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New Feature in Canva

There is a cool new feature in Canva and I can’t wait to share it with you!

It really is fun and easy to do. You can now add borders to shapes. Plus, you can change the style border and the color of the border. In my video, I use a circle, but you can use any of the shapes in Canva.

Upgrade to Canva Pro to get all of these amazing features!! Let me know what you think about this new feature. Are you going to try it out ASAP!?!?

 

What Does a Great Instagram Bio Consist Of?

Tips for Instagram Bio

What Does a Great Instagram Bio Consist Of?

A good bio does a few things: it lets your potential followers know a little bit more about you, showcase your personality, and (hopefully) make people want to follow you. Creating a bio can be a lot of work, and needs some creativity, so it’s important to make sure you know what you need to create your profile.
Your username is a key part of your brand, because it’s the absolute first thing people will see about you. It should be descriptive and clear. Your photo, too, should connect to your username. Both of these elements should connect well with your bio.
You’ll also want to think about your name – not your handle, but the words that are directly under your profile photo. This is one of the searchable parts of your bio, so think about whether you want to include just your name or your business as well.
LINK!! If you have a business profile, Instagram lets you include a single link in your profile. This is one of the best ways to further your brand message, so make sure you include a good one.
BIO DESCRIPTION!! You can be informative or funny, you can talk about yourself or your business. You can make a joke or be serious. The most important thing here is to stick with what’s natural for you and your business. Your description should fit with the theme of your whole profile. It can be a good idea to use hashtags in your description if they fit. Your description can only be about 150 characters, so space is limited. Add emojis if you need to save space or to break up the text.

Lessons From Instagram Top Posts

There are a few lessons we can all learn from these posts with massive engagement, whether you’re a big business or just starting out.
Share your big moments. Several of the top posts of all time are people sharing big moments from their real lives. Big moments like weddings, babies, or engagements are proven to be popular posts, and this will likely prove true on your account as well.
Share your exciting moments. Moments of personal victory or change may seem too personal to share – after all, will your audience be as excited as you about things that don’t affect them? If the top posts are any indication, they will love seeing these posts.
Share your happy moments. There’s a fine line between bragging posts and sharing authentically happy moments. Happiness is contagious, and your posts that take a moment to celebrate both mundane and exceptional happiness can catch fire on your followers’ feeds.
Share your sad moments. Several of the top posts have to do with deaths that impacted a lot of people. It can seem like the difficult moments of our lives are better kept tucked away, but the reality is, most people can relate to these almost more than happy posts. When you share difficult news with your audience including the loss of a loved one, a lost job, the diagnosis of an illness, or personal difficulty, your audience engages with the reality of your life. It’s important to always keep a boundary between things you share and things you want to keep private, and it can be damaging to expose personal information for the sake of audience engagement. But when you find it useful to share difficult news with your audience, the outcome could be that they feel even closer to you.
Which one are you going to try to share more of?

Why You Need an Instagram Audit

Tips for Instagram Audit
An audit of your IG account can help you assess whether your account is meeting the goals you have for it, who your followers are, and whether your content is the quality it should be.
Running an audit of your account may seem daunting, but here are a couple of simple steps to make it quick and painless:
Take a Fresh Look at Your Content. Take a comprehensive look at how your posts are doing and who is engaging. You can also create a quick checklist for each post, and read through your captions. Does each post have a call to action? Are your hashtags relevant and engaging without trying too hard? Are your captions engaging and interesting?
Go Back to the Basics. You might take a fresh look and ask yourself if your profile picture is still fresh and relevant. If your branding has changed, or if your look has changed, it might be time to freshen that up. Check and make sure your bio is still accurate and reflects the branding on your account, and of course make sure the website linked is not out of date.
Running an audit on your account may seem like a daunting task but these simple actions can keep your account fresh and relevant, and can assure that you’re gaining new followers for a long time to come!
This is something I recommend doing at least once a year–so why not start the year with this on your calendar!?!

New Instagram Story Sticker

HAVE YOU PLAYED WITH THIS NEW STORY STICKER??

The way it works is by creating a thread of Instagram Stories, starting with the new sticker being added to a Story alongside a text input field. Underneath this, the sticker prompts viewers of the stories to respond back with their own Instagram Story, which is then automatically added to your Story, and every Story account that participates in the thread!
It’s an exciting way to collect user-generated content, create challenges, drive a ton of engagement to your Instagram account, and get discovered by new accounts!

HOW TO USE THE INSTAGRAM STORIES ADD YOURS STICKER

  1. To get started, log into Instagram on your phone app.
  2. Create an Instagram Story using either images or video content.
  3. Open the Sticker Tray, and tap on the ‘ADD YOURS’ sticker to add to your media.
  4. Type in a Prompt – either by manually typing in, or click on the dice icon underneath to shuffle through random topics that might inspire you!
  5. Click ‘Done’ to add to your story, and reposition on your story by dragging and/or pinching the sticker into place.
  6. Add any other stickers and design elements to your Instagram Story, and then post!
When your Stories viewers click on the sticker, they’re prompted to create their own Instagram story, which includes your original prompt, posted to their audience. Any replies added from each audience add to the thread of stories, and rapidly extend the possibility of new account discovery and engagement.
It’s important to note that at this stage, there is no way to remove a response story link, so you can’t control what type of content is shown in your replies.

What do you think??? Are you going to give it a try?

Major Changes Happening on Instagram

upgrades on Instagram

MAJOR CHANGES HAPPENING ON INSTAGRAM!!!

Instagram has confirmed three new feed options will soon be available in the app: Home, Favorites, and a chronological Following feed.
The main Instagram feed will be split into three tabs: Home, Favorites, and Following:
Home: Home feed will be similar to the “experience you know today.” Expect to see more suggested content populating this feed over time.
Favorites: This feed will consist of content from a curated list of accounts. This will be a feed to capture all the posts from people “you don’t want to miss things from.” It is still unconfirmed how this list will be set, but it could be an extension of Instagram’s Close Friends feature.
Following: And finally, this feed will be a chronological list of all the accounts that you follow. YAY– the chronological feed is back.
This creates more opportunities for Instagram to deliver suggested content through the main landing-page feed, while still having a following feed available.
Stay tuned as these will be rolled out soon.

Social Media Content Ideas for July

july social media ideas

Where does the time go? We are sitting at the beginning of yet another month. It’s been such a quick summer already. Here’s a quick guide to get you thinking about social media post ideas for the month! No excuses–I’ve made it super easy for you!

July 1 – Create a FLASH Sale…make this a hot offer, limited time only

July 2 – Feel Good Friday – share a picture of something that makes you happy and ask your audience to share what makes them happy

July 3 – Small Business Shoutout – share (tag) a favorite local small business you want your fans to know about

July 4 – 4th of July – share a pic of a local flag display and comment what freedom means to you

July 5 – It’s National Work-aholic Day – encourage everyone to create balance in their life.

July 6 – Tuesday Tip – provide a valuable tip that your audience can use right away.

July 7 –  Wednesday Wisdom- share a meaningful quote or thought

July 8 – Share a blog post from an industry leader

July 9 – Friday Introductions – give a few things about yourself and ask your fans to share something about themselves

July 10 – What’s your current VIBE? Share a favorite song

July 11 – Sunday Funday – share a selfie of something fun you did or are doing over the weekend

July 12 – Customer Review – share and tag (with permission)

July 13 – Share a stat about your industry

July 14 – Work it Wednesday – show your work desk, share behind the scenes or give a hint on your current projects

July 15 – Get to Know Your Customer Day – ask them what their favorite item of yours is

July 16 – Ask for advice on what to cook for dinner–share your favorite grilling recipe

July 17 – World Emoji Day – ask fans to share their most used emoji with you in the comments

July 18 – Video–share a quick 3 min or less video on why you are in business

July 19 – Promote a product or service

July 20 – Ask for advice or a referral (could be anything!)

July 21 – #wcw, share a woman that inspires you

July 22 – Invite fans to join your email/newsletter

July 23 – Answer a FAQ

July 24 – Share a weekend gif and ask fans to share their plans for the weekend with a gif

July 25 – Gratitude post – share something you are grateful for in your business

July 26 – Monday Motivation – share a motivational quote

July 27 – Highlight a local vendor

July 28 – Share the story behind your name/logo

July 29 – #tbt Throwback Thursday – dig into your archives and find an old post or something from when you just started

July 30 – International Day of Friendship – highlight a friendship you’ve created by owning your business

July 31 – Month end wrap-up – share a story of a success from the month

Social Media Content Ideas for May

social media content ideas for may

WHOA…where did April go? Holy cow, time is moving so fast!! Here’s is a quick guide you can reference for Content Ideas in May. If you find them helpful, share this with a friend!


May 1st – Kentucky Derby Day – encourage fans to show off their fancy hats or share a recipe for a Mint Julip!

May 4th – Star Wars Day – Have fun with this one! May the 4th be with you! Do a Google Search to find a picture that is relevant to your industry using the Star Wars Theme!

May 5th – Cinco de Mayo – Ask fans to share local spots for the best Mexican Food or share a picture of you/your team celebrating!

May 6th – Nurses Day – This is a perfect time to do a shout-out for the Nurses in your community. Encourage Fans to tag their favorite nurse for a chance to win a prize!

May 9th – Mother’s Day – Share a photo of how you are celebrating or remembering mom on this day! If you purchased the 365 Days of Content Bundle, there’s a premade graphic you can use!

May 15th – Armed Forces Day – Today is a day to pay special tribute to the men and women who serve our country.

May 20th – National Rescue Dog Day – Got a shelter dog in your life? Share a photo and include a link to the shelter that introduced the two of you. Encourage your fans to share a picture of their rescue dog too!

May 21st – Bike to Work Day – Ask fans how far they would have to bike if they rode to work today! Tag a local bike shop and encourage people to get outside and ride!

May 25th – National Wine Day – Share your favorite or highlight a local vineyard by
including a link to their profile.

May 28th – National Road Trip Day – Where would you travel for a road trip? Ask fans, post a picture of your destination or favorite past road trip!

May 31st – Memorial Day – First and foremost, remember the meaning of the day and celebrate those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. Second, be sure to share photos of what you’re doing on this unofficial start of summer! If you purchased the 365 Days of Content Bundle, there’s a premade graphic you can use!

Build Trust through Social Media

Social media is the new word of mouth, and brand trust is what measures how seriously consumers will take you. Trusted businesses usually serve as the leaders in smaller communities, but only after they prove their expertise. Consumers are more willing to trust companies that market in this way. They are more likely to share posts and spread branding messages, because they are more likely to know and talk to the people within that social circle anyway. So how does a business build brand trust using social media?

Encourage Reviews and User Generated Content

More than 80% of today’s consumers rank the opinions of their peers above any product advertisement. If your social media is full of user-generated content, you will attract a much more loyal audience than a thread that is full of direct advertisements and one-way media.

Encourage reviews, even negative ones. Not only does this lend transparency to your business, but it also gives you the advantage of finding your weaknesses.

Respond Quickly

When someone interacts with your brand, the quicker you are to respond the better off your brand will be. This goes for customer service comments, reviews, issues and general interactions on your social media posts.

The 80/20 Rule

80% of your content should provide value to your audience; leaving 20% of your content to feature a sales pitch. This ratio may seem tiny until you realize that modern consumers are trained to tune out advertisements completely. Unless you build trust as an expert, no amount of sales pitches will increase your conversions.

Create your content in a way that provides a truly pure opportunity for outreach. Once your prospects recognize you as an expert in the field, they will naturally look to you to solve their problems in that field.

Build a Following Through Interaction

More than anything, consumers are looking for interaction. This may seem counterintuitive as we move more deeply into the digital age, but we are a social species. The businesses with the best social media conversations will have better visibility and more conversions.

Think of your social media threads as you would the neighborhood bar – the more inviting the atmosphere, the more beer you are likely to sell, so it’s important to focus on the atmosphere instead of the beer.

Transparency

94% of consumers stated that transparency in a business was essential in gaining their loyalty. But what exactly does “transparency” mean? It means that a company is willing to use social media to provide a “backstage pass” to the company. Savvy companies are using social media to bring attention to the people within the company. This helps to personalize the connection with the audience.

Today’s consumers are highly sensitive to how businesses interact with the outside community. These consumers are more likely to regularly give their business to a company that goes green and gives back. If your company embodies either of these characteristics, don’t hide it. Make it a prominent part of your social media outreach.

From your URL to your Facebook conversations, your primary goal on social media should be to build trust with your target audience. A proper branding strategy is essential here – your audience must know what to connect to after you have proven your value in the market.

3 Instagram Marketing Tips You Should Be Doing Right Now

3 instagram tips

Are you currently using Instagram in your social media marketing mix?

If not, you should really take a strong look at starting.

Instagram is a very personal social network that uses imagery to capture the audiences attention. With over 400 million active users, you better bet your target market is using it.

People come to Instagram for visual inspiration. This gives your business the opportunity to tell your story through unique and creative visual images. By using Instagram, you can use your visual images to showcase your products and services.

So if you are brand new to Instagram or an avid user for your business…consider these EASY tips to increase your success on this social media channel:

TIP 1

Your pictures/post should evoke an emotional response. This should be authentic to your brand and really showcase your brand’s personality.

TIP 2

Use hashtags in your post to encourage new prospects to find you. It is recommended not to put more than 3 in the actual post. It is more common to add hashtags to the comment section. Create a list of well-researched hashtags that will attract new followers. The most popular keywords in your industry would be a great place to start.

social media

TIP 3

The final tip to implement right away is to use questions to engage your following. Simple questions help encourage engagement…which is exactly what social media marketing is all about. Some questions to get you started…

  • What’s your favorite part of the weekend? (with a cool picture of a weekend destination)
  • What’s your favorite place to use XYZ? (a picture of your product)

social media

If you incorporate these 3 easy tips into your Instagram Marketing strategy right now, you should see increased engagement and following.

While you are at it…make sure you are following me on Instagram!