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The Switch: CC's Blog

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How Do You Deal with Spam Comments On Your Social Media Accounts?

2/25/2021

 
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Dealing with spam comments on any platform of your online presence is sadly a very common thing that almost everyone deals with. In part three of this blog, we are going to be talking about how to deal with spam comments on your social media pages! 
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Hello readers and hello to our fellow Summerville businesses, residents, and friends! Welcome back to the Creative Consulting blog! We hope business is going well for you, and that you're working towards reaching your end of the year goals one day at a time! If you're not quite there yet, ask yourself what might be going on or getting in the way. One of the most overlooked things that can turn your business around is your social media presence. First of all, do you have any? Is your website skillfully designed and easy to navigate? Do you regularly post to your social media pages, do you respond to comments, emails, and direct messages promptly? Do you actually work on your SEO and Google ranking? If you answered no to any of those questions it might be time to reach out to us at Creative Consulting to help give your website a little TLC and truly give you the power that social media can provide. It's what we do, and what we are passionate about. We are also constantly dedicated to learning more about the social media industry to be up to date as much as possible to help our clients stay above and beyond their competitors! 

In part one of this blog series, we began talking about the impact spammers and hackers have on your social media and internet presence and focused on how to deal with them in blog comments. Today, we are going to be discussing how to deal with spam comments and potential hackers on your social media platforms. While so many think that spammer comments and posts on your social media can just be ignored and buried by other comments, it is not a situation to be ignored or a time to hope that they won't be seen. These comments, posts, and the presence of spam comments can be very dangerous and damaging to your company and your brand. Remember, social media can be an incredibly powerful tool for your company; it can help build it up or spammers can help tear it down in an instant. They come in the form of fake accounts, spamming comments filled with hashtags, links, and one too many emojis, and direct messages that are not welcome. It takes time to deal with all of this, but it is well worth it to avoid any malicious intent or harm to your accounts or your actual trusted followers. 

  • Fake Accounts
No matter if you've been on social media for a few years or a few months, you'll begin seeing and recognizing fake accounts popping up constantly in your inboxes and asking for friend requests. This is something almost every user of social media has to deal with. While accepting fake friend requests seems harmless, they can actually hurt your account, your credibility, and lead to an overwhelming amount of unwanted direct messages. These fake accounts can also lead you to some very nasty malware and viruses. One way you can deal with this is to not follow back every account or person that follows you on social media. While following accounts and others back is a way to grow your account, that doesn't mean you have to use this tool. AgoraPulse recommends avoiding doing anything automatically, as automated actions are against many social media platform's rules. Doing repetitive or automated actions can pause or freeze your account, flagging you as the issue. This can prevent you from commenting, supporting, and even posting on your accounts. Also, block those fake accounts. While it is very tempting to reach a certain number of followers (like the prized 10k followers on Instagram), these fake accounts aren't doing anything for you in return. Spam accounts, if liked and followed, can lead to a mass amount of spam comments and direct messages. They can bury important comments and messages from actual important customers and followers, aggravating them and losing their trust when they're not responded to. You will also have to deal with constantly emptying your inbox, deleting spam comments, and dealing with the repercussions of your follows seeing them. Just like fake reviews, companies are out there that are paid to create these fake accounts to post these spamming (and sometimes malicious) comments and send fake direct messages. From a customer's point of view, this is not a professional look you want to go for! 

  • Be Careful With Your Hashtags
Hashtags are consistently a hot topic for social media users, managers, and marketers. How many should you use? Which ones should you use? How often should you use them? While the use of hashtags and which ones and how many to use will have to be a blog topic for another time, for right now we will say to use them with caution and with dedicated practice. Some resources, like AgoraPulse, recommends that you limit the amount you use, while other studies say to use the maximum amount of 30 hashtags with every post. There is no doubt that hashtags can help bring authentic users and followers to your accounts, they can also attract fake accounts. A lot of fake and spam accounts will use hashtags to target followers to follow them. According to AgoraPulse, 8% of all Instagram accounts are fake. According to Statista.com, there are 909.8 million users on Instagram, making 72,784,000 of those accounts fake! Reducing your number of hashtags to reduce the attention from fake bots and accounts can be a huge help. Be consistent with your hashtag research, and use an appropriate amount to get the appropriate amount of attention. 

  • Bulk Messaging 
Automated messaging has become very commonplace on apps like Twitter and TikTok welcoming followers to their page, inviting them to check out their latest deals, introducing themselves to the new followers, and adding an invitation to a website or a landing page. However, these come with a heavy consequence, and it might be time to stop using them and avoiding them if you can. This goes hand in hand with following fake accounts. Many fake accounts will use bulk messages that look legitimate to entice users to click on a site that will lead to a virus or other malicious landing pages. Bulk messages, if sent enough, can help false information to trend or go viral, leading to fake jobs and fake information to spread and overshadow actual and factual information that needs to be shared. On the other hand, if you use this as a tool for your company, it can be very annoying to your real followers and potential customers. They want to follow you, but that doesn't mean they want a bunch of direct messages filling up their inboxes. Bulk messages can prevent you from seeing important messages and opportunities in your inbox, too! 

  • Comment Moderation 
Just like we talked about in our first blog of this series, you need to be vigilant in monitoring your comments as best as you can. First off, be very responsive to comments and messages that are not spam, keeping this open communication with your followers is imperative. If you see a spam comment or a comment you believe is spam, go ahead and delete it. For accounts that receive tons of spam comments, this can be a big challenge. If you use posting platforms like Buffer, AgoraPulse, or Hootsuite, you can adjust certain settings to block comments that have certain words, keywords, and phrases to help combat this and help save you a ton of time. You can even go a step ahead and block these spam and bot accounts to cut down on these comments, and always make sure to report them. Platforms like Instagram and Facebook update their systems every year to combat spam comments and accounts, and while they are very efficient, you might still need to put in the extra legwork. You also have the option to turn off comments temporarily. While this is a drastic fix, we don't necessarily recommend it as it can disconnect you from your followers. 

  • Reporting Fake Reviews
Genuine reviews are the make or break currency of the internet world. They can make or break a business in a matter of seconds. Like we mentioned above, some companies can be paid to create fake reviews. We've talked about the importance of reviews in the past, and how a few bad reviews and bot comments are ok, but when a business is overrun with fake reviews, that's when the danger sets in. Many review sites, like TripAdvisor, allow you to report these reviews. Staying on top of fake reviews is just as important as fake and spam comments. Remember, just because a review isn't positive doesn't mean that it is spam. Companies can pay for a ton of five-star reviews, and that looks just as suspicious. Fair warning, these reviews can be posted in bulk, so any action you can do to repair and monitor them is very important for the health and wellness of your business. 

Taking responsibility against these spammers and bots is a responsibility that comes with having your business online. These are just a few of the tips available to you to help combat these issues. If you've come to the end of the road with these tactics, there are many others out there. Remember too, having an active social media account and monitoring your pages can help cut down on these malicious and annoying attacks. Active accounts can help you remain creditable and keep you in contact with your customers and target audience. While it might seem tedious, please believe us when we say that these actions are worth it. If you're having these issues or if you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out! Until next time, stay safe and caffeinated Summerville!

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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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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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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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Instagram Stories; Use Them or Lose Them? (Part 1)

3/16/2020

 
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Social media can be overwhelming. Each platform is starting to offer more to each of their applications. Sometimes those bells and whistles they keep adding on can add to your frustration. Thankfully, if you just take a moment to understand why these little additives are so important to you and your company, you can stay ahead of the times and right in front of your followers with no difficulty.

2020 has been an interesting year, to say the least. To keep you distracted from the news and the hours of scrolling we have all been doing this past week, we wanted to keep on chugging with business as (mostly) normal. We want to give you something to think about while you're working remotely from home or while you're focusing on the next step of what to do. So let's get right into it, and talk about one of our favorite social media platforms; Instagram!

Instagram can be a place of joy, frustration, confusion, and an amazing advertising tool. We've talked about the importance of staying on top of digital marketing trends and how they can truly benefit you and your company if you stay on top of them. One of the biggest trends happening on Instagram right now is the use of the story option. You can add pictures or videos to your story, and it's an interesting and unique tool that more and more companies are starting to take advantage of. Companies are posting pictures and videos of things at the moment and connecting to their followers in ways they never have before. What's exciting about them is that they give your audience and your followers a real behind the scenes look into the heart of your company. Stories give your followers a sense of humanity because they can see the people at the heartbeat of the company and product they care about so much. It's comforting and endearing. In a world drowned out by social media and that is taking away our human connection from one another, this incredible tool and trend are turning us into beings that crave this insight and are pushing us to be apart of it all. In this two-part blog post, we are going to be discussing why using Instagram stories can be very helpful to your online business, and why you should be using them in your Instagram account.  

Ready, Set, Engage!
Are you still skeptical about using stories on Instagram? Does it make you a little uncomfortable to think about as an option for your social media, or you see no point in it? Well, the first huge benefit of this particular tool, is that it will give you page top-notch engagement, and allow that engagement to be consistent. Stories aren't something that lasts forever on your profile, they only stick around for 24 hours and then disappear. You can decide to keep them on your Instagram page as a Permanent Highlights if you so choose to (which, if it's great content - then we encourage you to place it into your permanent highlights. The key is to reuse content!) they'll be around as long as you want them to. You can use Instagram Stories to get your followers excited about your product and to stay in contact with you. It's a great storytelling tool, and a great way to add excitement to what's happening right now. You can build up the excitement for every story by mentioning in your Instagram profile that if you watch these videos or look at pictures, your followers might receive special deals, get exclusive looks at new products, and be the first customers to hear new information. Automatically, your followers get excited about being a part of this "in crowd" and will keep them coming back for more. They will check in on your actual profile more often to see when the next video will appear, and while they're visiting they will get to know you and your brand better. Even though not everyone will get a chance to see these Instagram stories, everyone who will see them will get excited.

No Point in Perfect
The great thing about going posting in your stories is that every video or picture you post to it never has to be perfect. They still need to follow proper business etiquette, but if the video quality isn't the best, if the lighting isn't perfect, or the weather didn't turn out that day to do an outside shoot, that's ok! These imperfect moments shows real humanity to the whole situation and in your company. You are just like your followers, posting videos and content that comes from the heart and is going with the flow of life. Do you know how refreshing that is in comparison to perfectly cut little videos that took hours and cost tons of money to make? You can find those everywhere! But where is the heart in those?

These videos and pictures can also be seen and will be seen as real-time moments and action shots. Plus, if this is fun or important information and it doesn't look quality perfect, that's also ok. It's the heart of the content that matters and what your customers, followers, and viewers will remember. The message will still be delivered without messing up the flow of your profile, too. Your Instagram profile can be kept picture perfect and on-brand with the consistent and professional flow you've built, all while still using the stories to show off your brand in a more personal style.

Algorithms of My Heart
Instagram has been seeing a lot of big changes in the last year or so. Now that Facebook owns Instagram, we are very confident that there will still be many more changes to come. One of the biggest changes we've seen is how posts are displayed and what determines the order that they are displayed in. They used to be shown in the order of when they were posted. Now, they are shown in order based on what the built-in algorithm believes you will enjoy the most. This is based on your interests, what you look at regularly on your Instagram page, and what you have created as your personal demographic. If your company doesn't fit into this algorithm, then your posts and account could go unseen for some time, or maybe not even at all. The great thing about using stories or going live in this situation is that they are posted in real-time and are posted in the order that the users post them in. Your followers will have a better opportunity to see you pop up on their feed without getting lost in the shuffle if you use Instagram stories. The more you post in your stories, and the more they're clicked on, the more often your posts will be seen in your follower's feed. This will help click you into their algorithms, and help to become a permanent part of what they see every time they open the app.

That's all for now! What do you think about Instagram stories so far? Are you already using them and this blog post made you appreciate them a little more? Are you getting excited to try out an Instagram story for the very first time? Or are you still a little confused about what it all means?  Keep all of this in mind until our next blog, and please feel free to reach out and ask any questions you might about this topic. We are here to start that conversation with you. Until then, stay safe, healthy, and smart. We love you, Summerville!
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The Many Benefits of Instagram - Part Two!

11/26/2019

 
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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! 
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  • Let's start with something called "batching". Batching is not cooking up some holiday cut out cookies, as much as you want it to be. It's creating a bunch of content at one time to make your workflow as simple as possible. To run any part of a business, it takes time. Social media for a lot of companies is the first thing to suffer when there just isn't enough time to go around. This is such a shame, as social media is one of THE LEADING platforms of advertisement - and as I mentioned before - FREE advertising, sometimes! There are tons of programs (be careful - not all of them include Instagram yet) that allow you to plan out all of your posts for the upcoming days, weeks, or months, all at one time. You sit down and make a plan of what your posts need to be based on your company's needs, create the content, and schedule the content for every day from now until whenever you deem necessary. Once they are scheduled in these programs, they will be posted manually so you no longer need to stop what you're doing and post them manually. It is SO handy. 
  • Stay in touch with your followers, customers, and future dream clients. You need to respond to any direct messages or comments as quickly as possible. It's polite and it makes the people who took the time to engage you feel appreciated and that they're being listened to. Turn around time on emails are still terrible, and can hurt your business if you let it get out of control. Using this platform of a more social environment can open up a comfortable space of communication. Your followers might feel the freedom to ask things and make supportive comments that they wouldn't feel comfortable doing in any other form of communication. Plus, everyone loves getting a glowing comment or two. You aren't the only one who sees these posts either. Potential clients will be paying attention to those as well, and it could influence their decision to buy something or use your services. 
  • Stay consistent! Make sure your profile is clean, crisp, and gets right to the point. Don't leave your followers or future followers feeling unsure of what you do or what you offer. Make it consistent with all of your social media platforms. That profile page laying out all of your content on Instagram always needs to echo your voice and your brand, and it is the first thing followers see when they find you on Instagram. This will be your first impression. 
  • The use of hashtags has always been an interesting debate. But in fact, they can help you in more ways than just looking "hip". When you start researching the concept of hashtags and thinking seriously about adding them into your Instagram posts, don't get overwhelmed. Start with creating a company hashtag. You can start by adding this to your posts, and as you gain more followers encourage them to use the hashtag every time they post about using your product, visiting your store, or when they receive your services. It's an easy little thank you that can draw new eyes to your Instagram page without even trying. Tons of apps can help you generate appropriate hashtags. Pick ones that have a decent following for more eyes on your account (it's true, people are now following hashtags on Instagram, not just accounts!). Make sure every hashtag you use is appropriate to your post and to your company. Make sure that it is an appropriate hashtag in general. Sometimes a hashtag can have multiple meanings. Make sure you aren't attaching yourself to something you don't want to be. Studies currently show using 3 to 5 hashtags a post is your best bet. But, you can use up to 30 per post. You just need to figure out what number works best for your company. Not all social media platforms benefit from the use of hashtags, but that is a story for another post. 
  • Always connect, collaborate, and share with others. Social media was created to be a SOCIAL gathering space, a new-age place to make friends. Who doesn't love new friends? Share other's posts, collaborate with other local businesses or charities that you support, always tag companies or people you're working with in your posts, and give credit where credit is due. When tagging other accounts and giving them a little free press, their followers tend to come over and visit your account. This whole process brings more eyes to your account, can help you gain more followers, and show off another human side of your company. Creating content is a form of art, please be respectful of that. It's harder to catch but still just as painful if you steal someone's work and call it your own or share something and don't give credit. Continue to make social media a positive place, and give that credit out! 

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! 

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The Many Benefits of Instagram

11/19/2019

 
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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! 

  • Don't just drown your followers with constant posts about all the products you sell and the services you provide. Their brains will shut down and turn off. They will begin to scroll right past. Instead, creatively show your audience that you can offer them a solution to an everyday problem, that you would make their life better, and that your company can give them joy if they decide to choose your business or to buy your products. This can be SO FUN for your image and content creators! You can truly connect to your audience and followers in such a unique and personal way once you understand who they are and how your company can give them something special. Show that through your ad campaign and enjoy the process. 
  • Instagram is an app that is all about visuals, it's just a plain fact. But you do need to recognize your audience as a whole. Some will just scroll for hours and will need a beautiful picture to make them stop and take the time to read your content or even earn a "like". Once you've had that moment that got them to stop, you still have to put just as much work into the content that you write below your image as you've put into the image. There is still also an audience out there who is looking for good content. Yes, they will enjoy a beautiful picture, but they are looking for humanity, truth, and reality in what you have to say to them. They want a good story, and one they can believe in. 
  • Always put some kind of call to action into your content, this is a great opportunity that should NEVER be missed. Cute content is nice and has a time and place. But always invite your audience to do something. Have them comment below, invite them to the like the post, share the post on their own stories, to have them visit your website, or even your blog. Each post is creating a conversation, so why should it end with the post? Let it go beyond that one picture, and invite them into your whole world. 
  • When you are writing your content, make sure you have established your voice and how you want to talk to your audience. Always make sure this is used consistently. Having multiple voices can quickly confuse an audience, make them subconsciously uninterested in who and what you are as a company, or just not trust you or what you're selling. Also, be genuine when you're talking. Using flowery cute wording that is popular at the moment is fun to throw into any post. But if this isn't your voice, don't fall into peer pressure and feel like you have to use it. Throw it out! Always be authentic in how you talk. Make sure it's a real, honest, and human voice than anyone can connect to. The first subconscious goal you want to reach is forming trust between your future followers and yourself. No one will spend time following you or buying from you if they don't trust what's beyond their phone or computer screen. The first step to earning their trust is showing who you are to the world. Another human will always trust the real human behind the screen. 
  • Make sure you are using all the tools that Instagram is offering you. Use your stories, highlights, and pay attention to your audience and insights tab. These tools are giving you so much free information to quickly access your followers and to get your information in front of them at the best times possible. These awesome tools are there for a reason. The more you use and understand them, the more you can grow with less work on your end. Use the insights to see when your followers are online the most so you can get as many eyes on all of your posts as possible. Use these times to get as much foot traffic to your whole account as well. It all starts with a picture leading them to look at your whole site to see what you're all about. It's almost like free advertisement. You can also use the stories and highlights to show a human side to any business. You can keep your feed chock full of beautiful graphics and perfectly written prose. But in the stories, you can lift the veil to give a behind the scenes look to everything you do. Your followers can get to know the people behind the company. They can see the funny things that happen, relate to the bad days, and celebrate victories with you right there in real-time. 

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! 

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