Success On .Social

Tag: Social Media

  • Using A Content Calendar: Tips for Planning Social Media

    Using A Content Calendar: Tips for Planning Social Media

    Updated June 2024

    Using A Content Calendar Prevents These Types of Moments

    Close your eyes and imagine.

    It is Monday morning; you are already running late for a meeting. The barista at Starbucks can’t seem to spell Bob correctly. He certainly has no idea how to make your Triple Grande Iced Vanilla Latte with Skim Milk and Extra Whip. Today is going to be a long day.

    After you finally get your coffee, you run out of the cafe like your pants are on fire.

    You are halfway to your full-time job when your phone starts ringing, It’s Becky from Designing the Times, and your heart sinks into your stomach.

    Suddenly you remember you had promised to feature her watches on your social media page. How is this launch party already happening this afternoon!

    Answering the phone frantically, you promise Becky you would have the post completed. You will make sure it gets posted as soon as you get into the office.

    When you arrive at the office, of course, you forget to post, and at lunch, you get a call from the lovely Becky, who is a bit less pleasant. It is almost 4 p.m. when you remember to post about the collaboration launch party, and you accidentally used the wrong creative that had the launch party happening in 2 weeks!

    Becky needs to cancel at the last minute, and luckily she didn’t notice the wrong date on your late post. You both agree that Monday in two weeks is the best for the new time.

    Hyperbole Much?

    The above example is hyperbole. However, we have all had those moments when we forget to post something on our social media because it wasn’t on the top of our minds. Or that bad week where you miss posting on Instagram 3 days in a row. Certainly, not mistakes that will mean the eventual and fiery demise of your business. But flubs like these are preventable when you utilize a content calendar and the three levels of planning listed below. Added benefits of using this method are continuity in posting, ability to ensure varied content, and what I refer to as having a flexible structure to create your posts within.

    Levels of Content Calendar Planning

    When I talk to clients about content calendar planning, I break it down into three levels:

    1. Yearly Level Planning: Focus on holidays and annual events.
    2. Monthly Level Planning: Cover mid-level promotions and story arcs.
    3. Weekly Level Planning: Detail the specifics of individual posts.

    At the start of the year, dedicate an hour to yearly planning. Each month, spend another hour planning your monthly content. Then, set aside about an hour each week (perhaps on Sundays) to create your weekly content. I recommend leaving roughly 20% of your posts loosely scheduled to accommodate timely content and user-generated content.

    Using Your Content Calendar to Plan Your Yearly Content

    During your yearly planning, identify key holidays and promotion periods for your business. Determine if sales and events will align with the same fiscal weeks as the previous year. This planning ensures you don’t miss any important holidays or events and that your social media plans align with your business goals. Break down your business goals on the yearly calendar to help track your progress.

    Overview of Your Year

    To begin planning your year:

    1. Add Major Holidays: Start by marking significant holidays on your calendar.
    2. Review Past Marketing Efforts: Decide which promotions, sales, giveaways, and events will recur in the upcoming year.
    3. Plan Major Events: Add all major events to your content calendar.
    4. Repeat Successful Campaigns: If you had successful social media campaigns, plan to repeat them and add them to your calendar.
    5. Note Non-Recurring Events: For example, if you celebrated your business’s 10th anniversary in March 2024 with various events, you won’t be repeating this in 2025. Plan how to fill this gap with new promotions and sales.

    The Importance of Yearly Content Calendar Planning

    Yearly planning is crucial for both social media and overall business strategy. It provides a clear view of major events and promotions for the year, helping you align social media activities with business goals. For example, if your goal is to have one major promotion supported by in-store marketing and social media each month, you can identify any gaps in your promotion schedule. This allows you to plan evenly distributed promotions throughout the year, avoiding last-minute scrambles to fill gaps.

    Pro-Tip: Add your business goals and objectives to this calendar to ensure your content planning helps you achieve these goals.

    Monthly Content Calendar Planning

    The next step is your monthly content planning. At this level, you’ll define themes, story arcs, and details for the monthly promotions you scheduled during your yearly planning. Use the same calendar from your yearly planning to add this monthly information.

    Month-to-Month Plans

    In this stage, you’ll flesh out your month-to-month plans. Start by identifying the major events and promotions for the month, and plan your posts around these first. These yearly events provide structure for each month.

    Once you’ve scheduled posts for these significant events, outline your themes and story arcs for the month. For example, in February, you might choose “love” as the theme, with story arcs like #foreverlove and #bestfriends. These arcs support the monthly theme and contribute to your promotions, with the specifics of each post to be defined in your weekly planning.

    Weekly Level Content Calendar Planning

    After completing your yearly and monthly content calendar planning, it’s time to move on to weekly-level planning. At this stage, you’ll create the actual content for your posts, ensuring that each post contributes to an engaging story. This part of the planning process is detail-oriented. If multiple people are involved, make sure to allocate sufficient time to avoid scrambling to create, approve, or post content.

    The Details and Post Creation

    During weekly planning, focus on the details and specifics of your posts. Utilize the holidays, promotions, themes, and story arcs defined in the previous planning stages. This is where you bring your storytelling to life, creating posts that align with your brand story and themes.

    Consider the following as you create and plan your content:

    • Storytelling: Ensure your posts tell a coherent story that ties back to your brand.
    • Value: Provide educational, entertaining, and inspirational content, with just enough promotional posts.
    • Variety: Maintain a balance in your content types to keep your audience engaged.

    Fill in some of the open 20% of posts during this stage, leaving room for spontaneous content. If you plan to post six days a week, make sure you have content ready for all six days. Once this planning level is complete, you can load your content into your scheduling and posting tool.

    Things to Review Before Posting Content

    Before scheduling your content, review the following:

    • Consistency: Ensure each post contributes to the story it supports and is brand-appropriate.
    • Visual Appeal: Check how your posts look together, especially on platforms like Instagram. Use tools like Later’s Instagram Grid Preview to ensure a cohesive grid.
    • Story Arcs: Verify that your story arcs have a beginning, middle, and end.
    • Details: Make sure holiday-specific or promotional posts include all necessary details.
    • Brand Story: Confirm that your posts support your overall brand story.

    The Planning is Complete

    With your planning complete, you are ready to tell compelling stories, provide valuable content, and promote your brand on social media. These planning steps ensure your social media efforts are focused and goal-oriented, moving away from random acts of posting to a strategic approach. Your story will be clearer, and even with potentially fewer promotional posts, they will be more impactful. This planning, combined with the “9 Essential Posts for Businesses on Social Media,” will help you maximize the effectiveness of your social media campaigns.

  • Social Media Strategy: 9 Photos & Videos to Keep Your Content Fresh

    Social Media Strategy: 9 Photos & Videos to Keep Your Content Fresh

    Updated June 2024

    Social Media Strategy: 9 Photos to Keep Your Content Fresh

    Creating fresh and current content for your social media posts can seem daunting. Or is it? In this blog, we’ll provide you with ideas for 9 photos and 9 videos that you can easily capture each week to keep your content vibrant. These will streamline your content creation process and ensure all your social media profiles remain engaging and on point.

    Yes, 9 photos and videos a week, and the best part is they feature you going about your daily life. While these won’t replace the need for professional shoots, they will complement them with high-quality content, helping you build your own custom stock photo and video library. For more details on maximizing a photoshoot, check out this blog post! As you know, I am a huge advocate for using your own photos on social media; it’s the best way to differentiate yourself from the get-go.

    It’s Almost Time to Reveal the 9 Photos, But First…

    First, take a moment to consider the type of content you typically post on social media.

    What kind of content generally resonates with your audience?
    Are you regularly posting on specific topics or categories?
    What do you have planned for the next three to five weeks?

    Keep these questions in mind as you review the nine photos you can take daily. You can tweak, stretch, or expand on one or all of them to fit your specific needs. Remember, I don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach. I’m giving you these nine images and videos as guidelines based on my social media expertise and what has the potential to engage. Feel free to adapt them to your needs!

    9 Photos and Videos to Keep Your Content Fresh

    Drumroll Please

    1. Daily Routine
    2. Morning Coffee
    3. Full Body Shot/Big Movement Video
    4. Detail Shot
    5. At the Office
    6. With a client or customer
    7. Work close up
    8. Behind the scenes
    9. Life Outside of Work Shot

    The Daily Routine

    I made this the first of the 9 Photos and Videos to Keep Your Content Fresh because it’s the easiest to capture. Simply take a photo or video of something you do every day.

    Why this?

    Because it’s something you do daily, there’s a high chance you’ll talk about it on social media or it will impact your content in some way. Having a relevant visual ready to use when discussing this routine saves you from scrambling for a post idea. Plus, you won’t need to rely on overused stock photos to showcase a unique aspect of yourself or your business.

    Additional Tips and Tricks

    Think about what you enjoy posting and what your audience engages with. Is it your fitness routine? Haircare? Outfits? Are they asking you specific questions? Use this insight to guide which daily routines you should document. Need a starting point? Pizza, pets, and babies always perform well on social media.

    The Morning Coffee Shot

    I know what you’re thinking: “Really, coffee? You want me to take a photo of my coffee first thing in the morning?” And maybe even worse, “You expect me to take a video of it?” Yes, even if it’s before you’ve had your first sip! Capture that perfect coffee cup shot or a video of your coffee-making ritual.

    Why This?

    Food, babies, and dogs are universal favorites; everyone eats, dogs are man’s best friend, and babies are cute! Similarly, coffee is a nearly universal connector on social media—something almost everyone can relate to.

    Additional Tips and Tricks

    Not a coffee drinker? No problem! What’s your drink of choice in the morning? What jumpstarts your day? Whether it’s tea, a donut, a protein smoothie, or even a pair of stylish shoes, whatever gets you moving and motivated in the morning works. The key idea behind the coffee posts is to share what energizes you, so feel free to substitute with your own morning motivator.

    The Full Body Shot & The Big Motion Video

    Next on your list of daily photos to keep your content fresh is the full body shot. This means capturing a photo of yourself from head to toe, doing something—anything. As long as your attire is brand-appropriate, you can’t go wrong. For the video, aim for a big movement, such as walking.

    Why This?

    A full body shot is versatile and can be used in both your stories and feed on social media. People do business with other people, not faceless companies. To get people to do business with you, you need to build trust and let them feel like they know you. These photos and videos help create that connection and build trust more effectively.

    Additional Tips and Tricks

    Don’t worry about looking like a model. You don’t have to be a model—just be yourself. Avoid overthinking, over-staging, or over-editing. This photo isn’t about creating a perfect, imaginary life. It’s about featuring your authentic self, the real face of your brand.

    The Detail Shot

    The detail shot or video is essential for defining your signature style. For example, my Converse sneakers have been a staple in my brand. This was intentional, as I often feature content of my shoes in stories and on my feed. My footwear subtly communicates that my brand is fun, bright, disruptive, and not your typical business. Similarly, my sequin hat reflects the fun and sparkly nature of my brand.

    Why This?

    Detail shots and videos can be used for various purposes on social media. I used my shoes to convey an abstract aspect of my signature style. For a simpler, more straightforward example, a watch could be used in a post about deadlines, setting SMART goals, or your dislike of waiting.

    Additional Tips and Tricks

    Be creative with this one. It can be details of what you’re wearing, elements of your office, or a part of your everyday life. This approach is also useful for future content about specific aspects of your business. For example, if a housing form is due by a certain date, take a photo of the top of that form on a desk, or a video of someone filling out the form and use it in your post. It’s much more engaging than a generic stock photo.

    In The Office/Work Shot and Video

    Another great way to keep your content fresh is with office shots. These are photos or videos of you at work, doing what you do best. While a day at the office might seem mundane to you, your loyal followers are interested in seeing more about your daily routine. Mix it up by capturing different parts of your office or various aspects of your job. Focus on the more interesting tasks you perform and document them through photos or short videos.

    Why This?

    You’re on social media to showcase the work you do and attract your ideal clients. It’s natural to show your audience what you do, how you do it, why you do it, and where you do it. Consider what your ideal client would want to see from someone in your role, and create content that will engage them.

    Additional Tips and Tricks

    Review your previous content to identify what performed well on social media. If you’re a web developer, for instance, you could include photos of you working at your computer, videos of you collaborating with a web designer, or attending a training session on a new programming language. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box and get creative with your shots.

    With a Client

    I know you might be hesitant about this next photo or video idea, so let me say this: the client does not need to be identifiable. The focus should be on you. Be creative and find a way to show yourself interacting with a client or customer. It could be as simple as you behind a desk with the back of your clients’ heads facing the camera, or a close-up video of you demonstrating something to the client, with only your hands visible.

    Why This?

    You can’t build trust on social media and demonstrate your expertise without showcasing your work. Featuring client interactions is crucial. Highlight your first touchpoints or ways you build trust with clients. Even if you use stand-ins instead of real clients (totally our secret), it’s so important to depict these interactions.

    Additional Tips and Tricks

    Professional development sessions, speaking opportunities, media events, and more are perfect for capturing photos and videos of you working with clients or potential clients. Make sure someone is available to capture these moments, whether it’s your hubby, friend, or a professional photographer. Take advantage of these opportunities to showcase your client interactions.

    The Work Closeup

    This is what I am doing right now, as I revise this blog post I am recording myself (two birds, one stone) So the idea here is to capture some content up close of you doing something in your business. This is great for stock photography and also to use as B-roll for short-form video. Think about things like, you writing out your plans on an eisel, or your fingers typing on the computer, or writing in a jourmal. Those all work.

    Why This?

    Because when you talk about your work, it is great to have photos that you can post that show you working. Be sure to capture  a variety of photos and videos so you have a library to choose from, although It doesn’t matter that you are writing down the steps to take in your business over the next nine months, but you use the photo in a post about how writing allows your thoughts to flow. In most cases they can’t see the text. You will find that these are the most flexible and useful photos to take as many of them as you can!

    Additional Tips and Tricks

    Think about the things that you tend to post about and what an excellent generic visual could be that highlights either what you are talking about in the post, or the feeling you want people to get from the post, etc. We are working on creating a library of flexible and usable stock photos and videos for your business.

    Behind the Scenes

    What are some of the things that you do for your business behind the scenes, or what things would people not ever be able to guess about your business? Photos and videos of different behind the scenes aspects or videos of prepping for an event, photoshoot, or other special occasions are always phenomenal for engagement. Be sure to grab content of this. 

    Why This?

    This is essential because everybody likes a peek behind the curtain. Behind the scenes is always engaging because people want to see the real life person behind what they see that they assume is scripted and perfected.

    Additional Tips and Tricks

    All of the images you take should feel real; they shouldn’t be too polished. They should not depict a beautifully perfect life. Make sure to leave your behind the scenes content believable. If it’s too perfect, it shows up as inauthentic, and you could lose credibility.

    Life Outside of Work Shot

    I completely respect a person’s choice not to include aspects such as children in their brand. That is your choice. What I do advocate for is that every business shows off a little bit of life outside of work. If it is you going home and reading a book, walking a dog, cooking, or going to the gym. Those are all great, and you should take photos or videos of you doing them.

    Why This?

    It makes you human, a real person outside of the walls of the business that does cool things and has actual struggles, goals, and dreams. Don’t wipe all the things that make you human from your business; it will erase any possibility of you being able to engage your ideal audience out with it.

    Additional Tips and Tricks

    Social Media is supposed to be social. The things you do outside of work are just as important as those you do at work. 

    Those Are The 9 Photos and Videos to Keep Your Content Fresh

    Using these nine photos as a guide will help you eliminate some of the stress caused by social media. We promise you will feel less overwhelmed, have stronger posts and be able to level up on social media much more quickly.

  • Content Creation Strategies for Success on Social

    Content Creation Strategies for Success on Social

    Updated June 2024

    Content Creation Strategies for A Successful Social Media Existence

    We all know that content is king. Without content, we can’t conquer the other two essential aspects of a successful social media campaign: consistency and engagement. Given the crucial role of content, it’s vital to employ multiple content creation strategies to stay ahead on social media. These strategies can simplify content creation, produce more reusable content, enhance engagement, and free up more time for you to focus on running your business.

    Clarifying Content Creation

    To clarify, content generally refers to anything you post on your social media profiles, website, or newsletter. However, I don’t support the practice of collecting and publishing other people’s content on your business pages. Sharing other people’s content does not tell your unique brand story; it highlights someone else’s. When I mention content, I mean the content you create to tell your story on your social media profiles. This includes posts for stories, short-form video content, photo content, custom GIFs, and blogs

    Documentation Instead of Creation

    Gary Vaynerchuk often gets credit for this approach, as he bases his social media strategy on documenting his life instead of creating content. He frequently records his day-to-day business activities and shares them as content. Gary discusses this content creation strategy on his blog. He isn’t spending time specifically creating content; instead, he’s going about his daily activities, and the content essentially creates itself. While you may not think your life and job are entertaining, everyone loves a behind-the-scenes look.

    Why it works:

    • Authenticity: It provides a genuine glimpse into your daily life.
    • Huge time saver: You create great content for stories and informal posts without extra effort.
    • Increased frequency: This approach allows you to show up more frequently on social media.

    Challenges:

    • Consistency: Remembering to set up a recording device or take photos can be tricky.
    • Engagement: Not everyone has as exciting a life as Gary Vaynerchuk, but authenticity still resonates with audiences.

    Utilizing User-Generated Content

    This content creation strategy is doubly valuable because it not only eliminates the need for you to create content but also surprises and delights your customers. Additionally, sharing user-generated content serves as social proof, aka “hey look your peers like me and you should too!”

    Here’s how it typically works: a customer purchases something from you, loves it, and creates a post showcasing the item while raving about its features or benefits. They tag you in their post, and to make them feel special while showing others how great your product is, you share their content on your social media profiles (with proper permission, of course). We explore the concept of user-generated content in more detail in this blog post.

    Why it works:

    • Efficiency: The user has already created the content.
    • Authenticity: Highlights real-life use of your product.
    • Social Proof: Demonstrates that others enjoy your product.

    Challenges:

    • Strategy: You need a plan to encourage user-generated content.
    • Monitoring: You must keep an eye out for content to share. 
     

    Breaking Down Your Blog

    How many pieces of engaging content do you think you can pull from a single blog post? You might be surprised by how much you can create from a well-written blog. I once worked with a group of content creators, and we managed to break down a single blog post into 100 pieces of unique and informative social media content. By spacing this content out over a few weeks, you can have a significant portion of your educational posts prepared well in advance. I discuss this strategy in detail in this blog post. It’s all about working smarter, not harder.

    Why it works:

    • Efficiency: You already have the content, knowledge, and often photos for the posts.

    Challenges:

    • Initial Effort: You need to write a comprehensive blog.
    • Variety: Relying solely on this tactic can make your content feel repetitive over time.
     

    Live Video Content

    Overcoming the fear of doing live videos was one of my biggest challenges. If I hadn’t virtually met Eve Voyevoda a few years ago at an event organized by Melanie Richards, I might still be intimidated by this medium. However, once you conquer that hurdle, the value of live video is incredible. Live video is one of the best ways to present yourself authentically on social media, showcasing your unique quirks and laid-back vibe, which encourages others to connect with you. By creating content that highlights your personality and adds value to your audience, you can also save time!

    Why it works:

    • Connection: It’s one of the best ways to create a genuine connection with your audience.
    • Engagement: Enables live interaction.
    • Efficiency: Saves time.

    Challenges:

    • Overcoming Fear: Getting comfortable with live video.
    • Content Creation: Developing content that has both value and personality.

    The Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose Content Creation Strategy

    You already have great content that holds significant value and has been posted in some form before. Here’s how to maximize its potential:

    REDUCE: Break down long-form content into multiple short-form pieces.

    REUSE: Share content across different platforms by staggering the publication times.

    RECYCLE: Repeat your key messages and posts since people need to hear them multiple times to remember.

    REPURPOSE: Transform top-performing posts into new content formats for different platforms.

    You can also work in the opposite direction. For example, I create weekly content for my BNI group presentations, which I then use as stand-alone social media posts. This weekly content builds up to a more comprehensive presentation I give approximately every ten weeks. This presentation also forms the basis of a blog post.

    Often, I turn these presentations into monthly webinars, focusing on a critical aspect of the content. This tactic allows me to create focused social media posts around the webinar’s key elements. Additionally, I can create videos from the most engaging social media posts and blog entries. The possibilities are endless with this strategy.

    Why it works:

    • Efficiency: You’ve already done the research and created the content.
    • Expertise: You know the subject well.

    Challenges:

    • Variety: Ensuring you aren’t overly repetitive.
    • Creativity: Finding new and innovative ways to repurpose content.

    Planning Versatile Content that Presents Next Steps

    One successful but challenging content creation strategy involves testing content on your calendar with the potential to build more if it proves successful. Here’s how I make it work: During a particular week, I select three different topics that I believe my audience might want a deeper look at and create a single social media post for each. Based on the reactions to those posts, I can gauge interest in a specific topic. If there is enough interest, I create additional content on that topic, measure its success, and, if warranted, dive even deeper. This strategy led to a post on social proof evolving into a blog post, which eventually became my first webinar.

    Why it works:

    • Incremental Creation: You create content incrementally, measuring the success of each topic.
    • Engagement: You focus on topics that have already shown potential to engage your audience.

    Challenges:

    • Depth: Sometimes a deeper dive is needed.
    • Metrics: Paying close attention to metrics and creating content quickly to keep your audience engaged.

    The Take 3 Strategy for Short-Form Video

    This content strategy helps you avoid spending excessive time creating short-form videos. It’s easy to get lost in the pursuit of perfection, which is ultimately unattainable. Without setting limits, you could spend hours creating an 8-second video. To prevent this, I developed the Take 3 strategy, which allows you to record up to 3 takes for each of the 3 sections of your video, significantly reducing content creation time. We achieve this by incorporating a research and planning phase into our short-form video creation process, setting us up for efficient recording. I cover this in detail in my Signature Membership, which you can learn more about here.

    Why it works:

    • Efficiency: Prevents endless takes and saves time.
    • Acceptance: Encourages posting imperfect videos.

    Challenges:

    • Discipline: Sticking to only three takes can be tough.
    • Quality Concerns: Ensuring the video still represents your brand well.

    Collaborative Content Creation

    Many social media platforms, especially Instagram, are making collaboration easier, and it’s something we should incorporate into our strategies. There are several ways to collaborate:

    • Guest Posts: Feature content from industry experts or influencers on your profile and reciprocate by guest posting on theirs.
    • Interviews: Conduct and share interviews with thought leaders or key figures in your industry, this can be done live and even multicast to multiple platforms. 
    • Partnered Posts: Create a post together that is shared on both profiles, discussing a topic relevant to both audiences.

    Collaborative posts are beneficial because they help you reach a new audience.

    Why it works:

    • Efficiency: Splitting the workload.
    • Exposure: Getting in front of a new audience.

    Challenges:

    • Coordination: Aligning timelines and aesthetics.
    • Effort: May require additional work.

    Content is the Key to Success on Social

    If content is the key to success on social media, then these strategies are your roadmap to mastering it. Experiment with them all, mix and match to see what resonates best with your style, story, and audience. If you want to learn more about these content creation strategies or how to build a plan that leads to social media success, reach out to Jonathan directly. You can also join us in the Signature Membership. 

  • Establishing Yourself As An Expert On Social Media

    Establishing Yourself As An Expert On Social Media

    Updated May 2024

    Establishing Your Expertise with EDUTAINING Content

    One of the key strategies for businesses on social media is to provide EDUTAINING—Educational, Useful, or Entertaining content. This type of content engages your audience and helps establish you and your business as an expert in your field. But why is it so important to position yourself as an expert on social media?

    Why Establish Your Expertise

    People trust experts because they believe experts know what they’re doing. Building this trust is crucial for growing your audience on social media. Providing content that adds value and engages your audience is the best way to create momentum and grow your business. Here are some ways to start establishing your expertise:

    • Offer Useful Tools: Share tools and resources that your audience will find beneficial.
    • Answer Questions: Engage with your audience by answering their questions.
    • Provide Solutions:Solutions to common problems your audience faces.

    These actions help position you as a valuable resource.

    The Importance of Providing Value

    Providing value is a significant step in becoming an expert—someone your audience likes, knows, and trusts. When seen as an expert, your audience will turn to you first for information on a subject. Focusing on delivering valuable content and answering questions, rather than just promoting your business, helps your audience view you as a resource, not just a salesperson.

    Tailoring Your Content

    Every business is different, and your niche will help you determine what types of content will be most beneficial to your followers. To better understand what your audience values, consider surveying your clients. Ask them directly what content they want to see from you.

    By consistently providing EDUTAINNG content, you engage your audience and establish your credibility and expertise, making your business the go-to resource in your field.

    Examples of Expert Content

    As the Regional Social Media Coordinator for BNI Hudson Valley, I develop the monthly content calendar for the organization. This calendar provides each chapter with specific types of posts to focus on and includes important themes for the month. With the holiday season approaching, we’re enlisting the help of member businesses to establish themselves as experts by providing valuable content and answering questions within their areas of expertise.

    To illustrate how we can all engage with our audience, I assigned each member of my BNI Chapter a specific topic. They were tasked with creating content on that topic from November 1 to New Year’s. By doing this, BNI highlights the talent within each chapter and positions itself as a valuable resource for its audience.

    How This Applies to You

    You might not be a BNI member, and your business might not be included in the examples, but this approach is still valuable to you. Use this as inspiration to brainstorm types of content your business can provide to its audience. Consider your services, values, and seasonal focus. Look at what people are searching for in your niche. What questions are your clients or customers asking? Create content that answers those questions and showcases your expertise.

    Establishing Yourself as an Expert: Content Examples

    Below are examples of content types based on the expertise of BNI members. These examples focus on the holiday season, but businesses can tailor their content to their specific focus at other times of the year. For instance, during the holidays, an accountant might write a blog post titled, “5 Things to Avoid Spending Money on This Holiday,” whereas, at other times, they might focus on “What You Need to Know About the Looming S-Corp Deadline.” It’s perfectly fine to adjust your style to reach a broader audience with educational posts, especially during certain seasons.

    • Health and Wellness Coach, Healthy Eating Options this Thanksgiving.
    • Computer Services, Avoid Falling Victim to Black Friday Scams.
    • Business Financial Services, Holiday/ End of Year Benefits for Employees.
    • Individual Financial Services, How to Not Go Broke This Holiday.
    • Social Media/Graphic Design, 5 Tips to Sleigh Your Social Media Campaigns This Holiday.
    • Cleaning and Restoration, Plan for A Cozy Holiday Instead of A Wet and Soggy One.
    • Insurance, Snow Birds and Their Insurance Policies.
    • Computer & Website Development, How to Update Your Google My Business Page for the Holidays.
    • Real Estate, How Closing on Your New Home in December Can Help Keep The Inlaws Away.
    • Booze Expert, Best Holiday Booze.
    • Financial Services, Financial Health Check-Up for the New Year 

    Key for Success

    You are not directly promoting your business or service when establishing yourself as an expert. You are providing your audience with useful information that is “company agnostic.” Providing this valuable information to your audience is an excellent way for them to get to know you and your area of expertise. It helps build relationships and allows you to earn their trust. Pushing your product or service takes away these benefits.

  • Using Hashtags Effectively on Social Media

    Using Hashtags Effectively on Social Media

    Using Hashtags Effectively on Social Media

    There are numerous benefits to using hashtags effectively in your social media posts. Hashtags assist in discovery. They allow your ideal clients to find you when you utilize the right hashtags. They can help you stay in touch with existing customers. You can boost a marketing campaign with a well-planned strategy around hashtags. Utilize hashtags to actively research what your competition is doing on social media as well as track current trends using hashtags. The all-mighty hashtag also helps ensure that your content shows up with similar content, which increases discovery. However, this only applies if you have a strategy and are using the right hashtags. So we will be reviewing why it is essential to use hashtags and on what platforms. The general rules when using hashtags. What types of hashtags you should use.  We will also review how you research hashtags and how to put your hashtag strategy into play.

    Why Use Hashtags?

    Remember when you used to go to the library. Before computers, you would go to a large wooden stack of drawers somewhere in the middle of the floor. When you opened the drawers, you would find thousands of cards. These cards cataloged the contents of the library and made things more manageable. #Hashtags are the card catalogs of social media sites like Twitter and Instagram. They help organize all the posts that are uploaded daily into neatly organized buckets of things that are alike. Hashtags help you quickly find something you are looking for, and they help you get noticed! Hashtags are little organizational powerhouses when appropriately utilized.

    Additionally, hashtags can also help you build your brand, build brand loyalty, and increase engagement. Since all of these things are key for businesses, we think it makes sense for you to have a comprehensive hashtag strategy.

    Additional Notes on Hashtags

    A couple quick notes on hashtags, first use hashtags that will help your audience find your content on Twitter and Instagram. Hashtags are not functional on Facebook except for the inside of groups if the group uses hashtags as a way to organize topics. When posting an update from Instagram to Facebook, make sure you clear any hashtags and check all of your @tags.  Secondly, research hashtags before using them and make sure your content belongs in the hashtag, and the hashtag is active on the platform you plan to use it on. Thirdly, the best way to research a hashtag is on the platform you wish to use it on, sure some of the apps are okay, but the most up to date and accurate info is within the platform.

    Rules to Make Your Hashtag Strategy More Effective

    If you want to have an effective hashtag strategy, there are some general rules to follow. These rules include some vital do’s and don’t like the following: Do research all the hashtags you plan on using and Don’t use hashtags that have millions of posts associated with them. Check out the full list below.

    Do These Things As Part of An Effective Hashtag Strategy

    • Create Content Specific Hashtag lists for yourself.
    • Have a brand-specific hashtag or hashtags.
    • Utilize community based hashtags. Community-based hashtags are ones that indicate a specific service, location, industry or event
    • Research the hashtags you competition is using
    • Review hashtags that influencers in your niche are using
    • Utilize hashtags that are specific to your niche
    • Use at least one hashtag in every Instagram and Twitter post
    • Research hashtags before you use them
    • Include hashtags in your content after a few line breaks or in the first comment

    Don’t Do These Things As Part of Your Effective Hashtag Strategy

    • Use the same hashtags for every post
    • Utilize hashtags that have millions of posts
    • Create a Facebook post and leave Instagram only hashtags in it
    • Use hashtags that have been banned on Instagram
    • Create a post complete with hashtags without researching the hashtags used
    • Utilize hashtags that don’t apply to your content.
    • Make your post look “spammy” by overfilling it with hashtags

    An Effective Hashtag Strategy and What Hashtags to Use

    Everyone wants to know what hashtags they should use on their social media posts, and what I have realized is they want a one size fits all answer. Unfortunately, that answer doesn’t exist. Why does it not exist? Because your content is different from everyone else’s content, and because your audience is different from everyone else’s audience. So nobody can tell you to use these 15 hashtags, and you will be successful. No app can promise you that if you put in your best hashtag, it will give you the best 20 to grow your business, it does not work like that. Instead you must research your niche and figure out the number and quantity that works best for your specific profile.

    Researching Hashtags

    The first step in researching your hashtags is to define your niche and create your customer avatar. Knowing your avatar creates a specific target for your content, therefore, making your research more accessible.

    Going Down

    Researching hashtags requires you to go down a bit of a social media rabbit hole so make sure to set a time limit, bring a pad and paper, and drop a trail of breadcrumbs so you can find your way out! Now, go onto Instagram with a singular mission of finding niche-specific hashtags. The more specific, the better as more conversation (engagement) is happening around super niche hashtags. Go to Instagram and search a fairly general hashtag in your field, look at the top posts and pick one you are attracted to and seem to match your brand aesthetic.

    Scroll down and see what other hashtags were used in the post, select one that is more specific than your original, and see what you discover on that page. After a few rounds of this, you should be arriving at some niche-specific tags and going, man, I didn’t even know somebody did (fill in the niche-specific blank). Make sure you are writing the more specific hashtags down or adding them to a custom list of tags by the theme which it goes. Whenever your timer goes off immediately remove yourself from the situation so that you don’t lose your entire day. Repeat for each one of the types of posts or themes you post.

    What you Are Looking for When Researching

    You are looking for what are often called “community hashtags” They are hashtags that target a specific service like #weddingphotographer or a product like #freshlybakedbrownies or an industry like #gasgrillassemblers. Community hashtags also can focus a particular event #memorialday5K or a particular location #NYCwinebars or even a day of the week #wateringwednesday. These are all much more specific than hashtags like #photographer #brownies. Your ideal hashtags probably sit below this level; for example, I could search #dogs, and while hunting underdogs, I discover the hashtag #puggles and quickly discover #pugglesofNY. While reviewing those tags, I find two super specific tags #pugglestruggle and #everydayimpugglin.

    Next Steps

    After researching and looking for unique niche tags you will want to double back and take a look at posts from your comphetition, industry leaders and influencers withing your area and see what hashtags they are using. Is your competition killing it on a hashtag, but they have no competition there? Is an influencer identifying an upcoming trend in a hashtag? Also, pay attention to how many hashtags, where they place them, or any other differences that could indicate a change of preference of your audience. I do not recommend doing this first because it may limit your focus, and you may not find the most exciting tags.

    Putting Your Hashtag Strategy to Work

    How to Start if Never Had A Strategy

    If you have never had a hashtag strategy and don’t have lists of hashtags you use for specific posts, you are pretty much starting from scratch. The first thing you will want to do is to create hashtag lists for each theme. Keep these in a document you can access from any location. I also recommend creating hashtag lists for specific holidays, events, and other significant occurrences. Put those particular hashtags on your content calendar. Your next step is to begin utilizing these hashtags and seeing what works.

    For each post, use a core list of hashtags specific for that content. If there are a couple of additional tags for a post you want to use add them on to that post, not into your core list. Test some posts with the hashtags in the caption after some breaks. Test others with the hashtags in the first comment. Finally, test some posts with five hashtags, some with fifteen, and some with thirty. What works best? Measure the success of each post based on the actual numbers. Not your gut feeling. Revisit each core list every few months and trim the dead weight and add new niche hashtags.

    If You Had A Hashtag Strategy Before

    If you had a hashtag strategy before and you broke your hashtags into content specific lists, I would recommend testing your lists against one another and see how they do. In some cases, you may need to combine the best performing hashtags from your old and new lists. If that is the case, just select the best-performing ones from each and create that third list and use that going forward. If the original list outperforms your old collection on every post for every category. Then you have a #winning hashtag strategy, and you go with your new list.

    In Conclusion

    To sum up all the key points here:

    • Hashtags are essential tools you should utilize on your posts
    • There are some best practices for hashtags like research before you use
    • You should always look to use niche hashtags and hashtags with less than 1 million posts
    • Build your own unique content specific hashtag lists to use with your posts
    • Regularly measure what is working and refresh as needed.

    Keep these tips in mind, and you won’t hate hashtags ever again!

  • Level Up Your Social Media in 2020 with These 9 Tips

    Level Up Your Social Media in 2020 with These 9 Tips

    Are You Ready to LevelUp

    Level Up Your Social Media in 2020 with these 9 Tips!

    The Role of Planning

    As I have said before, content is king, consistency is queen, and when you take control of these two things with a little bit of planning, you will be amazed at the things you will have time to do. All 9 of these strategies and tips help build a solid foundation for all of your social media platforms. You will be able to expand upon as you master each tactic. We are all on this journey together, some have leveled up already, others are working on solidifying the foundation. But we are all learning, and I hope these tips help you build a robust yet flexible presence on social media that allows you to be responsive to trends while expanding your reach and growing your business. So, let us jump in!

    Set Goals and Define Your KPIs

    Want to Level Up Your Social Media in 2020, then you must define what Leveling Up looks like for you. What are the Key Performance Indicators used to measure if you are reaching that goal? Make sure that you assign the proper metrics to your goals and understand what a positive outcome would look like for this goal. Need help understanding social media metrics before you set these goals? My go-to tool is the SproutSocial.com blog, when I am looking for information on metrics. I have this blog post bookmarked for reference.

    Without these goals and our ability to measure them utilizing the metrics, we have no way of defining success or failure. Without goals, how do we know what we are hoping to accomplish? Set goals for your social media and clearly define success. Share these goals with your team, so everyone is on the same page and working towards the same thing. Review the metrics regularly and share your findings with your team. Encourage feedback.

    Have A Plan

    Having a plan for your content is one of the best ways to save time, focus on engagement, and Level Up your social media profiles. If you are not planning your content chances are you are spending too much time reinventing the social media wheel.

    Set Your Goals

    Set a goal for yourself. How much content are you planning now? Increase that by 20% over the next 2 months. In four months aim to increase your current percentage by 50%. Work your way up to having approximately 75% of your content/posts planned across your platforms with approximately 25% free per platform to flex current events, and other spur of the moment content in as needed. This makes sure your content always feels fresh and current.

    Create the Plan

    Review and Utilize the 9 Essential Posts framework from JRH Graphics to ensure that you are providing your followers with varied content that speaks to them. This tool also helps you not exceed 20% of posts being promotional material. I utilize it during every step of my content calendar planning process. Along with the 9 Essential Posts, we use the Macro, Meso, Micro planning process for creating a content calendar like the one we discussed in this post.

    Overview of The Planning Steps

    First, we look at the big picture, including all holidays, promotions that will anniversary, and significant themes that will repeat from last year. We usually complete the macro step either quarterly or do it at the start of the year and revisit each month to be sure we are not missing anything. After the macro level, we move onto the meso step, which is where we review the monthly themes, the events we are planning, any major product launches, etc. This step is where we lay down the ideas for the posts, types of posts we wish to include in campaigns, and make high-level plans for creative needed. The final step is the micro-step, which is a task completed every week. During micro-planning, you lay in the content for your posts and set them to go in your scheduling tool.

    The Benefits

    Thisw process allows you to have a plan for your year, month and weeks and provides you with a structure within which to post. While you may not have the specifics of every post pre-entered you know what you will be posting which relieves the, “OMG what do I post today stress.” This process along with my Breaking Down the Blog strategy which I will discuss in the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle section also allows me to have blog posts scheduled out almost a year in advance.

    Level Up Your Social Media by Engaging

    Did I hear you complain about not having an engaged audience? Whose fault is that? Oh, so you responded to the “thumbs up” you got on your photo of your breakfast this morning? That thumbs-up was engagement for that member of your audience. If you did not respond, you know what you are saying? You just told that member of your audience that YOU DON’T CARE. And if you don’t care, then why would they continue to engage. The worst part, you are saying that publically and everyone can see it. That is not going to help you Level Up your social media this year.

    In Order to Level Up in 2020

    In order to Level Up Your Social Media you need to engage the people that are already engaging you in the way that you want them to be involved. Need words as comments, then when you get a thumbs up, respond with, “Thank you, I am so glad you liked this post” or “Thanks for liking this post, what was it that spoke to you?” And when you engage with your followers like this, you are publically saying, “THANKS FOR ENGAGING, I LOVE YOU GUYS!” The act of engaging with your audience makes your audience more likely to participate in the future. So at a minimum, acknowledge the likes, respond to comments, and always respond to DMs.

    Bonus Pro Move

    Depending on the situation, because you don’t want to be creepy, engage with them on their profiles. If they have a business page, comment there. All engagement is beneficial, and showing a follower that you are willing to take the time to engage them in their playground shows how great you are. As they comment back, watch what they do.

    Do they ask a question? Are they commenting back in more than four words? Watch what they do and engage again in that way. By the way, why is it four words? Because four words are what it takes for Instagram to recognize the comment as content-rich.

    Level Up Your Social Media by Being Human

    Being human shouldn’t be hard. After all, you are a human, so it should be easy to portray yourself as a human on your social media. That is your first mistake. Instead of describing yourself as something, you must be who you are, not anyone else. When Lea Berry and I discussed authenticity earlier in 2019, authenticity was starting to get overused as a buzzword. As this year has progressed, the tolerance for inauthentic brands has almost wholly disappeared. Authenticity will continue as a trend in 2020. The only way to capture an audience is by showing the ups and downs, the real emotions, the struggles, and the fantastic and unexpected successes. Gone are the days of nameless CEOs, and brands without a story and social consciousness.

    Your Winning Story

    At JRH Graphics, we believe stories are the most powerful tool in any companies marketing toolkit. Your winning story is authentic; it has an emotional hook, can capture an audience and convince them to go along on this ride with you. We believe that stories are part of what makes us human, and that is why a simple story can inspire action and produce change. Stories are what make JRH Graphics different. Let us help you tell your winning story!

    Content Creation Can Be Hard

    We certainly know that content creation can be hard. The number one question we get at JRH Graphics is, “How can I create better content in less time?” While hacks and shortcuts are certainly available, you still need to put in the work with social media. There is no magic bullet. But what are you doing right now? Is it related to your business? Could it be “B roll” content, aka something you put in stories?

    Document Don’t Create

    Gary V. is famous because of this. He is always documenting what he is doing and putting that out as content because it is. Not only that, but everybody loves a peek behind the curtain. They want to see how things happen, what life is like, and what struggles a business faces. These posts are not the pretty perfect Instagram feed content that everyone knows is inauthentic now.

    Welcome to the life of an entrepreneur, you can’t be afraid to show the real you. Behind the scenes content is key, document what you are doing. It is one of the best, no short cut, short cuts I can give you. And it will help you level up your social media in 2020!

    Use Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Concept to Level Up Your Social Media

    Reduce the time you spend creating content by reusing content like blog posts and recycling content and redistributing it in another format.

    Reuse

    Your long format videos, blog posts, and webinars can all be broken down into smaller tips and points and distributed on their own with a link tyong them back to the larger piece. I discuss best practices for this process at length in this post. In many cases I am able to get over 10 viable social media posts from a blog allowing me to schedule educational content out for many many weeks. You have already done the hard work creating these pieces of content, make sure you get the most out of them.

    Recycle

    It is true you can’t magically create a movie from a blog post but you can utilize the research and points you made in that blog post to deliver a video. Look at how you could expand on a point you made or take a deeper dive on a concept. Recently, I turned a 9 post story into a series of 9 Live Videos that discuss different strategies for Leveling Up Your Social Media in 2020. These 9 story posts and videos are the basis of a blog post that dives a bit deeper into these tips. Finally, this blog post will be turned into a webinar that shows people how to utilize the tools and strategies discussed and provides them with practical solutions to common problems.

    Level Up Your Social Media by Creating More Content Your Followers Want

    Utilize the 9 Essential posts to create varied content and then build on the successes of your top-performing ones by utilizing the Rule of 3 for Social Media. The Rule of 3 for social media allows you to apply a more scientific way to measure why a post is successful, as seen on the worksheet to the left. You change one aspect of the content at a time, leaving the other two points and see how it performs. I explain it in the video below.

    Understanding Your Metrics

    To make sense of what your existing content is telling you about your audience, you need to be able to understand your metrics. Most social media platforms have metrics built-in, and they are handy to start. As your campaigns and presence on social media expands, you will probably want to invest in a third-party app to measure your social media success. Also, if you need help understanding your metrics, I recommend utilizing the SproutSocial Blog as your go-to research tool. I have regularly referred to the blog post, All The Social Media Metrics That Matter

    Level Up with More Video Content in 2020

    If you want to Level Up your social media in 2020, you will need to create more video content. From Live Videos to more extended form videos, you must create videos for social in 2020. Not only are videos the most engaging form of content, but most of the platforms are prioritizing videos as well. Video is going to need to be a part of your plan for social media for the long haul.

    Instead of Making Excuses, Make Videos

    I have made all the excuses. I created lots of stories as to why my brand was different and didn’t need to include video content right up until this year. It wasn’t until I started losing followers at a terrifyingly fast pace that I accepted that I needed to add more video content in my campaigns. Even then, I avoided Live videos because I was sure nobody wanted to see me go live. Well, I will admit it here. I was wrong. (It’s okay nobody will read this far anyway). I was wrong about not needing to include video. I was wrong about not needing to go Live. In the past two months, I have moved further into creating videos, and for the first time in 10 months, I have had almost three weeks of having gained not LOST followers on all platforms. The key is to show up on your social media where people are and in the way that they are consuming content. Take it from me, stop making excuses, and start making videos.

    Level Up Your Social Media in 2020 by NOT Selling on Social

    Businesses fail when they view social media as a selling platform. Community is the basis of social media, and those of us on there selling are in enemy territory. So instead of marketing on social media, level up by providing value to your followers. Build up your reputation as an educator. People need to be able to like, know, and trust you before they make a purchase. Add value to your audience by answering questions they may have, and by providing content that is value-rich and solves real problems, your ideal client is facing. Establish yourself as an expert on social media, and position yourself as the first person to go to if a member of your audience has a question. Eight of every ten posts should provide value to your audience and not sell, especially as you begin establishing yourself and your company. Your CTA in these educational, value-adding posts should ask what else you can provide to help them. You will become the resource your audience can trust, and with trust eventually comes sales.

    It is Time to Level Up Your Social Media

    Win big in 2020 by applying these strategies on your social media platforms. Each strategy helps you build a solid foundation to build upon. 2020 is going to be the most social year yet, so get the most out of your social media and build your following. You got this!

  • Tips for Launching A Podcast in 2020

    Tips for Launching A Podcast in 2020

    Ready to Launch Your Podcast in 2020?

    Are you not convinced video is the only way to engage followers on social media? Are you seeking alternative ways to increase engagement and position yourself as a resource for your audience? It sounds like you might be looking to launch a podcast in 2020! Podcasting is a great way to create content and build an audience, and we are providing you tips for starting your podcast right here in this post! Why? Because podcasting allows you to make personal connections and become an authority within your niche.

    Additionally, podcasts are easy for your audience to digest on their own time with no screen necessary. If you have been a content creator, remember most of that content is easy to convert into podcast episodes. So, are you ready to launch?

    Podcasting Here I Come!

    So, you think podcasting is the way for you to go? We figured we should give you some tips and tools. So we did some research and compiled what we found into this blog post below. And after that, we looked at this blog post and found it to be useful but a bit boring. So we reached out to the hilarious Catherine Feeney, who just launched her podcast, and of course, her corresponding blog the Fashun Chronicles and asked if she would want to discuss her podcasting journey with us. When she agreed, we knew this blog post would be much more entertaining.

    Tips for Launching A Podcast

    As we share our tips for launching a podcast, we will go over some of the research we found on the topic. Additionally, we will add our comments and additional suggestions for launching a podcast throughout the post. There are 5 primary stages to launching your own podcast.

    • Planning the Concept- defining the objective, determining the audience, why the audience should listen and naming the podcast
    • Planning the Structure and Episodes- what is the format, how many episodes, are you creating in seasons, how long is an episode, etc
    • Recording & Editing Your Podcast- script or no script, necessary equipment, software needs, music resources
    • Publishing Your Podcast- Episode 1 Season 1 is in the bag!

    We will walk you through each of these steps and hopefully help you understand what you should be doing during each one, and before you know it, you will be starring in a Number 1 Rated Podcast with gobs of listeners!

    Tips for Launching Your Podcast: Concept

    As you prepare to start your podcast for 2020, you need to begin planning the specifics of the podcast you will be producing. While others may not agree, I view this as the most critical step, as you are building a solid foundation for your future work. I also equate this step to the process of building your brand. During this crucial timeframe, you will be defining your “why” for your podcast. In this step, you will decide on your main podcast topic set the goals of your podcast, determine who your audience is, and examine why your audience would listen to your podcast.

    In many cases, you are utilizing your podcast as an extension of your business. Many will be using it as a way to provide an existing business audience with value via the podcast. If this is the case, you may have an audience and objective in mind that supports the niche of your business. Be sure that your business niche translates to your podcast. In some cases, it may be necessary to narrow your niche down further for your podcast to attract the right listeners or expand up to have enough content to discuss on your podcast.

    Defining to Target

    Defining what you want to accomplish with your podcast, determining your podcast audience, and knowing how to connect with your target audience as important parts of the planning stage. Develop a listener persona to highlight the characteristics of a person that would listen to your podcast. Think about how you would engage this listener persona as you build out the concept for your podcast. Make sure that you are giving them a compelling reason to listen to your podcast. What value are they hoping to recieve? Are you delivering them the value they are hoping for?

    What’s In A Name?

    I was thinking of naming my podcast, “My Podcast!,” Then realized that didn’t provide any information about what I would be talking about. It also didn’t tell the audience why they should listen. It also failed to highlight the niche that I had chosen to discuss on my podcast. So, I scrapped that name, and I am looking at some of the basics for naming a podcast.

    • People need to be able to find your content! If you opt for a creative name consider including a subtitle with an accurate description of the material and value you provide
    • Don’t be too descriptive, if I called my podcast The Social Media, Branding, Brand Story and Storytelling for Small Businesses Podcast I would spend half of my podcast trying to get the entire title out of my mouth. Strike a balance between creative and descriptive.
    •  Those who know podcasting also recommend not naming your podcast after yourself, which ruined my dream of being known as Just Jonathan from the Jonathan Show. You know, like Ellen, Oprah, Cher, Prince, Madonna. They have a built-in audience and name recognition, and I do not!

    Tips from Catherine: Content & Positioning

    Before Launching Fashun Chronicles

    Before launching her Fashun Chronicles podcast, Catherine Feeney says she put pen to paper to make sure that her topic was one she could discuss at length. In her blogging journey, she had dabbled in other areas but always returned to fashion. Fashion is one of the passions that she can talk about for “literally days.” She also spent some time thinking about what purpose she would be serving. Since she enjoys helping others and hopes it does not come off as bossy, she began to develop the Hotline concept for the podcast. She would be able to help others with real FAShun emergencies! Memories of listening to the Delilah radio show may have subconsciously inspired this hotline concept. (Long-time listener, First-time caller)!

    Where You Fit In

    Catherine first decided to leap into podcasting after her friends mentioned it this past year over drinks at New York Fashion Week. Her blog didn’t quite seem to fit her anymore. Maybe talking about fashion, and not writing about it in her blog would feel better. Despite the unknowns of podcasting, she felt re-energized when she thought about a podcast full of fashion. So over drinks at NYFW, a podcast was born. Incidentally, she also wanted the podcast to have a casual feel, much like if she were talking to friends over drinks in a bar at NYFW! We certainly think she hit the nail on the head when it comes to authenticity!

    Catherine also noted that not everyone relates to everything, so while there are a lot of fashion bloggers and podcasters out there, she can bring her unique personality to the game. She likes to focus on storytelling (a woman after my own heart) and wants to remain true to herself throughout this journey. Getting people to jump on the journey with her if they wish to is vital to her. Catherine also wants followers to see all the parts of the adventure from start to finish.

    “Always be true to yourself on your journey and do what feels right to you.”

    Tips for Launching Your Podcast: Content

    You have laid the groundwork for your podcast. You have a solid foundation, so it is time to start working on actually planning the content of your podcast. As well as begin looking at the structure that you would like to utilize for your podcast. A lot of podcasters tend to focus on the length of the podcast. Many experts say the right length is 28 minutes but no longer than an hour. However, I support what the team at The Podcast Host said, “only two things should impact the length of your podcast,

    1. Your content
    2. Your audience

    If you have 50 minutes of valuable, relevant content, why chop it down to 20? Or likewise, if you’ve said everything you have to say in 10 minutes, why pad it out to 30? In extreme cases, say you do an interview, and it’s a fantastic conversation from start to finish but runs for 2 hours. You can always chop it in half and create two episodes.

    More Than Just Timing

    There is much more than just the length involved in the content of your podcast planning portion of your podcast launch. You also need to decide on the format of the podcast. Will you have a cohost? Are you doing the show by yourself? The format of the show will play a significant role in what the final product will look like, and each form has its benefits and challenges. In the solo show, you have complete control, you build authority quicker, but it is also harder to feel comfortable as many people will feel like they are talking to themselves. In a show with a co-host, it is generally easier to get started, and if you have great chemistry, it could be fantastic. But what happens when you hit it big, or your co-host stops showing up. Is there more benefit in going it alone for you, or is the co-host key.

    Multiple Variations

    When it comes to the format of the content, there are many different variations of the themes. However, I am partial to dividing a podcast into segments. The segments would allow you to create mini podcasts within the larger podcast that address specific aspects within the themes that you have decided to cover as part of your podcast. Here is an example of how this could work.

    • Episode 1: Teaser, Opening of Podcast, Welcome, Content Teaser, Break, Theme 1 Discussion, Break, Theme 1 Discussion Continued, Break, Theme 2 Interview, Closing, Call to Action, and Outro
    • Then for E2: Teaser, Opening of Podcast, Welcome, Content Teaser, Break, Theme 2 Discussion, Break, Theme 2 Discussion Continued, Break, Theme 3 Q&A, Closing, Call to Action, and Outro
    • Finally, E3: Teaser, Opening of Podcast, Welcome, Content Teaser, Break, Theme 3 Interview, Break, Theme 3 Interview Continued, Break, Theme 1 Discussion, Closing, Call to Action, and Outro

    This segment format allows you to touch on each of your three significant themes two times in the first three episodes. You also created one short mini-podcast and one longer (2 segments) mini-podcast that you can use elsewhere in your content creation strategy. Using this format and approach for your podcast is similar to the Breaking Down Your Blog Content Creation hack we discussed in this blog post!

    Episodes and Seasons

    As you review the themes and structure of your podcast, you may also want to consider your episode release schedule. Will you be releasing a new podcast every month, every week, two per week? How many episodes make up your season of podcasts? Will the overarching theme change with each season?

    Planning for this will allow you to have a better idea of how many segments you will need. Plan for how many guests you may need to set up interviews to fill those slots. Plus, it is a great way to estimate the amount of content you will need to create. Before you finalize the schedule and promise your listeners something, review your schedule, and ensures it is doable. Remember, it is better to under-promise and over-deliver than over-promise and under-deliver.

    On The Air: The Launch Part of Launching Your Podcast!

    You have completed the planning. The part you have been waiting for is finally here. It is time to record your first podcast for thousands of listeners. Or just your mom, but she is one fan that matters! But wait, what is it that you need to record the podcast? So lets first review the equipment required and then discuss the logistics of the actual recording, including some tips for connecting to your audience.

    Your Equipment Needs and Wants

    I am not an expert on this topic, so I am relying on what the professionals at thepodcasthost.com and others are saying. However, all you must have to start your podcast is a computer that has a mic and can get on the internet. The rest is a bonus. To improve the overall sound of your podcast, the folks at thepodcasthost.com recommend purchasing a simple podcasting mic like the Samson Q2U mic. I linked to the podcaster kit, which includes a stand and wind guard for $44.00/tax. If you are going to be conducting interviews on your podcast, you may want to look into purchasing a couple of lav mics for those you are interviewing. The folks at thepodcasthost.com recommend the Rode Smartlav+ lav microphone, which sells at Amazon for $55.00. Keep it simple, and keep in inexpensive when you start.

    More Stuff

    If you are looking for more information on recording equipment, I am attaching a few excellent guides from thepodcasthost.com.

    Recording and Editing Software Needs

    If you are going to launch your podcast in 2020, you are going to need to have some software to help you record and edit your podcast. Two of the most popular podcast recording and editing tools are Audacity and Adobe Audition. Audacity is free software, and Audition is part of Adobe Creative Cloud, so it is a paid service. Both allow you to create a template for your podcasts. These templates make it easy to create slots for things like the introduction, slots for advertisement, the closing, etc. along with the music and all the settings that go with it saved for all of your podcasting episodes. There is also the ability to edit the audio track, music, and all the components of the podcast so that they have clean, crisp sound. Sound editing etc. is a very technical function that I am not even going to try to explain. If you want to know how to edit audio and what settings will work, you can check out resources on thepodcasthost.com or podcastinsights.com or even check out this tutorial on Adobe for your essential podcast editing tips.

    The Actual Show

    You have a plan. You have a mic. The recording and editing software is ready to be fired up. You have a guest for the inaugural interview. So, you sit down, power up the microphone, and immediately after the intro, you draw a blank. You are frozen for more than a few seconds because you have no idea what to say! Don’t worry. This is part of the process. The amount of scripting for a podcast varies for each person. However, every source I have seen recommends that each host scripts some content and creates some notes for them to utilize during their podcast.

    Scripting keeps you on track and minimize the editing and cutting up of the content by creating a bullet point based script that highlights key points and topics.  Do not write out an entire script as that will not translate to a good podcast. A good podcast is more conversational. Utilize your segmented show concept along with your template for your podcast to provide the direction needed for the script.

    Connecting with Your Audience

    It is essential to know who you are talking to, as we said before, in defining your target section. You need to set your audience. Because without knowing your audience, you will not be able to connect to your audience. When you are recording your podcast, you are talking directly to your audience.

    You should know who they are, where they are listening to you, what they are doing, what they are wearing, and what lipstick they have on! Seriously, who is your avatar? Many people find it easier to envision that one person and give them a name. Using the specific characteristics, you can talk directly to them as if they are real people because they are real people.Tips

    From Catherine: The Technical Stuff

    The Content

    Catherine believes that focusing on putting out high-quality content is the most important goal. She isn’t focusing on the numbers. Instead, her focus is on putting out content and engaging her real followers with her podcast. She would rather have four real followers than 400 fake ones. Focus on your brand and engaging your followers. She doesn’t want to waste time on the fake stuff. “I want to focus on the things I love, like the fashion, and the stories behind an outfit,: she say passionatly. Catherine clearly loves her content and her podcast. She feels like her podcast plays to her strengths better than her blog did. Additionally, she is noticing her Instagram posts and stories are also getting better engagement now that she has the podcast.

    She does not script her content for Fashun Chronicles because she wants it to be more casual. However, Catherine does utilize bullet points to keep herself on track. She usually writes down her show notes the day before or the morning of recording her podcast and utilizes them as an outline for the show. The host openly admits to going off on tangents ar times, but she uses the notes and the bullet points to reign herself back in.

    As a final note regarding content she reminds people that they should enjoy doing their podcast. If it feels like work then maybe they should find another outlet.

    How Long?

    Catherine and the experts agree the length doesn’t matter. You will find your audience that has a need or want for your podcast at whatever length as long as you are serving up some fun and exciting content. She believes there is an audience for podcasts from 10 minutes to an hour. She found that her sweet spot is around the 20-25 minute range as a solo podcaster talking about fashion in the day to day sense. With two podcasts a week, and it is what feels comfortable, so she suggests figuring out what feels right to you.

    For the Tech for Your Podcast, Google Has Your Back

    The host of Fashun Chronicles openly admits she doesn’t know how to reboot her phone, so the technical aspects of Podcasting were where she focused most of her research. Catherine was amazed at how many resources were available online, and she admits to still utilizing Google to figure out how to do certain things.

    She eventually found some articles that resonated with her and helped her find her way, from what mic hse needed to what hosting platform was best for her (she finds Libsyn very easy to use but difficult to pronounce)! She even learned to use Audacity by herself online, and if she has issues with it now, she asks the Google machine, and it helps her through the process.

    Tips for Launching Your Podcast: Cover Art

    Up to this point I have pretty much told you to not spend an extra dime. After all, you could spend a fortune getting someone to produce, edit and promote your podcast for you. Another small fortune paying for the rights to the best music. Plus calculate your hourly rate multiplied by the number of hours you work on the podcast. Yup, this sh!t can get expensive! You don’t even have an audience yet, so be saavy on what you spend money on! However, i do recommend investing in your cover art. Get a great photographer or designer (depending on the look you are going for) and invest here. The perfect cover art will reveal a little bit about the host, explain what the podcast is about, and intrigue people enough to get them to want to listen.

    Additionally, the cover art will be with you for at least a season, so it needs to inform, entice, and convert for multiple episodes and it has to do this in places like iTunes where you are competing with images from top artists, podcasters and more. So spend a little money here and make it work for you. Utilize the images you create in promotions, on social media, in your press releases, to book guests, wherever you can.

    Editing Your Podcast

    No matter how perfect you are scripting, how amazing your guests are, and how much you nailed it, you will still have some editing to do. Editing is a technical aspect of the podcast. I would not be the right resource to advise you on how to edit a podcast. I can say that both the software solutions I mentrioned for recording also allow you do do the type of editing that you will need to put your podcast together. If you need more assistance with this, I recommend looking into tutorials on how to use the software you chose on youtube.com or via some of the podcasting resources available. The other option is to pay to have somebody edit your podcast for you, but as a beginner, unless this is a well-established business, I would not recommend that route.

    Music for Your Podcast

    You can’t just select any song to use 15 seconds of as your intro music, as much as you want to that is going to be expensive, as you would need to pay the artist! There are sites available where you can buy licenses to utilize certain music and others that have vast libraries of music that you can utilize once you pay your monthly membership. There are a few things you should look for regarding music.

    • you are looking for music with creative common licenses
    • I recommend using well know and established resources
    • be aware of the type of license you purchase.

    Publishing Your Podcast and Putting it Out There

    You have just about done it, you have almost launched your podcast. Now, you need to put it out there for people to discover, listen to, and fall in love with! Yes, even if it is just your mom to start! So, let’s get that podcast out to the people! First, you will need a podcast or a media host. Then you will either add your podcasts to your website (or create a website) and then finally submit your podcast to directories.

    Podcast or Media Host

    You have dozens of podcast hosts to choose from, which is incredible and daunting at the same time! Luckily, there are tons of lists out there about some of the best podcast hosting sites. Recently, Jon Street of Resonaterecordings.com listed the top five podcast hosting sites with lots of useful details on each. You can check out that article here! The top 5 he reviewed thoroughly are:

    In my research and discussions with people, both Buzzsprout and Libsyn have come up as the leaders. Buzzsproat for the features and ease of use. Libsyn because of longevity and ease of use for the newcomers. Libsyn also makes it easy to submit to directories. Review and choose the one that fits your needs and budget, and as you grow, if you need to change, you will be able to do that as well.

    A Home for the Newly Launched Podcast

    Once you have a media host that will host your audio podcast files, you will also set up a website to display and deliver your podcasts. You get a page with most hosting services that you can utilize for this purpose. Many people also create an independently hosted page or add the podcast to their existing site. If you choose to add it to your current website, there are podcast tools that you can add to make it easy for listeners to grab your podcast!

    Submitting Your Podcast to Directories

    The directories are how you get discovered, build up your subscribers, and continue to deliver killer content! The number one and most crucial directory ATM is Apple Podcasts. If you only get yourself listed in one directory, this is it. Over 60% of podcast downloads come via iTunes. To get your podcast listed, you need to sign on to iTunesconnect.apple.com using your Apple ID and then click the new feed option to add your podcast. As our guest Catherine Feeney pointed out, Libsyn helped make this part of the job easy.

    Some other significant directories:

    • Stitcher
    • Google Podcasts
    • Spotify
    • TuneIn
    • Blubrry
    • PodBean
    • Radio Public

    Next Steps

    Take a deep breath, pat yourself on the back, and revel in the fact that you have a podcast. The next step is promotion. But we aren’t going to go into that here, if you want to learn about specific ways to promote your podcast outside of the general promotional tactics I provide for social media, check out some of the resources on thepodcasthost.com and podcastinsights.com. And Congrats on Launching, we hope that our tips for launching a podcast were useful! And don’t forget to let us know what podcast so we can subscribe!

    A Special Shout Out

    We want to give a special shout out to Catherine Feeney of the Fashun Chronicles who added some great insight, fun energy and at least a few laughs to this blog post. Her insight on blogging, podcasts and social media was greatly appreciated as she added a great deal of value adn a frame of reference to this post. I wish I could have shared more of the hour conversation I had with this hilarious lady, but we just had so much to cover! And you should always leave them asking for more!

    And if you want to hear more from Catherine, hop on over to her podcast and get to know more about this fashionable and funny lady!! Click the banner below to listen on iTunes!

    All photos by Arielle Lewis Studios, Washington DC

  • You Need A Business Blog + 20 Free Blog Topics

    Why You Need A Business Blog

    We recently posted a blog about the benefits of blogging. This post included great stats and information about why you should start a business blog, right away! We were then planning on launching the September Content Challenge but we didn’t have anyone sign up. Which said to us that you are all still not ready to blog, so we are taking a step back. We are reviewing the reasons to blog. And giving you 20 Blog Post Ideas you could start writing tomorrow. Also, we will be hosting a free Zoom Question and Answer Session mid-month for anyone who has questions about starting a blog.

    There are countless benefits to having a business blog that is regularly updated, but in the video below we present what we believe to be the most powerful.

    Among them you have heavyweight hitters like a blog helps establish you as an expert in your industry.

    Do you want to be an industry leader? Yes! Ok, lets get to blogging.

    Not enough of a reason?

    How about that blogging helps increase your visibility and drive potential clients interested in the services you offer directly to your website?

    That is a big one! Afterall, who doesn’t want more business?

    Getting closer to agreeing to starting that blog we see! Well, hopefully the following video will get you to see that the value of a blog will outweigh the downsides. If it does we have a special treat for you after the video!

    Click Here to subscribe to the JRH Graphics YouTube Channel

    20 Free Blog Topics

    ]If you would like additional blog topics set up a free Social Media Consultation Call with JRH Graphics.

  • Webinar: How Small Businesses Can Utilize Social Proof

    How Small Businesses Can Utilize Social Proof

    We followed up the blog post on Social Proof with our Social Proof Webinar!

    In our Social Proof Webinar, we focused on how small businesses can utilize social proof. Including using it on social media as well as in their general marketing campaigns. We started with a simple definition, but then we dug a bit deeper. The three major areas we focused on for this webinar were customer reviews, user-generated content, and micro-influencer marketing. We believe that these three areas can have the highest ROI for small businesses when executed properly. During the webinar, we providing the best practices, things to stay away from, and offered some examples from our experiences. All participants also had the opportunity to ask questions at the end of the webinar.

    Is This The Right Lesson For Me?

    If you are interested in social media marketing or have your own business, then this Social Proof Webinar is aimed at you. It should help you incorporate some of the primary forms of social proof into your strategy. If you are a professional marketer but want to be able to provide small business owners with advice on areas to focus, this could be the right webinar for you.

    Still have questions after the webinar? Please feel free to sign up for a Free 30 Social Media Consultation Call.

    Ok, I am Ready to Conquer Social Proof!

    The webinar is approximately 45 minutes long. So grab a pen and paper and, maybe a drink of water. Enjoy!JTNDaWZyYW1lJTIwd2lkdGglM0QlMjI1NjAlMjIlMjBoZWlnaHQlM0QlMjIzMTUlMjIlMjBzcmMlM0QlMjJodHRwcyUzQSUyRiUyRnd3dy55b3V0dWJlLmNvbSUyRmVtYmVkJTJGVDdCVHhSaWJScW8lMjIlMjBmcmFtZWJvcmRlciUzRCUyMjAlMjIlMjBhbGxvdyUzRCUyMmFjY2VsZXJvbWV0ZXIlM0IlMjBhdXRvcGxheSUzQiUyMGVuY3J5cHRlZC1tZWRpYSUzQiUyMGd5cm9zY29wZSUzQiUyMHBpY3R1cmUtaW4tcGljdHVyZSUyMiUyMGFsbG93ZnVsbHNjcmVlbiUzRSUzQyUyRmlmcmFtZSUzRQ==

  • Small Business & Social Media Takeaways from The Index

    Small Business and Social Media

    Sprout Social Social Media Index Cover
    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.

    Sprout Social Social Media Index Cover
    Download Your Copy Today

    All Stats and some inspiration provided by the team at SproutSocial Download Your Copy of the Sprout Social Index Today!