How to Really Transform Your Company Culture!! [#Infographic]

9 Tips and Tools to Bring Out Your Inner Change Agent!






Are you one of the many managers and HR professionals swimming against the swelling tide  of the 70% employees disengagement rate?


Well, it turns out that changing your company's culture with a strong burst of tighly focused changed from the middle management level may be a critical success factor! 


That means teaching and learning the change management basics. It also means leveraging some powerful virtual tools for effectively:

  • Measuring and implementing the key action-learning steps towards your core culture change goals,
  • Performance coaching your employees,
  • Recognizing and reinforcing the most high value work behaviors,
  • Rinsing and Repeating in an iterative organizational learning cycle. 

Why change your culture? Companies that effectively communicate and manage the organizational change process are 350% more likely to outperform their competitors.


Here are 3 great online tools you can start using right now to begin measuring and changing your organizational or team culture:

  • Start building a high performance work culture right now with CultureIQ. They provide Powerful metrics made simple with a user-friendly dashboard. You get meaningful and actionable analytics to help you identify and change key organizational pain points.

  • You've got to see 15Five! They provide a Web-based platform that directly targets employee manager communication  process "to align goals and uncover obstacles and opportunities that are often missed."  


  •   Time to Gamify with Bunchball: Once you've identified the key performance goals for your organizational learning and culture change process, it's time to contact Bunchball.

Bunchball's incredible Nitro platform allows you to measure and positively reinforce employee performance, learning and change goals as movement towards them unfolds in real time.

Bunchball's highly customizable gamification platform is proving an award winning industry leader again and again. They're constantly sparking previously unimagined performance gains and even complete company transformations in organizations as divers as: tech, digital marketing and call centers! Take a look:



Here are 6 thought provoking change management tips via this great infographic I found on TheUnderCoverRecuriter.Com

company-culture


                                                                        


Top image courtesy of: Wikimedia Commons

Top 21 Free Social Media Graphics Creation Tools!!





                                                                                                           

  •  Social Media Posts with Great images   experience...120-180%,Higher Engagement Rates
  • Tweets That have images get 18% more clicks-throughs, 89% greater favorites & 150% greater re-tweets. (Source)


 

Visual images in your social media posts have a strong impact on people. They may be the single most important organic SEO strategy at your disposal! Consider these facts:

 

  •  People remember 80% of what they see
  • People remember only 20% of what they read
  •  65% of people are visual learners
  • 90% of all information people process is visual




 The amount of content on the internet is huge. Consider that every minute:

 

  • 3,472 images are pinned on Pinterest
  •  2,460,000 pieces of content are shared on Facebook
  •  277,000 tweets are sent

 

Visual tools help you craft beautiful images that market your products and services.


You might believe that high-quality visual tools are simply out of your budget. Wrong!  

 

 In this list we share 21 Free Tools you can use to create great images to better digitally market your business.


Let's Start With the Top 10 Free Visual Content Creation Tools!



1. PowToon- Want a professional looking animated explainer video but don’t have thousands of dollars to pay for it? Would you love an attention-getting animated presentation but lack the technical skill? 

How about putting Powerpoint to shame with the ultimate animated business slide show? PowToon is for you.  It is very user-friendly and allows the novice to create…


  • Product or Service Overviews
  • Presentations of all kinds
  • Instructional Videos



Research demonstrates that videos on landing pages increase conversions by 86%.  As the point of visual marketing is to increase sales, it makes sense to make video a priority.


2. Canva- Canva specializes in graphic design. It offers templates, most of which are free, to create the following:



  • Banners
  • Poster
  • Infographics
  • Website Buttons
  • Social Media Headers and Backgrounds



Canva also has a database that contains over 1 million images that you can use for business.  Like Logo Type Maker, there are free and low-cost options. 




3.  Piktochart- Some business are in data-heavy fields.  Paragraphs with a lot of percentages are likely to be forgotten.  Piktochart makes designing an infographic easy.  You simply select a theme and template and the plug in your data and text. 




4. Infogr.am- Here is another tool to create stunning infographics.  Infogr. am allows you to use its templates or create your own. 



Whether you use Piktochart or Infogr.am, infographics deliver great benefits. 



         Infographics are…


 

  • 30x more likely to be read than text-only content
  • 3x more likely to get Liked and Shared than plain content
  • Generate more traffic than text blog posts





5. Awesome Screenshot- This tool allows you to add graphics right to a screenshot.  Imagine how much more effective your screenshot is with an arrow pointing to what you want to emphasize! You’ve got to see this one!






6. Logo Type Maker- A business uses a logo to associate its brand with a particular image.  You can go to Logo Type Maker and pick out one for free.  

As with many sites, there is also a paid option.  If you select ‘Customizable,’ the cost may likely be less than hiring a freelance graphic artist.



 

7.PicMonkey- Do you need to simply edit a photo? At PicMonkey, you just need to upload and…

 

· Add text

· Select a frame

· Adjust the background


You then have a great image that you can use on social media accounts like Facebook and Twitter.
 



8. QuotesCover-  A quote can summarize a point you want to make.  QuotesCover is a tool that allows you to add famous statements to your social media profile or e-cards.  A strong feature of QuotesCover is its attractive fonts. A font needs to be:

 

  • Attention-getting
  • Easy-to-read



9. Quozio- This tool is another one that helps you incorporate quotes in to your social media.  You just type of quote, select a background, and post.  It is that straightforward.




10. Fotor- Fotor is a free app that allows you to do the

following:


· Create a card- Good manners never go out of style. Imagine the great impression you leave when you send a customized thank you card to a client.

· Build a collage- Fotor enables you to make collages.  If you’re an orthodontist who wants to show pictures of lots of kids with beautiful smiles, this app meets that need.

· Photo editing- you can add frames and quickly adjust your photos.




11. PicCollage- Want to use your phone to create a collage of happy customers?  Then PicCollage is for you. This tool works on Apple and Android devices.   


 

12. LiveLuvCreate- Do you have great photos on your home computer or on your Facebook profile? 

You can use LiveLuvCreate to craft them into great images for your social media accounts.  This tool offers borders, effects, and the ability to overlay text.



13. Pixlr- Pixlr is an online tool that is available for Apple or Android devices.  It has 3 modules:

  

    Pixlr Express allows you to make basic edits to an image:

  • You can select an image that shows you or your customers, products or service.   
  • You then use Pixlr Express to add text to the image and post it to social media.   
  • Pixlr-O-Matic offers solid photo editing tools such as borders.

·  
 Pixlr Editor is for people who want to create new images or who have become comfortable using more advanced editing tools.


 

14. GIMP- GIMP is a free, computer based (Windows and Mac OS X) photo editor.  You can manage all your basic photo-editing needs (cropping, resizing, retouching) from a business computer.




15. Unsplash- Sometimes we don’t have images at our disposal.  For instance, some business such as therapist’s or doctor’s offices can’t use patients’ images because of confidentiality.  Yet, these offices want to convey the caring nature of their services with a picture.  Unsplash comes in here very nicely.

 

Unsplash offers free images that are not copyrighted.  This fact means that you can use them for your business purposes -royalty free.




16.  New Old Stock- Similar to Unsplash, New Old Stock offers images that have no known copyright restrictions on them.  Its vintage photos distinguish it from Unsplash. 

 If you’re trying to create a unique image from a time past, this free service might have what you need.





Note: 43% of social media users share pictures. Make sure you put one of these service to work for you.


 
17. Adobe Color CC- It is important to incorporate color into your brand. Adobe Color is free to down load and use with other Adobe products. 

This touch app allows to choose from existing color palettes or create new ones from your phone.  When you want to use color but are unsure which ones to use, employ this simple guide:



  •   Red- Excitement
  •    Black- Luxury
  •   Green- Healing
  •   Blue- Trust
  •   Purple- Creativity

 

Research shows that 60% of the acceptance or rejection of a brand is due to the color impression.  Think carefully about the image you create for prospective customers.



18. Placeit- If you run an online business and want images that convey how easy it is to order from you, Placeit helps you.  

Placeit is an app that offers photos of people using different devices in varied setting (i.e. an office, on the beach).  It even offers ‘freebies’ delivered to your Dropbox.

For example, this app allows you to add your company logo and images into the blank screen of an Iphone or laptop.



Note:  Like other services, Placeit has paid features too.  Make sure if you’re on a tight budget to use the free images first.

 

These tools are great for leveraging your Pinterest account for business!


 


19. Pinwords- With its growing popularity, no list of visual tools is complete without mentioning those ones related to Pinterest.  The first is Pinwords.  You can add text to an image with this tool.




20. Pinstamatic- Here is another simple, Pinterest-focused tool.  You can create images and use text with different backgrounds (for instance, a sticky note background). 




Bonus Link for your Brick and Mortar Business:



21. Business Card Land- Have you ever ordered business cards from an office supply store and felt like you didn’t get much value for your money?  Business Card Land exists for this reason.  It offers editable templates so you can create and print your own business cards.


Visuals Showcase Your Talents


If you have a website, research shows prospects spend less than 15 seconds reading the content.   


Eye-catching pictures and images are a must to convert viewers to customers.   

Make sure you create content that both showcases your talents and addresses the needs of potential customers.  You can identify topics from various sources:


 
  • Keyword Research
  •  Popular Blogs In Your Niche
  • Your Own Research


All of this information shows that we live in a visual world.  These new apps and computer-based tools allow you, a small business owner access tools that once belonged only to large corporations with graphic arts departments.  

Be sure to use these tools to get the most out of your digital marketing and social selling efforts!
 



Sources

Top image courtesy of:  http://pixabay.com/en/photos/online

The Top 10 Google+ Social Selling Tips for 2015!!









With nearly 200 million active users online and around 50% logging in to Google+ on a daily basis, Google+ is rapidly becoming a huge social network that you simply won’t be able to ignore. 

It may not be as popularas Facebook just yet or as powerful as Twitter for driving huge volumes of real time targeted blog traffic, but it can substantially impact your SEO rankings positively.

The simplest things you can leverage from this social network is Relationship Marketing and huge targeted business blog or website traffic. 


Relationship Marketing can be done through Google Hangouts where you can connect with your audiences, and Driving Traffic becomes much easier with Google+ by simply building your profile and sharing news and content regarding your business.

While these terms define all the benefits in much broader terms, they are merely the basics. 


You can expand the idea a great deal since the social network has quite a lot to offer, and the versatile options can really compensate for any business’s marketing needs.


Using Google+ For Effective Digital Marketing


Google+ has more than 2.2 billion user profiles all over the world, out of these, nearly 200 million are active. 


Almost 50% of all Google+ users sign in on a daily basis, and the network has a growth rate of over 33% each year. 


You can see why the network is deemed best for driving traffic; all Gmail users have a Google+ account, and there is certainly no dearth of people using Gmail as their primary email. 


Such statistics only reiterate the fact that Google+ can effectively be the best thing that has happened to your business growth in a very long time.


Branding your business on Google+ allows customers from all over the world to find you on any and all Google platforms. 


Your business becomes accessible for clients through simple searches since the Google network is pretty much everywhere. 


There are numerous ways of sharing content; you can post to your own Google+ profile, you can post to the Google communities and you can send emails to your circles. 

But this doesn't mean a giant revenue boost just yet; the key to making your business work for customers online is utilizing all the apps this extensive social network has to offer in the most productive way.


Utilizing the Google+ Apps:



You can turn your posts into a WEB BANNER AD to make them interactive.


1. This results in up to 50% higher engagement than your normal ads.


2. The ads on Google make up for 64.6% of all clicks.




You can post your content to Google+ Circles to increase traffic.

1.  This will help you drive traffic towards your posts to increase engagement even further.


  The +1 Content

1. The +1 button on Google+ that you come across on many websites receives almost 5 billion hits every day!


2. This allows people from your audience to recommend your posts or site.


3. It increases the Click-Through Rate.


4. The topmost Google results get 36.4% of all these clicks.


5. This function also allows sharing and commenting from networks outside Google, like Pinterest.



 Google Hangouts

1. The Google Hangouts are an essential tool; this service allows group video conferencing and chats of up to ten people in total.



2.You can very easily host webinars through Google Hangouts to generate excitement among your audiences and getting back good leads.


 YouTube Integration


1. YouTube has successfully become the second largest search engine.


2. The network experiences almost 6 billion hours of videos watched on a monthly basis.





    Google Drive  


1. This tool lets you share your information with your entire Google+ audience.


2. There are over 120 million users on Google Drive currently that are a valuable resource for business networks to target.


 Google+ Embedded Posts

1. These embedded posts let you share your content posted on Google on your blogs.


2. It helps in substantially extending the life of your content.




  Powerful SEO Benefits

1. Google owns about 65-75 of the entire search engine market shares and serves more than 25% of all the internet traffic in North America.


2. 18% of all the organic clicks go to the first result that appears, 10% goes to the second and 7% goes to the third.


3. 75% of all users never scroll past the first page, which means the best thing for your business is to be at the first page.



4 Tips to Visitor Interaction on Google+


When you look at a substantial amount of data from over 800,000 posts on Google+, you can find some great tidbits for strategizing your content for this network and increase engagement and interaction.

· Photos lead on comments, re-shares, +1s, and they account for 57% of all the posts on Google+



· The second most common type; Links are the LEAST engaging option for a post and are considered a pitfall.



Text-Only posts work very poorly for re-shares, but they do quite well with comments and +1s.

Posts that are more than a 100 characters long do better than shorter ones on all metrics. 

Think of your self as a blog co-owner when you leaving a comment on someone else's post. Add value to someone's post and they are very likely to add value to your post. 

Posts that are accompanied with photos and over a hundred characters do better than others on the extensive network of Google+.



What are the Best Practices when Using Google+?


Here are some basic benefits of applying the BEST PRACTICES that follow to get you started:

· It can help you improve the visibility of your business in the Google Search results.



· It is the second largest social media platform and has millions of monthly active users, which means it can help you gain a substantial amount of exposure.


· It helps in increasing and enhancing the social signals for your brand, as well as the networking.
· It can be used as a very effective micro-blogging platform.





Google+ BEST PRACTICES


· Always make sure that your profile is optimized; add an appropriate description, a branded profile image, and the URL to your website.




· Always allow the 1+ button on your website so that users can recommend your content.


· Verify Your Business.


· Always keep at regularly posting quality content; the more shareable and relevant your content is, the more Google+ will positively regard your online presence by boosting your Author Rank.



· Always try to use keyword rich title tags, treating all your posts like mini-blogs.



· Using the “rel=publisher” code, link your business page to your website so that Google may include your business in the authorship information in search results.


· Always keep adding connections to make your social circles larger and more versatile in terms of audience.


· Keep your posts visual to drive a higher amount of user engagement.



Applying and incorporating these practices in your social media strategy can help you gain a substantial amount of audience, increases user engagement, enhance the visitor flow and drive a good amount of social referral traffic towards your website.



Tips for Increasing Engagement on Google+


· Perfecting Your Profile: Your hover card and profile is the first impression, make sure every element of it reflects the personality of your brand to your audience.

· Manage and Create Circles: Grow your audiences by creating circles and managing them actively, to create a clear brand image in the minds of your prospects.

· Join Communities: Be an active part of a number of communities and try to play a positive role. Keep your prospects enticed with your brand and form a trusting social relationship by contributing actively.


· Share Vigorously: The more content you share on your Google+ page, the more recognized your brand can potentially become, since Google is the largest platform and can easily make or break a brand’s presence.


Become Part of The Google+ Ecosystem


So what we are really looking at here is an entire eco-system, named “Google”. 

A large portion of our online activities and interactions are conducted through this search engine giant, and the brand name has become more of a term. 

People nowadays look to Google for an answer to all their web related questions. 

If your business has any amount of influence and impact, it's compulsory for it to be related to the network in some way.

It is expected that the social media fabric will be even more intricate and complex in the coming years. What brands desperately need to look for at these times is their best platform. 


Although other social media networks have a substantial amount of impact, it is really the Google effect that can truly get your business established.



The Google+ social network has a much wider and more varying outreach than any other network today, and businesses can take a lot of advantage of this fact. 

The benefits that your brand can enjoy from the added exposure and outreach are boundless and the value of your brand can become recognized globally with much effort.


The Benefits of Using Google+



There are many advantages that your business enjoys by choosing this social media network. 

Since the statistics clearly state how much more outreach and exposure the entire Google platform has, the network is highly beneficial in terms of engagement, interaction, leads, gaining prospects and building and establishing your brand.



Must See G+ Infographic: Google+ vs Facebook and Twitter in 2015?








While other networks carry some competitive features, none can quite level up to the number of users that Google+ has gained over time. 


It has become a booming entrepreneurial and corporate environment where brands can flourish and truly experience success. 

Facebook, Twitter and other social platforms simply do not offer the same amount of consistency and growth that the entire fabric of the Google Ecosystem can propose.  


Some common benefits your business or brand will experience are listed below:



· Visibility: Your overall SERP rank increases substantially and by having your business website linked to your Google Plus account.

· Engagement: The communities and circles you join allow you post to a very large targeted audience that will be more likely to engage with your material.

·  Analytics: You get accurate and up-to-date information and data by linking your Google+ account up with insights.

· Informative: You can use Google+ to display your current client information, which can help in exhibiting this information via Google to raise your chances of interaction with client.


Conclusively, Google+ is a huge platform that features a large number of opportunities for businesses to grow and develop, and gain a good amount of audience. 


If you are looking to succeed in your business’ssocial strategy and have been wondering what you've been doing wrong, now you know. 


Switch to Google+ to enhance the performance of all your social media pages and sites and drive prospects towards your business. 

Your ideal customers: the people looking for your products or services right now, but who can't find you yet on social media - they're waiting for you right now on G+! 

Don't have time to be constantly creating fresh engaging content for your blog or website? Check out our 5 star content marketing service!


 Top image courtesy of:  YuKop
Middle image courtesy of: www.exacttarget.com
Tweet