Instagram Spam Comments

In my efforts to stop the Instagram commenting bots and attempting to get social media back on track of actually being social I'm about to drop a tiny bit of knowledge on you.  

You know those annoying spam comments you get right after you post a picture that you've worked really hard on achieving the perfect lighting as well as the perfect caption. You load it and press share, then right away you get a comment, part of you is so excited, it's only been 20 seconds since you posted your hashtags and someone is commenting on your well thought out post. Then you click the comment and it's "Want more followers" or "Like for Like" or my personal favorite "Wow check out my page" and disappointment and annoyance sets in.

Well I'm here to help you with this, you can deter the bot comments and here's how. 

Settings>Comments>Turn On Inappropriate Comments> Type in your custom keywords>Done

It's that easy! Now how are you going to do your part in keeping social media actually social?

Facebook vs. Instagram Marketing

The question that I get asked the most often is, "Should I be concentrating my marketing efforts on Instagram or Facebook?" 

Which I volley back to you as a business, do you know exactly who your target market is? Second what is the median age of your target market?  Once you have the answer to both of these questions, then you can decide which platform is better to focus on.

The truth is one isn't better than the other, it only depends on who exactly you are targeting. 

We all remember the good old days of Facebook when you didn't have to pay more than $5 to get in front of your target market. When you just had to run a relatively generic Facebook ad and it flooded your page with Likes, comments and customers.  Well, we all know that now you have to  pay to play, you have to narrow down who sees you  almost as if you had the ideals customers DNA profile to get in front of the the people that you were trying to reach. 

I get it that's why businesses jumped the Facebook ship and moved to Instagram, because Instagram is how Facebook used to be, except things over there are changing as well and eventually you will need to start paying to play there as well.  Let's face it Facebook owns both platforms. 

There isn't a simple one stop shop answer if you should be on Instagram or Facebook. The method to the madness is this, you have to know exactly who, you are targeting, their age,  their income, what they think is cool, are they more visual or do they prefer to read? Once this is established then it's as if it's written in the stars which platform you should be focusing your marketing energies on.  You do however have my personal permission to just start with one.  Sign up to get the same user name across the platforms but focus on one.

If you were to Google any of the above listed social media platform’s demographics, you will see up-to-date information on who is using each platform, including their age, gender, average annual income, and even their education level. Obviously with that sort of information you could begin to narrow down the options and choose the platform that you think will work best for you.

If this all this research and statistic reading sounds confusing to you then let's set up a free 30 minute consultation to discuss if you need Facebook or Instagram marketing efforts. 

Together: A Bosslady Conference

Finalizing everything for my presentation this week at the Together: A Boss Lady Experience that is happening this week in Portland! Because helping you to keep your social media actually social is my new jam. Can't wait to network with a bunch of other ladypreneurs. Until then I'll share my promo video, but you've got to wait for the outtake at the end. 

PSA: Stop the Bots

This is a public request to ALL PEOPLE USING BOTS TO COMMENT ON INSTRAGRAM: Please stop. Just stop. Right now. Not only is it annoying but it can be incredibly insensitive, hurtful and properly out of line.

Please for the love of all things good, stop paying to use bots to comment on Instagram.  I know I know you don't have time to comment and interact. Seriously I'm here to tell you that you do. Block off an hour on your calendar to personally interact on posts.  Using bots makes you and your brand look bad.  It makes Instagram look bad. It makes HUMANS in general look bad. And it's just lazy, shady, shallow and sad.

A colleague in one of my Facebook groups had this to say after she posted a photo with a link to her blog post about her miscarriage on Instagram:

"This week I published a blog post about my miscarriage. I posted on Instagram linking to the blog. Some of the comments I got were DEFINITELY from bots. This kind of post is not the kind to be commenting ‘More of this please!’ (more miscarriages?) or ‘Brilliant!’ (really?) or 'very nice!' (stopit) or 'please check out my feed!' (Thanks but no thanks). I’ve deleted most of them, but not before I politely messaged each commenter and told them what their bots were doing." Emma Whiley  Flourish and Dwell

Seriously, let's make a conscious effort to keep social media actually social. Stop paying your bots and start scheduling your authentic interacting on Instagram time. 

What is a brand?

"A brand is a set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that taken together, account for a consumers decision to choose one service over another." Seth Godin

Here's the deal, sales go up and down but service stays forever in the mind of the consumer.  That my friends is something that I learned in that fine Freshman year class Marketing 101.  Some of the best brands offer some of the best service. Coincidence? I think not. Are you engaging with your customers, or are you just reading comments and hyperventilating over how many hearts you get?  The correct answer is engage, engage then engage more!

The Ace Hotel is one of my favorite brands. Their feeds are consistent and goes hand in hand with their mission and values. 

"Ace Hotel is a collection of individuals — multiple and inclusive, held together by an affinity for the soulful. We are not here to reinvent the hotel, but to readdress its conventions to keep them fresh, energized, human. We accept the hotel as a potential for real, fluid community. We believe that hospitality is compassion, that it is not servility but genuine concern for others' well-being and the ability to live with empathy." 

Each one of their hotels is an individual entity because they belong in a unique buildings, but they all have the same feel when you walk into them. The feeling of the beginning of a story that is unique to your vacation, staycation or happy hour glass of wine that you enjoy there.

Want more tips, let's set up a free consultation and set your brand on fire. 

That Big Marketing Event In February

I look forward to the Super Bowl every year, I look forward to it more when the Green Bay Packers are in it,  but when they are not, I look forward to the commercials.

The overwhelming theme this year seemed to be realize your dream and work hard to achieve them. To me a great theme to have during a Super Bowl, as well as these chaotic times in the United States. 

My top three in no particular order are as follows:

1. Honda Yearbooks

Just a feel good commercial about realizing where you come from and keep moving forward to achieve your dreams and goals.

2. Budweiser "Born The Hard Way"

A true statement to the American dream.  The other thing that Budweiser absolutely rocked at was having an SMM on duty the entire span of the Superbowl, and almost ALL comments were responded to pretty much immediately. 

3. Audi America "#DriveProgress"

The comments on the Youtube page can be summed up as, "How did Audi think that this commercial would help sell cars?" Well, Audi started a conversation, people are talking about them, about this commercial and they have put out there what exactly their position on an issue is.  

Marketing is as much  "selling" things as it is also developing a relationship with a customer or a potential customer.  Tell me what were your favorite commercials from the Super Bowl?

Pure Internet Domination

Did you know that 85% of people will leave your website immediately if it's too jumbled, hard to navigate or just plain doesn't look professional? That my friends give possible customers or clients a horrible first impression of you.

Recently I was looking for a new vet for T and clicked on and left 4 websites immediately because they were hard to navigate and just looked as if they have been thrown up to have something online.  I didn't call or go any further than the home page because, maybe I'm too judgmental but I feel like if you don't care what your online presence says about your business are you even passionate about your business or your work?

If your business doesn't have a website or has a landing page that says "Coming Soon" it sends the same message to your client or customer.  The message being, that you took the initiative to buy the domain but that you don't care enough to have created something.  I get it you might not know what you're doing, how to turn the "coming soon" into "here I am world".  We have a fantastic web design team ready to help you revamp or create a website get you on the path to internet domination. 

Boosting Productivity

Ultra productive people don't work from a to-do list, but they do live and work from their calendar.  Do you really think that the billionaires like Bill Gates and Marisa Mayer write a long to-do list and prioritize items? Nope, if it's not on their calendar it just doesn't exist because a to-do list doesn't account for time.

I read this crazy Forbes article about time productivity and started to put everything on my calendar in timed increments, like the billionaires.  When I sit down to start the task I ask Siri to set the timer.  15 minutes of Instagram interaction, 20 minutes of Facebook group trolling, 30 minutes of email management, 60 minutes of content creation then a break.  

Bottom line if it doesn't get scheduled and Siri doesn't time it, it shouldn't get done.  It's a learning process for me but so far it's working out pretty well. 

Instagram Live: What You Need To Know

My prediction that one day Instagram will single handedly kill Snapchat and Periscope is slowly coming to fruition.  Welcome to the social media game Instagram Live.  While Instagram Live is not Periscope for so many reasons, one being that people have to be following you to know that you are live, where as on Periscope people searching a location see the live videos that are streaming, it's at least a start. 

When you are live on Instagram a bubble with the word live will pop up on your screen name. Some of your friends who follow you will get a notification that you are Live and will be prompted to tune in before your video is finished.  Similar to the new Instagram algorithm, Instagram will choose which of your followers or users to notify based off their interest in Live videos.  The reason being Instagram is looking out for it's users that it doesn't want to annoy then with an alert every time someone they follow goes live. Like Periscope when watching, your viewers can tap to heart/like your video, comment and type questions. 

I'm sure that you're now wondering, "Why should I be live on Instagram?" Well the real reason is that it is putting you directly in front of your audience. Live viewers choose what they want to watch and if they are choosing to watch you then they know that you have something powerful to say. 

Since this is such a newer update, here are a few ideas to get started and become comfortable on Instagram Live.

* Host a Q & A  like the every popular #fridayintroductions posts let your community ask you questions and get to know you and your business.

* Give a behind the scenes. These are always super popular because your community wants to be the first to know what you are up to or what you think is cool. That is why they are following you after all. 

* Show off something awesome that you are doing. At a historic place, at a place that means alot to you, show your community talk about it. 

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.