7 Small Business Social Media Hacks You Can Do Right Now!
Whether you need ideas to grow your social presence or need a list of suggestions to use in those brief moments of time, these 7 things are quick ways that you can harness the power of social TODAY.
Although we are all adamant that we are too busy, I am 100% sure you have a 15 minute window every day that you could use to maximise your social presence, if only you knew how to get the most from it.
Whether you need ideas to grow your social presence or need a list of suggestions to use in those brief moments of time, these 7 things are quick ways that you can harness the power of social TODAY.
1. Where does your traffic come from?
It’s all well and good using every social media platform and marketing funnel going to drive traffic to your site, but do you really know which channels are working? To find out, log into your Google Analytics and click on the links to follow this sequence: Acquisitions – All Traffic – Referrals
You’ll see a list showing which social site is generating the most referral traffic to your website. Each site is linked to a breakdown of the actual posts people clicked on to reach your site.
Let’s say your top referral source is Pinterest. One in the Pinterest section, click on the Pinterest link and it will take you to a breakdown of the top pins/images that brought people to your site. To help you better understand what people are interested in, simply write out the top 10 pins and the number of traffic clicks from those images to my list of my top social sites.
Continue to create content in line with that style/tone/aesthetic. Give your readers what they want!
2. Check your top performing posts
Creating content takes time and effort, and you want to know that the time and effort is worthwhile, analysing your top post is a great way to inspire future content.
To access this information on Facebook, go to your business page. Look for the tab on the top of your fan page that says Insights and click on that button. Then start tracking the activity from your Facebook posts, a simple spreadsheet will do.
For Twitter simply log in, then where your profile logo is on the top right hand side, click the drop down and select Analytics, then next to Home at the top left, click Tweet and it will show you a breakdown of all your tweets.
In Instagram, go into your Insights (if you don’t have a business profile you won’t be able to see this, to turn your profile from a personal to a business one just follow this guide)
Once you have all the data, ask yourself;
What were your top 5 posts for the week?
What time of day were they posted?
What day of the week were they posted?
What was the topic or message of these posts?
Did you add a video, photo or ask a question?
The more you check your Insights, the more you’ll start to see patterns emerge. You’ll start to see what type of content speaks more to your fans and what posts create more engagement with your potential customers.
3. Maximise Pinterest
It’s very easy to simply create content and push it out on Pinterest, but like all social platforms, it’s a place to build relationships and utilise the content of others. One of the best ways to hep you grow your Pinterest account is to find new people who are posting new content for you to Repin on Pinterest. I usually run a search for new people and boards at least once a week.
Pinterest’s search feature is so easy to use and it’ll help you look for new people, boards and pins. Just type in the words you’d use to run a search on Google.
This search is a huge help to look for more content to add to a board that you just started or want to grow. You’ll be able to find people who have already done the search work and just re-pin several of their pins. And depending on their content, go ahead and follow them or just their board.
4. Update your LinkedIn profile:
Sometimes we get so busy that we forget to add what we’re working on to our LinkedIn profile. I know this one well – it happens to me all the time!
Your LinkedIn profile is super important because if someone runs a Google search of your name, your LinkedIn profile will come up as an option. This may be one of the first places where a potential customer or partner will first learn about you so you want to make sure that your information is up to date.
To update your information, log into your LinkedIn profile, go to the Edit Profile section (you’ll see the edit pencil next to all the sections) and ask yourself these questions:
Did you recently add in a new product or service? You can add that to your profile under the Project section.
Did you write a guest post on another blog? Add in the link in the Publications section.
Have your services changed? Make sure you update that in your Summary section as well as in the Experience section.
5. Find new people in Instagram to follow:
Doing a search for people who do the same work as you as you do is a great way to see how others in your industry are using Instagram. Run a search for your company’s key words in the search feature { the search looks like a magnifying glass } and see who comes up.
Don’t just settle with following them, go and see who the people who inspire you, are inspired by, i.e. who they follow.
Bonus point! Make some notes about of which hashtags they use. I found several of my strongest hashtags from checking out what others who were doing the same type of work as me were using.
6. Do a mini-brainstorm social session:
Don’t rest on your laurels that done once, is done, it isn’t! So rather than keeping on simply doing what you have always done, take a little time out to brain dump content ideas, creative elements, where you could share them and how. Even doing this for 15 minutes a week, you will find yourself getting into the swing of always looking for the next batch of content, the next campaign idea, etc.
7. Read and comment on other blogs:
Take the whole 15 minutes to really read an article on a site you love, don’t just scan read it, really absorb the content, then leave them a constructive comment, mention why you enjoyed the post, what you took from it, or how you will utilise the insights. Do this twice a week, every week.
If you can’t add to the conversation, move on to the next blog post or another blogger’s site. It’s OK if it was something that was posted a couple of weeks or a month ago. The point is to spend some time crafting your comment so that you can contribute the conversation and maybe even start a connection with the author.
I really hope this helps you make the most of the little windows of time you do have in your day.
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3 Apps To Up Your Social Media Game
Before you roll your eyes and tell me that you already have too many apps, trust me, these 3 apps will make life infinitely easier if like me your work and indeed life is on social media.
Before you roll your eyes and tell me that you already have too many apps, trust me, these 3 will make life infinitely easier if like me your work and indeed life is on social media.
I’m sure you’e seen the same templates doing the rounds on everyones Instagram and Facebook stories and like me, want something different for your own brand, that’s where Easil comes in.
A browser-based tool with professional-looking templates for Instagram and Facebook Stories, it’s especially helpful if you’re not a graphic designer or all that creative minded, like me!
Once you’ve selected a template, you can edit the font, colour scheme, image, and more. Easil also has a nice font selection and a stock art service called Easil Stock, which is frequently updated with fresh images.
The other thing I really like about Easil, is the ability to create Brand Toolkits, so it like me, you manage numerous clients social channels, you can create a set for each including colours, styles and fonts, making creation even easier!
Although there is a free 14-day trial, which I recommend using to get to grips with the platform and decide if it’s for you, if you want to download and use the templates then you need to upgrade to the monthly fee, which is $7.50 (£6.18 ish), this gives you over 7,500 templates!
Ever find yourself cursing the fact you have a video that only fits one social media platform, but you need it across all? Crop Video to the rescue! It turns landscape video into perfectly cropped vertical or square video. After you upload landscape video to this browser-based video editor, Crop Video uses face- and object-recognition to split the video into shots.
Although you can adjust the cropping shot by shot to fine-tune the final video, the automated cropping works quite well and is a massive time saver!
I find myself using Crop Video most when creating vertical videos for IGTV or Instagram stories. For Insta Stories it’s especially good as you can set in and out points and then export 15-second clips of the cropped video. With this feature, you avoid stories that cut off a video that exceeds the 15-second limit.
With the free version of Crop Video, you can export one shot without a watermark, and the size, length, and quality of your exported video are limited. If you pay about £7, you can access the tool for 24 hours without these limitations. For full anytime access, you pay about £48 per month. Whilst this might seem steep, consider how long it might take you in other programmes, or indeed utilising a video editor every time you need a video editing.
Tools like this I find allow me to be more creative with videos, which is nothing but a benefit for clients social growth and also the audiences they are appealing to.
Not yet achieved the heady heights of 10,000 followers on instagram and the lusted after swipe up option, you need Linktree, it offers a great way to expand what your Instagram profile link can do.
Your Instagram bio is the only place for a clickable URL in all of Instagram, if you don’t have the swipe up stories function, With Linktree, you can point your bio link to a bunch of different links that are clickable from that one place. The effect is almost like a mini landing page with four or five additional links.
Linktree also makes it easier to optimise where you send people from your profile. No need to change your bio link all the time so it points to your new article or deal. Instead, you can point to a few evergreen options that help your fans and followers find your latest report, podcast, event, or whatever your standard offerings are.
Linktree is free with some Linktree branding, but you can upgrade for £5 per month to remove the branding, set custom UTM tags, add team member access, and more.
I really hope all of that helps! If you have some awesome apps you couldn’t be without be sure to let me know in the comments or tweet me!
4 Instagram Styling Tips To Give Your Brand a Boost
Finding yourself lost when it comes to creating a beautiful, cohesive and productive Instagram feed?
Worry not, these 4 tips styling tips will give your brand a boost!
Finding yourself lost when it comes to creating a beautiful, cohesive and productive Instagram feed?
Worry not, these 4 tips styling tips will give your brand a boost!
Embrace the flat lay!
When it comes to product shots, flat lays are the oldies but still very much the goodies and should most certainly not be overlooked.
They key to flat lay success comes from paring everything back and keeping it simple.
Plain, neutral background work best, as they allow the product to shine. If you don’t have a table or floor that works, buy some large sheets of paper, or material, get a couple of sheets or pieces of material in neutral colours that work with, and compliment your brand colours.
Once you have your background, you need to work out the best angle to shoot from. After 6 years of social styling, I’ve found that shooting from above is not only the most effective, it’s also the easiest to do and recreate.
There are two ways to do this, the first is to stand on a ladder or chair and lean over the flat lay, or to give yourself a much more secure and manageable method, get yourself a tripod for your camera or phone, my favourite is this Manfrotto tripod for my camera and this Ibeston iphone tripod is my favourite.
When positioning your product in the shot, keep it simple, but not sparse. It can take a little time to get the look right, have lots of additional items that work with your product in terms of theme, colour and texture, to bring more detail to your photo. Here are some examples I have taken for clients of mine…
2. Focus on the details
Does your product have small, intricate details? Something that makes it unique or extra special?
Nearly every product can benefit from close-up shots that focus on a unique attribute. With jewellery clients, that’s the clarity of the stones, for skincare brands it’s the texture of the product.
The trick with detail shots is to hold them back for products that are best seen close up, use them sparingly and allow them to have as much impact as possible.
3. Share fans and followers images
Not only does sharing user generated images help to bulk out your social content, it also shows appreciation for the customers who take the time to share your products on their own platforms. By re-using them on the brands pages you are maximising customer loyalty, inspiring others to do the same, and increasing brand images.
Whilst not all customers images are worth sharing on the brands social, there will be some that work in terms of colour, theme and styling. By using calls to action in your captions and content, you can inspire more people to share, further increasing brand awareness. Simply adding “we’d love to see your daily skincare routine” or “do you have a favourite piece of our jewellery that you simply cannot be without? Share it with us using #InsertBrandHashtagHere”
4. Incorporate a human element
It can be very easy to focus on the product and not the people that might use it, by bringing an element of people into shots you allow potential customers and other followers to imagine theirselves wearing or using the products.
The human element doesn’t need to be obvious, it could be as simple as a hand holding a bottle, a close up of skin or hair depending on your product.
As you can see from these images, the use of people can be very varied and give a completely different vibe every time.
