How to find quality content for social media scheduling

It’s okay to schedule your social media updates. We all lead busy lives and unless you are a larger business who can afford to hire someone full-time to engage and monitor your social networks 24/7, scheduling is the simplest way to provide your audience with consistent content. Luckily, scheduling tools such as Hootsuite and Buffer make scheduling content relatively painless.

They key is to find quality content that you can schedule to be shared throughout the day and across various social networks. The question then remains of how to find quality content that can be scheduled and shared.

Link back to your website 

Don’t be afraid to link back to previously published (but still relevant) blog posts. Preface the link in the update by telling people why they should read the post, what they may have missed if they hadn’t read it before (that's what the ICYMI you may often see on social media is all about it "in case you missed it") or why it’s a great resource for them. You could also pull a quote from the blog post and use that as the text of your scheduled update and also include the link to the post so people can read more.

You should also schedule and share the services you provide, any workshops you are hosting or any other product or event that you want your audience to know about. Just make sure to schedule it within a relevant timeframe and link back to where they can learn more and purchase or register.

Share third party articles

Sharing articles from like-minded blogs and websites is a great way to show your expertise to your audience. You can find these articles or blog posts by doing a quick Google search on your industry, or just look to see what other people are sharing on your social networks. If you link back to the author's site or source in your tweet or Facebook status the person or company responsible for the article will also be notified that you shared their content, which may in turn result in a new “like” or follower.  Just remember not to share any third party links until you have fully read and understood the content.

Create shareable images 

Research and compile quotes from industry experts or even from your own website and create shareable images using tools such as Canva or PicMonkey. You can easily schedule these images and can encourage audience engagement by accompanying the image with a question such as, “Do you agree?”

Scheduled or not it is important that your social media updates are relevant and inline with your business’ goals and objectives. Remember that if you don’t have time for engaging with your audience to not ask difficult or controversial questions or share content that might start a discussion you don’t have the time for. 

Do you schedule your content? How do you find your content?

What are Facebook Tags?

Have you ever seen a person or a business page in a Facebook post that is highlighted and links through to the person or page in question? That's called tagging and this post is all about how to do that, and why you might want to do it.

How do you tag a person or page?

To tag a person or page on Facebook you simply type an @ symbol and then start typing the name of the person or page you want to tag.  You can type the spaces between words and it will continue to search for the right person or page for you to tag.

Once you've selected what you want to tag it will become clickable.

It works exactly the same way to tag a person with a fairly big exception. A person can tag a person, but a page cannot. Why? Facebook wants to prevent the risk of pages spamming people, therefore a page can only tag another page.

Why should you tag?

Now that you know how to tag (it's pretty simple once you know how, right?) the question becomes why SHOULD you tag a page or person?

There are a couple of reasons:

1) To help your audience find something. If you're sharing information about a page or person because you think the people you're sharing that information with will want take action, tagging the page or person in question makes it a lot easier for people to figure out how to get where they're trying to go. 

2) To let someone know you're talking about them. If you tag a person or page they are going to be notified that you did so. This is great if you're sharing information they're going to appreciate you sharing and promotes reciprocity and the building of your relationship.

So there you have it, the basics of tagging on Facebook. Leave a comment and let me know if you found that useful and if you have any questions!

I like it! Yup, I like that too!

I hit "like" a lot when I'm on Facebook. I also make a lot of obvious comments or sometimes ask questions I know the answer to. Why?  

Because I'm all about gaming the algorithm. ;)

How Facebook works

We've talked about this before, but here's a quick recap on how Facebook works. Facebook doesn't show you everything because there is simply TOO MUCH content between all your friends and the pages you like (plus the ads, of course). Instead, Facebook tries to figure out what it is that you want to see and they do that based on:

- Things you have previously liked or commented on. If you liked it before, you're more likely to like it again.

- Things that are popular with lots of people. If lots of people like it, it's probably interesting.

Customize your feed

If you feel like you're always seeing content from the same people and not from others, change things up by going to some posts by people or pages you want to see and liking or commenting.  This post came up in my feed today and clearly the post worked for them. It showed up in my feed as well as in many other people's feeds because so many others liked and commented. As a result, people should continue to see this content again in their feeds for awhile (unless they go back to not liking or commenting).

Post by Knitty.

How can you get more people to see your content?

Always put a call to action into what you're saying to encourage your audience to do something.  If you don't do that they are likely to read what you have to say and not do anything because it won't occur to them.

A few other simple things

- Like your own content as yourself.

- Ask a few of your close friends, dedicated clients, etc. to turn on notifications for your page and hit like and comment on your posts, and offer to do the same for them.

- If someone shares your content, like it and comment and thank them. You should do that because it's nice, but also keeping in mind that the more engagement the post has, the more likely that person's audience is to see it.

Facebook is a busy place with a LOT of content.  It can be hard to stand out in the crowd and you can't expect to get incredible reach without being willing to spend some money on advertising. That being said, simply liking stuff can go a long way.  

Leave a comment and let me know if you find your feed can change based on what you've been liking and comment on.  Then go and like a few new things you'd like to see more of!

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.

Business Resources: Toastmasters

I’m always looking to learn more skills to make me a better businessperson and I love sharing them with you guys! 

Speaking on stage and creating video is something that I have been doing in the last couple of years and it turns out, I really love it! I enjoy sharing my knowledge and I like the personal connection that happens when people get to see me speak instead of just reading the words that I type (though I like to think you can hear my voice in my written words too!).

Toastmasters has been on my to do list for a long time and this past fall a couple of friends decided to join, so I went along for the ride. My goal? To improve my speaking skills.

But aren’t you already comfortable speaking in front of a crowd?

So, the short answer is yes. And, um, I’ve been getting better and better. But, um, I can’t seem to stop using a lot of filler words when I speak – um, so, LOTS of “so". 

I wanted to clean up my speaking so that it sounded more professional and polished.  Originally I told people it was because I wanted my speaking to be more formal, but that’s really the wrong word.  I just want it to be cleaner and more concise without my mouth constantly sounding like it’s trying to keep up with my brain.

What am I learning?

Toastmasters gives you a lot of opportunities to get up in front of a crowd in a lot of different ways. You can give the toast for the evening, you can be the Toastmaster for the evening, which is like being the emcee, you can tell a joke, or you can be the timekeeper.

I'm looking forward to being pushed out of my comfort zone because that's when you really get the opportunity to learn things. I gave my first speech and I was more nervous than I've been in a long time speaking in front of a crowd, simply because it was so different. I gave a 5 minute speech that was about myself and that I had planned from start to finish.

I spent hours preparing and it paid off because the crowd enjoyed it, I got great feedback, and I now feel more confident going forward towards my next speech, both for Toastmasters and in my business.

Tell me in the comments, are you comfortable with public speaking? What helped you? And if you aren't, have you ever considered Toastmasters?