 When Instagram becomes a regular part of your workflow, make sure you know what resources they offer and where you can find out more information when you run into a dead end.
Now that you've become more comfortable with using Instagram, Instagram Stories, and IGTV after reading our last few blogs, it's time to check back in and take a moment to refresh. Instagram, just like any business, has a dedicated (albeit a very long and detailed) page for all of its frequently asked questions. Sometimes, these pages can get frustrating because they don't answer what you need to know outright. Sometimes you have to go digging into the provided list of FAQs to see if someone has already asked your question before or not. As we know, Instagram has become very popular since its introduction and it is now one of the most popular social media platforms out there. But, even with its popularity and the basic ease of using it, you can still run into a lot of questions and loose ends. Thankfully, Instagram has now been around long enough that your questions have probably already been asked. Luckily for you, this blog is going to be dedicated to five of the most frequently asked questions. So, you can start your search here, and hopefully find all the answers you need.
Instagram has a fantastic support system, and almost every question imaginable has been asked. If you are still stumped after reading our blog, don't hesitate to visit their FAQ page. If you would like some more in-depth training and someone to help you walk through your issues, we can help you with that. We offer individual social media training to walk you through on how to use each platform. If you or your company wants to take another step up in your online business world, we are here to make that happen. Don't hesitate to reach out. We are here and excited to help your company grow. Thank you for continuing to follow us, learn with us, and support us. We are here for you Summerville, no matter what! To visit Instagram's FAQ page, follow the link below: https://help.instagram.com/
0 Comments
 In our most recent blog posts, we've talked about the importance of why you should be using stories and live streaming in your company's workflow. This blog is going to be dedicated to actual tips on how to make these videos and what you need to be thinking about while you do!
We've made it to May, Summerville! Our quiet little town turned into a ghost town as the pandemic set it, but it is turning back into a vibrant and beautiful city as we all slowly open our doors again. We are so thankful to see so many of our fellow small businesses open their doors again and return to full operation. We know this has been a difficult time for our amazing town, but getting back to a sense of normal proves just how tough Summerville is! While we work to get back up to speed, we do encourage you to continue to stay safe and smart. We are still in this together! Have you been playing with adding Facebook and Instagram videos into your workflow since we shared so much information on why you should be doing so in our last few blogs? Have you been even more daring and tried live streaming on either platform? Remember, now is the perfect time to use these tools to your advantage. You can stay in touch with your followers, keep them up to date with when you might be reopening, what safety precautions are going to be taken, what might be changing, and check-in them in real-time! This gives them a true sense of connection when they get to see the real you in a very real, not directed or perfectly edited, live video. Let them fall in love with all the reasons why they love your company and brand all over again! So, throw away your fears and worries that your videos or live streams won't look right, that they won't look good enough, or you'll look funny. That will never be the case. You are a professional who is passionate about your company and brand. The rest just takes a little planning, practice, and care. Follow these tips and suggestions to make seamless and effortless Livestream videos that you will be proud of and will no longer dread doing them!
Livestreaming is accessible for everyone and is an incredible tool to connect you with your audience in seconds. You want to inform them, connect with them, and converse with them on a real human level. You need to put in a little work and practice before you press record, making sure that your phone is charged and that your mom's call won't disrupt the video. But if you follow these simple steps, your Livestream videos will be outstanding. Don't hesitate! We are starting to make moves towards some sort of normalcy, so get back to what you're good at - running your business! Use this tool to show off what you do best, and why you enjoy doing it. We are here for when you need us, Summerville! We are so impressed with your resiliency and are proud to be apart of the Summerville family. Stay safe and be well everyone!  With so much information to share about Instagram stories, we couldn't put all of the information in just one blog. We had to split them up! More information is always good, especially now since we all have a little more time to sit and read. Let's keep learning about Instagram!
Hello Summerville! As our quaint little town continues to get quieter, and we all start to settle into our homes, we wanted to continue our blog about the importance of Instagram stories, and how they can be beneficial to you and your company. Remember, as many of us are starting to work from home or remotely (some for the very first time!) it's easy to get overwhelmed with everything. Take this information as your daily dose of education, and see what joy it can bring to your social media campaigns! These tips are to help your followers increase, keep your engagement up and active, and to reach your audiences like you never have before. This is a wonderful time for that! We are all on our phones and computers more than ever before, why not do a little good with all this time? Sit back and relax. Have that second cup of coffee you've been craving, you've earned it. Let's get our minds off of everything and talk about Instagram! Don't Repeat Yourself Using the same business techniques over and over again can get a little old for both you and your followers. Why not shake up what you're doing in your marketing? Using stories or videos in your stories can be a fun opportunity for you and your team to create and work together. It can help build a fun and closer working relationship together, let an employee out of their shell or let them shine in ways you might not know they could. Think about it, this is a form of advertisement. This new type of advertisement can help keep the attention of your audience in this ever-changing world. You already have so much to work with that you don't have to spend a ton of time or effort to build a social media platform from the ground up like many companies did when they first started using Facebook or Instagram. You are just learning a new tool inside the application that is fun, exciting, and unique. There is a little extra fun in Instagram Stories than what a picture-perfect profile can offer. While your feed may be portfolio perfect, you can add fun stickers, emojis, text, drawings, music, and more to your stories and videos. While this additive might not be as professional or have the look for your feed, it has the fun and real quality people want to see! Hashtags Me Not Hashtags have been a controversial topic for social media for some time now. How many should you use? How many are too many? Am I using them correctly or am I going to get in trouble? Are they drawing in the attention I want? Hashtags were created and are used to bring followers of certain topics together and for that group of people to see each other's pictures. But, as hashtags have become more popular, there are some new downfalls. If you use too many, post them in the comment section of your profile post, or use a very popular hashtag, you and your company could see some harsh repercussions. Your account could be frozen for over a week and you wouldn't be able to post, comment or follow anyone back. Your posts might not be seen or could get buried in the shuffle by the app itself. Your posts could even get removed. As of now, Instagram stories are neutral ground. Along with all the fun additives you can put on top of any posts in your stories, you can add hashtags and tag others and your post won't be pushed for doing so. Doing this can bring even more attention to your account, and invite more of your dream demographic you're trying to reach to follow and see what you're all about. Also, if your account does get frozen and you're unable to post to your feed, you are still able to post on Instagram stories with no issue. This will keep you in touch with your followers and their algorithms. Thoughts For The Road Are you still not convinced about Instagram Stories? I think we may have a few other things to add to finally convince you!
We hope that this blog has shed a wonderful light on Instagram, Instagram Stories, and the wonderful tools that this exciting and useful app can bring you and your company. This is a great time to start brainstorming, playing with the app, and seeing what specialized things you can make and create for your company. That is the great thing about these apps - you have so much freedom to make it your own. So go out and create! Stay safe Summerville, we are here rooting for you and all of our small business friends! The Top Three Reasons why Planning Ahead for your Social Media Marketing is so Important!12/24/2019  It's beginning to feel and look a lot like the holidays around our office here at Creative Consulting! With the year coming so quickly to an end, we wanted to help you start 2020 on the best foot possible with your social media platforms! The end of the year doesn't mean it's time for your social media to take a break! If anything, it's time to start planning ahead. We are going to be sharing the top three reasons why it is so important to plan ahead of time for your social media marketing!
We have been thinking about some of the best tools to share with you for your social media marketing as this year comes to an end. This idea got me thinking about the tools that consistently help us the most. There were so many tools and tips we could share with you, but when it came down to it, the most important tool and tactic is planning ahead of time! It keeps you organized and saves time, keeps you on brand and in the know, and helps keep your growth consistent! We will be exploring each of these topics and why planning ahead can help your company prosper and flourish. As we wrap up 2019 and settle into the rest of the holiday season, we want to talk about why planning your social media ahead of time for 2020 is so important and necessary! Just like us, we know that you're starting or have already sat down to plan for 2020 and to create your budget. During these planning sessions, did you know the first thing that almost always gets cut is the budget and time for social media marketing? This should be just as shocking to read as it is the truth. Before you start getting overwhelmed with your planning and budgeting, take a deep breath. Think again about cutting your budget and time for your social media platforms. It Will Always Save You Time Planning and thinking ahead will always save you more time. Saving time creates more opportunities to create and grow within your company, allows you and your employees to get more work done, and helps you make more money. Isn't that a perfect foot to start the new year on? This all begins by starting a social media calendar and planning out a month ahead at a time. Sit down towards the end of the month and start planning for the month ahead. Plan and make note of what's coming up for the company that you want to share, what opportunities or deals you're going to have, what holidays are coming up, and what trends are featured in the month ahead of you. Each of these topics will help you plan out your posts and help you create them. This will help eliminate the "um...I don't know what to post today" moments and get rid of any creation/writer's block. This also gives you the time and opportunity to pop in and add or change content that has been created so it reflects real-time actions or events. To help you with this process, once you've planned and created all of your upcoming posts, it might be time to invest in a posting program. These programs let you load up the days, weeks, or month's worth of content in one sitting, schedule what times they need to be posted and on what platform, and it does the rest of the work for you. When the end of the month comes, you won't be overwhelmed or unprepared to plan and create for the next month ahead of you. If you can get into this cycle, it will naturally become apart of your workflow! Staying Relevant, in the Know, and On Brand If you're not sitting down with your marketing team and planning out what's happening within your company and using your social media platforms to show that off, you can get into some big trouble. It is very likely that your social media posts and ads (if you even take the time to post them) are going to sound and feel rushed, stale, and have an inconsistent voice. This is a subconscious turn off for your followers and potential future followers and customers. Creating posts and posting this way becomes frustrating and annoying, and feels like it's taking up more time than it actually is. This is when social media gets marched up to the chopping block and sliced away. Part of your best marketing strategy is creating your brand and voice. If you lose either of these, your company loses its uniqueness and credibility. If you spend time sitting down and planning ahead, your voice can stay consistent and your brand will remain well nurtured. Communication is key with your followers, their world, and the world around you. Staying well informed with what the latest trends and pop culture references are can help you build some amazing and fun content. It can also help you gain more followers and customers. Being able to create this kind of content takes time and planning to successfully execute. You need to stay on top of what's coming and what's relevant to pull off this content and this kind of connection. This will also help you stay ahead of your competition, too. If you are time-sensitive about your posts and aware of what's happening, you can stay consistent with your buyers and customers. This will help you keep a consistent growth in followers and traffic to your platforms. Moving Forward and Growing Planning ahead also helps you see how successful you've been in the past. Is that confusing? Planning means keeping track of what you've done in the past and helps you stay ready for what's to come. If you successfully stay organized and keep track of what social media posts you've had in the past, there is a ton of information to learn there. You can monitor and see what the most successful types of posts have been, know what types of posts to avoid, see which ads have been the most successful, and it helps you really learn about your target audience. With this knowledge you can create the best posts possible, know when the best times to post are, and how to reach your target audience. It also allows you to study the best ways to stay in communication with your followers and make time to remain in contact with them. Don't let the stress of your social media platforms ruin your holidays! Take the time to plan ahead and you will be able to enjoy the holidays for many years to come. From all of us at Creative Consulting we wish you a Merry Christmas, a happy holiday season, and a wonderful New Year! We will see you next decade!  We are back at it again, finishing up our blog about how and why Instagram can be such a wonderful tool for you and your company!
“Content is the reason search began in the first place.” - Lee Odden I just love this quote - because, during this whole process of really digging into Instagram more than we usually do on an everyday basis, it was fun to go searching. It's so fun to think of the people who are interested in our clients going on a mission and searching for what they can offer them. It's a modern-day scavenger hunt that makes all that screen time worth it at the end of the day! Welcome back to the blog, I hope you've been doing well since our last post. Being excited about turkey day and spending time with family, I have been making the most of my working hours before that vacation starts. It's been fun to come back and work on this two-part blog series - and I can't wait to pick up where we left off and share with you some more tips and hints on how Instagram can give you and your company a serious boost!
There you have it! There is so much to Instagram, that this could turn into a ten-part blog. But I want you to find your groove with the help of these last two blog posts and see where that takes you. Social media is constantly changing, you just need to find out what works for you. Most of all, don't be afraid of it and give it the time it deserves. If you don't have that time, that's where we come in! Don't hesitate to give us a call or visit our website. We love our social media at Creative Consulting and love to talk about it! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Stay caffeinated and we will see you next time!  We've talked about how to use social media and other online tools to better your business and not to shy away from them. They are there waiting for you, so use them! Instagram has become one of the biggest platforms to build your business today. Do you know all the tools and options this budding business tool has to offer?
"Design is the silent ambassador of your brand." -Paul Rand Happy November friends! How excited are you that Thanksgiving is almost here? The turkey is on its way, but it's not quite time to relax just yet. The holidays are an incredibly busy time for any company, ours included. Don't get overwhelmed with this, instead ride the wave of the good it can do for your company. I discovered this quote while working on our first blog of the month, and I thought it was the perfect food for thought before we settle into our big Thanksgiving plates. We are so focused on creating a brand, that it's so easy to forget about the powerful tools that are at our fingertips waiting to be taken advantage of. They are there to make your company and brand stronger than you could ever imagine. What is even crazier to think about, a lot of these tools are free! That's right - FREE! There is something to be said about the adage that you do need to spend money to make money. But when there are moments to save money and still help your company grow - take them! This is why our next two blogs will be focused on tips on how to use Instagram to build your business into a powerful platform one day at a time! This is a holiday gift from us to you, and we are happy to share what we know!
Are you getting as excited as we are about Instagram? It's easy to have a love-hate relationship with apps that you use as part of your advertising goals, but if you spend the time getting to know them, it'll be worth it. Enjoy these tips for now, but don't worry, there are more coming. Until next time friends, stay safe, caffeinated and excited about your company! |
AuthorThe Creative's Archives
June 2020
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed
105 SOUTH CEDAR STREET
|
Home | Graphic Design | SEO
|