graphic design

Three Reasons Businesses Hire Wellman Wilson Consulting

Have you ever thought about shooting us an email or giving us a call, but you are not quite sure what you need help with? Perhaps you are an entrepreneur or small business owner and you have a website (yay!), but haven’t the faintest idea how to set up a Facebook page for your business (or perhaps you accidentally created it as a Group), or maybe you have a page, but it hasn’t been updated since you created it… two years ago.  Then there are those other social networks you know you should have an account with, but don’t know which ones are the best to reach your target market. And let’s not forget about your blog… and a newsletter! 

Businesses, like yours, hire Wellman Wilson Consulting because of our ability to break down social media and e-marketing into manageable pieces and teach you the tools and methods you need to make them work for you. Here’s how we do it:

1) Teaching businesses how to use social media

We don’t just teach people how to use Facebook ads or promote your business on Twitter, we teach you the value social media has in making connections with your clients, online and in person. Our Simple Start programs walk businesses through learning how to connect, promote, endorse, engage, and interact with customers. We teach you how having a conversation with a perfect stranger online can result in sales for your business.

We have had clients come to us afraid of social media, but by the end of the Simple Start program they not only have multiple social media accounts set up, but also have a solid plan in place to keep their social media current and relevant.

These same clients go on to expand their digital marketing to include newsletters and within weeks they have learned all the tools they need to start, create and send regular newsletters to their audience.

2) Creating a plan and making sure businesses stick to it

Every business needs a social media plan and we make sure it meets your business’ objectives. We take a look at who your audience is, where you can reach them, what your key messages are, what your goals are, and how we can make social media work to reach your audience and your goals.

We then take this strategy one step further with our Accountability Program. We have helped numerous clients stay accountable by helping them develop an action plan, keep track of their monthly activity, examine their content, and talking to them on the phone every month for a full year to review how things are working for them (and making sure they are doing what they say they are going to do).

3) One-on-one feedback, guidance and support

Our coaching programs are all about accountability, encouragement and feedback on your social media and e-marketing efforts. We help train clients, implement strategies and develop content. We also customize our coaching programs to fit our clients’ needs – because we know that not every business has the same problems.

Clients come to Wellman Wilson Consulting because they know they are not just getting a regurgitated written social media strategy. They are offered a personalized social media and e-marketing plan that not only includes a strategy, but the training they need to implement the strategy, the accountability support needed to make sure their plan stays on track, and the option to outsource content creation and graphics to us.

So, if you are not sure what you need from us, but know you need help with social media, we have given you three reasons why businesses just like yours took the next step and contacted us. They didn’t regret it and neither will you, so email or call us today!

We look forward to hearing from you.

Should you outsource your social media?

If you had asked me this question a couple of years ago I would have said no, you should keep it in house because nobody knows you better than you. 

But here’s the thing… social media has continued to evolve and as a busy business owner, you may not have the time to learn how to use social media effectively and create quality content. And that’s okay. So, should you consider outsourcing your social media? Absolutely.

Quality content

When you’re creating content to use online it needs to look professional. People expect a business to put together something that looks like a graphic designer or professional writer did it, not an amateur. Why? Because there is so much content to sift through on a daily basis they can’t be bothered with anything that doesn’t stand out.

What does that mean for you? It means that you need to make sure that you’re creating images and putting together content that speaks to your audience. This is a lot more time consuming than you might think, or like, or have time for.

Quantity of content 

The world of online content is fast paced. You want to have regular content to stay top of mind and so that you get picked up in search and algorithms so people will seeing what you’re saying. 

This means that you should have daily content going out on channels like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, you should be blogging weekly (or more) and that you should be sending regular email newsletters (I recommend at least two a month, if not weekly.)  It’s a lot of content and you may not have the time to do it all.

It keeps changing

Facebook reach is down – should you keep using it? My audience says they aren’t using Facebook – where do I find them? What is Snapchat and do I need to care?

People keep changing where they’re spending their time and as a busy business owner you may not have the time to keep on top of what tools make the most sense for your business and how they’re changing (for example, while Facebook is certainly not a tool to ignore, it’s absolutely true that to get the best value out of using it you probably want to invest in Facebook advertising). 

Time

Are you sensing a theme? Time is precious and I know that creating quality online content may not be the best use of yours. If that’s the case (because there are certainly many business owners who CAN do their own social media) then outsourcing is probably a great solution for you. 

Hire someone who can take away the stress of having to create regular content for all your channels, who knows how to create images and where to find good links and information that your audience will value. Hire someone who will let you know if things are changing and if you need to change your focus and the type of content you’re sharing. Hire someone who will take the headache out of online marketing and leave you with the value of finding new customers and building relationships with them. 

Who do I hire?

Do you know anyone who has experience in online communications who offers these types of services? There are quite a few people who have a lot of experience in the online space who can help you. The key is to make sure that they understand your business and your goals and messaging.

Wellman Wilson is now taking on social media content creation and management because we recognize that business owners just don’t have the time to do it all. If you’re interested in chatting with us, send us an email or check out the content creation services section on our website.

Online marketing can be time consuming, but it is also the key to reaching new audiences, getting repeat business and increasing revenue. Don't let time or overwhelm stop you from establishing your online presence in 2015!

Tools to create appealing images

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the components of a blog post. One of the 7 critical pieces is a featured image. A good graphic serves a few purposes:

  • Your blog post graphic can help compel readers to click through from social networks when there's a thumbnail preview showing. 
  • The featured image can double as a shareable image when you promote your post on various networks.
  • It breaks up the page and assists with readability.
  • When the graphic lends support to your post and adds visual appeal, you help readers connect with your message and purpose.

Beyond featured graphics on your blog posts, images are used all over the place, because humans are visual. We like imagery. It helps us relate to and process information.

With all this pressure to have images at the ready, some businesses are searching for tools they can use to create graphics on the fly without having to hire someone. Today, I'm going to tell you about two tools I use all the time that I really love.

Canva

Canva.com hasn't been around for very long - maybe 6 months or a year. I can't remember how I found out about it, but I'm so glad I did. If you ever used Picnik (the image editor that Google bought and shut down), Canva is better. It started out as a browser-based tool and they've just recently released an iPad app, so you can make images on the go quickly and easily. Here are some of the images I've created using Canva:

Each of these shareable images was created with a stock photo, which I purchased from Canva for $1. Three eye-catching, meaningful images and they cost me $3 and a little bit of time. There are many, many free backgrounds, shapes, symbols and images that you can use as well. 

I use Canva exclusively for web graphics so far, but you can also create documents for printing as well. Canva even provides pre-sized templates for all the current optimal sizes for graphics on social networks, such as Facebook, Google+ and Twitter cover images, as well as timeline graphics. 

The image I sent to Lara and our amazing VA, Tracy Noble. :)

There are some functions (like using any font I want) that keep me using Adobe design tools more than these tools, but that tends to be for graphics that I want clearly branded. Fortunately, Canva gives you lots of options for changing colours to complement your branding and they have some very nice fonts to use as well.

Wordswag

I stumbled upon Wordswag a few weeks ago by complete accident. It's only available on iOS, but for $2.99 you get forever free access to a really cool tool. I've talked to quite a few people since I found Wordswag and almost all of them bought it right away and love it as well - so you won't be disappointed! I've honestly never had so much fun designing quick images.

Just to give you an idea, I decided to see how many different versions of the same image I could create in about 5 minutes time I didn't really race through, but I still managed to get 8 done! 

The variety is pretty impressive and since you can use your own photos and images, there's no need to feel like your text graphics look like everyone else's. Here's a video intro to Wordswag so you can see how it works:

The really wonderful thing about both of these apps is that you can make images right on your phone or iPad and then upload them to any social network, including Instagram. 

Bonus Tool - OUTSOURCE!

Lara and I are big believers in outsourcing work that isn't our genius. (That's one reason why we have that fabulous VA I mentioned earlier - we'd be lost without Tracy.) 

I'm very excited to announce today that Wellman Wilson is now officially offering design services. We recognize that creating images can be stressful and time-consuming if that's not what you enjoy or feel is a strength. We can help save you time and stress - allowing you to do more of the things that are your genius work!

Do you have a favourite tool for creating images? Tell us in the comments! (Especially if you have suggestions for Android users.)