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Battling Negative Social Media Comments (Part Two)

10/19/2020

 
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We are finishing up our blog series on the best ways to handle negative social media comments. We know it's a difficult situation to deal with, but with enough preparation, you can be ready to handle anything! 

Hello, Summerville! Welcome back to part two of our blog about handing negative social media comments. We hope that part one of this blog gave you a good basis for how to move forward if you are faced with this issue. As we mentioned before, this is not something we would wish on anyone. Sadly, it is very possible. Hopping on the internet and telling everyone exactly how you feel has become a trend since the dawning of Facebook, if not sooner, and has continued to grow stronger in the years following. As a business, you prepare for the inevitable with insurance, a strong plan, a good financial team, and a good workforce. Why not be prepared for everything you might face? Keep a watchful eye on all of your online networks, and be ready to handle everything and everyone you come across with an attitude of being calm, cool, and collected. 

  • Conversational Tone
When you create a social media presence, your brand and the tone in which you speak sets the example for how you want your clients to speak and respond to you and one another. If you create a safe, friendly, and happy community with your tone on social media, negative and nasty comments will seem out of place. Your other follows and supporters might even come to your defense. Also, make sure to approach every comment like a real person. You don't want to sound like a robot when you're dealing with an unhappy customer. Making a human connection with them in a real voice in your responses will make all the difference in beginning to diffuse the situation. 

It might be incredibly hard, but take a moment to see the issue from the client's point of view. There will be people who will be angry just to be angry. If the product or service your company offers is broken, doesn't deliver as promised, or arrives extremely late, apologizing and owning up to your mistakes will help. Offering a discount, refund, voucher, or replacement can also help calm the tension at hand.

 Make sure you are aware of the comments you're receiving. Keep notifications on and connect them to a phone or email that will be checked and monitored frequently. Also, make sure to follow up with any complaints and follow through with what you promise to offer your client. Make sure you understand what the problem is and discuss how it can be fixed. Once these terms have been agreed on, follow through with them and check back in with your client to make sure they're happy and satisfied with the situation. This shows that you really care, and you didn't just fix the problem and forget about them.

Sometimes you will run into a situation where an issue is out of your control. A system error could be beyond your knowledge to repair, your suppliers that help create your goods and services could be doing something to harm the quality of your product, and sometimes you are in a situation where you don't have the answers or a way to fix it yourself. That's okay - you're human. This doesn't mean you just toss it away and brush the problem off, you still have to fix it. What you can do is outsource someone who can help you. Recruit a good IT company, find a new supplier, and find the best of the best in what you're having issues with. This can cause a hike in price than just refunding your customer, but this can be a priceless decision to help keep your customer and continue bringing in others. It is never wrong to ask for help with something you don't know! Not only can this help relations between you and your customer, but it can be a learning opportunity for you and your team as well! 

  • The Power of Website Traffic
When we talk about the power of negative comments, it does go beyond just your Facebook, Instagram, Yelp, and Google My Business pages. It can damage the flow to your website. Your online footprint depends on this traffic to sell products, introduce your products to new customers, and to continue to reach your customer demographic. There is still a large enough audience that exists out there that doesn't use social media but are still savvy enough to read reviews and visit websites. If this demographic happens to be your key customers, this could mean bad news for you and your company. If you are consistent in following up with every review and handling the situation, this issue can be avoided. This is why it is so imperative to keep up with these comments and to get on them as quickly as possible. 

According to Forbes, 84% of people who go looking into a company online say they trust the reviews they see. Sometimes you can't help how people will respond or react, their anger could be something completely out of your hands. If you can, try to get ahead of any potential problems so negativity can be avoided. Listen to your customers before things get difficult. Have you been hearing similar small complaints? Have you been hearing the same suggestion over and over again? Have people been supporting you for a significant amount of time, but have been asking for a revamp of your goods and services? Listen to them! They are giving you excellent free advice, why not take it? If you can get ahead of the curve, this can help avoid negative situations. 
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  • The Bottom Line
Having a social media presence for your company is necessary for owning a company today. A lot of how you respond reflects your reputation and that brand identity we talked about in one of our most recent blogs. Remember that who you are and where you are as a company in these situations is important too. Be transparent and honest with your clientele. Many people who will make these comments or complaints will understand that there is a real human behind the company. Humans make mistakes. If you own up to them and you create that human connection and conversation with the upset party, an issue can be handled quickly. Plus, according to GoDaddy, a negative comment or two on your social media can humanize your company. Having only 5-Star reviews can come off as phony and fake to outsiders, some might even conclude that all of those perfect ratings were made by a bot or were purchased. How ironic, right? You can't always have it all, but sometimes that's for the better. We aren't saying you should go out and get a few harmful reviews, but just to not freak out if a few do pop up on your Google or Instagram account. 

Negative comments are bound to happen. It's how you deal with them that will make all the difference. Everyone is allowed to have their opinion, but make sure your voice as a company isn't quiet. Don't be afraid to connect with these unhappy people, human to human. Remember too, one bad comment does not reflect your company as a whole. Take it in stride, and keep doing what you do best! If you need help or would like to learn more, please contact us! We look forward to talking to you soon! 


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Battling Negative Social Media Comments (Part One)

9/30/2020

 
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Dealing with negative comments or bots is sadly something every business needs to prepare to handle. It's not a fun situation or topic, but it's always best to be prepared. 

Hello, Summerville! How is our favorite city? We hope you're staying safe and making the best out of your week! This week's blog is going to touch on an uncomfortable topic that sadly every business that has an online presence needs to prepare for. When a company creates its online presence, its goal is to create a positive community to share their products, services, knowledge about their industry, to connect with their customers and future customers, and connect with anyone who happens to discover their brand. With the freedom that the internet allows and the ability to hide behind a keyboard, this positive community isn't always positive or well-received. People will have their opinions and the internet allows them to share them in an instant, regardless if they're good or bad.

In a world dominated by Google reviews, Yelp reviews, comments, and opinions, staying on top of these interactions is incredibly important. It's not a pleasant part of owning a business today, but it is a reality. Hopefully, this isn't something that you'll have to deal with often but just in case, it's always best to stay prepared. Social media and the internet has its own culture, its way of interacting, and its way of how best to communicate. It is a different animal compared to dealing with an upset or disgruntled client in real life, which is why many of the normal practices of dealing with these situations might not work. In this two-part blog, we are going to give you a few tips and suggestions on how to deal with handling negative comments, and how to move on from them.  

  • Keeping Your Cool
One of the first things you have to remember is that the solitary poster who makes an angry comment is not the only one who will be watching and waiting for a response from you. They are not the only ones who are expectant to see how you will handle the situation. Everyone who comes across the post or comment in the future will see it too. How you respond could affect a future client or current customer's decision to continue to work with you or not. A lot of these comments can come from a place of anger and are a representation of one moment in time. They might not reflect the person as a whole. That is the danger of the internet. When someone gets mad the internet allows them to write and say horrible things and post them without forcing them to think about what they're saying or the damage it could cause. If they had a moment to calm down and think through their actions, the comment might haven't existed. On the other hand, some people will have an actual complaint from a bad experience while others are just being mean to be mean. In this case, you have to remember to not take it personally.

Many trolls, scammers, and bots are trying to get an emotional response from you so they have the upper hand in making you and your company look bad. Don't allow them to do this. First, make sure to document these posts or comments. Take a screenshot on your phone or computer just in case. Deleting the comment won't be in your best favor. It could anger the person who commented in the first place, and it could also bring your integrity into question by the commenter and anyone who saw the post before the comment was removed, according to Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. The only time you should remove a negative comment is if it has nothing to do with your company or if they are inappropriate. Remove these comments and block the user who is abusing and attacking your social media platforms. This is an example of people being mean to be mean. 

Make sure to discuss your response with your fellow employees, if a response is necessary, and make sure to do it quickly. Anyone can see these comments, and news travels fast on social media. Make sure to get a handle on it before it handles you. With this being said, the continued conversation doesn't have to be in the public eye. Make sure to respond to every comment, but invite the disgruntled party to connect with you outside of social media. Invite them to email you or to directly message you to fix the issue at hand. Make it known to your customers where they can turn to if they do have issues and who they can speak to. This can channel these issues into a safe space instead of all over the internet.

The internet can be an easy escape and a wonderful addition to running your company. It can also be a harmful place for quick and ugly comments and opinions to spew. We do believe that inherently, people are trying to be good. Sometimes, a bad experience makes us angry for a split second, but that doesn't mean that we are bad people. The internet opened up a world of wonderful and it also opened up the possibility for a lot of ugliness. Learning how to deal with it professionally and quickly is a skill that you will acquire when owning a business. In our next blog, we will be continuing this topic and giving you more ideas on how to handle these situations. Until next time, stay safe and sound Summerville! 
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The Importance of Brand Identity

9/15/2020

 
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Creating a strong brand identity can make or break your company's success. Here is why it is so important, along with a few tips and suggestions to make yourself stand out!  

Hello, Summerville! We hope you're doing well. The smell of pumpkin spice abounds, all of our favorite stores here in the square are starting to put out decorations. We also might be a tad embarrassed about the number of baked fall goods from Swank that we've already sampled. To say the least, we are pretty excited about fall! Celebrating Summerville, supporting our fellow local businesses, and creating exactly what our clients want is a part of our brand. The bright orange color we use in our logo is a part of who we are. We are quirky, hardworking, and usually a little over-caffeinated. This is who we are and what makes us unique as a company. All of these are traits that we are proud of and what we want our current and future clients to know about us. 

All of these elements are a part of our branding. It's the part of our company that you see online, what you see when you drive by our office, and what you hear about us when you ask about us around town. Brand identity is the unique fingerprint that people will see and look into before they meet the people behind the business. This is why having a strong branding identity is so important.

More Than Just A Logo 
Granted, yes. Your company needs a logo, a color scheme, and fonts that you'll use consistently. There is something very special in seeing your signage, window decals, business cards, website, social media, and stationary all decked out in your logo, colors, and fonts. All of these tools are necessary because you'll use them to catch the eye of your future clients. When it comes to the whole of your brand identity, this is a very small part of the whole story. Your brand identity is so much more than your meticulously created logo. It is your reputation, how you want people to perceive you, your unique and individual voice, and what you want to be known for. It needs to stand up to the challenge, support your business, and get your message across. 
  • It will influence your audience's choice of purchasing from you - or not. A strong brand communicates exactly who you are, what your product is, and why your audience needs it. 
  • The strength of your brand will determine and influence your sales and business growth. 
  • Your brand identity helps you stand out from your competitors. It will help your audience and future clients remember you before they remember your competitors. 
  • Having a strong brand will help establish a lasting relationship and trust between you and your suppliers. 
  • It portrays what you want your clients to feel when they use your products and services. 
  • It explains and displays your values as a company. 
  • According to Hubspot, "your products leave an impression of your customers long after you've made the sale. Brand identity is the process of shaping that impression." 

What It Does For You
Now that you've established what brand identity is what can it turn around and do for you? 
  • It will give you creditability to clients, within your industry, with your peers, and to potential future clients. 
  • You will have a much easier time creating a marketing plan and platform with an established brand identity. You know who and what you are, and you understand who your clients are. This will make advertising simple, fun, and profitable. 
  • It will help create your mission statement as a company and help you stick to it. 
  • You will keep current clients, generate new clients, and get people talking about your product in an exciting way. According to Hubspot "A good product generates customers, but a good brand generates advocates." 

It takes work to create your brand identity. Creating your logo didn't happen overnight, and your brand identity won't provide these amazing benefits to you overnight either. The steps to creating a strong brand identity aren't overwhelming, they're actually very straight forward. The challenge is implementing them into your workflow and your company's everyday life. 

How To Get Started
As we said, strong brand identity doesn't happen instantly. It takes time, research, and doing all of those necessary tedious things that arent the glamorous side of owning a business. 
  • You need to know your audience. You created your company because you are excellent at the service or product you provide and know you can improve the lives of others with it. Now you have to ask the important questions. Who will want your products? What age group will benefit from them? Who is most likely to search out your goods and services? Once you've done your research and know the answers to these questions, you'll have no issues with creating marketing plans, copy, and graphics geared towards your focused group of potential buyers.  
  • How you got to where you are, how you create your product, how you came to learn your trade, and why you wanted your business is all part of your story. Your story is unique to your company and product, so keep the story at the center of your mission and in your goals of why you're doing what you're doing. 
  • You have to keep learning, keep growing, and changing with your customer's needs and grow with your industry. Don't be afraid to implement new forms of technology to use in your ad campaigns. There is nothing wrong with using Instagram and Facebook to their fullest capacities. Your brand and what you stand for will always be important, but don't let that stand in your way. Continue to discover other options and never stop inspiring yourself with the amazing innovations available to you. 
  • You need to give something to your customers that they can go out and use right now. Give them a product of value. Let it make their lives easier, happier, and safer. 

The list goes on with the many ways you can create, strengthen, and grow your brand identity. This blog is just a peek into everything that is available to you. We did mention that this took time, right? Every company and business is different. You need to find what works for you. We just wanted to provide a little foundation for you to build on. The long and short of it is that brand identity is important and it's worth your time. If you need help or would like to learn more, please contact us! We look forward to talking to you soon! 
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Utilizing Instagram TV for Your Business! (Part Two!)

8/12/2020

 
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We enjoyed talking about IGTV so much that we had to split up our most recent blog into two parts! Enjoy finishing up learning more about this incredible resource, and how to use it to your advantage!

As we mentioned in our last blog, IGTV has a lot of different advantages that can make using Instagram a lot easier than ever before. One of them is the use of live links when you share and post them to your feed. For companies and individuals who have over 10k followers, they get a nifty tool in their Instagram stories that allows them to attach a link to their post. This creates a call to action to invite their followers to swipe up and visit whatever link has been connected to that post and it will automatically take them there. Without this number of followers, this tool isn't offered. The great thing about IGTV is that you can post live website links within their description just like the 10k users can in their stories. This is a great tool for newer, smaller, and growing companies and is a much easier call to action for your followers. Have you noticed that even when you put a link in the body of your Instagram post, you can't just click on it? You have to copy and paste it into a browser or copy it letter by letter to visit the suggested website. Now, how many of your audience members will spend the time to do that? This gives you an easy way to promote the website you want your followers to visit and a more guaranteed chance that they will follow through with it! These IGTV videos are also permanent. Unlike going live and posting in your stories that disappear after 24 hours, you will have these videos for as long as you want to have them. It's a place to repurpose and a place that you can use to refer back to for your new followers who join you along the way.

One of the greatest tools we love using social media for is the opportunity to introduce you, your brand, your products, and your services to the world in a very honest and open way. It's endearing and an automatic draw, because it's an outlet people connect to. They aren't seeing a stiff and planned commercial, they're seeing you, your products, and what your company stands for. Live videos are great for this, but if you're giving a tutorial about how to use your products or introducing an important topic that will be relevant to your company for a long time, you might not reach the audience you want to right away.

With every other option outside of IGTV leaving you with videos that only last for a limited amount of time, you might be faced with remaking the same video over and over again. This won't be an issue if you use IGTV to your advantage. You can now have a much longer video that is easily accessible to your Instagram presence, and available to use as often as you'd like. It's convenient and a time saver. It's also a wonderful tool to take your users behind the scenes without having to edit or worry about a video that is too long or too short. You have so much room for creative freedom. You can put your products and services at the forefront of each video and show them off, and what makes you so unique and special.

The biggest thing we want you to take away from this blog series and using IGTV is the ability to connect to your demographic of customers and followers in one of the freest and proficient ways possible. It's much more aesthetically pleasing to its viewers and gives you so much time that your creative freedom and individually as a company never needs to be limited. With this tool your options are, quite literally, endless! As Instagram even says "We are all watching less TV and more digital video" now than ever before. Be apart of that, and compete with the important digital videos that are out there. Your content is needed, and it is very valid. IGTV is a very exciting platform for all of us. Through quarantine and the world, as it is now, we have seen a huge flux of more and more people use this incredible tool, and we are excited to watch it grow. Do you like this aspect of Instagram? Share your opinion with you - we'd love to hear from you! Be well, Summerville!
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Utilizing Instagram TV for Your Business! (Part 1)

8/5/2020

 
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Social Media has more tools than many of us realize. We've talked about a lot of them here in our blog, and enjoy using them for our own company. IGTV - Instagram TV - is one of the last platform resources that we have yet to talk about!

We have talked in-depth and at length about using social media platforms and their analytical tools to your business' advantage. There are so many different and unique ways of using social media to your advantage, as long as you know what all they offer and you're brave enough to take the leap to implement them. There is one aspect that we haven't jumped into yet, and that is Instagram TV - or IGTV. We aren't sure about you, but when IGTV became popular and prevalent in our Instagram feeds, we kept thinking it was HGTV. Which was perfect because we love those creative shows! Who doesn't want to spend hours watching a show about tiny homes?! But, no. This is a new tool all on its on that one of our favorite social media platforms is now offering to its users.

IGTV videos are different from your stories and highlights on Instagram and they are different from going live on Facebook. You can use it as a stand-alone application or through Instagram itself. It allows you to make much longer videos than what your feed or highlights allow in one video. You can make videos that are up to 15 minutes long! You are also able to have verticle and horizontal videos when you use IGTV, which is exciting for viewers and users alike. Unlike your Instagram highlights, these videos will appear in your feed, just like they would if you posted a picture or video. If you want, they can appear in your story highlights as well. With this new advantage of having longer videos and another tool to use on Instagram, there must be an advantage available to your company by using this new tool, right? That is what we are going to be discussing in this next two-part blog. According to Instagram, they estimate that by 2021 mobile video will make up 78% of all total mobile traffic. Younger audiences are now being drawn towards these more amateur viral videos than more professional and polished ones. Just with that information alone, you can only imagine what power IGTV could hold your business and its growth.

One of the many reasons why we love IGTV is that it allows the user to reuse and repurpose already created content on a whole new platform. Just seeing your already created content in a whole new light can make such a huge difference! You can now show your videos in much bigger and vertical fame, giving your followers a much bigger and in-depth view of what was created. It also gives you another platform to post your YouTube videos. Before the introduction of IGTV, you could only give a small teaser preview of your videos on Instagram. Having 15 minutes to play with is huge! Gone are the days of the call to action of asking your followers to visit your YouTube channel! As important as we consider calls to action, we recognize that social media users want to stay on one platform at a time. Hopping from platform to platform can lead to a loss of interest or not following through. Having the video right there guarantees a much higher rate of views. Also, if your Instagram audience is much bigger than that of your YouTube channel, a brand new audience will now be introduced to excellent already made content. You also don't have to worry about your Facebook live posts getting lost or only being seen by a limited amount of your followers. This can be a new home for them as well, along with any videos or interviews you made for your blog or advertisement purposes. Plus, it helps your videos stay organized while maintaining a professional look within your Instagram feed.

Have you started to use IGTV in your own business workflow or platform? Have you been having fun with so much freedom at your fingertips? Let us know! We want to know what you think of this extended and exciting arm of Instagram. Make sure to follow up with the second half of this blog the next time we post, we can't wait to share more wonderful information about IGTV with you!

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The Importance Of Following Trends

7/29/2020

 
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There are so many working pieces of a successful company and workflow. Is keeping up with trends one that you have to do? We believe it to be one of the most important things to stay on top of! 

The business world, just like any industry, changes rapidly. The right thing to wear, the cool things to do, where to eat, and the latest catchphrases can grow in popularity thanks to one viral Instagram post in a matter of seconds. It can be exhausting to follow and keep up with. It's even more exhausting when you're trying to run a business on top of staying aware of these changes. We get it. It's part of what we do for our clients and is something we deal with every day.

 Is it really necessary to stay on top of and to follow trends? Or do you just find what works for you and your company and stick with that? In all reality, as much as we hate to say it, not staying on top of these fast-paced trends can endanger your company. Sticking to your very traditional means of business can be very damaging and will leave you in the dust of your competitors as they take the lead, your customers, and your business. 

  • Don't Be Afraid 
There are two very dangerous sayings in the English language, "we've always done it this way" and "you can't teach an old dog new tricks". While there is something to these sayings, don't get caught in complacency. Fear can lend a big hand to that. But, you took a huge risk in starting your company to begin with. Why would you stop letting it prosper and grow after you took such a huge leap? Even if you do have a successful business that has been around for some time, keeping up with changes and trends and applying them to your business models shows that you're open for change, growth, and are flexible. This can bring your customers and followers closer to you and lead to more admiration. For example, adding Instagram and YouTube into an established company's workflow allows a newer generation to connect with you. 

  • Where To Start 
Education is something we cherish at Creative Consulting. Every month, our employees share their own research on how their particular industry is changing and how they are applying these changes to their work. They also share how these trends and changes can help our company grow. You required formal education for yourself and your employees to get started, why would that stop? There are hundreds of easy and accessible ways to continue your education about your industry and the trends that are headed your way. Podcasts and YouTube are some of the easiest ways to do so. It makes learning easy and you can listen and learn wherever and whenever. You can follow industry leaders on social media and even find stellar articles and blogs online. You can find wonderful articles in your favorite newspapers and magazines. Don't forget to stay connected with your industry by networking and learning from those around you, too. 

  • Hard Numbers
Your phone, your computer, and every device you use to run your social media platforms are also right there, filled with data about the changing trends. When you've been using these tools long enough, your analytics won't lie to you. If you're doing the same thing every day and you see that the interest and interaction on your posts are starting to drop, there is proof right there that it's time to change things up. Facebook and Instagram will provide hard numbers and facts. Google, on the other hand, with tools like Google Trends, can give you the best new and upcoming trends at the click of a button. It's easy and simple, you just have to use the tools offered you. 

  • Ask The Right Questions 
It's also easy to watch what your competitors are up to. It takes time to keep a mindful eye, but it's a smart move to make. If you see them trying a new approach that's working for them, put your spin on it and try it out yourself. The results can be very surprising. Also, don't forget about your customers. They are one of the main reasons why you've been successful and can be the key to help you stay relevant and successful. Be honest with them, and ask what could be different that will allow them more access to your products and what changes they would love to see. 

  • Pay Attention To History 
Think about trends this way; if you stay on top of them, you can start seeing a pattern grow. History repeats itself and so do trends, at large. Even if technology does grow and change, the basic principle behind the goal of each trend is similar to what's been done before. This will allow you some pretty big benefits. One, you will be able to smartly guess at what could be coming ahead of the game. This will help you make positive and insightful decisions for the future of your company, as you will aptly be able to anticipate the new trends coming. Also, you won't be spending as much time trying to stay on top of new trends, because you will already have a good idea of what is already coming. 

Also, remember to identify if the changes in your industry are true trends or if they're just fads. Fads will disappear overnight and can lead to a lot of frustration. A lot of money and time can be spent on implementing a fad. If it's mistaken for a trend, it can lead to a lot of frustration and money and time lost. Make sure you know the difference between the two, and how to spot both. What we want you to take away from this blog is to make sure that you are staying on top of trends. We do recognize that it can be a lot of added work, but it needs to be added to your workflow. We want to hear how you've encountered and implemented trends in your business! Comment below and share your experiences. If you want to learn more about trends, let us know! It could appear in future blogs. 

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Popular Instagram FAQ

6/16/2020

 
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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. 
  • When wanting to take the plunge to turn your personal page into a business page, what's the best way to go about doing that? First, you must switch your account to be public if it isn't already. Visit your profile and select the settings gear icon. It will give you the choice to switch to a business profile; go ahead and do that. You will then be asked what Facebook page you would like to link your business page too. You will also be prompted to fill out more information about your company including your website, contact information, address, and more. Always make sure you double-check your information and select done. Congratulations, you did it! 
  • Blocking Followers and other accounts can sometimes become a reality. Sometimes, things can get a little troublesome online. There are just those people (and bots controlled by people) who just want to cause an issue. Sadly, it can sometimes get inappropriate or violent. Dealing with this issue is not a fun one, but you can easily block them. All you need to do is select their username, which when clicked takes you to their profile. Tap the 3 dotted symbol in the top right corner of your screen (they will appear differently, depending on the platform you're using to do this.). It will walk you through prompts to block this user, and once you push this selection, Instagram will ask you again if this is what you want. Once you hit yes on both prompts, this user will be blocked and unable to contact you or to see your profile. They will not be notified that they have been blocked, and any likes or comments they made on your profile will be removed. 
  • Sometimes, and we've all be there, we lose our login information. It happens! What happens if you have walked through the prompts to recover your password or change it directly through the email address connected to your account, but it's still not working? What do you do? If you get to this point, just in case, try and request another new password reset email. The email you might have received could have been expired, and that's why it's not working. Once you open this email, make sure you're clicking the option to reset your password, not choosing to log into Instagram. This should get you squared away. If not, there is the potential that your account has been hacked. Dealing with being hacked is a much different set of steps. You will need to verify and secure your account right away if this does happen. 
  • Running a business - or two! - on Instagram requires attention and care. If you have multiple Instagram accounts that you're in charge of, it's important to stay on top of and address any comments, messages, and follows. It's a good idea to keep your notifications on so you can keep track of everything. But, what notifications will you get and from which of your multiple accounts? You could get notifications from any account, it just depends on when you last logged into each specific account and how many devices are logged in to that account at one time. A quick way of seeing how many notifications you have total is by visiting your personal account first. That number in the red circle next to your username will be the total amount of notifications you will need to investigate. 
  • One of the biggest questions you might hear is how can I continue to grow my account and how can I get more followers? Make sure you know your target audience and who you're addressing when creating posts. All of this information will be stored in your insights tab on your Instagram Business account. Based on the location of your followers, their gender, age, and what time they are most often online can help you determine the best kind of posts you need to be creating. Create content that will speak to your most popular target audience and make sure you are posting when your largest audience is online. To see your insights, go up to the right hand corner of your account page and select the drop-down menu. Select insights from the pop up that will appear. When you select insights, another screen will pop up with more important analytics based on the posts you've already made. At the top right part of your screen, you will see an option for "audience". Once you click on this, it will take you to the page that lists who is looking at your page and when. It is so important to pay attention to this information and to follow it every day.  

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/
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The Time To Go Live!

5/19/2020

 
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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! 

  • Let's Get Started
Some of the biggest things that can affect your Livestream videos on Facebook and Instagram are things you might not even think about until one pops up and ruins a video. These little details can pop up and destroy the quality of the video or could abruptly stop the video in the middle of the broadcast, wasting all of the effort and connection you've made. If you don't think about these very important little details before you even press record, then it'll be too late. When setting up and preparing, remember to: 
  • Turn your phone on silent.
  • Put your phone on do not disturb. 
  • Make sure it's charged with plenty of battery. 
  • Make sure that you have a good wifi connection. 
  • Be aware of the sights and sounds around you that could disrupt the video or distract your audience. 
  • Choose a good location that provides a professional and comfortable setting for you and those watching. 
  • Decide ahead of time if it will look better and be more appropriate for the subject of your Livestream for you to hold your phone while recording or for someone else/a stand to hold it while you are recording. A hands-free approach will give you more options, less to worry about, and a more relaxed feel throughout the recording of your Livestream. 

  • Attention to Detail 
Like we've said time and again, going live is a great opportunity to show your audience who you are in real life. The lighting and the backdrop don't have to be expertly executed. But, that doesn't mean you shouldn't have a plan for the Livestream. You need to know what you will be talking about, why you're talking about it, and have a goal of what you want from your audience during this Livestream. Also, it never hurts to practice. Even though you will be recording and streaming in real-time, being well rehearsed in what you're saying and being comfortable on camera is very important. Looking uncomfortable, constantly stumbling over your words, and rambling until you finally reach your point turns your audience off very quickly. Remember to promote the fact that you will be going live. Post about it a few days in advance on all of your social media platforms. Remind your audience multiple times about when you'll be going live and what you'll be talking about. This builds your audience for the Livestream. Just showing up on their feeds as a live video without any warning could run the risk of not being seen at all. 

  • Action! 
It can be very strange and awkward to talk on camera, even more so if it's live. But try as best as you can to treat your time on camera like a comfortable conversation. The more relaxed and relatable you are, the more you'll draw in your viewers. Don't plant yourself in front of the camera and blast through facts and information like a news broadcast. One of the greatest things about Livestreaming is the fact that your viewers can interact with you. You, in turn, need to respond to them just like anyone would in a real-life conversation. Laugh, joke with them, and answer and acknowledge the questions they're asking during your stream. The less painful you can make it for yourself, the better! Also, always give context throughout the entirety of the stream. Don't dump the topic and the purpose of the going live right at the beginning and then push past it, never touching it again. It's a good refresher to people who turn in late to the Livestream, and it helps those who have been with you the whole time to reconnect and stay focused. Don't forget, it never hurts to get creative! Have a theme to your videos (like Hawaiian day!), have a happy hour with your viewers, have live music, or have a pet join you in your Livestream. The more you invest in the topic and the video, the more your audience will enjoy the stream, and the more likely they will follow your requests to buy something on sale, follow them online, join them for an event, and so on. 

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! 
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Instagram Stories; Use Them or Lose Them (Part Two!)

3/30/2020

 
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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! 
  • Think about it in terms of numbers. Over 200 million people view Instagram stories every day. This tops their competitor, Snapchat, of how many views per day these posts are getting seen. 
  • You can add a link to every post on your Instagram stories and a call to action for your follows to swipe up on the post to visit whatever website you reference in each particular story. This action is so much easier than asking them to try and copy and paste a website into their browser that was posted into the body of your post. This call to action where they can just swipe up is instant gratification and will easily draw more people into following through to look at the website attached to your posts. You do need to have 10k followers to unlock this particular action, but the work leading up to getting 10k followers is worth getting to achieve this action. 
  • You don't have to worry about posting your Instagram stories at any particular time. Posting times can become very stressful in any social media manager's day. You have to make sure you are posting at the perfect time so you can keep up with your algorithms and making sure as many people as possible are seeing the posts you worked so hard on. The stories you post are available for 24 hours. As long as your optimal timing hits within 24 hours of your posting, you don't have anything to worry about. You can just post it, and it will be seen by your followers when they are online at the optimal time, and you don't even have to worry about it. This action will still bring you all the benefits we've been discussing in this blog, no matter when you post it! 
  • You can flesh out your brand in brand new ways!
  • Instagram stories can be a blank canvas for you and your company. It gives you a safe space to try out new marketing ideas and to see if something works or it doesn't without hurting what you have found to work in your normal posting schedule in your profile. 

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! 

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The Top Three Reasons why Planning Ahead for your Social Media Marketing is so Important!

12/24/2019

 
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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! 

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