Social media is one of those tasks that small business owners should be giving their attention to, but many of us don’t have time. To make life easier, we’ve pulled together our top ten ideas for social media posts. They’re all doable, realistic and tested, so if you’re staring a blank screen, try one of these!

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Business social media can be a lot of fun; it can also be very time consuming. Love it or loathe it, it’s a necessary part of marketing for any organisation in the internet age. If your social media isn’t getting the results you’d hoped for, or if it’s distracting you from core business, it could be time for a different strategy.

Here are five signs that it’s time to outsource your social media:

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The Get Ahead team has been growing steadily over the ten years we’ve been running. Now, in addition to our virtual assistants, we also have an ever-growing team of regional directors. The regional directors are all experienced people managers who have come away from the conventional workplace to run their own teams of virtual experts and manage client accounts. Valuing all the members of the Get Ahead family is an important part of our business – we’ve thrived and grown in the last decade because we’ve invested in our team.

In this blog, we look at why your team is important, and some ideas for showing them how much you value them.

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By Mark Rawson

Most businesses need a website, or so we are told. But it’s not enough to simply have a website – it should deliver against your business objectives, as South Yorkshire web designer Mark Rawson explains. 

How do I choose the most effective website for my business?

I believe it’s important to start from your business objective. By identifying what it is you intend to achieve, you and your web developer can decide how to create the most effective website. 

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When we run our own businesses, we often give them our hearts and souls. The business can become an extension of who we are. For some of us, when asked “could your business survive without you?” it’s tempting to proudly reply, “no it couldn’t!” We might see ourselves as the lifeblood of the business – without our input at every level, everything would fall apart.

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Email marketing is a valuable tool for any business, large or small. Studies show it’s one of the top ways of driving conversions, as well as being a great means of building your brand. Let’s take a closer look at why email marketing is so effective for businesses…

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Thanks to the pandemic, many of us are doing more online shopping than we used to. We’re also spending more time on social media: Facebook Instagram and WhatsApp all report a surge in social media activity while we’ve all been stuck at home. So it makes sense for social media platforms to bring these two phenomena together and provide Facebook and Instagram shopping. This is a trend that has gained momentum during the last year, and we believe retail businesses should be seizing the opportunity to showcase their products to a new audience.

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There were mixed feelings among the Get Ahead team last week as schools reopened. While many of us were glad to be able to work without interruptions again, getting back to normal after lockdown is still an upheaval for us all. Fortunately, by being mindful of the change and embracing the new opportunities it brings, owners of “non-essential” businesses can get ready for reopening in April or May and have the successful summer they’ve been hoping for.

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Last year, Get Ahead founder Rebecca Newenham published her first book, Virtually Yours. It was an incredible learning experience, and having written it, Rebecca is seeing a variety of benefits that she hadn’t anticipated. Writing a business book has advantages for career development, marketing, networking and more. Here’s how Get Ahead benefited from publishing a business book:

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In March 2020, the world turned upside down. Britain went into lockdown for the first time, many people became home workers, and parents became homework supervisors.  We clapped for the NHS on Thursday nights and “hero” became a buzzword.  Some businesses were ready; others were not. Across the business world, we all reached out to each other with moral support and a lot of forgiveness. But nearly a year later, what signals should businesses give? Is Corona Kindness still relevant content for blogs and social media? Or is it time to embrace the new normal?

Let’s take a closer look.

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