#PlanAhead – Using Stock Photos in Your Social Media Marketing

One of the challenges with building your social media presence is figuring out the visuals. You can create graphics with no photos, but I’m sure you’ve heard that photos grab more attention. However, since you haven’t done any professional photography, you aren’t sure what to use. What’s a small business owner to do? What are your choices?

Your Own Photography

Hands down, the best option for anyone building their social media marketing is to take and use your own photos. The bad news? Professional photography (while worth it) is expensive. The good news? You have a smart phone with a decent camera and most audiences are expecting some level of raw and real when it comes to social media. In fact, people tend to engage more with social media posts that represent the authentic you.

Back Away from Google Images (And No One Gets Hurt)

Seriously, I’m still having conversations with small businesses that don’t realize it’s not okay to just grab a photo off the Internet and use it on their website or in their social media marketing. Every image has some level of copyright protection. If you took the photo yourself (always the best bet) then you are given the same level of protection because that’s your intellectual property. It’s doesn’t matter how pretty it is, or how perfect for your business, you can’t use another person’s images without permission.

Stock Photography

What is stock photography? Stock photos are taken by photographers and uploaded to stock photography websites for use by others. Check the copyright license before using, but many photos are free to use. You’ll find two different types of stock photography websites – absolutely free with an open creative license (so you can use however you like) and paid stock photography websites that requires you to pay per image or sign up for a monthly subscription to access their photos. The free websites tend to be more limited on choices (because photographers don’t get paid as well, or at all, for submitting photos there). The paid photography websites typically have a bigger library of images available because photographers are incentivized to upload their photos.

Here are three popular free stock photography websites to help you get started:

Pixabay

Pexels

Unsplash

If you are just getting started with social media marketing, use the free tools available to you to get going. Something is always better than nothing and you can start building your audience using free stock photography this month!

However, understand that if you are trying to build authority, become an expert, or establish yourself as an influencer, stock photography won’t cut it for you. Especially for those looking to build a presence on Instagram, those users want to see YOU, not generic images that aren’t related to your brand. Depending on the impact you are trying to make, investing in either taking your own photos or hiring a photographer may be the direction you need to go.

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Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and the tools to manage them.

Click here for Social Media Training, Speaking and Strategy Consultations.

#PlanAhead – How to Use Social Media to Showcase Your Next Event

Event marketing, when done strategically, can be an effective way to build your brand, gain awareness for you and your business, and fill that client list. However, there are many events that end up with zero attendance. It’s easy to get discouraged when it comes to event planning and marketing for growing your business. Here are some tips on using social media marketing to sell more tickets for your next event.

Highlight Your Speakers

By creating content around your speakers, you are demonstrating the value of attending your event. Not only should you announce your keynote and other speakers, but you should also be creating graphics with quotes or wisdom from each speaker, sharing their online content, and interviewing them to build up awareness and create the tension you need to sell those tickets!

Gather Media from Prior Events

If you’ve hosted this event before, pull out those photos and videos! This media is essential as it helps potential buyers to get a feel for what type of event it is and what they are in for if they purchase tickets. Make sure you are creating content for social media using these photos and videos. If you don’t have any, prioritize getting these at your next event.

Testimonials

If you don’t have written or video testimonials about how great your event is, start collecting them! These are great, not just for social media, but also for the event website or landing page. You can use them for Facebook advertising as well. Quite versatile and a great way to push people from indecision to action.

Create an Event Hashtag

One of the most beneficial uses for the hashtag is when it comes to promoting events. By creating an event hashtag, and encouraging others to use it, you are:

  1. Grouping all of your event content, even content posted by attendees, in a way that makes it easy to search and find.
  2. Encouraging attendees to share content about your event with their audiences.
  3. Creating brand recognition for your event.
  4. Making it easy to jump into the conversation and engage with your attendees online.

Let Folks See What’s Behind the Curtain

It’s easy to focus intently on all the planning, prep-work, and execution of the event and not even think about social media marketing. However, your audience builds excitement and interest when they get to see and engage with behind the scenes content.

Selling tickets to your next event is no small feat and, sometimes, can get lost in all the hustle and bustle of planning and executing the event. However, social media marketing is a great way to spread the message, remind your audience about your big event, and generate interest and excitement.

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and the tools to manage them.

Click here for Social Media Training, Speaking and Strategy Consultations.

#PlanAhead – How to NOT Run Out of Things to Say in Social Media for Your Business

When I work with small business owners, one of their biggest pain points, for them, is coming up with something to say on their social media channels. They love the idea of building out their brand and becoming consistent on social media, but they just aren’t sure what to post.

Here are our best tips when it comes to never running out of something to say on your social media channels:

Poll Your Audience

One of our favorite ways to find out what your target audience wants is to ask them. Find an online group or community filled with folks that resemble your ideal clients and start asking them questions. Create polls. Build surveys. Start collecting this valuable data as soon as possible because what they tell is will convert into valuable social media marketing content.

Make a List of Frequently Asked Questions

Every business owner finds that there is a handful of questions they get asked on a regular basis. Jot down your Top 10 most asked questions. Addressing these questions by creating social media content will give you several months’ worth of posts and help you spread your message at the same time.

Make a Plan

This one will cause you more upfront but will save you tons of time throughout the year. If you spend a day (or two) just jotting down 12 monthly themes and then 4 bullet points per theme, then you’ll have something to talk about all year long. You’ll have a whole year of already knowing what you will talk about. No more waking up and trying to decide on the fly what to post.

If you are struggling with the twelve monthly themes, then do a search for similar content to get an idea of what other businesses around talking about in regards to your industry or profession.

You can always keep a close eye on what your competition is posting for inspiration purposes, but we find it works better if you have something to say that is unique to you and independent from the other noise online. Your audience and your target market are both valuable resources for finding out what type of content they really want. Plus, setting aside time to make a plan will keep you from just posting whatever random idea you come up with in the moment, allowing you to be more strategize with your online content and social media marketing.

If you are ready to take this off your plate entirely, give our team a call. We specialize in building social media content for your brand and helping you maintain consistently on your online platforms.

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and the tools to manage them.

Click here for Social Media Training, Speaking and Strategy Consultations.

#BePrepared – How to Read Social Media Reports

Have you been using social media for months and months, but you have no idea if you’re even getting any results?

Don’t worry: You’re not alone.

Tons of small business owners post daily to social media without any real idea of what’s working and what’s not.

We get it: Checking all of those reports and trying to interpret the data can be daunting. But it’s important to check your analytics regularly so you can spot trends and improve your strategy where necessary.

Luckily, it’s pretty easy to do if you know what to look for. These are the key metrics you should focus on for the best ROI:

Followers

These are the people who have “liked” your page and (hopefully) see your posts show up on their timeline. This number is important because the more followers you have, the more engagement and traffic your page will receive. All of those add up to higher visibility.

To see how many followers you have, simply visit your profile page on any social media network and look at the number displayed there. For more in-depth information, you can view insights or analytics reports and see exactly how many followers you gained and how many you lost in any given time period.

Impressions

Impressions are the number of users who saw a post. Most of the big-name social media networks have built-in analytics that will show the number of impressions your posts receive.

Why are impressions important? Because the more people that see your content, the better, obviously!

Check your analytics to see which days and which posts received the most impressions so you can create more of that type of content!

Engagement

Engagement goes beyond audience members just seeing your posts. When they engage, they “like” your posts, leave comments, and share.

Impressions are nice, but engagement gets you in front of new eyes. When an audience member shares your content, there is the chance that everyone on their friends’ list will see it as well.

Like impressions, you should monitor engagement to see which posts receive the most activity – and then make more of them.

Mentions

The best free advertising of all? Brand mentions: When a user talks about your brand of their own volition.

On the flip side, of course, people may mention your brand because they are unhappy with your product or service.

Either way, mentions are worth monitoring and responding to. A quick reply to ANY mention shows that you take customer service seriously and that you value your audience.

Don’t think you have the skills to monitor analytics on your own? Never fear! Our Social Power program will give you all the tools you need to grow your business on social media. Reach out today to learn more.

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and the tools to manage them.

Click here for Social Media Training, Speaking and Strategy Consultations.

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