Month: May 2016

With less than a month to go till the European Referendum the debate is heating up on a number of key areas – including the impact on SMEs.  Could leaving the European Union decrease red tape for SMEs, giving business owners more freedom and independence?  Or could it make trading with our key European partners much harder?

Pro-European campaigners are trying to convince the electorate to vote ‘Remain’ by highlighting quotes from key business and economic figures.  The Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, recently warned that a majority vote to “leave” in next month’s European Union referendum carried the risk of a “technical recession” for the UK.  Billionaire businessman Richard Branson warned back in March that leaving the European Union would be “the worst decision the British public ever made”.

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Here at Get Ahead VA we have experts in a huge variety of fields.  From Accounting to Admin, Hootsuite to Holiday cover, Email Marketing to Excel, our experts can add value to many aspects of your business.  In our current Expert Showcase series our VAs are delivering some of this expertise to you, with a series of ‘How to’ guides to help you get the best ‘bang for your buck’ in your business.

In this month’s guide Vanessa, one of our marketing experts, evaluates two alternative tools for social media scheduling – Hootsuite and Buffer, discussing which might be the best solution for you and your business.

“For many businesses, social media is a key part of their marketing strategy but it can be time consuming.  With a variety of platforms to work on, all requiring regular and relevant content, many people turn to social media scheduling tools to assist the process”

Hootsuite claims to be the ‘leading social media dashboard’ and has been around for nearly 10 years.  It enables you to schedule activity on most major social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram and Google+.  The dashboard allows you to view full activity on all your accounts – mentions, retweets, live feed etc.  Its ‘Pro’ package for Entrepreneurs and business owners includes up to 50 social media profiles, enhanced analytics reports, bulk message scheduling, up to 10 team members and a number of useful Apps and at £6.99 a month on an annual plan, it provides good value when compared to alternative providers.  (more…)

How outsourcing can benefit your business 

There are so many great benefits of outsourcing! Get Ahead VA founder and owner Rebecca Newenham presented a seminar at The Business Show in Excel, London which discussed how outsourcing could benefit your business.

Her fact-packed presentation highlighted the growth and importance of the outsourcing industry, which delivers £21bn to the UK economy in added value.

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