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Tag: business
Let’s Talk About Entrepreneurship, Mindset, and Success
What happens when three smart, relatable entrepreneurs—Monica Monfre, Erica Reitan, and Marc Ronick—sit down with hosts Jonathan Howard and Mimi Langley for a roundtable chat? You get a lively, no-BS conversation packed with advice and stories that hit home. Here are some amazing takeaways from this season 2 episode of Coffee Social
1. Those “I Made It” Moments
You know that feeling when everything clicks, and you’re like, “Yep, this is it”? The panel had their share:
Marc Ronick’s Highlight Reel: For Marc, it was hosting his first Empowered Podcasting Conference. Marc went from working solo to standing in a room full of people you’ve brought together. That’s what community-building magic looks like.
Monica Monfre’s Take: Recognition has always been Monica’s vibe. Whether it’s a big shoutout from an industry leader or a random stranger recognizing her from Instagram, it’s all about those meaningful moments.
Erica Reitman’s Breakthrough: HGTV sliding into Erica’s inbox after finding her interior design blog was a game-changer. Her big takeaway? Dream bigger because why not?
2. Mindset: The Secret Sauce
Here’s the thing about mindset: it can make or break you. The crew broke it down:
- Marc Ronick: Marc swears by his morning routine—exercise, meditation, and growth time. Oh, and he keeps a stash of positive feedback for those days when imposter syndrome shows up uninvited.
- Erica Reitman: Erica’s go-to line, “Your brain is a dick,” is painfully accurate. She’s all about learning how to deal with those mental spirals and coming out stronger.
- Monica Monfre: Monica’s secret weapon? Human design. Knowing she’s a “projector” helped her lean into her natural strengths and find joy in her work.
- Jonathan Howard: Jonathan keeps it real—avoid burnout by setting realistic goals and making to-do lists you can finish. Celebrate every little thing you check off.
- Mimi Langley: Find your “business bestie” or coach. Because sometimes, you need someone to hype you up when you’re feeling meh.
3. The Pivot Playbook
Let’s be honest—pivoting can be scary, but it’s necessary. Here’s how they handled it:
- Monica Monfre: Monica ditched the “guru” advice to stick to one offer. Her mantra? “If it’s not lighting you up, it’s time to pivot—even if it’s just a half-pivot.”
- Erica Reitman: Erica embraced her need for change, realizing that pivoting isn’t failing—it’s growth in action.
- Marc Ronick: Adapting to client needs and keeping an open mind has been Marc’s winning strategy. Sometimes it’s not about reinventing the wheel—just tweaking it.
4. Redefining Success
Success doesn’t look the same for everyone. Here’s what the group had to say:
- Monica Monfre: Success isn’t just about making money. For Monica, going back to a full-time job that fuels her passion was a win.
- Erica Reitan: Learning to let people (and herself) just be has brought Erica peace. Success is as much about personal growth as it is about professional wins.
- Marc Ronick: Marc’s definition of success? Helping podcasters find their voice. It’s all about those one-on-one wins.
- Jonathan Howard: Entrepreneurship isn’t a race to an endpoint. It’s about celebrating your journey, however messy or slow it might feel.
Takeaways You Can Use
- Celebrate Your Wins: Big or small, a win is a win. Don’t let it go unnoticed.
- Fix Your Mindset: Start a morning routine, journal, or try Erica’s “add to cart” technique for reframing envy as inspiration.
- Embrace Change: A pivot isn’t the end of the world. It’s just the next chapter.
- Own Your Success: Forget cookie-cutter goals. What feels successful to you? That’s what matters.
Entrepreneurship isn’t about perfection; it’s about showing up, learning as you go, and having a little fun along the way. Whether you’re just starting out or thinking about your next pivot, these takeaways are here to help you crush it—on your own terms.
Special thanks to all of our guests for this episode. To catch the full episode of the Coffee Coffee Social Podcast just click here!
Business Transparency: Real Conversations Series
Are You Ready to Dive Into Transparency Head First
Jonathan Howard of JRH Graphics and Melanie Richards of Increase Your Visibility Discuss Business Transparency
- Jonathan Howard
- JRH Graphics
- www.jrhgraphics.com
- jhoward@jrhgraphics.com
- facebook.com/jrhgraphics
- instagram.com/jonathanrhoward
- Melanie Richards
- Increase Your Visibility
- https://increaseyourvisibility.biz
- melanie@increaseyourvisibility.biz
- faceboook.com/IncreaseYourVisibilitywithMel/
- Illuminations Groups: bit.ly:/IamVisible
Business Transparency
In its purest sense, business transparency means apparent, unencumbered honesty. A transparent company is a company that is honest in its business practices. However, there is more to it than that. Open companies do not hold anything back from their employees, customers, and investors. No hidden agendas and the narrative is unified. Transparency requires all information required for collaboration, cooperation, and collective decision making is available. Transparency is essential to the success of any business in the correct marketplace and a major building block needed for trust to be established. Simple right? You all know what that definition means and how you can apply it to your business. That’s okay we aren’t sure about some of it either. It’s not surprising that many believe that transparency is nothing but an overused buzzword.
A Real Conversation
Business transparency is precisely the type of topic we love to cover on the “Real Conversations Series.” It’s a hot button subject and many people have strong opinions on topics like this. Hot button topics provide for exciting conversations. Jonathan of JRH Graphics and Melanie Richards of Increase Your Visibility sit down to have a real discussion about transparency. Nothing to sell, no agreed-upon discussion points, no script, and no roadmap. Just a real conversation that touches on a wide variety of subjects ranging from the role of vulnerability in transparency to the role respect plays in business. For new entrepreneurs we explore the importance of just showing up as well as allowing your true self to guide your way. And for established entreprenuers we look at what it means to be an expert adn the key steps needed to establish your expertise on social media.
This lively conversation was important and very fun to have with Melanie. We hope that it helps entrepreneurs understand a bit more about difficult topics such as transparency and how they may impact your business.
What Are Your Takeaways?
Jonathan and Mel provide you with their takeaways at the end of this video, but we want to know what you have as takeaway. What did you learn? What stuck with you? Has this video changed the way that you look at transparency as a whole. We would love to hear your comments in the comment section of the blog below or on social media! If you have questions that you want answered, please reach out and ask us.
Also, please share what would have made this video better or what expectations you had for the video that were not met. Our goal is to continue to provide you withthe best information available, with a practical spin.
Please note, this is the 2nd in the Real Conversations Series, if you would like to see the first one look for Authenticity Beyond The Buzzword!
9 Tips for Engaging The Holiday Audience
Tips for Engaging the Holiday Audience
Tips to Engage my holiday audience are different than my everyday strategies. Really? Overall, the concepts stay the same; you should just be operating at a slightly higher cadence. And maybe with a few extra jingle bells. Your audience during the Holidays is generally under a time crunch, more likely to be stressed, and focused on what value you can deliver.
What are some ways that you can reach your audience and help them save time? Ease their holiday stress? How can you show them higher value from the services you offer? From social media posts to services provided, I am reviewing 9 Tips that will help you engage your audience this holiday and keep them coming back into the new year. And Right up front here is your bonus tip, don’t forget to sprinkle everything with a bit of Holiday Cheer!
Plan Your Content and Create an Experience
One of the most important things you should do leading up to the holidays to engage your audience is to plan your content. Make sure that what you are posting on social media and your website matches what is happening IRL! Scheduling your posts in advance will allow you to tell a cohesive and engaging story online while still providing varied and “edutaining” content. Planning will enable you to highlight specific products and services deliberately. Your marketing and social media should lay the groundwork for the fantastic shopping experience that they can expect when they shop with you. When they enter your store or website, greet them with an experience that exceeds their expectations.
How Do You Exceed Expectations?
You exceed your customers’ expectations through planning. If you plan your marketing, social media, promotional calendar, and in-store events collaboratively, you can create more with less. It is also easier to get others to work collaboratively with you when you create a shopping “event.” Which only requires a theme, a sign, and people saying it is a shopping event. You can also exceed customers’ expectations by offering unexpected service standards. For example, at my last Barnes & Noble College Store, we would wrap presents for any customer that wanted them wrapped. We never included that on any marketing; we just asked if they wished to have their gifts wrapped. In the first year, we delighted a lot of customers by doing this. The next year we had customers telling us that they came to us instead of a competitor across town because we would wrap their presents for them. And the overall shopping experience was better too!
Engage the Holiday Audience by Keep All Marketing Simple, Clean and Cohesive
As a small to medium-size business, chances are you do your marketing. During the Holiday season, it is more important than ever to keep it simple. Don’t confuse your customers. Eliminate the need for the fine print. Utilize the same elements in your marketing across all marketing, promotion, and in-store assets so that your marketing is yours.
Simple and Clean
Pick a holiday color and theme and stick to it. Make all of your assets match using the same background and color you decide to apply for Holiday. A great way to create an impact for the holiday season is to change out all signage in the store to a Holiday sign with a festive base that is different from your standard signage. Changing the assets is a reasonably low-cost way to dramatically change the look and feel of your brick-and-mortar location as well as your website and social media. The signs should be a part of the story that you are telling with your product.
Resist the urge to over-sign and do not make signs hard to understand. If you want to run a Buy One Get One Free Promotion in a category, then that entire category should be included. If your employees need a document to decipher the sale, then you are going to have customers that are upset or don’t understand the restrictions. Clear, easy to understand, no explanation needed signs and policies are essential if you want happy customers this holiday.
Cohesive Assets
You want your customer’s to be able to recognize your content and marketing at first glance. In seconds you want them to know that what they are looking at is representative of your brand. During the holiday rush, this is even more important as people have less free time to look further. Remember, you have 8 seconds to hold a person’s attention, you don’t want to waste that 8 seconds on them identifying your brand. Pick a Holiday color and stick to it. Use your brand color as the secondary color in all holiday marketing. If a background can’t be scaled appropriately for use on multiple platforms or signs, don’t use it. Keeping these assets cohesive across your brand will facilitate the storytelling and selling process.
Engage by Making Shopping Easy
A great way to engage your customers this Holiday Season is to make shopping with you easy. Create stories with your products, both online and in-store by grouping like products together. You can also cross merchandise items to tell a story. You can identify the connection between products in a well-displayed product story without a sign. If a customer needs a sign to understand the story, then that grouping may be a stretch. Clusters give your customers options and put items in their hands, or online carts that they might not have expected. Creating groupings like Great Gifts for Dad, Gifts for the Traveler, Gifts for Shoe Lovers also create a starting point for customers to look at what you have to offer.
Holiday Gift Guides
Another great way to make shopping easy is to create a simple holiday gift guide that features some suggested items in different categories based on what you want to highlight. A single sheet of letter-size paper on the counter can do wonders for your customers. While they may not shop at that moment, many customers will take one and may return to get something on it. These serve as tools to get your customers thinking about you as a resource for them during the holidays.
Create A One-Stop Shop Experience
What are some things that people ask you for that you don’t have? During the holidays, not having batteries if products you are selling require them may cost you a sale. When I say create a one stop shop experience; I understand you can not be everything to everyone! You should make sure that people can walk out with everything they need for anything you sell. Also, have an option available for them to wrap gifts, and either cards or gift tags. You want to make it easy for your customers to purchase gifts from you, you don’t want to send them elsewhere to get giftwrap, cards or batteries because they may just go elsewhere for the gift as well.
Engage the Audience with Events But Don’t Interfere
Events provide you with opportunities to engage followers, drive new business, introduce a wider audience to your brand, and to fill the environment with Holiday cheer. These are all reasons to have a robust calendar of events during the holidays. When planning these events be sure to take into consideration the impact they may have on your location. Will the event cause you to block off a portion of the sales floor customers may want to shop? Will a VIP Night require you to close the store early? Generally, the benefits of the event outweigh the impact on the customer in these cases but during the Holiday Season the opposite is true.
Showcase A Charity or Socially Responsible Brand
As you can see from the statistic to the left, cause-based marketing and socially responsible products are popular among consumers. These types of products will drive consumers to your location. Showcasing a charity or one of these socially accountable brands also allows your customers to feel good about their holiday purchase as a portion of the sales is going towards a good cause. Remember to research the values and goals of the brands that you bring in. Make sure that their stance aligns with your brand and beliefs, and you are publically aligning yourself with them.
Know Who You Are Aligning With
The public alignment between yourself and the cause-based brand or charity can yield many benefits. However, if the brand or charity you choose has values that do not align with your audience, you may have a small public relations situation on your hands. So do your due diligence, work with brands that have a proven track record, and be able to discuss the charity or brand you are working with in-depth based on facts.
Engage Your Audience by Adding Local Flair
Work with local vendors to showcase some unique items that will add a special touch to your holiday assortment. These individual items and local vendors will add another dimension to your product selection. It provides your audience with an unexpected option that will delight them. It helps you drive your business and gives local and small businesses more exposure.
Adding local vendors also opens up the opportunity to engage another segment of an audience. Small and local businesses have loyal followers that are willing to shop at establishments that support the local economy. Allowing these businesses to market select items as part of your holiday collection helps you engage a new audience that may not have shopped with you. The goodwill that is created by doing this also extends past the holiday season. Continue collaborating with vendors throughout the year, and you will see an increase in traffic and support from many other local businesses.
Celebrate the Season
This one seems obvious, but it is my experience that many times, businesses forget about this. Plan events, promotions, and train your staff to highlight the meaning of the season. Be authentic in your celebration of the Holiday. Include stories of hope and goodwill in the stories you tell as part of your holiday celebration. Bring your community together with special holiday events like tree lightings, caroler, and a reading of Twas The Night Before Christmas. Surprise your audience with a free beverage while they shop, or some warm hot chocolate during the first snow of the Holiday. Remember the spirit of Christmas in every interaction and see how you can use it to make each member of your audience smile.
Don’t Forget Other Key Holidays
Don’t forget the other holidays celebrated by your audience. Add Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, and others to your calendar and make sure to recognize them when they happen. In some areas, you may wish to bring in select merchandise for these holidays, as well. Also, make sure you use the term “Happy Holidays” when greeting your customers to be inclusive.
Thank Your Customers
Thank your customers for shopping with you. Thinking of you. Thank them for being loyal customers, and for choosing you to help them celebrate the Holidays. Another one that seems like a no-brainer, but many businesses do not do this enough. A great way to engage your audience is to thank them for being your audience. You should thank them for being loyal followers on social media, thank them for shopping with you when they make a purchase, thank them for stopping in when they come and browse your store or website. A customer that feels appreciated is more likely to purchase.
Thank Your Customers Advanced Move
Want to go one step further in thanking your customers? Run a Thank You drive! Create cards that say thank you, and have a spot for a customer’s name and a place to thank them for something, write one out for each customer with something unique on it. Create a location in-store where they can take a photo with their card and encourage them to post it on social media. Dedicate a few feed posts and maybe a lot of story posts to the customers that you thank during the Holiday. Imagine the goodwill this creates.
The 9 Holiday Engagement Strategies
These 9 Strategies are based on Jonathan’s 18 years of retail experience. He has seen success with these strategies used together or individually. They will help you engage the holiday audience this season. Depending on the type of business and your location these may be used at varying levels, however, we believe that the concepts are universal. Experiment with a few and build on your successes. We would also love to hear about how you engage your holiday audience and what has worked for you.
What’s Your Story? Unleash Your Business Superpower
Surrounded by Darkness
It is 2:45 am on August 24, 2008, and blackness surrounded me. I am laying face down and unconscious in the middle of Columbus Ave in Boston. The man who had moments before been stomping on my head, yelling for me to die was gone. This vicious and unprovoked attack left two friends in the hospital and two others afraid to leave their apartments.
To this day, I have no recollection of what happened; it was all very cloudy and grey in my mind. What I do remember is waking up in the hospital. Confused. Distraught. And in pain. But there was also something else that felt different, but at that moment I could not pinpoint what this different feeling was.
The Darkness Returns
Months later, my attacker pled guilty to 9 counts. But justice was not served as he walked out of the courtroom with his freedom and instructions to attend anger management classes. Once again, I was surrounded by only darkness.
Where was the justice in that sentence?
What message is this sentence sending to people?
Before this moment in my life, I never had any desire to share my Story. My experiences were unique to me and had no way of impacting others. In my mind, those who said they were going to change the world were merely tilting at windmills.
My Own Story Transformed My Thoughts and Beliefs
I left the courtroom, angry and upset, and I walked to calm my nerves. My voice cracked as I answered the first call from a reporter following up on the case. But that small crack in my voice was the last I ever saw of the person who didn’t share his Story. I delivered an emotional but rational response that highlighted the critical points to the argument I had laid out in my head. Ending the conversation with a simple but powerful, imagine if you were the one lying face down on the pavement, how would it feel to know that the man who did this to you walked free.
And I continued to tell my story. Zeroing in on all the emotions that someone experiences when they are violently attacked and continued to ask them to imagine if it was them. Just a short while had passed, and something extraordinary and entirely unexpected started to happen. People began to listen. But not only listen, these listeners then started to re-tell my Story, to rally around it, and to take actions to try to prevent things like this from happening again.
The world around me began to lighten.
My Story Was Now Bigger Than Me
Then one morning, my phone rings and the voice on the other end says, “Please hold for Senator Kennedy’s Office.” The Senator wanted to use my Story as part of his floor speech in support of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Bill. A bill he fought tirelessly for. Legislation that this country desperately needed if we had any chance of preventing attacks like the one that happened to me and so many others.
That Bill was Senator Kennedy’s windmill and his legacy. I can only imagine what he felt the day the bill became law.
Darkness is Lifted
The passage of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Bill marked the moment when color began flooding back into my life . The darkness had finally lifted. I took a deep breath and walked back into my technicolor world a different person than when I was ripped from it the year before. That period of darkness taught me many lessons that will stay with me for a lifetime. But I was happy to return to my technicolor world and continue to use the new found superpower of storytelling to brighten the world just a bit more.
Laying The Groundwork for JRH Graphics
I was still many years away from establishing JRH Graphics, but I was unknowingly laying the groundwork for my future business. As the head of GLAAD’s DC Leadership Council, I worked with a team to help amplify the local stories that needed to be heard by a larger audience. And the fight for marriage equality came to DC, and GLAAD DC LC told lots of amazing and compelling stories of love.
Then there was a wedding contest that was supposed to be for fun. It was a 3 month full fledged storytelling, marketing, and social medi blitz that landed a gay couple in second place in a NATIONAL wedding contest. That would be me and my ex-husband of course. And a small New York Times photo, of minor importance. Or we were on the cover above the fold on the day marriage was legalized in DC. Plus a wide array of rallies, and speeches and so much more. Through this, I was honing my craft. I was learning to trust my gut. And most of all, I was repeatedly being amazed by the power of stories.
Understanding the Importance of Stories
I learned so many lessons running these campaigns, but none was more important than how powerful stories can be. Stories are like no other medium. They empower, inform, and encourage action. Stories are transformational. Stories capture hearts and minds. A good storyteller can simplify even the most difficult issues and create greater understanding with a story. Stories create powerful connections between seemingly unrelated things, and stories bring people together. Something we need now more than ever.
This is My Story
So this is my Story; it is my authentic and emotional Story about how I learned of the power that stories possess. This is also a happy story for me, it is an awful thing that should never happen to anybody else. But it happened to me for a reason, and it allowed me to uncover my passion, and build a business around something I love. This story is a portion of my overall brand and a part of what makes JRH Graphics different.When you boil all of what I told you down to its essential elements, it is about transforming hate into love. Hate and love are universal emotions. Everybody knows love in some way, and everybody knows hate. These universal emotions are the secret sauce, they are what allows the Story to connect with an audience.
So, What’s Your Story?
Want to know a secret? The words you use to answer this question don’t matter at first. The first time I ask it I am listening to how you provide the answer, then I am watching your body language, and looking for something that will clue me in to the fact that there is a bit more. And then I push.
Why do I push…
Because each time I ask the question “What’s Your Story,” I am trying to get down to the “why.” When you finally reach the real reason behind why you do what you do, the rest falls into place. Your Story becomes your roadmap for everything you do. It provides clarity and purpose for your business as well as great content for me to post on social media.
An authentic story that connects to your why and engages your target audience makes everything easier. Content creation is more straightforward; engagement is more organic, scaling your business is natural and creating measurable goals that move you towards where you want to be in 5/10/15 years is a piece of cake because all the key factors are aligned.
A T-shirt is More Than Just A T-shirt
I want to give you an example. I had a business I was working with to build a brand that they could use that felt authentic. The problem was I could not get down to the “Why” with them for weeks.
Why is it that you make these T-shirts? I would ask
Because they are nice, aren’t they!
Why not cotton socks?
Because we make nice t-shirts.
After a few weeks of beating my head against the wall, I finally saw a glimpse of something and pushed to eventually discover that the family made the t-shirts because after their father passed away, they could not find one of his favorite ones. They found the fabric of the original shirt and now use it for all of their t-shirts. And instead of their marketing just relying on the fact that they make nice t-shirts a fairly low threshold, we were able to create a niche for them and a new need for consumers.
Because that t-shirt is not what they are selling, they now sell memories. And a simple story overlooked by the business owner made all the difference.
We All Have Powerful Stories, Use Them
I hope this highlights what a well crafted and authentic story can bring to your brand. I also hope that this gives you a bit of insight into my business and, it inspires you to tell your Story. We all have stories they are powerful, don’t be afraid to use them.
Small Business & Social Media Takeaways from The Index
Small Business and Social Media
Download Your Copy Today A majority of the clients I work with own and run small businesses. Small business has many opportunities to capitalize on the power of social media but they arent sure how. When the Sprout Social Index Edition XV came out this year I knew it was the right report to break down to help these small businesses see the value of social media.
Social Media is in a constant state of change. Everybody has their theories on what will happen next. These reports provide you with stats that support some opinions and actual trends that paint a picture of what is happening in the world of social media. As a content creator and social media manager, it is my job to take all of the information and see how it applies to what I am seeing with my clients. I generally walk away from one of these reports with at least a few takeaways, this time I was directing those takeaways towards small businesses.
The Nuts and Bolts of the Index
Nobody can deny the power and value of social media. As I mentioned earlier this year, social media touches almost every single aspect of a business. It is too big to ignore. It supports virtually any marketing objective, and moreover provides useful insights to teams outside of marketing. The team at Sprout Social surveyed over 1,000 social marketers and asked about their social goals, challenges, and expectations. They also surveyed 1,000 consumers to understand what people want from a brand on social media. The Index XV explores how social media and marketing teams can better use social data to drive success for bigger picture business goals. It also explores how to use customer insights and trends to improve social performance.
Breaking It Down
For this blog, I focused on a few of the findings that are relevant to the small businesses I tend to work with. When you view the report through that lens some different items stick out. However, all the results are exciting and relevant. If you are interested in knowing more, I recommend getting your copy of the Index and digging in. And speaking of digging in, here we go!
Marketers and Businesses Need to Dig Deeper to Understand the Audience
Forty-three percent of all social marketers say a significant challenge is identifying and understanding their target audience. To address this concern, marketers turn to social data. Sprout Social explored what your audience wants, and I comment on some of the findings below.
What Your Audience Wants
Why do people follow your business on social media? What do they want to see from your company? To answer these questions, you need to understand how and why people use social media in the first place. While 50% of people follow a brand to find out about new products and services, almost as many (48%) follow a brand to be entertained. Other key reasons that a consumer follows a brand is to get up to date news, connect with others, to be educated, and to communicate with the brand.
What Your Audience Does Not Want
Equally crucial for businesses is to understand is what consumers do not want to see on social media. In business today, the customer experience is of the utmost importance. Delivering poor customer service, including being late to reply to a customer concern can be considered poor service. Poor service can result in an unfollow (read like a lost customer) for 56% of those asked. Your audience wants you to respond quickly, knowledgeably, and provide them with entertaining and informational content daily.
Content Misfires
Poor customer service is the number one reason to unfollow. However, posting irrelevant content, too many ads or too much promotional content can all result in a consumer unfollowing your brand. The importance of having a well-planned posting schedule is evident, and it must be robust with entertaining, useful, and educational content. A plan that does not merely focus on your products and services but adds value to the consumer. A social media calendar like with the aforementioned items is a great way to make sure what you are posting is not pushing customers away.
Social Media Essential Post Framework
Our framework for businesses on social media has addressed this since the beginning. The 9 Essential Posts for Businesses helps you create relevant content in 9 categories. It also serves as a reminder of the 80/20 Golden Rule of Social Media, 80% of your content should be informational and 20% of your content can be promotional. When used with a content calendar, a business can plan content and ensure that it is varied, tells a larger story, and engages the audience. Download your free copy of the 9 Essential Posts here to jumpstart your audience engagement.
Social Media Accountability
This report also made it clear that social media is a massive and essential job. Small businesses need to look at who is manning their social media daily. Are they equipped to answer customer questions? Are questions being responded to within an hour on your social media platforms? Have the correct answers been available? It is my opinion that businesses need to embrace new technology and dedicate capital to the task of engaging customers on social media. Look at chatbot options to serve as the front line and invest in a dedicated “position(s)” to manage social media every day. Social media is no longer a part-time job for the business owner. It is crucial for building an audience and growing your business.
Potential Solutions
If your business can not afford to hire someone internally to manage your social media look at hiring an outside company to handle it. Make sure that the company you hire will be posting custom content that speaks to your brand. JRH Graphics specializes in delivering customized content to our clients. Another option for minimizing expenses and maximizing return is to look for interns at a local college to help you post and manage your daily social media presence. No matter what you do, we recommend upping the attention you pay to your social media. It will continue to be an integral part of your business.
What Content Do Your Followers Like
We know that your followers want to be inspired, entertained, educated and informed. The pattern is the same with the types of posts that a consumer will take action on. Sprout Social asked consumers what types of posts they are most likely to leave comments on or share, the answer was posts that entertained them. This is in line with what most social marketers consider to be effective; 50% of social marketers say entertaining and inspirational posts are the most efective in helping them reach their goals according to the Sprout Social findings.
Consumers Want to Be Engaged and Entertained- Edutained As We Say at JRH Graphics
As you saw in the above chart above, posts that inspire, entertain, teach, and have a story are the most likely to create engagement. What is interesting is that consumers are engaging less and less with offers and coupons promising savings. While sales can attract consumer interest, entertaining, and inspiring posts get the most engagement. Both marketers and consumers supported this finding.
People Want to Learn
Creating posts that are engaging and entertaining and speak to your brand can be slightly overwhelming. But here are a few key things to keep in mind. Remember that you are the expert, share what you know in an engaging way. Use what you have around you when thinking about things to post, your company is unique highlight it. Look at what your competition is posting to get ideas, don’t flat out copy it, but research is ethical. Use your brand story and differentiators as guidance on what to post. Finally, use your team to deliver the message.
Employee Advocacy to Shorten the Long Game
Social media is part of the long game. You are building a loyal customer base that likes, knows, and trusts your business. One way to get your audience to like, know, and trust you sooner is if your employees like know and trust you. According to the Sprout Social report, almost three quarters (72%) of all social marketers use their employees as social media advocates. The report also revealed that forty-five percent of consumers say they are more likely to research a product or service when someone relatable, like an employee, posts about it. Using your employees as advocates helps you keep the content varied on your social. It also helps shorten the time it may take for a follower to become a faithful customer.
Converting Followers to Customers
Not every consumer is going to click the checkout button on the first go-round, and that’s okay. It is vital that you still invest in your followers online. Strengthening the connection you have with your followers can lead to more authentic interactions, more word of mouth referrals, and a loyal customer base. Merely looking at the actions consumers take when they follow a brand highlights some of the value they are bringing to the brand.
Actions Followers Take with Your Brand
Eighty-seven percent of consumers who follows a brand on social media will visit the brands’ website. Seventy-eight percent of consumers visit the brands’ physical store, talk about the brand, or recommend the brand to friends and family. Finally, 77% of consumers will buy that brand over another. These are all substantial numbers that indicate a relationship that is worth nurturing. When it’s time to convert people into active buyers, social marketers should use a combination of discounts, product demonstrations, and educational content, Once again, it is the educational and informational content that is driving consumers forward in the customer journey.
Brands Are Only Scratching the Surface of What Social Can Do
Social media has so much unforeseen power, and you are in a position to experiment and see what else it can do. While sizeable social marketing firms are working to break down silos, you have the freedom to break down existing social barriers and see what lies on the other side. You have the benefit of seeing an opportunity on one day, and the next day be capitalizing on that opportunity. It is not necessary to chase after every wild idea that passes, but it does mean you have the chance to try new things. Based on what has worked in the past or what trends you are currently seeing.
What Trends Could You Capitalize On
From creating video content to building a community around your brand, the opportunities to get more out of social media are out there. An excellent place to start experimenting would be with those things your followers have requested. The end of the Sprout Social report provides you with some trends to watch out for in the future. How could you do more with live video, user-generated content, Instagram Stories, and creating a community around your brand?
In Conclusion
Social media is not going to disappear tomorrow. It will continue to expand before it disappears if it disappears. If you are a small business and you have not been investing in social media, the time is now. Get on the bus because it is about to pull out of the station. And for those of you who say, “I am good right now, I will start doing it if I see my sales slipping,” at that point, it is too late. The long game of social media will have passed you by then.
I am not saying that you need to come by my office and sign up for a social media management or content creation package immediately. Although we do things differently and would have a package that fits your needs. What I am advocating is that you do more to increase your reach. It is time to tap into the power of social media for your business.
Download Your Copy Today All Stats and some inspiration provided by the team at SproutSocial Download Your Copy of the Sprout Social Index Today!
What is Social Media Management?
What is Social Media Management?
Social Media Management is a foreign concept to many people. The list of questions I am tired of answering probably goes on for days but here are a few #epic ones.
- What does a Social Media Manager even do?
- Does Social Media really need to be managed?
- You just sit on Instagram all day and take selfies, right?
- And, my favorite… Do you know Kim Kardashian?
There is a deep misunderstanding behind what social media managers actually do, especially in the business realm. No, it does not take me an entire 8-hour shift to create an Instagram post that says, It’s Friyaaaay where is the Partaaaayyy! First of all. I own my own business. I wish I worked shifts, especially one as short as 8 hours. Secondly, this is not what you hire a social media manager to do. A social media manager is charged with creating and posting engaging content that advances the goals of the business.
So, now that we have gone over some of the things that we do not do; we can review why your business will benefit from having a dedicated social media manager.
The Role of A Social Media Manager
Each business decides what the role of the social media manager will be in an organization. However, these following tasks generally fall under the roles and responsibilities of a social media manager. We also provide some needed skills for each task. As social media becomes more ingrained in all we do the tasks will continue to become larger and more complex.
- Represents your brand online
- Manage all of your social profiles
- Create custom content for your business
- Engage followers and build up a new following
- Balances informative content with promotional content
- Monitors and responds to comments and questions
- Tracks and analyzes the results of social media campaigns
- Ensures that the voice used to post is consistent
Social Media Managers Roles and Responsibilities
Jonathan Howard, lead content creator and business consultant at JRH Graphics defines the role of a social media manager and discusses what makes JRH Graphics unique.
Manage Your Brand & Maintain Your Brand Identity
Your brand and your story are essential ways you connect with followers. Your social media manager is the promoter and protector of your brand. They ensure profile images are all recognizable and follow branding guidelines. Create posts that are branded and use the brand story appropriately. They are the first contact point with new customers and customers looking for support and service via Twitter. Some are even tasked with maintaining your shop presence on Facebook and Instagram and promoting new items via product posts.
Communication, Attention to Detail and Organizational Skills Are Required
A social media manager controls the conversation on your social media platforms. They accomplish this with a well-planned content calendar complete with key promotions, events, and new product releases. As well and educational and behind the scenes content that is EDUTAINING – Educational -Useful- Entertaining. Your brand and story are powerful connections. With social media becoming integrated into so many facets of your business, your social media manager has the power to shape your story and brand in all that they do. They must possess strong communication skills and be well organized to manage this aspect of the job.
Create Customized and Engaging Content
A social media manager brainstorms, researches, creates copy and visual for all your social media posts. In many cases even today, a social media manager is the sole creative for social media posts. They are also the one who actually does the posting. A social media manager is charged with creating engaging content for followers to consume from start to finish. They must be aware of trends and know what types of content is engaging followers. A plan to eliminate the content that is no longer essential is key. They function as brand ambassadors, storytellers and must be able to create an emotional connection between customers/followers and the brand.
A Social Media Manager Must Be Creative and Flexible
Flexibility and creativity are essential. The demands of the users and the lightning-fast pace of technology is changing every platform at a record pace. It is certainly feasible for you to develop content at the start of a month only to find that the platform you were going to post it on has changed the format or size. Or in the case of Google+, it is gone! They should be early adopters of new technology but still, be willing to work to get results on existing technology and platforms. Create Great Content Often, Adjust for Algorithm, Repeat should be their motto.
Manages Your Profiles & Engage Followers
Your social media manager is the sole person responsible for managing the day to day of your social profiles. Is the person running your social media the first person that you want your customers to see when they enter your business? Your social media manager needs to be able to communicate and personify all your business stands for. Charged with engaging existing and new followers every day on your platforms, the social media manager holds a great deal of power. They define the message that helps define your audience. They are building your future customer base.
Must Be A People Person and Problem Solver
Responsive, tactful and eloquent. Three keywords to look for when hiring a social media manager. In addition to the story and branding, a social media manager must also be intimately aware of all company policies and procedures so they can provide the right information to customers when asked questions. A social media manager must be a problem solver. They are going to be asked to solve problems that your customers and followers are facing each day.
Track the results of campaigns and Adjust Accordingly
Your social media manager not only puts the content into play but they also have to measure for the ROI (Return on Investment). Using the many different measures of engagement, social listening and much more they need to rank the success or failure of posts (and aspects of posts). This allows them to see which pieces of content measure up to expectations and which fell short. They also need to react to the results quickly. If it failed once it will fail again. They need to know not to put content that will certainly fail into play when they could replace it will other content that a higher chance of success. Finally, they must also measure what types of content are engaging at what levels and if they need to restructure the content calendar to accommodate for the changes.
A Social Media Manager Must be Analytical and Proactive
Social media is bound to change. A social media manager needs to adapt. They need to analyze the results of their campaigns. They must double down on successes and eliminate content that fails. New ways to engage will always be emerging and some trends may be the perfect opportunity for your business to stand out. However, without an adaptable member running your social media team you may end up always arriving late to the party. Especially, if they aren’t even measuring the success of the posts they are posting.
Keeping the Brand and Voice Consistent
Want to confuse your followers? Have a different aspect of your brand identity as part of your profile photo on every platform. Change the order of the words in your tagline. Select a different color for your logo. Inconsistency confuses customers. And once a customer is confused they leave. What is worse they are not likely to come back. Equally confusing is when your brand changes the voice it speaks in on social media from post to post, I am guilty of this on my own brand and it is confusing to followers. Define the voice as part of your brand identity and stick to it.
Your employees can speak directly to followers but as brand ambassadors and that voice can be unique to that post once it is defined. I encourage you to use that type of post wherever possible as well as social proof posts (reviews from clients) as a happy employee and a happy customer both send a powerful and emotion-filled message.
A Deep Knowledge of Branding and Emotional Storytelling
A social media manager needs to understand branding and emotional storytelling and connect those skills to the product or service they are selling. They need to be aware of what the differentiators are that strengthen the brand as well as how the company is positioning itself in the marketplace. Finally, they also need to be aware of the known competition and stay ahead of any new competition. Many times the first place you can identify some new players in the game is on social media.
Does a Social Media Manager Just Take Selfies for Instagram?
I hope at this point, we all know that this is not the case. A social media manager holds an ever-increasing role in your business. They are an integral part of marketing and branding strategies. They are content creators that must create engaging content that will grow an audience and create followers for life. A social media manager must create and deliver a great deal of content each week as well as to measure the impact of that content. And if that is not enough, the entire job can change at the drop of a hat. Once again, a great motto for any social media manager should be…
Create Great Content Often, Adjust for Algorithm, Repeat!
Oh, you guys did get one question right… Of course, I know Kim Kardashian, totally bestiesWhat Does JRH Graphics Provide that is Unique?
Social Media Managers are a dime a dozen. There are many solutions available to create content for social media. Hundreds of people create logos and more people are entering the brand storytelling arena. Many of these people have little to no business experience. They went to school and studied advertising or social media marketing and know how to do that.
That is not JRH Graphics. We understand the day to day of business because before we started our own we spent 20 years in business. We learned the ins and outs of social media before it was commonplace among businesses because we worked on college campuses and “grew up” on the cutting edge of it. We have faced hundreds of challenges and created hundreds of solutions. With each new company we work with we have added to our toolbelt and made these tools available to other small businesses because when one of us succeeds we all succeed. A listing of the available tools can be seen here.
We Know Business
Running a business and promoting a business are two full-time jobs, each with different skill sets. The more time you take to promote your business the less time you have to run it and the time you take running your business impacts your ability to expand your network of followers, nurture leads and discover new revenue feeds. Having a social media manager with 20 years of business experience allows you to grow your business while not losing sight of the day to day because the team at JRH Graphics identifies opportunities to grow and nurtures those opportunities in conjunction with your team.
JRH Graphics helps you build your business via social media. We help you define a story that will engage by highlighting this story and your differentiators on social media. This establishes you and your business as a leader in your field. This works to activate your social media networks and local business networks. Once your network has been activated you begin establishing a collaborative relationship with them, allowing you to both grow your businesses and networks.
Our Clients are Proof
Jonathan has been a huge support for our small business. When we brought him on as our PR guy we also got a business consultant that truly cares about the success of our business. He is smart, savvy, innovative, and a risk taker that we trust completely. He has helped grow our business and introduced us to new revenue streams that have proved lucrative.
-Cody Alexander, Urban Jungle DC
JRH Graphics will help you become the smart, savvy, innovative business that takes the right risks and see the benefits.
Jonathan is fantastic support for my small business – he’s helped me scale quickly and helped me achieve so much through social media and engaging with a broader audience.
-Lea Berry, Berry Coaching and Consulting
We will help you scale quickly and reach your goals via the power of social media.
Choose JRH Graphics and grow your business.
Social Media Management Plus with JRH Graphics
With JRH Graphics you get a social media manager and much more. The knowledge and experience. The drive to push to be better. A stubborn man who refuses to take no for an answer. Creative line pusher. Dedicated partner. JRH Graphics is part of your team!
Brand Storytelling Matters: Tips for A Powerful Story
Brand Storytelling Creates Connections
Stories create connections, which an essential part of doing business today. Businesses can no longer remain faceless entities and be successful. In order to survive a business needs to find a way to connect with its audience, in order to thrive they need to pull on heartstrings and engage at a much deeper level than ever before. If a business isn’t making an emotional connection between its brand and its audience then they risk failure.
This is where your brand story comes in. It gives your business a human touch. Your brand story should weave together facts and feelings. It should include your why. Why you do what you do and why you believe it matters. It should also tell your audience why they should care about what you do.
Selling the Universal Emotion Not the Product
I remember when I first started doing marketing work a mentor saying to me, you aren’t selling a mattress you are selling a good night’s sleep. I was very confused as he dropped this piece of wisdom on my head and walked away because I wasn’t selling mattresses I was selling books. But the more I did social media and marketing the more I understood you are not selling products you are selling the emotional connections and the universal feelings. Nobody knows how your mattress feels, but everyone knows the amazing feeling of waking up feeling revived after a good nights sleep.
Be Heard in the Crowded Marketplace
Great brand storytelling allows you to be heard in a crowded marketplace. Now more than ever there are more people making things, and offering services. The marketplace is overcrowded. Some products and services are even great. So what makes you different? Why do I choose you and not your competition? How do you stand out? Your brand story is how you stand out.
Brand Storytelling is Powerful
When crafting your brand story think about what you want your business to be known for. When everything else is said and done what do you want people to say when they think about your business? What is the single most important message you want to deliver? Once you have that message in mind figure out a way to wrap that message into a story that your audience will connect with and you are now on the road to having a brand story that will connect.
Your story is the most powerful and flexible tool in your toolbelt. It should act as a compass that guides your business in all that you do.
Aspects of a Powerful Brand Story
So what are some things necessary to have a powerful brand story? That’s the thing with storytelling, it is not an exact science and there is not an exact formula. But we all know a good story when we hear a good story. So in my effort to figure out some things needed for a good story, I watched a lot of Ted Talks and searched around the internet for great sites on storytelling like echostories.com. I discovered great nuggets of wisdom, things that many of us already believe to be true. Unfortunately, I did not discover the silver bullet… the surefire way to have a story that connects with your audience. So since I can’t give you that yet here are a few tips.
Get Emotional
Inject emotion into your presentation with stories. The objective of a story is to make your audience feel something. Happy, Sad, distraught, hopeful. It doesn’t matter what emotion the story brings about per se as the emotion creates a connection. Tell the story of how your product saved a life, the story of how your business gave you a purpose, that great story about how you helped a mother connect with an estranged child. Take this commercial for example…
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Did You Feel Something?
No matter how you feel on the issue, I guarantee that ad for Verizon (btw) made you feel something. It injected emotion into its advertisement and that emotion made for a powerful commercial and made you feel some kind of way. Verizon is saying in this commercial that part of its brand story is the power of communication to bring people together. That love can always call back using Verizon phone service. The beauty of this for Verizon, is they didn’t even have to spell out the connection. By simply having the Verizon logo at the end of that spot creates the connection the emotions you felt there are tied to Verizon, and you want to go connect or reconnect with somebody using a Verizon phone! Yes, it just as easily could have been Sprint or Metro PCS but it wasn’t.
Make A Connection with Your Audience
The other thing that made the Verizon advertisement so powerful is the connection that they made with the audience. The story they are telling is aimed at those celebrating Pride in the month of June. It was created in partnership with PFLAG, a National organization that unities families and allies with people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer. They knew their audience. They knew that many people who identify as LGBTQ have struggled with coming out in their lives. This struggle is universal in the community so they were able to connect with the audience by being aware of, and sensitive to this universal truth. As a business, be aware of your audience and your followers. Is your brand story or aspect of a brand story something that they will connect with? If it is not, should it be part of your story?
At First This Then That
Change is a fundamental portion of a story including your brand story. At first, this was the truth, that is why our founder created (brand name) and now this is the truth. Apple is famous for using this in its story and in presentations. This is computing now, but with this brand new Mac we have challenged the status quo and this is what computing will look like! And those of you who are like me and want things to be easier, newer, better, and not the status quo eat it up. This then that creates suspense and excitement, both emotions and emotions create connections. And if you watch a lot of Apple product reveals you notice that they draw out the suspense to the point where your body is physically reacting to it. Ah the beauty of storytelling… when listening to a good story your body reacts like it is there and it releases hormones and endorphins. You are literally feeling the emotions and it does not matter that it is a new computer that has nothing to do with it, the feeling is what matters.
Don’t Forget Your Why
A key aspect of your brand story is your why. Why is it that you do what you do and why should your audience care? You need to wrap these into that emotional story to create the connection between the product/service, the emotions, and your overall brand. The why is not to make a profit, as Simon Sinek says that is just a result. The why is… why do you get out of the bed in the morning? What is it about your business or work that gets you excited? Why is your business special? That is what will connect with people and make your brand story special. I can’t tell you what your why is… you need to dig deep for that. Just remember that your story is the most amazing thing about you and your business so don’t be afraid to say what you believe. Highlight your values. And create a brand story that is awesome and will connect with your audience and beyond.[
Simon Sinek Start With The Why
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I hope these tips help as you begin to work on your story and make brand storytelling a hard skill in your business. If you need help with any of this check out some of our other resources or contact Jonathan at jhoward@jrhgraphics.com.
May we also recommend taking a look at this blog post.
Your Weird: 3 Steps to Help You Win With A Unique Brand
If You Are Not Weird You FailDid you know that 50% of businesses started do not make it to celebrate the fifth year in business? One of the largest contributing factors of failure for these businesses is an inability to differentiate from the pack.
Many businesses feel that in order to be successful you need to be everything to everybody. However, the exact opposite is true. To see success in today’s business environment you need to tell people why you are different and align yourself with those that appreciate those differences. Or as I like to say, “what is your weird?” If you embrace your weird and showcase your weird, you will be able to win with your weird. It is really just remembering a few of the basics or branding and marketing.
Believe me, I am weird I should know
Embracing Your Weird
The first step of differentiation is figuring out what makes you different than all the other companies out in the marketplace and embracing those differences. Did you create this business to fill a void? Do you serve a specific section of the marketplace? The answers to questions like this are all essential parts of your company story and can be a differentiator. A differentiator can be anything that you think is important to your company, that other companies in your realm do not offer or deliver. A differentiator is what will make someone choose you over another company, it is what makes you stand out. I call this part of the process, “embracing your weird!”
Some Ways Businesses are Weird
Below is a list of some differentiators, do one or more of them apply to your business? This list is not complete, a differentiator is whatever you honestly believe you do differently that impacts your customers or clients.
- Deliver exceptional customer service, every single day by exceeding customer expectations
- Make solving customer problems a keystone of your business
- Focus on a very narrow part of the customer base
- Do business differently i.e. always accept returns or charge a flat rate for services
- Offer something up for free or a low price that makes a huge difference
- Focus on your culture and what makes it different i.e. at JRH Graphics we like it if you are a bit weird but love it when you are completely off-the-wall weird
- Focus on social media and make it so good people can’t forget you (think Warby Parker)
- Surprise and delight your customers
- Be Weird. Be So Weird People Notice You. Don’t Be Too Weird that they only remember the weirdness
Don’t Hide Your Weird
Whatever it is that makes you unique is your weird. Don’t shy away from your weirdness or try to hide it because you are afraid that these differences are weaknesses. These differences are the key to making connections with potential customers, they are essential for standing out in a crowded marketplace, and they could be a reason you make it to year six in business when half of your fellow business owners will not.
So you have embraced a few things that are weird and you have integrated them into your company story. You even discuss them as part of the unique culture of your company… now what?
Showcasing Your Weird
The next step is to showcase your weirdness. This is probably the trickiest of the steps when you begin because it is easy to confuse people if you are not sending a consistent message or bouncing around in how you are telling your story. The best way to properly showcase your weird is to tie your differentiators into what you are doing every day and what you are posting every day. And the best way to do this is by planning what you will be doing and posting well in advance. Make sure that what you are doing and posting ties into your goals and brand story.
Tips for Showcasing Your Weird
- Make sure every single person that represents your business inside and outside the company understands and represents the company story and company culture.
- Tell the same story but don’t use the same examples. People will get tired of them and it shows that maybe what you are doing every day does not align with the story you are telling. If it did new examples would be easy to find.
- Make sure that you are showing your brand in a similar and recognizable way across all of your social media profiles for your business. If I stumble upon your social media presence on Twitter and want to find you on Facebook I should be able to tell instantly what profile is yours when I search.
- A key to showcasing your weird is making sure that people know who you are and are engaging with you. In order to accomplish this on social media, you need to be creating engaging content and posting regularly. If you need help deciding on some things to post please check out my 9 Types of Posts Every Business Should Try blog post.
- Make sure that who you are online matches who you are/what your business is in real life.
- Begin looking for and working with other businesses that share your weird. Collaboration is Key afterall!
Sharing the Weird
So number 6 above is kind of a “pro tip” but here is an example of how it would work.
Say you are a career specialist who helps people discover what the next step in their career should be. You believe that having a complete online profile such as LinkedIn with a fresh headshot that captures their true essence and a winning story that showcases accomplishments helps them stand out in the crowded job market. In order to help your clients accomplish this, you begin working with a headshot photographer who is amazing at letting a person’s personality shine through the photo. You later discover a social media specialist who helps your clients craft winning stories to include on LinkedIn. As you continue to work together the three of you are all showcasing your business strengths to multiple clients and your ability to work closely with other businesses in your field becomes another one of your differentiators.
Winning With Your Weird
You have embraced your weird. You are showcasing your weird. So how do you know when you are winning with your weird? Don’t we all wish that there was a clear and concise answer to this! I can’t provide one but I can say that when you start to embrace your weird and showcase your weird and it is connecting with others you will notice some things like more meaningful comments on your social media. More people writing reviews of your business because your business fills a specific need in the marketplace. You will see additional referrals from other businesses you have worked with in the past. More of your ideal clients and customers will be seeking you out. Overall, you should see an increase in your sales and a decrease in the money that you need to put in to close each sale.Signs that A Company is Winning With Their Weird
- They have a powerful and defined identity. They boldly proclaim what they believe and they stand by those beliefs even when tested.
- Winning companies have identified an audience or audiences that will engage with their weird. They are targeting this specific audience where they live, with content that has proven to engage them.
- Winning companies are passionate about what they do and they let it show in everything.
- Honest with what they can and can not deliver for a client. They know their limits and are not afraid of losing some business because a client wants something that is outside of their wheelhouse.
- Backs up claims with tangible actions and results.
- Put their clients/customers interest ahead of revenue.
- Accessible and real. They demonstrate the true meaning of authenticity.
- Understand the value of consistency. Always live up to clear expectations.
- Collaborate with other brands that share their values, potentially multiplying the customer base they have access to with the collaboration
A Weird Conclusion
Keep in mind that a winning brand has a proven track record and is a trusted member of the marketplace. They embrace the winning characteristics listed above in all that they do and they showcase them throughout their company. A new company cannot be winning until they have proven itself. However, it is important for a new company to make sure that they are embracing their weird and showcasing their weirdness right out of the gate. They should include the key aspects of their weird in their brand story to put them on the fast track to winning with their weird!
The Buzz Around the Social Media Algorithms
Algorithm 2018 and Your Social Media Strategy
There has been a lot of chat about the 2018 Algorithm on all social media and what they mean to businesses. A lot of people have been whining about how Facebook is hurting their advertisers that pay the bills. More even thinking that Instagram is being unfair in how they are handling what is seen. And before everyone jumps on the bandwagon lets all take a step back and think. Are these changes really hurting you, or are they pushing you forward. Making you take that next terrifying step? Which in my opinion isn’t that terrifying and shouldn’t really change the core of your strategy anyway.
The Specifics of the Algorithm Don’t Matter
Yes, I said it, when you boil it down the specifics of the algorithm absolutely DO NOT MATTER! It really doesn’t, yeah you will need to change maybe how you deliver an idea, switch to a heavier video strategy, utilize more live streaming, use stories, or use fewer hashtags and put them in your caption so they really matter. Make those minor changes, watch what happens and then continue to evolve and respond to your testing. Those things are not the core of your strategy and if they are, I hate to break it to you, you are doin’ it wrong!
Why I am So Harsh
Yeah I know I am being harsh. But the thing is those are all minor things. The big deal, the major focus is creating great content that people engage with and then engaging with them. Guess what, CONTENT IS STILL KING!!!! Content will always be king, content is thinking about changing the spelling of his name to KONTENT… he knows he is that big of a deal.
KONTENT IS KING
So we have accepted KONTENT as the king! Now, take a deep breath cause stability is here … If you create content that is “edutaining” as in it educates and entertains your followers you win! If it is something that they actually engage with and you are a smart business person and you engage back, you are golden. All that is really changing is the best method of delivery. It really all boils down to having a great content strategy. Plan it in advance, build it around goals and promotions, and then fill in the specifics as you go and test what works best now within the algorithms.
Your Content Strategy
So, yes build out a content strategy in advance. Have a plan for what you are posting and make sure that it is brand appropriate and fulfills the needs of your audience in some way. You should review your plan before you put throw it out there. You should regularly review the results of your plan and adapt as you go. Tweak it to make sure it is still reaching the people that you want to reach. Review and make sure it is appropriate to your brand.
You Shouldn’t
The one thing that has made me crazy this week is the idea that these changes require you to throw your entire plan out the window. Rethink everything and throw lots of buzz words and shit at the wall and see what sticks. THAT IS NOT WHAT YOU SHOULD RESORT TO.
Facebook simply and quite well stated that they wanted to make the time people spend on social media more meaningful… why is that a threat to your business? That should be your goal as well, create content that will make people’s time on social media more meaningful. Instagram’s algorithm change may test your content and see how well it does by releasing it to 10% of people and then if it does well it gets released to the rest. If you create content that the first 10% engage with then it will be released to the rest.
Wait a minute, they are building the test in for you, don’t get angry, thank Instagram because now all you need to do is see what things engaged really poorly from the start and make less of that content, the stuff that does well you know that you should create more of that content.
Your overall strategy does not need to change if you are creating great content and engaging with your followers. If you are putting crap content out, or using other people’s content and not actively engaging with followers then you need to worry your content won’t be seen. And honestly, it shouldn’t be seen, put in an effort.
What changes do matter
So what does matter with all of these changes? I highly recommend you start a group that is attached to your business page on Facebook as I believe that a lot of the engagement will happen in this community and then get put out by your followers. Dive into video head first. You should not be afraid to go live (I still am). I recommend reviewing your hashtag strategy on Instagram and make sure that you are responding to all your followers quickly. Be okay with having fewer interactions and be okay with having more engaged followers. Ask followers what kind of content they want to see. Get them involved in your content strategy. Keep your feeds clean and brand appropriate but don’t be afraid to show some personality and quirkiness in your stories.
And finally I have always recommended this, plan ahead but don’t over plan your calendar. Only schedule 70-75 percent of your posts in advance and leave room in your plan for some trendy posts and user-generated content.
Now, relax, stop whining, and create great content! Guess what I bet this plan works for 2019 too!
