Business Connections by Adams

W I N T E R 2 0 2 1 7 BUSINESS connections Use Data to Drive Your Social Media Strategy It’s well worth your time to evaluate the performance of your social media content since this data can boost the success of your accounts. Fortunately, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram offer free audience insights tools as well as free reporting tools to help you understand what’s working and what’s not. Facebook Page Insights (https://www.facebook.com/ business/a/page/page-insights) Provides information in these categories: Overview, Likes, Reach, Visits, Posts, Video, and People. Twitter Analytics (https://analytics.twitter.com/about ) Offers dashboards showing Tweet activity, Followers, and Twitter Cards. Instagram Insights (https://www.facebook.com/ help/788388387972460) Shows data on who your followers are, when they’re online, and more. You can also view insights for specific posts and stories you’ve created to see how each performed and how people are engaging with them. By gathering these metrics on a regular basis, you’ll be able to draw insights which will allow you to improve your social strategy. Are certain content themes outperforming others? Does different content resonate better with fans on one channel more than another? Once you know the answers, you can adjust your strategy accordingly. SCORE Free Business Advice from Mentors S mall business owners can face big challenges during each phase of development, from planning and startup to managing growth. If you’re one of them, you may sometimes feel stuck and wish you could get good advice from someone who’s been there. Well, you can. Help is readily available from SCORE, a nonprofit organization supported by the U.S. Small Business Administration. SCORE is America’s premier source of free business mentoring and education. It provides: The free mentoring can cover a wide range of topics—everything from how to write a business plan, arrange funding, and manage cash flow to how to develop effective marketing and web-based retailing. What’s more, mentoring works! According to SCORE, small business owners who receive three or more hours of mentoring report higher revenues and increased growth. If you want to work with a mentor, you’ll need to follow these five steps: 1) Identify your business question. 2) Search for a mentor by keyword, industry, location or expertise, or let your local chapter pair you with a mentor. 3) Submit a mentoring request to share your business question(s) with an expert. 4) Start working on your business goals with help from your mentor. 5) Continue working with your mentor throughout the life of your business. To learn more and access SCORE’s small business resources, visit www.score.org. • A network of 10,000 volunteer mentors who share their expertise across 62 industries • Free, confidential business mentoring via email, video chat, or face-to-face in your local chapter • Online library of free business templates, eguides, checklists, videos, and other helpful resources • Small Business Blog with information on current trends in entrepreneurship • Archive of SCORE success stories searchable by business stage, topic, entrepreneur type, and industry • Inexpensive or free business workshops (locally) and webinars (online 24/7)