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10 things to know before you hire a social media strategist

I know that as a business owner, there’s a good chance you don’t want to do your own social media (you’d rather focus on your business) and/or your social media is the last thing on your list. Or… you’re spinning your wheels doing it on your own.

You’d LOVE to offload it, or at the very least get some direction – and you may even be getting to a place where you are thinking about hiring someone or having an employee do your social media for you. 

Unpopular opinion: DON’T!!!!!! That is… Until you’re really, really ready. And you have some stuff in place first. 

Because I don’t want you to waste your time or money! 

Before you hire someone to do your social media, you MUST have these things in place first and I’m going to go down the list one by one – from tools to expectations. 

Some of these may seem simple, but truly, I’ve seen it all and I want you to get the most out of your experience and (hopefully), so will whoever you hire.

#1: Have access to all your accounts. If you have a franchise or someone else set up your account for you, make sure you have ADMIN access so you can give access to a creator you hire to manage posts. In Facebook, make sure you have access to Business Manager AND ads manager – as an ADMIN not a user. 

#2: Have all your passwords in one secret place. I can’t tell you how many people have had someone set up their social for them and they don’t have their own passwords themselves.

#3: Have an understanding of what you need and what your budget is to achieve it. Do you want daily posts? Every other day? Ads? Ad creation? Videos? Emails? Lead magnets? Strategy? Coaching? SEO? Google My Business? PR?  If you have a small budget, consider hiring a virtual assistant or having someone within your company perform the tasks, but know that while these are more affordable options, this level usually is not expert-level and you may need to prioritize which tasks you need to outsource. Also know that posting daily is usually what is needed for success, and daily posts will cost more than sporadic posts.

#4: Do not expect massive growth with sporadic posting. If your budget only allows for a couple posts a week, you cannot blame your social media manager for slow growth. If that social media manager is good, they will post QUALITY content for those few posts AND sometimes there is an outlier, a post that does well that leads to great growth, but if your budget only allows for a few posts, do not blame your social media manager if you’re not growing.

#5 Content creation means: shooting photos, shooting videos, editing videos, designing graphics & stories, writing the copy both on screen and in the caption, being on top of trends, adapting trends, writing scripts for you, scheduling out posts, and helping you do lives – which are all time consuming. Also, each platform is a little different, so each piece of content that is created gets its own little touch on each platform, it’s not just drag and drop. Content planning is important and adapting the content to your style and voice are also an art of their own. Social listening is also important – knowing when and how to hop into a national conversation or knowing when and how to stay silent if there are tragic events unfolding so you don’t appear tone deaf is also important. A good content creator will know how to do this but the expertise level will likely be reflected in the price. The bottom line is: THIS IS A LOT OF WORK. A good content creator will be paying attention to every little detail and spending a lot of time on each of their posts for you.

#6 Know what your goals are. Many business owners tell me they want engagement and followers, but really they want sales or they want to go viral. Be honest about what you want. Hint: Viral does not equal sales if you’re going viral with the wrong audience.

#7: Have your accounts ready for virality or for sales, if that’s what you want. Posting about a specific product that followers will have to dig through on your website to find will likely result in click-aways rather than purchases. Have calls to action that direct people to what you want your followers to do and then make that process as seamless as possible, with as few clicks as possible. Remove any roadblocks to purchase. Hint: If you don’t have this set up, a good social media manager will see this and will set this up for you. If this is not set up, do not expect good social media posts to convert into sales. 

#8: This is about expectations. This one’s big. To do well on social media, you must understand how IMPORTANT it is to your business. Stop putting it last. If you want to hire a social media manager, they will ask you for information or video opportunities so they can shoot and edit content for you or write stories about you to bring a personal touch to your social media presence. If you provide them with zero assets, information or opportunities to get video or photos, or you expect them to make something out of nothing, you will be making their job impossible and wasting their time and yours. Put aside some time to give your content creator what they need or they will not be able to be consistent and you will not get the results you want. You will be setting them up for failure and I see this heartbreak among social media managers all the time. 

#9: Social media will not SAVE your business. You may do well on it, you may make sales, but if you’re expecting your entire business to succeed on social media alone, you will need a new business model. 

#10 Each digital marketing task is a different job. If you need a social media manager and you also want to do email marketing and ads and lead generation, you will get a package price with those tasks and the time it takes to complete such tasks. If it’s outside your budget to do all of that, you will have to prioritize and add tasks as your budget allows down the line. A good social media manager or strategist will help you figure this out.

#11 BONUS AND VERY IMPORTANT! Pay your contractor/employee on time or they will no longer work with you. Industry standard is paying the monthly retainer BEFORE work begins. They will likely have a discovery call with you to help you determine what you will need, then they will send you price options. Once you pick a package, they will send you a contract. You can go month-to-month or for best results, three month minimum to see results. Whatever you pick, remember, they are running a business just like you are. They likely have contractors to help, and they pay for schedulers, editing tools, equipment, software, their expertise and TIME. Just as you request payment for your products or services, they can’t stay afloat by continuing to do work for you without payment. You can’t walk out of Walmart with a brand new TV you didn’t pay for. Don’t expect your social media manager or strategist to work for free.

There’s a lot to know before you hire someone to help you with your social media, whether it’s to do it for you or to help you strategize and teach you how to run your own social media successfully. I hope this helps!

If you need a full content strategy for your business, fill out this form to see how we can work together and set up a discovery call!

HOW TO plan for the unexpected on your social media (don’t make the same mistakes i did!)

I have so much to tell you about how to avoid what I JUST DID in my business due to an unexpected absence and why it’s so important that you heed my warning for your business on social media.

A little over a month ago my mom called me, frantic. My dad’s condition had changed. He has MSA – Multiple System Atrophy-Parkinson’s, and had been battling it for a long time. 

What I thought would be a weekend night turned into a month of caring for him and supporting my mother – night and day. 

What happened to my business on social media during that time? 

NOTHING.

Why? 

I wasn’t set up to be away on social media should a catastrophe or extended family emergency occur. I GOT CAUGHT.

By the way, this is THE FIRST thing that I do for my clients when we work together – set up systems and work ahead – WAY AHEAD.

IN FACT, just before I got that call from my mom, my team and I were working on just that in my business! We worked on more than a month’s worth of content. We were putting the finishing touches on our new content creation system. We were building the framework for my new course, Social Media in a Box for businesses.

But I got the call just before I had a chance to execute it. As a caregiver 24/7, writing copy and looking up trends and editing is the last thing you want to do. I KNOW social media inside and out – but still, I had nothing in the tank. So, I decided to take a social media hiatus.

BUT wouldn’t it have been nice if I had done it already – and just scheduled it all out and had it ready to go? (I was so close!)

Then I would have been able to focus on my family without worrying about showing up every day on social media.

Last week, my dad passed away.

It has honestly been soul crushing, but I am so grateful to have been able to spend that time with him and the main reason I have my own business: To be able to be flexible and be there for my family.

Today, I am easing my way back into the world of social media and ready to support you and your business — and the best way I know how to right now is to share my own lesson: WORK AHEAD.

Get systems in place!

For instance, here’s a sample of my repurposing system: Blog post for Linked In and searches –> create email from blog post –> Create video for Reel/TikTok–> Create carousel, quote card or graphic for IG–> Share the quote card/graphic/video on Facebook –> post in my Facebook group, and go LIVE with it too.

Unforseen circumstances, life and business events HAPPEN. The important part is BEING PREPARED. And it’s so important that you know that even I can get caught too. I am happy to admit my lessons out loud to you if I can save even just one business from losing out on valuable leads!

If you want to keep things running smoothly and give yourself some time to catch up – I mean, that’s one of the best parts of being a business owner, right? (You call the shots!) Getting ahead will allow yourself the time off and for you to continue to generate leads and sales without having to get behind and restart and without having to go dark on social media.

Learn from me. Plan for the unexpected. Get ahead.

Ps. If you need help figuring WHAT to post, grab my 365 Ideas For Your Business Minicourse here!

How to overcome insecurities on social media (as a business)

Let’s talk about what to do if you’re feeling super insecure on social media as a business owner, especially if you’re doing your own social media.

I spent most of my adult life as a TV producer behind the scenes, so I did a lot of coaching reporters and anchors to get the right shots for TV and social media. We went viral A LOT but more importantly we built COMMUNITIES of people with our content.

Now I teach businesses how to create social media content for themselves.

I had to step OUT FROM THE SHADOWS to be on camera for my OWN BUSINESS so I KNOW how hard this is! (IT’S REALLY HARD!)

So if being on camera does not come naturally to you – OR you are great at it but you have some off days, here are some ways to still get content out there! 

1. Do faceless videos. Every week I release faceless video options and prompts and trending sounds to go along with them. This looks like maybe video of your product, video of your shoes walking, video of your coffee cup, video that is completely unrelated to your business – but is a part of your life or a peek behind the curtains. 

2. Shoot EXTRA VIDEO when you’re in the mood. In TV we call this b-roll. Bank this video for a rainy day. When you are in your store or office, shoot 6-10 seconds of different angles of your products or services. 

Here’s a short list to get 6-10 second shots of (Do this especially for your visual products.): 

– Wide shot of your product (static shot)

– Close up of your product from the side (static shot)

– Close up of your product from the top (static shot)

– Pan from side to side slowly (6-10 seconds so it can loop)

– Pan from top to bottom slowly. 

– Put your phone on a tripod and take video of you working (static shot)

– Take various shots of you putting something together, creating something, or packaging something up for shipping. You can use this to do a voiceover for a tutorial or talk about something important to you. You can also use it for time lapses or slow-mos! These do really well!!! These can be paired up later with trending sounds or longer storytelling videos with voiceovers. 

3. If you’re ENTIRELY uninspired, create a bank of meditations or really good motivating youtube videos or music you love that gets the creative juices flowing. Sit with that until you’re inspired. Often I get about 10-20 minutes in and the inspiration just starts FLOWING! 

4. BE CAREFUL ABOUT SCROLLING FOR INSPO. It COULD WORK when you’re just uninspired, but when you’re feeling insecure this could actually HINDER the creative process. At least, that’s what I’ve found.

5. Look at your DAY and treat the time of day when you’re most inspired like GOLD. I promise you if you don’t, the window will pass and the day will take over and you WON’T POST OR SHOOT VIDEO AT ALL. Time blocking is great for this. See how many videos you can shoot in 30 mins. Post AT LEAST ONE and stick the others in drafts.

6. CAPITALIZE on your most creative times. If you are feeling super creative GO WITH IT. DO NOT LET THE MOMENT PASS!!! CREATE UNTIL YOU RUN OUT OF IDEAS! 

7. Get dressed in the morning with the GOAL of shooting videos. If that means you have a special shirt in mind or like me you put on your special HD makeup lol (my husband always says to me – oh you’re dressed and you have your video makeup on you must be shooting videos today lol) but when I do this, it makes me NOT WANT TO pass up the opportunity (because sometimes i work in pjs and no makeup right…)

8. Create a spreadsheet of ideas to choose from for when the mood strikes. I have a mini course on how to create a year’s worth of content for your business that TARGETS your ideal audience – I put this together as a service for my coaching clients but if you want it you can find that HERE

9. Create content from a heart-centered place. When you create from the highest vibrations (love, joy, appreciation, empowerment, passion) you ATTRACT your ideal audience. People can FEEL through your content. 

So conversely, if you’re projecting fear, insecurity, doubt, your audience will feel that too. So try and get yourself to a higher vibration to create and deliver. 

One thing I like to remind myself about is: You are the answer to somebody’s prayers! And IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU – IT’S ABOUT THEM! When you focus on SERVING your audience, you will attract them to you! 

10. TRY AGAIN TOMORROW. We all have these days I call them “try again tomorrow” days. These are the days that are just really really hard days. And video is just not going to happen. That’s ok. Give yourself some grace. 

Hope this helps! 

PS Join my FREE Content Creation and Collaboration for Businesses and Social Media Managers Community! It’s for businesses, content creators & and social media managers who want to collaborate on ideas, content, industry news, trending topics, and tips! To Join, CLICK HERE

PSS Grab this mini guide on how to create a year’s worth of content that lures in your ideal audience https://stan.store/christieomedia/p/365-days-of-ideas

How to use AI for your business’ social media

How to use AI for your business' social media
How to find content ideas using AI like ChatGPT and Jasper

Many people think artificial intelligence is just going to come in and replace social media managers or content creators but I don’t. At least not anytime soon.

It’s missing that “human” element. It still NEEDS that human element.

I DO believe, though, that it can be used as a valuable starting point in content creation, especially if you are having trouble coming up with content ideas as a business and you’re doing your own social media. That’s why I want to help you find content ideas easily using AI.

The biggest obstacle to successful social media is consistency and the biggest obstacle to consistency is finding content ideas.

Example: It’s 3 p.m. and you still haven’t posted because you’re stuck and then you only post when you’re inspired and then there’s just no growth. Or worse, no sales.

I see you. (We’ve all been there.)

This is where AI platforms like ChatGPT and Jasper.ai come in.

There is a free version of ChatGPT that pulls from data up to the year 2021 and a paid version that has applications that are more up-to-date. Same with Jasper. But just try out the free version to see how you can use it for content creation ideas for your business and whether it makes sense to sign up for the more robust features of the paid versions of each.

So the question is: How can you use AI to help create content for your business? I’m going to share with you some prompts that you can plug into either of these AI applications to come up with 30 days of content ideas for each prompt. Keep asking questions, oh, like 12 questions, get 30 answers for each and you have basically a year’s worth of content ideas. All you have to do here is plug in your industry or business to the prompts. Obviously you don’t have to use every single one if what it shares with you isn’t relevant, but it is a GREAT starting point. And I will warn you: It’s a rabbit hole! You can create your own prompts and keep adding these to your giant bank of content ideas that you can use over and over again!

Below are the promps and below that I’ll share how to use these prompts in creating your content:

  • What are 30 paint points for (insert industry here)? Example: What are 30 pain points for people who use 3D printing? Once I received the answers for this, I saw a whole bunch of other questions I could address for people who use 3D printers. The list and idea inspiraton went on and on. I also used: What are 30 pain points for businesses who do their own social media? As you could imagine, that list went on and on too. Answering people’s questions and solving their pain IS HUGE for content creation.
  • Create 30 social media posts for (insert industry here). Now take one of those topics and ask it to create 30 topics around that topic. For instance, I asked a broad question: “Create 30 social media posts for the restaurant industry”. One of the prompts was “food allergies.” So now ask “Create 30 topics for social media about food allergies and restaurants.” And there you go, 30 MORE ideas for content that you can spotlight if you’re a restaurant.
  • What are 30 of the most popular searches on Google for (insert industry)? I searched for “skincare industry” and the “mortgage industry” and there were 30 of the most-searched topics. Take those topics and use them to create even more topics! For example, I asked “What are 30 social media posts for “Mortgage prequalification”? And voila! 30 post ideas for mortgage prequalification. DONE.

HOW TO BUILD YOUR BANK OF CONTENT IDEAS

Now that you have access to all of these content ideas in just a couple clicks, what are you going to do with them? Where will you store them? How will you access them?

This, by the way, is just ONE WAY to get access to unlimited content ideas. I have so much more to share, but this – this above is creating content based on what people are ALREADY searching for. Here’s how to optimize it all in your business:

  • Create a doc or spreadsheet in Google docs or Google Sheets for your ideas. Spend some time asking these questions on the prompts and put them all in one place.
  • Pick 5 ideas (or one idea repurposed in 5 different ways!) And record your videos or create your content in one day. For instance, you can use one idea and make it into a TikTok, send it to Instagram and Facebook as a Reel on one day, do a carousel of tips or a tips card and make another TikTok or IG of just static tips on the screen, use another tip as a quote card of wisdom that you share with your clients about that topic (which you could also turn into a quick video…) Do you see how you can turn one piece of content and one content idea into many?
  • These ideas can also be used as part of your hook! Using these keywords in your content will help your content come up in searches and it will also help the platform categorize your content so that it is shown to the right people! That means getting into the algorithm right!

Now, if you don’t want to spend this time creating your own year of ideas, I can support you in that. Make sure you book a call with me so I can do it for you! You can do that here. Businesses have limited time so this will free you up!

Need more prompts? Grab my weekly social media prompts (which includes trends each week.) OR maybe your videos are just “ho-hum” and you want to supercharge them? Grab my bundle on how to supercharge your reels! (Which comes with a full content calendar so you can organize everything!)

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

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

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

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

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

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!!!)

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!