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Here you’ll find an extensive library of free digital marketing and social media resources that cover a wide variety of topics to keep you updated on what’s happening online and in your feed.
Services Round Up
There are a lot of new faces following me since the last time I did a SERVICES ROUND UP post. So I thought I'd recap, a little differently this time - just to show the new folks in the back what's what.
Social Media Tip of the Week
Social Media is undoubtedly the greatest marketing tool at a small business' disposal. It's never been easier to keep customers updated on what's going on in your world while keeping your finger on where the market and your competitors are heading.
The week that was...
Special shout out to this week's public holiday. Nothing like a day off to help get you through the week. Although if you're a small business owner like me, then you can't help but put in a few hours of work on a non-work day.
Social Media tip of the day...
E-newsletters, mailers, email marketing - whatever you want to call it - have you included it as part of your marketing strategy? If so, then take a read below - Im about to give you some tips on how to nail email marketing to ensure your newsletters get read by the people who matter the most: customers.
Posting Schedule
Time is money, so they say. And when it comes to social media - this is definitely the case. Posting at the wrong time could see your reach plummet, while posting at key times of the day and week will ensure your business gets noticed by potential customers. Employing a strategy of sorts when it comes to your posting schedule will be instrumental to your social media activity.
Your Social Media Tip for the Week
Pinterest is a key yet under-utilised tool when it comes to social media management. If you rely on images to sell your product or tell a story of your offer, then you need to be using Pinterest.
The week that was
To say it's been a busy week here at SHOUT & Co. HQ would be a massive understatement! Between shooting cocktails, toothpaste and new recipes for the blog, I've been getting up to quite a lot! These are the things that I've been focusing on.
Diagnostics
Your profile is the first that potential clients will look at when they consider working with you. If it's a mess, chances are they'll be driven away. A well presented, thought out and considered social media profile will undoubtedly impress your new clients or shoppers and make them eager to strike up a conversation with you. Think of it as your passive income generator: if it looks good, people will want to work with or buy from you - simple as that.
Product Styling Handbook
Product Styling is such a powerful thing: it can literally make or break a sale. So to help small business owners who are on a tight budget, I've put together a handy PRODUCT STYLING HANDBOOK. Best of all, it's totally free! In it, I chat about lighting, angles, the rule of thirds, props, backgrounds - the whole thing. It's basically a Styling and Photography 101 which is easy to follow and explains the key things you need to know to start producing beautiful imagery of your offer.
Video Services
Did you know that not only do I do still styling and photography but I do videos as well? Yup that's right! Given the recent algorithm changes on certain social media platforms, I realised that video was going to be an integral part of a winning digital marketing strategy. Apart from paid advertising on these online platforms, video is the easiest and best way to ensure your brand's reach remains intact.
The power of Backgrounds
I wanted to represent the power and impact of a background using this very simple yet iconic food pairing. It details beautifully how a choice in a background can totally change the look and feel of a product shot.
When do you need to hire a product stylist?
You might be wondering what exactly a product stylist does. Seeing stylists post beautiful pictures all day long - what for? Well it's pretty simple: engaging images sell products.
How much is too much?
Social Media is a crazy ride: first there's the algorithm that underpins how the whole thing works, then there's the followers, hashtags, content, captions, tagging etiquette, etc etc. The list of things to take into account seems exhaustive and in my opinion - is.
Nailing Instagram Captions
So you've selected your beautifully styled image (hopefully shot for you by Shout & Co....) and you've posted it to Instagram, waiting for all of those likes and comments to come flooding through. But they don't. Crickets. You might get a dribble through of likes but the comments from followers are few and far between. Not a big deal, right? WRONG. Not getting much engagement on your posts could mean 1 of 3 things:
Follower Growth
If you read my previous post about calculating engagement, you'll know that tracking how engaged your audience is is vital to understanding how well you're doing at this social media gig. A low engagement rating (or ER) suggests that your content is not resonating with your followers. A high ER indicates that what you're posting is what your audience wants to see - so continue the good work.
Can I let you in on a little secret?...
Ok look, we all know about the changes happening over on Facebook. For most small businesses, Facebook is a key place to punt their wares. But things are changing: you'll read countless articles and blog posts on how to stay on top of things, but can I let you in on a little secret? There's really 1 big thing that you need to do to boost your presence on the ol' grandaddy social networking site.
Winning on facebook
You've probably heard countless people banging on about the changes to facebook's way of doing things (I'm not going to mention the "a" word because it's just so overused now). but yes, there are changes happening to what you (and your customers) see on their fb newsfeeds. but i won't go into that now...
Personalising the experience
Finding it hard to stand out from the crowd given the recent changes in facebook's algorithm (and the not-so-long-ago changes to instagram's algorithm)?