Converting Your Social Media Following To Dollars

If you are an online business, a service provider or a brick and mortar the number of followers that you have on social media really doesn't matter. Your business is not online to win a popularity contest, your business is online to gain exposure and put money in your bank account. 

Are the people following you even your ideal client? Are you getting into the feeds, and in front of your ideal client?  In this workshop, we will answer these questions as well as learn the basics of how to start converting your social media following from Facebook and Instagram into dollars. You are spending your valuable time on social media, let's start returning that investment into paying customers, and payment notifications instead of just "like" notifications. 

I am teaching an in person workshop in Portland on this topic

Thursday, October 5, 2017, 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm

You can sign up HERE hurry seats are limited.

Social Media Marketing Best Practices

A Huffington Post contributor had decided to write an article about the lives of Social Media Managers.  He wanted to showcase that there was more to this type of work than just picking out a pretty photo and posting it to a businesses social media channel.

One morning I sat down with my coffee and began to fill out the questionnaire that he had emailed over. Six experts were going to be chosen for the article. Well, he had 100's of responses, so many good ones that he decided to increase the number of experts to 26.  I am happy to announce that I am one of the included experts.

The article is full of great information from 25 of my peers. I highly recommend the read, especially if you were ever looking to learn more about social media management, or better yet, looking to hire someone to help you with your social media. You can find the entire article HERE

20 Minutes To A Healthier Instagram

Is 20 minutes really enough time to get something accomplished, to save your health to grow your social media engagement?  Today we are going to explore whether 20 minutes is actually enough.

Here's the deal we all bitch and moan about the "new" Instagram algorithm, which isn't even new anymore.  The current algorithm is now the standard, in Instagramming.   Here's the deal are you just double tapping on posts or are you actually commenting on the photos that you like?  If you answered that you are only double tapping you are wasting your own damn time. 

I get it, you actually like a photo but why do you like it? Do you like the photo itself or is it the caption that goes along with it? Does something that the person wrote resonate with you?  If you nodded your head to either of these things then why aren't you telling the person? Why did you only double tap and not write something? Are you afraid that you're going to sound like a cheeseball?  I get it, but guess what social media is about being social not just passing the time by looking at pretty photos. To the current algorithm it's not about how many likes a photo gets, it matters how many comments you get. 

Instagram is going back to it's roots, it wants people to ENGAGE. Yeah that's right I just yelled at you. ENGAGE with the masses.  My method for madness is 20 minutes of engagement a day. Set a timer and just start spewing your thoughts. I have a client that religiously does this 3 times a week and you know what their account gains on average 20 new unique followers and comments over night every damn time they engage.  

I get it you can't do 20 minutes a day, but I see you scrolling your feed at least twice a day and I know that you're just scrolling to waste time. Why not make that random scroll time work for you?  Five minutes waiting in line at Target, write 2 comments.  Getting a 20 minute pedicure, dammit you have no excuse comment while your toes are transforming, you are scrolling anyway. 

So in the end, Yes, 20 minutes of engagement is better than nothing. Stop scrolling to keep boredom at bay and start scrolling to build.  Any and every session of commenting contributes to a fitter audience, - and, very likely, happier - you! Just think that by putting in 2o minutes of commenting you are presenting yourself to an entirely new audience filled with potential new clients or sales. 

4 Things Every Boss Should Be Doing Before 8am

Survey: Who here sets their alarm for 30 minutes before they absolutely need to get out of bed then proceeds to hit snooze at least 3 times? Not going to lie, I used to be guilty of this exact move.  Then one day I just realized that I can either continue to lay in this comfy cozy bed and dream about how I want my life to turn out or I can get up, put some pants on, do the work and make my dream life happen. Obviously I chose the later. Everyday I wake up around 5:30am yes even on "weekends" and I do the same routine to get my brain ready to make shit happen. Here's what I do.

Drink Water

First thing I get out of bed and drink a huge glass of water, because after being asleep your body and most importantly your brain is thirsty. Your brain requires water to function and to make shit happen properly, you may think coffee first but nope water first then coffee.

Mediate

 I mean seriously if this is something big time businesswomen like Oprah swears by I'm going to try and do it.  Also, not going to lie, meditating takes work y'all. Quieting your brain first thing in the morning when you are thinking of all the things you need to accomplish that day is tough.  Here's the thing though mediation is like the anti aging regime for the brain. It helps curb mind-wandering, is an effective anti-depressant and anti-anxiety treatment, increases focus and more. When it comes to meditation, anything helps, whether it's only five minutes or as long as an hour. I'm still training myself to do this and I'm only up to 15 minutes, I'm working my way to 30 minutes. 

Eat Breakfast

My nutritionist wants me to eat 30 grams of protein 30 minutes within waking, and here's why.  While you sleep, your body is doing a ton of maintenance, and part of that means it dips into your fat stores. When you give your body sugar in the morning, it’ll burn the sugar. Eating protein right away after waking  has been shown to increase energy levels throughout the day, reduce snacking and even improve short-term memory.

Make a list

I'm a big calendar blocker, meaning that I block out sets of times for certain tasks but also while  eating my breakfast and scrolling my feeds I brain dump all the things that have come into my mind. This is an awful way to make a list for the day, so I take my brain dump and narrow it down to things that need or can  be achieved that day. 

Then I drink the coffee, fire up my computer and begin kicking ass for the day. 

75.3% More For Your Bottom Line

Fact: 75.3% of people will purchase something because they saw it on some social media channel. If you own a business let that statistic marinate for a minute.

Do you understand now why big business pay for influence marketing, why they have a team of social media specialists?  I'm not going to lie when I first saw this face vase from Target blow up my Instagram and Pinterest feed last year, I went to Target stores and had friends near and far searching for it to no avail. I couldn't understand how can it be in some markets and not ALL the markets.  Anyway a few weeks ago on a leisurely stroll through the aisles of Target, there she finally was. The Insta famous face vase was finally in my hands, a year later. 

I would be super curious to reach out to Target to see just how many of these face vases they have sold.  I was so curious that for fun I Googled her and saw posts from people in Australia and other places far away begging Target to add this vase to the inventory at their local stores. She is even going for double her shelf price on ebay. 

If you are a business and are not updating your social media frequently, my question to you is why not? I can get behind the "I don't have enough time" but this is why people like me exist to help give you hours back in your day so you can focus on your business and still have a current social media presence. 75.3% that's just more money for your bottom line. 

If you do not have the time to concentrate on your social media, let's set up and appointment to chat about how I can help give you hours back in your day. 

(statistics via Social Media Weekly)

Must Love Media Kits

Media Kit. Two words that create a big punch.

What is a media kit you might ask? Well it's a multi-page document that businesses use to promote themselves and sell their services to potential clients. 

Who uses a media kit? Traditionally media kits have been used for magazine publication, but they've evolved into something that is beneficial for everyone to bloggers, photographers, writers, designers and other small businesses in between. Basically this document is a resume for your business, a way of describing who you are when you are unable to meet in person. 

Do you offer services or advertising in your business model? Then you for sure are in need of a media kit. The media kit is a great tool because it essentially gives potential clients all of the information they could possibly need in one easy to navigate document while often cutting  correspondence time in half because it’s already answered most of their questions.

Media kits can be formatted to market nearly any business. Whether you’re a blogger, writer, photographer or designer, a media kit is simply a way to explain what you offer in a streamlined, informative document. The easier you can make it for your clients to understand what you’re offering and how to book you, the more successful your business has the potential to be.

Below are the Six Things that MUST be included in your media kit.

I'm not going to lie this is a very time consuming document to create but I promise you that it will be the most important document in your arsenal.  

You Are A Badass

There is one book that I ask every woman business owner that I meet if they have read, the book, "You Are A Badass" by Jen Sincero. If they tell me they haven't read it I tell them to get a copy right now.

The truth is this book changed my life. There I was fired from my Chicago job, and 3 months into living in my parents basement in Wisconsin and one day I saw the bright yellow cover on a Target run and spent $15 I really shouldn't have on it.  

I had not lived in my hometown for 16 years. But there I was heart broken, living on my Etsy income and wondering what the fuck am I going to do to get out of this basement.  For seven years I had been coming out to Portland to visit my friend and each time I would visit we would say how awesome it would be if I would just move here. But those were the days when I was in Chicago, living the life with a man that I loved and thought loved me back. Wrong. First we broke up, devastating. Two years later I was fired from my job and I took the universes cues that it was high time to get the hell out of Chicago. Besides my friends there wasn't anything left for me there. Chicago had literally broken me. 

From reading the book I learned that everything you want you are completely capable of achieving, it's changing your thinking. And changing your thinking is fucking hard. You have to do all this work of getting to know your real self, deal with your demons and what it is  that is truly holding you back from living the life you want.  You see a lot of scary stuff when you start unlocking your subconscious and start to get over the fear of not knowing all the scary stuff that's on the other side. But you begin to gain confidence and trust in yourself, because sub consciously you already know how it's going to turn out and it isn't going to be that scary, the universe won't let it be that scary.

Every night while getting ready for bed in the basement bathroom I would tell the universe what I wanted, " I want to live in Portland, Oregon" "I want to run a social media management business as my job" "I want an apartment with big windows that let in a lot of natural light" I wrote it on post it notes, I told anyone that would listen and said it over and over in my head until finally eight months later my pod was packed with the things I couldn't bear to sell, my car was gassed up to drive across the country and it became "I live in Portland, Oregon" "I run a social media management business" and "I have a some what natural light filled apartment" .

We as humans are capable of greatness, we weren't put on this planet to schlep off to work a 9-5 job and pay bills. Each of us has a purpose, a calling, a greatness. The hardest part is figuring out what yours is.

The other night I got to meet Jen at a book talk for her new book "You Are A Badass At Making Money". Of course I have the book, right now I'm not that far into it but I will tell you all about it once I finish.  While I was chatting with her as she signed my copy I told her the Cliff Notes version of my story and that my new mantra is "Six Figures By 40" the smile that came across her face was priceless. She asked me how old I was now, and after I told her in all seriousness she said "You got this girl" and fist bumped me. Is she supposed to say things like that, absolutely she's a life coach and a self help book writer, however I see what I've accomplished in only a little over a year and know with some guidance and more work at my "spiritual gym" I will unlock my true greatness, my real calling. Seriously though go read the book, because we are all badasses. 

Tips to Combat Low Instagram Engagement

Have your engagement and likes been down for awhile now? Are you frustrated? Yeah, me too, and I have six accounts and bosses that I answer too.

The official word is that there was a bug in the explore tab. Supposedly it's been fixed however engagement and likes are still down, all over the platform. Instagram is also testing their spam algorithm to start cracking down on bot commenters and spam accounts that are posting 5x per day or using 3rd party services.

Here are some ways to combat the engagement icky's:

1. Add hashtags back at the end of the caption. I know, I don't like how it looks either BUT it seems to be helping.

2. Change up your hashtags. Last week I spent most of the week reworking a second and third set of hashtags for clients that we are rotating through.

3. Stop using the uber popular hashtags and start using some with less than 50k posts to them for the time being.

4. Interact with the people that are still with you and finding you. Likes and follows don't necessarily lead to sales. Positive relationships and experiences lead to sales, which lead to more customers which leads to word of mouth and more network marketing.

5. Start storying more. Show people that your life is more than a well styled stiff square image.

6. Work on building that email list. I know I know, it's on your list but way at the bottom. However with this plummet of engagement it's just a red flag that you should probably be doing more, getting directly in front of your niche.  

Do you have any tips that have been working for you during an engagement drought?

Instagram Live

I talk a bunch to my clients about how important Instagram Live is and that they should be doing it.  While there I sit not having done one yet. Well that changed a few days ago, I was working at The Society Hotel and decided to head up to the roof and film one quick as a promo type video for the Instagram workshop later this month.  

With the recent update Instagram did I was able to save the Live video and place it here as well as on the Facebook page. I love the internet, and now be aware I will be Live a bit more often. Gotta practice what I preach after all. 

Instagram Workshop For Your Business

"I've been a small business for 6 years. If I didn't understand how to compose great photos I would not still be in business. I actually arrange my work flow around good photo content. Social media + good photos = sell things." Tamara Young Consign Couture

Just like every business owner, every business is different, and their social media feed should reflect that. When I first sign on a client, sometimes their Instagram feeds just need another pair of eyes.   Which is totally acceptable because not everyone is born a photographer or a marketer.  If they are a client that lives near me, we grab a coffee and we talk photography basics,  how to get the best photo, how to to up their hashtag and engagement game. 

All of this perked an idea in me, why not team up and ask my "staff" brand photographer that I use for all the website revamps to teach a workshop on how to get a killer social media photo with just your phone.  I pitched her and she said yes, so here it is a two part workshop happening in April at my favorite work from space The Society Hotel.  

In week one brand photographer Ashley Courter will teach you photography basics and assign you some homework. In week two I will help you with your homework and help your business with industry specific hashtags and tips on how to build an authentic following which will turn likes into sales. 

There are still spots available, sign up via the workshop tab.  Come enjoy lattes, wine, snacks all while learning to level up your businesses Instagram game.