How To Get Your Business Back-To-School Ready

For many people, school is officially in session. The fun summer months have come to a close and it's time for students to start rewiring their brains to focus on furthering their education. But how can you use this season to further your business?

You remember the back-to-school season, don't you? The smell of fresh binders and sharpened pencils, the belief that this year will finally be the year that you stay organized and on top of all of your work. Why should life as an adult be any different? We all need a little reminder to focus on organization and refresh our brain for a new start. Now is the perfect time to learn new things, organize your files, and refresh your connection with some possible leads!

Are you ready for back-to-school season? Get your binders, backpacks, and books ready, because we're heading to class!

Update your LinkedIn profile to reflect your business.

The best thing about the first day of school was filling everyone in on your summer adventures. It's fun to broadcast all of your highlights to everyone you know - and LinkedIn is the perfect place to fill everyone in on your professional milestones!

How long has it been since you've done a deep dive into your LinkedIn profile? If you're like me, it's probably been way too long. Take the time to search through your profile and make sure it's relevant to the field of work you're currently in. Look through your old work history… Do you still have that dog walking job you had in college listed in your history? Maybe it's time to decide if it's actually worth keeping your old experience on your profile. At the same time, you can also look through your bio and personal information to make sure everything is up-to-date and accurate. Not only will you feel better about your professional social media presence, but it will also reflect much better on the company you work for or own!

While you're at it, check your company's LinkedIn page to make sure everything is accurate and reflects the tone of the company. Have you recently changed the world vision of your company? Make sure the LinkedIn profile reflects that.

Reach out to old leads.

Reconnecting with old friends after a long summer apart is always fun! Did you have a great conversation going with a possible lead, but forgot to follow up with them soon afterward? Now is the time to comb back through your messages and respond to the people who might still be interested in your services. It's never too late to respond to a lead. There may even be some leads that you completely forgot about because business got crazy - let them know you're still there and you still want to discuss the future of your business relationship.

This is also the perfect time to delete old messages that went nowhere. Chances are, you have tons of dead-ended messages in your direct messages from years ago. It's time to clear through them. As the old saying goes, a cluttered desk is a cluttered mind. Declutter your messages and feel the weight of the clutter lift off of your shoulders!

Organize your business email.

Remember the good old days when you would buy binders and sort everything out with tabs? It's time to do that again, but this time with your email! When was the last time you sorted through the folders in your email? There's no better time than the present! Take some time to free up some space on your computer by deleting old emails and organize the ones you need by sorting them into different folders. This will also help you save time. When you're on the phone with your client, you'll be able to reference old emails by pulling them up quickly because you'll know exactly what folder to look in! Gone are the days of sorting through the long list of emails in your inbox.

Look through your social media feeds.

Your company's social media presence is important, which means it's time to sort through your feeds! Look through your Facebook and Instagram pages and make sure all of your information is up to date. The bio, the location, even the profile picture (have you changed your logo recently?) Delete outdated posts that don't fit the new tone of your company. Make sure your feeds are putting your company's best foot forward. After all, it could be the difference between a lead that turned into a client and a lead that got away!

While you're sorting through your social media feeds, you can also make sure that there is consistency between all of your feeds. Do your Twitter, Facebook and Instagram all look like they're portraying the same company? These feeds don't have to be exactly the same, but keeping them similar, with consistent themes, colors, fonts, etc. can portray brand uniformity.

Strategize new ideas.

In school, you would take notes and create new ways to study and learn. In the business world, you should treat your social media feeds like new classes - come up with the best ways to showcase your work! What social media campaigns do you want to roll out? What events should you start promoting? It's time to brainstorm the best ways to use your social media platforms to promote your business.

Just like when you studied as a student, you don't have to do it alone! Study groups were a great chance to bring new ideas to the table, so try getting with your co-workers to discuss what ideas they want to see on your company's social media accounts and run some of your ideas past them. Collaboration is key - you learned that in school, and you'll relearn it in the real world. Now go schedule a meeting to discuss your brilliant ideas!

Learn!

Social media is always changing, and just when you think you know everything there is to learn, social platforms come out with new updates that change the game yet again. Take the time to learn about the newest updates to your most-used social media platforms. This knowledge will only help you grow your social media presence and therefore grow your business. If a student can take the time to learn about algebra and chemistry, you can take the time to learn about something that actually interests you - turning social into sales! Spend time learning about algorithms and boosting, read some articles (or Hyperchat blog posts!) about social media updates and tips. Unlike your school days, you won't have to take a written test to prove your knowledge - but make sure to practice the tips that you learn the help your social media presence!

Though you're probably relieved that you're in the real world and out of classes, this time of the year is still a great reminder that everyone needs to organize their content and refresh their brain from time-to-time! Though you may not be hitting the textbooks and taking notes on PowerPoints anymore, the back-to-school season is still a great time to reconnect with your company and make sure your social media game is strong!

If you need help staying up-to-date with social media tips, go to TryHyperchat.com to learn more!