Social media resources you can use

New: Social media content topic prompts for your business

christie Social media resources you can use July 20, 2022July 20, 2022

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 get TV coverage for your business without hiring a PR team

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?

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!
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???
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!

6 examples of how businesses are pivoting and leveraging social media during crisis

christie Social media resources you can use, Social media tips and tricks April 1, 2020April 5, 2020

During this incredibly difficult time of COVID-19, many businesses are trying to figure out what they can do online and how to stay relevant while they’re out of business or downsizing.

Social media is everyone’s lifeline to the outside world right now and it’s your lifeline to your customers.

Many businesses feel stuck on social media and don’t know where to start, so I wanted to share some examples of businesses I’ve seen that are pivoting, shifting, rolling with the punches, and finding success both monetarily and through brand awareness so you can use them when you think of which direction you’re going to go in.

Gigglewaters Restaurant in Safety Harbor, FL.
Gigglewaters shows movies and has a dining room, but obviously both are out of the question right now. So what are they doing instead? Their brunch is legendary (I’m a little biased, I’ve been there), and so are their burgers (award-winning), so, like many restaurants, they’re offering takeout. They are also very involved in the community and their owner takes part in conversations in the local Facebook groups. Instead of just weekend brunch, they offer brunch EVERY DAY – with mimosas. They share photos of their incredible food (food is always great content), and every day at 4:30 p.m., they do a Facebook Live Happy Hour, where they show people how to mix a drink. Also, during this, their audience gets to know their owner and their staff. Facebook Lives double, triple and quadruples your page’s reach if you do them regularly and they’re great for consistent engagement! If you can do them daily, great, find yourself a topic to talk about every day, but if you can do them weekly at least that’s good too. It’s all about brand awareness and reach. One last thing that Gigglewaters has done is begin to help SERVE the community by delivering food to our community helpers like hospital workers and firefighters – and they’re also giving the community an opportunity to help by sponsoring a meal for them. So many people want to help and don’t know how, so this is a perfect opportunity. And also – these deliveries are great social content! They’re serving the community, staying relevant online, and when this is all over, people will remember that.

WATCH: Keeping small businesses in business during crisis, free webinar

2. In Georgia, Wes Sewell Photography decided to go out into his neighborhood and take photos of families’ quarantines (from a safe distance of course.) Even though this is a difficult time, it is unprecedented and will always be something we will remember. Sewell is making it memorable (in a good way) for families. One of the posts from one of the families got 6,000 likes! Talk about brand awareness! He said on his post, “I had so much fun taking these photos.” This is a great example of service. People remember this.

3. The Bushido Karate Academy in Pinellas Park. I originally saw this ad pass through my feed probably because I’m within 10 miles of that city, however, I looked through the comments to see if the ad was successful and they had almost completely booked up! And rightfully so, it’s four weeks of online karate classes for $1. It’s an amazing deal and it will help kids get their physical exercise, plus, and this is a huge plus, PEOPLE WILL REMEMBER THIS WHEN THIS IS ALL OVER. This was a great use of Facebook ads.

4. This is an example that I used when I gave a presentation on this topic: Whatever you’re doing to pivot as a business is very likely newsworthy. So let the news stations know! Two breweries in my area have stopped brewing beer and are filling massive need by making hand sanitizer instead. How can you help? How can you take what your business does and pivot or serve? What need can you fill or how can you comfort your customers who are full of fear? This story was a big deal to the news station and they put a reporter into it to do a story. When it ended up on the station’s social page, it had more than 2,000 shares, 8,000 reactions and hundreds of comments. PEOPLE WILL REMEMBER THIS.

5. Crayola created a campaign to chalk the walk with their sidewalk chalk and guess what?! It became a thing EVERYWHERE. #ChalkTheWalk was all over Facebook feeds with photos of sidewalks with inspiring, hopeful messages. This was a very simple and easy idea for them to talk about their product but also insert art and hope into communities everywhere. Great idea!

6. The Salon People had a brilliant post. Everyone is quarantined, which means roots are going to happen, people are going to need haircuts, and their post is using THEIR EXPERTISE to tell you what not to do. Don’t color it yourself, try new hairstyles, don’t go out and get face wax if you’re not used it (light plucking only for eyebrows!) This is valuable advice. Super simple execution on this.

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A post shared by The Salon People (@thesalonpeople) on Mar 25, 2020 at 12:41pm PDT

Even though they’re not currently up and running, they’re talking about when they will be, and sharing things to do while you’re in between appointments. They’re the experts in their field, just like you are – so, what expertise can you offer your clients and customers from afar?

More importantly, how can you share it in a creative and social way, from a point of service and storytelling? What topics can you use to create content from?

Grab a piece of paper and answer these questions, let’s brainstorm:

What are your stories?
How did you get started in business?
What are your most popular products?
What are your most VISUAL products (sometimes weird products?)
What problems can you help people solve?
What precautions are you taking during this pandemic as a business? (Be transparent, let people know what safety precautions you’re taking and also let people know what’s happening with your employees step by step.)
What topics in your clients’ lives bother them the most that’s related to your business? Can you do a Facebook live that addresses their concerns in a Q&A fashion, or do a live or video demo?
What talents do you or your staff have that can bring smiles to your customers’ faces? (Do you play the guitar or the ukelele, or do you read children’s books? Happiness is a real need right now!)
What can you do online – can you hold online yoga classes or workouts, cooking demos, a demo sewing masks perhaps or making homemade sanitizer? Can you show people how to take off that difficult to remove nail polish since no one is getting manicures? Subsequently, how can people pamper themselves at home?
What are your good deeds in the neighborhood and how are you helping in this time of crisis? This makes for great pictures and videos that your customers and clients would love to see!
Who are your employees, and what are their backstories? Can you profile them? This gives people a way to care about your business and staff and therefore want to support it.

People LOVE STORIES.

So: keep the camera handy. Take photos of your community, your business, your beautiful products, capture moments that resonate with people.
Take videos and plan out Facebook Lives on relevant topics.

Write stories that go along with your photos so you can bond with your clients and customers.

Once you plan out what could be good content, figure out a plan to execute it and put it together. Then, you can schedule it out ahead of time using Facebook’s built in scheduling tools in Creator Studio (under Publishing Tools.)

I’ll have more on “batching content” soon. That’s when you do multiple posts in a day but you don’t post them all at once, you spread them out.

Please message me if you have questions!
Right now, I’m offering a free 30 minute call to any business who needs ideas for their social content during this time. Email me at christie@christieo.com.

Keeping small businesses in business during times of crisis

christie Social media resources you can use March 30, 2020April 1, 2020

In these difficult times of trying to stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses are being forced to downsize, pivot, or close completely. That means, being online as a business is more important than ever. That’s where your clients and customers are.

WATCH: FREE WEBINAR ON HOW TO STAY RELEVANT AS A SMALL BUSINESS IN TIMES OF CRISIS

So, how can you stay relevant online during these times? What can you do to engage your clients and customers online?

First, think service. How can you SERVE your customers right now?

MORE: Create visually stunning videos

Maybe you were a salon that is now closed, but your clients won’t be able to get haircuts or coloring, or your clients’ nails are broken or stuck with difficult polish to get off. How can you help them remotely? Perhaps a Facebook live demonstration or a “How to Video” can help. Or perhaps sharing great hairstyles that will help them cover up any problem spots will help. Before and after photos.

This is just one industry but it can be applied to virtually any industry.

MORE: Simple and easy lighting for your social media videos

First, identify what your clients’ biggest problems were before, when they came to you in person, and identify what additional problems they may be having. Write this all down.

Then, think about how you can solve it for them. Perhaps there is something you can do to charge, like curbside pickup for restaurants. Perhaps, it’s simply a service you can provide remotely: show your clients how they can solve this problem from home.

Think about how you can create content on Facebook surrounding these problems. You can create content simply to make people smile (that’s also solving a very big problem in these stressful times right now.)