Feb 20 2019 How to Simplify Your Social Media Posted by: Anna Antic Posted in: marketing, Pro Tips, Social Media, Social Networking Tagged smart social media, social media, social media marketing Social media has done wonders for connection and exposure. It is easier than ever to reach out to folks you don’t know and stay in touch with those you do, and its ubiquity makes it an accessible tool to promote yourself and your business. Unlike you or your business, however, the threads of the world wide web never disconnect to rest. It’s easy to become overly attached to online happenings, and to neglect keeping a healthy distance from them. How does one balance the necessity of a social media presence with some semblance of sanity? Choose Your “Why” Purposefully Social media is, first and foremost, a set of digital tools. Just like a hammer has its purpose, so do all the websites and applications at your fingertips. Make sure you have clarity about your online purpose before establishing your platforms, to help keep you on task. Let Authenticity Clear The Path Once you’ve ironed out your “why,” the next step is dialing in how you’ll present yourself. I mentioned finding your authentic voice when discussing content overwhelm in our newsletter (hit us up here if you’re not already a subscriber). Authenticity is key to keeping your messaging and design focused and clear. When your message is clear, the means by which you share it stays clear as well. Focus time and energy on the appropriate platform(s) instead of spreading yourself thin on every one. An aside, of sorts: specificity in your messaging can also bolster your confidence in what you deliver, and lessen (if not eliminate) the urge to compare yourself with others. The vast reach of the internet nearly guarantees your customers and peers are out there somewhere. Give them the real you, and they’ll find you! Focus on What Fits Your Business This leads right into my next suggestion: limit your platforms. You might have recoiled at that suggestion. Isn’t it better to be everywhere? Not necessarily. Each platform has its pros and cons; focus your attention on the ones that fits your business best. Keeping your presence simple and straightforward also keeps your stress level low. Another way to keep stress at a minimum is with assistance. Social media management apps give you more bang for your proverbial buck by allowing you to collect and schedule your content in one place, even allowing you to share content across platforms. Having everything in one place saves both time and sanity. Like the platforms themselves, each app has pluses and minuses; we’re happy to discuss what apps can work best for you. Set Boundaries… and Stick to Them When it comes to your business presence, consider keeping your social media time within business hours. Yes, the internet never sleeps… but you need to! Just as you schedule time for meetings and events, consider scheduling time to follow and respond on social media. You might allot a large block of time (say, one hour), or schedule smaller check-ins throughout your work day. You can further loosen the web’s tug by turning off notifications, eliminating distractions and breaking the habit of immediate response. Another swell aspect of scheduling your social media time: it frees you up to create! Do you tend to scroll mindlessly when you really should be dialed into your work? (It’s okay to admit it — I definitely distracted myself with Instagram and the NBA app at least three times while writing this post!) Note the places of resistance when it’s time to put nose to grindstone, and notice if you sabotage your own efforts with distractions. Your social media should reflect who you are and what your business has to offer, but it doesn’t need to run (or ruin) your life. If you could use an assist in finding that perfect balance online, reach out and let’s talk (IRL even!).
Sep 06 2018 Choosing a Web Host Posted by: Janine Winters Posted in: Pro Tips, Technology, Web Design, Websites There are a lot of moving parts working together to make your website look awesome on the web. As a website owner, you’ll want to have at least a basic idea of what’s going on under the hood of this beautiful machine, so that you can feel confident about making decisions in the initial set up, and empowered when an issue arises. One of the key pieces that’s often overlooked — or left until the last minute before site launch — is your web host. What’s a Web Host, you ask? Websites may seem like a bunch of intangible 1s and 0s, on a basic level, but you do still need a physical home for all of the code and data that comprise it. Your web host provides that home, so that visitors can see view and interact with your website at anytime, from anywhere. Essentially, a web host sells space on their server for all of your website files. They keep this server connected for the public 24/7, so it can deliver your website to the visitor’s web browser when they visit your URL. Hosts vary in security, load speed, customer service, and ancillary services, such as software updates and frequent backups. They may also only support certain website platforms. For example, while many web hosts support WordPress installations, there are a few that don’t–which is particularly important to us and our clients. Your Selection Criteria May Vary Whether you’re choosing your first web host, or are dissatisfied with one you have, it’s a good idea for you to research and understand your options, and define and rank your priorities. How important are these factors to you? annual fees automatic software updates bundled services, such as domain registration and email hosting comprehensive support documentation customer support ease of use and user interface site load speeds regular data backups We Picked Flywheel This dog is celebrating their making a great web host selection!Photo by Delaney Dawson on Unsplash. Upswept Creative is a proud agency partner with Flywheel, and with their help, we offer managed hosting for WordPress websites. Flywheel automatically updates WordPress core software, ensuring our clients are always running the most secure, fully-featured, and up-to-date software. Flywheel features quick load time and nightly backups, so if there is a data loss we always have yesterday’s website to restore today, not the backup from six months ago. And maybe best of all, when you host your website with Upswept and Flywheel, we handle the set up and support, saving you time and mental energy so you can do more of what you do, while we do what we do. Don’t love your WordPress host? Send us a message right now to start the conversation about hosting your website with us. Contact Us »
Aug 06 2018 Communication is Collaboration Posted by: Josselyn Haldeman Posted in: Business, Life at Upswept, Pro Tips, Technology Last month one of our team members moved out of Portland, all the way to another state! Social Media Maven Josselyn Haldeman now calls Olympia, Washington home. We couldn’t be happier for her, but working remotely can present unique challenges. 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!
Jul 12 2018 Congratulations! Your Website is Live! Posted by: Janine Winters Posted in: Pro Tips, Technology, Websites Tagged software updates, website launch, website maintenance Your Website is a Living Thing Congratulations, your new website is out into the world, ready to be discovered by wonderful people far and wide! This isn’t the end of your journey, however: to get the most out of the investment you’ve made on your website, you’ll need to update and maintain it. Like a newborn person, your website is all hope and potential and investment come to fruition. Unlike a newborn — thankfully! — there are no diapers or rough nights. Your website might not need daily attention, but it’s too important to let it go without adult supervision indefinitely. Unless you’re investing in ongoing professional website support, that Adult-in-Charge is you. Don’t fret, though. You’ve got this. What to Expect When You’re Launching a Website A few tips to help make launching your website as hassle-free as possible: While it’s still in development, visit your website on all of your devices and in multiple browsers if you can. Ask some friends to do so as well, because fresh eyes can be valuable in finding errors that others might miss. If you find something that seems broken or is not working as expected, give your web team as much information as you can about it. Device and browser information is very helpful, as are screenshots. Read your website content again now that it’s framed by beautiful design. Now is not the time to re-write your website copy, but it is the perfect time to correct copy-level errors. If you have business hours, double-check them. If you have a staff page, make sure everyone’s name matches their photo and bio. Avoid adding new features or functionality near launch. Feature creep is particularly dangerous now, because it is distracting and can negatively impact your timeline. Your developer should be focused on methodical finishing touches, not brand new ideas. If something comes up that you can’t launch without, be prepared to delay your launch date as the project scope is redefined. Get to know the dashboard. If you plan to blog, know how to create a new post before you want to publish your first new entry. If you’re running an e-commerce website, get in there and dial in your shop settings before you make your first sale. Your web team can help you get acquainted, and be ready to explore the support documentation as well. Consider a soft launch before you shout your new website from actual or metaphorical rooftops. A soft launch extends your Quality Assurance period a bit, under real-life conditions. You can test the load speed on your web host, double-check that your security is dialed in, and that everything got put back together correctly after flying over our heads in a million pieces. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) (Website) Parenthood is Forever The heavy-lifting of the design, content creation, and development of your website may be over, but the work isn’t done. Now that you have the keys to your finished website, you’re in charge of updating and maintaining it so it can keep working its magic. Content Updates! We’ve said before that Content is Queen on the web, and your website was designed to show it off. There’s no firm rule about how often your website content will need a refresh, but it should always be current and accurate. Read your website copy periodically — does it still reflect who you are and what you do? Has your understanding of your audience or market shifted since your copy was written? If so, it might be time for an update so that your website remains true and authentic. Software Updates! Keeping your software up-to-date goes a long way in maintaining the stability and security of your website. This is a great time to backup your database in case your web host experiences an outage — you’ll be able to restore from a recent copy of the site without too much downtime. After you update your website CMS and any plugins, it’s a good idea to tour through the front end of your site to ensure that everything still looks and works as expected after the update. You’ve gone on quite the journey to get to this point. Your website is ready to launch. You should definitely feel proud! But you should also feel prepared to handle everything that comes after launch, so you don’t have a meltdown if any issues occur. I hope this blog post helps you feel courageous as you get comfortable managing your new website. If you’d like to seek more of our help, we’d be delighted! Reach out to us today to learn more about our website support options.
May 24 2018 Why Your Social Media Sucks Posted by: Josselyn Haldeman Posted in: Portland, Pro Tips, Social Media Tagged facebook, instagram, mistakes, pinterest, social media marketing, tips So you’ve committed to, and prioritized your social media presence. You’ve thought about your audience, found a ton of free image content you can use, and started posting pretty regularly… you think. It’s been about a month, and you’ve lost that determination that got you started in the first place. Your numbers are horrible. You dread logging in to Facebook because that little arrow indicating your weekly total reach is always red, always pointing downward. 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. What you almost never want to see on one of your posts. 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 PDX Alliance for Self Care is a new, local non-profit that is doing their Instagram profile right. 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!
Apr 26 2018 Letting Go: 3 Things Holding You Back From an Awesome Brand Redesign Posted by: Sarah Giffrow Posted in: Branding, Business, Design, Pro Tips Do you get an uneasy feeling in the pit of your stomach when you look at your logo? Do you feel sheepish when you hand out your business card? You may be thinking about a brand redesign, or even know deep down that you need to refresh your brand… and yet, it feels like an awful lot of work that you don’t feel prepared for. I’m not going to tell you that rebranding isn’t a lot of work, because it does take time and energy! That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it, however. In fact, if you’re overwhelmed in your work, a rebrand may be exactly what you need. Even if you think you have to stay the course, here are some thoughts that shouldn’t hold you back from a brand redesign: “I don’t want to lose the brand recognition I already have. ” Businesses both big and small can stay strong, even through multiple rebrands. (IBM logo evolution via Hongkiat) You’ve worked hard to build your customer base, so it’s totally normal to feel hesitation about turning people away. However, we’ve seen a variety of businesses update their visual identity, and still keep going strong–the trust they’ve already built keeps their loyal fans coming back, while updated branding attracts new eyes. As long as you make the right adjustments to your branding, you can keep your audience and keep evolving your business. Your creative team will often guide you through how to debut and start using your new brand assets, so your customers know what’s happening. It will take your audience a little while to adjust, but new branding will help you make sure the customers you love will stick around. “My current logo is already on all of my tags, t-shirts, signage, etc.” It may seem like a lot of trouble to incorporate a new logo and brand messaging. And yet, isn’t it a bigger problem to have a brand you aren’t proud of stamped all over your marketing? Sticking with your current branding means everyone who engages with you will see an ill-fitting brand that makes the wrong impression. And, that outdated brand will continue to draw in all the same people–including the “wrong fit” clients that you don’t want to keep attracting. It’s true that printing new business cards, having new signs made, or replacing other brand assets will take some time and resources. But, investing that time and effort now will help you connect with more of the people who are right for you, and that will make your life much easier in the long-term. “I don’t have time to deal with that right now.” Time is precious in any business! But, if you don’t have time right now, when will you? Free time rarely appears on its own–you ultimately have to make the time for things that are important to the growth of your business. And, consider this: how much time could you save if your marketing was refined for who your business is now? If you can attract more of the right customers, and fewer customers that don’t fit, you could save a lot of time in your day-to-day. You could deal with fewer questions or less back-and-forth on pricing, you could focus on your best and most beloved products, rather than maintaining a huge product line. The possibilities are plentiful! Rebranding is daunting–I get it! It’s a big task full of tough decisions. But, thinking critically about your brand is how you not only survive, but thrive in an ever-evolving business landscape. Facing your fears, acknowledging where your brand can do better, and making those tough choices will leave you feeling refreshed and reinvigorated about your business. Remember, you don’t have to do this alone! Upswept Creative offers all the resources you need to have a successful brand evolution: web design, logo and graphic design, and social media management to get the (new) word out. Contact us right now to start feeling good about your brand again.
Apr 13 2018 Design Monsters: The Committee Posted by: Janine Winters Posted in: Design, Pro Tips, Web Design Often a project has multiple stakeholders who need or want to weigh in on a project. We call this designing for a committee. Whether your team of stakeholders is co-owners of small business, an entire non-profit Board of Directors, or representatives from each department in your operation, it can be quite valuable to tap into the knowledge and perspectives of a diverse group. But designing for a committee can also contribute to confusion, frustration, and missed deadlines. Here’s how to get it right. Opposing Opinions It may be tempting to send your designer a digest of everyone’s feedback. We’re always asking for more feedback, aren’t we? But this is a case when quantity does not equal quality. If one person on your team likes the green color in our logo concepts, and another thinks it’s too evocative of grass clippings, that leaves your designer with no clear path forward. We cannot both change and not change this possibly-too-grassy green, and we may not have a firm grasp on whose opinion carries more or less weight within your group. Make sure you distill your group’s opinion in a coherent way. It should sound like it could be the opinion of one person. Confusing Communication Effective communication with your designer is key. As the Committee grows, however, so does the risk for communication breakdown, especially over e-mail. You may feel tempted to e-mail five of your team members about your project, and copy your designer so they they can “overhear” the conversation, but that can actually be counterproductive! For one, there is a social context that your designer is likely wholly unaware of. They don’t know the dynamics of your team as well as you do. They can’t rely on existing relationships to understand the subtext of the messages. Additionally, details can also be easily lost in long group e-mail discussions. Sifting through e-mail threads to look for possibly-actionable directives isn’t an effective use of your design team’s time or expertise. A clearly-stated action is guaranteed to get the job done faster. The Committee by Indigo Kelleigh, 2017. Curb the Committee Being mindful of your communication and workflow can make all the difference in keeping dangers of The Committee from derailing your project. Here are our top tips: Develop a trusting relationship. At the risk of sounding like a relationship counselor, you’ve all got to trust each other. Keep in mind that you’ve hired your design team specifically for their experience and expertise. Making you look awesome is why they’re here, and your cooperation and trust lets them do their best work! Set expectations and boundaries, and speak up if something’s not working well for you. Talking about expectations at the outset of a project is an important part of getting started, and becomes even more critical if you’re working as a group. Ask for a transparent project plan and an estimated timeline. Discuss the ways you’ll all help to keep the project on-track, such as responding to queries within an agreed-upon period of time. If your designer hasn’t provided you with any, ask for feedback guidelines to help make the most of your review. If you have a problem, let your designer know what’s up promptly instead of simmering in your dissatisfaction. Sometimes workflows or communication plans need fine-tuning. Assign a single point of contact to communicate with your designer. It’s likely that they have one individual who’s managing the details of your project, so your point of contact can take on a similar role. Over time, you’ll get to know each other’s communication styles, making collaborating on the project easier and more rewarding. Take a moment to consolidate everyone’s feedback, whether you are meeting with your design team in person or sending an e-mail with your notes. Putting your feedback into one unified voice will make it much easier for your designers to understand and tackle your requests, while taking advantage of the richness of multiple perspectives. Are you feeling as excited as we are about leveling up your brand’s presence online and in print? Team Upswept can’t wait to dig deep into the design problems keeping you up at night. Let us know what’s on your mind and schedule your free Clarifying Consultation today.
Mar 30 2018 Social Media Tools for Success Posted by: Josselyn Haldeman Posted in: marketing, Pro Tips, Social Media, Video Running a full-scale social media marketing campaign for one business is a lot of work. You’re responsible for creating and scheduling content, keeping up on analytics, honing strategies, and developing a brand voice that engages directly with potential customers. All across multiple accounts, ideally with some coordination between them (but without too much crossover). 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. Photo by William Iven on Unsplash. 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.
Mar 15 2018 Design Monsters: Scope Creep Posted by: Janine Winters Posted in: Design, Pro Tips, Web Design We’ve already discussed one of the most formidable monsters of them all, the Problem of Good, Fast, and Cheap. Now, let me tell you about Scope Creep, how to stop it in its tracks, and still achieve the final product you want. The Siren Song of a Private Patio When I was a teenager, my parents decided to add a room to our house. Before very long this discussion ballooned to include an additional bathroom and a private entrance (via a small enclosed patio!) to my bedroom. Soon we were looking at catalogs of shiny fixtures and carpet samples because, my folks reasoned, if we were already doing some work, we may as well do all the work. Thankfully, a voice of reason intervened and wrangled the project back down to its original scope, chastising my parents for submitting to a case of “While We’re At It-itis.” I never did get my private patio. While We’re At It-itis, better known as Scope Creep, is a well-known monster we encounter frequently in all kinds of design projects. Scope Creep leads to unforeseen changes, because it keeps moving the creative target, which can be frustrating, expensive, and time-consuming. Be Strong; Resist Temptation Scope Creep is dangerous because it is distracting to both client and designer. There should be some room in a project to pause and adjust course if new constraints or ideas come to light, but beware of veering too far off of the planned path—it can be hard to find your way home again. Scope Creep is expensive, too, in terms of both time and money. When you want to add components or features that weren’t part of the original project, your design team must research the new idea and figure out how it will affect the structure of project as a whole. That means they have to divert attention away from doing the work you’ve already contracted them to do. And, once the door is open for more work, it’s so easy to lose your grip on deadlines and budgets. Scope creep monster by Sarah Giffrow, 2017. A “No” is Not Forever: Plan a Phase Two It doesn’t have to be a negative experience when the designer you’re working with pushes back against incorporating new ideas into the work they’re doing for you. When inspiration strikes late or the problem you’re trying to solve changes shape, bring it to the table to find out if it can be reasonably included in the project scope you all already agreed on. Sometimes the answer is Yes! Other times, though, the Creepy Monster must be put at bay, and one of the best ways to do that is simply drafting a Phase Two. Like you did at the outset of your work together, collaborate with your designer to make a new list of desired features for Phase Two — Integrate your shop’s POS with your website’s e-commerce engine! Schedule a photography session to create high-quality visual content for your marketing materials! Plan a new managed social media campaign to show off your shiny new assets and drive traffic to your new website! Just because a new feature doesn’t fit right now, doesn’t mean you have to give up on it forever. Team Upswept loves getting to know you and your business, and creating a project plan that solves your problems with beautiful and strategic design! Get in touch to schedule your free consultation so we can get started slaying those design monsters together!
Feb 20 2018 Social Media Trends 2018 Posted by: Josselyn Haldeman Posted in: Business, Pro Tips, Social Media, Technology Tagged 2018, new year, social media marketing, Social Media Presence, trends One of the biggest challenges of social media is that it’s always changing. Old platforms switch up their interface, lose users, or disappear entirely. New, confusing platforms pop up to fill the gap. Even the old stalwarts go through massive changes over the course of a year (installed the new Snapchat update yet?). Social media is an ever-evolving landscape, and 2018 will be no exception. As a social media marketer, it’s my job to research, anticipate, and prepare for possible trends on the horizon. Here are the trends I see having an impact on social media marketing in the coming year. 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! Facebook Live is an example of a feature from another app folded into the system. Photo by Sticker Mule on Unsplash 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.
