New features on the most popular and well-known channels are popping up right and left. Instagram Guides came out last year and while they are overshadowed by Reels right now, we think you will find Guides are a useful tool and one that also does well in the current algorithm.

Why Use Instagram Guides?

Guides allow you to curate lists or recommendations using content that is currently on Instagram as a wall post or in your saves including Reels and IGTV videos if they have been shared to the wall. There are three   categories for Guides: Places, Posts or Products, so you have lots of options depending on your area of expertise or business focus.

Instagram Guides Resources:

Here is the rollout announcement from Instagram, another quick overview from Later, a how to from Social Media Examiner and another from Hootsuite’s blog.

Examples of Guides from a few Different Industries: 

Travel destination – https://www.instagram.com/australia/guides/

Cosmetics – https://www.instagram.com/lushcosmetics/guides/

Tech – https://www.instagram.com/hubspot/guides/

Magazine – https://www.instagram.com/parents/guides/

Gift Guide – https://www.instagram.com/thetreatment/guides/

Construction Materials – https://www.instagram.com/thedeckcompany_colorado/guides/

Video Tutorial of How to Use Instagram Guides

Our top tips if you’re interested in or have just joined Clubhouse, the new audio only streaming app for Apple users. Here are twelve tips to get you started on the right track!

1.

Connect with some of your friends and colleagues from other networks. This is a great way to start a quick stream of content that you know you’ll be interested in.

2.

Join topic clubs – they are topic specific and it will help you find the information you want to learn about or network in your area of expertise.

3.

Get on with a friend and start a private room so you can try out all the buttons! What do they do, how do they work? What does it look like when you raise your hand or unmute? This helps calm your nerves when you want to be more interactive in a room. 

4.

Get in a small room to practice raising your hand and speaking. It is much less intimidating than a room with hundreds of people and a large group of moderators.

5.

Fill out your bio – it helps people get to know you, increases your followers on CH but also on IG (make sure to link your IG and TW! in your bio).

6.

Emojis are searchable. Yes, they are. So if emojis are your thing, you might want to check out what that yields for you.

7.

Follow people – when people who speak follow you it moves your profile into the higher “Followed by speakers” group in rooms.

8.

Think outside your business hours! Because CH is global, people are on there in every single time zone.  Check out some of the rooms and talks that start up in the early evening or on the weekends. It’s a more relaxed vibe and can lead to additional learning.

9.

When someone “pings” you that you should be in this room, it means that they are in a room that’s happening right now and thought you might like it.  Don’t worry if you get the notice and can’t join in. It happens. 

10.

Like all social networking apps, it’s powered by an algorithm. The app will show you “rooms in progress” based on both your topics AND the people you’re following. If you’re not into million dollar real estate deals, maybe tweak your followers/followings. 

11.

Have fun! Clubhouse is new and changing, learn, try out things, and enjoy yourself. There are so many topics it is easy to get overwhelmed so just pick and choose. 

12.

Save rooms you are interested in to your google or apple calendar so you don’t forget.

Let us know what you tried in Clubhouse. We’ve got some invites if you need one to get started!

Yes, we said “auto pilot.” Are you shocked? Well, don’t be. If you’re not a retailer whose livelihood depends on Christmas sales, then this post is for you.

Why You Should Take a Break This Holiday Season           

If you are an entrepreneur or, for that matter, any small to medium business owner, you’re no doubt exhausted from the pace of keeping up with social media during a pandemic. For some businesses, it was their only marketing activity and a lifeline to maintain their customer relationships.

But this time of year, the competition for attention is crazy. The retailers are leading the way, trying to gain any sales they can to salvage the year. Likewise, many nonprofits are making one last attempt to get donations to secure their future.

It’s hard to rise above these two forces. It might be the perfect time to take a break. But we’re not saying ignore your social channels entirely. 

Here are our 4 key ideas on how to do it well so you can take a break and come back in January ready to tackle new social campaigns!

1. Preschedule

Engagement erodes beginning around Dec. 15, so take this time to preschedule as much content as possible through to the New Year. One of our past clients, The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio, had this fabulous Christmas tree in their foyer.  Each department created a signature ornament for the tree.  We photographed them individually and started scheduling an ornament of the day acknowledging the department, with a picture of the ornament. These were wildly popular among the hospital fans and gave us a break.  Some of these creations were full blown dioramas and amazing to see.

If you don’t have that kind of holiday tie-in, that’s okay too. If you’re a nonprofit, you can schedule gratitude messages to volunteers, employees, donors. It’s a great way to wrap up the year.  A small business could recognize employee contributions and feature employees each day.

2. Keep It Light

While you’re thinking on how to preschedule everything, make sure to keep the content fun and light. Lots of your fans are mindlessly scrolling, so just give them a little something to remember you by when you resume your big schedule in January.

3. Create a Monitoring Schedule

While you want a break, you can’t completely ignore your channels. Create a sensible monitoring schedule so you just peek in, see if you need to respond to any comments or activity and then go back to enjoying holiday time away from the screen. We manage channels for a number of clients.  Here’s what we do at the holidays:  each team member has a three day monitoring schedule. For some clients they will check all the channels for fifteen minutes, twice each day on their monitoring day.  For others, the channel check is once per day. We have 4-5 of us working in this way, so starting 3-4 days before Christmas, we implement this schedule, so each person only has to sit at their desk for a couple of days! It’s brilliant.

4. Try Using Bots to Manage FAQs

If you haven’t tried using the Facebook bot, now is the time to give it a try. You can set automatic responses to the most frequently asked questions so the bot answers for you.  We do this for several clients for things like how do I find a hotel in your destination? What are your holiday hours? Things of that nature.  Here’s an example of a “bot” in action on a business page (picture).  Especially if you are sold out, closed for the holiday, not reopening until a certain date and time, you can let the bot answer the question and continue to enjoy your time away.

Don’t Go Away for TOO Long! We don’t recommend that you be mentally or physically away from your vital social media channels for more than three weeks but for many small businesses, the two week reset will do amazing things to refresh you.  We highly recommend it. Happy Holidays!

A good social media management tool can make your life so much easier. A bad one can be really frustrating. With tools changing ALL THE TIME, how can you be sure you’ve picked the right tool for YOUR business?

We have a series of questions we ask when considering a social media management tool for our clients. While some agencies put all their clients into their selected tool, that doesn’t always work well and you’re forcing your clients into what works for you. Which may not be a fit for that clients’ social media  practice.

These same questions are a great starting point for an entrepreneur or small business owner who is looking to start using a social media tool. 

What Features Do You Need?

Scheduling

If you’re looking for a new social media management tool, the first feature you will need is something that will help you schedule your content.

This will save you time and help you be more strategic in scheduling your content 

Connecting

The ability to connect specific channels is an important feature.

Not all social networks work well on all third party tools; Instagram is usually always the problem child!

Monitoring

Do the notifications from each social network work for you or your business? Or do you need to get them into a single pipeline? This is the most advanced feature of social media networks and is usually the most pricey.

Reporting

What kind of data would you like to see weekly, monthly or yearly from your social media channels? Have you set goals against them from which a report would help you see progress? 

How Many People Need to Use The Tool?

Many tools are priced by number of people using it or the number of social network connections made inside the tool.

Many of the great starter tools are a combination of both. For example, you can have 2 people and up to 5 networks.   

What Else Should I Know About Making the Purchase?

Some tools max out the number of scheduled messages per month but since that number is often really high (like 10,000) it may not apply to you.

Most will quote you a price per month, but if you sign for one year, there is a great price break.  We suggest trying a tool for 2-3 months before trying to grab that annual discount. It will make it easier to change your mind if you find it doesn’t work for you.

Jen and Fran recently did a live video on choosing tools. Check out this brief, 10 minute Q and A below.

Still not sure?

We’ve compared 6 social media management tools side by side for you, including average pricing. You can get it by going here.

Let us know if you pick a new tool!

Last week, Instagram rolled out a series of new video features under the heading of Reels.   Here’s what we’ve learned about it so far.

Instagram Answers TikTok with new Reels feature

If you’re on the fence about whether TikTok is right for your brand, you’re not alone.  While this platform has made inroads by opening up advanced features like an agency interface and advertising solutions, the political controversy about Tiktok and its ownership have quite possibly pushed Instagram to roll out its newest feature, Reels a little quicker than planned. 

You can now choose 15 seconds or 30 seconds for your video length!
Most people have the music feature – hopefully it is fixed for everyone! If not keep using a work around.
A few updates have been added to the clipping feature to splice video clips together.
Many people are editing their videos in TikTok, InShot and other editing apps and uploading them as a finished product to Reels.  
We know more updates and tweaks are coming!

Update from Jennifer Hatton, October 14, 2020

Here’s a tutorial from Sam Shefner on how to use Reels with an evaluation on its functionality.  He says that some things are limited for now, but that Instagram might build more as the feature gains in popularity.

The New York Times also did a test and said it stinks. But No one liked Instagram when it first came out either, so it’s anyone’s guess what will happen next.

How Do I Create a Reel?

If you’re ready to jump in, here’s a couple resources to help you try it out.

Instagrammer extraordinaire Color Me Courtney got the feature a week ahead of time and does a great rundown here on her blog. She then updated her blog post when it went live with anything that was different. 

Later Media, a platform specializing in Instagram only has this helpful overview  and a three step tutorial for creating your own.

After I create a Reel, what should I do next?

Some key Instagram influencers are suggesting you get 5 or more Reels up quickly so that you are favored by IG’s punishing algorithm. 

Then you can also brag to all your social media buddies that you were an early adopter.

We’re also seeing lots of recommendations about using hashtags but it’s anyone’s guess how that will function within the current Instagram craze of using numerous hashtags in a post. In Stories, of course, you are limited in the crazy hashtag use.

Here are our hilarious examples of trying Reels : 

Jen does a Reel with her husband and horse

Fran has a reel of a recent fabric dyeing experiment.

It’s her first, so be kind!

Maybe you’re not yet ready for Reels, but at least now you know what’s out there and can talk to your boss or clients about the pros and cons of adding it into your social media strategy.

We’d love to hear about and see your first Reels videos. 

Part 1 of 2

There’s a lot going on in the world right now and that has resulted in some brands going dark, some changing their messaging, and others pushing on like everything was status quo. No matter what camp you find yourself in you may be analyzing your social profile, finetuning your messaging, and developing a go-forward strategy for the rest of the year.  

Are you ready to restart your channels, reinvigorate your commitment to social posting for your company or take your side gig to the next level? Let’s take some time to do some housekeeping that will help make your channels more secure, help you be more organized and put your best branding foot forward for new fans and followers.

Let’s review some things you can do right now to enhance your social media initiatives: 

Grab a pen and answer the questions below!

Social Media Channels

1. What channels do you have? 

A simple spreadsheet is a great tool to track this and help you stay on top of where and how you’re spending your time.  

2. What channels are you consistently posting content on? 

Analyze the last 3-12 months, look at number of posts, engagement metrics, and total ROI.  

3. What channels should you put on hold? 

Use your ROI analysis to determine if it makes sense to step away from a platform and focus your energy on the ones that are providing tangible results. 

You have an entire digital ecosystem that includes your website, blog and social media channels. Any time someone encounters your brand online, they should be able to easily get to your website. Afterall, your website is your home turf. You aren’t beholden to changes in algorithms, or other third-party issues that can impact or even devastate your traffic.  

Log In’s and Access

1. Do you have a password app or document? 

If so you need to be sure if it will keep your data safe in the event you’re hacked. 

2. Do you have a regularly updated back-up of the data in case of a breach?

It is also important that you know who all has access to that information. 

3. Have you updated your passwords recently? 

Most security experts agree changing passwords every 90 days is a solid way to reduce the risk of someone else getting access to your data. Are you using a password generator? The street you grew up on with your child’s birthdate won’t cut it. Most password apps have the ability to generate complex passwords for you.   

4. Who has access to your channels? 

We’ve all heard the stories of an employee who was terminated but still had access to social channels, or the consultant that was hired years ago that still has ownership of a brand’s Facebook page. Don’t let that be you!

The security aspect is important for many reasons, make sure your reputation is not at stake because you are hacked and inappropriate things are posted to your channels. You also don’t want to lose access to your channels and have to start over losing the branded URL’s that people will use to find your brand or business online.

Many of these things are simple, do take a little time but will pay off for you.

We would love to know which items you tackled – share below.

Check back for Part 2 of Cleaning up your Social Media Channels!