Why Content Repurposing is Important

  1. It Extracts More Value From The Work You Have Already Done: Creating high-quality content requires heavily investing your time, effort, and resources. Being innovative and building a repurposing strategy will enable you to maximise that return by extracting more value from existing content. Instead of creating new content from scratch, repurposing allows you to extend the life and reach of your current assets. Essentially, you get more out of the content you have already created.
  2. It Reaches Further: Not only will you find a solution to engage with people who prefer different types of content, but by repurposing content into various formats, you can expand the reach across multiple channels and stuff the algorithm, too, by sharing it multiple times over a period.
  3. It is Such A Waste Of Your Time Not to: Imagine this. You’ve spent hours writing a brilliant blog. Day’s on a white paper. You just delivered a killer webinar. And you only share it once. Once??? With content repurposing, you can share a blog multiple times just by creating a new social graphic each time. That white paper? It contains at least ten posts using the stats, quotes, and all the other wonderful insights. The webinar? We are talking about six posts, at least. The pre, live and post-event content is there for the taking.

Benefits of Content Repurposing

  1. Consistency Across Platforms: From what to write to thinking of another new idea to finding something fresh to talk about, be honest; maintaining a consistent presence across various social media platforms is exhausting. Repurposing content ensures that the stories you want to tell are told with less effort while also adapting to each platform’s unique characteristics. It’s a great way to build consistency, trust and brand recognition among audiences. And makes you less knackered.
  2. Efficient Use of Resources: Content repurposing reduces the need for constant content creation, allowing marketing teams to focus on other strategic activities. It leverages existing resources effectively, making the content creation more efficient and less resource-intensive. Nice.
  3. Prolonged Content Lifespan: Content has a limited lifespan, especially on fast-moving social media platforms. Repurposing extends the life of your content by giving it a glow-up and reintroducing it in new formats. This ensures that valuable content generates engagement long after its initial release.

Tips for Effective Content Repurposing

  1. Identify High-Performing Content: Start by identifying content that has performed well in the past. Look for blog posts, videos, or social media updates that received high engagement. These pieces are prime candidates for repurposing.
  2. Choose the Right Formats: Consider how the content can be transformed into different formats. For instance, a detailed blog post can be turned into an infographic, a series of social media posts, or a video tutorial. Ensure that the new format aligns with the preferences of your target audience.
  3. Update and Refresh: When repurposing older content, update any outdated information and refresh the visuals to keep it current. Adding new insights or perspectives can also enhance the value of the repurposed content.
  4. Leverage User-Generated Content: Phone a friend. Ask your clients, team and customers (basically all your stakeholders) to create content related to your brand. User-generated content, such as reviews, testimonials, and social media mentions, can be repurposed into engaging posts, stories, or case studies.
  5. Create a Content Repurposing Plan: Develop a strategic plan for repurposing content. Schedule regular reviews of existing content and map out how each piece can be repurposed across different platforms. Get your planning right, and you will have a steady stream of fresh content without overwhelming yourself or your marketing team.

Conclusion

Content repurposing is a powerful tool that enables businesses to maximise their content’s value, reach wider audiences, and maintain consistency across platforms. By efficiently utilising your resources, reworking the content you already have, and prolonging the lifespan of the content, you can enhance your marketing efforts and achieve better results.

Or you could ask us. Joke. Sort of.

13 Ways To Boost Your Personal Brand On LinkedIn

We’re all familiar with branding our business, but what about branding ourselves?

The past 18 months have been a turning point for many business leaders. No longer interacting at trade fairs and conferences, CEOs suddenly had a laser-sharp focus on their personal brand – and how that was represented online.

Working on your personal brand is an excellent idea if your offline reputation took a hit due to the pandemic. It helps sell and market you and offers a human element to your business. LinkedIn is by far the best platform for establishing your brand, but with so many people brand building, how do you get it right without getting lost in the sea of content?

A good strategy is essential, so here are our top 13 tips to start brand-building.

Getting the Basics Right

To start thinking about your personal brand, begin with the basics. Once you nail these elements, you can go on to think about content and outreach, but it all starts here.

  1. Remember – LinkedIn is your Living CV

Your LinkedIn profile is not something you fill out one day and then walk away from. Instead, it’s a living, breathing record of your achievements and career successes. So the first thing to remember when trying to ace your personal brand is to keep your profile updated – whenever you make a career move, speak at a conference or publish an article.

  1. Optimise Your Profile for Search

Did you know you can optimise your LinkedIn page for SEO?

Understanding your relevant keywords is a crucial aspect of understanding your personal brand. Determine the keywords you want to be found for when potential clients of employers search LinkedIn and use them in your headline, summary, and job descriptions. All the work you do to optimise your profile will be lost if you don’t choose the right keywords, as no one will discover your profile.

  1. Sell Yourself

Just as you would when talking about your business, it’s essential to sell yourself in your description. Again, be specific – include facts and figures to demonstrate your accomplishments, but keep it concise and to the point.

  1. Choose the Right Profile Photo

As with any branding, images are key. When people are skimming through your profile, the first thing they will spot is your profile photo, so it’s essential that the picture represents your brand.

Ensure your photo includes a clear view of your face and shoulders and is clear, crisp, and well-lit. You should be dressed professionally, and remember, a smile goes a long way!

  1. Don’t Forget Your Cover Photo

LinkedIn cover photos are another opportunity for you to shape your personal brand, so be sure to take advantage of this feature. Consider including your company’s logo or an image that reflects your profession. We’ve seen some great examples of company pages that include a CTA in the banner to engage visitors further.

  1. Make Your Headline Count

LinkedIn profile headlines are limited to 120 characters, so you need to get creative to make this prime real estate as effective as possible. Your headline needs to grab the reader’s attention and make them want to stick around. Once you’ve chosen your headline, test it on a mobile device too to make sure it works across devices.

Think Content

Now we’ve got the basics sorted, let’s take a look at how content can help shape your brand on LinkedIn.

  1. Write Articles

To have a chance of standing out in the crowded field of LinkedIn, you need to be creating your rich content. We know you’ve heard this over and over – that’s because it’s one of the best ways to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise and develop your brand on LinkedIn.

Most companies are sitting on a goldmine of information and data that would be interesting to your customers and/or peers; creating content is just about getting that information out there.

Even if you have a blog on your website, publishing on LinkedIn has specific advantages. All your connections get notified whenever you publish on the network, and you can choose to feature these articles on your LinkedIn profile.

  1. Create Brilliant and Diverse Content

The thing that will differentiate you from everyone else on LinkedIn is providing exceptional content that people simply cannot resist. Try to ensure this content is a diverse mix that represents all sides of your personal brand – videos, infographics, free ebooks, and live webinars are all great ideas.

  1. Reshare your top-performing posts

Keep a close eye on what posts perform best, and repurpose or reuse that content. They resonated with your audience, so take your own lead and let them inspire other content, and reshare those super-successful posts to get more traction.

Your Network
  1. Leverage Industry Influencers

Influencers are crucial to your personal brand – establishing relationships with influencers in your industry by mentioning them in posts can help boost your visibility on LinkedIn and affirm your personal brand for other users.

  1. Participate in Groups

LinkedIn groups are a powerful resource, especially as you develop your personal brand. Groups allow you to meet and mingle with other professionals in your industry and offer the potential of powerful connections and working relationships down the line.

There’s one crucial part to being part of these groups: participation. Comment, share content, offer advice and start conversation threads – this kind of engagement will mean you reap a lot more of the benefits of groups than if you sit on the sidelines.

  1. Keep an Eye on Connections

A huge part of LinkedIn is making and maintaining connections. Accept all requests that come in, even if you don’t know the person. The more connections you have, the higher LinkedIn will rank you, and the more others will see your profile.

  1. Engage

Crucially, you must continue to engage with LinkedIn for it to be an up-to-date authority on you and your personal brand. So regularly post, share, engage and keep your profile up to date. The more present you are, the more benefits you will get from the network.

LinkedIn is one of the most critical networks for personal branding; it’s a powerhouse tool to have at your fingertips, so we hope these strategies help you to make the most of personal branding on LinkedIn.

Instagram Organic Marketing Best Practices

Instagram is one of the fastest-growing social networks worldwide.

With so many options and variety in how to showcase your service or product, it is natural you may find it a little daunting.

With a good organic Instagram marketing strategy, you can increase brand awareness, gain new followers, grow engagement, support customer service with useful information, and make sales by highlighting a product or service.

So you must be wondering how you can achieve all this.

Creating a consistent style, planning content, and knowing when to post is key, but here we are presenting Instagram best practices for 2021, which may help your brand easily rise above the rest in 2022.

1. The first and the most important thing is to know your audience.

Instagram has over 1 billion users, making it an ideal platform for your brand to get the recognition it deserves.

So, who is your ideal customer?

Think about breaking down your audience into age, gender, location, and interests.

Once you’ve found who your target audience is, ask yourself what else they may be interested in. Then, make sure your content matches your audience’s interests.

To gain traffic, relevant audience, and brand recognition on Instagram, it’s important to set your main, and most importantly, realistic goals.

We all want thousands of followers, but let’s start with your first thousand and grow from there. The key to gaining a new audience lies in keeping consistent content that is attractive, starts a conversation, and makes your followers want to share it with others.

Keeping dedicated followers is equally as important as gaining new ones. Keeping content fresh, attractive, and tailored to the audience keeps the existing audience engaged, while like-minded people are attracted to join in the conversation.

2. Create a style guide

Instagram is a visual app, so when it comes to it, visuals are everything. Find your style and make it consistent. Ideally, you should stick to colour combinations and visual styles that fit your brand persona.

Having a consistent style keeps your grid neat and your brand recognisable when it pops up on someone’s feed.

3. Make sure you interact with your community.

An organic Instagram marketing strategy doesn’t just mean broadcasting to the world. It has to be interactive.

Interaction is what turns your Instagram profile into a community. Followers will pick up on the fact that you’re present, interested, and engaged.

Make sure you respond to comments and direct messages daily and comment or react to posts that tag your brand. You can also comment on posts relevant to your brand and industry.

Instagram is the perfect platform to create intriguing and captivating visual stories about your brand. So start creating visuals to tell engaging stories about your brand history, your customer stories, your employee experiences, or your brand impact.

High-quality content that encourages your audience to like, comment, or share, is always a win.

4. Get your community involved

Inviting your community to help share your brand’s story on their accounts is a great way to help reach new fans and customers. Start driving user-generated content by following these three strategies:

1.      Start a hashtag for your brand and encourage your followers to use it

2.      Celebrate your community by showcasing their content in your feed and stories

3.      Include a strong CTA

Think about what action you want your audience to take after seeing your post. For example, do you want them to like, comment, share your post in their stories? This can help you with creating the right copy for your post to make your community members engage with your content.

Building a solid relationship with your customer base is really important. You can also create special moments that your customers can be part of via Instagram feed, Stories, and more.

5. Measure performance and find the best time to post

Using Instagram’s insights, you can see how your audience engages with your content. The better you understand how and when your audience engages, the easier it is to know what to post.

Click on ‘View insights’ on the bottom left of any post. From here, you can see the number of likes, comments, shares, and more. Insights offer an in-depth look with reach and impressions.

Compare these insights on each of your posts to see what kind of content your audience is looking for. 

Once you identify the posts that resonate with your community most, take inspiration from those posts for future ones.

Take note of the time posted as well, since this can give you a good idea of when your audience is most active. Once you’re on the insights page, tap the ‘your audience’ section to gain insight into your followers and audience. This covers location, age, gender, and most active times. Under most active times, you can see when the best time to post on Instagram is. From what day of the week to what hour works best.

Timing posts to when the audience is most likely to be online increases the reach of your content.

6. Use a content calendar

Consistency is key, so the ability to pre-plan and schedule your posts ahead of time ensures that you can keep up. 

Using a content calendar will help you organise your content in one place and keep your style consistent. In addition, having your content and captions ready ahead of time saves you the trouble of scrambling for a new post. 

When planning content, think about how often you want new content on your page. You don’t have to post every day to be successful, but post often enough that people don’t forget about you. Make sure you’re not posting too often that people’s timelines are flooded with your posts. This could lead to an unfollow, or Instagram’s algorithm will simply lower your posts’ reach by not showing your posts in the newsfeed.

Planning your content can set you up for a whole month of consistent, on-brand, and engaging posts.

8. Use hashtags to boost content discovery

Hashtags are your best friends on Instagram. They help your content show up in the search results of said hashtags and in the Explore pages of people who’ve viewed or interacted with similar content. So hashtags on Instagram are a great way to boost content discovery and overall brand visibility.

Make the most of niche hashtags and industry-related hashtags that can help you reach the right audience. And don’t forget to share branded hashtags to encourage user-generated content.

9. Partner with influencers to reach new audiences

With the ability to reach hundreds of thousands of people through their posts, influencers can add fuel to your Instagram promotion efforts. Influencer marketing is another way to get your brand in front of new audiences, and the trust that audiences have in influencers’ recommendations can be a huge boost to your customer base.

When partnering with influencers, it’s crucial that you work with people whose audience base overlaps with yours. In other words, make sure you only partner with influencers who can reach your target audience.

10. Stay on top of Instagram changes and updates

The platform has added on to popular content options like Stories and IGTV to introduce features like Reels and Instagram Shopping. Moreover, it has even enhanced existing features to introduce trends such as augmented reality filters to Instagram Stories. Brands can even create custom AR filters to promote audience engagement and gain better visibility.

When it comes to Instagram stories, they allow for great engagement with your audience.

Use these best practices to make your brand stories a bit more creative:

– Use interactive features: Think about using the vote button, quiz button, and question/answer buttons. These interactive elements not only allow you to get to know your audience but this gives great insight into what your followers like. Lay these elements over brand photos or videos.

– Try the create feature: a great way to share new content without having to take photos or video. Use fun GIPHY’s, create lists, and other fun content that engages with your audience.

Think about what your audience may have in common with you and start a conversation. Great engagement can come from fun, interactive content.

– Highlight your most important stories: Instagram highlights showcase important information in a convenient spot. When users first find a new Instagram page, they usually head to their profile to see what they have to offer.

By adding important information such as weekly specials or special services, company achievements, or job postings, users can easily interact with the page and become quickly informed.

Another great novelty on Instagram is the Instagram Reels – quick, fun videos that allow a bit more personality over a traditional post or story.

If you are planning to use reels, make them unique by following these best practices:

– Add Text: The Instagram Reels subtitle feature gives an excellent opportunity to allow accessibility. Plus, more information that can’t always fit in your video can pop up in the form of text bubbles.

– Tag Products: Showcasing a product in your Reel. Tag so that once your audience can see how great it is, they can buy it immediately!

– Make it Entertaining: Like Instagram stories, Reels are a great opportunity to showcase your brand’s personality, whether it’s through fun videos of your products, behind the scenes with employees, or other creative trends.

– Use Fun Effects: Add music and voiceover to your reels to express your brand’s unique personality.

– Engage and Inform: The great thing about reels is that they become a permanent part of your feed. So, once you have created fun, informative reels, continue to share them to show off what your brand has to offer.

Finally, besides following the above-mentioned best practices, make sure you make the most of your Instagram bio.

With 150 characters or less and a profile photo, this leaves little space for large-scale information, so keep it simple and add your website or a featured link to get users exploring more about you.

Think of a quick, witty, and clear message to get your brand voice across. This is the place to let everyone know who you are, what you do, and what makes you stand out.

Don’t be afraid to change it up by announcing sales, news, or other features at an appropriate time.

Top Tips on Utilising Email Marketing and LinkedIn for SMEs

In our hyper-digital world, there are a handful of essential digital marketing outputs that every business must embrace.

Even the smallest of SMEs can benefit from a solid digital presence, so we’d thought we’d do a rundown of two of the most important platforms out there – email marketing and LinkedIn.

We often hear that SME leaders assume that these tools are suited to the big firms, but no matter the size or industry of your business, both email marketing and LinkedIn can help you foster better client relationships, help establish your brand, and develop your customer base. Firstly, let’s take a look at how email marketing can work wonders for your business.

Leveraging Email Marketing for your SME

Email marketing is frequently cited as the most fruitful form of digital marketing – 80% of business professionals consider email a vital aspect of customer retention. Furthermore, when used correctly, email has the potential to deliver the greatest ROI of any marketing channel.

However, inboxes are a battlefield for marketers, so it’s crucial to remember the core strategies that make email marketing effective and ensure you stand out from the crowd.

One of the most important practices to remember with email marketing today is to be as transparent and open as possible with your customers. Generic emails won’t get you far, and an unsolicited approach is not only a violation of GDPR but also a sure-fire way to annoy potential customers.

So, in that spirit, focus on getting customers to subscribe to your newsletters, and build a powerful and robust email list by remembering the following tips.

Timing is everything

The optimum time to send emails will depend on your audience – so take advantage of research available online to get some advice for your firm. The day of the week matters too – Tuesday is reportedly the best day by far.

Provide one clear call to action

Don’t be tempted to fill your campaign with calls to action. Instead, keep things simple – emails with one call to action can increase clicks by 371%. To ensure maximum clickability, keep your call to action between 2 – 4 words and place it near the top of your email.

Keep things personal

Personalised emails have 6x higher transaction rates, so if you’re not already segmenting your audiences, then get to it! However, sending fewer, more relevant emails that recommend products based on past purchases, browsing history or include the recipient’s location can achieve better results than mass mailouts.

Don’t forget to test

Regular testing and measuring will ensure you are staying on top of your evolving customer base. First, find out what devices and email clients your subscribers are using and optimise these formats. Tools like Litmus let you test your email messages on various clients so you can fix any problems that might occur across devices.

Embracing LinkedIn for your SME

Companies of almost any kind can benefit from maintaining a LinkedIn presence, and although it does require a dedicated, platform-specific approach, the stats speak for themselves. In 2020, 94% of marketers were using LinkedIn to publish content; so, if you’ve not embraced LinkedIn yet – now is the time!

First things first, you need to start thinking up some ideas for brilliant content. Here are a few of our favourite ideas:

Publish how-to blogs or list posts

Writing informative articles is a great way to raise your visibility and start conversations on LinkedIn. It demonstrates your industry expertise and positions you as a thought leader. How-to blogs and list posts receive the most attention on LinkedIn and given their easily digestible formatting, it’s easy to see why.

Share industry-adjacent content

The key to LinkedIn articles is to consistently share information that interests your clients. Customers remember smart people who offer up reliable advice, so sharing industry-adjacent content helps keep you top of their minds in the long run.

Create screencast tutorials and presentations

A screencast is simply a video recording of your computer screen accompanied by audio narration. For example, use a PowerPoint presentation or high-quality visuals, and narrate as if you were giving a presentation. Screencasts are one of the most cost-effective techniques for producing video content and are the perfect place to start if you’re camera shy or don’t have a video camera.

Content is king, but it’s not the only thing you need to pay attention to if you’re trying to get a leg up on LinkedIn.

Building your following is a sure-fire way to gain traction on the platform, but you want to make sure those connections are relevant and add value to your network. So read on for our tips.

Add a page link in your email signature

If you’re already emailing someone professionally, it’s likely your page will interest them.

Add the follow company plugin to your website

This drives visitors from your website to your LinkedIn, increasing your reach.

Mention companies and pages in page updates

By mentioning companies with the @ symbol, it’s easier for them to reshare your content in front of your audience. Think about the companies you admire and have solid followings and mention them in your updates.

Keep it up

Post consistently – according to LinkedIn, pages that post daily get twice the member engagement. Try the 3, 2,1 technique to keep your content varied- every week, aim to post three pieces of industry-related content, two pieces of ‘proud’ content (content that makes your employees and followers feel good) and just one piece of product-related content.

Remember to engage promptly – reply, comment and ask questions and keep your business details and photos up to date. Building a community on LinkedIn requires attention.

LinkedIn and email marketing are crucial facets of any company’s digital marketing efforts, whatever size the business is. We hope these tips help you take advantage of these brilliant tools to reach your current and potential customers.