Do you look at the online space and get overwhelmed? Are you thinking, “Where should I be? What platforms are for me? Where do I begin? How will I be every where? I’m not even interesting. I have nothing to share.” Are you seeing all the other business owners doing all the things you know should be doing but you don’t know where to start?
Well first of all, every single person has something to share. You need to understand that first. If you are a pro crafter who excels on your cricut (which I don’t, please help lol), if you have doxie puppies and they super funny every day, if you have kids who sling ketchup at the wall, YOU have something to share. Those are the things that make you and your life special and trust me people want to see. I am here to tell you that you don’t need to be everywhere. You need to choose the platforms that you enjoy and be consistent.
When I first started online back in the myspace days, I tried to jump in every where. I killed myself with comparison and endless nights trying to learn everything. I was everywhere and I was no where. My content was sporadic. It had no continuity and it just plain sucked. Figure out what platforms you love. For me, I believe we need Facebook, but my second choice was Instagram. I loved everything about Instagram, so I decided to focus there. I decided to repurpose my trainings on YouTube and of pin my content on Pinterest for my blogs sake, but I decided to stop killing myself trying to do all the things every single day.
I begged for someone to just tell me what to do, give me a checklist. Help me! I was lucky enough to have an amazing mentor, Kim Garst and she made me quickly realize that I was spreading myself too thin and in turn it was becoming enjoyable. Once I regrouped and really focused, the numbers and views and my community started to grow. This is the best advice I can give to all of you. You must focus and you must be consistent. If you don’t show up and engage, neither will your people, its that simple. You can not start a business, and throw up a marketing flyer and then say, “but I get zero engagement.” Well it’s not wonder. That tactic does not work.
I decided to create a type of checklist for you to use and share with your teams. Choose categories and/or the platforms you are on or choose to tackle, one at a time. Do a monthly or quarterly check up to be sure you are on point.
I will keep adding to this list, so bookmark it for a tool to come back to.
Personal Branding
1. Created a personal branding board using Pinterest. Start a secret board and just randomly start pinning things, colors, ideas that you are attracted to. I promise you will start to see a theme of color, looks, ideas and inspiration. This will give you a good idea of what your “brand” should look like. It is who you are.
2. Answer the branding questions. (This is coming and will be linked here, stay tuned)
3. Check your Pinterest board and see if you see a common theme of colors.
4. Get a logo. You can easily design on Canva or Picmonkey or have someone do one on Etsy or Fivver. This could also be as simple as your name in a cool font. Don’t make it complicated but, using your name at the bottom of all your graphics does start helping you stand out.
5. Use Canva or Picmoney to create custom original graphics, Happy mail, & documents. Things should look cohesive. When people see your stuff, they should think of you.
1. Complete your profile / about section. I should be able to tell what you do and what your business is immediately.
2. Link to your Business page as your work, not your company profile. It should not say you work for Scentsy. Make sure your profile description quickly says who you are & links to places people can connect with you. Trust me, people are watching.
3. Clean up friends list and put them in interest lists. Unfollow anyone who doesn’t bring value to your feed. Your feed is valuable real estate. Fill it with team members and customers. You don’t have to approve every friend request. Easy – Do you know them? Have you had a conversation with them in person or via digitally. If the answer is no, delete the request and they can follow you. (See below about your account being public)
4. Delete any inappropriate, negative or controversial posts you’ve made
5. Make sure your profile picture is a smiling picture of just you. I have my personal Facebook page public. I want people who are searching for me to see what my life and business are about. Anything I want private, I can choose that as I post.
6. Share your journey on your personal page. Keep your business on your business page & in your VIP groups.
7. Do you have a Personal, Business Page & a VIP group on Facebook and & do you know what each is for? (Personal is friends and family, Business is your Retail area searchable on Google and your VIP group is for paying customers and hostesses ONLY. Keep that exclusive).
8. Do you have engaging and professional Facebook Cover photos on all of your pages?
9. Do the cover photos have a description with it (when you click on it) with a link to your website or where they can connect with you?
10. Do you have a clear profile photo on your platforms?
11. Is your Facebook ABOUT short Description (the one that appears on your Facebook Timeline) clear and interesting? Does it contain your website address?
12. Is your entire ABOUT Section filled with the benefits of your business and good keywords?
13.What is the current engagement of your Facebook page (People talking about this divided by total fans)? Is it over 2%
14. Is your website easy to find on your Facebook Page? Either in your short description or prominently featured in your ABOUT page several times?
15. Are you at least posting once a day during the week in all places?
16. Are you liking or commenting on your posts? Are you engaging with people?
17. Are you asking questions in your posts to try to get engagement?
18. Are you varying your posts between text, photos, videos and links? Are you going LIVE?
19. Do you have unanswered posts of spam on your Time line?
20. Are you sharing tips in your niche? Are your posts benefiting your audience?
21. Are you sending traffic to your website several times a week?
22. Does your page have a custom URL?
23. Do you have a link to your Facebook Page prominently located on your website?
Facebook Groups
1. Create a VIP Group for customers.
2. Create a Team Group if you are a Director or higher. Don’t worry about it until then. Use the resources you have available instead of duplicating content.
4. Use only original images as much as you can or borrow images for your PRIVATE GROUPS ONLY!
5. Post regularly (1 – 2x per day).
6. Live stream at least once a week in each.
1. Create separate personal and business accounts. I have http://instagram.com/jilleysue for business and I have http://instagram.com/jillsmccarthy . My business account is for engaging with people, finding new people. It is strategic. Every photo is edited and thought about. Every description is planned out. My personal account is for my family and friends and I keep it for myself to just relax and connect with my closest people. You don’t need both at all. Decide what your goal is on Instagram.
2. Complete bio, lined up correctly. Use emojis. Make it fun! Tell me why I should follow your account?
3. Laser focus on what the account is for. This should be evident in your bio.
4. The bio should tell me what your account will give to me, not list out that you love puppies & crafts (that later would be a personal account.) Check out mine above to see what I mean.
5. Complete every photo description. Are you descriptions giving your followers value? Tip, trick, idea, inspiration? Posting a product and saying, “I love this ___________________. or We have this promo going on.” Nope that has zero value for someone. Rethink it.
6. Up to 30 hashtags per photo. Use them. They should be tags others would be searching for, not thoughts in your head. Do your research. You should have a mix of your own personal hashtags, middle of road numbered hashtags, high numbers and popular numbered. (A blog all about hashtags coming soon).
7. Post at least once a day. Instagram penalizes you if you disappear. Post in the feed at least once a day. One to three is ultimate. Pay attention to when your people are watching using insights.
8. Engage with people (THIS is way more important than posting)
9. Use Instagram stories or IG live every single day. Document a day in the life of you. Got a training, your followers would find useful. Keep it under 30 minutes and post it IGTV.
4. Have you used stories for behind the scenes business stuff to your story?
5. Are you showing demos of products? How do you use your stuff in every day life?
6. Are you involving followers and getting to vote on things? Are you tagging people?
7. Are you giving tips on your products or services?
8. Are you holding FAQ stories?
9. Are you using stories as a customer service platform for people to get in touch with you and tell you how they like your products. Encourage your customers to tag you when they get an order or receive happy mail.
10. Are you featuring others on your account? Instagram story take overs with other small businesses? YES GIRL! So fun!
11. Are you using stories to connect with your team? Tag them when they are rocking, promoting, doing trainings! Tag! Tag! Tag! Teach them this and encourage them to do the same.
12. Are you telling stories on your account? Personal trials? Things going on? Trips?
13. Are you sharing promotions or specials on your account?
14. Are you showing your business or life routines on your account?
15. Are you using filters regularly?
16. Are you saving messages on your account?
17. Have you downloaded an entire story and used it on another platform?
18. Are you keeping stories short? Do not do 25 lines that go across the top of the same rant or training. Save that for You Tube or IGTV and link to it. People get board. Keep stories fresh and quick. Use everything Instagram has to offer.
19. Are you doing 80/20? We know what you do. 80% of things you love and what you are doing that day. 20% products.
20. Don’t have 10,000 followers for that swipe up? Keep going. You will get there. Stay consistent. Your account will grow. In the mean time, I got some hacks for you coming up. Follow me on You Tube for some pretty great insider tips.
1. Have an open account.
2. Do you have an engaging and professional Twitter photo? 500 x 500 pixels?
3. Complete about section with hashtags.
4. Do you have an engaging cover photo? 1500 x 1500 pixels?
5. Do you have an interesting Twitter bio with hashtags?
6. Do you have your website listed in your Twitter bio?
7. Are you tweeting regularly during the day? (Optimal 5 times per day on average)
8. Do your tweets link to helpful content? (At least one link per day)
9. Are you tweeting photos that appear in the Twitter stream? Upload the photos directly to Twitter?
10. Are you talking to others on Twitter? (at least one tweet per day that mentions someone else)
11. Are you using hashtags regularly? (at least once a week)
12. Are you retweeting others? (At least a few times a week)
13. What is your percentage of followers vs following? You should be followed by more than you are following.
14. Are you regularly following new people each week?
15. Do you have a link to your Twitter profile prominently located on your website?
16. Do you have Twitter lists created?
17. Do you have Instagram and other social media forwarding to Twitter
18. Are you using Tweet Deck to engage with your followers
1. Have an open account and have you converted it to a business account?
2. Choose a username with keywords that relate to your business or use your name. Follow me over there to see how my account is set up.
3. Install the Pinterest Browser button. This makes it easier to save creative ideas from around the web.
3. Good profile picture?
4. Edit your profile settings in your profile page.
3. Descriptions on every board should be filled out.
4. Boards you want to see at the top.
5. All boards completed with descriptions and links.
6. Cover photos on each board 200×200.
7. Use Tailwind or Board booster.
8. Remove pins with zero reposts.
9. Good Links on every pin.
10. Are you reposting 10-20 pins a day?
11. Are you posting 3-5 original pins a day?
12. Are your board titles to the point and with keywords that resonate with your target audience?
13. Be sure you at least have 5 boards with 10 images each minimum.
14. Create a few boards that cover a wide range of interests and Pinterest’s top categories along with the boards you want people to see. Create these boards: Tip & Tricks, How To’s, Tutorials, Quotes, Products, Services, Your Blog Posts, & Suggestions.
15. Place boards that reflect the current season or trending holidays on the 2nd row after your products and services.
16. Freshen up your board covers every season. Color coordinate your board covers based on your branding.
17. Delete any boards that have not performed well in the last 6 months. Tail wind is a great service to track what you are doing.
YouTube
1. Do you have an interesting and professional cover photo? 2560 x 1440 pixels
2. Is your profile photo sized properly professional?
3. Do you have a complete about section with plenty of keywords and your website listed?
4. Do you have a video trailer?
5. Are you posting videos regularly?
6. Does each video have a complete description with keywords and a link to a website in the description?
7. Are you subscribing to other channels?
8. Are your videos getting views?
9. Have you connected your Facebook and Twitter accounts?
10. Do you have cover photos on your videos?
Live streaming
1. Plan your LIVES like you would any other event.
2. Bullet out what points you will talk about. Keep them short & on point.
3. Choose your platform. Are you on You Tube, IG, FB or all of them.
4. Choose your equipment. Check out my AMAZON LIST.
5. Are you steady when you go live?
6. Do you have good audio?
7. Are your surroundings professional and laid out so that people want to watch?
8. Are you promoting your live streams and telling people when you will be going live?
This is the audit check list of the most popular platforms. Of course there are still Snapchat, TikTok and whatever else pops up right? We will keep adding top tips so you can check back here.
What I want to focus on again is that this isn’t a list for you to try to be every where. This is a list for you to choose where you want to be and maximize your time, presence and value. Share with your teams and of course come hang out with me on Instagram and let me know if this helped you or what other platforms you’d like me to cover.
Interested in starting your own business, joining my team and learning all things social? Lets get you started.
