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360 Marketing Squad on Branding a Collaboration

This week we’re talking about branding a collaboration with 360 Marketing Squad - aka Mike Allton, Jenn Herman, Stephanie Liu, and Amanda Robinson!

Today is really exciting because we have four guests on today: the 360 Marketing Squad, four incredibly well accomplished professionals in their own right, talking about branding a collaboration! 

Content and blogging expert Mike Allton blogs as the Blogging Brute and The Social Media Hat. He's also the brand evangelist for Agorapulse.

Instagram expert Jenn Herman goes by Jenn's Trends. She has literally written the book on Instagram many times over. 

We also have Facebook live expert Stephanie Liu, who is the reason I'm on Ecamm! She's known for her Lights, Camera, Live training programs, blog, and livestream. She's also an NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) trainer. 

We also have Facebook ads, chat box and analytics expert Amanda Robinson, a.k.a. The Digital Gal. 

Together they are the 360 Marketing Squad, running an incredible private membership group full of trainings, tips, and incredible strategies. 

Their most recent collaboration - along with co-author Eric Butow - is “Ultimate Guide to Social Media Marketing,” published by Entrepreneur Press. 

The Origin Story:

MIKE:

Jenn introduced me to Stephanie at Social Media Marketing World 2018. I had met Stephanie online about a year prior to that, but we hadn't met in person yet. A month later, Steph and I were both speaking at MDMC here in St. Louis, where we got to hang out and get to know each other a lot better. In our conversations, we both came to the conclusion that we needed a personal mastermind group. I'd been part of some mastermind groups that had recently fallen apart, just stopped meeting. We wanted that support group, that mechanism to connect with other people, other colleagues and professionals in the space that we could relate to. We both knew Jenn very well, and all three of us had young daughters. So the three of us formed what was initially just a personal group where we could share the challenges and things that we were going through and start to collaborate. That's what spawned the idea of the 360 Marketing Squad. 

JENN:

We started talking about doing a membership - all of us had wanted to do one, but the idea of running our own memberships by ourselves, with all of the work and all of the management that goes into a membership, was overwhelming. So we partnered up: it would be a lot less work for each individual to have to manage, and we could give more value to each of our audiences because we have our own individual, unique areas of expertise. As we started thinking about it, we realized we wanted to do something along the lines of “360 degrees,” which would mean we would probably want a fourth person to cover that other component which the three of us weren't necessarily experts at - and that was the paid advertising and analytics side. We all agreed that Amanda would be the perfect fit to do that. So we roped her into the chaos that was our lives, and that was how we formed 360. 

You're four very accomplished people with your own distinct personal brands.

How have you joined them together In a way that doesn't water any of them down, but also doesn't have any one star standing out?

How did you figure out how to brand 360 Marketing squad? 

AMANDA:

We always say that Mike is the glue that holds us together. He's the one that keeps us all sane. 

Each of us has our own superpowers in our own arena of digital marketing and social media. So everything just interlays and play so nicely together between all of our brands. For example, Jenn speaks on organic tactics; as soon as someone asks her a paid ads question, she's like, “You’ve gotta talk to this girl over here.” As soon as someone asks, “How do I up my game on live streaming?” we point the finger right over at Stephanie. As soon as someone wants to know, “How do I start producing more content that's going to move the needle?” we point the finger right at Mike. We have a solution for everything among the four of us, and it really does make us feel like a complete superpower squad. And it just makes a lot of sense together. So it's been good. The strength of our individual personal brands makes the group of us that much more able to help everyone. We each amplify with our own audiences. And then when that comes together, it's like this cataclysmic magic, awesome digital marketing sauce! And it's all encapsulated in that one book. 

360 Marketing Squad has been a private membership group where members can go and get tips, trainings, and support in all areas of digital marketing.

How did you decide to spin it out into a book? 

Are there plans for more things beyond the group and beyond this book? 

STEPHANIE:

When it comes to the book, as far as delegating who's going to take care of the content, I think that was really easy to do because we're all content creators in our own right. So if someone wants to talk about strategy, Jenn does fantastic presentations from soup to nuts, all about strategy; paid media, of course, you would tap Amanda; and so on and so forth, especially with Mike being the glue that holds us all together. Once we had the table of contents, it's like, “Oh, here's your homework. Boom!” “Here you go - Boom!” And it was really easy for us because if you had asked me to write about Chatbots, I don't want to do that! So we delegated the topics by who’s most passionate about those specific topics. 

As far as what's next in the future, I think in our own little private mastermind we've all just been saying, “What are our plans for 2021? What is it that we want to do?” Because the book in and of itself has opened so many opportunities. Mike is now VIP-contributing over to Entrepreneur.com. And I think all of us have done webinars at this point. So that's really a jumping off point for the next thing for us. We even have an internal joke that we need to write the ultimate guide to launching a book! 

Jenn and I made that joke of, “Do you remember what it was like giving birth to a child? And then you totally forget about it? That is happening right now.” 

JENN:

Writing a book is the equivalent of going through childbirth. We did joke about whether or not we would write a book about launching a book. Because we had, thanks to - I'm gonna throw Mike and Stephanie the bone on this one - thanks to their amazing planning and coordination, the launch strategy that we put together to launch the book was unlike anything I had ever seen, and unlike anything I’ve done on any other books that I had written or seen from anybody else in our industry. So we jokingly said that, but you never know. Crazier things have happened! 

MIKE:

I wasn't joking. Just putting that out there.

STEPHANIE:

I'm actually rooting for a Jenn and Amanda live reality show…

What makes for a good on brand collaboration partner? What do you look for? 

AMANDA:

I've tried to collaborate with other brands. And what I have found is that certain brands have that “only in it for me” viewpoint where there's tension, there's push and pull, but it's trying to take from you and not give back to you. And when there's a really natural fit, it's a win win for both parties, completely, 100% equal across the board. It's a full win and it's collaborative. There's a lot of brainstorming and energy and excitement, and there's just a sizzle that happens when it's a good fit. So it shouldn't be hard; it doesn't have to be hard to have a brand collaboration. That's my opinion. 

JENN:

For me, it's making sure that they are well aligned with you and your brand: your brand style, your brand voice, your brand audience. You don't want somebody that is a direct competitor to what you do because that could get a little bit competitive; you want someone that's aligned. The four of us, even though we're all in the same space, don't look at ourselves as competitors: we complement each other in all of our strengths. But even when working with large brands, or with other people that I've collaborated with, it's important that their target audience is something that is relevant to my goals - and vice versa, that my audience is relative to their goals - but that we have an alignment in terms of how we speak, how we teach, how we produce content. Because if those aren't in alignment, it starts, again, being a really hard problem with creating that content - who's going to market when it's going to get marketed? When the four of us came together, we all have a very similar mentality in terms of sales, in terms of marketing, in terms of ultimate goals, so we don't have one person over here getting resentful because we're not achieving or we're not working hard enough. We all have the same mentality, and that's really important when you pick that team.

STEPHANIE:

It's helpful to make sure that it's a win-win situation. Like when I partnered with Ecamm and we did the Leap Into Live Streaming [event], we had the shared vision that we wanted to help people take the leap into live streaming, so that was really cool. And then in working with Katie, who's absolutely amazing, I was like, “My superpower is in creating content. As far as things like project management and setting up Hey Summit, would you like to do that?” And she's like, “Oh, I'm so all about that.” I was like, “Okay, cool, that's like that that's you. You do that.” 

But then I think the other thing is also noticing how they want to market the collaboration - for example, if someone's like, “I need you to constantly email your audience,” I’m like, “Nooo, that’s not me.” 

MIKE:

To add to what Stephanie just said - in addition to making sure that it's a win-win, I like to try to make sure that the brands or individual influencers that I'm partnering with really want whatever it is that we're hoping to accomplish. I work with influencers all the time, and sometimes it's a win for them, but they don't really want it. And when you're asking somebody to put time and energy and passion into something, and they don't really, really want it, it's just not going to be there. 

Take our personal mastermind group. That was just the four of us, our support group. There's a time investment in there, and there's an emotional investment in there, right? And getting to know each other and support each other and, you know, hop on Zoom calls and that sort of thing. And if we had somebody in the group that didn't really feel like they needed us - maybe they were at a different point in their career, and they didn't feel like they needed that kind of support - maybe they'd show up, maybe they wouldn't. Right? They wouldn't necessarily give to the group the way that everybody else is giving. So I like to view collaborations that same way: to make sure that, whenever possible, everybody not only wins, they win big.

Chelsea at Review Trackers would love to know how to get on the radar of brands you want to collaborate with and work with?

MIKE:

This is what I wrote about in the book. This is what I do every day: influencer marketing, relationship building. And I think that the easiest, most natural, organic way to make those inroads into brands that you might want to work with - perhaps as an influencer, as a brand ambassador even - is to engage with those brands, talk about those brands, and not seek payment or compensation or anything like that. You're building a relationship naturally, and that's where social media becomes such an easy tool and an easy route to do that. You can just go to their Twitter account or their Facebook page and you can make yourself known. Just as you, Christine, have done with Agorapulse, right? You show up in our lives, you show up in our group; you show up. Which is so key to any kind of relationship, and that gets noticed. We've got our Friday show with Agorapulse, and people show up to that live every single week - and Jennifer, our host, she sees them, she calls them out. And some of those people have now become guests on the show. Some of those have even become influencers for Agorapulse. And it's all due to the relationships that they kicked off by being present.

JENN:

To dovetail off what Mike was saying, it's really important to build the relationships with those brands. You can't just send an email to a brand and be like, “Hey! I want to work with you!” I recently had somebody else send me something about her book - and it's somebody I know, but there was no context. And I'm like, “I don't know what you want me to do with this.” There was no preface; there was no, “I'm writing this book, and this is what it's about, and I want you to be a part of it” pitching. I'm like, “What?” You need to form those relationships and you need to have those conversations. And that could be done via email, direct message, Zoom, or even a phone call at some point. But you do have to start - to Mike's point - by showing up: liking their content, leaving comments, sending them a DM and thanking them for doing something, sharing information, sharing something valuable - whatever it is, get on their radar as an actual person, and then, from there, start fostering those relationships. Start looking into who the people are that book their podcast - are they a team of one, or do they have 20 people on that team? Do they have people that are doing live shows, that are doing podcasts, that are doing webinars? Find out who those people are and start looking to foster those relationships as well. Because even though you may be active on their social, their social media manager may have nothing to do with the person who books their podcast that you want to get on. And you could be the best social media presence and still get nowhere for getting on that podcast interview. So do that research, if that's who you want to work with. And that's where - when you pick those two or three brands that you really want to work with, and you build those relationships - you get great return in terms of those relationships. We're not sending out mass pitches to 50 different types of brands hoping that somebody wants to work with us, because those are never going to be those relationships that Mike was talking about: those passionate ones, the people who really want to be involved. You're better off picking those small handful of brands that you really want to work with and build those relationships over time to the point where they become very valuable.

The next one is from Linda Rey. What worked for you when building your brand that you least expected? 

AMANDA:

I rebranded. I worked for four years in my business with the wrong brand name, and it didn't fit, and I just didn't have my stride. And then when I finally rebranded to the name that fit me, which is The Digital Gal, I rebranded and I embraced the pink. I just took it all in. I'm like, “All right, this is me.” As soon as I found something that really just resonated with me - honestly, I just have pink everything everywhere around my desk. I started sprinkling my pink across the Internet like Skittles everywhere, getting branded stickers and just putting my brand on everything - like, legit, I have my brand on my computer dongles for my Mac, I have it everywhere. Embracing the brand “all in” is something I couldn't do when the brand name wasn't the right fit. I'm not saying that I would tattoo The Digital Gal on me - I won't - but it's close enough. Whereas with the old brand name, heck no! Even just putting my name out there with the old brand felt awkward, like an awkward baby deer that couldn't walk properly; it just didn't fit. I just did not have my stride. And then once I found the brand that clicked with me, it just felt like somebody let me run at full tilt the way I wanted to. It felt so good, and it started taking off so quickly: people just had brand recognition happening left right and center. It feels like they thought I was that brand for all of the years that I have been in business.

STEPHANIE:

So, live streaming, honestly, it was a big surprise to me. I had always been an ad agency veteran: I was in the trenches doing social media, paid media, and all of that stuff. And when I started live streaming, then the first event organizer, Amanda Nelson, had reached out - and I think, Jenn, you were on the same conference, right? Social Vidcon - and she said, “Can you come and talk about live streaming? And OBS?” And I was like, “ME? I am now an expert in OBS?” That was the part where I didn't really realize the power of live streaming. And ever since then, it's just been this fast pass into getting into a key decision maker’s, “Hey, I want you on this project,” or, “I need you to produce this event.” So live streaming in and of that sense was, “Wow - that's cool!” 

The last and biggest and possibly best question is from Marianne; she has a question for each of you.

Mike, what is your favorite thing about Agorapulse? 


MIKE:

My favorite thing? There's a couple things - I can't pick just one, because there's two different aspects. 

Agorapulse the company, it's all about the people and the culture inside. I've worked with a lot of different companies. I came from an online website builder company. I was the CMO of a whole different company. And coming to Agorapulse was just a night-and-day difference in terms of how the company is led, the vision of the company, the culture that's created inside, the teamwork, and everything. It's amazing. 

From the tool itself, I have to say the category queues: being able to create a category of a type of post and then create different time slots and then just fill that queue like a bucket and have that content go out on a set schedule. Hands off. You can pause. You can shuffle the queue. You can delete it. You could move stuff around. It's one of my favorite features, and it's almost a mind blowing feature. Often when I show people, “Hey, this is how you could do that - this is how you can replicate almost every other publishing feature on any other tool - just use the category queues,” that is beautiful. 

Jenn, your high heels are a fabulous part of your brand, and I can vouch that the high heels and long nails are always a thing.

So are you still wearing heels and doing all that stuff while working from home? 



JENN:

The heels? No, they're unfortunately getting very dusty and neglected, I have literally a whole shoe wall, so I see them every day, and I kind of pine after them, and wait for the day when I'll be able to wear them. On occasion, yes, I'll slip on a pair of heels if I'm going out. But let's face it: most of my excursions into the grocery store. So that's still flip-flops. And I really don't have a good reason to wear the heels. 

The nails. I started doing my nails in COVID, so I bought the entire kit: I got the drill, the acrylics, the gels, that UV lamp and everything. And I've managed to be doing my own nails for the last seven months or whatever, because I refuse to give those up. So at least I kept that. 

Stephanie, what is your number one live tip? 

STEPHANIE:

My number one live tip: Have fun. 

Live streaming, to me, is like improv. You're just going to have to say, “Yes, and - that just happened, and we're just going to keep going.” So have fun while you're doing it. Because if you're stressed out, you're stressing out your viewers. You might not see us all in the green room. But when one of us is speaking, we're just like, “Yeah, you go, girl! Yeah! Go, Jenn!” Have fun, because then your viewers are going to have fun watching you, too. There's so many distractions out there. Things that are like emotional vampires. Have fun. Be that entertainment that your viewers want to see, especially on a Friday. So cheers! 

Amanda, what is the best ROAS return on ad spend that you have achieved? 

AMANDA:

That's actually one that I won't even touch on, because the majority of businesses that I help are small and medium sized businesses who have a difficult time - they don't have products that you could add to cart and then have a return on ad spend. You can't tie it 1-to-1. So you have to get creative with different types of strategies that can still prove that it is working and prove that it is bringing revenue into the business. But you can't actually tie it into a ROAS. People who can't achieve a ROAS, I'm the person they come to. 

What I recommend to most people is when you're starting out, start your strategy, and then layer it on. Set your goals smaller and achieve those goals, then layer on bigger goals. So when you first start advertising, start going through reach, engagement, and video views. Once you can consistently increase those numbers and achieve your goals and how you can move that forward, then start layering on, “Okay, now I want to get traffic to my website.” Once you start achieving that, then start laying layering on, “Okay, now I want some conversions.” But most people are going from zero to trying to get conversions. Then their ads don't work for them. Then they get frustrated and they fall off. So it's a matter of kind of layering on those expectations.

Thank you very much today to Mike Allton, Jenn Herman, Amanda Robinson, and Stephanie Liu: the 360 Marketing Squad. Anyone who wants this book - and trust me, you want this book - can get it at SocialMediaBook.shop. 

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Kim Hanna Kim Hanna

Ramon Ray on Branding with Expertise

Today we’re talking with Ramon Ray of Smart Hustle. Ramon has done a great job of branding with expertise. He started in the tech sector, focusing in small business tech. Now he is a renowned expert not only in tech but also in small businesses and their needs, business in general, and marketing.

By Kim Hanna

Welcome back to Let's Talk About Brand! 

Today we’re talking with Ramon Ray of Smart Hustle. Ramon has done a great job of branding with expertise. He started in the tech sector, focusing in small business tech. Now he is a renowned expert not only in tech but also in small businesses and their needs, business in general, and marketing.

He has worked at the United Nations, spoken at the White House, interviewed President Obama, and testified before Congress. He runs the amazing Smart Hustle Growth Conference every year. He has a whole community of smart hustlers, small businesses, and is an in-demand speaker all over the world. He’s the author of four books, including The Celebrity CEO. We're so lucky to have him talking with us today!

Branding With Expertise

Expert has become kind of a diluted buzzword. What does ‘expertise’ actually mean?

Ramon says that there are about three key components that make someone an ‘expert.’ First, you need some experience in the given subject. Second, you must be a student of it. In Ramon’s words, this means, “you wake up and that's all you think about.” Third, you must be able to talk all about the topic with confidence. That's Ramon's recipe for expertise! 

Becoming known as an Expert

Ramon answered another great question from our Twitter chat: “what did you do to kind of shift the needle the most when it came to being known and respected by people as an expert?”

Ramon says the answer is social media. “I'd like to think that it works because it’s varied. It's different. It's fun. It's engaging. I get to shine a light on others. I get to shine a light on myself. It's always interesting,”

Social media allows Ramon to share his message, build his fan base, and build his community. You can also communicate directly. He says, “You can communicate whatever you want. You're in control of the message.”

How Ramon Started in Small Business Marketing 

Ramon started his career in the technology sector. He has extensive knowledge in this industry, and he loves helping small businesses. He also blogged several times a day. Over time, he became known as one of the leading voices of tech for small businesses.

Part of how Ramon stood out in this space is because people weren't really doing it yet. However, it was his experience that enabled him to have the expertise to work with small tech businesses. 

He built his expertise in some pretty amazing ways - including hosting an event with Michael Dell launching Dell Vostro computers. Perhaps his greatest mark of expertise was testifying before the United States Congress to explain why small businesses are important. He advocated for SCORE, which is a government service that helps small businesses grow. 

What led Ramon to some of these amazing opportunities was focusing on his area of expertise. When people went to look him up after seeing these public events, they found more information on his expertise.

Personal Branding

We asked Ramon his best advice on personal branding. He says there are a few components that are important: repetition, frequency, consistency, and visual images.

“It doesn't have to be, but as me and Christine know, that visual identity is why people are scrolling. I think those are a few elements of why personal branding is important.”

Value From Making Mistakes

We took some questions from our Tuesday Twitter chat, Let’s Chat About Brand. You guys ask a lot of great questions! One question was, “Which mistake have you made in the past that you learned the most from or value the most?”

Ramon’s answer: “I'm very compulsive. That's my biggest, biggest problem. I say yes fast without thought.”

“I do events in the New York City area. I get hundreds of people at my events locally. I get the opportunity to do an event in California. Same playbook, because I'm Ramon...everybody's just gonna come, right? I took about a $50,000 investment, give or take. Totally zippo failure.”

But, there is value in mistakes. Understanding this mistake has helped Ramon learn to slow down. He also says, “You could use red balloons, but purple balloons may not work.” In other words, just because his event worked in New York, doesn’t mean it would work in California. 

Definition of Personal Success

We asked Ramon if his definition of personal success and motivation has changed over time.  

“I think success is, how can I be happy and serve others? it's not a dollar number. I just want to live life happy.”

Find Ramon

We love the excellent advice Ramon gave us today! Thanks so much to Ramon Ray for chatting with us today!

You can find Ramon at ramonray.com. Everyone should also pick up The Celebrity CEO, which is Ramon's awesome book. (He has four books, actually. But this one is red, so it's obviously the best one.) 

Join us next Friday at noon eastern on Facebook live to Talk About Brand!

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Kim Hanna Kim Hanna

Ashley Graham on Branding With Media

Welcome back to Let's Talk About Brand! Today we are talking with Ashley Graham, aka Your Brandista. Ashley is a publicist and empowerment coach who works with conscious brands to elevate their influence through aligned media strategies.

By Kim Hanna

Welcome back to Let's Talk About Brand! Today we are talking with Ashley Graham, aka Your Brandista. Ashley is a publicist and empowerment coach who works with conscious brands to elevate their influence through aligned media strategies.

Ashley empowers brands to be able to get their message out there in the places and ways that they want. But not all exposure is equal. Today, Ashley is going to talk about aligned media strategies that make sense for yourself and your brand. 

What does PR mean to you?

From a traditional standpoint, we’ll define PR as shaping the public's perception of a business, brand, or entity. However, there’s more to public relations than just that definition. Ashley emphasizes the differences between personal branding and business branding. 

“A brand is more of building an emotional connection with your clientele or your audiences. And so when it comes to public relations or media relations, such as taking video, for instance, it's getting a person or two people who are very intertwined in the personal branding side and getting the audience to make an emotional connection with them. A personal brand is really making an emotional connection with the people who you are engaging with.” 

When you consistently engage with your audiences and connections, you can start to build more of an emotional connection with them through personal branding.

What is the advantage of building an emotional connection? 

There is an advantage to being a thought leader and being an expert. But the emotional connection element is really where the good stuff is! Why is it so important to generate that emotional element as a personal brand? 

Ashley responds, “Emotion comes down to trust. When you have an emotional connection with somebody, there's already that trust factor where you know you trust and confide in them to be able to share your story or share messages that are wearing on your heart.”

 In conjunction with trust, it comes down to familiarity. When you're emotionally connected to somebody you feel that you've known them forever. There's just more of that personal dynamic there. 

How can that personal brand obtain that emotional element through media? Ashley says the possibilities are endless. “You can reach targets or audiences that you probably wouldn't normally meet. For example, going live on video allows you to influence and distribute your message to the masses.”

With traditional networking, or just going out and socializing, you're limited in the capacity to make that emotional connection. Media is global, so the reach is way more significant. 

Is building relationships more important than trying to push your brand to people?

You also want to think about building better relationships with people, whether that's your clients, your influences, or your audiences. 

Ashley says, “We have to treat our media influences—our bloggers, our influencers, our editors, our writers—with the same integrity that we would treat our clients because they're the ones that are using their brainpower and their creativity to take a story angle and pick it up and then leverage their influence with the outlets that they are found within.” 

How can having a strong personal brand presence on social media help with getting media exposure (and the other way around)?

Ashley says that it's like the infinity symbol: one feels the other and then back again. “Social media is PR. And there's so much value that you can get out of just leveraging your personal brand on social media.”

Because anyone can share and retweets wherever content is being circulated, it can even be picked up on larger media platforms. “Recently a good friend of mine, Mariah, did a Tik Tok that ended up going viral, and it was picked up by BET.”

If you are consistent on social media and you keep showing up and producing good content, that has that impact factor of not just posting to post, and that's where the opportunity to go viral or the opportunity to get those pieces picked up on other platforms happens. 

What's your advice to those trying to break into the PR industry?

Ashley says, “if you could just familiarize yourself with one element of media relations or PR, it's where social media comes into play as a huge factor to that.”

Familiarize yourself with the types of content that people are putting out there, the conversations that they're having, and find mentors that are either in the publicity space or just content creators.

Content creators and influencers are also publicists. They know how to pitch themselves to brand and how to work out various agreements. If you are on social media, you’re already doing your own PR, you may just not be thinking about it that way. 

Find Ashley

Ashley can be found on all platforms as Your Brandista. She’s very active on Instagram, and she’s also growing her Facebook Group, The Conscious PR Community. This group focuses on what it means to live consciously when it comes down to the media's perception. This group is for anyone interested in PR, social media, marketing, and entrepreneurship!

Thank you so much to Ashley Graham of Your Brandista for talking to us today about personal branding and publicity! Make sure to tune in to our live show every single Friday at noon eastern as well as our Tuesdays Twitter chat at noon eastern!

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Christine Gritmon Inc. Christine Gritmon Inc.

Content Can Be FUN!

A roundup of the most fun-to-create content of 2019 from a variety of top social media and digital marketing professionals.

Instead of a compilation of strategic tips or 2020 social media predictions, I decided to do an end-of-2019 roundup post on FUN.

A lot of people wouldn’t put “content creation” and “fun” in the same sentence. Content can feel like a chore, one more business task that takes you away from the things you really want to be doing.

But sometimes? It IS fun. And I’ve gathered nearly two dozen of my smart social media friends to talk about what they most enjoyed creating in 2019 and why. Hopefully, there’s a piece of inspiration in here for each of us!

Full roundup video below; individual responses (with links to the actual FUN content in question!) after the jump.

Deonnah Carolus

Summit Web Marketing

Most fun piece of 2019 content:

My 'How to get Approved for Instagram Shopping after you have been Denied' Checklist!! I created a mini course series that goes in depth with it too!
https://www.summitwebmarketing.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Copy-of-Add-a-subheading.pdf

What made it so much fun to create?

That I can help virtually EVERYONE this happens to with this method I uncovered!!

Angus Nelson

angusnelson.com

Most fun piece of 2019 content:

Manhood Matrix graphic:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HPcYDYsVhMNBpRtMR1sjLiCBiwpo_WM-/view?usp=sharing

What made it so much fun to create?

It challenged me to truly think through my philosophy.

Gael Gilliland

The Legacy Recorder

Most fun piece of 2019 content:

What to do when death happens:
https://www.thelegacyrecorder.com/death-dying/grief/what-to-do-when-death-happens

What made it so much fun to create?

It was a tough and unexpectedly joyous conversation that many people have found value in.

Emily Crume

Social Media Examiner

Most fun piece of 2019 content:

A Doodly animated video entitled "5 Reasons to Sponsor an Event."
https://youtu.be/unq8VlQhV9Y

What made it so much fun to create?

I came up with the idea, scripted the story and then recorded the audio and set the animations, music and timing. It required taking the time to learn an explainer video program - but I was able to produce the content all myself!

I have used it on my Compass toolkit page - a page where we host resources that help guide my clients to event success. It was also posted to LinkedIn and had 10x more views in my feed than regular content I repost and share.

Yvonne Heimann

Ask Yvi

Most fun piece of 2019 content:

The Summit Hero:
https://academy.askyvi.com/courses/summithero

What made it so much fun to create?

Collaborating with Mary Fain Brandt is so fun. She is just as enthusiastic and energetic as I am <3

Jennifer Watson

Agora pulse

Most fun piece of 2019 content:

Our weekly live show, Social Pulse Weekly, where we have an expert guest, talk about the latest social media news and have fun trivia. I linked to our finale show below that had 10+ guests and was a great way to wrap up the biggest trends of 2019 and what predictions will be for 2020.
http://facebook.com/Agorapulse/videos/517136252207741

What made it so much fun to create?

This was so much fun to create because we had brilliant guests sharing their knowledge with everyone. Along with that relationships were formed and strengthened from the great conversations between viewers and our guests. We had people join in from around the world, that made the experience priceless. This experience has made me appreciate the power of live video even more than I already did!

Our finale video had 118 live views and has reached, but the best part was the conversations and relationship building that was happening with our viewers and the show guests. So much love and support for everyone, it was truly amazing to see.

Phil Mershon

Social Media Examiner

Most fun piece of 2019 content:

My LinkedIn article about showing up powerfully:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/showing-up-powerfully-10-tips-event-organizers-speakers-phil-mershon/

What made it so much fun to create?

Involving so many friends and then seeing how the community is responding to the idea of showing up powerfully.

Risa Hoag

GMG Public Relations

Most fun piece of 2019 content:

The interview with the 3 businesses for the Nanuet Chamber of Commerce, Coupe Theatre Studio, Gregory Chiropractic and Luxury Kitchen and Bath. The Nanuet Chamber News Show.
https://www.facebook.com/NanuetChamberOfCommerce/videos/445635276166710/

What made it so much fun to create?

Great fun to interview local business people and share their stories with the Rockland community. Also fun to visit their businesses and see them in action.

Kendra Ramirez

Reset Co

Most fun piece of 2019 content:

We did a video series on mindset. My favorite piece in the series is on money mindset.
https://thereset.co/karlee-schultz/

What made it so much fun to create?

It was filmed in a studio that we designed. We did the whole series with no teleprompter or show notes. We are addressing topics around limiting beliefs.

Katie Hornor

SuccessfulOnlineCourses.com

Most fun piece of 2019 content:

Digital Courses: 25 Predictions for 2020
https://bloggingsuccessfully.com/digital-courses-25-predictions-for-2020/

What made it so much fun to create?

Collaborating with other experts to serve our people collectively is a wonderful experience.

Mike Gingerich

Digital Hill and Mike Gingerich Global

Most fun piece of 2019 content:

Group collaboration with Now Marketing Group on the Harsh Truths of Online Marketing
https://blog.nowmarketinggroup.com/harsh-truths-of-online-marketing-marketers-tell-all

What made it so much fun to create?

Jessika had a group chat going and it was great to connect with the group and see all their inputs and thoughts!

Chris Strub

The Giving Day Guy

Most fun piece of 2019 content:

A Facebook Live broadcast that I created on #GiveSTLDay with the St. Louis Community Foundation at Healthworks! Kids Museum:
https://www.facebook.com/stlouisgives/videos/321670001842589/

What made it so much fun to create?

I had no idea what to expect, and neither did the audience. Plus Sean Frederick is a super charismatic and fun kid to work with.

Eddie Garrison

Digital Media Creator Academy

Most fun piece of 2019 content:

I did a Social Media Day Virtual Summit that had over 1,000 viewers. It featured nine fantastic speakers and went for nearly five hours.

What made it so much fun to create?

Doing a Social Media Day event ON Social Media. Hearing everyone speak on what their passion is was the best for me.

We ended up with nearly 10,000 overall views of the Virtual Summit.

Ross Brand

Livestream Universe

Most fun piece of 2019 content:

Facebook Live interview with Eddie Garrison from Podcast Movement:
https://www.facebook.com/ross.brand.509/videos/1328004804040836/

What made it so much fun to create?

iPhone fell in the middle of the interview. It give us a lot to laugh about during and after the broadcast.

Dan Willis

Millennial Motivator

Most fun piece of 2019 content:

I really had a blast creating the first couple episodes of the Successful Failures podcast:
https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9hYzU5Njk0L3BvZGNhc3QvcnNz&episode=OGMyMzc2NzctMDk4My0wODU1LWEyODgtOWI3OTQ1ZmM0NmYy&hl=en-CA&ved=2ahUKEwiXmb2u5q_mAhXRKM0KHYcqAlYQjrkEegQIOBAE&ep=6&at=1576143043022

What made it so much fun to create?

Getting to know the deeper stories behind entrepreneurs is a passion near and dear to my heart! Forgetting the glimmer and celebrity and getting back to real people facing real challenges.

If it helped even one listener to face entrepreneurship with an awareness of the hardships you must overcome in order to succeed it performed beyond expectations!

Jeff Sieh

Manly Pinterest Tips

Most fun piece of 2019 content:

Guy Kawasaki's Remarkable People Podcast:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/guy-kawasakis-remarkable-people/id1483081827

What made it so much fun to create?

I get to listen in on really cool people like Jane Goodall, Steven Wolfram and Martha Stewart.

Denise Alison

Denise Alison Social Media Strategist

Most fun piece of 2019 content:

My #10tips10days series on LinkedIn.
https://denisealison.com/blog/10-tips-10-days-part-1

What made it so much fun to create?

I loved the energy it gave me to challenge myself to create short and 10 valuable pieces of content, 10 days in a row!

The series got over 30k views.


Phil Gerbyshak

Vector Solutions

Most fun piece of 2019 content:

Happy Birthday to Me: Here are 46 things I learned from 46 trips around the sun:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/happy-birthday-me-here-46-things-i-learned-from-trips-phil-gerbyshak/

What made it so much fun to create?

I created it in one sitting in an airplane, and everything I created brought a smile to my face as I thought about when I learned the lesson, how it's impacted me, and even how I continue to use the insight.

Marisa Cali

All The Social

Most fun piece of 2019 content:

The espnW women + sports summit recap. There was tons of social content on Twitter and IG but this summarizes it:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/espnwsummit-reminder-your-why-marisa-cali-1c/

What made it so much fun to create?

The ability to connect with so many of the ideas being said at the summit.

It opened the door for additional opportunities within the sports/womeninsports world; built relationships with key players and furthered the impact I can have in the industry.

Caitlin Jenkins & Amy Tischler

Simply Social Media

Most fun piece of 2019 content:

Our most fun piece of content we created in 2019 was not one piece, but rather a place.

Our work is creating community and nothing bonds a group like throwing sharp objects at a target! We mean hatchet throwing, of course, and it inspired many variations of triumphant images, videos, and boomerangs created by our influencers.
https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/seasonalsunrise/

What made it so much fun to create?

We discovered the secret ingredient for creating fun content is endorphins! Have fun if you want to create fun content!

George Damanis

Up Tempo Social

Most fun piece of 2019 content:

My Perfect Burger blog:
https://www.georgedamanis.com/georgeeatseverywhere/articles/my-perfect-burger

What made it so much fun to create?

Making the burger, eating the burger, and seeing everyone's reaction to it. The biggest compliment I received was a friend telling me the blog made them want to eat a burger for dinner. One friend even went shopping to cook it the night it was published to my website.

Laura Pearman

Laura Pearman Photography

Most fun piece of 2019 content:

My episode on fish and pricing:
https://youtu.be/u9UqGYZ1eJU

What made it so much fun to create?

It marked me Really getting into a fun groove with my channel.

It’s been one of my best this year. All the equivalent ones on this topic are DULL so I’m hoping it will do well over time too.

Madalyn Sklar

#TwitterSmarter

Most fun piece of 2019 content:

Custom GIFs!
https://twitter.com/MadalynSklar/status/1205185759168348161

What made it so much fun to create?

Custom GIFs allow you to show a lot of personality. They're great on Twitter and Facebook.

It generated high engagement with lots of conversations. It's a great way to let your community see the real you.

Amanda Webb

Spiderworking

Most fun piece of 2019 content:

I created a video trailer for an article I had written for Social Media Examiner. It included having a bath in gravy and pretending to do a striptease in my front garden.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B19D_6KCGcS/?igshid=15bvqanpbn59z

What made it so much fun to create?

It was full on creative. I had fun with the ideas, not so much the gravy bath.

My goal was to drive traffic to the article which I did. I also good good engagement across social media platforms. However, previous trailer videos got more link clicks. I think that's because they teased the content more. This video was a complete content piece that didn't require a link click to complete it.

Since you’ve made it this far, I might as well let you know that you can meet almost ALL of these incredible human beings LIVE and IN-PERSON in San Diego this coming March at Social Media Marketing World 2020!
(Yes, that’s an affiliate link - if you buy through it, I’ll buy you a drink in San Diego - swearsies!)

Curious if #SMMW20 is for you? Let’s hop on a phone call or Zoom hangout (yes, really!) and I’ll tell you why it’s BEYOND worth it.


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midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc. midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc.

#MidweekMinute 11/27/19: Keep your friends CLOSE

Cocoon; FB considers Close Friends & rewards your Viewpoints, but only Canada gets Whale memes; IG Explore AI; IGTV may go vertical-scroll; Twitter Hide Replies & native scheduling.

When Borat’s got more common sense and decency than your CEO, it may be time to look deeper…

Last week, the new social network on the block was the journalism-based WT.Social; this week, it’s Cocoon, a family-based networking app from former Facebook employees. (No networks OR ads, just you and your chosen family.)

On a related note, Facebook’s working on a Close Friends feature for Stories and Messenger, similar to the one Instagram has, continuing the overall trend towards “microsharing,” now that our networks have all gotten so swollen with acquaintances and strangers.

The new Facebook Viewpoints app will pay you for participating in surveys or performing tasks. They’re starting with a “well being” survey.

Facebook has quietly released a new meme-making app called Whale, which is exclusive to Canada at the moment. There was no fanfare or announcement, an uncharacteristic move for the social media giant.

In case you’ve ever been curious how Instagram’s “Explore” feed gets populated, they’ve given us a peek behind the curtain with a new blog post explaining the AI behind it.

Feature-uncoverer Jane Manchun Wong has discovered that Instagram is testing out a new IGTV feed with vertical scroll - ironic, as TikTok, which is laid out that way, was previously testing a grid feed, a la Instagram’s Explore tab.

Twitter’s Hide Replies feature is out of beta and available to all.

Twitter is also FINALLY bringing native scheduling to the platform! It’s in beta, and only some people have it. It’s web-only for now, though, which is frustrating, since we already have TweetDeck… but it’s a step in the right direction.

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midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc. midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc.

#MidweekMinute 10/9/19: Insta just keeps snappin'

Facebook Portal for Workplace; Instagram Threads, AR try-on, no more follower-stalking, and possible Group Stories; YouTube surpasses Netflix among U.S. teens.

Anyone out there being a “wirch” for Halloween?… No? OK, moving on.

Facebook’s Portal device will now integrate with its Workplace platform (think Slack meets a private Facebook for just co-workers), which should be especially useful for videoconferencing.

Instagram has launched the Threads messaging app, replicating one of Snapchat’s earliest functions. The camera app is built around direct, private photo and video messaging. Instagram’s also testing an AR feature that will allow you to virtually “try on” products like eyewear and cosmetics.

Instagram will also no longer allow you to see a feed of notifications regarding the actions of people you follow - so if you want to know what they’re up to, better slide into those DMs (or Threads!).

One big advantage for Facebook of owning Instagram: if a new feature isn’t a hit on one platform, it could still work on another. Facebook’s Group Stories, discontinued a few weeks ago, is now being tested as an Instagram feature. (It is worth noting that this, too, is a feature that originated many years ago on Snapchat.)

In a recent survey of U.S. teens, YouTube beat out Netflix for the first time ever as the most preferred streaming entertainment platform.

MORE INFO ON ALL STORIES:

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midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc. midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc.

#MidweekMinute 9/25/19: The Future Is NOW

Facebook suspends apps, kills Group Stories, and wants you to control your phone with your brain (whaa?); Hide Tweets; Instagram restricts body-shaming; YouTube giveth verification, YouTube taketh away, YouTube giveth back; AI video ad placement. 

Sorry in advance for all my political Tweets. Let’s not go into that here… on to other social media news!

Facebook has suspended API access for tens of thousands of third-party apps in the continued wake of the Cambridge Analytica data-mining scandal, which prompted Facebook to investigate hundreds of app developers on the platform.

Facebook is discontinuing the seldom-used Group Stories feature tomorrow.

Facebook is acquiring CTRL-labs, a neural learning firm dedicated to translating human brain impulses into digital signals, as part of their Facebook Reality Labs team. The company’s key product is a wristband that will enable you to control electronic devices without touch. (Yes, we officially live in the future.)

Instagram has announced viewing restrictions on weight loss & cosmetic procedure content for users under age 18, and advertising restrictions for how such products are promoted in general.

Twitter’s Hide Replies feature, previously testing in Canada, is now active in the U.S. and Japan. This feature is designed to hopefully help discussions on the platform from getting too ugly (as they are wont to do).

YouTube announced - and then rescinded - major changes to its creator verification system, which would have rescinded verification badges from many creators based on updated criteria. YouTube will re-launch its verification program in late October for accounts not already verified.

YouTube and Google have announced Video Reach ad campaigns, which will enable advertisers to upload numerous types of video ads under a single campaign and allow Google’s AI to optimally distribute them in accordance with viewer insights.

Join me on LinkedIn Live at 4 pm ET for discussion of all stories!

MORE INFO ON ALL STORIES:

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midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc. midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc.

#MidweekMinute 5/29/19: Feel the rainbow

IGTV landscape videos; Story post creation button; rainbow Story rings for #Pride; YouTube hiding subscriber counts; Facebook’s “GlobalCoin”; group admin feedback; LinkedIn ad visibility; Sales Navigator updates.

Sorry, CrossFit fans.

Instagram’s IGTV is now accepting landscape videos as well as the original portrait-orientation videos. Instagram is also working on adding Story functionality to the post creation interface, and will turn your story ring rainbow if you use Pride hashtags during Pride Month (June).

YouTube will begin hiding subscriber counts in August for accounts that have over 1,000 followers, echoing recent announcements from Instagram and Twitter that seek to downplay focus on empty metrics.

More progress on Facebook’s CryptoCurrency: “GlobalCoin” is slated to roll out in 1Q20. Facebook has also added the ability for group admins to give feedback to members who break group rules.

LinkedIn Company Pages now feature a tab providing visibility into all ads that page has run in the past six months, which follows Facebook’s fairly recent addition of same. LinkedIn has also revamped its Sales Navigator platform to place updates front and center, and enhance integrations with other Microsoft software.

MORE INFO ON ALL STORIES:

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midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc. midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc.

#MidweekMinute 4/25/19 (just past midweek...)

A day late… and WAY TOO MUCH news!
Basically, everyone’s making tweaks to their layouts and ads…

Disclaimer: this blog features 95% less scandal than that Wired expose.

Facebook is once again refining (read: changing everything around in) Ads Manager. They’re also testing upvotes and downvotes for comments, a la Reddit.

Facebook is also expanding their 3D image offerings - 3D images can now be added to Stories, Android users can now create and post 3D images, and even desktop users can make 3D images (though it’s a slightly more elaborate process).

Many had originally speculated that AI assistant functionality - much like Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, or Google Home - would be part of Facebook’s Portal videochat device… it wasn’t, and isn’t yet, but Facebook has confirmed that they are now developing one. (Any bets on names? Mark? Zuck? Comrade?)

Instagram has rolled out a multiple-choice Quiz sticker for Instagram Stories (a welcome upgrade to the previous “yes or no” surveys), and announced plans to introduce a “Donate” sticker, bringing the ease of Facebook Donations to the Instagram Stories platform.

Instagram is also considering tinkering with possibly hiding “Like” counts on pictures. (But how will we know who’s popular???). This echoes comments from Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who, in an interview at TED, expressed regret at the platform’s early focus on follower count and likes, and said that he would like to see Twitter move away from followings and more towards interest-based browsing - echoing Facebook and Instagram’s shifts towards “meaningful interaction.”

For now, Twitter is testing updated desktop layouts, has announced the upcoming rollout of a mute replies button and other options to combat abuse, and has acquired Highly, an app that turns article quotes into tweets.

LinkedIn has added the ability to label your “team mates,” to better prioritize updates from your most relevant contacts. They’re also discontinuing their standalone Job Search app, reabsorbing the app’s functionality into the main LinkedIn app, and added a calendar integration feature for Android.

LinkedIn has also revamped its advertising tools, adding Lookalike Audiences, Audience Templates, Interest Targeting, and Bing search data (because Microsoft).

MORE INFO ON ALL STORIES:

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Christine Gritmon Inc. Christine Gritmon Inc.

FAQ: Followers

One top question social media strategists ALWAYS receive:

How can I get more followers?

Those adorable “lifestyle influencers,” big-name experts, toy-opening kids (seriously, what is that about?), and even shady internet marketers make it seem so easy:

Getting TONS of followers.

Understandably, someone sufficiently committed to business growth as to hire a social media strategist wants to know how they can accomplish those dazzling numbers themselves. Here’s my two cents on why they might be chasing the wrong thing - and the way to get the right thing.

(Hint: it does not involve purchasing followers!)

And in case you prefer to have knowledge dropped on you in a more visual format:


FAQ by anonymous

(It’s by me. I’m “anonymous” in this case. StripGenerator’s registration is broken.)

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social Christine Gritmon Inc. social Christine Gritmon Inc.

Social returns, with two of my faves!

SOCIAL is back! Julie & Jen of DepICT Media discuss how small, local businesses can turn last year’s Facebookpocalypse algorithm change to their advantage. Also, Wendy’s, because Wendy’s.

It’s back!

In case you’re new here: I had a weekly FB Live show, Social, that started in April 2017. I relaunched it in mid-2018 as a pre-recorded show focusing on local small business owners… then dropped off after 5 episodes. Now I’m bringing it back in its original format: live, Fridays at 12 noon ET, with a variety of guests from across the social media spectrum.

My first guests of the relaunch were my fabulous friends Julie & Jen of DepICT Media in Wichita, Kansas.

Julie and Jen may look familiar: they’ve been on the show before, and I on theirs (twice!). They were also part of Road to Social, a group road trip in June 2018 centered around several Social Media Day events (including #SMDayICT, which they helped organize).

They are wonderful, they are brilliant, they are great on video, and they know their s#!t when it comes to social media.

Much like Christine Gritmon Inc. does in the Hudson Valley, DepICT Media focuses on the needs of small, local businesses in the Wichita area. A year after “Facebookpocalypse,” people are STILL talking about the algorithm shift, so we decided we’d talk about how the new algorithm actually opens up more opportunities for small business than it shuts down.

Businesses have gotten spoiled. Social media provided unprecedented access to consumers - and businesses got way too comfortable broadcasting with no obligation to actually interact with their public. The great thing about this, as it pertains to the algorithm shift, is that businesses who want to “set it and forget it” will fall by the wayside when it comes to organic reach, and those business who are willing to utilize social media to facilitate, rather than replace, direct interaction with consumers will more easily stand out among the crowd.

Be human. Show your personality! Show that there are actual humans managing your social media accounts (and your business!) rather than corporate talking heads spouting out sales pitches. Having a unique voice (even an unpolished one!) will help you stand out from not only your direct competitors, but also from larger brands, which often aren’t able to be as flexible with showing off their “human side.”

Community-building means more than collecting “likes.” Vanity metrics mean nothing; it’s not how many people are watching, it’s whom, and what they’re doing next. You want the right people engaging with your brand, interested in what you offer, and hopefully buying. The way to do this is by investing in creating a sense of community amongst your followers - whether by using groups, or simply emphasizing your local cred and charm - and making them feel like they’re a part of something, rather than just being another faceless transaction.

Finally, we learned that my husband really likes Wendy’s.

Check out our conversation below:

Please join me again on Friday, January 11 at 12 noon ET, when I’ll be speaking with Filomena Fanelli of Impact PR & Communications about using social media & earned media to establish thought leadership.

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midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc. midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc.

#MidweekMinute 4/12/18: No advertisers were harmed...

Facebook political ad verification, Messenger retraction, Story encouragement; FB & Twitter back Honest Ads Act; Instagram Nametags, story Focus Mode & tag stickers; Snapchat iPhoneX lenses, group video chat, semi-chronological algorithm, new Specs, & Tegna news partnership; Twitter API tweaks; LinkedIn hashtag update confusion; Pinterest Propel program & Promote button expand.

Facebook requires new verification and transparency for those placing political ads; Messenger obtains "un-send" functionality, which corporate apparently already had(!); Facebook is trying tweaks to encourage more people to use Stories; FB & Twitter back the Honest Ads Act, which would bring transparency to ads; Instagram developing Snapcode-esque Nametags; Instagram Story adds background-blurring Focus Mode & stickers for tags; Snapchat debuts ultra-realistic lenses exclusively for iPhoneX, brings the feed algorithm back to semi-chronological order for some users, registers the second edition of Specs with the FCC, & partners with Tegna to broadcast Snaps on the news; Twitter postpones announced tweaks to their API after backlash from third-party apps; LinkedIn confuses some users with a half-baked test of adding hashtags to updates; Pinterest's Propel advertising program & Promote button expand to additional markets.

For more info on all stories:

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midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc. midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc.

#MidweekMinute 4/4/18: Data squeeze

Facebook tightens ad targeting restrictions, adds HD video & 360 photos to Messenger, & improves Spaces VR; Instagram also restricts third-party app partnerships, brings GIFs back to stories, & makes story ads full-screen; Snapchat announces 16-person video chats; Pinterest splits discovery from following; LinkedIn debuts B2B video; YouTube short reach ads.

Facebook further diminishes ad targeting options based on user data, including severing ties with third-party app data and getting tougher on email marketing permissions (used for custom audience targeting), and makes it easier to remove yourself from apps & games you've previously approved. Facebook also adds HD video & 360 photos to Messenger, and improves the VR in its Spaces feature. Instagram also restricts third-party app partnerships, and brings GIFs back to stories (which now have auto full screen ads). Snapchat has beat Instagram to the video-chat-party punch, announcing video chats for up to 16 people. Pinterest splits its feed in two: one for exploration and discovery, and one for people you're following. LinkedIn debuts video on company pages & video ads. YouTube debuts short ads with a reach component.

Flipboard is acting wonky this week (Mercury Retrograde!), so the articles are out of order, but here's more info on all stories above & then some:

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Christine Gritmon Inc. Christine Gritmon Inc.

Presenting with Risa Hoag at Keller Williams

My presentation alongside Risa Hoag of GMG PR on how realtors can more effectively use LinkedIn & other social media platforms to grow their businesses.
Special thanks to Keller Williams Realty and Citizens Bank.

On Thursday, I started my day co-presenting to a room full of realtors with my friend & fellow RBWN board member Risa Hoag of GMG PR. Risa spoke about LinkedIn, followed by my presentation on best practices for the other social media platforms.

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christinegritmon_risahoag_kw.JPG

Risa's intro, in case you're not aware of her:

Risa's first point was that LinkedIn is NOT a social media tool; it is a showcase for you and your brand, an in-depth research tool, and a lead definer and generator.

With a live computer demo, Risa explained how to make yourself valuable and findable on LinkedIn by creating a robust profile, showcasing your business and expertise, and utilizing your profile as a "living" resume; instead of simply stating where you've worked, you can add skills, testimonials, even media. 

Risa then went into how to use this valuable tool to generate business by building engagement, finding leads, and making "warm" contacts - a familiarity that can be created by leveraging information you've uncovered via your prospect's LinkedIn profile. Did you go to the same school, sit on the same board, or share a common hobby? Bam - you've just turned a cold-call into a warm contact. 

Risa wrapped up with a series of best practices for LinkedIn (click to tweet):

Here's my own lovely intro:

I started my segment of the presentation with something clients always ask me about: which social media platforms to bother with. There is a misconception out there that you need to be everywhere, which puts undue pressure on busy professionals who are already daunted by social media. I walked through some pros and cons of different platforms.

Scroll through my tips below (click to tweet):

Next, I discussed the importance of setting up all profiles as completely as possible.

Once you've got your profiles set up, what do you do with them? I went through some of the basics of social media content strategy. This included some basic branding questions, as well as more platform-specific tips.

Next, I discussed what's been on everyone's mind with social media lately: what is "the algorithm," and why does it mean nobody sees my posts? I explained that you need to not just broadcast content for passive consumption, but rather engage and add value to your audience's feed.

Since one of the most important - and misunderstood! - pieces of content strategy lately is video, I provided several ideas for how realtors can effectively use video as part of their social media posting.

Finally, I ended with a brief overview of how to create targeted ads on social media that provide more bang for the buck. A key part of this, and my most important takeaway: use Ads Manager on Facebook & Instagram - don't boost! Boosting damages your organic reach, and doesn't give you nearly enough audience targeting power. Ads Manager is one of the best tools out there; use it!

Thanks so much to Keller Williams Realty and Citizens Bank for having us in to do this presentation. We look forward to presenting to the Westchester office next!

If you're a realtor (or any type of company, really!) and would like us to bring this presentation to you, please do get in touch.

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midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc. midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc.

#MidweekMinute: FB devices & integrations

Facebook gets into home devices & ditches its AI/VA hybrid in beta; Instagram Stories expand to WhatsApp; Ripple follows Bumble in taking on LinkedIn.

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midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc. midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc.

#MidweekMinute: Suggested stories, business DMs, more Snap

Instagram now recommends stories; Twitter empowers businesses with stronger direct messaging tools; Snapchat expands shareability beyond the app and increases ad strength by disabling immediate skips for some clips.

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midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc. midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc.

#MidweekMinute: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

Facebook condenses some features, expands others, and generally continues to crush other apps; Twitter continues their expansion kick; Instagram is taking a cue from bots; LinkedIn is taking a cue from that annoying paper clip.

Facebook tries to replace Yelp, Foursquare, and - as always - Snapchat. High on the 280-character-limit raise, Twitter's also raising another limit, and hoping you'll trust them to allocate your money. Instagram is testing out a feature that bots have been using for years, and LinkedIn wants the final WORD on your resume.

Facebook Local

Facebook relaunches Events app as Facebook Local, adds bars and food (TechCrunch)

Facebook Local is the social network’s stab at Yelp, Foursquare (Marketing Land)

Facebook Local Relaunches, Makes It Easier To Browse Events, Listings (MediaPost

Facebook Collaborative Stories

Facebook Stories replaces Messenger Day with synced cross-posting (TechCrunch)

Facebook launches collaborative Stories for Groups and Events (TechCrunch)

Facebook is killing Messenger Day and consolidating it with Facebook Stories (The Verge)

Twitter Name Length Now 50 Characters

Twitter bumps display name length up to 50 characters (The Verge)

Twitter expands display name length to 50 character (Engadget)

Twitter, high on 280 characters, more than doubles the length of display names (Mashable)

Twitter $99 Ad Subscriptions Service

Twitter Tempts Small Marketers With a $99-per-Month Ad Subscription (Ad Age)

Twitter’s $99 monthly subscription ad program launches into public beta (TechCrunch)

Twitter launches $99 subscription tool to promote tweets (Engadget)

Instagram Will Let Users Follow Hashtags

Instagram could let you follow hashtags soon (TechCrunch)

Instagram may soon let you follow hashtags (Express Newsline)

Instagram will soon let users follow hashtags in addition to accounts (Digital Trends)

Microsoft and LinkedIn Resume Assistant

Microsoft adds AI-powered LinkedIn resume assistant to Word (Engadget)

Microsoft integrates LinkedIn with Word to help you write a resume (The Verge)

Microsoft and LinkedIn Team Up to Make Writing Your Resume a Lot Easier (and Your Results a Lot Better) (Inc)

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social Christine Gritmon Inc. social Christine Gritmon Inc.

Social: FB ad targeting, live from Greece!

...OK, I'm not in Greece - but Georgios Chasiotis of Slide In is, and he drops some universal lessons on Facebook ad targeting & customer retention!

As I get in touch with more groups of entrepreneurs & social media folk online, I'm learning from people way outside the confines of Nyack - including this week's guest Georgios Chasiotis, who joined us live from Greece!

Georgios's company, Slide In, uses digital marketing to grow companies in a way that's sustainable - by building and nurturing relationships, not focusing on one-and-done sales transactions. Georgios offers some useful tips for how to put Facebook to work for this objective: building sustainable relationships with the right people who your company can offer value to. (Amen!)

A few of Georgios's key points:

Audience Targeting: Ensure you're reaching the right people who are actually interested in your product. Look at customers as three-dimensional people, with an array of likes and dislikes, and sub-target accordingly. Create custom audiences from your best customers, and target "lookalikes" who are likely to also be interested in your product. Finally, don't be afraid to exclude those clients who aren't what you're looking for (and vice-versa).

Ad Creative: Speak to your clients with the words they use, and make it clear that you understand their concerns. Try showing different ads to different groups. And when something's working, put all your money there - not to something that's failing to deliver. Don't waste time talking to those who aren't going to gain value from your message.

Full Customer Experience: Getting the sale isn't the end of it. Thank your customers, and ensure everything's going well with their experience. If you drop the relationship once the money changes hands, you're not going to get another sale - and you're not truly offering value, just a product.

 

To put these tenets into practice for your business NOW, in time for the busy holiday season, join me next Friday in Haverstraw for my Facebook Audience Targeting Bootcamp:

In this active workshop, you'll gain deep levels of insight on your existing audience (and what else they're engaging with!), assemble your own custom & lookalike audiences, and create some highly targeted ads that WILL drive business.

 

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midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc. midweekminute Christine Gritmon Inc.

#MidweekMinute: chattin' up a storm

A whole lot of chatter on Workplace, websites, Twitter, Snapchat & Instagram

Facebook Messenger has rolled out to websites (yes, non-Facebook websites) and Facebook's Slack-competitor, Workplace, now has a chat function. On Twitter, you can now use twice as many characters for your chatter. Snapchat needs a redesign because us olds can't figure it out. Instagram Stories no longer have to be in-the-moment...and you can now properly use Hebrew, Arabic & Farsi on the platform.

Facebook Messenger for Websites:

Facebook introduces a Messenger plugin for business websites (TechCrunch)

Facebook Messenger plugin enables cross-platform customer service (Engadget)

Facebook Will Let Brands Integrate Messenger With Their Websites (Adweek)

Facebook Workplace Chat:

Workplace: One Year Later (Workplaceblog)

Facebook's Workplace, now at 30,000 orgs, adds Chat desktop apps and group video chat (TechCrunch)

Twitter Character Limit:

Twitter Doubles Tweet Limit to 280 Characters (Bloomberg Technology)

Tweeting in 280 Characters? Now You Can Do It, Too (NY Times)

Twitter officially enables 280-character limit for all accounts, including brands (Marketing Land)

Snapchat redesign:

Snap Will Overhaul Its App Just Nine Months After Its IPO (Bloomberg Technology)

Snapchat will overhaul its app to bolster user numbers, as it endures the growing pains of shift to programmatic (The Drum)

A huge redesign is coming to Snapchat (The Verge)

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel is redesigning Snapchat because it’s too hard to use (Recode)

Instagram Stories:

You can now upload content older than 24 hours to Instagram Stories (The Verge)

Instagram continues Snapchat assault, lifts 24 hour limit on Stories clone (9 to 5 Mac)

Instagram now lets you add any photos or videos to your Stories (TechCrunch)

Instagram and Left-to-Right Languages:

Instagram now supports right-to-left languages like Hebrew and Arabic (TechCrunch)

Instagram adds right-to-left language support starting with Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew (the Verge)

Instagram now supports three right-to-left languages (Engadget)

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Christine Gritmon Inc. Christine Gritmon Inc.

Which social media platforms should you be on? (VIDEO)

Video of a talk about the differences between some of the major social media platforms and how to know which ones you really need to be on. 

Today I had the honor of speaking to two of Sterling National Bank's women's networking groups, Sterling Women and Extraordinary Women of Sterling, in their Montebello, NY office. One of these groups includes some of their corporate banking clients (including small business owners), and the other comprises Sterling employees. I spoke about the differences between some of the major social media platforms (LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook), and how to know which ones you really need to be on. I'm giving a talk on the same topic Wednesday night to a very different group - and I expect it will be a whole different talk!

Some key takeaways from this morning's talk:

LinkedIn:

  • Everyone who does business
  • Have a picture
  • Keep it current

Instagram:

  • Tangible product
  • Visually engaging
  • Feeling, not telling

Twitter:

  • Informative communications
  • Joining larger conversations 
  • Direct engagement with others

Facebook:

  • “Main Street” of the internet
  • You’re on their turf: be relevant
  • All types of communication
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