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Author: christie

How to handle your social media as a local business during emergencies (like a hurricane!)

christie Social media tips and tricks

Businesses, DO NOT GO DARK on your social media when there are impending emergencies happening, like for instance, a hurricane coming (like Florida is experiencing right now.)

In fact, sometimes, these are the best times to engage with your followers, get involved with your community, and become a RESOURCE for them!

I’m going to share examples of how you can do that so that you can plan in advance, or if you’re in Florida, you can execute any of these right now.

Some industries have built-in content when it comes to hurricane preparation, like real estate, mortgage, insurance, even restaurants.

For instance, as a real estate agent, you can post:

  • Graphics with hurricane preparation kit lists
  • Live videos or video demonstrations of how to prepare your home or certain parts of a home (like a pool) for a hurricane
  • Realtime, live updates on where to find plywood or other supplies
  • What else you can do to prepare like take photos of important items around your house
  • Photos of evacuation zones (all public record)
  • Anything that has to do with securing your home or property
  • What YOU’RE DOING to prepare yourself and your family and/or your staff!

You can post anything hurricane-related in any field related to your industry too.

Some examples I’ve seen are:
When water runs out, some breweries began offering bottled water with their branding on it. Not only is this a great way to get involved in the community and help, but it’s great social content too (and you’ll get TV coverage for it!)

Whatever business you’re in, if you find a way to help in the community, filling or offering sandbags, offering free plywood if you’re a construction company, etc. use this as social content also!

You can update people on the hours of operation for your business via social media yes, and you should, but also if you are a brick and mortar, maybe you’re boarding up, or if (like near me), you’re located on a Main Street, the whole Main Street is boarded up. THAT’S VISUAL! Keep an eye out for visual elements from your town that you can post on social media.

If you know of other businesses that are helping or offering something, post about that! Social content does not have to be just about YOU. It’s there to be an additional way for you to SERVE.

BEFORE THE STORM

Before anything happens, and if you want to get into the meme game, post your funny memes! Those WILL get shared, as people tend to laugh through the tears and connect in situations like these.

AFTER THE STORM

But, when it’s over, always gauge the situation before you make light of it. If it’s a terrible situation, as a business, you might want to lay off the memes afterward. However, if it was a lot of hype and very little damage and more importantly, no one got hurt – let the memes fly!

After the storm, you can post:
-Updates about your business and how it fared in the storm
-Updates on hours
-If you spot a need within your neighborhood that you can fill, FILL IT! And take photos and post about it!
-If you see damage, take photos and share those
-If something worked well for you that you did to prepare or you found a life hack that worked, let people know so they can use that information too

How to create this content:

Reels:

  • Find trending sounds to show the behind the scenes process of you preparing
  • Find trending sounds for you to put helpful tips on the screen

Text:

Photos/Memes/Graphics with lists or tips

Here’s a resort giving updates: https://www.instagram.com/p/Ci-YKaeMu6x/?fbclid=IwAR2j6dN528bRmNshcElKYEzTcjSElqJa3Po12IYGesO_t_WLPn7fOsDOto8

And I’ll never forget this one from when I worked in news during Hurricane Harvey, this mattress store owner became famous for the way he became an asset to his community by offering shelter. You may have even heard of him, too. Mattress Mack!

  1. So, make sure you’re following the accounts of TV News, city and county officials, and emergency officials so you can not only plan, but see if there is any information that you could pass along that relates to you in any way.
  2. Make sure that you have a social plan for your business, brainstorm content that would be helpful for your people and think about ways you can help your community
  3. Do not go dark!

The point is: THIS IS WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT ONLINE. You will be going through something with your community. You’re in this together! So get into the conversation. Talk to your people. Find out what they need. Interact. Help your community. Laugh with them. Cry with them.

And build your own online community.

Why every business should be doing short-form video NOW

christie Social media tips and tricks

I still see businesses who are doing either no videos or videos but not reels and businesses who think TiKTok is just dancing kids.

You guys, business owners everywhere: this is NOT TRUE.

Short-form video – mainly videos a minute or less – are leading engagement on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube with YouTube shorts. Your audience is on ALL those platforms. It’s really just about which one you vibe with most (and then branching out when you’re comfortable.)

That’s THREE platforms using it – not to mention that your Reels get put on Facebook in a special Reels section of people’s home pages so extra visibility there too.

It’s the most important content that you need to be doing for your business right now.

Pros:
✨Short-form video can be repurposed to multiple platforms (work smarter not harder)
✨Short-form video is easy to shoot and put together (and fit into trends). It can be as easy as one shot of your business or product (or you!)
✨If you want to grow IG, add reels into your strategy
✨You can tell short stories or do demos in one minute or less (preferably less!)
✨You can repurpose longer videos (lives and YT videos and podcasts) into shorter videos
✨You don’t always have to be on them! You can use videos and voiceovers and product videos (and you DO NOT HAVE TO DANCE OR LIP SYNC!)

So, you see, no dancing, not even faces in some of these! And very easy to execute. Need Reels ideas each week? Follow me on Instagram to get them!

MORE: Want 56 FREE post ideas straight to your inbox? Grab them here!

New: Social media content topic prompts for your business

christie Social media resources you can use

One of the things I learned during the course of talking to business owners over the past few months is that, especially for small businesses, they are either not on Reels at all, not consistent with Reels, or don’t know where to start with posting Reels.

All (or most) businesses now know the importance of social media for increasing awareness for their products and services and as a way to convert followers into sales, HOWEVER, many don’t have the bandwidth the produce the Reels themselves, or at least think they don’t. I don’t blame them, they’re busy running their businesses! Who has time to devote to learning all the nuances to all the platforms, researching the markets on social, keeping up with the trends and new tools, shooting videos and photos, editing them, adding music and captions, and then writing the captions and finding the relevant hashtags…. ? (And more…)

So, I at least want to take away some of that mental load and help you figure out what to post.

In a perfect world, you would have an overall social media strategy as part of your big picture marketing strategy and ecosystem. That would mean having posts ready to go and scheduling them to post in advance that are aimed at and aligned with the stages of awareness of your ideal clients and customers. BUT, the reality is that you can only wear so many hats… so if you don’t know what to post each day, this is how I can help!

Reels can be super simple to put together for your business, so each week I’m providing content prompts for businesses to use as a jumping off point.

On Instagram, I’ll post a week’s worth of ideas in the link in my bio. The prompts will change each week but you can use them for ideas or tweak them to suit your business specifically. I’ll include directions on how to use the prompts and links to the trending sounds (if there is one.)

I’ll also provide an example of how to tweak the prompt for your business on my Instagram feed. So make sure you’re following me on Instagram at christieomedia to get the prompts!

Because they’ll disappear and new ones will appear each week, make sure you sign up for my email list so you can get all of the prompts AND MORE. Remember: Find your own voice or adapt your brand voice to these prompts so they can be authentically and genuinely YOU!

How to use Twitter’s downvote button

christie The latest in social media

This year, Twitter added a downvote button to reply comments and it’s been rolled out to users over the past few months. Have you used it or noticed it?

This is Twitter’s way of knowing who is a repeat offender with repeatedly downvoted comments. The button is not on POSTS, it’s on replies in the comments, so you can hit the “downvote” button on comments that or offensive that you don’t like.

Twitter says the votes are not public, so you can’t see who downvoted. “We learned a lot about the types of replies you don’t find relevant,” said Twitter. “Downvotes aren’t public, but they’ll help inform us of the content people want to see.”

Here’s what they look like on a Wawa Tweet that asked users to replace one word in a movie title with the word “Hoagie” (LOL answers are funny). The downvote button is circled:

So, in case you see that little down arrow – now you know how to use it!

READ More:

How to use Instagram Reels for business

How to schedule Reels because now you can

How to use Instagram Reels for business

christie Social media tips and tricks

Over the past couple weeks I have met a lot of business owners who are still very nervous about getting on video or doing short form videos and reels for their businesses.

Is that you?

Many do not understand the value in it and also don’t understand how to do it at all or where to start. THAT’S OK! I’ve got you!

So first, a couple of quick stats that are important.

Why should businesses be on Instagram Reels?

  • 9 out of 10 users watch Instagram videos weekly, according to HootSuite.
  • 86% of consumers say they’d purchase, try, or recommend a product when Instagram content is rated as “shareworthy,” a survey by HootSuite shows.
  • According to a recent survey on marketing trends in 2022, short-form video has the highest return on investment of any social media marketing strategy.

What returns have my clients seen on Reels?

  • One client’s Reel I shot, produced, and posted caught the attention of several local news stations who covered it – then they sent the story to the network, which shared it with their affiliates across the country. Since they ship, their products sold out that seeason.
  • Another client doubled their program sales and quadrupled their web traffic because of one single Reel that hit 5 million views.
  • Finally, another client closed sales to their high-ticket program.

That being said, SHORT-FORM VIDEO is king right now and I’ve seen it for myself.

So, how do businesses and small businesses get on Reels if they don’t know how?

Here’s how to get started as a business on Reels:

  1. Scroll through reels and scroll and scroll and scroll and see how people are adapting trends to their businesses and how people are delivering value on reels. Pay particular attention to business Reels and product Reels and find your competitors online and look to see what they are doing.
  2. Save the reels you like and could picture yourself adapting your business to for inspiration. The most important part about social is being genuine. So look at the reels and get a feel for what you are comfortable with. You do not have to dance. You do not have to lip-synch. There are 1 million ways to deliver value on a reel without doing any of that so look for those so you can get ideas. I like to save reels for inspo in a Google doc, I copy the link and I put it in my document and I refer back to it when I need inspiration. Do not copy but instead use it as a jumping point for your own unique ideas.
  3. Save songs to your music library as you get to know them and like them. You can use them later when you begin to shoot and edit your reels. Ps. You can tell they are trending if they have a little arrow pointing up in the bottom left-hand corner of the reel and that would mean that you should use them sooner rather than later because the algorithm will like that.
  4. Go look at what your competition is posting. Again do not copy but this is good information to know if they are on reels then that means you need to be too.

Reels can be super easy to create, especially if you create a system to add it into your day or once a week.

Do you want my free social media planning guide along with content ideas for your business? Hit the link here to grab it!

PS. Read how you can now SCHEDULE Reels once you’ve put them together on Metricool! How exciting is that?!

Psss. Apply to work with me here.

How to schedule Reels (because NOW YOU CAN!!!)

christie Social media tips and tricks

Scheduling Reels is HERE!!!!! How many social media managers, content creators, and businesses are jumping up and down with glee right now – it’s hard to tell.

But Metricool has announced they have, indeed, pulled off the miracle we have all been waiting for and have given users the ability to schedule Reels instead of posting them manually.

This is a very big deal because up until now, there was no way to schedule reels, even though you could schedule posts, videos, and stories from multiple other schedulers.

I recently became a Metricool user and love the scheduler and the analytics reports, especially for my clients. I’m able to schedule multiple clients’ content from one place, and now Reels.

Here’s what you need to know:

  • You have to schedule it from desktop. There is a Metricool app, but that will, as of this writing, just send you a reminder to post your Reel. The desktop does the whole shabang.
  • The Reel has to have the music and the captions already on it, so it’s perfect for scheduling it if, say, you are repurposing it from another platform like TikTok.
  • I used it and it’s super-smooth, it published on time and in the way I want it. Metricool is also very affordable.

So have at it! This is so exciting, isn’t it?!

Psssst. Need content ideas? Here’s my whole content creation starter pack which is full of ideas for your business!

How to get TV coverage for your business without hiring a PR team

christie Social media resources you can use, Social media tips and tricks

Did you know that some stations have more than 12 hours of news coverage to fill? THEY NEED YOUR STORIES!

Over the span of my 20+ year career as a journalist, I was on the receiving end of thousands of news releases. I was the one who sent the crews to stories and events, I was the one who wrote stories about the events, and I was the one who set up the segment ideas.

I know for a fact that stations NEED YOUR IDEAS, businesses, bloggers, influencers, and entrepreneurs!

They also need your information on file if and when they need an expert on whatever topic you can talk about!

So: MAKE SURE YOU’RE FORMING RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE TV STATIONS IN YOUR MARKETS!

Why aren’t more businesses doing this?

  1. Many people think news coverage is unattainable. They think they need a PR person or they don’t think there’s anything special to cover. WRONG!
  2. They’re doing it wrong! There are more people to reach out to than just the generic email on the station website. It’s important you’re reaching out to the right people! PLUS – did you know you could still get news coverage for your business or event AFTER the event is over – even if they didn’t cover it in person that day? Yep! Some coverage is better than no coverage, right???
  3. They don’t know where to start. So, first, think up ideas you can pitch to stations. Are you brand new? Are you a legacy business? Are you pairing up with other businesses for a charity event? Do you have something super unique and visual? Is something that’s going on nationally affecting your business locally? (Stations always want to do local spins on national stories!) Is there something you’re an expert on that’s timely that you can pitch as an idea? (Do you love DIY and you want to show how to do something timely like an Easter centerpiece or cook a holiday meal or create unique gifts or inexpensive prom fashion?) Think outside the box – it doesn’t even have to be ABOUT your business to be about your business!

Here are examples of stories I’ve covered or gotten coverage on for my clients:

-A restaurant owner I worked with dressed up as the Grinch and gave out gifts (and toilet paper – during the pandemic, lol). Not only did he became the most popular thing in the little city we live in – (he even got asked to do weddings!) and yes, we got TV stations to cover it – and it even went national. The social media for it did amazing! And people came to his store to see him and they bought from him.
-A local brewery paired up with a kiwi farm to create an award-winning kiwi beer. It just so happened that the kiwi farm was struggling that year because of some deep freezes, so covering this was a win-win! Great news and social content, and publicity for the farm and the brewery!
-A local business paired up with a local celebrity to offer dinners for needy families at Thanksgiving. Great news & social content!

There are morning show reporters looking for fun locations to go live from, there are home-grown segments. In part two – I’ll share how you can find some more ideas for how to pitch yourself to TV stations!

If you want a preview, click here to watch this video!

How to autopost Instagram to Facebook (And why you shouldn’t)

christie Social media tips and tricks
You know that simple, easy button you can push that allows you to also send your Instagram content to Facebook? This is a very simple tool to use to post directly from Instagram to Facebook but PLOT TWIST! And I say this with love… don’t do it.

If your Instagram is feeding directly to Facebook, go unlink it right now. Ok? Here’s why:

1. It looks like you shoved a piece of IG content to FB and that’s it and don’t care. I know, it’s so much easier to let one flow to the other, but the truth is, they’re different platforms and need to be treated as individual platforms with each post optimized for the platforms.

2. People don’t use those hashtags on Facebook. I know they want us to but no one really does and it looks clunky. Not a great user experience.

3. All the wording goes so FB too, and there’s no such thing as “link in bio” on Facebook. You want to actually provide the link in there anyway if that’s your call to action.

4. Because of all those reasons your post just may not perform as well. So you’re ruining a perfectly good post.

Do this instead:
👉 Customize each post to the platform
👉 Schedule it through an outside scheduler or the FREE Creator Studio that exists in Facebook already so you can treat each post differently but you can still kind of streamline the process.

For reels, download them to your phone and reupload them in the reels section of your FB page – that’s the only place you can really do hashtags where it doesn’t matter. The format is so similar to IG people probably expect it. If you have any questions and this doesn’t make sense, let me know! I’ll send out a video tutorial!

Saying all of this with love because I want to help you grow your business and your amazing presence on social!

Instagram’s new feed changes are live to EVERYONE’S excitement!

christie The latest in social media

Instagram announced it’s making changes to its feed and you can see posts in chronological order again! You will have a “favorites” feed, which will allow you to favorite up to 50 accounts, and a “following” feed, which will be in chronological order as users have been requesting, for … well, forever.

Instagram made the announcement today and if you don’t see it in your home feed yet, you will soon. Here’s a look at what it will look like when you get it and where it will be located:

You can watch the full Instagram update announcement here. Here’s the description everyone has been waiting for. Are you ready for it?

“See the latest posts from accounts that you follow, in the order they were posted.” YAAASSSSSS! This is instead of all the algorithmic gobbeldy gook that we have been toying with for the past however many years. Although that will still exist in the home feed, you will have more control over seeing the content you want from the people you want to see it from in your Following and Favorites feeds.

Also, the “favorites” feed will be kept private, according to Verge. I’ll keep you updated on how this affects your business and your business’ content over time! Make sure you’re on my email list and following me on IG, (PUT ME IN YOUR FAVORITES!) TikTok, and FB.

I’m a business owner and I hate social media. What now?

christie Social media tips and tricks

“I hate TikTok and it’s dumb” is a general feeling that some people have and one that a business owner recently expressed in a group I’m in because she’s struggling with finding success there. And that’s OK! You don’t have to love all platforms. You don’t even have to BE on all platforms — just pick the ones you like and identify with the most and go ALL IN.

BUT one thing is definitely true — if you HATE a platform and you feel no connection to the platform whatsoever and your business is on it and the content is not performing well, look no further for the reason why. It’s because you hate it. You just won’t do well on it as a business if you hate it.

Social media is a funny thing. People can literally feel your vibe through your content. And they’ll either connect with a vibe or they won’t. If you’re putting out desperate vibes, nope. If you’re putting out “I hate it here but I’m doing it anyway” vibes, then nope again.

So, if you’re wondering about whether or not your business should be on a platform, do this before you write it off:

  • Try it out for a while, get to know the platform as a user
  • Search the platform for your niche and businesses like yours
  • Look for businesses like yours that are finding success and take notes – because that could be you! Content, hashtags, personality, comments…
  • Try to navigate and understand the platform and interact on it
  • Find online groups related to the platform to connect with other businesses on it (there’s a ton – I’m in a bunch!)
  • Find someone who loves it and will do it FOR YOU … and do it WELL.

Do that before writing it off. OK?

Ps. If you’re a business not performing well on TikTok, want a TikTok audit? I recently did an audit for a business who went from 40 followers to more than 1600 in 6 days using my tips. Let’s talk, book a call here.