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January 2021
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 In part two of this blog, we are going to be discussing the best ways to go about successfully and painlessly rebranding your company.
Hello Summerville, and welcome back to the Creative Consulting blog! We are excited that you've returned to continue learning more about the importance and sometimes necessary steps of rebranding your company. In the first part of this blog, we discussed some of the many reasons why your company might need to rebrand. While the idea of rebranding does come with a negative connotation, we hope that our last blog has helped normalize the idea that more often than not rebranding is very refreshing and can be incredibly successful and exciting! We know it can be scary to even consider this idea, but we are here to help. We can speak from experience and say that as we've helped many of our client's rebrand, that it is a very successful and positive step for your business when it's needed. It is an opportunity to learn even more about who you are as a business owner, express what makes your company unique in a whole new way, and reconnect with why you started your business in the first place. Rebranding is not starting from square one, it's reinventing the square itself. If you don't think your company has a brand or a very strong one, think again! Your brand holds much more power than you think, and it does deserve the time and appreciation to reflect your business. Let's get started on rebranding with some of the most successful and pain-free ways possible! In our last blog, we talked about how one of the very first steps in rebranding is usually the need for a new logo. Remember, rebranding is much more than just changing your logo and crossing your fingers and hoping everything is going to be alright. This is going to be a multiple-step process, and you need to invest the same amount of time and energy into each of these steps for rebranding to be successful. Somewhere along the way, your branding that worked in the past has stopped working, and this needs to change! [WHO YOU'RE SPEAKING TO] As we mentioned in part one of this blog, one of the many reasons why a company should go through with a rebrand is because their audience is or has changed. Remember how we've mentioned those incredibly important, easy to find, and free analytics that all social media platforms give you? Please pay attention to them! Make note of who is responding to your social media posts, who is buying your products, and who spends the most time seeking you out online. If it's not the audience you expected or intended, that's okay! Don't be afraid to embrace a whole new group and demographic of customers. They are here to buy your product. With the free research that so many platforms give you, allow that to power other forms of research. Research what is attractive and what attracts your new group of customers. What appeals to them in marketing and what is the best way to reach them? Have you been operating mostly off your website, but this new audience loves Instagram and Facebook? Then it might be time to start a new overhaul of what your brand looks like and how you're reaching this new audience. It's important to know and understand who this new audience is so you know exactly how to speak to them and sell for them. This can also be a situation where competitors have popped up with new products that are directly getting in the way of your company, and they are creating new competition that you never expected. Embracing and focusing on this new audience can help you build up a strong relationship with them and put you ahead of these new competitors. What is the most difficult part of this step? Time. You have to pay attention to these changes, learn about your new audience, and adapt to what this audience needs. In the long run, this will be time well spent. [IS THE NAME IN THE GAME] We might be throwing around the idea that changing your company's name has to be apart of the rebranding process and that it is very simple to do. Please by no means walk away from this blog series thinking that is the case. To rebrand, you do not have to change your name if you don't want to. If the name is still working and has become a staple to who and what your company does, don't throw it away. Changing your companies name can be one of the most dangerous choices in rebranding. This decision needs to be thought through with extreme care. If a new name is something that you and your company are working towards, then you should also consider a plan for introducing the world to this new name. Plan out how to successfully explain that the company that used to be known as "A" is now "X". Heading to the drawing board and brainstorming is one of the best ways you can go about coming up with a new name. According to Hubspot, some of the greatest ways to do so are:
When you're considering changing your name, a lot of the time that also comes with changing your slogan. Please consider why you are changing your slogan before actually doing so. If the slogan no longer matches your services and what your company represents then, by all means, changing it is appropriate. If you are sick of the slogan because you've seen it and said it for so long, consider hitting the brakes before changing it out of annoyance. If the slogan is still working, still catchy, and your customers still love it, there is no reason to get rid of it. Instead, put some new life into it and rediscover why the slogan is so important. If you decide to change your company's name, make sure it fits the current or new slog you've created too. [WATCHING YOUR Ps & Qs] Rebranding might go much deeper than what your customers see. This can be the most difficult part of the rebranding process, as this can touch on some very real and personal aspects at the core of why you started your company. Over time, as most companies do, you will evolve and change. Your products and what you're working towards can completely change from what they were when you started. This is a change in your vision. Your vision is the map as to why your company does what it does and the reason behind every decision you make. If this changes, your branding needs to reflect this. If your vision changes, many other aspects will change including your mission, your values, and the overall voice of your brand.
How are you feeling after reading this, readers? We know that rebranding can come off as a mid-life crisis or a personality swap. While that's how it might look on the surface, that is what you want and need to avoid. When rebranding, think of it as captaining a strong ship. The rebranding process is deciding to turn the wheel and create a new map to avoid oncoming storms and to finally find that treasure you've been searching for. It's a process that cannot be done alone or on a whim. We urge you to take both parts of this blog very seriously when thinking about rebranding. If it is still something you want to do, but it's just too daunting to do alone, we are here to help you take these important steps! Please feel free to reach out! Until next time, stay safe and caffeinated Summerville!
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The Importance of Brand Identity9/15/2020  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.
What It Does For You Now that you've established what brand identity is what can it turn around and do for you?
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.
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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 Curious about lead generation and exposure for your business? Not sure what the difference is between the two or what they can do for your online marketing? We are here to answer all those questions and more!
Hello, Summerville! We hope this blog finds you happy and well. This has been a very exciting few weeks for us, and if you've been following our social media pages (which if you're not - catch up!) you'll understand why! We've started a new local business feature, we've started a brand new video series answering all your business questions, and more! Stephen was also a recent guest on Invest Local!, a fantastic local podcast. Visit their website to hear Stephen give the insider scoop on what it's like to run a top-tier, full-service agency that handles client's brands from a hands-on and personal approach! We have so many exciting things coming our way, and we are so thankful for the amazing community of Summerville for helping us make it all possible! One of our most recent posts on social media was dedicated to Lead Generation vs. Exposure. Did you know that there are two main types of digital marketing? That's right! Lead Generation and Exposure are those two main types. Lead generation seeks out new leads or sales and exposure grows your audience and brings awareness to your business. We wanted to dig a little deeper into these ideas and talk a little more about how both can help your company grow and why they're so important. If you want to know which focus is best for your business needs, reach out to us! We can help you understand the strategies used in each type of marketing, and help you create your custom system. Lead Generation One of the most important things for businesses to gain through their marketing is to convert followers into clients. You don't want to waste time or money into an advertisement plan that doesn't get attention or any conversion. That goes against the whole purpose of why you have an advertising plan in the first place. With the way that the market is right now, and with so much up in the air, you want to make the most of your advertisement right now. Your goal, as always, is to attract the highest quality followers and leads that are going to turn into consistent and supportive customers.
Exposure Marketing According to Forbes, most new small businesses fail because they didn't have enough exposure in the beginning, to get the clientele needed to get them off the ground. Early exposure can help you get ahead of the game, ahead of your competitors, and help keep your head above water. The main focus is to grow your audience at a steady and productive rate. You need to understand and know your product and what demographic will be most likely drawn to your goods and services to make this a successful campaign. Once you understand that, you can begin to expose them to what goods and services your company offers, and why you're the experts in the world of your industry. It's an important process that needs to be seen in the early stages of your company and throughout its entire lifetime.
What is very important to remember is that both types of marketing are not only important to your business, but also to one another. Someone might be introduced to your company due to your exposure, and thanks to the efforts of successful lead generation, could become official clients. It can be difficult to pick and put either practice of marketing into successful action. We are here to help you make those decisions and to make that marketing dream become a successful reality. Have any questions? Please feel free to reach out, we'd love to hear from you! If you would like 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!
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Utilizing Facebook Privacy Settings6/29/2020  Keeping your business and personal information safe needs to be one of your top priorities if you run any part of your business online. If Facebook is part of your business plan, are you utilizing all of the privacy settings they offer?
Facebook is an incredible and powerful tool. We talk about it all the time! It's amazing what it can do for your business when used correctly. It can gather amazing information about your clients, the demographic that follows you, how you can achieve a better reach, and how to improve your content and ad campaigns. There is no other platform that knows how to learn about you better than Facebook. With every post liked, every ad you click on, every group or company you follow, Facebook learns more about you. It's so intelligent that it will keep showing you more of what you love as time goes on. As much as it learns, is there ever a point where it's learning too much? Even the strongest, smartest, and most powerful companies have their flaws. Facebook privacy has been breached and private information has been leaked before, it's not immune to these attacks. Some of these leaks have been due to hackers, some have been due to apps that use Facebook to log into them, and many other reasons. When it comes to private information getting hacked, it can be a difficult thing to recover from. When a company's information gets leaked, it can be devastating. Privacy needs to be one of your top priorities when running your Facebook Business Page. Thanks to the built-in safety precautions Facebook has added to the platform, you have the power to maintain and control your Facebook pages at all times. Don't let it control you. To help keep you and your company as safe as possible, we wanted to share some tips and suggestions on how to utilize the built-in privacy settings on Facebook. Please note; these tips and suggestions can be found on every Facebook page. You can access them through the Facebook Help Page or your Settings page. To learn more about each of the settings, you can read more about them on Facebook's help page (listed at the bottom of this blog) or through countless videos on YouTube!
There are more safety and privacy settings available to you than what we have listed here. Make sure to utilize all of them, or at least know and understand where they are and what they do. Spend time going through your privacy settings on your personal and business account on your phone and your computer. If there is something you don't understand, we urge you to look it up and not pass it over. If you would like 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 directly visit Facebook's privacy settings visit the link below: https://www.facebook.com/help/1297502253597210
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Popular Instagram FAQ6/16/2020  When Instagram becomes a regular part of your workflow, make sure you know what resources they offer and where you can find out more information when you run into a dead end.
Now that you've become more comfortable with using Instagram, Instagram Stories, and IGTV after reading our last few blogs, it's time to check back in and take a moment to refresh. Instagram, just like any business, has a dedicated (albeit a very long and detailed) page for all of its frequently asked questions. Sometimes, these pages can get frustrating because they don't answer what you need to know outright. Sometimes you have to go digging into the provided list of FAQs to see if someone has already asked your question before or not. As we know, Instagram has become very popular since its introduction and it is now one of the most popular social media platforms out there. But, even with its popularity and the basic ease of using it, you can still run into a lot of questions and loose ends. Thankfully, Instagram has now been around long enough that your questions have probably already been asked. Luckily for you, this blog is going to be dedicated to five of the most frequently asked questions. So, you can start your search here, and hopefully find all the answers you need.
Instagram has a fantastic support system, and almost every question imaginable has been asked. If you are still stumped after reading our blog, don't hesitate to visit their FAQ page. If you would like some more in-depth training and someone to help you walk through your issues, we can help you with that. We offer individual social media training to walk you through on how to use each platform. If you or your company wants to take another step up in your online business world, we are here to make that happen. Don't hesitate to reach out. We are here and excited to help your company grow. Thank you for continuing to follow us, learn with us, and support us. We are here for you Summerville, no matter what! To visit Instagram's FAQ page, follow the link below: https://help.instagram.com/
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 There are so many incredible tools to help grow your business. Some of them are waiting right under your fingertips. Do you know about Facebook Business Manager? Have you begun to use it? It's time friends, and here's why!
Hello Summerville! Here is a toast to each of us for taking the next steps towards a sense of normalcy. We are hanging in there together, and we continue to appreciate your support. Let's keep loving our little town, and continue to move towards the future. Business management is so important to keep any company running smoothly. Keep up with your clear communication and a positive and decisive workflow. Did you know that Facebook offers business management to its users? In this blog, we are going to be discussing all the great things Facebook Business Manager can do for you and your company. We will also be discussing how it can make things much easier for you and your company. Facebook business manager was developed to help keep you organized and to help you stay in contact with your employees. It is a tool that Facebook developed to help any business that uses it to manage and maintain all of their company's pages, ad accounts, pixels, catalogs, and more all in one centralized location. This tool allows this information to be used, utilized, and attainable to your employees who need access to it. It also doesn't require you to share yours or your client's personal or login information. Of all the tools available to you on Facebook, it is one of the best there is. You can track results and optimize your work as a team. Best news of all, it's a free platform to use. If you don't already have or use Facebook Business Manager, you need to begin looking into it. No matter the size of your company, if you are running a business along with maintaining your personal Facebook page and its safety, it's a must-have. If you fall into these categories, you should begin setting up and working with the Facebook business manager.
Do you fall into these categories? Remember, switching to using Facebook Business Manager will allow you to share only what your employees need. It helps them to stay up to date, in communication, and you can still keep your personal account separate. You also need to claim permission to your business page. As Facebook and Instagram continue to change, if you don't claim and control the permission of your business pages, you could lose your Facebook Business Page. Having a Facebook Business Account will also allow you to create custom audiences, which is half the battle of getting your product or services out there. You need to know and understand your demographic to create effective ad campaigns and to get your service/products in front of the people who will buy it. Finding and targeting these groups can take a lot of time. Having these groups created for you and being able to connect with them quicker is amazing. The platform allows you to run multiple ads and accounts (or assets) at one time, too. You can stay organized in all branches of your company. Truly, the only disadvantage you could be facing is having to take the time to learn about how this platform works and how best to utilize it. Which, considering how much it offers you and the time it saves, is worth it! In short, the Facebook Business Manager allows agencies that run the business side of companies on Facebook to link to their client's pages without having employee accounts linked as administrators. It will give those who use it unrestricted access to all of the features within the business manager itself. They will be able to post to their client's account, customize their pages as desired, and even be able to link apps to the account. No employee would be able to use any account inappropriately. If you still aren't sure about using Facebook Business Manager, now might be the time. Facebook has been pushing it so hard, especially in the last year, that it might turn out that you'll end up being made to use it. Facebook could automatically change your account for you. Don't fret, it's not as daunting as it seems. It is a lot easier to use and work with once you understand it. It is a great tool that we use and recommend. You got this! Also, don't forget! We offer individual social media training to review these features. So, 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!
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 We promised more information on the importance and joys of adding Facebook Stories to your workflow, and so we are going to deliver!
Hello again, sweet Summerville! Welcome back. We hope you and yours are staying safe and healthy. Keep washing those hands and practicing social distancing! If you have the chance, we also encourage you to support local businesses as much as you can right now. So many of the staples we love that are Summerville through and through need your love and support. Get carry out, pick up some coffee, and visit your favorite local artist's websites or Etsy pages! Every little bit helps right now, and we encourage you to pay it forward. If you'd like some recommendations about some of our favorite local businesses, please don't hesitate to reach out to us! We have been enjoying our fair share of our favorite Summerville things thanks to delivery and pickup! Now, let's jump back into some work. Our last blog kicked off our blog series discussing the importance of Facebook Stories. We just had so much to share - we couldn't limit it to just one post! Even though we are all smartly practicing social distancing, one of the many ways we can all stay connected is social media. We can stay close and remain in contact with as many people as our hearts desire thanks to social media. This is why it is so important. You can remind your audience that you're still here, you still care about how they're doing and that you and your company will still be here when all of this is finally over YOUR CUSTOMERS; THEIR NEEDS We've touched on the topic of customer experience and service multiple times throughout our blogs in the last few months. The importance placed upon it needs to become one of your top priorities. Good customer service is one of the top digital trends for 2020. How to listen and connect with your clients needs to evolve and grow over time. We love being heard, and we all love when our opinion is valued and listened to. Stories, videos, and going live on Facebook gives your client an in-person opportunity to give and voice their opinions. It opens up the floor to more of your followers to join in on the conversation and to agree and disagree with their peer's needs or opinions in a safe and productive environment. Take what your followers say to heart. If they aren't opinions or needs that you feel are in your companies best interest, that's ok. But acknowledging them means a lot to your customers. You can create images and stories to hype up announcements, new products, sales, and exciting events they can all attend - either online or hopefully soon, in person. When you go live on Facebook, you can see the comments your follows are making in real-time and you can physically respond to them. What an instant connection! You can answer questions, solve issues, express gratitude, and connect with your audience in real-time. This frees up time that you would be spending answering these questions and concerns via email or phone call, allowing you to get back to work. ANOTHER CHANNEL Being consistent is an excellent tool in branding and leading a successful company. Being consistent creates a subconscious connection between you and your clients and a sense of safety and trust that they can depend on. But, that doesn't mean that everything you post has to be the same. This can draw more of your follows to check out other platforms that you run your social media on, and is another tool you can use to get your customers excited. For example, you might only make announcements about new products, deals, and giveaways on your Facebook stories. But, you hint on all of your social media platforms that to view and learn about these announcements you have to view it on Facebook stories. This can then bring your Instagram or other platform's audience to your Facebook page and vice versa. This is a great way to cross-promote your social media platforms and to keep up traffic to all of your pages. Also, different audiences prefer different types of social media platforms. When creating any story, tailor them to the platform and the audience that prefers it. Not only are you speaking to your audience through your Facebook videos, but you are also speaking to a very specific group and demographic. IT'S ALL IN THE TIMING Just like Instagram, Facebook Stories live right at the top of your followers' Facebook feeds. They are the first thing that pops up once the app is loaded on their phone or computers. Staying at the top of their page and in their minds' eyes is very important and effective for your business. This is very similar to putting in the much needed time for SEO and getting your company in the top few results in Google searches. This is why you need real and in the moment, not perfect, videos. The more honest they are and the more you draw in your audience, your stories will remain in a consistent spot in their feeds. Are you getting excited about the potential Facebook stories can bring to you and your company? We hope so. Even if you're still a bit skeptical, now is a great time to try out the many features Facebook stories can give you. Have fun, be bold, and be honest. Your audience, customers, and fans love and support you for a reason. Let that reason shine through your posts! Don't let your audience forget about you, and don't forget about them. We hope you're doing well, Summerville. We miss seeing you and look forward to enjoying our town together very soon. Stay safe, stay smart, and stay home!
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 In our last blog series, we discussed how important and exciting Instagram Stories can be for your company and your ad campaigns. In this blog series, we are going to be discussing the pros of adding Facebook Stories to your workflow!
Hello Summerville! It's been another strange few weeks. We are still open and operating, and very thankful to our clients during this time. We are also very thankful to do our business online and in the safety of our own homes. While we are still very busy, the safety of our clients and employees is at the top of our priority list. How much are you appreciating Google Hangouts, Google Duo, Zoom, Skype, and all platforms of video chats right now? We certainly are! Seeing the faces of our clients and employees right now in this digital fashion is so needed and so important. In turn, making the most of your digital fingerprints and social media platforms for your company is more important than ever before. We are all on our phones and computers more than we have been in the past, for work, to fill up our free time, and to keep some sort of normalcy in our lives. This is the best time to stay in touch with your customers and your audience, while they are sitting there waiting on their phones and computers just like you are. A reminder of your appreciation of them, that you miss them, and that you're thinking of them will be very appreciated and will help your company during this difficult time. It will also help amp you up to business speed once everything returns to normal again. We have just wrapped up our blog series on the importance of using Instagram Stories. We thought the next set of blogs should focus on the importance of using stories on Facebook and its many benefits. And believe us, there are quite a few! Think of how important and fun videos have become on all of our Facebook feeds, both on our professional personal Facebook pages. For the first time in history, social media is finally being used for what it is created for, thanks to the current situation. It is bringing us all together and keeping us in contact. We need one another more than ever, and having a personal connection via your social media platforms is the perfect way to do so. Why not stay connected to your clients, followers, and audience in a personal way to help everyone stay focused and positive? For the first time in our known history, you get to have face to face personal interactions without asking anyone to leave their couches or homes. As a matter of fact, you wouldn't want it any other way. Similar to Instagram, Facebook stories are one of the newest ways to connect and show off your brand and company in a very fun and creative way. The videos you post on Facebook stories last the same 24 hours and provide a very user-friendly platform for anyone who wants to create a live video, post a video onto your stories, or upload a video or picture to your stories. Think about it in terms of numbers. Facebook has over 2.23 billion active users every month. That is over three times the amount of users that its story rival Snapchat has. That is a HUGE group of people that could become potential customers and followers, and they are just waiting to meet you!
This is a great place to start! Don't worry, we still have a little bit more to share. That is the glory of a two-part blog! We get to see you again (virtually, of course) and you get to keep on learning! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay smart. We are here for you Summerville. We are in this together and we will get through this together!
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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!
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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 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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