10 MUST-KNOW HACKS FOR

UDEMY 6 FIGURE BUSINESSES

Contents
1. Heres Why You Cant Miss This Opportunity ........................................................... 2
2. Coming Up With An Idea .......................................................................................... 3
3. The Starting Point For Every Course ........................................................................ 5
4. Using OneNote or Evernote ...................................................................................... 6
5. Creating Captivating Content .................................................................................... 7
6. This is what attracts students most ........................................................................... 8
7. The Most Important Video You Will Film ................................................................. 10
8. How should you name your course and your lectures? .......................................... 12
9. Course Launch ....................................................................................................... 13
10.

The Race For Social Proof & How Important Is IT? ............................................. 15

Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 16

1. Heres Why You Cant Miss This Opportunity

The key question is: what is Udemy and why do I advocate it? Let me give you a few short
answers:

It's the largest e-learning platform in the world, with over 8 million students

You can create courses on any topic and they will sell (if the quality is right)

I'm on the platform and make passive income from it every month

I believe it's one of the easiest ways to make money online - there are almost no
startup costs, it doesn't take too long to launch a product and it can easily be a cash
cow.

Udemy is a growing company and has had its fair share of ups and downs. It's an
immense opportunity, BUT it's also getting more and more crowded. You didn't think
a lot of people were just watching around and not doing anything about it, right? That's
why it's crucial to move fast and do it smart. There is no time for trials and tests, you need
an established strategy, focus and a desire to make things happen. If you have those 3
ingredients you'll get yourself established on the platform.

What follows is a set of guidelines that I also discuss in more detail in my course - Udemy
Fusion: A To Z Blueprint To 6-Figure Passive Income.

It's my step-by-step blueprint to all things Udemy-related: from coming up with an idea,
expanding it, creating & filming the content and marketing the product/s on the platform.

Enough talking about Udemy though, let's get started, shall we?

2. Coming Up With An Idea

This is a 2 part plan. Firstly, you might not be sure what topic you want to approach. Im
sure that you have a few ideas in your head, but which one to pursue? I think this depends
on two factors: a) how confident you are that you can teach that topic and b) how large is
the demand for it on Udemy.
For a) this is usually one of the limiting beliefs that people have: they dont see themselves
capable of teaching on a topic to a large group of people, they dont feel they are qualified.
What they dont understand is that you dont have to be a so-called expert in a field in
order to teach it oftentimes the way you teach & structure content is far more valuable.
This doesnt mean you can simply research a topic and present on it, Im by no means
suggesting that. What Im merely saying is to objectively evaluate yourself and dont feel
discouraged to pursue an idea if you have a passion for it and the expertise that goes
with it.

Before you proceed to create the course, you need to have an estimate of how large your
target market is and if you will make money with this idea. Often times people believe that
if a topic has several courses then they should abandon their idea. In fact this is one of
the strongest limiting beliefs that I encounter amongst people who want to start on
Udemy. What they don't understand is that competition is inherently good - it confirms
that you have a market for the product. Don't worry about making your course visible (this
comes later), but make sure that your idea is trialed and tested before spending 2 months
to produce your first course only to find out it flops.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not suggesting novel ideas aren't worth exploring. I myself am
pursuing a topic (a course on a particular piece of software that has come out recently)
which isn't present at all on Udemy. However, based on my experience and the way I'm
planning to frame the course, I'm quite confident that it will do well.

On the other hand, if you choose a topic that has not been approached by any (or few)
other instructor/s, you risk getting into a market that has little demand on the platform. I'd
much rather go for a topic where there is competition and I'm fighting for the existing client
base, rather than not really competing for not that many students.

How do you identify the demand for a topic? Glad you asked. Here are a few things you
should consider - I recommend building a spreadsheet and writing it down:

Keyword search - perform this for the topic at hand. Observe how many courses
that have at least a few reviews are there on the topic

Student & review numbers - These show the all-time enrolments and reviews. Its
a good way to judge how many courses that actually sell are out there.

Compare different categories - do this for 3 course ideas, that way you will see a
comparison between them and start to understand the size of the different markets

3. The Starting Point For Every Course

At this point you've probably selected your course idea. What next?

It's probably one of the most important phases in course creation, because it will largely
determine your actions up until launching the course. You need to create the outline.

I always recommend Instructors start from an initial outline - it's the easiest way to do it
and it helps organise your thoughts. Here's my step-by-step process:
A. Identify & Select idea
B. Break it down into separate chunks (Sections)
C. Write down as many ideas for these sections (Lectures)
D. Make sure it fits together (it can be like telling a story, it needs to flow naturally and
make sense)
E. Do research on each Section and expand the outline
F. Have it neatly organised & Keep adding to the lectures as you discover more things

I find that the hardest part is putting your ideas down, that's why it's crucial to write them!
You might think about the course and have the impression that you don't have much to
roll with, but if you actually take the time and write down every lecture idea that comes to
mind, you will have a pool of ideas which you can organise and transform into a wellrounded & detailed outline.

4. Using OneNote or Evernote

I advocate note-taking apps simply because I couldnt imagine my work life without them.
They make a huge difference and they're perfectly suited for course creation. I've also
written articles about my use of OneNote, as well as detailing it in the course on Udemy.
Suffice it to say, I use it daily and have created a ton of content using it. Here's a
screenshot of only one of my notebooks which I have been adding to for 8 months.

Use one of these apps for course creation, it will save you time and make you more
productive. General guidelines

One notebook should be enough for course creation

Create the outline in one 'Page' using bullets (for lecture names) and sub-bullets (for
main talking points)

Add Pages for various elements, such as Promo scripts, articles to remember or
Lecture scripts if you want to use a prompter or read them out (if you do screenshare)

5. Creating Captivating Content

It's one thing to sell the idea of a course (and promise students a ton of benefits), but you
also need to deliver on those promises. That's why one of my main rules is to always
strive to surpass students' expectations. The main way to do this is by creating what I call
captivating content.

What chararacteristics should your content have? What kind of guidelines should you
follow?

Step-by-step: As you can see with this e-book, everything is step-by-step. It's the
easiest way to learn a new concept, as it's easy to follow and it leaves people with
a concrete & structured plan for action. If it helps, try to structure your lectures with
bullet points.

Implementable: Always think of the practicality of what you teach - are you going
for theoretical concepts or practical applications that will save time? I like to focus
on so-called "hacks" where I show people the most productive ways I know to master
a particular skill/subject.

State the obvious: You'd be surprised how many people aren't aware of the basics
or need it to be spoken out to better conceptualise the information. Always assume
you're talking to newbies, even if they're only a smaller percentage of the crowd.

Of course there are a lot of elements that come into play when it comes to content. Its
quality will also depend on how much time you invest researching and perfecting it. It's
also important to adopt an assertive tonality, call people to action often and include
specific action items.

If you manage to cross all these things off the list when creating content, then you're very
close to creating raving fans that will just want to consume more and more!

6. This Is What Attracts Students Most

You might have heard of the saying "Content is king". I truly believe in it. Even though
your content is the essence of your course, it's not what will attract students the most. It's
a paradox, but once you wrap your head around it you will understand how to get their
attention.

What's actually equally important is your delivery and the quality of your production. Think
of those situations when you were in school and you'd gear up for a subject that was
extremely interesting, only to find a teacher that had a boring method and would just make
you disinterested.

Was the content great? Probably.

Was it implementable? Might have been.

Would it have made a difference if you had an engaging & excited teacher present it?
Definitely.

In fact I'm sure you found yourself putting in the effort and loving other topics which you
didn't find interesting at first. Why was that? I bet that if you retrace your steps you'll
realise it was because your teacher made you like the topic.

Great content matters hugely, but without a great delivery (and in the case of online
courses - great production quality) you won't get anywhere.

A few things to master when filming yourself:

Tone of voice (it should never be monotone)

Facial expression (smile, smile, smile!)

Body language

Everything production related (Camera quality, audio quality, special effects,

lighting, focus)

Energy levels (always need to strike viewers as being energetic)

Here are a few things to consider when doing screenshare:

Graphics - if you use PowerPoint make them look stellar; consider getting a
template off GraphicRiver.net

Tone of voice (again) - it's even more important when doing screenshare because
people can't see you; it's the only aspect you can use to captivate your audience
and keep them engaged

Audio quality - get a proper microphone (consider investing in a studio one) - it will
separate you from 90% of other instructors. For example, I use an Audio Technika
AT 2020.

7. The Most Important Video You Will Film

Your course will be comprised of a multitude of parts you will create along the way, but
none are more important for the buyer's decision than the Promo video. That's your 2-3
minute chance to impress students and tell them why they should buy your course. And
just like it sounds, it's no easy feat. There are a lot of average Promo videos out there, so
how can you stand out from the pack and impress any viewer to the point where the
payment seems like a no-brainer?

The Script: it's the first thing you need to do. You have to write a script that appeals
to people & takes them from one idea to the next until they decide to purchase your
product. In my course I have a 7-step formula for writing the Promo script, but let me
summarise it for you here:
o

Start off strong - always look to capture their attention in the first 10 seconds

Introduce yourself - and this is a great opportunity to include any proof you
might have that will boost your image

Bonus paragraph - depending on the topic, feel free to include additional

information

The Offer - what is it you're offering them? What's the core purpose of your
course?

The Bonuses - include aspects that wouldn't make the course by themselves,
but add tremendous value to the fold

The Guarantee - Make them feel at ease with their purchase (Udemy already
offers a 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee)

Conclusion - Summarise & call them to action. They should be convinced by

now.

10

In fact, you can check out all my Promo videos on Udemy youll quickly realise
they are all written using the same structure!

The Quality: try to make it even better than your normal lectures. Change the
angles, mix up the backgrounds etc. Be creative and keep a stellar video & audio
quality!

Graphics: This is optional, but if you have someone who specialises in this or youre
willing to invest, you can create some custom graphics in After Effects. If you look at
my Promo videos you'll spot them in some - they look awesome!

Background Audio - some carefully selected background audio will do wonders for
your Promo - it will make everything sound much better (and you'll feel more
comfortable with hearing your own voice!)

11

8. How To Pick Course & Lecture Names

Naming your course will be important both for SEO & conversion reasons. Here's what I
suggest:

Keywords are essential: start your title with the essential word of your course. This
should usually be the obvious choice - i.e. if you're doing a LinkedIn course, then
start off with that word. Apply this for the subtitle as well, but try not to replicate the
title format. Here's an example from my LinkedIn course:

Title: LinkedIn Blueprint: 500+ Connections & Become an Influencer

Sub-Title: My LinkedIn Path To 700+ Connections, Top 1% LinkedIn Profile Views
in A Multinational & Networking With Executives

State the results: It's important on Udemy to emphasise from the title what kind of
results your course will have. If you can make this as specific as possible (preferably
using numbers), then you're in even better shape!

When it comes to the lectures, you need to invest a bit of time to make them look & sound
great. You don't want to plainly state "Profile Picture" if you have a course about Social
Media. You might even want to keep a mystery around the lecture so as to intrigue
viewers and suggest added-value. However, remember, you always have to back up your
claims!

Instead of writing "Profile Picture" this title could sound something like "5 Creative Ways
To Improve Your Profile Picture".

This topic is lengthy and has to do a lot with copywriting, but if you want to have a guide
to start out with that you can reference, here's a look at an article which contains 74 typical
structures for naming blog articles - this is easily applicable to your lecture names. You're
welcome!

12

9. The Course Launch

The moment has finally come - you're ready to launch your course. However, it's not as
easy as just clicking the submit button and praying that somehow people will discover
your course and buy it. Sure, you can try that, but you'll most likely come out of it emptyhanded.

Here are a few tips to maximise the effect of your course launch:

Gather initial social proof: You will get social proof as you go along, but how do
you fabricate the initial one? Simple - you use your friends' groups. Gather them
around, let them know about your initiative and ask them to review your course.
Make them watch 40-50% of it and leave a 5 star review. It might seem fake, but if
you have a connections base, why not take advantage of it? Unless you already
have a starting point (raving fans that will eat up your product and leave reviews),
you need that initial support.

Would you rather have 2 organic reviews after a week, or have 10 reviews, an
already built image about your course and more sales coming through consistently?
It's crucial to rally your connections before & during the launch.

Offer free coupons: As things stand, Udemy takes student numbers into account.
One efficient way to grow your numbers is to post free coupons in particular places
(Facebook Groups, coupon sites) in order to get the traffic flowing.

Personally, I'm not a fan of doing this and I tend to stick to it only at the course
launch. It's one of Udemy's flaws in my opinion and hopefully it will correct itself as
time passes. That being said, I've tested it and discovered that they are still useful.
Apart from bumping you up in the search algorithm, this will also establish a certain
amount of social proof, as your course will potentially have up to 1,000 students
enrolled in the first few days.
13

Send a Promo email: For those of you that already have Udemy courses, then the
launch is the time to come up with a can't miss offer for your existing clients. Send
out a promo email to your existing client base and get them on board with the course
ASAP. Having paying clients come through in the first few days is crucial and will
help you a ton.

14

10. The Race For Social Proof & How Important Is IT?
Udemy instructors have historically been obsessed with student reviews - it's a wellknown aspect in their circles. However, lately there has been an interest in seeing if these
reviews are actually that helpful. Understandably, the platform has tried to distance itself
from reviews (as they can be even bought) and place the emphasis on other indicators.

What are Udemy's algorithms exactly? I wish I knew. I actually think they're not quite sure
either. It's probably a work in progress, non-stop testing to see what works and what
doesnt.

But let me get to the point: don't overvalue reviews. I won't say they are not important they are - but I believe they serve mostly as Social Proof. I also believe you experience
diminishing returns quite quickly, meaning that once you have over 20-30 reviews on a
course there won't be much of a difference to having 50-60. There would be a potential
marginal improvement in sales, which is not compensated by the extra effort invested in
getting those reviews.

Can you make reviews pop-up organically? Of course & that's exaclty what I recommend!
How can you achieve this? Glad you asked:

Content Quality: As I stated before, it's what I focus on most. It makes sense too if you're content is top-notch, a higher proportion of your students will want to thank
you and provide a testimonial. Make sure that no matter what, your content is the
best it can be.

Ask them!: It's not against rules to ask for reviews, however, you have to do this
carefully. Do it towards the end of the course and be careful how you frame it. Make
sure to emphasise that you've put a lot of effort in creating this course and a review
(which only takes 1 minute) would help a lot with your efforts & your income on the
platform. Be genuine and ask for their help and some of them will reciprocate!

15

Conclusion
I launched my first course at the beginning of 2015. I only launched my second in April
that year because Ive only been committed full-time to Udemy since March. I managed
to launch an average of one course per month given the fact that creating courses hasnt
been my non-stop focus, it shows that its not complicated to create a presence on Udemy
if you put in the time & effort.

As a matter of fact, what you discover is that after 3-4 courses you start getting ideas all
the time and youre much faster with creating & producing content therefore you can
launch them more and more often. Once your revenues take off as well its a great
situation to be in since you dont have to spend too much time and effort to maintain the
courses after theyve been established on the platform.

These are my 10 guiding principles that encompass how I approach course creation on
Udemy. I truly believe in them, as they show a high-level view of the main points to
consider when creating an information product for Udemy.

If you want to find out more about Udemy course creation, have a look at my other articles
on TeacHack.com. Otherwise, I have a comprehensive Udemy Fusion course, which can
be found in the Online Courses & Discounts section of the website.

There is a lot of guidance available on the topic. What it boils down to is you taking action
and investing the time and effort to master content creation and Udemy marketing.
There is no reason why you shouldnt succeed on the platform, the same way hundreds
of other instructors did before you.

The path has been laid out to you, the ball is in your court!

16

16 SOCIAL MEDIA HACKS YOU

NEED TO KNOW

Contents
Welcome! ........................................................................................................................ 2
1. Consistency across platforms ................................................................................... 3
2. Use As Much Rich Media As Possible ...................................................................... 6
3. Promoting Yourself Offline ........................................................................................ 8
4. How to be effective at Social Media by scheduling content .................................... 10
5. Having a content calendar ...................................................................................... 11
6. BRANDING YOURSELF THE RIGHT WAY THROUGH LINKEDIN....................... 12
A. The Profile Photo ................................................................................................. 12
B. The Headline ....................................................................................................... 14
C. Skills & Endorsements......................................................................................... 18
D. Recommendations .............................................................................................. 20
7. TWITTER ESSENTIALS ......................................................................................... 22
A. The Twitter Bio .................................................................................................... 22
B. Cover photo ......................................................................................................... 22
C. Effortlessly find content to tweet about ................................................................ 23
D. Optimise Tweet Times ......................................................................................... 24
8. FACEBOOK HACKS .............................................................................................. 26
A. The Cover Page .................................................................................................. 26
B. Edgerank ............................................................................................................. 29
C. What kind of posts can you put up on Facebook? ............................................... 30
Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 33

Welcome!
In this e-book I wanted to collate a few of the crucial hacks that you need to know when
it comes to Social Media. Ive mainly focused on 3 platforms LinkedIn, Twitter &
Facebook. It is not a comprehensive guide (that would be too long), but I do believe that
implementing these principles across your Social Media Strategy will prove insanely
valuable to you.

The Structure

The first part of the document contains 5 universal Social Media hacks which are
irrespective of platform. I believe these to be core principles for any Social Media
Marketing strategy. I then decided to focus specifically on a few key points on each
platform.

How You Should Approach This E-Book

I strongly encourage everyone that I teach to take action without it, reading this book or
taking one of my courses is practically useless. Any time there is something that is
implementable, stop reading the book, go online and do it. That way you will get the most
out of this experience.

Lastly, I hope you enjoy the content!

1. Consistency across platforms

The way Social Media works these days is very different to how it did 2 years ago.
And that sentence might be the single statement that will remain true in the short-term
future as well. What I mean by this is that the landscape keeps changing, certain
platforms become more popular, some stagnate and some come right out of the blue
and conquer market share (e.g. Snapchat).

This in turn means that we have to keep a consistent approach across these platforms.
They are each used for different purposes, have different ways of communication and
need tailored messages that fit their audiences. However, there are a few common
elements.

Profile Photo

It's important to have the same profile photo across platforms - it will help build your
brand. This does not mean you should not adapt - I have the same profile photo (albeit
with different backgrounds) on my Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & LinkedIn profiles,
but it has only been like this recently. Before, I used to have a different LinkedIn Profile
Photo tailored to my audience (which was mostly people in the Management
Consulting industry).

Vanity URLs

This is one of the most important points in this first chapter even though you might
think its an insignificant detail. What is a vanity URL? It's basically you customising
the link to your particular Social Media account in order for it to be simplified, to make
you more "searchable" and to add to your brand identity.

Concretely, where do you find Vanity URLs and how can you customise them?
The platforms where its easiest to get vanity URLs are Twitter and Instagram. In fact,
you've already chosen a Vanity URL - it's connected to your handle (i.e. your
username). What I do recommend here is to keep the same handle for both platforms
(or any others which employ a similar approach) - this way it will be much easier for
you to identify yourself to your audience.

My handle on both Twitter & Instagram is @DrgStefanescu and these are my Vanity
URLs:

https://twitter.com/DrgStefanescu
https://instagram.com/DrgStefanescu/

Things get a little trickier (but not impossible) with the other platforms.

Facebook (Pages)

The rules of thumb for Facebook are easy: you usually need to have at least 25 Likes
on your Page to claim a Vanity URL and you cannot modify it after you've chosen one,
so be very careful the first time around. To claim your URL, simply:

Go to www.facebook.com/username

Select the appropriate Page

Type in your desired User Name

Check it for availability & Confirm

My Facebook Page URL is https://www.facebook.com/TeacHack/

LinkedIn Profile

This is an important one because so many people use the LinkedIn URL that is
provided by default, which looks bad as it has a lot of random numbers & letters.
Contrast that with this kind of URL:

https://ro.linkedin.com/in/DrgStefanescu

To claim your custom URL, do the following:

Navigate to the bottom of your Profile Box where your current URL sits and press

the "Gear" icon

On the subsequent page look to the right-hand side, you'll notice a "public profile

URL" box; click on the "crayon" symbol and write your URL in the box:

2. Use As Much Rich Media As Possible

The power of imagery is far higher than the words you put down. Images speed up
our level of communication and comprehension, they engage our imagination and
enhance our creativity. By stimulating other areas of the brain than words normally
would, they lead to deeper and better understanding. This will transform your Social
Media presence from text-only to a truly 3D experience.

Why is this relevant? Two main reasons:

Rich media will attract attention: Your post will gather much more interest if they

contain a photo or a video - this makes a lot of sense. The point I'm making is that you
should always try to upload an image, even if you just want to send a message (e.g.
post a photo with Text rather than posting a text update).

You should also attempt to add Rich Media wherever you can - for example, your
LinkedIn Profile is a great place to showcase presentations, videos or pitches that
involve you or your company. Too many people don't take advantage of this on their
profiles and are less appealing to visitors as a result.

This is especially valuable for platforms where there is a lot of noise, such as Twitter.
A normal tweet will get lost in the background, but if you upload a photo with your
Tweet, then this will take up 3 times as much space as the normal text-only tweet.
That is only going to make your message more visible.

It will be prioritised: Rich media attracts more people, so it's only normal that

Social Media networks will prioritise such posts in their algorithms. You've probably
noticed this already, but Facebook has such an algorithm (it's called Edgerank) which
determines the content that is most relevant to you and prioritises it in your News
Feed. Rest assured that all other Social Networks use something similar.

What about Video?

Statistics have proven that we eat up more and more data due to growing Internet
speeds & the proliferation of smart devices. It's only natural that video has become a
large part of what we view every day on Social Media. In fact, it's becoming the main
way of communication as it's exploding on platforms such as YouTube, Facebook,
Instagram, Vine etc.

On Facebook in particular, native video is ranked very high. Try this experiment upload a video that you posted on YouTube and then upload a similar one straight to
Facebook. My guess is that the second one will be more popular. The main reason
for this is that every Social platform wants to prioritise its own content - therefore
Facebook's algorithm will favour native video (uploaded straight to Facebook), rather
than YouTube links. This is important to know, as it will guide your posting strategy
and even your content creation.

3. Promoting Yourself Offline

Having "clean" URLs that lead to all your Social Media accounts is important, as is
your posting strategy. There are a few things you can do to promote these accounts
even when you're offline. I advocate for 2 main ways:

Email Signatures

Everybody uses email and I'm sure you do too. Almost everybody has an email
signature, but do many people take advantage of it? You might be convinced that you
have a great signature, but do you really? Are you taking all the necessary steps to
promote yourself to the fullest?

Here's what you can do concretely: link to all your Social Media accounts. Any email
signature allows you to embed images or icons. What's great to do is to stack up all
of these icons and add a Link to them which sends people to your respective profiles.
Easy peasy!

In my case, all the icons at the bottom are linked to my respective Social Media
accounts. One important thing to notice is that the aspect of my signature is very clean
- the logos stand out straight away. If your signature is not like this, I would highly
recommend you insert a Call To Action which is visible and determines your viewers
to follow you (it could be something like "Connect with me on Social Media!").

Business cards

If you've networked before, I'm sure you know the importance of having a great
business card. Design is of utmost importance, but we won't be talking about that now.

What I do want you to do is to funnel all the people that you meet to your online
presence or products. That means being clever about how you structure your business
card. Every card should contain 2 things:
Links to your Social Media platforms

I wouldn't include all of them, but just the most important ones. As you can see in my
email signature, I have the link to my Udemy profile on there. That's something that in
my case works great on my business card as well.
QR Codes

This is the most important tip and something EVERY business card should have.
Having a QR Code will ensure that it stands out and it will make it much easier for the
people you network with to access your main online location. For me it's either my
website or my Udemy profile, for you it might be your LinkedIn Profile or Company
Website. Whatever it is, this will be the main landing point for your newly formed
connections, so make sure to include it & make it visible.

Here's what my Business Card looks like:

4. How to be effective at Social Media by scheduling content

Once you start getting serious about Social Media, it can get really daunting. Take into
account the content that you need to produce/share, the number of platforms you
could be active on (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Snapchat etc)
and the time of the day (which depending on the platform influences the engagement
you get on your posts) and you will realise it becomes increasingly difficult to manage.

This is exactly why you have to optimise the way you post on all of these different
platforms. Some posts you can share in the exact same form on different networks
and for some you could know exactly what time of the day you want to share them at.
For these purposes there are a few tools that are extremely helpful.

Hootsuite & Buffer

These two tools are very similar, so I would choose one and roll with that. Their most
important functionality is that they allow you to schedule content on different platforms.
This is invaluable.

They each have a few other features and with a paid subscription they can be
extremely powerful - however, I'd only recommend that if your Social Media presence
brings you significant return, otherwise it might not be worth the investment.

IFTTT (IF This Then That)

This is a very handy tool for automating tasks online, which can be applied for Social
Media as well. What IFTTT does is it automates certain processes based on recipes.
You like a recipe on there, you can apply it to your accounts. Examples include
changing your Instagram Profile Photo to match your Facebook one or automatically
sending out a tweet whenever you post a new photo on Instagram. There are just a
few of its practical applications.

10

5. Having a content calendar

I've already argued about the noise that exists on Social Media and the amount of
posting and planning you will have to do once you're active and present on a number
of platforms. What complements your Social Media Strategy well is having a Content
Calendar - an organised number of posts & tasks that you stick to whether it's on a
weekly or monthly basis.

I'd suggest starting from a rough draft and then integrating everything into an Excel
Template. Here's what a month's worth of a content calendar could look like:

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6. BRANDING YOURSELF THE RIGHT WAY THROUGH LINKEDIN

A. The Profile Photo
Profile photos are a constant amongst Social Media Platforms. They're your identity,
the image that generates the first impression of you to the person that is visiting your
Profile. However, I would argue that the LinkedIn Profile Photo is the most important
of them all because of the power it has - have a great one and you will generate a
good impression that MIGHT get you that job or networking opportunity, but have a
bad one and you will just be another face in the crowd that will not be taken seriously.

The thing about LinkedIn is that is has a certain etiquette - it's a very professional
Social Network. I see people that don't respect this (via their Profile Photos) over and
over again. There are certain things you just don't do on LinkedIn. I'll discuss them
now and also give you an idea of what your Profile Photo should look like:

No Selfies: This should be common sense, but don't use any selfies as a Profile

Photo on LinkedIn. If that works on Facebook, it doesn't mean it's acceptable here.
Keep them for Instagram, Twitter and other networks.

No cropped photos from events: So many people crop photos that they took

wearing a suit/nice dress at a networking event. The issue is that you can spot it
straight away and, even though to you it might appear so, it's not at all professional.
Oh, and no champagne glasses in the photo - they don't make you look posh, but silly.

Dress to impress: Tailor you clothes to your environment. What do I mean by

this? If you're a consultant and wear a suit & tie every day, then let that be your image
on your Profile photo. If you're an entrepreneur and don't need a certain clothing
standard, you can be more relaxed (for example, I switched from a suit & tie photo to
a more casual one after leaving the corporate world).

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Head to Photo ratio: It's preferable that you take

the photo from the chest up and let your face occupy
60-70% of the entire image. That will give a perfect ratio
and it will place the emphasis on your face.

Smile! : Speaking about your face, since you're

doing this make sure you smile in the photo. It doesn't

have to be anything exaggerated, but a simple, natural
smile goes a long way to making a great first impression
because it makes you appear more human to visitors.

The Background: I'd prefer it if you had a plain background behind you (white or

light grey), as it really emphasises your figure and your face. I realise I'm in plain
ignorance of this fact, but again - my profile photo is a more casual one as I don't need
to be as formal as I did at some point in time.

Tailor it to your situation: It would be a clich to expect everyone to wear a suit

& tie in their LinkedIn photo. While this looks great, it's only really applicable to those
professionals who are required to have this dress code at all times. I used to be a part
of that group and had such a Profile Photo on display. However, soon after I switched
'careers' and went the entrepreneur way, I changed it to something that still looks
good, but is much more casual.

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B. The Headline
Many people who use LinkedIn are unaware that their headline can be changed. In
fact, LinkedIn sets it by default as <Your Position> "At" <Your Company> - say for
example "Senior Manager at Microsoft". While this conveys a certain message, there
is a lot of potential to improve it and capture your viewers' attention.

The WHY:
Key words - Your headline should contain key words that will make your more visible
in search items. You could be looked up for a number of reasons and by a number of
different people - recruiters, potential clients, co-workers. Apart from making you
more searchable, those keywords will instantly give others an idea of who you are and
what you specialise in.
Standing out - Often times I found myself looking for leads or wanting to network with
people. I'd search for something specific and an entire list would pop up. What makes
someone stand out? Sure, their profile photo is probably the first thing you think about.
But the headline is of extreme importance as well. Here, look at this example:

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These are 5 secondary connections of mine. I just searched for the word "Manager".
At a first glance, you can already see how some of them stand out and some don't
(one does not even have a profile photo).

But what if we only look at their headlines? Who gives you the best idea of what they
do, what industry they're in and what their focus is?

1. Account Management | e-learning | SaaS | online employee training | building

strong client relationships

2. Instructional Marketing Manager at SchoolKeep

3. Digital Project Manager at Pearson Education Canada

4. Business Development Manager at Safety Media

5. Project Manager - PCI DSS Compliance at VicRoads

It's clearly the first example.

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The WHAT

Now that we've ascertained changing your headline can only bring you benefits, the
question becomes what you can actually add to it. Here are a few ideas:

List your specialties : Remember those key words I mentioned? Use them. Use

3 key elements for what you do.

List your different occupations/passions: Don't be shy to express who you are

and what you're passionate about.

I personally take this approach on LinkedIn.

Also to be noted: save space & make your headline look more structured by using
separators. You can see this in the 2 examples above.

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State what you're looking for / your Mantra: This can be things like "Looking to

recruit developer for", "Hiring Financial Analyst specializing in", or it can simply
be your or your company's motto.

Whatever you choose to put in your headline, I urge you: be fun, make it
appealing and ask yourself what would attract your target audience to your profile.

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C. Skills & Endorsements

LinkedIn allows you to list a maximum of 50 skills on your profile. Similar to the 500+
connections sign, with skills the maximum number of endorsements that will be shown
is 99+, after which it will remain at that level.
Its important to take some time and add skills to your profile. These endorsements
can sometimes seem really silly, but people still make judgements based on the skills
that youre endorsed for the most. In fact, some recruiters narrow down their job
searches by a members skill level
What Ive generally seen happen is that people start endorsing you and your most
important skills surface. This can be beneficial when thinking about your viewers
(gives you the social proof, places a tag on you), but also to yourself you will see
how people around you think about you and what they value most from your core
skills.

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However important it is to be endorsed as much as possible, you dont want your

profile to be a mess. In order to develop your personal brand, you need a focused
image. Therefore, have the courage to get rid of the endorsements that you dont want
to be recognised for. This is your challenge, do not dilute your brand image! Remove
the endorsements that do not seem relevant for your work, and reorder the remaining
ones based on what you want to showcase. Your goal is to have the highest number
of endorsements for your signature strengths this will influence those looking at
your profile.
How to stimulate endorsements?
So how do you encourage people to endorse you for your skills if you want to beef up
this part of your profile? Well, Im not a fan of random endorsements, and neither
should you. Weve all seen it, one day youre navigating on LinkedIn and this random
connection who you barely remember endorses you for Project Management and
Leadership. You met at a networking event and havent really spoken since, so how
can he know what youre good at?
What you should do is focus on endorsing others in order to stimulate endorsements.
Make it targeted. Take time to look through your network and acknowledge your
connections. Pay particular attention to the people youre working with at this very
moment and why not endorse them if theyve had a good day at work where they
proved they possess an important skill? Targeted endorsements will be more effective
and they will mean more to the person thats receiving them.
And, as mentioned, as soon as they will be notified of the endorsement and once you
have engaged with them, they will be more likely to return the favour. You might be
thinking its artificial: why would I encourage them to do this, if they really wanted to
they would do it themselves. Yes, but people barely have any spare time these days,
so its similar to always have the Call To Action, they will not do it (or are less likely to)
unless you demand it.
Also, if the connection does reciprocate, take this opportunity to build you relationship
and send them a personal thank you message.
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D. Recommendations
Recommendations are LinkedIns version of testimonials. Any of your connections can
write up a recommendation and this will appear under the respective work experience
that they have recommended you for. Needless to say, the best case for these is when
people recommend you out of their own initiative, because the job you have done for
them and the value you have added is simply amazing. In reality, this doesn't really
just happen for a variety of reasons and we have to call our connections to action.
Luckily, LinkedIn knows this and there is a formalised way to ask for
recommendations.
Just scroll down through your Profile until you reach the Recommendations section.
To the right you will see a button that says "Ask to be recommended". Once you hit
that LinkedIn will guide you through the position that you want to be recommended all
the way to the basic message that it will populate for the request. Do not send requests
with the basic message. Personally, I perceive this as lazy this person wants my
recommendation but he/she didnt even bother to write a customised message. Write
it addressing the situation and kindly ask if your connection could spare 2 minutes for
a recommendation. An example message could look like this:
Hi Michael,
I hope youve been well. Im writing to you with a short request that shouldnt take
more than 2 minutes of your time. In light of our recent work together on project XYZ,
I would kindly ask you if you could recommend me based on the work that I have
done. This would help me a lot and your opinion would add tremendous value to my
LinkedIn profile.
Thank you in advance and wish you a great week ahead,
Kind regards,
John

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Bear in mind, you can send recommendations to more than 1 person (up to 200 people
actually). I would keep that number lower and try to adapt the message to fit everybody
if you do choose to do this.
One warning about recommending others: It goes without saying that you should only
recommend people who you trust and whose work you know. But try to only give
recommendations to the people that you admire remember, their reputation will be
an extension of your values.

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7. TWITTER ESSENTIALS
Twitter is an important Social Media network and a very particular one as well. It
requires constant presence and tweeting in order to build a following. I'll share a few
fundamental aspects for approaching Twitter. Let's start with your Bio.
A. The Twitter Bio
The Twitter Bio, although short, has great significance since all your Profile visitors
will see it. It's basically your 160 character sales pitch that says "Here's why you should
be following me!"

Let's set a few tweet-sized guidelines for how to create your Bio:

Add keywords & define who you are as succintly as possible

Use hashtags - they're the ABC of Twitter and will make those keywords more

recognisable

Use separators & symbols for aestethics and to save character space

Make it spontaneous, special, fun. Look at other

Twitter bios to get a feel about what that means

Example - my Twitter Bio looks like this:

B. Cover photo
Your cover photo and other details will not be visible to people most of the times. This
is because people use Twitter 60% of the time off their mobile devices. They also
navigate through the Twitter feed, and not on individual accounts' profiles. However,
if someone is having a closer look at you (a potential lead, interested client, fan,
whatever the case may be), then having a great cover photo would help.

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With regards to followers, I dont think it's crucial, at least in the beginning, for the
reasons mentioned above. However, once you start to build a following, more and
more users will visit your page. If you want to leave a good impression and make them
more likely to go to your website, then you should consider getting a good cover photo.

My cover photo emphasises my brand and instantly tells followers what I represent. I
also have my website on there, so it's easy for them to navigate there.

C. Effortlessly find content to tweet about

Twitter is conversational. Twitter has short messages. You need to send a lot of tweets
on Twitter. You need to always be active. Tweet at least 5 times a day.
These are just a few examples for what people will tell you about Twitter and they're
right. Twitter does have a lot of noise and you do have to be very active in order to get
yourself established on there.
The question that comes up is how can you possibly tweet so much? What can you
tweet about?
Anything. Really.

Ideally you will have a lot of content sources that you pile up in a Notebook somewhere
and schedule to tweet via Hootsuite or Buffer. That isn't however sustainable, and it
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shouldn't be. The following suggestions are true to how communication happens on
Twitter, so use them as much as you can/want to. There shouldn't really be such a
thing as "I don't know what to tweet about".

Share your favourite news articles - I read a lot of tech news, so that's what I

always schedule for later.

Share a quote - A lot of people like to draw inspiration from a quote and it's a very

common aspect of Twitter

Get involved in a conversation - Survey what's happening on your Twitter feed

and just reply to someone. Be insightful. Be fun. Chances are they will reply back and
a conversation will get started. It's even better if they're a person you're targeting that
you want to connect with.

Find a hashtag that you have interest for in the "Discover" section and engage

with people talking about it. That will really target the tweets that you find.

Tell the world what you're doing right now - It's sometimes the most mundane

of things that people relate to (like the weather for example).

Repurpose your own content from other sources - your blog posts, your

Youtube videos, Udemy courses, online products. Whatever it is, let the world know.

Thank new followers - wish them a good day and encourage them to engage

with you!

Send me a tweet @DrgStefanescu saying that you're enjoying this PDF so far!

D. Optimise Tweet Times

It's very important to tweet at the right times, when most of your followers are online.
There are a variety of ways to do this, but a combination of a tool called SocialBro and
Hootsuite OR Buffer is the winning one.

Even with the free version of SocialBro you can generate a report of your followers
that will show you exactly when most of your followers are online. This ensures that

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the tweets you send out are optimised for maximum impact. That's one objective
fulfilled.

What's even cooler is that you can then export this on a weekly basis to Hootsuite and
Buffer, and not have to worry about what times you're posting at. Just queue the posts
within one of the 2 services and the only other thing you will have to do is refresh this
schedule weekly to optimise it.
Simply go on the top Menu bar to 'Analytics' and then press 'Best times to tweet. You
can then customise how often you want to tweet and export the schedule to either
Buffer or Hootsuite. Works like a charm.

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8. FACEBOOK HACKS
There are many aspects to consider when creating a Facebook Page - how to
organise it, what kind of content to post and when to post it, running promotional
campaigns and so on. I want to focus on a few of these aspects in order to give you a
clear picture of what works for Facebook Pages.

A. The Cover Page

People will visit your page often, so it's quite important to have a cover photo that
reinforces your message and your brand image. It can also become a great lead
generator, as we'll see with the examples that follow

It takes quite a lot of screen real estate (at least 1/4 of the screen on most desktops).
It also houses your "Like", Follow and Message buttons, so this is the area that fans
need to be mesmerised by when visiting your Page.

1. Make sure it's the right size

The required dimensions for your cover photo are 851 x 315. Cover photos vary in
their importance from platform to platform - but I'd say this is the place to get it right.

2. Don't necessarily stick to the 20% text rule

A while back, FB used to have a guideline that wouldn't allow you to cover more than
20% of the photo with text. It's since changed, however you should still remain as
visual as possible and use text for your brand logo, crucial information and CTAs.

3. Be aware of your Profile Photo thumbnail

One useful thing about using Canva when creating your Cover Photo is its preset
template which includes your Profile Photo. You might have realised that the Profile
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Photo this will eat up a chunk of your Cover photo. So take this into account when
creating your cover photo as it can be a source of great frustration.

4. Balance it out

Because of the aforementioned Profile Photo thumbnail cutting into your cover photo,
you might want to balance out the look of it. For instance, place products, logos,
whatever objects you use, towards the right hand side of the screen. This will make
the cover look much much cleaner.
5. If you really want to invest time in a great cover photo

There are a few things you can do

a. Blend your Profile Photo with your cover photo

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b. Direct people towards the buttons that sit on your cover photo

c. Or even use directional cues to make people click that Follow button

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6. Include a shortened link in your Cover photo description that alligns with
your CTA

For those people that do click on your cover photo, have a description on there that
includes your CTA in text. Put up a link and shorten it using bit.ly - this way you can
track conversions from your cover photo.

7. Include crucial info

This should go without saying, but you can include info about your presence on other
social networks. For example, you could show your LinkedIn URL, Twitter handle or
Blog URL.

B. Edgerank
Before we dig into how you can engage your Fans on Facebook, it's important to
understand FB's algorithm for Timelines which is called Edgerank.

This algorithm constantly sees changes, and in turn these changes affect the organic
reach of your posts. By organic reach I mean the number of people that your post can
reach without paid traffic (ads). The 3 criteria they take into account are:

Affinity: this is determined by the relationship you have with the person who is

viewing your post - a score of how much you engage on a regular basis.

It's important to note that this only works one way: for example if you follow someone
closely and interact with their updates, that doesn't mean you will appear in their news
feed more often if they don't do the same.

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Weight: Think of it as the buzz that the post generates - it takes into account

engagement such as like, comments, shares etc.

Time Decay: Your post can't be relevant forever, it probably only is for a few hours.

Hence why it will decrease in importance as time passes by.

C. What kind of posts can you put up on Facebook?

It's important to be aware of the different types of posts that we can create and which
ones will give us the largest organic reach (be shown to the highest number of people
without having to pay for ads). This is because we have to tailor to Facebook's
Edgerank algorithm. We can only tell when the algorithm changes by seeing the reach
that different types of posts get.

Photos

Are actually preferable to text updates - it's been observed that their reach is actually
way larger. So try to accompany your posts with a photo.

One thing that you can do is to post a text status as a photo - so instead of just writing
a text update, have it spelled out in a photo - it will occupy more space in the news
feed and will attract more people's attention (Hint: You can do this with Canva very
easily)

Text updates

Even with their decrease in reach, they still add to a balanced posting strategy. The
best way to employ them is to use them to ask questions or have fill-in-the-blank
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statuses. If your fans are engaged with your brand they will contribute via comments
& likes and will extend the lifespan of the post.

Links

These are the most important out of the 3, because their nature means that you can
direct traffic from FB to wherever you wish to. Here's 3 things you absolutely must do
when posting links redirecting people to your blog, website or online marketplace:

Have a CTA: Make sure to tell them why they should click on that post. Include

things typical to CTAs such as time constraints, scarcity and incentives.

Have a great photo: The link will display the photo of your landing page - this

needs to look good and it also needs to fit the width of the FB Timeline

Use a trackable URL: Rather than post the link to your website, compress it using

bit.ly and so you can track the number of people that are funnelled further thanks to
your FB post. Alternatively, you can use pretty links.

Native Video

This means uploading videos straight to Facebook, rather than posting YouTube links
for example.

Uploading native video is actually prioritised by Edgerank - your post will have a larger
reach if you do so. Additionally, the trend worldwide is that marketers will heavily
accelerate the use of native video, so don't be left behind!

How to use it

So what are the top tips when producing video for your audience?

Capture their imagination with the first frame

Because videos go on auto-play, it's important to capture your viewers attention from
the get-go. Imagine this, you're scrolling through your news feed and some video just
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starts playing. Chances are, you're going to continue scrolling and ignore it unless it
catches your attention somehow.

Have tremendous visuals

This relates to the point above - your video will play on mute. The fact that you might
be offering your viewers valuable information might be irrelevant if you can't engage
them with your visuals

Post raw content that not many others might have

You might be shy, you might not want to be on camera. But posting raw videos of
yourself sending an important message is key to differentiating yourself from the
others and showing your fans your personality. There are also a lot of video editing
apps on smartphones, so the process is at your disposal!

Engage people with a CTA (Call To Action)

Did you think CTAs would not be present? It's important & very engaging to provide
viewers with a CTA. If you do it, they'll be more likely to do what you want them to do.

Embed your Facebook Video post to your Website

It would be cool to post your video to your website as part of an article. What would
be even cooler is if you could post it entirely, along with the comments and likes.

Here's how you can do this: Navigate to the full video post by clicking 'Videos' and
then the title of your video. Underneath the video you will have a button which says
'Options', select that and then click Embed Post. This will generate a HTML code that
you can then post to your website. Enjoy!

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Conclusion
Social Media is the number one online activity. This in itself guarantees there will be
a lot of Social Media platforms with different characteristics. The 3 explored in this ebook are a few of the most important ones. However, the key to Social Media is
diversifying and being consistent.

Diversification - Be present on as many platforms as possible. Of course, if this takes

away from your productivity or if you're posting on a network without seeing any
returns, then that presence is not justified. However, each network will tailor to a
certain type of audience and it's important to experiment all of them and find out which
one can be the most helpful for you.

Consistency - is the key word when it comes to extending your reach on Social
Media. There are no quick fixes, no large followings built in a week and no tangible
results without a clear & consistent Social Media strategy. Don't fool yourself into
thinking that you can trick the system because you can't.

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