Marketing, Social Media
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?
Most 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?
When 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?
How 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.
![Leveraging Linked In [PRESENTATION SLIDES]](https://jpdesigntheory.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Linked-In-Icons-1080x615.jpg)
All Posts, Marketing, Social Media
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.
All Posts, Blog, Branding, Marketing
This post is part of our Reluctant Social Media Manager series, support for those of us who want measurable social media results with the least amount of effort.
We all know engagement on Facebook is almost a requirement for any online businesses. There are millions of daily active users on Facebook, and the ability to engage and connect with your audience on Facebook is so simple it’s scary. Have you ever seen a Facebook Business page or group that posts constantly but the engagement is non existent? Posts that get less than 10 likes, or no shares, or no comments? That business is putting in the work but they aren’t getting the results. Today we’re going to outline the 4 main types of blog posts that provide engagement that matters. Here at Design Theory, we thrive on results, and we can get those results by working smarter instead of harder – that’s even better. Let’s go….
- Share Articles – Let’s started with the easiest form of Facebook posts, sharing content from other sources. Even though this sounds simple, the key here is sharing content that appeals to your audience. Choose a few content leaders and articles within your industry that will resonate with your audience. Did you know, and articles with shock value work well in this space. Here’s an example, we have a client that sells natural hair and skin care. We recommended that they share articles like “10 reasons why your Lotion isn’t safe”. An easy way to do this is to utilize tools like Buffer or DrumUp. Buffer allows you to schedule almost any article or image to be posted to your Facebook page, and it’s free! DrumUp is another free tool that automatically gather content for you based on the keyword you specify. The free version allows you to read and schedule your posts.
- Engagement Posts – These posts take a little more time, and rely on meme’s and images to capture attention. Here are some examples of engagement posts:
- Tag a friend who….
- Polls or Surveys
- This or That using images
- What’s your favorite brand/thing about this/thing to do when…
- Note: Captivating images work best here, try and find attention grabbing images. They don’t have to directly relate to your post, it can be a tangential relation (i.e. an image of a melted ice cream cone, with a post reading “What do you do when…”). There are plenty of free image websites that can give you the content for your posts. Try sites like PicJumbo, and Pixabay to get some awesome images for your posts.
- Sales Posts – These posts highlight a specific product and sales price with a clear call to action. Utilize a link directly to your MailChimp or Infusionsoft account, or directly to your shopping cart. Pictures or videos should ALWAYS accompany these types of posts. These are also great candidates for Facebook boosted posts or ads. We’ll talk in a future post about frequency, but for now sale posts should be the LEAST used type of post on your Facebook page or group.
- Original Content – And finally we get to the most time intensive type of post, but arguably the most effective. Original content allows your audience to know you, know your brand, and make a lifetime connection. Behind the scenes images and videos (using Facebook Live) are awesome ways to create original content without having to spend a lot of time or money on ads. Provide your fans with value by giving them information, statistics on things important to them, insight on how you have positively impacted your community or client base with your product or services. Lastly, provide lots selfies or images that represent your business, product, or service.
Remember that balance between these 4 strategies is key to success. Don’t forget to respond, reply, and engage – and most importantly BE CONSISTENT. After reading this blueprint – what actions are you going to take now to promote your Facebook Page Business? Let us know on our Facebook page, we’ll like your business page AND follow up with you as an accountability partner.
All Posts, Content & Copywriting
One of the major ideas that we push to our clients is to continue to create new content for their website. However this is sometimes tougher than it may seem on the surface. When we think of your website, we’re looking at slight changes either in strategic keywords, new pages, new products, and new posts. One of the easier things to publish would be blog posts. Though there has to be a level of consistency, it certainly does help your search rank when you publish great relevant content.
Lets first look at what would be considered relevant:
Consider how your post will be relevant to your target audience. It isn’t enough anymore just to put out content all on the wall and hope something sticks. Or hope that one of out every 10 will be seen by someone who will find it relevant while the rest are just “there”.
Post Linking. While you may have many posts on your website and blog, linking some of your keywords to other relevant posts or product pages on your main site is actually a great way to drive more traffic to other great and relevant content.
Keep an eye on your analytics. Imagine getting behind the wheel of your car, and driving blind folded. It’s just as much of a bad idea as creating new content for your website, yet not paying attention to what keywords, links, and other data is bringing people to your website. Also seeing what your bounce rate is for your pages and dissecting them to find ways of either matching the expected content or installing new widgets like videos to keep visitors on your pages for a longer time.
Blog posts should be consistent. When considering a blog for your website, understand first that it is not an easy job. You’ll need to create great content on a regular basis. So your first few posts will be a breeze because they’ll most likely be things you talk about in your sales pitches, but in the long run it will be challenging. So you may want to start with 1 or 2 posts a week and on strategic days of the week and at strategic times. For example Mondays and Tuesdays around 9-11AM are great times for business and marketing articles, while weekend late mornings are great for other posts.
Trending topics within your industry. You should already have your finger to the pulse of your industry. New developments on the horizon, software updates pending for release; these are all great topics that many professionals in your audience will be talking about. So give them something to talk about, but from your own company perspective. Everyone may be looking forward to Windows 8 mobile coming out, but what if you have some constructive points about it that no one has yet discovered.
So we’ve covered a good few things today. Do you have some additions to what we’ve discussed? Please feel free and add your comments below.
Image credit: noomhh / 123RF Stock Photo
About Design Theory, All Posts, Branding, Content & Copywriting, Marketing, Social Media, Web Design, WordPress
Even those who have great aptitude in writing sometimes find themselves with literally NO WORDS! Unlike our verbal language, writing is actually one of the most difficult activities that we humans use to formalize communication sin la boca (without your mouth if you don’t speak Spanish). It sounds simple but as Wikipedia has defined it: writer’s block is “a condition, primarily associated with writing as a profession, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work. The condition varies widely in intensity. It can be trivial, a temporary difficulty in dealing with the task at hand.” Uh, yeah- I couldn’t have said it better. But what does one do when the deadline is looming and the children are to bed and it’s man vs. machine and you realize…I’VE GOT NOTHIN’! Thank God writing pro’s like Mike Rose (famed UCLA Graduate School faculty member and author) even acknowledges that it truly is “an inability to begin or continue writing for reasons other than lack of basic skill or commitment“. Whew…I’m off the hook a little! But now what do I do about it?
Why do you we do this to ourselves…it‘s supposed to speak back to you right? Like in some gone from a book to the big screen movie—the leading character is some highly paid British actor/actress paid to throw their laptop out the window of their 5th story NYC walk-up in utter despair. Yeah…in the real world most of us don’t have the kind of money that allows for those despairing moments. So I have opted not to spend hours wasting good wine or time employing this useless tactic. Instead I think it’s best to stare at something else. Walk around your house- look at some pictures, clean, cook, do a little laundry or run an errand. Heck, play with your kid or a game of chess with your spouse. Do something else besides stewing in the quagmire of I have no clue. You would be amazed how making the best salmon with a lemon dill sauce can jump-start a blog idea. Personal Example: One day I was frustrated about a concept I dreamt about (and DID NOT GET UP & WRITE IT DOWN.. I know bad, bad, bad) and was about to scream when my daughter asked me to color with her. As I was taking note of how precise my “staying within the lines” was and how the unbridled charm of a child’s Crayola skills were, yes the cliché lightbulb went off. And before you knew it, while she was still coloring outside the lines, I was pecking away on my laptop. Writers cramp over came writers block and I was grateful for it.
You know what they say in real estate…Location, Location Location. And I agree. After a very busy weekend and stressful morning 
I found myself not able to color in anybody’s lines or muster up enough energy required to even stare at a blank page. So what else could I do to get the boost usually relegated to a high-priced cup of Starbucks coffee? I went outside. Yup in the lovely 70° weather, I listened to the sounds of a almost perfect May day in Connecticut. And before I knew it, several titles/concepts came to me which enabled me to write this blog AND birth 2-3 ideas for some other projects. Fantastic right! Sometimes a simple change of location can do wonders for inspiration. Being jailed at your desk is not worth it when you can get some fresh air and use the objects/sounds/feelings around you to motivate your imagination. Like an artist who can use a host of colors or materials to create their masterpiece, so can writers. And I’m not talking laptop vs. plume…I mean what you use to connect ideas/concepts/words together to tap into your linguistic intelligence and unlock the door to your next novella. 
1.) Interview a customer about particular concerns/challenges as well as solutions and then blog about it. I’m sure they will love the attention & it gets their name advertised in social media for free. Or you can opt to share an anecdote about an issue that occurred in your own business, from the problem to the solution.
2.) Dialogue with industry-friends via social media and let the responses shape a blog post or video blog with them weighing in on topics relevant to industry news items.
3.) Consider product or service comparisons, a Consumer Reports of sort but on issues like social media, graphic design, use of WordPress themes vs. traditional HTML websites.
4.) Report on a conference or webinar you attended giving perspective to real issues facing people in your own industry or some great highlights and tricks of the trade that you learned.
5.) Address customer questions you’ve received on the same topic/aspect of service. This lets them know that you’re listening and are willing to receive feedback once it’s out on the www.
6.) Expand upon a comment you wrote on someone else’s blog & parlay that into your own blog post. Tread lightly here, these are your peers after all. But bringing in a different angle never hurts.
7.) Correlate what inspires your daily life into the business world and create a blog connection. Hence, look out for my upcoming blog “Coloring In and Out of the Lines in Social Media” – thanks to my daughter’s crayons.
