Sometimes [often times] I find myself having a creative block when it’s time to come up with effective hashtags and unique ways to caption my Instagram posts. Instead of spending hours trying to think of something catchy, a pun-inspired caption or lyrics related to my pic, I use the following blog posts to get my photos hashtagged and ready for viewers. Enjoy! (more…)
The Digital Summit Dallas 2016 was simply awesome! So, I decided to talk about it.
Currently, the social media channel that consumes half of my free time is Instagram with Snapchat just barely coming in second. But I’ve found that keeping up with the most recent social media channels can be almost as challenging as herding cats. To avoid making yourself or your business look like an amateur on Instagram, I put together a list of my favorite tips that can help you become an Instagram pro! (more…)
I know what you might be thinking. Saturday mornings??? This is sleep in time…
Studies show if you wake up on the weekends around the same time you do during the work week, you won’t feel as tired when Monday/the rest of the week comes along. I’m still testing this theory because I am a BIG sleeper. I could sleep all day if I could. But – I know how it feels when you sleep too long (normally 10 hours or more) and it really does ruin the day when your sleep tank is too full.
With a full work week taking up a lot of time and energy, you owe yourself some “me” time. Do something all alone, something new and something that might bring you out of your comfort zone. You’ll be surprised as to what is in store 🙂
There are some really fun things you can do on Saturday mornings to get your day started, and perhaps not feel as guilty once brunch time rolls around.
| 1. Yoga At Klyde Warren Park |
Every Saturday at 10AM, enjoy a FREE yoga class at Klyde Warren Park, hosted by the Dallas Yoga Center. Wake up and start the day feeling centered, stretched and positive. Chicken and waffles at brunch? You got this! You already completed a work out today.
| 2. Dance It Off |
At Lifetime Premier Club, join top fitness instructor Bobbi W. as she leads over 100 students in a dance jam sesh – guys AND girls! Rumor is, a famous Dallas billionaire makes some appearances at this class, you may want to try it. Just don’t try and pitch your latest business venture, he’s not in business mode here.
| 3. Feel The Breeze At White Rock Lake |
White Rock Lake is gorgeous in the mornings. You can watch sail boats or rowing teams drift across the lake as the sun slowly moves towards it’s peak for the day. The dog park is huge and has a separate section connected to the lake. The trail is over 8 miles long leaving you plenty of room to bike or jog along with other Dallasites ready to start their weekend right.
| 4. People Watching At Katy Trail |
If you’re feeling extra Dallas-y this morning, you can head over to the Katy Trail and see what Dallas looks like up close and personal. You’ll see a somewhat diverse crowd, all in some way shape or form dedicated to that Saturday morning work out or walk of shame. Sometimes it’s hard to tell, but on your way down you can stop at Katy Ice House for breakfast or beer.
| 5. Knox & Henderson |
If you’re not into fitness and just trying to get your brunch on, I love eating at Toulouse Café & Bar. You almost feel like you’re not in Texas anymore. Here’s their morning spread. Once you’re done, you can walk around and explore the different stores. Some of my faves include:
Betty Lou: great for cute gifts for any occasion, lots of books, cards, mugs, cups & knick knacks
Apple: I don’t need to explain
Z Gallerie: if anyone wants to give me a $20,000 gift card here, I won’t be mad 🙂
As I spend more time in Dallas, I plan to continue to explore and find new fun places to share. What’s your favorite thing to do Saturday morning? Have you tried waking up around the same time you normally do for work? Push yourself to try this next weekend with a plan to do something new and fun. I promise you won’t regret it!
XXXO ~Mary
Establishing an online presence starts with two things: a solid website and a solid social media following. Whether you are a small business, a one person shop or simply striving to promote your blog, having a social media presence is essential to your online success.
How do you get there? Share things people want to see and care about. Share things that people will want to share with their own friends or followers. Share your story. Follow my five tips for posting on social media channels and watch your engagement increase drastically!
When thinking of different ideas and topics for your social media channels, keep this simple trick in mind: the rule of thirds. Your posting strategy should consist of the following: 1/3 selling, 1/3 educating and 1/3 sharing.
Selling – this means explaining what you or your product/service does. You can share photos of what you do or share the latest “special” or “promotion” for your products. Social media is an easy and FREE outlet for promoting yourself, but beware – only using your social media sites to sell will lose engagement and could even turn off your followers.
Educating – this means sharing blog posts you’ve written or really great articles that discuss the product or service you offer. Educating your following about what you do is different than selling. For example, if you sell an antioxidant drink that does amazing things for your body, you would share an educational article that explains what antioxidants are and why they’re beneficial.
Sharing – I typically see the most engagement in these kinds of posts. This is sharing a funny meme, a viral article, a local news article or event in your city, photos of your customers, photos of you, celebrations, etc.. The idea is establishing an interpersonal connection with your followers while also being a community expert. It’s about sharing things that most people can relate to or have an interest in.
*Note – it is never a good idea to share political or religious views unless you are 150% open to subjecting both you and your company to other people’s views as well. Either way, I advise against it.
Social media profiles are great opportunities to drive more traffic to your website or blog. I get the most site views whenever I share links back to my blog. For many of my clients, I see the same results. Facebook or Instagram are especially great for sharing blog posts or pages on your site, linking your followers to your website. You should have a website before you have a social media page, but the two work together and I recommend you have both – you won’t be as successful with just one over the other.
When you scroll through your Facebook or Instagram feed, what are you noticing the most? Videos are becoming more and more popular. Facebook’s recent update allows for videos to play in your news feed without the need to hit “play”. A quick 15-20 second demo of your product or a 30 second intro of yourself can draw hundreds to thousands of views. Sharing video generates the most viewers and is the fastest way to get your message across. Simply upload your video to YouTube and share the link across all profiles, such as Facebook and Instagram.
Just like videos, photos are also very important. While you are able to make a status update on Facebook or Twitter with no photo, I advise against it simply because it won’t get as many views as a photo would. Social media users want to see things faster than they can read them. If you have a photo that is intriguing, it’ll lead to them reading what you want them to know.
This is a good strategy if you need more engagement. Typically, if I see a social profile struggling to get views, I’ll start sharing popular news stories or viral articles to get back into the algorithm of the newsfeed of the page’s followers. This will quickly generate more viewers and allow other posts back into their feed. As you may or may not know, you don’t see every single post of every person you friend or follow. You only see posts of the pages or people you interact with the most. So this simple trick is to help get you back on the mind of your followers.
I hope you found something here you haven’t heard of before or at least feel refreshed on the things you already know. If you have any questions or comments about the best social media strategies to generate engagement, please feel free to comment below or email me at hello@maryerobb.com <3
5 tips to get your social media up to par.