How to Organically Get on Your Clients’ News Feeds

With Facebook’s ever-changing algorithm, it’s essential to adjust your strategy to land the most views and interaction on the social network. The organic reach of most Facebook posts doesn’t get to nearly as many people as it used to, so you might have to work a little harder. Here are some tips to land your business’ page on potential clients’ news feeds without having to shell out the money to pay for the exposure.

Publish Evergreen Content
If you post timeless content, then your audience will be able to “like” and comment on it for a longer period of time. As more people keep liking and commenting, the increased engagement probes the Facebook algorithm to ensure that your post gets distributed further, and that it appears in other peoples’ feeds for longer. If you plan on repeating blogs, come up with a new image, title, and description so people don’t get tired of seeing the same post over and over.

Engage
This is an obvious one, but don’t underestimate the benefits of engaging with your audience, including sharing the posts of others. As you read other blogs, like and share them with a one or two-line comment. Liking and commenting are obvious ways to engage, but also be sure to use and encourage emojis – they rank higher on Facebook than a like.

Tag People
Tag people in your posts, but don’t just tag any random profile. Tag people that you know will have an opinion or get pumped about the post. If you know that someone will be excited, passionate, or even angry about the subject, having them comment will create a conversation. If you can create conversation, the algorithm will automatically make it show up in more news feeds. If you don’t want to tag specific people, you can also ask a question that will immediately increase engagement while prompting others to respond.

Share Video and Image Content
Users prefer to engage with video and images, rather than text or link posts because they’re usually seen as boring and are generally more time-consuming than video and images. It’s easy to like and share a picture or video without having to click through to another webpage or read a lengthy article before deciding if it’s worth sharing. And if you can create your own video content, even better. Make sure there’s a clear call to action at the end of the post, such as “like this post if you agree” or “tag a friend who would like this”.

Make Use of Facebook Groups­
Facebook groups can be surprisingly supportive. Type your niche or business plus “group” in the search bar and browse through the results until you find some that might be interested in your posts. By posting links and a short blurb on these groups, you can increase your traffic and exposure.

Although the organic reach on Facebook has gone down significantly, you can still land on news feeds without having to pay a penny or harassing your audience for views. You just have to know what Facebook is pushing at the moment and strategize accordingly. To work with the recently updated algorithm, you can add an image if you’re going to use a link, actively engage with your audience, encourage conversation, and don’t be afraid to start making your own video content.

 

Helen Jacob | Staff Writer

The Demon Within – Every Writer’s Curse

Writer’s block is inevitable. Every writer goes through the pains of frustration, lack of inspiration, and the overwhelming urge to give up. Writer’s block can be overcome. Each time you succeed it becomes easier to do so in the future. Some causes of writer’s block is personal fear. The Worrying if your work is good enough, the crippling anxiety of never being successful, and terror of being harshly judged. The difference between a good writer and a dreamer is the power of completion. Everyone has these fears. Coming to terms with them is the first step, the next is learning how to overcome the writer’s block.

Eliminate Distractions

Put away the cellphone, turn off the TV, and ask your significant other to go out for a while. We are growing up in a society where everything is at our fingertips. Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest are some of my personal time-consuming enemies. When the itch to check social media, or play a mindless game becomes too overwhelming, I remember that some of the greatest writers started with physical pen and paper. This is where I start. Pressing pen to paper and scribbling out ideas feels like you’re imprinting them directly onto your brain. It is very satisfying, and everything becomes a little clearer.

Get the Blood Flowing

Go for a walk, soak up some vitamin D. Working up a sweat also clears the mind.  As humans, we need to step away and take breathers. Never allow yourself to get overwhelmed by changing your focus and creating energy. By taking your mind from your work you are actually doing it good. Scientists states that working out works up the blood flow and reenergizes your brain. The change of environment and fresh air allows your brain to forget about overwhelming fears or deadlines and allows ideas to formulate. Taking a breather by moving your attention from writing to Facebook is not reenergization, its procrastination. Get out, walk the dog, jog to the park, or climb local peaks, and blood flow will get your ideas moving and onto the page.

Don’t Get Overwhelmed

Start with a small three-point checklist. A To Do List is endless. Give yourself the pleasure of checking off your accomplishments. By allowing yourself this credit, you will actually increase your productivity. No longer do you have an overwhelming 500-page book to write, but one name to think of, one paragraph to write, and one title to create. All these points are important, necessary and entirely manageable.

What does not help writer’s block is waiting for inspiration to come. Wallowing in self-pity, or allowing the aforementioned fear to overwhelm you, will not bring about the next greatest novel or inspiring blog.  Writing is work, but watching how characters grow, or learning from research is immediately strive for. We crave to create. Start right away, and see where your writing path takes you, not having the perfect story in mind first is normal and encouraged. You might find you ended up where you never originally imagined – maybe your final destination is the New York Times Best Selling List.

 

 

Janine Matetich | DBPC Blog

Reasons Why Being a Perfectionist Can Halt Your Career

The need to strive for perfection often begins during childhood, when you are told that nothing is impossible. In some cases, this might be true. However, obsessively chasing after goals that might be realistically out of your reach or that are unnecessary can lead to a lifetime of frustration and self-loathing. Not only can it lead to personal frustration, it can also aggravate the people around you as well.

 

Your co-workers might not be impressed by your over-eagerness

Being a perfectionist at work is not always seen at as a positive characteristic –especially by your co-workers. They might find you to be annoying and difficult to work with.

Occasionally, you’ll find yourself frustrated when things are not done the way you expect them to be. As a result, you will find it difficult to work with your co-workers simply because they don’t meet your expectations. Teaching them to do things your way, the “correct way”, won’t help you or them either.

Having your co-workers dislike you for something that you might not perceive as a problem can lead to conflict between you and the people you work with.

The longer road doesn’t necessarily lead to perfection

Perfectionists, ironically, tend to be procrastinators. Their desire for everything to be completed to perfection usually means that an assignment will be worked on until the last minute before its deadline, leaving less time for other assignments. Those assignments, in turn, will require more time to be completed to satisfaction.

Going the long way to get everything done perfectly and creating far more work than is necessary can be a potential waste of time. This will not only slow down the company’s progress, but infuriate co-workers as well.

Perfectionism can act as a trigger for stress

Constantly second-guessing your work and questioning whether it is perfect or not might cause you to develop stress and anxiety issues to the point where you might dislike your job. This will then make it difficult for you to get out of bed in the morning to go to work, which might lead to a consistent pattern of arriving late to the office.

However, even if you find that you are achieving perfection with your work and it isn’t causing you stress, you will want to be consistently recognized for the outstanding work that you are doing. If you don’t receive the constant recognition and praise you think you deserve, you’ll feel discouraged, frustrated and unappreciated.

If you feel that your drive for perfection is beginning to trouble you, you will have to ask yourself; is the price that you pay for success worth it? Do not ignore that it might be affecting your physical and mental health, your job and your personal life.

You spend roughly half of the waking hours of each weekday at work. Ensuring that this environment is comfortable is not only necessary for building healthy professional relationships with your co-workers, but for your own well-being as well.

 

L. Ghafoor | DBPC

Job Rejection: Causes and Prevention

Have you ever experienced job rejection at some point in your life?  If so, don’t be discouraged.  You’re not alone.  Almost all had gone through the process.  It is commonly encountered, yet it can be avoided.  Though causing much disappointment, the reasons behind job rejection are oftentimes beyond your control.  Among these could be: the cancellation of the advertised position due to recession or cost-cutting; the hiring of a more qualified person; and, the hiring of somebody based on “who-he-knows” contrary to the “what-he-knows” process.

On the flipside, there are also reasons that are within your control.  Below are the common ones with corresponding tips on how to prevent it:

Resumes and Cover Letters

Lengthy, irrelevant resumes – Limit your resume to 2 pages as recruiters only spend 6 seconds when screening.  Ensure that it contains all the essential elements like the keywords indicated in the job posting plus any of your specific achievements that relate to the position being applied for.  It should be error-free, no discrepancies like employment gaps, and with simple but effective format.

Irrelevant cover letters – Customize the cover letter for every job position that you apply for.  Ensure to attach your resume when you send it via email.

Incomplete applications – Read the job ad properly and make sure that you comply with what the employer requires, i.e., video resumes, work samples.

Interviews

Being late – Always come early for an interview.  Arriving late will give the employer an impression of your carelessness and unreliability.  Inform the employer ahead if you cannot be punctual on the day of the interview.

Being unprepared – Conduct a research about the company and the position being applied for before the interview.  Nonetheless, do not forget to mention what you can bring to the table as the company wants to know how they will benefit from you.

Lack of technical knowledge or giving short and non-substantive answers – Respond in more detail to technical questions.  Showcase your core competencies by elaborating your answers.  Do it in a clear, concise, and engaging manner and give specific examples of competencies by using the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, and Result) technique.

Inability to relate – You should relate your skills to the position being interviewed for or in addressing the company needs.

Lack of enthusiasm – Be energetic; show your interest and excitement about the job and the company.

Asking the wrong questions – Never ask about vacation and other related questions as this will reflect what’s on your mind.

Dressing improperly – Dress professionally and neatly as this reflects the type of personality that you have.  Cover body prints or remove piercings, if any.

If you are not successful in getting any job position, don’t despair.  Never ever make the mistake of perceiving rejection as a sign of failure.  Rather, view it as a test to your patience and resilience.  Rationalize by thinking that the firm which rejected you is the wrong company and that you deserve a better one.  Yet, be cognizant of the stiff competition given the large population of job searchers composed of the unemployed like you, the yearly addition of fresh graduates, and those from recent company layoffs.

Make it always a habit to analyze what went through your job application process.  Learn from each experience.  Identify your mistakes, make improvements and move on.  There are plenty of opportunities out there.  Widen your network.  Connect and make yourself visible.  Build your core strengths, be more competitive, focus on other opportunities, and continue to present yourself to the best you can.  Don’t give up!  Sooner than you expect, a better opportunity would come along.

 

  • M. L. Galvez-Ver

 

  • DBPC Blog

How to Effectively Condense Your Resume

The appropriate length of a resume will vary depending on your experience and the level of the position you are applying for.  Many will recommend that it stay under 3 pages, but if you find that you absolutely cannot condense it any further without leaving out important selling points, then feel free to make it longer.  For most people, however, especially entry-level employees, you should never need more than 2 pages or so.  Here are a few tips to help you shave down your resume without compromising on quality.

Keep your career summary/objectives short

Say what your proficiencies are and what you’re interested in pursuing.  Keep it to one paragraph.

Don’t go too far back in your work history

If you’re already somewhat established in the workforce, old part-time high school jobs often aren’t particularly relevant to the current position you are applying for.   They take up unnecessary room, while not contributing much to selling your skillset.  Worse yet, they may distract employers and leave them wondering why you included them in the first place.

Keep several versions of your resume

Instead of trying to jam all of your experience into a single resume, have focused, specialized resumes for each industry you’re applying for.  This now allows you to create a distinctive profile as a potential employee, but also avoids clutter and allows you to be more succinct without giving up relevant information.

Use functional highlights to condense similar work experience

You can avoid a lot of redundancy by compiling your accomplishments from similar roles into a single functional highlights category and then simply listing the positions separately.  This allows you to demonstrate that you’ve worked in a similar role at different companies, while preventing you from having to repeat the same duties and achievements 2 or 3 times.

Avoid using fluff in your description

Too many bullet points can take up unnecessarily large amounts of space, while not giving your employer particularly useful information.  For example, do they really need to hear that you “work hard” or are “good with deadlines”?  These things should be implied when they look at your accomplishments from your previous jobs.

Writing a resume can be a tiring experience, so it’s important that its key features are done correctly.  A resume isn’t a history of your entire work life; it’s a way for employers to understand the value you can bring to them.  Keeping things short and sweet but still informative is the best way to ensure that happens.

Lance | DBPC Blog

 

 

How to Overcome the Glass Ceiling

If you ask someone in the workforce what job satisfaction means to them, you’ll often hear it defined by a variety of factors, including culture, pay, vacation time and room for growth; in this instance, we will be focusing on the latter.  Nobody wants to feel like they aren’t able to move up in an organization.  It makes you feel unappreciated and can quickly result you in becoming disgruntled and disengaged.  What many don’t understand is that advancement has to do with a lot more than just being good at your job and that opportunities often exist but you have to proactively seek them out.  Today, we outline some of the best ways for you to seize the opportunities available in your company.

Define your own expertise

The type of work you take on, and the way in which you present yourself will decide how others see you and your role.  Take some time to reflect on areas where you have the most passion/knowledge for and learn to see yourself as a professional with respect to that particular expertise.  If you grow to see yourself as a marketing expert, for example, and constantly describe yourself and take on work in that capacity, then others will grow to view you in that light as well.

Don’t allow yourself to flounder in a role where you are merely performing up to standard.  Find ways to acquire work or assignments that allow you to take full advantage of your greatest strengths and really allow you to showcase your unique value as an employee.

Seek high profile projects that allow management to notice your strengths

A good work ethic is a useful characteristic to have, but it do much for your career if it isn’t directed towards something that the company is paying attention to.  Talk to management and co-workers about important projects coming up, and express your interest in contributing; however, to build the necessary trust between you and the company, you will first need to…

Study your workplace culture

Not all success can be attributed to the quality of your work or the depth of your expertise.  Sometimes, it’s simply a matter of whether people like working with you or not.  Keep an eye on common informal practices and expectations outside of your regular duties.

Network within the company

Very rarely do we accomplish anything completely on our own.  At some point, we all need someone to help open a door for us to walk through, and with that in mind, it is important to cultivate a list of allies at your workplace.  These are individuals who will go to bat for you when it counts and who will vouch for your ability to perform and support your desire to be given more important tasks.  They can also be people to whom you can express a desire to take on new roles.  Your allies will inevitably be a diverse set, running the gamut from co-workers to superiors.

Acquire additional training

Working on more important assignments may require you to learn new skills or expand your current knowledge set.  Take time to acquire new certifications that are relevant to your desired role and inquire about training programs offered by the company.

Landing your dream role or moving into a desirable management/executive position is all about being active.  Promotion tends not to happen if you wait around passively for someone to recognize your hard work.  By actively seeking out ways to make yourself visible to the higher-ups, you create opportunities for your career to keep growing and evolving.

 

Lance | DBPC Blog