Let's Go On A Social Media Adventure

Hello 2017. A new year with 12 new chapters, 365 blank pages and endless amounts of business social media adventure opportunity awaits.

If you are a business owner and made a goal to have a bigger or more consistent social media presence this year my one big question for you is, "Have you filled out your monthly content calendar yet?" If you are going at this whole social media promoting thing alone as well as running your business then you definitely need a social media content calendar. 

Content marketing is the only kind of marketing that is left. People stream and dvr shows from network tv and watch original Netflix and Amazon series.  Commercials are now obsolete, you will get lucky with a product placement deal in a show.  For the rest of us all that is left is content marketing on Instagram, Facebook, Periscope and Youtube.  You need to start planning your posts. Sounds easy right? Sounds like you can just sit in a coffeeshop for an hour over a latte and crank out a months worth of content, well you can start there.

Content creation and organization is the biggest and most time consuming part of my job. You would think that it would be easy to come up with blog and newsletter topics, Facebook posts, and eye catching Instagram posts, but the fact is people run out of ideas. We are human and ain't nobody that's  trying to build a business and strong social media presence got time to run out of ideas. 

The most valuable thing you can do for yourself and your bottom line is have an up to date content calendar. It helps plan, organize and schedule every single piece of content you publish online.

It’s the place where all of your social media posts,  blogs,  newsletters,  videos, podcasts and  graphics strategically come together to grow your business. Content marketing takes up so much time and if you're not squeezing your content for all you've got then you are missing out on traffic, post engagement, leads and money. 

Overwhelmed, my apologies, but start small. Plan out a week at a time. Every Sunday morning I sit in a coffee shop and look over the weeks plan for both mine and clients feeds for the week and tweak as necessary when things pop up in real time. 

Need more advice or want a personalized quote on your content management, let's chat. 

We're In This Together

There is nothing that makes me happier than being a part of a loving, thriving, and honest community of women. I am proud to associate myself with those who lift up and encourage each other, for they are what make me a stronger person, and a stronger business owner. I am honored to announce I will be speaking at the 2017 Together Experience conference in Portland, Oregon this February. This three day event will uplift, strengthen, and redefine your business in a community unlike any other.

I will be speaking on social media obviously and why you as a business need to be social and not selly on it. When I was asked to be a speaker, I was completely caught off guard, nervous and excited but my personal and business philosophy has always been when an opportunity presents itself to say yes and figure it out later.  The fact that the conference is at the beautiful Nines Hotel in downtown Portland doesn't hurt either. 

Perks of being a bossy lady attending this conference include: swag, pop up shops, professional headshots, and the best knowledge in the industry. I’d love for you to meet me there, and know we will have an amazing time. Click HERE for more information and to secure your seat! 

Instagram Stories vs. Snapchat For Business

Instagram stories vs. Snapchat as a whole is like comparing Holyfield to Tyson when they met up in the ring.  Both are powerhouses in their own right but I am about to give you my very personal opinion on each. 

Let's start with Snapchat shall we, I held off on the Snapchat train up until a year ago. So many people kept telling me to get the app that it was just so fun.  I gave into the peer pressure because I needed to see what all the kids were using, and try and figure out how to make it work as a platform for a business.  Snapchat is great, I snap my friends at least 10 times a day, the filters are equal parts fun and hilarious, my personal favorite is the one that smooths everything out, I like to call it the Barbie filter.  The down fall of Snapchat for a business is that people need to first find you by your user name and then add you, which you then need to approve them. So many steps. If Instagram stories did't exist I would 100% say you should be on Snapchat to give a "behind the scenes" of your day to day business. 

However, Instagram stories do exist.  Instagram is so much easier to gain followers as long as your business profile is set to public. There aren't the extra steps of searching, requesting and approving.  People can just search you, follow you and see both your well curated feed and your "behind the scenes" of your life stories.  The one thing Instagram stories is missing are the fun filters, but I wouldn't be completely surprised if those are on their way soon. 

In the end from a business standpoint I think doing Instagram stories is your best bet.  Your following wants to feel like they know you, they want to see the inner workings of your business, they want to see you as a real person, not a thought out and curated feed.  Let's save the Snapchat for being silly with your friends, because you do need to approve who can see your feed and you can individually send snaps to whomever you choose in your address book. 

If you are a business and need ideas of what you should be showing in your Instagram stories, shoot me an email and let's chat. 

Responsibilities

When someone hear's the term "Social Media VA" I'm convinced the first thing that comes to their mind is that all that person does is sit and scroll Instagram then pin a bunch of items the rest of the day on Pinterest.  

Yes, scrolling Instagram is part of the job responsibilities, but what not very many people know however is that being a social media manager requires a TON of content planning in advance.

Think Instagram is really instant? Think again, quite a few of those feeds you love and follow, chances are they carefully thought out, weeks and even months in advance. 

Here are the top 8 of my responsibilities as a Social Media VA

• Planning
• Styling
• Researching
• Scheduling
• Posting
• Analyzing
• Responding
• Engaging

What is a Virtual Assistant

When I first started helping businesses' manage their social media channels and people would ask me what I did, I said I was a social media consultant. That confused people, because they thought I would just do an assessment of their channels when in fact I was assessing and or running their social media channels.  I chose instead to start saying that I was a virtual assistant specializing in social media and PR because I was working more virtually with my clients than I was working in person with them.  People still looked at me like a deer in headlights when they asked what I did.  So I thought I would break it down on what exactly a virtual assistant is. 

A virtual assistant or a VA for short, is someone who helps a business or busy people remotely.  Virtual assistants are highly skilled professionals who leverage their talents and their time to help others run a successful business with any tasks that can be done online.

When I first started I did not call myself a virtual assistant because to me I thought it was a person that performed administrative tasks, organize emails, set travel arrangements, return phone calls, you know that busy work that is important but could be passed over to someone other than the business owner to take care of.  While it is true that a virtual assistant did evolve from the traditional office role of administrative assistant, VA's can now be narrowed down by their specific skill set.  There are VA's out there that specialize in logistics, legal research, data entry, bookkeeping, social media, internet marketing, web development, web programming, SEO, copy writing and so much more.  

Image by Ashley Courter

Basically you can think of Virtual Assistant services as hiring an independent contractor or "freelancer" to complete tasks to grow and maintain your business that:

* You are not good at

*You are too busy to do yourself

*Diverts your attention from your core activity

*Doing the tasks you really just do not want to do

The next logical question should be, why should you consider hiring a VA?

With the ease of knowing that a qualified VA can get the work done the real question is why wouldn't you hire one?  VA's can help eliminate the work related stresses that keep you wishing there were 26 hours in the day. VA's can be hired to complete a single project or be used more frequently to free up more of your time to focus on your bottom line. Unlike an employee if you are dissatisfied with the quality of work the VA is producing you can choose to end the contract and at that point decide if you will move forward with a different VA or continue to do the work on your own again.