As a company, we value the personal connection and efficient brainstorming that can come with in-person meetings. It’s one of the reasons that we make an effort to have initial consultations with new clients before we even write their project proposals. In a typical week, though, we may not see each other’s radiant faces in person. We’re busy making marketing magic at Upswept HQ, in coffee shops and home offices, or anywhere we find ourselves with a speedy internet connection and a job to do.

We felt confident we could meet these remote working challenges head-on, mostly due to our strong communication. To that end, we’re continually refining our process of internal communication. We use a handful of tools to help keep us all connected and knowledgeable about the work.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

If you’re looking for a task management system, we’re big fans of Freedcamp. Slack is great for multi-channel workplace chatter. Zoom Communications allows us to make eye contact over any distance, and share the documents we’re working on as easily as passing them across a table. We’re also big fans of the Google suite of apps that allow us to collaborate directly all in the same document. With all of these tools at our disposal, long-distance collaboration becomes much easier. Not to say that there hasn’t been a learning curve.

The best way for a team to use a tool or service effectively is to, well, use it! You’ll never know if the tool is right for your team if you don’t get everyone on board. On Team Upswept, we talk a lot about different protocols for setting up tasks and refining processes. This helps us all stay on the same page for how the service is meant to be used, and thus helps us use it more effectively.

We know that we can continue to collaborate with Josselyn because we already have an effective system of communication in place. Across town or across state lines, not a lot has to change. We credit the success of our communication plan first to a common dedication to openly collaborating and operating as a team. This is one of our core philosophies, both in working with each other and with our clients. So if you’re looking for more than an impersonal client/firm relationship, reach out to us and let’s get collaborating!

Hashtag Platforms

Hashtags as a method of informally tagging similar content in a group or message first became popular on Twitter, but has since spread to nearly every social media platform. So which platforms are best suited for marketing specific hashtag use?

Not the originator, but as the platform that saw the first widespread use of hashtags, Twitter is a great place to start. Twitter has a regular user base in the hundred millions. While that number is starting to decline, there’s no denying Twitter is a big, big platform. A user’s ability to curate their own content means there are thousands of insular, bubble-like communities. Instagram is the same way. It can be hard to grow an audience if no one is seeing your content.

That is where hashtags come in. Doing your research and finding the right hashtags will allow your posts and profile to appear in relevant searches within the platform. Using these hashtags regularly is a key strategy in growing your audience on Twitter and Instagram.

Facebook is a different story. Hashtags on Facebook are an opportunity to build your brand in a custom way. I’ve been experimenting recently with creating my own hashtags on Facebook, and I found that posts with my custom hashtag out-performed posts without. So if you post regular, timely content (say, a link to a weekly blog post) to Facebook, consider coming up with a unique hashtag to make your own!

Hashtag Strategies

Knowing your audience is key to using hashtags strategically. Really, you can determine which hashtags to use by answering one big question: what is everybody else using? It’s only a little more complicated than that. Let’s break it down:

• What is the competition using? What hashtags are your rivals in the same field using? Especially ones that have been around a little longer or found more success. You have an opportunity to share your content with their audience by using some of the same hashtags.

• 

  What are industry insiders using? In nearly every professional field there are thought-leaders, innovators, and people the masses just pay close attention to. Making yourself a part of the same conversations those people are having is a great way to get your brand presence in front of new eyes, and build a reputation as a thought-leader yourself.
• Can I make my post a meme? I can’t recommend every brand go for the sillier side of the internet, but there are all-time popular hashtags that are meme-related that are still in wide use. If you have an old photo that can go on Instagram, maybe save it for Thursday and use #tbt (throwback thursday). Other popular hashtags to explore are #love, #friday, #fashion, #cute.
• Does my location matter? Yes, there are popular hashtags that are location based, too! If you operate out of a brick-and-mortar storefront, or prefer local clients, these can be useful hashtags to use to engage your local community. #pdx represent!

With these guidelines in mind, start making a list of hashtags you can use with your posts. Use the platforms themselves to explore how each hashtag is being used, to make sure it’s a conversation you want to be a part of. Remember, active and popular hashtags are good, inactive, unpopular hashtags are not.

Hashtags might seem intimidating at first, but while there is a lot to know about them, you can start seeing results with just a few small steps. Above all, remember to stay flexible, and don’t be afraid to experiment! If you need a hand, we can help! Reach out and chat with us about social media today.

So what gives?

You may be making some common, key mistakes. As a social media manager, there are major issues I see all the time in the world of small business social media marketing. Here’s how to avoid them:

YOUR POSTS ARE TOO LONG

Facebook’s character limit for a single post is 55,000, but from a marketing perspective, your posts should never, ever approach this limit. Except in rare circumstances, you should even avoid having the “See more…” button appear on your posts.

One guiding philosophy I use across all online marketing is minimize clicks. People have short attention spans online. If your potential customer has to click “See more…” just to finish your post, it is way more likely they’ll lose interest before they get to the content you really want them to see. Make your clicks count! The ideal post both avoids the dreaded “See more…” button, and links directly to your shop/website/article/where you want your customers to go.

You’ll have to experiment with each post to find how just how long you can make it. There is no official character count before “See more…” appears. It depends on a number of variables (how you attach your photo, the title of your link, size of your screen, etc…) To find out, write your posts in Facebook’s publishing tools, and save it as a draft. From there, you can view the post as it will appear in someone’s feed.

YOUR PROFILE IS CONFUSING

I can’t overstate the importance of having an optimized profile on each of your active platforms. Your profile is the place people go once they’ve already been hooked– either by a post they saw, or looking you up by name– and they want more information about you. This is your opportunity to show your best side, while also directing people towards your end goal.

Yet, all too often, I see incomplete profiles, too-long descriptions in the “About” section, and incomprehensible profile pictures.

On Facebook, the “About” section is best used as a space for a very short description of what you do–I’m talking one, maybe two sentences. These sentences should be both engaging and immediately answer the question, “so what exactly do they do?” A longer description can be put into the “Our Story” section.

Make sure you fill in all the relevant details for your business, too: phone number, business hours, address, and founded date, link to your homepage, etc. This is the kind of information people are looking for.

Instagram is a little different, because profiles have a lot less information. In order to optimize that limited space, the profile description should be even more engaging and descriptive. Feel free to use emojis and hashtags, if you can identify some that work well for your business. The space to link to your website is prized real-estate on Instagram. It’s the only opportunity to point folks in a direction, outside of Instagram’s “Story” feature. Linking to your homepage is fine, but you should consider changing it periodically, to match what you are posting about. Advertising a specific item in your online shop? Change your link to go directly to that item’s page! Now, when you post about it, you can caption the photo with “Link in bio.”

YOU FOLLOW TOO MANY PEOPLE

On platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, it’s so important to maintain a low follower to following ratio. These platforms use this ratio, in part, to determine “who to follow” recommendations. These suggestions are a key method of growing an audience.

And really, it comes down to a matter of trust and optics. As a potential customer, would you put more trust in a business that has 560 followers but was following 1100 people, or one that has 495 followers and following 460 people? It simply looks better to

have a lower ratio. It shows people that people are, in general, more interested in you.

One easy tactic to keep this ratio low is to only follow people that are already following you. Most social listening tools have automated this strategy, and allow you to toggle it on or off. But it’s not too difficult to do manually, especially in the early stages or if your overall audience is less than 1000 people.

It’s easy to make mistakes and oversights when first starting out in social media marketing. Even if you’ve made all of the mistakes I outlined above, I hope I’ve equipped you with the knowledge to fix them, so your numbers can improve. Rest assured, you’re still doing the right thing by getting serious about social media in the first place. After all, the first step to a successful online presence is an active one!

There are a host of further issues to explore. Social media marketing is an ever-evolving landscape, and it’s difficult to stay on top of things. We can help with that. With Upswept Creative, we’ll work closely with you as a partner in social media marketing. Together, we’ll build a presence that works. Reach out to us today!

Whether you’re managing the social media channels of an established business, or taking a DIY approach to building your own online marketing materials, it’s so important to keep it real. Trust is the basis of any good relationship, customer to business included. Connecting with potential customers from a place of genuineness, honesty, and passion will make them more likely to purchase your product or services. In fact, 80% of consumers polled said “authenticity of content” is the most influential factor in their decision to become a follower of a brand.

Here are some ways you can find your authentic voice in your online marketing efforts:

Authentic to You

In order to come off as honest online, you first have to know yourself. At the very least, know your brand. Is a funny and light-hearted tone appropriate, or does your marketing require a more serious approach? What sorts of images will communicate your desired tone? Think these elements through before you start posting, or you may risk of coming off as calculated and facetious.

Being true to the core of your business identity is the first step in attracting the kind of customers you want.

Share Your Excitement

It’s no secret that passion is appealing. You should feel passionate about the work you’re doing. If you aren’t, it becomes much harder to get people to pay attention. I believe humans have the capability to be passionate about anything, we just have to find the angle that lets us connect with it. If you’re managing social media for a client, spend the time to learn the ins-and-outs of the business. Even if it seems really boring at first, you’re likely to find something that fascinates you eventually.

For example, last year I was tasked with promoting a conference by and for professionals in a particular field of social science. I don’t have a social science background, and at first glance it could seem dry and academic to the average person. But as I performed my due diligence and really dove into the deep end with what this field was all about, I discovered this conference was actually very progressive. They had booked speakers centered around social justice, provided continuing education opportunities, and kept the price of registration as low as possible in order to accommodate low-income professionals.

Because I took the time to learn these things, and really get onboard personally, I was able to highlight them in an engaging way on social media. Finding your way “in” to a topic you’re tasked with promoting is one of the most important aspects of being a successful social media manager.

Don’t Be Afraid To Have Fun

Having fun with the topic at hand, when appropriate, is a great way to show genuine excitement and passion about the products and services you’re advertising. Don’t be afraid of it! A great example is Wendy’s twitter account. No one wants to engage with an account of a fast food giant that just posts ads all day. That’s why Wendy’s snarky, sarcastic, and meme-filled feed has found such viral success. People are both shocked and amused, and you can tell that the person (or team) behind the handle is having a blast.

Getting started marketing online can be intimidating. It’s not easy to decide  what to put out to a potentially massive audience, And I hope these have helped you wrap your head around the topic.

If you find yourself needing some more guidance, or you’d rather hire professionals to collaborate with you on the decision making process, Upswept Creative is here for you! We can work with you to take the stress out of online marketing, and get your social media presence on a course to success. Schedule some time to sit down with us today – you won’t regret it.

Luckily the tools that assist in this kind of work have become more sophisticated. As a social media marketing professional, I’m here to tell you about the most essential apps and services that you can use to succeed.

Post Scheduler

This is the number one essential tool. It makes managing posts across platforms much easier. You can plan and schedule your content in advance, across multiple platforms, and a whole lot more depending on the service you choose.

Hootsuite is the most well-known and popular scheduler, but there are many options out there. Services like Buffer, Sprout Social, and Social Pilot all have the same basic set of features. However, their user-interfaces and other functionalities can be wildly different. To find the one that works for you, consider the scale of your project(s), budget, and the ancillary tools that come with some platforms (phone app in addition to web browser, social media analytic tools, etc…). Don’t be afraid to try a new platform and find out how it really works. Many of these platforms have free trials or even full plans for free. Trying something is the best way to determine if it will suit your needs.

Listen Socially

“Social listening” is the process of monitoring an account or set of accounts 24/7 in order to get the most data points as possible- a feat not many humans can pull off! Advanced social media analytics is impossible without some kind of social listening tool like Hootsuite, BuzzSumo, and TweetDeck.

It can be tricky to find the right one, or collection, especially on a budget. I recommend taking a look at what each platform you’re active on has to offer for free. From there, you can determine what additional information you’d like to have, and seek out the tools that can fill the gaps.

Holy Utility, Batman!

A lot of social media management happens from your smartphone. Creating good, engaging, and professional content on the go seems daunting, but phones these days are incredibly capable. These apps will help you work on the go:

Adobe Premiere Cut (iOS and Android) is the go to app for video production for social media. This free app allows you to edit video files on your phone, and the amount of options is very impressive. Soundtrack support, color and lighting touch-ups, and combining clips from multiple sources is all supported. If you plan on doing regular video content in your social media marketing (it is very engaging), this app comes highly recommended.

Datally (Android only) is an app that Google put out that empowers heavy data-plan users to take control of their data usage. A social media manager spends a lot of time on their phone. Unlimited data plans are expensive, and not always an option. Datally makes sure you only use data when you want to, which can help curb overall usage by 30%.

Clips (iOS only) is another video editing app, but this one is of a different breed. It excels at creating cute, short videos that feature graphics, live captions, and animated photos. It’s the perfect app for creating fun videos to share on Instagram. Cute catches the eye on social media, and this tool can definitely help do that.

Being a social media manager is a job where you get to wear a lot of hats. Copy editor, statistician, and graphic designer all come into play. It really is a lot of work, and many people who are starting their own business underestimate the time commitment and level of expertise required. That’s totally understandable. Lucky for you, Upswept Creative can help! Our very own Social Media Maven is not only a social media expert, but also an expert at meeting each client where they’re at in terms of budget, time commitment, and experience.

Find out how she can help you and your business today! Reach out and schedule a consultation, on us.

New Tech = New Trends

Technology evolves rapidly, and the tech companies that run social media platforms need to implement and cater to them in order to stay relevant. Digital hangout platforms like Houseparty became hugely popular with young people in 2017. This is a good indicator that larger social media platforms will eventually incorporate some of the key functions of hangout apps into their own platform. Facebook tends to do this by purchasing an up-and-coming app, and folding that app’s functionality into their own system updates.

While new functionality can be intimidating, I think of instances like this as an opportunity. Many brands will be experimenting with new ideas. Nothing is set in stone. Explore the new technologies as they appear, and take the chance to do some experimenting yourself. You may end up setting the standard for how brands use that function to market!

Rearranging Chairs in the Twitterverse

Believe it or not, Twitter is starting to show signs of decline. For the first time, Twitter failed to increase it’s active users for the entire second half of 2017. The first sign of a dying platform is seeing a halt in active user growth. While it won’t happen as fast or be as dramatic as the sinking of the Titanic, this slowdown is worth keeping an eye on in 2018.

We can expect Twitter to throw some curveballs this year, similar to their decision to increase the character count of tweets near the end of last year. They might even try some outlandish things to stay afloat, which will affect existing marketing strategies. Keep an eye out for changes so you, too, can adapt and keep your market efforts effective.

The (Facebook) Sky is Falling!

One of the most dramatic changes in the social media marketing landscape happened at the end of 2017: Facebook changed the algorithm that determines how a user’s feed is populated. The changes are intended to prioritize posts from family and friends, and reduce “spam” from business pages. While this change has been live since November 2017, social media marketers are still adjusting.

So far, we’ve learned that the new algorithm punishes pages that use “baiting” strategies to boost engagement. This blog post goes into detail on what the algorithm will flag as bait, and how using those strategies will actually hurt the reach and engagement for future posts. As we approach the end of Q1 with these changes, updated strategies that take the new algorithm into account will solidify. Experiment yourself, and pay attention to what other brands in your field are doing differently.

Change is Scary, but We Got This!

The ever-changing landscape of social media makes marketing in these spaces a unique challenge. But if you stay engaged and up-to-date, you will be better prepared to make the necessary adjustments, and keep your online marketing relevant, engaging, and successful.

Of course, your real challenge may simply be that you don’t have enough time to stay on the cutting edge of social media marketing. That’s where we come in. Upswept Creative offers social media management packages designed specifically for each client. We will meet you where you’re at in terms of expertise, budget, and brand voice. Reach out to our Social Media Maven today to schedule your free consultation.

IDENTIFYING YOUR BRAND MESSAGE

At Upswept Creative, we call this “Finding Your Brand Center.” It is the core aspects of your brand that will help an audience quickly determine what your business is all about. Sarah actually wrote a short workbook that guides you through finding your brand center, which you can download for free.

A core philosophy behind “Finding Your Brand Center” is to imagine your ideal customer or client. Put yourself in their shoes. Which aspects of your business to you need to highlight in order to get noticed?

VARIETY IS THE (SOCIAL) SPICE OF LIFE

Facebook heavily controls how a page’s posts appear in the feeds of its followers. The link you include, the actual text content, the image – literally everything has an affect. Engagement has a huge positive affect. Generally, the more engagement a post generates, the further its reach. Engagement bait, however, is monitored and punished.

Having variety in the tone and content of your posts is a huge help in finding success. Not only do you get to experiment often, and find what works, but you avoid falling into the pitfall of sameness that plagues a lot of Facebook business pages. Providing a variety of content is more interesting to look at and stay engaged with. The challenge is to experiment with different types of posts while maintaining a consistent brand message.

BE POSITIVE

The world is pretty grim. Social media feeds can often be a minefield of bad news, outrage, and aimless political arguments. Your business presence has an opportunity to cut through the darkness, and all it takes is some positivity. Don’t be afraid of getting a little silly with your posts. This is the internet after all, have fun with it!

Pictures of cute animals, using a popular meme format, or simply a “day-in-the-life” style post of your work day are all good options. Be creative!

FIND THE CENTER

I often think of social media marketing as a balancing act. Striking a tone that is both personal and speaks to the core of your business, experimenting with variety while maintaining strong brand messaging, and staying positive in a sea of negativity are all part of the balancing act. Stay focused by setting goals and measuring your success. Ultimately, though, it’s a lot of work.

Upswept Creative has a resident Social Media Maven, Josselyn, who is an expert in finding the path to success in social media. She’ll create for your business a plan that meets you where you’re at – from comprehensive management, to empowering you to take the reins of your own online marketing. Reach out to us today to schedule your consultation!

Making your website findable is one of the most difficult tasks in creative branding online. To be findable, your website needs to be search engine friendly. This is accomplished with a number of techniques under the banner of SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. If you’re not familiar yet, take a look at my previous post on SEO Basics.

One simple technique is to create user-friendly URLs that permanently link to the different pages of your website. These URLs are ideally custom, short, easy to read, and use keywords that people are likely to search for when searching for your business. They should also be accurate to the information that’s on the page.

Sound like a lot of work?

It’s really not with WordPress. We do love building websites on WordPress, and one of the reasons is how easy it is for users to work with. Changing the URL naming conventions of your website is very straightforward, and making a custom URL for any given page is a breeze. This lets you name important pages of your website based on keywords people might naturally associate with your business. A page’s current permalink is located below the page title on the “Edit Post” page. Changing the naming conventions of every page automatically is found in Settings > Permalink Settings.

 Upswept Creative is a Portland based web design and creative branding company. Someone in need of web design services may use the search terms “website,” “professional,” and “Portland.” So, I commonly include these terms in custom URLs for different pages on our website – blog posts, service descriptions, even the main landing page. The more pages that have these keywords, the higher the search engine ranking will be for those specific terms.

If you need more guidance on where to start, Yoast is a tool that helps make sense of all this keywords business. It’s a WordPress plugin that outlines common  SEO techniques for each of your WordPress pages, and empowers you to take control and make adjustments to your site for better SEO. It allows you to define many different aspects of a page that directly affect how a search engine interacts with your website, like keywords, URL, and meta-description.

Identifying and defining aspects like keywords and meta-descriptions is closely tied to the core of your brand. Finding your brand center is what Upswept Creative specializes in, as well at the practical, nitty-gritty aspects of web design.

If you need some help with your website and SEO, we can help! Schedule your free consultation with us today.

It’s a Numbers Game

Social media offers a ton of data. Seriously, a lot. So much so that it can be overwhelming. This is where your social media goals come in handy. If you know exactly what you want from your social media presence – i.e. increased followership, more website views, lots of people viewing your posts, etc… – you can focus on collecting only the data you need to track those goals.

Establish a baseline by recording the time and date you post. Then, after a consistent amount of time has passed, (the consistency is what’s key here, so you can reasonably compare performance between posts. My rule of thumb is one week) record the data points relative to your goals. Did the post have an affect on your overall followership? What was the overall reach of the post? Over time, you will be able to see your progress, and make tweaks if necessary.

Experiment

If you are posting consistently and tracking your goals, but not making any progress, don’t be afraid to change your tack. A tweak in strategy might not lead to direct progress towards your goal right away, but it will give you more information, so your next adjustment has a better chance of succeeding.

Through the course of a social media campaign, I’ll do this kind of experimenting most often with determining the best time to make a post. Making a small change, like scheduling a post for lunchtime instead of the evening, can have a huge impact.

Eyes on the Horizon

In the world of social media marketing, your goals are always changing. You’ve either met your goal and are setting a new one, or you’ve reshuffled your priorities and determined a new course. Paying close attention to how your posts perform, and whether or not they are accomplishing what you want them to, can help strengthen your overall online presence.

An analytical approach to social media marketing can be intimidating. We can help you with that! We have several tiers of social media support, from providing a step-by-step outline for you to follow, to full and robust social media management piloted by yours truly. Interested in expert help? Learn more about our social media management services.

SET YOUR TONE

Deciding on the tone you’d like your social media presence to embody is a fundamental aspect of any online strategy. It’s also one of the most difficult things to nail down. Tone comes across through word choice in your posts and profiles, the actual content of your posts, and how you engage with followers, comments, and private messages.

While the voice you use on social media should be similar to the tone of your website, it shouldn’t be a carbon copy. Social media is social after all. Find a voice that encourages engagement, whether that’s a “like”, comment, or click-through to your website.

A PICTURE IS WORTH 1000… LIKES

Across all social media platforms, posts with pictures get the most attention by far. This blog did an informal study that showed tweets with images garnered 89% more favorites than tweets without images. But you shouldn’t just attach random images. If you can, create or commision your own visual content by taking product pictures, crafting digital graphics, or snapping some thoughtful photos while at a work-relevant event. When using images created by a third party, make sure you have permission!

The benefit of having in-house visual content is that you can make sure it’s all on brand. It will naturally feel a part of your overall brand identity.

GET THAT GOAL

Social media platforms are fantastic for bringing your brand’s tone and personality to the fore, and getting your name out to a lot of people. They aren’t so great as a place for information dumps, or straight-up advertisements — those fit better on a company website, and something people will be more prone to absorb if they’re already interested. Cast a wide net with your social media presence. Strike a tone that’s personal, use visual content that’s on brand and engaging, and craft content that makes people want to click that link to your website, ticket sale, or product page.

I like to think of a social media presence like a digital storefront, and the overall strategy as the decorations and window displays. The goal is to get as many people in the store (onto your website, online store, etc…) as possible. Once they’re inside, it’s much more likely that you’ll make that sale!

At Upswept Creative, we’re a one-stop-shop for branding, web design, and social media marketing. You can get all the elements you need for a successful online presence from our small-but-fierce firm. Check out our variety of service offerings, designed to meet the needs of business owners at different price points. We’re looking forward to chatting with you!