Three Pillars of Social Media Content

Three Pillars of Social Media Content

Sometimes it can be really tough to think about what you’re going to post or publish next for your business or brand. Is it photo, a graphic, a short video, a long video, or none of those? Let’s simplify it down to just three things to consider: Entertain, Enlighten, Educate

Can Your Post Entertain Your Audience?

Tik Tok on iPhoneMost social media platforms have timelines filled with posts that are funny, amusing, and whimsical. If what your organization has to offer can see trends in those spaces and ride the wave, you certainly should. One big advantage is making your products, services, or brand relatable. We can’t ignore the fact that Tik Tok is one of, if not the biggest social network. A lot of of posts on there are short skits, dance challenges, and more. By studying some of those posts that seem to garner the most interactions, think of ways you can create posts in the same likeness yet with a twist using one of products. Imagine a skit where a child is digging through a cereal box looking for the toy that should be inside, and instead gets a package that is your product? Better yet, knowing that your product isn’t a toy, recording the child’s disappointed reaction but then an older family member swooping in and grabbing it with laughter from the child as it is something they would really appreciate. My point is, the effect examples are already there. The scripts are already written. You just have to slightly modify your approach so that your contribution to the space is unique yet familiar.

Can Your Post Enlighten Your Audience?

Instagram on iPhoneWhen you think about providing insight to something that is not widely known, you can instantly become captivating. Whether it’s a statistic of the amount of wild boars that are active in an local community where people have been trying to figure out why their rose gardens and flower beds and trashed night to night, or the tangible benefits to the morning rush-hour by more companies adopting work-from-home policies; it’s a piece of information that some of your audience would be happy to know and probably take and brag about to their friends and colleagues. Another example, did you know that certain crystals offer therapeutic properties by holding some or by just having them on your desk or night stand? Welp, neither did I, but a friend of mine Cheryl (check out her Instagram Page here) enlightened us with her daily posts with different crystals and how they can be beneficial and how to use them that we bough a few. Cheryl had a couple of posts that seemed to be speaking to us and resonated to where we felt we needed to check this out, and therefore we were enlightened.

Can Your Post Educate Your Audience?

Jean's Phone on Linked InHow many times have you seen posts that say, “on this day, I learned….” or “how come no one ever told me…” We love learning something new. Especially when it’s in a space that we may not have expected. For example, when we think of a traditional college course, in your mind you’re already thinking about a boring lecture and pages and pages of notes and studying. Yes you’ll learn plenty, but no where near as fun as scrolling through your social feed and stopping on a peculiar short video of someone removing a stain from their car seat using household items that you probably also own. With slight disbelief you continue watching eagerly hoping that they actually clear that stain, and when they do you quickly share the post and head to your kitchen cabinet and dash to your car to try what you’ve just learned. Because I wasn’t necessarily expecting to learn something new, when I do, and it’s something that I actually needed it’s a double bonus. So how can your product or service create a similar moment for an audience that may be unsuspecting that you’re post was about to change their life?

So how will you use these three pillars with your business or organization and your social media properties? Would love to hear about it, so drop us a line when you do.

Business Tips & Strategies For Using Clubhouse

Business Tips & Strategies For Using Clubhouse

I’m not sure about you, but I’ve been impatiently waiting for a new social media offering that isn’t Facebook. While I know that millions of people are active on all of the arms and legs of this giant, I’ve had fatigue for a couple of years now. But we can get into that another time. Clubhouse is a breathe of fresh air.

Audio Only & Exclusivity

One of the biggest and more unique features is that it is audio only. Where video is still a powerhouse, audio has been mainly used for podcasts. Though that sector is still booming, live audio is relatively new. So Clubhouse is an invite only social app and this is different when compared to most where anyone can get on (including bots). With this, invites are tracked by who invited you. And your invites are limited at first but grow with your engagement and prolonged use. This makes for a more exclusive feeling when you launch the app and it furthers that by curating rooms in your feed based on who you follow and interact with most. It helps to make it easier and quicker to jump right into a room and join a conversation.

Conversations & Stages

Joining a room is easy, but the key is to get up on stage. Not all rooms allow for everyone to be brought up on stage. So again, some exclusivity being exercised again. This is a good thing because it allows for room moderators to ensure whomever is going to be on stage is someone who will add value to the conversation. If you happen to notice people’s microphone icon go on and off repeatedly, that means they’re applauding what the speaker is saying.

Networking & Growth Opportunities

This is probably the biggest advantage to early adopters of this platform. As it is very organic right now, most of the interactions you’ll have will land you follows. It’s advantageous for your to follow others as well because you’ll get notifications of rooms that they enter as well as rooms they create. If they’re active with getting up on stages, chances are they’ll also get you on stage too. And being up there providing value to the crowd is where you always want to be when you put time into this app in my opinion. Very much like any other public opportunity, you’ll want to position yourself as an SME (Subject Matter Expert), that others will quickly come to regard you as such and seek you for more insight.

Another key element here is to create your own rooms, invite others to join you, and do this on a consistent basis. I’ve seen people do daily ones on open ended topics like a Lunch & Learn. Those are great because you’re not locked into a singular topic or stressed to think of a new topic for each day/room session. I’ve included screenshots on how to create and schedule a room. I found it hard at first to figure out so I figured I’d share.

Hope to see you on there!

Facebook Messenger is now Available as a Desktop App

Facebook Messenger is now Available as a Desktop App

I was going through some emails and came across a press release from F8 where they demo Messenger as a desktop app and that made me smile. So before I get into my view on this, you can go ahead and download it free on the Mac App Store as well as the Microsoft App Store. Both are free!


(Image and article source)

Now for me I use Facebook a little different. While Facebook has a BUNCH of different apps, I preferred it when they had all of the functions under one app. I imagine it was easier to maintain them as separate installs, but for me I hate having to switch apps to perform a function that I used to do while inside of one experience already. Additionally I don’t like having Messenger on my iPhone and resorted to using it on my iPad and through my browser as my main interaction point. Having it as a stand alone app on my laptop though saves me from using the additional device, but also keeps the Messenger experience to my main device; being my laptop. I use Messenger almost exclusively for business interactions so I like to keep my time of use of it to normal working hours, then close it and not get notifications or distractions from it until I’m ready to. Similar to how I treat emails during the day too by only opening my email app a few times a day and not having it open all day to distract me of every email of the many inboxes I manage. But I digress.

So check out the desktop offering and let me know what you think! Will you use it more or less than the mobile apps or through your browser?

 

Leveraging Linked In [PRESENTATION SLIDES]

Leveraging Linked In [PRESENTATION SLIDES]

I’m a fan of linked in. I first created my account in 2008, and remembering what it was when I first signed on being an online resume type of platform to the content platform it is now is a nice progression. While Linked In has made some good partnerships with other large companies and acquisitions, this platform is still very much relevant for B2B and B2C if you’re aware of how to engage with the audience and users.

This presentation is a highlight of the ways to optimize your profile, tips with using the options for external promotion of other online repositories of your work or websites, along with best practices with creating posts. I’ll be posting the video to this soon for a full replay but in the meantime take advantage of the slides. If you have any questions feel free to contact me with ways you can create a unique offering on Linked In.