Tag: Ruth Snyder

Try out my 10-Day Social Media Challenge to build networks and increase engagement.

Day 9 – Your Social Media Plan #10DaySMChallenge

Social Media Challenge

Welcome to Day 9 of our 10-Day Social Media Challenge!

Please use #10DaySMChallenge when sharing on social media.

Here is an overview of what we will be doing during this challenge:

Day 1 – Get Ready!

Day 2 – Automate & Systematize

Day 3 – Hashtags Matter

Day 4 – Events & Promotions

Day 5 – Share Your Content (Let your followers know what’s happening right now)

Day 6 – Evergreen posts (Tell new fans about your best stuff from the past)

Day 7 – It’s not all about you

Day 8 – Images, quotes, and inspiration

Day 9 – Your Social Media Plan

Day 10 – Wrapping it all up

Your Social Media Plan

We have discussed many different pieces of your social media plan over the past eight days. You have worksheets to help you.

Now it is time for you to put your social media plan together and get using it. #10DaySMChallenge

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  1. Set aside a day each month to put your social media plan together. This could be a day near the end of the month where you plan for the next month, or the first day of each new month where you put together a plan for the month.
  2. Pick a theme for the month, or maybe you want to pick a theme for each week. Decide which hashtags you are going to use for each theme.
  3. Make sure you plan ahead for any events you have coming up – book launches, speaking engagements, sales, etc.
  4. Use your worksheets of content, evergreen posts, interesting content from other people, and quotes to map your monthly social media plan. Decide which posts you will place on which social media sites on specific days.
  5. Make sure you have content, an image, and appropriate hashtags for each post.
  6. Use one of the tools we discussed to schedule your posts. As you come across interesting posts, decide whether you will share them immediately or add them to your next plan.
  7. Check analytics at the end of the month to see which posts were most effective.
  8. Continue to go through this process each month and make adjustments as you go. Figure out what works for you. Maybe you want to plan a whole year in advance! Above all, make sure you are building relationships on social media, and have fun.

Other Helpful Information:

Day 9 Assignment

  • Make sure all the templates from previous days are filled out
  • Put together a social media plan for May
  • Share what you have learned through this process in our Facebook Group

Any comments, questions, or suggestions? Share with us!


Try out my 10-Day Social Media Challenge to build networks and increase engagement.

Day 8 – Images, quotes, and inspiration #10DaySMChallenge

Social Media Challenge

Welcome to Day 8 of our 10-Day Social Media Challenge!

Please use #10DaySMChallenge when sharing on social media.

Here is an overview of what we will be doing during this challenge:

Day 1 – Get Ready!

Day 2 – Automate & Systematize

Day 3 – Hashtags Matter

Day 4 – Events & Promotions

Day 5 – Share Your Content (Let your followers know what’s happening right now)

Day 6 – Evergreen posts (Tell new fans about your best stuff from the past)

Day 7 – It’s not all about you

Day 8 – Images, quotes, and inspiration

Day 9 – Your Social Media Plan

Day 10 – Wrapping it all up

Images, Quotes, and Inspiration

We all need a little daily inspiration, and social media is a great place to find (and share) it in the form of stunning images, powerful quotes, and inspirational messages.

While this can (and should) be scheduled to fit with your theme, you can also share these “on the fly” as you see them.

A good social media plan includes scheduled items as well as things that speak to you in the moment & deserve a share.  #10DaySMChallenge

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Just as you schedule time to write blog posts and other content, spend some time each week creating your own quotes to share. Use this worksheet to record your words of wisdom, then create your own memes or share the worksheet with your virtual assistant or graphic design person to create shareable images. Now include your quotes in your social media plan.

Other Helpful Information

Day 8 Assignment

  • Find 5 quotes you find inspiring, helpful, and/or funny
  • Use your favourite design tool to create memes
  • Add your memes to your social media plan
  • Share your favourite meme in our Facebook Group

Any comments, questions, suggestions? Share them below.

 


Try out my 10-Day Social Media Challenge to build networks and increase engagement.

Day 7 – It’s NOT all about you #10DaySMChallenge

Social Media Challenge

Welcome to Day 7 of our 10-Day Social Media Challenge!

Please use #10DaySMChallenge when sharing on social media.

Here is an overview of what we will be doing during this challenge:

Day 1 – Get Ready!

Day 2 – Automate & Systematize

Day 3 – Hashtags Matter

Day 4 – Events & Promotions

Day 5 – Share Your Content (Let your followers know what’s happening right now)

Day 6 – Evergreen posts (Tell new fans about your best stuff from the past)

Day 7 – It’s not all about you

Day 8 – Images, quotes, and inspiration

Day 9 – Your Social Media Plan

Day 10 – Wrapping it all up

It’s NOT All About You!

Sure, the point of social sharing is to drive traffic back to your site, but if all you ever do is shout “Me, me, me!” even your biggest fans will stop listening.

Social media is about relationships, not about blowing your own horn! #10DaySMChallenge

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Be sure you’re adding in a good selection of content from other providers as well.

By finding and sharing the best content in your industry, you will quickly become known as the go-to person in your market.

Consider sharing:

  • Infographics. Ideal for condensing large amounts of data into a small space, infographics are popular on nearly all social media platforms. (Pinterest is a great place to look for these!)
  • How-to articles. Depending on your market, how-to articles can be one of the most important types of content you create or share. (Do a search on Google or your favourite browser!)
  • Viral videos. Whether they’re funny, helpful, or just plain entertaining, videos are almost always a hit. (Youtube, Godtube)

Ideally, you’ll want to share content from complementary businesses, but done right, you can even mix in articles and videos produced by your competition. Consider adding your own thoughts about the content, ask questions of your readers, and if you can, use an affiliate link.

Another option when sharing this type of curated content is to write a short post on your own site, and then link to the original content from there. When you share on social media, share the post you created. It’s an extra click for your readers to get to the original, but it will improve your traffic numbers.

Short of ideas on what to curate? Keep a list of go-to sites you can check weekly for new content.

Other helpful information

Day 7 Assignment

Any comments, questions, or suggestions? Please share them below!


Try out my 10-Day Social Media Challenge to build networks and increase engagement.

Day 5 – Share your content #10DaySMChallenge

Social Media Challenge

Welcome to Day 5 of our 10-Day Social Media Challenge!

Please use #10DaySMChallenge when sharing on social media.

Here is an overview of what we will be doing during this challenge:

Day 1 – Get Ready!

Day 2 – Automate & Systematize

Day 3 – Hashtags Matter

Day 4 – Events & Promotions

Day 5 – Share Your Content (Let your followers know what’s happening right now)

Day 6 – Evergreen posts (Tell new fans about your best stuff from the past)

Day 7 – It’s not all about you

Day 8 – Images, quotes, and inspiration

Day 9 – Your Social Media Plan

Day 10 – Wrapping it all up

Share Your Content

You’re blogging, podcasting, being featured on other sites, and creating how-to videos for your readers, but unless they’re super fans with lots of free time, they’re unlikely to see everything you produce. You have to let them know, and social media updates are the fastest, easiest, and least expensive way to do that.

One thing that is critical to remember: no one sees every post.

That means you will need to share the same piece of content several times—and across multiple networks—to get the best results.

Images are important in today’s social media as well. Nothing catches the eye quite like a beautiful, “pinnable” image. Better still, pull a short quote from your article or post and use a tool such as Picmonkey or Canva to add the words to your image, and you’ll see much better engagement.

Other helpful information

Day 5 Assignment

  • Look at your worksheets from yesterday and pick one post to work on
  • Use PicMonkey, Canva, or your favorite tool to create a meme. One thing to keep in mind is that memes are a great way to brand yourself – include your website and/or a hashtag so that people can find you if they like what you are sharing
  • Share the result with us in our Facebook Group. Tell us the theme you are working on and which tool you used to create the meme.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Share them below

 


Try out my 10-Day Social Media Challenge to build networks and increase engagement.

Day 4 – Events & Promotions #10DaySMChallenge

Social Media Challenge

Welcome to Day 4 of our 10-Day Social Media Challenge!

Please use #10DaySMChallenge when sharing on social media.

Here is an overview of what we will be doing during this challenge:

Day 1 – Get Ready!

Day 2 – Automate & Systematize

Day 3 – Hashtags Matter

Day 4 – Events & Promotions

Day 5 – Share Your Content (Let your followers know what’s happening right now)

Day 6 – Evergreen posts (Tell new fans about your best stuff from the past)

Day 7 – It’s not all about you

Day 8 – Images, quotes, and inspiration

Day 9 – Your Social Media Plan

Day 10 – Wrapping it all up

Events & Promotions

Time-sensitive events and sales are the cornerstone of your social posting. Ideally, you’ll want to plan these posts well in advance, so you have time to:

  1. Create graphics (My favourite tools for this are WordSwag for iPad, PicMonkey, and Canva)
  2. Research hashtags
  3. Plan related content (blog posts, podcasts, etc)

Create a monthly theme based around events and promotions, then tie all your social media posts into that single theme. #10DaySMChallenge

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This will help with branding, but more importantly, it will ensure you always know exactly what to write about, what videos to record, and what content to share.

Using a monthly calendar, map out your upcoming events and offers as far in advance as possible, then assign and organize the necessary elements.

In the coming days, I’ll provide more information and resources to help you fill in the gaps.

Other Helpful Information

Day 4 Assignment

Feel free to ask questions or share what’s working for you in the comments below.


Try out my 10-Day Social Media Challenge to build networks and increase engagement.

Day 2 – Automate & Systematize #10DaySMChallenge

Social Media Challenge

Welcome to Day 2 of our 10-Day Social Media Challenge!

Please use #10DaySMChallenge when sharing on social media.

Here is an overview of what we will be doing during this challenge:

Day 1 – Get Ready!

Day 2 – Automate & Systematize

Day 3 – Hashtags Matter

Day 4 – Events & Promotions

Day 5 – Content Themes

Day 6 – Inform your followers (Let your followers know what’s happening right now)

Day 7 – Evergreen posts (Tell new fans about your best stuff from the past)

Day 8 – It’s not all about you

Day 9 – Images, quotes, and inspiration

Day 10 – Wrapping it all up

Automate & Systematize

We all know that social media is an important component of marketing, but if we are not careful, it can swallow up all our precious time. It is impossible to enter posts strategically and still get our writing done.

Much of the work of a social media posting plan can be easily automated.

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There are many, many tools available to you to pre-schedule posts across a variety of social platforms, including:

  • HootSuite – One of the first and still among the best options for managing Facebook, Twitter and Google+, HootSuite allows you to not only post updates, but also monitor your feeds from one single interface.
  • Buffer – With integrations for all of the most popular social platforms including Pinterest, Buffer is a popular choice, and offers both free and paid plans to suit any budget.
  • Post Planner – Great for scheduling, but Post Planner’s biggest draw is its suggestions for what to post. If you struggle with engagement, Post Planner will help by offering questions you can use to spark a conversation with your followers. There is no free option available; the minimum investment is $5.00/month.
  • Meet Edgar – A newer offer in the social content scheduling field, Meet Edgar allows you to build a library of content you can then schedule whenever you like. This services costs $49/month.

Other helpful information

Day 2 Assignment:

  1. Check out at least two different tools for automating your social media posts.
  2. Check in on our Facebook Page and let us know which tool you picked and why.
  3. Any questions? Or other suggestions? Share them in the comments below.

 


Try out my 10-Day Social Media Challenge to build networks and increase engagement.

Day 3 – Hashtags #10DaySMChallenge

Social Media Challenge

Welcome to Day 3 of our 10-Day Social Media Challenge!

Please use #10DaySMChallenge when sharing on social media.

Here is an overview of what we will be doing during this challenge:

Day 1 – Get Ready!

Day 2 – Automate & Systematize

Day 3 – Hashtags Matter

Day 4 – Events & Promotions

Day 5 – Content Themes

Day 6 – Inform your followers (Let your followers know what’s happening right now)

Day 7 – Evergreen posts (Tell new fans about your best stuff from the past)

Day 8 – It’s not all about you

Day 9 – Images, quotes, and inspiration

Day 10 – Wrapping it all up

Hashtags

One way that content is organized on social media is with hashtags (a pound sign # followed by one or more words).

Whether you’re posting to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or other platforms, including hashtags will help people find your content. #10DaySMChallenge

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You can think of them as the index of social media.

Including hashtags in your posts is easy. Simply find the hashtags you want to use, and add them at the end of each post with the hashtag symbol, like this: #business #socialmedia #virtualassistant.

Keep in mind that on most platforms, it’s a good idea to include no more than two or three hashtags. On Twitter especially, hashtags can quickly eat up your allotted 140 characters.

Aside from the most common hashtags, you might also consider creating your own unique hashtag. Business coach Carrie Wilkerson uses this technique to help brand herself with the hashtag #carrieon.

NOTE: If you want more detailed information about hashtags on Twitter, purchase Ruth’s e-book – Learn Twitter: 10 Intermediate Steps.

Other Helpful Information

Day 3 Assignment


Try out my 10-Day Social Media Challenge to build networks and increase engagement.

Day 1 – Get Ready #10DaySMChallenge

Social Media Challenge

Welcome to Day 1 of our 10-Day Social Media Challenge!

Please use #10DaySMChallenge when sharing on social media.

Here is an overview of what we will be doing during this challenge:

Day 1 – Get Ready!

Day 2 – Automate & Systematize

Day 3 – Hashtags Matter

Day 4 – Events & Promotions

Day 5 – Content Themes

Day 6 – Inform your followers (Let your followers know what’s happening right now)

Day 7 – Evergreen posts (Tell new fans about your best stuff from the past)

Day 8 – It’s not all about you

Day 9 – Images, quotes, and inspiration

Day 10 – Wrapping it all up

Today I want you to take some time to think about what you want to accomplish on Social Media:

  • What are your goals? (Audience building? Networking? Sharing information? Making sales?)
  • Why are you spending the time you do on Social Media? (Do you get lost chasing rabbit trails? Do you need to set a timer?)
  • How much time do you want to spend on Social Media? (You should be able to do what you need to do in 30 minutes or LESS per day. This will leave you time to write or do other important things that need to be done.)
  • Which sites work best for the audience you want to reach?

Which Social Media Networks Are Best? (From The Best Social Media Networks for Authors by Shari Stauch)

Your other social media networks of choice (in addition to the aforementioned Facebook and Goodreads, which are mandatory!) will depend somewhat on your readership:

  • Twitter trends towards a younger crowd, though more and more folks are exposed to Twitter streams every day through mainstream media.
  • LinkedIn may seem to towards the more serious social media user (think non-fiction and business books) though we’re finding that LinkedIn’s groups are connecting our authors with both new individual readers and the opportunities to put their books in front of larger groups, i.e. associations and clubs.
  • Google+ is an overall great site, though still confusing to new users. The “power” of the site of course is that what you post there, because, well, it’s Google, is also indexed by Google, which makes what you post (i.e. the link to your latest blog) that much easier to discover.

Some additional resources:

Day 1 Assignment:

  1. Write out your social media goals (Share them in our Facebook Group!)

  2. Pick which social media channels you will focus on for this #10DaySMChallenge

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  3. Let me know what you want to accomplish through this challenge. Do you have questions you want answered? What do you struggle with the most? Let me know in the comments below.

For more specific help with Twitter, purchase my e-book, Learn Twitter: 10 Intermediate Steps.

Twitter Intermediate1