Day: December 21, 2018

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business:”Always check in at a location” With…

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business:”Always check in at a location” With Alexander Onaindia and Candice Georgiadis

Always check in at a location! Your followers want to know where that awesome picture was taken and your image will show up on that locations Instagram page, giving your post and page extra exposure.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Alexander Onaindia. Alexander Onaindia is the co-founder and CEO of Distinction Agency and VP of Communications for Revolving Mind Media. Based in Miami, Alexander has developed strong relationships with Fortune 500 companies and global start-ups, marquee media, professional athletes and teams, social media influencers and non-profit organizations through innovative marketing and communications campaigns. Alexander has had clients featured on national media outlets including ESPN, Forbes, Good Morning America, O, The Oprah Magazine, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, The Today Show and The Wall Street Journal.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

As an athlete and sports fan growing up, my dream was to be a professional athlete. I learned early on that was not going to happen for me despite my best efforts, however my desire to join the big leagues never faded. I always found myself consumed by the business of sports and marketing at a young age. I knew I had to break into the industry when I found myself more interested in reading Darren Rovell’s sports business columns instead of game recaps from beat writers. During my time at Florida State University, I interned with a sports PR firm that worked with collegiate teams and businesses that were involved with athletes. After that experience, I knew that marketing and PR was the path that I wanted to take.

Can you explain to our readers why you are an authority about Social Media Marketing?

When I first started my career, I’d say I was far from an authority in social media marketing. I was largely focused on PR and communications campaigns early on. As time has gone on and I’ve started my own business, I’ve realized the importance and reach of social media for businesses of all sizes. As we’ve built the Distinction Agency, we’ve leveraged the power of social media and direct messages to generate thousands of dollars in business for the agency and our clients. The great thing about social media is that it’s ever evolving and what worked last year most likely won’t work this year. Every day I continue to stay plugged into the industry, between being informed through trade-specific articles and attending key industry events — it’s important that my team and I remain at the forefront of an always changing landscape. As a team, we know that the difference between “scoring” for our clients or coming up short is how engaged we remain with the times, there’s always something to learn in social media and marketing in general. Even in today’s digital era, it can be much easier to initially connect with a brand or individual through social media rather than a traditional cold call or email.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

Celebrating a large win for one of my clients at a Las Vegas club during CES and seeing one of my biggest role models right next to us partying, the very well-known businessman and reality TV star, Mark Cuban. It was a memorable night. Then, the the next evening, who do I stand next to in line at The Venetian and laugh about the night before with? Mark Cuban.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

When I first started my professional career, I was intimidated by older generations telling me social media was only a bad thing and to hide everything. That couldn’t be worse advice! Social media is the most powerful networking tool in the world if used effectively. Whether it’s setting up an interview for a client through Twitter or signing a new client through Instagram, I see the positive benefits of social media almost every single day. The lesson I learned is that business constantly evolves. The most successful businessmen from 40 or 50 years ago would not be successful today if they approached business the same way they did back then. While I probably could be a bit further along my path today had I trusted my gut early on, it was a valuable lesson in patience and believing in yourself. Now fast forward to today, some of these same people are calling me for help and advice on their social media strategy. Can’t help but smile when that happens!

Which social media platform have you found to be most effective to use to increase business revenues? Can you share a story from your experience?

Instagram. The person largely responsible for me commiting to Instagram as a way to generate new business for our agency is Gary Vaynerchuk. By listening to Gary’s podcasts, reading his books and following his content, it opened my eyes to the power of the platform. For us, our Instagram page (@distinctionagency) is a constantly updating billboard of what we do, what we believe in, what drives us, and the awesome influencers and brands we work with. It has also been a huge driver of why we’ve been able to secure meetings with some very cool people. We’ve had influencers and brands message us saying they love our page and that it’s right in line with who they are as a company too. It’s nice when your social media page can win half the battle for you!

Let’s talk about Instagram specifically, now. Can you share 6 ways to leverage Instagram to dramatically improve your business? Please share a story or example for each.

Direct Messages-If you are effective with how you reach out, you can reach ANYONE through a DM. The first few clients of Distinction Agency all came from DMs and the majority of our business still does!
Influencer Marketing-When I connect with someone on Instagram about an influencer partnership, I typically ask if they want to move the discussion over to email. One of the first brands to work with one of our influencers made a generous offer on the spot without an email or phone call.
Instagram Stories-Instagram Stories have made Snapchat almost irrelevant and has given the public an inside view into the daily lives of their favorite athlete, celebrity or entrepreneur. When I first started negotiating influencer marketing partnerships, all brands cared about was posts on the influencers page. Currently, many brands are seeing more ROI from the stories than from a post on the influencers page. It’s been a major shift for the platform.
Instagram Live-Have you noticed how you get a notification when someone goes live on Instagram? That notification is key in driving people to a person’s Instagram Live.
Checking In-Always check in at a location! Your followers want to know where that awesome picture was taken and your image will show up on that locations Instagram page, giving your post and page extra exposure.
Instagram Advertising — You gotta spend money to make money, right? You can’t depend on solely your followers to convert into clients or help generate greater business. Sometimes you just need to place yourself in front of the right people! Every time we promote a new influencer, we put them in front of their target audience. Immediately, engagement skyrockets and the post gets shared even more due to effective targeting.

Because of the position that you are in, you are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

If I could inspire any movement, it would be to challenge anyone with influence to reach out to someone who is currently struggling and help them in any way you can. You never know what a simple phone call, text or meeting can mean to someone who is struggling physically or emotionally. There’s no better feeling than helping someone who needs your help and giving them the tools or motivation to succeed.

Some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂

Tough question. I’d have to say LeBron James business partner, Maverick Carter. LeBron went against the grain when he was drafted in the NBA, trusting his childhood friends to run his brand and business. Man, has that paid off for him. What Maverick and his team have been able to do for LeBron and his brand over the years has been remarkable. I think they are still scratching the surface of what they can and will accomplish.

Thank you so much for these great insights. This was very enlightening!

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business:”Always check in at a location” With… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Tell your story” With Sahara Rose and…

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Tell your story” With Sahara Rose and Candice Georgiadis

Tell your story. People want to know YOUR why behind the work they do. They want to connect to a human, not a company. The posts I share on how my health had totally deteriorated, body had gone into perimenopause, digestion stopped working, hormones shut off and hair had fallen out and THAT is the reason why I practice and teach about Ayurveda, by far do the best.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Sahara Rose. Sahara Rose is the best-selling author of Eat Feel Fresh: A Plant-Based Ayurvedic Cookbook and Idiot’s Guide to Ayurveda. She has been called “a leading voice for the millennial generation into the new paradigm shift” by Deepak Chopra, who wrote the foreword of both her titles.

Sahara hosts the Highest Self Podcast, ranked as the #1 top podcast in the spirituality category on iTunes. She is an Abundance Mindset Expert and guides people to pave their path to freedom, joy and purpose.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Growing up I was extremely unhealthy and addicted to junk food. I decided to begin practicing yoga at 12 and fell in love with the practice. I began reading books all about the yogic lifestyle, from authors such as Deepak Chopra, and it deeply changed the course of my life. I began traveling and volunteering in over 30 countries, learning about ancient healing cultures across the globe. When I was teaching health in the slums of India, I got very sick and it was then I discovered Ayurveda, which radically changed the course of my life. It healed my mind, body and spirit and I decided I would write a book on the subject — though I had never met an author. I spent two years living in India studying Ayurveda and eventually completed my book, then was hired by Penguin to write the official Idiot’s Guide to Ayurveda, which became the #1 best-selling Ayurveda book nationally. Today I have educated thousands on Ayurveda, written a second best-selling book, Eat Feel Fresh, and speak around the world. My passion is modernizing this ancient healing science so it can help people the way it has me.

Can you explain to our readers why you are an authority about Social Media Marketing?

I use social media to bring ancient topics back to life in a way no one has before. I have created a movement around Ayurveda, the world’s oldest health system, and have educated hundreds of thousands of people on the topic. My podcast has over one million monthly downloads and is less than a year and a half old. My email list is 200k+ and Instagram is 126k, all grown organically on a topic that most had never heard of before me.

I’ve built my business and even gotten my book deals because of the social media community I have cultivated. I began blogging in 2011 and since then have put out thousands of articles and social media posts educating people on Ayurveda, wellness, spirituality, entrepreneurship and holistic health. I use social media as a tool to inspire people to look deeper within themselves. Because I’ve built long-standing trust with my following, I have a seven-figure online business with various online programs and brand sponsors related to Ayurveda, wellness and conscious entrepreneurship.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

That would definitely be seeing Deepak Chopra at a conference, walking up to him, sending him the PDF of my not-yet-published book, him liking it and wanting to meet with me and soon after, him offering to write the foreword of my book and now both of my books. It’s moments like this you fully understand that there are greater forces at play in the universe. When you are in alignment with your purpose (dharma), things line up in ways you could have never planned or imagined. This is called living in kriya, flow, which is a topic I now speak a lot about on Highest Self Podcast.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

When I first started health-coaching, I had on my website a menu tab that said “$20 Consultations.” I was willing to help anyone with any health problem, for just $20 an hour. If you wanted to lose weight, gain weight, get pregnant, run a marathon, balance your hormones, I was your girl. Clearly I didn’t get that many clients from what I believed was an unbeatable deal because most people would NOT trust someone who just valued their time at $20 with their health problems. I learned quickly that abundance is a result of worthiness and that if I was serious about becoming a wellness professional, I needed to dive deeper into my studies to set myself apart. I ended up studying Ayurveda in India for two years, becoming an Ayurvedic Practitioner and writing multiple books on Ayurveda. Now I don’t work with clients because my calling is to educate and uplift the masses.

Which social media platform have you found to be most effective to use to increase business revenues? Can you share a story from your experience?

My podcast had been my primary way of sharing my programs, books and brand sponsors with my audience. I believe in this day-and-age we’ve become so isolated and tired of meaningless, curated content that we are CRAVING more depth and interaction. That is why podcasts do so well.

In that hour, you really dive into the head of another human-being and understand their fundamental beliefs and values in a way no logo or caption could have shown you.

People want to know the why. They want to hear how that supplement helped you with that health problem, how that tea soothes your anxiety, how that program made you who you are.

Podcasts also have a longer shelf-life than social media posts because people often go back and listen to episodes from months or years ago, whereas few people scroll back to see what you posted on Instagram last year (unless they’re stalker status.)

Podcasts also attracted more educated listeners. A successful person does not have hours to spend scrolling through Youtube and watching your face talk for an hour a day, otherwise they would not be where they are. They’re busy. They need content that will be available for them in their in-between time; during their commute, on their walk, while running errands. I find far more high-end customers from podcasts than any other form of social. Podcast listeners tend to be educated, serious customers who are ready to invest in the products and programs that will improve their lives.

Let’s talk about Instagram specifically, now. Can you share 6 ways to leverage Instagram to dramatically improve your business? Please share a story or example for each.

Yes!

Use Instagram stories. I spend far more time on Instagram stories than I do on the feed because the feed has become so overly curated that it lacks depth. People want to know: How do you spend your day? What matters to you? What products do you use? Be authentic and honest.
Tell your story. People want to know YOUR why behind the work they do. They want to connect to a human, not a company. The posts I share on how my health had totally deteriorated, body had gone into perimenopause, digestion stopped working, hormones shut off and hair had fallen out and THAT is the reason why I practice and teach about Ayurveda, by far do the best.
Have a clear theme/ message. What is the essence of your page? What can I expect from you? I think of my Instagram like my altar. What represents who I truly am? Followers should be able to feel you just from looking at your feed. There needs to be heart.
Have one call to action per post. Most people have no call to actions and then wonder why their business isn’t growing. Some people have multiple call to actions, leaving people confused on what to do next, thus just scrolling away. Have one clear action-step on the post/ story. For example, “My kids are never sick for more than a day because of this essential oil blend I use. Swipe up to learn more about it” or “Growing up, I had so much shame around sex and money but from rewiring my beliefs, I’ve never felt more confident and abundant. Head to the link in my bio to read about my journey.” Give value, then guide them in the right direction to continue gaining more.
Be out-of-the-box. Do something that hasn’t been done before. Much of my success is because no one has ever modernized Ayurveda the way that I have before. This has made me the go-to expert on Ayurveda, though it took years to cultivate. Take a risk and pursue what sets your soul on fire. It will take off if you truly believe in it. Trust the timing of your life and social media.
Show your face. Gone are the days where Instagram feeds were a place for pictures of your breakfast, dog and sunset. People now want to see the person behind the brand. People want to connect to a person, not a product. I used to have a fear that if I showed my face, people would unfollow me and the opposite ended up being true.

Immigrant rights is something I am very passionate about and share on my Instagram regularly. Right now, we are living in such a jaded world where we see our neighbors as our enemies and have so much fear of those who we believe are different from us. If we can see that we are all humans before anything else, we will drop the illusion of separation and come together again.

I would love to get in touch with anyone who wants to take Ayurveda to the mainstream, whether it’s conferences, products, apps or anything in-between! Feel free to reach out to me with ideas on how we can collaborate at [email protected] and connect with me on Instagram @iamsahararose. Let’s raise consciousness together!

Thank you so much for these great insights. This was very enlightening!

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Tell your story” With Sahara Rose and… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Equality in the workplace is a topic…

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Equality in the workplace is a topic that I deeply care about” With Steve Weiss Founder and CEO of MuteSix and Candice Georgiadis

It may sound like a cliché coming from a white male, but equality in the workplace is a topic that I deeply care about. I’m a product of a single mother and was raised by an African-American stepfather, I firsthand witnessed workplace discrimination when it came to the people I care most about. After my stepfather passed away, I pledged to myself personally to creating an equitable workplace no matter how small or big my company.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Steve Weiss. Steve is the Founder and CEO of MuteSix, founded in 2014. He is responsible for the overall vision, strategic leadership, service delivery, culture, and growth of the creative agency leading to a billion in trackable revenue for clients. Under Steve’s direction, MuteSix has earned the distinction as most awarded Facebook social advertising agency with more Facebook & Instagram marketing case studies than any other agency. MuteSix has grown into a comprehensive and integrated global marketing agency with prominent clients across all major industry B2B/B2C sectors, including leading brands in retail, e-commerce, luxury, nonprofit, technology, sports, publishing, and financial services. Steve is a frequent speaker at industry events and is regularly quoted in business and tech publications.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I had been running various internet marketing companies since I was 16. That’s when my mother gifted me my first computer for me. From that point on, she facilitated my way into the tech direction. And, I got hooked.

My first success was an internet lead generation company for the mortgage industry. I got to experience some pretty high highs of success and some embarrassingly low lows and that internalized alone. I’ll say this — with age comes benefits. When I was young, I would come to people, ‘I’ve got this great idea,’ and they just never took me seriously. From this I learned that you can get great human capital from experience, as well as social connections, both of which helped boost the odds of success for as an entrepreneur.

Can you explain to our readers why you are an authority about Social Media Marketing?

I have been running ads on social media since 2007 long before the phrase #adtech was understood. Actually, the very first Facebook ad I ran was for folks to pop by my standup comedy shows while in college. It’s now been 11 years and through today, I have managed well over $100 million+ in paid Facebook spend and have built an agency from scratch. Today I’m proud to say that our firm been made the Inc 500 list for two years in a row and that we grew from a team of two to 100+ employees who live and love all things advertising.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

I grew up in a small suburban lower middle-class town in New Jersey and I don’t know many people from my side of the world that are in tech or let alone are entrepreneurs. I was at conference and I ran into my neighbor who grew up in the apartment right across from me. It turns out, he has a super successful company in the tech space and shared loads of similar experiences that I went through I this space. Upon reconnecting, I realized that even without connections, it was values like curiosity, commitment and confidence that are traits shared by successful entrepreneurs no matter what your pedigree or start.

I’ve come to appreciate that in order to become a successful entrepreneur you have to cultivate a certain entrepreneurial mindset. Many entrepreneurially-minded people have launched successful careers with different backgrounds, skills and values. And, have made it work.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Once, my co-founder (Daniel Rutberg) and I were sharing an office with a client who offered to give us free desks for our use. The problem? He didn’t actually tell the owner of the building that we were getting those free desks. So, one day, in the middle of a prestigious client meeting (to secure a six-figure contract) as were working over one of the freebie desks, the owner comes up to me and asks, “Why are you here? And, who are these people?” I told him that we were given free desks! But he knew nothing about the agreement, so it got awkward pretty quick when you realize when you think you have an office…but you actually don’t. FYI — We ended leaving and working out of a Starbucks.

Which social media platform have you found to be most effective to use to increase business revenues? Can you share a story from your experience?

Facebook even for business has still been the greatest place to stay relevant in people’s minds.

To this day everyone still has a Facebook account. And, you’d be surprised how many leads I gotten from my own personal network of friends without soliciting a single business post. Sure, I can post about my personal purchases, preferences, travels, reading materials, jobs, families, interests and much more. As such, I’ve seen firsthand how social media drives a unique yet incredible overlap between today’s business and personal spaces. Ultimately, Facebook is the most effective — and most cost-effective — channel to reach potential customers whether they’re friends or not.

Let’s talk about Instagram specifically, now. Can you share 6 ways to leverage Instagram to dramatically improve your business? Please share a story or example for each.

Instagram is a beast. To dramatically improve your business, I say:

Makes your posts shoppable
Have engaging CTAs that are solid
Reward followers with exclusives and insider promotions
Optimize your brand bio for lead gen
Show off the people who love your brand
Tell a captivating (visual) story

The movement would definingly be around equality in the work place. It may sound like a cliché coming from a white male, but equality in the workplace is a topic that I deeply care about. I’m a product of a single mother and was raised by an African-American stepfather, I firsthand witnessed workplace discrimination when it came to the people I care most about. After my stepfather passed away, I pledged to myself personally to creating an equitable workplace no matter how small or big my company.

I want to further the movement for eliminating bias and inequality in any workplace whether it be through training for bias or using AI to educate. At MuteSix, we’re testing interview loops where we include more diverse employees (women, ethnicities, non-technical backgrounds, etc.) when recruiting new talent.

Richard Branson: I was always a big believer in combining business with a mission and purpose while having a blast with the people you care most. He’s the type of leader who exudes those traits and puts things in such a very positive way of being brave when it comes to how he thinks about business. He read that he once said, “Screw it, let’s do it.” When I took the plunge with my agency, I thought the same.

For further questions, please contact PR @MuteSix:

Nav Mundi: [email protected]

Sura Hurt: [email protected]

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Equality in the workplace is a topic… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Switch things up.”

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Switch things up.” With Trevor Cowley and Candice Georgiadis

Switch things up. Make sure you’re posting videos as well as pictures from around your office or place of business. If you look up “#accounting” on Instagram you will see so many stock image/photos in an attempt to look professional. The whole point of Social Media to be more transparent. People want to see who they’re working with and videos will show more of your company’s personality so to speak. If you look at our Instagram account you’ll see a lot of videos, some fun and goofing off and some more serious and motivational.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Trevor Cowley. Trevor Cowley is passionate about business and has been a serial entrepreneur since 2013. Trevor is now the co-owner of 4 different companies and feels fortunate to have business partners that he also considers to be his best friends. Trevor and his partners are now doing 7 million a year in revenue and growing fast. Easier Accounting is his primary focus and Trevor believes the company will force the accounting world to dramatically step up their game in the next 5–10 years.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Thanks for having me. I’ve always had a passion for sales. As a child, I would go down to the local golf course and dig through the bushes and jump in the ponds to find golf balls and then go home and polish them up and sell them to the golfers. Right out of high school I went into sales and fell in love with the process of prospecting and closing deals. I was working for my now business partners at 28 years old, the company wasn’t doing good at the time, the final year of me being in sales the company lost $100,000 and was in $66,000 credit card debt. This was due to a previous business partner that mismanaged money. My current business partner Jeremy had to pay $5,000 out of his personal account to cover payroll at Christmas time in 2012. I was making six figures as a sales rep for the company and had money saved and that is when my now business partners said they want me to buy in and run the company. I invest $10,000 into a company that had $66,000 in debt and lost money the previous year, we set up a new account with me as the new partner and the old partner that mismanaged things was out. I took over in January 2013 with a $10,000 investment and an open wallet, willing to invest what was needed to turn the company around. In 2013 we ended up profiting $500,000 and had paid of the debt and each made six figures and padded the company account with $100,000. From this point on we invested into new business ventures, the next investment went well and then a few following that not so much, we lost $20,000 here and $30,000 there. We eventually had 2 businesses running well and had trouble finding a great accounting solution that was affordable to the small business owner (us). We went through 3–4 options over the years, some were great CPA’s but not affordable and in some cases hard to get in contact with when we needed something, we went on to a more affordable solution and got great communication but the work was horrible. We were paying a monthly fee but couldn’t get our P&L’s on time and we thought to ourselves, “If it’s this hard to find a great accounting solution that is affordable then we need to create it”, because we knew others are going through this as well. We founded Easier Accounting by solving our own problem and offering it to other small businesses and haven’t looked back since. We are now using Instagram and Facebook as the main platforms to offer our services and grow our business while giving people an inside look at who we are.

Can you explain to our readers why you are an authority about Social Media Marketing?

Because we’ve first hand seen an increase in attention which in turn turns into an increase of revenue. When you have someone follow you on Instagram or FB you have their attention and can provide ongoing value in terms of business advice and then sprinkle in your company’s offers to them here and there at no additional marketing cost. You don’t want to overdo it where it feels like they’re getting overwhelmed with offers, so like I said “sprinkle” it in there here and there. Once we started using Social Media platforms as a business tool rather than a personal tool only we onboard more clients on a monthly basis and have a deeper connection with which each client, this increases our LTV (Lifetime Value) per client. The reason that it increases the LTV is because they have a deeper connection with us because they literally have seen our faces and like or comment on our posts. When you can see who your working with and feel a connection with them it makes it harder to leave. It’s easier to stop doing business with someone you’ve never seen or hardly interact with. We have literally doubled down on Social Meda by hiring a full time in-house videographer that walks around the office filming on a daily basis. This gives us daily content, some tax tips, some business advice or at least our theories on business and then a few offers or discounted offers every so often.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

I would say flying out to New York and going to the VaynerMedia offices. We did a deal with VaynerSports in 2017 to have one of their signed NFL players be a sponsored athlete for Easier Accounting. To walk into an office that was 3 stories and 72,000 square feet was incredible. We spoke with AJ Vaynerchuck about his strategy for building VaynerSports and it was spot on to what our plans were with Easier Accounting. We sat and talked about building businesses that run at a loss for 3–5 years for the purpose of building something special. It made us (me and my partners) know that we were doing the right thing and helped reenergize us to stay focused on the reason we started the company and our long-term goals. Thank AJ!

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

The funniest mistake, this is a tough one. Usually, mistakes aren’t that funny because they cost you money. I would agree that there is always a lesson within each mistake. This isn’t funny but I would say is very relevant to a lot of newer business owners. The biggest mistake I made was thinking that no one can do what I could do as well as me. I had a lot of fear of stepping down from the business I was running and helped build because of fear and ego. I feared that someone would tank what I built and my ego was largely tied to the fact that everyone turned to me for all the answers, being the go-to guy. When running a company you’re constantly putting out fires and then trying to find the long-term solution so that same problem doesn’t reappear. After operating a business for 5–10 years I think you’ve taken it as far as you can and its time for a new brain to be at the helm. A new set of eyes can see things differently and make positive changes that you didn’t even think about. I think a lot of business owners hold their businesses back by not giving up operational control to someone else once they’ve hit a stagnant revenue level year and year. If the company is still growing, by all means, keep running the business, if its no longer growing then think about putting someone else in control of day to day operations.

Which social media platform have you found to be most effective to use to increase business revenues? Can you share a story from your experience?

We have seen more traffic/revenue come from Facebook. I think its because people are more likely to read ads/offers they see on Facebook than they do on Instagram. Instagram was built around 60 second videos and to get away from all the writing on Facebook.

Facebook was built for writing thoughts originally and has morphed to what it is today. Instagram is a great place for videos and pictures but when it comes to reading an entire ad or offer under the post it won’t yield the same results as Facebook. People are more used to using Facebook for reading articles and click on links than they are on Instagram.

Instagram is still effective and if you’re more visually selling, like an artist that sells paintings would want to use videos or pictures to do your selling, then use Instagram. They can video themselves throughout the process of painting something and post those and use the pictures posts for the finished product. If you need to have an explanation behind your product or service I would use Facebook. Doing accounting isn’t something that is visually fun for people to watch so we need to talk and type out an offer which is why Facebook has been better for us.

Let’s talk about Instagram specifically, now. Can you share 6 ways to leverage Instagram to dramatically improve your business? Please share a story or example for each.

1. I will start with the Bio — Make sure that you are clear about who the company is and what you do while mixing in something positive/fun. This can be one of the first deciding factors whether someone looks deeper and ends up following you. If we only put “Accounting Firm” and left it at that it wouldn’t catch someone’s eye. We start with “Easier Accounting — Built for Entrepreneurs by Entrepreneurs”, then “Documenting our journey building Easier”. People love documentaries and reality TV so if they feel like they’ll be watching you grow over time they will be more intrigued. Throw a few emoji’s in there to make it fun and catch their eye.

2. Make sure that your business contact info is accessible. Some Instagram accounts haven’t linked up there company phone numbers, email or website. They think someone will direct message them if they have questions which does happen but make sure they can do further research right from your Instagram by linking your website so they can click on it and get redirected immediately.

3. Switch things up. Make sure you’re posting videos as well as pictures from around your office or place of business. If you look up “#accounting” on Instagram you will see so many stock image/photos in an attempt to look professional. The whole point of Social Media to be more transparent. People want to see who they’re working with and videos will show more of your company’s personality so to speak. If you look at our Instagram account you’ll see a lot of videos, some fun and goofing off and some more serious and motivational.

4. Do Giveaways — People love free stuff and or money. This also will give you an opportunity to grow your following. In the accounting world, you can write these giveaways off as a “promotional expense” which is different from marketing expense or donation. How you can use this to increase your following is as follows, you have someone “tag 3 friends” to be entered in the giveaway. We do $500 giveaways and switch it up for example, Win $200 and Tag 3 friends that you want to each win $100 and if you’re selected you win $200 they each get $100. They must like this point and follow our account in order to win. In some cases they only need to tag one person and the winner gets $300 and the person they tagged get $200. It makes it fun for everyone involved. This way your engagement goes way up and you get followers faster, this is more people that you can remarket.

5. Hashtags — You want to make sure that you have some hashtags that are relevant to your business and post them with your post. What you’ll see when you do that is you’ll get those organic followers that are looking at that hashtag and find you. Look at it like a keyword on google that people bid on. If someone types in “accounting” then we have to bid on that keyword and pay for that provided someone clicks on it. With Instagram, you don’t have to pay for the hashtag (or keyword) so if someone is searching accounting in the hashtags then I would say that is a potential customer for our company. What I do is, I go back weeks and post the hashtags under older post so when I first post it doesn’t look like I have a million hashtags on it. This way people can just appreciate the post for what it is rather than seeing all the #. Then after that post ages for 6–8 weeks I post hashtags under it, this way there are daily hashtags out there and my followers are seeing a ton of hashtags themselves.

6. Post Daily and Engage — If want your business to see a positive impact on Instagram then post daily and engage with the people that comment on your posts. There is so much content out there that you need to stay in front of people. Some things won’t get a lot of likes or comments which is fine. This doesn’t mean its not being seen. Not everything you post will get in front of your followers, the more you post the more you control that. I would say that even we need to step up our game and post more but you will ALWAYS see us post at least one post per day but ideally is at least 2–3 posts a day. Somedays we will post tax tips videos, general business advice or a simple motivational quote that we create and then credit the source but then put our logo on it for branding. When you post daily you will start to find ways to have more fun with it and the real you will start to come out as you get used to using Instagram. Most start will first start out posting what they think people want to see and then they run out of ideas of what they think people want to see. Once they run out of those ideas is where their real self comes out and that is when it will have a bigger impact on your business. People want to feel like they know who they’re working with.

Encouragement, we need to be more encouraging of each other. There isn’t to many feeling on this earth that is better than making someone else feel good about themselves. Too many default to negative when they see someone trying to do something better for themselves and one of the first things you’ll see is someone belittling or naysaying what they’re trying to do. Life and business would be easier if we all were bigger cheerleaders for each other. I guess I’ll end it with #encouragement.

I would most likely say Grant Cardone. We have very similar pasts regarding little formal education and addiction problems. I never stepped foot in a college and didn’t even walk with my class. I got my diploma 6 months after my class graduated by taking packages to get enough credits. Shortly after high school, early in my sales career, I had addiction problems which I have since faced and have overcome 12 plus years ago. I think having some common ground helps make a conversation easier and from there it goes onto building a business relationship. Not to mention, I would love to met him to sell him on the idea of doing a shout out to Easier Accounting on his Social Media platforms. From there incentive him by offering him an affiliate commision on signups. Always have to be thinking about the next big move!

Thank you so much for these great insights. This was very enlightening!

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Switch things up.” was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Learn about Gen Z through their eyes”…

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Learn about Gen Z through their eyes” With Jaya Jaya Myra and Candice Georgiadis

Learn about Gen Z through their eyes. Every generation has differences in what is the best way to market to them. Since so many young people use IG, take advantage of this. See what they’re saying and doing, and why.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Jaya Jaya Myra, an internationally acclaimed author, motivational speaker, and creator of the Well Method. After healing herself naturally from debilitating fibromyalgia, Myra developed the Well Method to teach others how to live a healthy, fulfilled and successful life based on each person’s unique elemental composition. Her approach to wellness and purpose shows why one-size-fits-all solutions don’t work for everyone, and how to find what will work for you.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Wellness has always been a priority of mine, growing up in a family that was anything but “well.” I’ve always wanted to heal people and help others live their best possible lives. I started out thinking about this only in terms of what I could do to help, but I later learned how I promoted myself was equally as important as the message and work itself. That led me to learn everything I could about marketing, branding and publicity, and to keep current with social media.

Can you explain to our readers why you are an authority about Social Media Marketing?

Many years ago I opened a marketing, branding and PR consulting firm based in NYC, working with agencies, major brands and startups. I’ve been leading marketing initiatives for amazing clients for over 12 years. In the current marketing landscape, social media marketing is crucial to understand well if you want to grow your influence and really succeed as a brand or business.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

The most interesting (and exciting) thing to me was being able to become a recurring guest on national TV. That was so much fun! My first national TV experience solidified for me the importance of media (including social media) for inspiring and motivating others to succeed. That was the point of no return that solidified my desire to do more with visual media on TV, and also social media. In case you’re wondering the connection between TV and social media, TV needs ratings, and if you have a large following you are more likely to get featured on TV than if you don’t have a social following.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

When I first started using social media, I avoided Instagram completely. That was a huge mistake! It’s by far one of the most dynamic and engaged social media outlets out there right now. I was intimidated because it’s all visual, and I am not a designer or a photographer. I’ve since found ways to use IG that work well for me, and now it’s my favorite channel to create content for because the type of content is so authentic and engaging.

Which social media platform have you found to be most effective to use to increase business revenues? Can you share a story from your experience?

Twitter and Instagram. I’ve found you get lots of very high caliber business people on Twitter, probably because of the low barrier to entry (aka, a 260-character tweet and click of a button to retweet works great for busy CEO’s, versus a visual IG post that takes time to create). Also, Twitter doesn’t limit the number of people you can follow, so you have near unlimited growth potential. It’s a great way to connect with lots of people. I’ve made some amazing business deals from people and brands I’ve met by connecting on Twitter, so don’t ever underestimate this channel! People tend to, but my experience has shown that Twitter can outperform LinkedIn for business, if you use it right.

Instagram has also been great, especially for growing my mailing list; I’ve found people tend to be more engaged and communicative on Instagram. For example, if I send a message saying I have a free offer available on my website if you join my mailing list, I get a thoughtful reply and people join my list. This doesn’t happen much on any other social media channel.

Let’s talk about Instagram specifically, now. Can you share 6 ways to leverage Instagram to dramatically improve your business? Please share a story or example for each.

DM’s to followers — grow your list. If you direct message your followers, they will likely write you back, making it easier to communicate with new people and grow your business. I’ve found it’s easy to grow my mailing list this way; even better than my free offer on my website.
Show behind the scenes content. People want to know, like and trust you before they’ll do business with you. IG allows a great visual platform to show people what’s going on behind the scenes on a daily basis. In fact, people tend to like authentic content of this type even more than highly curated video or graphic-designed posts.
Brand segmentation. If you really look at the kind of content your followers are posting, you can get great insight into what people in different audience segments value. IG makes this easy since it’s so visual. This is a great exercise to use when working on your brand and knowing how to target audiences of different types.
Learn about Gen Z through their eyes. Every generation has differences in what is the best way to market to them. Since so many young people use IG, take advantage of this. See what they’re saying and doing, and why.
Poll your followers. Instagram makes it super easy to poll your followers via your IG story. You can get tons of data this way from your followers and know exactly what they want from you.
Launch a content or giveaway. This is a great way to engage your current followers and attract new ones. You’ll likely find using IG for this works much better than your email list. Post your giveaway and tell your followers to tag 2 of their friends in the post to enter. You’ll draw more people to your page that will likely engage with you (because people don’t ever want to tag their friends and spam them, so they’ll tag people who are likely genuinely interested in you). Hopefully you’ll get more followers this way, and also remind your current ones why you’re so awesome. Remember, if they like you they’ll want to do business with you.

I would like to inspire people to be the best possible version of themselves. The more you work on yourself, the more confident and charismatic you’ll become, and this is how you start to influence others and make change in the world. There is so much a single person can do, and more people would realize this if they’d only get out of their comfort zones and try. I believe being the best version of yourself helps individuals to be more successful, and can help build an empowered, diverse and tolerant society.

Definitely, Harry Connick Jr. His daytime show was the first national TV appearance I did, and the first time I was there taping, it was my birthday. It was one of my most awesome experiences ever; a day I’ll never forget, and he is such an awesome person! I did segments on his daytime show talking about food for mood, and how food can affect your mind and emotions in powerful ways and make or break major life events. Harry mentioned it would be fun to have dinner so I could tell him how the food would affect his mood, and I agree!

Thank you so much for these great insights. This was very enlightening!

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Learn about Gen Z through their eyes”… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Demonstrate your success stories”…

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Demonstrate your success stories” With TV Host Shannon O’Dowd and Candice Georgiadis

Demonstrate your success stories: Before and afters are so powerful as well as redemption stories. If you can show your product or service helping people in a clear way, you are using the platform in the most effective way. Videos are great, testimonials are awesome, before and after shots, etc. are all powerful for consumers.

I had the pleasure to interview Shannon O’Dowd. Shannon is a TV Host/Spokesperson as well as an on-camera coach and media trainer who specializes in TV hosts, influencers, and experts. Originally from St. Petersburg, FL with a degree in Theatre Performance from Florida State University, she has been working on both sides of the camera (as on-camera host and also as a coach), for well over a decade. As on-camera talent, she has been the spokesperson for several national commercial campaigns including Cable One, Sunsweet Raisins, OfficeMax, Invisalign, and Nissan. As a host, she has been on QVC as well as being the face of many spots in the infomercial world including Keurig, Aerobed, Instant Figure, Nano Gym, Lipozene, Bankruptcy Legal Network, etc. As a coach, she has clients on the Today Show, the Doctors, HGTV, Hallmark, WE, DIY, QVC, HSN, and on talk shows, news appearances, morning shows, and more! Her training focuses on camera technique, brand messaging, talking points, and sound bites for TV Appearances, Press Junkets, Talk Shows, Social Media, etc. Shannon specializes in getting the best performance possible out of her clients with spot-on adjustments & information that “sticks” & aids in many areas, even beyond just on-camera work. Shannon is precise, insightful, fun, and great at getting the best performance possible from her clients.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?:

I started out in LA as an actor and would freelance line produce when not acting. Producing also gave me an opportunity to create projects I could be in as well. By 2007, I went from a recurring role on Bold and the Beautiful to a series regular role in the first scripted drama on TLC called Diagnosis X. When that series didn’t get picked up for a second season because of the 2007/2008 writer’ strike (and a lot of theatrical work dried up for a time), I turned to auditioning for commercials. I quickly landed the role of the spokesperson for Sunsweet Raisins. It was all essentially hosting (talking directly to camera, interviewing). When a commercial director friend saw the spots, he said “you should be a host!”. I wasn’t even sure exactly what that meant. But we hired a shooter, went out a shot a hosting reel, I started auditioning for hosting opportunities, and the rest is history.

I also took a hosting class early on, and shortly after completing the class, I started teaching the level 1 of that class. I couldn’t believe how much I loved training aspiring hosts when I wasn’t working as a host myself. After 7 years of teaching for that studio, I broke off and started my own company where I both train hosts and provide media training for people who are experts in their field and want to take that expertise and transfer it to either TV appearances or even a career as a TV personality. Media training is so fun for me because you are not only helping your clients be good on TV, you are also co-creating their messaging and branding. I get to use my producer part of my brain as well as my coaching part of my brain. It’s the best of both worlds.

Can you explain to our readers why you are an authority about Social Media Marketing?:

As an on-camera coach and media trainer, I am often brand building for my clients along with their publicist, PR firm, agents, and/or managers. And a lot of my clientele over the last 5 years have become influencers. And the trend for influencers are they are being encouraged to put out more video content. Not just pretty pictures. Many influencers have no idea how to put out great video content. That’s where I come in. So we are creating content that their viewers want to see, testing, and adjusting/tweaking as we go. I have a pretty comprehensive understanding of social media marketing through going through that process with so many of my clients. I know what works.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

I think the most interesting moment in my career is definitely when I was the spokesperson for Cable One and I had a bobble head made that was me! They actually measured every angle of my head to be as accurate as possible, and took so many pictures of my head as well! And when I would go to do meet and greets at the Cable One headquarters and sign autographs for their employees every year, most of them would have my bobble head on their desk. It was surreal!

Which social media platform have you found to be most effective to use to increase business revenues? Can you share a story from your experience?:

Instagram is really the leading social media platform in general. LinkedIn is working on being more of a contender and has the potential to be really impactful since it’s already so career/business related and are now allowing for video content by users, etc.

If you are looking to run ads, Facebook ads have been popular in the past. The downside to this is that now Facebook’s demographic is older now that a lot the younger generation is leaving Facebook. And the trend is that people 45+ are less likely to buy from those type of ads and are pretty set already with their buying decisions (i.e. they know the brands/products they like and aren’t likely to change). Therefore ads through IG (who is owned by Facebook) with a smaller media buy on Facebook might be a good way to go.

Let’s talk about Instagram specifically, now. Can you share 6 ways to leverage Instagram to dramatically improve your business? Please share a story or example for each.

1) Utilizing the platform: Make sure the link in your bio to easily direct you followers to begin the process of buying your products or services. Also offering deals and promo codes to your followers through that link also really helps to make them feel special for being part of your group. Make sure you also are tagging companies like you that you might want to collaborate with or who has followers that would also be interested in your services. And in Instagram, doing an Instastory promoting each of your regular posts that exist in your grid is a good way to show your followers you posted something new (since it’s relatively still new to the platform, IG still favors Instastory posts in their algorithm).

2) Utilize Supporting Apps: Making sure you are using programs like follow/unfollow, cleaner, VSCO or Facetune, etc. will put you in the game of utilizing social media’s potential and looking super professional in your posts.

3) Find Out What People Want: Use your posts to find out what you followers need and want from you. You can do a post asking people what their frustrations are in __ space or what they most want when they see __ person/company for ___ service. Your followers will feel like you really care about them PLUS you are getting a free focus group to discover what people want from you and how you can serve them in a more thorough capacity.

4) Demonstrate your success stories: Before and afters are so powerful as well as redemption stories. If you can show your product or service helping people in a clear way, you are using the platform in the most effective way. Videos are great, testimonials are awesome, before and after shots, etc. are all powerful for consumers.

5) Engage With Your Followers: This should be done within the first 24 HOURS of your post. Comment back to those who left you a comment. It’s also great to go their page and find out something about them to use in your comment back. This will create a genuine interaction. Also, going on their page and commenting on a post they did is great for relationship building with your followers. And following people and brands in your space or field and like/commenting on their stuff is a great way to get them to not only return the love but also creates a space for future collaborations where you can potentially get followers from each other.

I am really passionate about animals. They have always been my cause and animal welfare organizations are always where I make my monthly contributions. I think if I could inspire a movement that would bring about real change, it would be to end factory farming. I’m not advocating everyone be vegan. I think we as a society can find a way to continue to consume meat while still giving those animals a humane life while they are alive. I think the way we breed, contain/confine, and treat the animals we intend to eat is barbaric and inhumane.

If I could have breakfast with anyone in one of these fields, it would probably be Reese Witherspoon. I love that she has branched out to being such a powerhouse producer with such an amazing production company putting out really thoughtful, interesting, layered content. I also think she is an advocate for women and their right to receive equal pay and opportunities without using her energy to shame all men for the inequities of the past or the ones we are still working to correct. We are all in this together and I think it’s important to remember that.

Thank you so much for these great insights. This was very enlightening!

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Demonstrate your success stories”… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Create a content calendar” With…

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Create a content calendar” With Veronica Belmont of Adobe Spark and Candice Georgiadis

Create a content calendar. As I mentioned, posting on a consistent basis is the best way to stay top-of-mind for your users. Creating a content calendar (I love using Airtable for this kind of project) enables you to have a future-looking plan of all the things you want to communicate. Maybe you’re planning posts for the holidays, or you have a special promotion that you’re going to be running. Front-loading a bunch of content will make it a lot easier to get those posts out when they’re most effective.

I had the pleasure to interview Veronica Belmont. Veronica is a product manager, podcaster, and technology evangelist living in San Francisco.

At Adobe, she is a product manager and evangelist on the Adobe Spark team, where she works to help social media creators, marketers, and influencers bring their brands and creative ideas to the masses.

As a podcaster, she previously hosted Mozilla’s IRL: Online Life is Real Life, where she spoke to people all over the world about how technology and the internet is shaping their existence — from the relationships we make to the policy that is changing how we even access the web. On the Hugo-nominated Sword & Laser (co-hosted with Tom Merritt), they cover the latest news in science fiction and fantasy, interview authors, and discuss the monthly book picks.

Veronica has also worked extensively as a public speaker, startup advisor, and presenter for companies of all sizes, including IBM, Intel, Sony, AOL, Discovery Digital, and more.

In the world of gaming, she was the host of Playstation’s first digital magazine, Qore, and is the co-founder of the largest World of Warcraft guild in North America.

Veronica was named one of the most influential women in technology by Fast Company, and received the Young Alumni award from her alma mater, Emerson College, in 2012.

Thank you so much for joining us Veronica! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I’ve had a somewhat unusual career path! I started as an audio/video producer, began podcasting, moved professionally into on-camera hosting and producing, started working with startups as an advisor, and then transitioned into product management. The common thread is that I’ve always lived at the intersection of technology and creative expression. I’ve never been especially “artistic,” so finding ways to use tech to express myself has been important.

Can you explain to our readers why you are an authority about Social Media Marketing?

First of all, I’d love to get into how we (our team at Adobe Spark) thinks of “social media marketing.” This was one of the things that resonated most with me when I joined. We’re all social media marketers. If you have a side hustle, or a charity you’re passionate about, or you’re a freelancer like I was, you’re implementing the same strategies for your own content that many social media marketers employ at massive brands. Understanding your audience and knowing how to craft your message is just the start. I’ve worked with both planning and participating in campaigns of all sizes, so I’ve definitely seen what works and what doesn’t.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

That’s a good one! I think for me, the most interesting thing that happened was how I got my first product job. I decided to switch careers back in 2016, to get out of freelance production and into product management. But though I felt that I had the skills necessary to get into that field, I didn’t have the typical background to make the jump into a big company. So I started learning as much as possible, and establishing domain expertise in areas that interested me. One of those areas was around bots and conversational interfaces. I spent months becoming an expert in that area, and reading and writing all about the industry. Eventually, I became an admin for a huge Slack community of bot makers and enthusiasts, called BotMakers. Another member saw me in there, and heard that I was looking for a PM role. Lo and behold, he hired me to be the first employee at their new startup as a PM. So there was some luck there, but I also positioned myself in the right way for success.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I won’t name names, but I will say that at my first week at one job, I forwarded a phishing scam email to a coworker, which caused our Instagram account to be compromised. I felt horrible because 1. I should have known better (I have literally recorded entire podcasts about the danger of phishing scams), and 2. I put another coworker in a terrible position, and 3. IT WAS MY FIRST WEEK ON THE JOB. Everything worked out ok, but I felt terrible.

Which social media platform have you found to be most effective to use to increase business revenues?

It really depends on where your audience is, but I’ve seen the most success for companies with Instagram. Instagram gives brands the most support, I’d say, for reaching the right users with targeted ads while also now giving them the ability to sell directly from the platform. Plus, there are endless social media influencers that have access to very targeted audiences that can fit a micro-brand’s niche perfectly. Plus, I think it allows brands to have conversations with customers in a really authentic way.

Let’s talk about Instagram specifically, now. Can you share 6 ways to leverage Instagram to dramatically improve your business? Please share a story or example for each.

1. Have a consistent look and feel to your posts

We all know the importance of a good brand, but carrying that over to your visual aesthetic on Instagram is important too. Brands and influencers alike are using tricks like custom Lightroom presets or consistency around content (and how often you post) gives customers a sense of familiarity. Plus, they know to look forward to your content every day!

2. Be a fan!

If you want people to be a fan of your brand, then you need to be a fan of your users. Get out there and find the people who represent the message your brand is trying to convey. If you’re a fitness brand, find the influencers in that space, follow them, and engage with them on Instagram! Comment on their posts, like, etc, but make sure it stays authentic. People can smell a phony (or a bot) a mile away, and that will do more to hurt your reputation than help. And most importantly, integrate user-generated content into your feed! It shows you’re appreciative of your viewers and fans.

3. Make use of Instagram’s tools

Instagram lets your create shoppable posts, so if you’re selling goods make sure to use this important feature. If Instagram is where your customers are (and for some brands, it might not be!) then make it as easy as possible for them to buy what you’re selling. Make sure the images are clear and beautiful, and that you have an active Business Instagram account that’s linked to a Facebook page. There are some other rules as well, so check up on them before you get started.

4. Create a content calendar

As I mentioned, posting on a consistent basis is the best way to stay top-of-mind for your users. Creating a content calendar (I love using Airtable for this kind of project) enables you to have a future-looking plan of all the things you want to communicate. Maybe you’re planning posts for the holidays, or you have a special promotion that you’re going to be running. Front-loading a bunch of content will make it a lot easier to get those posts out when they’re most effective.

5. Use templates!

I’m a little biased here, considering I work on the Adobe Spark team, but I’m a huge fan of templates — and Spark has a lot of great ones to choose from. I’m not a designer, but I know what looks good. Being able to create content using templates designed by actual professionals helps me have a starting point to work from. Plus, if you’re using multiple social networks to promote your brand or business, it helps to have those templates be able to switch between aspect ratios for everything automatically. You’ve got enough on your brain to have to remember which networks are square or 16:9.

6. Hashtags are your friend

When I first started out, hashtags seemed like an unnecessary addition to my posts. However, I’ve seen how well they’ve helped people find their niche online, and how well they’ve enabled brands to expand their reach on Instagram (where pretty much everyone company in the world has a presence). Create something very specific to your brand identity, and encourage your fans to post with that hashtag. Essentially, you’re helping your community go viral without having to do all the work.

Be kind. It’s so easy to say, but it can be very hard to live (especially online, where people feel like there’s very little consequence to NOT being kind). That can mean responding to an email request for help or advice, or saying something nice to someone who is having a tough time. It’s so easy to get caught up in all the vitriol online something, but a little kindness can go a very long way.

Serena Williams. She’s kind of my idol right now. So smart, savvy, and dedicated to her passions. Also I want her workout tips!

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Create a content calendar” With… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Use Automation Lightly” With Ashley…

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Use Automation Lightly” With Ashley Graham and Candice Georgiadis

Use Automation Lightly. Organic is always the best engagement you can have. No one enjoys bots or spam! There have been a plethora of automation tools that have emerged on the Internet, claiming to “instantly boost your Instagram engagements.” In reality, it is hard to gain followers and likes overnight without putting in actual work. Utilizing these commercial programs allow bots to run your account, commenting and liking posts under your behalf. Although this can attract new visitors to your Instagram, it goes against Instagram’s policies and brings in “fake followers” that may or may not be interested in your business at all. As long as you post consistent, relevant content, the engagement will come.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Ashley Graham, the founder and creative director of Brandesso, a modern-day brand communications agency that infuses brand authority through caffeinated strategies and communications through social media and other media outlets. To Brandesso, every brand has a unique story. Their creative process is to filter the raw, unique details of a brand and incorporate a well rounded methodology and strategy that brews the brand to stand out in their industry as an authoritative figure.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Thank you for the opportunity! I have thoroughly enjoyed my odd adventures that have led me to my career path in which I am excited to share them with you. To paint the picture, individuals who are in marketing have a special ability to notice the world around them and express their observations in a way that allures and attracts the eyes and/or minds of others around them. That is the power of marketing.

Aside from working in-house, I come from an influencer background where working with brands on their social media campaigns and their content plans became an integrated part of my career. As someone who is connected to sharing brand stories and making the connection between a brand and their audience, I wanted to not only continue the work, but I wanted the opportunity to also perform on a larger scale. Through various alignments, opportunities, and a deep passion for marketing, I discovered the drive to launch an agency-type business after running an influencer-driven hobby, and hitting the milestone of 12 years in marketing.

Q: Can you explain to our readers why you are an authority about Social Media Marketing?

The psychology and meaning behind being social, is the act of pleasant companionship with friends or associates, as well as the interactions between individuals and/or a group of individuals creating a community with one another. The key behind great marketing on social media is being able to “talk” to your audience online as if they not a number, but a personality.

What makes me an authority in Social Media Marketing is my passion for truly connecting with people online. We live in a data-driven world in which from a business standpoint, it is important to track and monitor the type of engagement and reach we achieve for our clients. However, there is much more to social media than just numbers. In business, building and maintaining strategic relationships with your clients and community is important to the longevity of a business, so why not translate that online? I believe what makes me an authoritative figure on social media is being able to recognize the disconnect in the way we communicate online versus offline, and relay that information to those around me in order to make a positive impact on how we can communicate as a whole.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

I am not sure if you would call it the most interesting, but I have had unique experiences that have happened at the lowest points in my business, in which challenged how I perceived the value and mindset of my business. As with any entrepreneur, there are countless bumps and bruises you are faced with that present you with a “fight or flight” response on how to manage certain challenges. What has kept me going at the absolute lowest points of wanting to flight and withdraw from the business, was the power of miraculous happenings at the most opportune moments.

I have been working with an advisory group in Chicago called Cultivate Advisors. My initial introduction to this business was made through nurturing a relationship with their brand through LinkedIn. Back in September of 2018, they hosted a conference for their current clientele as well as potential new clients in which they hosted a giveaway campaign for new prospective clients to enter in hopes to win a ticket. Needless to say, I entered the giveaway in hopes to win a ticket but did not win.

A few weeks from entering had flown by and I noticed I received an email from one of their advisors. They had been monitoring my posts on LinkedIn and felt that I would be a promising addition to the conference in which they extended a complimentary ticket. Seeing as I valued the opportunity and their generosity, I packed my bags and flew out to Chicago.

As a way to give back to those in attendance, the speakers decided to host a small social media giveaway for the attendees, which included 3 complimentary consulting hours with the CEO of Cultivate Advisors, Casey Clark. Seeing as I found myself at the low point in my business, I set the intention to win that contest in which I did. It was one of the most rewarding feelings I’ve had this year.

Working with an advisory group has not only shifted my perspective in business, but also how to effectively track and monitor the process of scaling. If I could give any advice to a professional who is wanting to transition from their current positions to a role in entrepreneurship or running a business, it would be to save the finances to invest in an advisor before starting. It would help to eliminate some of the headaches you face making that first step and is also comforting knowing you have someone on the sidelines rooting for you from a structural standpoint.

In conjunction with more of the holistic opportunities I’ve had since I started my business, I have had the opportunity to engage in a few local speaking engagements in which I hope to continue to expand those opportunities in the near future.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I wouldn’t say this mistake was funny at the time (it was actually quite humiliating) but looking back on it, I chuckle. When writing content for any type of medium such as a website, social media, e-newsletter campaigns, errors with grammar and spell-check are bound to happen and sometimes out of your control.

I was working on a e-newsletter campaign for a client that focused on announcing new ownership in which I had to elaborate on the owners name. After the draft was completed, I sent it over to the client for review, in which they brought attention to how their last name was spelled incorrectly. Unsure as to how this mistake could have happened (I clearly knew how the last name was spelled) I logged into the account to fix the variation of the last name and scheduled the email to go out. Within 15 minutes of the email being sent to a fairly large database, I received a text message from the client in which stated the last name was still spelled incorrectly.

The moral of the story is even when you think you have checked for spelling errors over 150+ times, check and review another 150+ times to make sure there is nothing that fell through the cracks.. And then recheck. I blame autocorrect, haha.

Which social media platform have you found to be most effective to use to increase business revenues? Can you share a story from your experience?

The social media platform I find to be the most effective to increase business awareness to translate into revenue, has been LinkedIn. Compared to most social media platforms that are used for business purposes, I find LinkedIn to be the most “professional” as you are able to construct your profile in a business-oriented way, to not only showcase your business, but you as a professional/individual.

I recently launched a new program where potential clients or industry professionals can book a discovery consulting call with me for 30-minutes which is an in-depth call for them to ask me any branding or marketing issues they need clarification on or extra guidance on what they need to do to accomplish certain goals for their brand awareness. I have received the most inquiries through LinkedIn for this launch, as I feel the people who are utilizing LinkedIn to its full ability are already in the mindset to pursuing certain business transactions or to gain further industry knowledge.

Let’s talk about Instagram specifically, now. Can you share 6 ways to leverage Instagram to dramatically improve your business? Please share a story or example for each.

Connect/Engage With Local and National Businesses in Your Industry/Niche

There’s a reason why it’s called social media. It’s all about socializing with those around you! It is important to engage with your following. Often times we get so caught up with numbers, we forget about those around us. Connect with local businesses in your area or other businesses in your industry in order to create a support system to cross-collaborate. Do more than just follow! Engage with their posts, get an understanding of their business and what they offer.

Post Consistently

It can be difficult finding time to post social media content when your agenda is already packed. However, with the help of social media management tools such as Sprout Social & Hootsuite, posts can be scheduled out anytime, anywhere. You can connect all your social media platforms, giving you the power to schedule and monitor posts seamlessly across them all. Posting consistently allows your feed to be fresh, offering new content for visitors to interact with.

Post Relevant Photos With Branded Captions

Instagram can help customers learn more about your business and what it offers. When creating content, keep your brand personality in mind. How do you want visitors to view your business? What do you want them know? Post photos that are relevant, only sharing content that amplifies your brand! Don’t forget to pair them up with witty branded captions! We might know a thing or two about that ?

Use Relevant Hashtags

Want your photos to reach new specific niches while growing your engagement organically? Utilize hashtags! Hashtags make it easier for users to find your photos, grabbing the attention of those who may be unfamiliar with your business. Use hashtags that are both trendy and applicable to your brand. They say “the more the merrier”, but that may not be the case for hashtags.

Keep Aesthetics in Mind

Instagram is all about visual creativity! Popular Instagram accounts all have one thing in common — they have coherent feeds. Create an aesthetic that is deeply rooted to your brand identity, following a common theme that can speak volumes about what you’re all about! Understand your brand and put #nofilter on your values, let them shine through your posts! Create photos that help illustrate your brand personality through a fixated theme, whether it be modern and minimalistic or cute and colorful! Utilize mobile applications like UNUM and VSCO to edit your photos and plan your feeds.

Use Automation Lightly

Organic is always the best engagement you can have. No one enjoys bots or spam! There have been a plethora of automation tools that have emerged on the Internet, claiming to “instantly boost your Instagram engagements.” In reality, it is hard to gain followers and likes overnight without putting in actual work. Utilizing these commercial programs allow bots to run your account, commenting and liking posts under your behalf. Although this can attract new visitors to your Instagram, it goes against Instagram’s policies and brings in “fake followers” that may or may not be interested in your business at all. As long as you post consistent, relevant content, the engagement will come.

One of the biggest conflictions I have noticed in business is the lack of compassion and respect in transactional relationships. I truly believe that there can be a holistic approach to doing business, even when it comes to money.

I would love to meet the model Ashley Graham in person. Not only do I resonate with her name (obvi), I also admire her courage and drive to channel her own experiences in life to help the well-being of others. She is the epitome of a go-getter in showing that she doesn’t take grief from anyone, is proud of who she is as a woman, and wants to make a positive difference in the lives of others.

Social media, including Instagram, is such a powerful tool if used correctly. Not only do I utilize social media to connect with wider audiences in hopes to attract more business, but I also use it to showcase the real, authentic experiences and struggles that I face being an entrepreneur, and how I can help motivate and encourage others to still pursue their dreams, regardless of how difficult it may be. Getting out of the “fear” mindset is crucial when pursuing an entrepreneurial role, in which I believe I can relate with Ashley Graham on this and every level.

Thank you so much for these great insights. This was very enlightening!

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Use Automation Lightly” With Ashley… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Carousels can be a great way to…

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Carousels can be a great way to improve business” With Logan Bennett and Candice Georgiadis

CAROUSELS CAN BE A GREAT WAY TO IMPROVE BUSINESS
Carousels can be used a number of different ways. One way I’ve used carousels is to show different pieces of content to tell a complete story. I worked on marketing for a major beer brand in the past, and we used the carousel to tell a sequential story inside the creative campaign.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Logan Bennett, who is the Chief Experience Officer at the marketing agency Secret Fort. He sits at the center of strategy, technology, and creative to help expand ideas and bring holistic and personalized consumer experiences to life. At Secret Fort, he leverages his award-winning experience to work hand-in-hand with in-house agencies and marketing teams to lead tech innovation, consumer experience, and data strategy to help develop and evolve brand storytelling. His “idea first, digital everywhere” mindset plays an integral role at successful work for a wide range of brands including AMC, Tyson, Coors Family of Brands, Gatorade, Intel, Toshiba, and more.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Chance brought me into marketing. In 2008, I was working in payroll for a global corporation — a job I hated and was eventually laid off from mid-recession. In my scramble to find another job, I ended up back in school through an Obama-era program that allowed students to collect unemployment.

The first class I took was marketing … and here I am.

Of course, it wasn’t that simple. After fortuitously landing in that marketing class and finding a subject that captivated me, I networked like crazy in order to get a competitive job once I graduated. LinkedIn was yet to have its titanic influence over networking, so I turned to Twitter, and I was able to talk to influential advertising industry folks from around the US.

Online chats led to coffee, which then led to meeting a guy named Reggie Wildeman. Something I said impressed him. He helped get me an internship, which led to a full time job before I had graduated.

Can you explain to our readers why you are an authority about Social Media Marketing?

From my time as Group Director, Creative Technology — North America at VML to my current position as Chief Experience Officer at the Secret Fort, social media has always been an integral part of the work I’ve helped carry out.

While my roles haven’t exclusively focused on social, my expertise is in technologies and how these can work together with social for fully integrated experiences. This experience spans strategy for brands of all sizes to figure out how to “hack” platforms to fit specific needs.

Bottom line, my work on brands such as Gatorade, Coors Light, and Hillshire Farm has taught me this: Social must be a carefully strategized part of every brand’s marketing. Whether it’s B2B or B2C or a younger or older target, brands must continue to adapt to the evolving social media space and keep it in the marketing mix.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

In the decade I’ve been in this business, the proliferation of digital, social, and technology has been profound. These are such a part of our lives now that we forget it was only a short time ago that they were introduced to our lives and to marketing.

I’ve worked around a lot of old school advertisers that didn’t believe the hype in digital and social, even when all the signs were right in front of their eyes. I still encounter people who refuse to believe that consumers are spending more and more of their attention on those channels than on broadcast.

This fall alone, we saw a 10% decline in broadcast TV viewership with people flocking to Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon; Hulu is the only one of the three platforms that allows advertising. It’s been interesting and perplexing to continue to see advertisers simply use their broadcast spots on these types of platforms without taking the time to understand how messaging should be tailored to the audience and other new variables.

We’re experiencing the same need to adapt to the rise of AI, and I constantly witness brands drag their feet to change.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Well I suppose the thing I laugh at the most now, is what I thought was a mistake at the time but ended up being one of the best decisions of my career. It also didn’t feel funny at the time.

I moved from Portland, OR, to Chicago to start my career at a mid-sized agency. The agency was fine, but ultimately wasn’t a good fit for me. After six months, I was recruited by another agency. When I gave my notice, the CEO called me into his office and proceeded to berate me because of my decision to leave, telling me how connected he was in the industry and how he would get me blacklisted in the Chicago ad scene.

Would he call my new agency? Was moving to a job I was confident would be a better fit the wrong decision? My mind led me down a road of getting fired, not making rent, living on unemployment … None of that happened.

My choice to take that new job wasn’t a mistake in the slightest, and I now look back and laugh at that period of time. The agency I moved to grew to become one of the most awarded agencies in the past few years.

Mistakes — whether they really are mistakes or not — usually end up being an important part of your career. I learned: Always follow your gut; if something doesn’t feel like a fit, it isn’t; don’t be a jerk; treat everyone with respect and understanding.

Which social media platform have you found to be most effective to use to increase business revenues? Can you share a story from your experience?

Not what marketers want to hear, but there isn’t an easy answer. The most effective platform for your brand is the one that reaches YOUR audience and fits YOUR creative idea.

I once worked on a brand that had a younger audience and had historically carried out their social on Facebook and Snapchat. Creatives came to me with a fun idea they wanted to bring to life on Facebook, but we ultimately started looking at Twitch and evolved the idea to fit that platform. The platform choice turned the concept into a more engaging idea.

Bottom line, don’t pigeonhole yourself into using one platform over the other. Pay attention and cater to your consumers and creative.

Let’s talk about Instagram specifically, now. Can you share 6 ways to leverage Instagram to dramatically improve your business? Please share a story or example for each.

STORIES ARE KEY
Instagram stories are fast becoming the go-to place users spend their time. I’ve used stories in a number of different ways, including pure awareness. However, I’ve seen them be really good for conversion and engagement. The best conversion driving stories are incentive-based and get people to swipe up. Brands can also have a lot of fun with engagement in stories. I once worked on a campaign for a TV show where we used exclusive content and the tapping behavior to give fans the ability to see other “episodes” or plotlines that were built by the user depending on how they tapped through the story sequences.
THE FEED IS SOMETHING THAT CAN’T BE IGNORED
People tend to move through their feed slower than they do stories, but not that much slower. Content in the feed is usually more thought out, more carefully edited and filtered, more beautifully done. This gives you more of an opportunity to catch people’s attention. It also gives you a great opportunity to figure out what types of content works best in the feed. I worked on some major food brands in the past where we would do beautiful photo/video shoots and create beautiful thumb-stopping pictures or videos or GIFs to post in the feed on Instagram, both paid and unpaid.
CAROUSELS CAN BE A GREAT WAY TO IMPROVE BUSINESS
Carousels can be used a number of different ways. One way I’ve used carousels is to show different pieces of content to tell a complete story. I worked on marketing for a major beer brand in the past, and we used the carousel to tell a sequential story inside the creative campaign. Carousels can also be used to show different features of a single product. For that same beer brand, we used each carousel image to show off different product RTBs. Thirdly, carousels can be used to show all the products in a brand’s portfolio. Carousels will even let you use different links and different body copy for each product. That can be a great tool to drive traffic.
THE SHOPPING FEATURE CAN HELP DRIVE SALES
This is the newest Instagram feature for marketers and brands. Shopping can be accomplished inside stories, on posts in the feed, and inside Explore. This turns your Instagram content into visual storefronts. As more shopping continues to be done on visual platforms like Instagram and Pinterest, it is important brands strategically utilize these shopping features and stay up-to-date with the evolution of the tools Instagram offers.
INFLUENCERS CAN BE USED TO HELP GET YOUR WORD OUT Influencers are trusted voices. The tricky part with influencers is letting yourself as a brand manager let go of control. They work best when they aren’t being told when, where, and how to make a creative idea come to life. They know their fans best, so they know what is going to resonate with their followings. So, it’s crucial for a brand to find the right influencer that fits with their brand and with their creative idea that needs to be brought to life.
THE GRID IS ANOTHER WAY TO IMPROVE BUSINESS THROUGH GREATER ENGAGEMENT
This is one that is very tricky and doesn’t always yield the greatest potential. However, with the right creative idea it can be great. I’ve concepted campaigns that utilize the grid, such as one for a large food brand that beautifully showcased content from local farms that supplied food to the brand.

I’m passionate about helping people of color and all genders come into positions of equality. That movement towards equality, which I know a lot of people are passionate about, would have to: A. Help others understand the inequality of things and B. Figure out ways to make that equality a possibility.

For instance, I was thinking about the pay gap the other day. There are a lot of companies that are moving forward with equal pay. Well, how do you then become a company that embraces the equal pay idea without becoming a company that is just lip service? The only way to do that is have your entire employee workforce understand what a certain position gets paid and why. We must create systems that make that a reality.

Mark Cuban. First and foremost, he is a business wizard. The portfolio of companies he owns, support he’s given to other ventures, and foresight into opportunities is outstanding. Secondly, I really appreciate his political stances lately. He is probably the one Republican I can think of that — if he ran for office — I would have to stop and consider voting for.

Thank you so much for these great insights. This was very enlightening!

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Carousels can be a great way to… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.