Tag: social media
How To Give Your Social Media A Good Spring Cleaning
We embrace spring cleaning for our homes and our lives with open arms but what about our digital lives? Aren’t our social media accounts just as in need as our closets when it comes to purging and organizing? If your digital life could really use a good cleanse, consider these simple tips that will have you feeling better in no time:
Clean up the Clutter
We’re all guilty of using social sign ins across the internet because let’s be real, creating a new account login every single time we want to use an app or service, is way too time consuming. The problem is that many of us have been using social media for a decade so every time we use Facebook to authenticate a login through another app or service, we can end up with hundreds of apps that have access to our information on a regular basis, even if you haven’t accessed them for years. While we’re not asking you to stop using social sign in, it’s important to keep an eye on which apps have access so you can purge unnecessary connections. To do this, head to your Facebook page and click the arrow in the blue bar at the top of the screen. Select settings and then choose “Apps and Websites” along the left hand side. You’ll see a list of active apps that you have given access to and you can remove items right from that screen by selecting them and choosing Remove.
Polish Your Reputation
It’s no secret that your online reputation matters and employers are searching candidates on a regular basis. How would you fare if your employer looked you up today? While we all do what we can to protect our privacy and ensure we’re sharing and engaging appropriately, it can be hard to track down all the not-so-great decisions we made prior to caring about the workforce. Use a service like Scrubber Social to clean up embarrassing posts all the way back to the creation of your account so you can stop wondering what people are unearthing from the past when they look you up on social media platforms.
Give Your Accounts A Purge
It’s not hard to accumulate hundreds (or thousands) of followers over the course of time on each social media platform and while it’s always nice to have reassurance that you’re worthy of a follow, who you follow back mindlessly is half of the problem. Go through your social media accounts, specifically the accounts that you follow, and don’t be afraid to purge accounts that just aren’t serving you any more. Whether they were accounts you followed to enter contests or businesses you connected with years ago that you just don’t like anymore, removing them will lighten the load in your newsfeed and help you better curate the information you see and interact with on a regular basis. Tread lightly though, the last thing you want is to upset an old friend and cause an argument over an “unfriend” scenario. If you’re on the fence about removing someone on Facebook specifically, try the unsubscribe button instead so you can avoid their updates and all the drama of fully removing them from your circle of friends.
Create New Habits
Moving forward, the best way to stay on top of your social media accounts is to create new habits so you’re always conscious of the decisions you make. Get into the habit of daily maintenance that can make things easier for you in the long run and help you stay on top of things with minimal effort.
The Best Days & Times To Post On Social Media
We’ve all been there; hunched over the computer, organizing our content in a third party software so we can blast it out over the course of the week and feel like we’ve accomplished something. While sourcing content is half the battle, figuring out when to schedule it to maximize engagement can be tricky. Instead of playing the guessing game next week, consider these updated stats that outline the best days and times to post your awesome content:
How Social Media Is Changing The Way We Travel
We use social media in just about every stage of travel. We discover where we want to go while scrolling through Pinterest and Instagram. We’ve ditched guidebooks and translation guides in favour of apps like Lonely Planet and Google Translate. We’re avoiding travel agents and instead, are using Expedia, Kayak and other travel hacking websites to get us the best deal. Then once we’re off on our adventure, we use Instagram, Facebook, Twitter & Snapchat to keep our family and friends updated with our epic moments as we go.
I recently arrived home from an epic vacation in Costa Rica and while I turned off my notifications and took a hiatus from managing accounts, I did sign into my personal profiles to keep my family and friends in the loop with all my adventures. I recorded videos, posted boomerangs and filled my Instagram feed with photos as I made my way through my ten day adventure. As I develop into a more avid traveller, I’m discovering that social media plays a large role in how I research, plan and share my travel experiences.
Technology has done more than make travel convenient, it’s also made the process a lot more eco-friendly with advance digital checkins for hotels, e-tickets for events and boarding passes that can be scanned on our phones. It’s also helped simplify our packing routines by squeezing multiple functions into singular devices like smartphones.
It’s even helped us surpass one of the biggest previous barriers known to travellers; understanding and using foreign languages. It’s eliminated the need for phrase books by giving us the insight we need in the palm of our hands through apps like Google Translate and Duolingo. Technology has also made the entire process easier and safer when it comes to electronic payments.
Aside from technology impacting travellers individual experiences, businesses and tourism boards are also getting in on the action with branded and location-based hashtags promoting certain regions or activities. Businesses are also using chat bots on social media to answer questions, deliver tailored customer service solutions and provide added value to travellers. No matter how you spin it, technology has drastically changed the travel industry and will continue to impact it as more advancements are made. No one knows for sure what the future will hold for travellers, but you can bet it’ll be pretty cool!
How has technology made your personal travel experience better?
What Do You Know About Influencer Marketing?
You’ve probably heard about it by now; the new king of content aka influencer marketing. There’s no denying that customers are smarter now than ever before. They don’t trust brands like they used to so they look to real humans to recommend products and services and that’s exactly how influencer marketing was born. If you aren’t familiar with what it means or how it works, you’ll want to take notes because it’s already a huge force in the marketing industry and it poised to continue growing as the years pass.
How To Create Easter Content For Social Media
Easter is a holiday that tends to creep up and catch us off guard every year because the date is always changing! Even if you aren’t the religious type, it’s a time to celebrate spring, eat far too much candy and spend time with family. To me, it’s a little reminder that beautiful weather is on its way and that makes me happy! Ironically, my birthday this year falls directly on Easter Sunday so the holiday is taking on a whole new meaning for me haha! It’s the perfect excuse to indulge in even more goodies and treats. Even though it’s not your birthday and even though you may not be big into the holiday itself, as a business there are many ways you can get involved and encourage your followers/fans to engage:
- Host A Virtual Egg Hunt
Want to get followers/fans involved and encourage them to engage? Host a virtual egg hunt! Create a few custom social media posts with hidden Easter eggs and hold a competition to find them. Both Instagram and Facebook would be great platforms to incorporate for a hunt. You can even offer a prize for finding all the eggs that creates incentive for them to continue engaging through the holiday weekend or the week leading up to the big day. - Create Seasonal Social Graphics
Changing your cover photos or incorporating easter graphics into your content schedule is a simple and fun way to get involved with any holiday and Easter is no exception. Remember to keep it bright and colourful and don’t be afraid to show off your team (think easter bunny ear selfies, easter egg competitions etc). - Encourage Followers/Fans To Share Moments
Whether it’s taking a photo of their Easter table or sharing their creative Easter egg decorations, there are plenty of ways to encourage user-generated content for the long weekend. Whether you decide to host a contest or you just want users to share content for fun, there are a lot of options at your disposal. Just keep in mind that you’ll need to give people enough time to share and make it easy for them to do so. - Host A Special Sale/Event
A long Easter weekend means that there’s more to the holiday than egg hunts and chocolate binging. People will be looking for things to do and experience over the course of the weekend so why not host an event or share a limited-time promotion? Whether it’s generating a simple Easter promo code for your online shop, hosting a family-friendly easter event at your location or including hourly specials to entice more visitors to come through the doors, there’s a lot of ways to have fun with it! Regardless of what you choose, don’t forget to create graphics that will help you promote everything online.
Social Media Marketing In 2018
From the rise of grassroots influencers to society’s response to fake news and misinformation, the world of social media marketing is ever changing and 2018 is no different. If you want to stay current and ensure that you’re leveraging platforms to their full potential, understanding upcoming trends is the key. Below are the six main trends you should take note of as we move further into 2018:
- The Rise of Micro-Influencers
- Focus on Generation Z
- Twitter’s Bot Crackdown
- The impact of Call-Out Culture on Brands
- More Brands Will Use Messaging Platforms
- Social Media Marketer Battling Fake News
The Rise Of The GIF
No matter how you pronounce it, the GIF is making a huge comeback! The glitter text and silly pixelated graphics that once graced our personal MySpace pages have returned and they are way cooler than they used to be. Whether it’s a dancing cat, silly character, popular saying or a ridiculous floating food item, there’s something for everyone. As GIFs continue to grow in popularity, more platforms and apps are adding them to our lineup of cool “stickers”.
Earlier this year, Snapchat started releasing moving filters and stickers and had since launched a full GIF library users can slap on their snaps for fun. Even Instagram recently released a GIF database that users can access when they post stories.
As a big lover of emojis and the personality they add to a standard message/response, it’s exciting to see the rise of GIFs since they open up a whole new door when it comes to having fun with content and creative. Almost every Instagram story Blab has posted since the launch of the GIF feature has included at east 1 GIF and I’m not ashamed to admit that! As a funky, eclectic brand, GIFs are a great way to add some personality and movement to every day messages. If you’re noticing the new found popularity GIFs but aren’t sure how to incorporate them, consider these simple tips:
1. Stay True To Your Brand
Regardless of your brand personality, there’s a GIF that’ll work for you. Don’t shy away from them entirely just because you have a more refined or professional reputation. Take the time to look through the databases and search specific words or objects that you could incorporate without the risk of abandoning the brand you’ve worked so hard to build.
2. Know When Enough Is Enough
Unfortunately, there is such a thing as overkill when it comes to GIFs. Does your post really need fireworks, two dancing cats, a winking pizza slice and glitter text? Know when to use GIFs to enhance your message and when to opt out or pair down to keep things simple.
3. Understand Your Audience
The type of content you share depends entirely on the type of people you’re speaking to and GIFs should follow the same principle. Know your audience inside and out and use that knowledge to determine if certain platforms or messages are better suited for GIFs.
Three Signs That You’re Obsessed With Social Media
These days it’s much more rare to meet a person who doesn’t have a presence on social media than it is for you to encounter someone that spends hours every day obsessing over it. Don’t get me wrong, I love social media just as much as the next millennial, but I definitely know where to draw the line. Posting interesting articles on Facebook, sharing updates from your awesome vacation on Instagram or tweeting a funny GIF on Twitter are all pretty harmless, but how do you know when your love for social media is starting to become an obsession? Below are three signs that you might be legit #obsessed:
Likes and comments mean EVERYTHING to you
Validation about how beautiful you look or how awesome you or your accomplishments are should never come in the form of hearts, likes or emojis. If you’ve ever uploaded a selfie on Instagram or shared a life event on Facebook and deleted it afterwards only because it didn’t get as many likes/comments as you’d hoped for, you definitely have to check your priorities.
You plan your posts meticulously
If you don’t post it on social media then it didn’t really happen, right? If you just answered yes to that question then you most likely pre-plan your posts every time you intend to do something cool. You know that you’ve gotta capture that perfect photo with your friends and you already know where you’ll stand to take advantage of the most flattering lighting, which hashtags you’ll use in your caption and which people you’ll tag. If you’re spending more time obsessing over what to post than obsessing over the cool experience you’re actually having in real life, you need to hit the breaks. Do your best to live in the moment and worry about what you’ll share when you’re ready to actually post something online.
You only go places and do things so you can post about it
The cliche saying “stop to smell the roses” rings especially true in this case. If you’re making social plans just so you can share them with the world online, you’ve gotta check yourself. Order the food you actually want to eat instead of worrying about what dish will look best in your photo. Support your favourite businesses (regardless of how cool they look) instead of going out of your way to find trendy spots for the sake of a photo.
Chances are you’re guilty of at least one of the above offences, even if it isn’t all the time. The fact is that social media has become a major part of our lives and whether we like it or not, it’s changed the way we communicate. It’s ok to be excited about what you’re experiencing and to want to share that excitement with the world, but don’t ever let your quest for popularity online overtake your quest to live life to the fullest…..beyond the screen.
Take Back Your Productivity With This Free Tool
I’m going to come right out and admit it; my web browser tabs are always a disaster. Between client accounts, Blab stuff, research, tools, software, google drive documents and social platforms, it doesn’t take a genius to realize that I overload my web browser on a daily basis and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t affect my productivity.
Searching through tabs with multiple windows open, trying to move information from one place to another and keeping it all organized was starting to feel like a full time job. What’s worse is that I rarely shut my computer down so I’ve always got that plethora of tabs and windows staring back at me when I open Google Chrome or Safari or both at the same time. It’s a never ending battle to have everything accessible at all times while still maintaining my productivity (and sanity).
Luckily, I discovered a new tool this week that has made a drastic difference in my productivity level and the clustered disaster that is my web browser. It’s called Station and I think I’m in love! A desktop based software that allows you to choose from a huge app library so you can add all your software, platforms and tools into one easy to navigate window. At first I was skeptics about what it supported and how it would all work but after just one work day, I already felt like I was on the right track.
I’ve been able to add social platforms like twitter and Facebook Ads manager, I’ve got my slack hooked up, Trello, Gmail, my google drive, google calendars and multiple social management softwares. Now when I open my laptop in the morning, everything is organized and I’m kept away from my web browser unless I need to look up some information online so my focus is on the daily tasks that matter most and not elsewhere. The best part? It’s FREE and it works with Windows and iOS.
What’s your personal favourite productivity tool?
Will You Be Our Social Media Valentine?
In the last few years, as social media has become even further entwined in our lives, the way we celebrate and express love on Valentine’s Day has shifted. We share Valentine’s wishes, showcase our gifts, express our feelings and put it all out there for the world to see on the social network(s) of our choosing. Expressing love and sharing kindness amongst friends and family is never a bad thing but isn’t it about time that our valentines wishes were updated from the classic “I ch-ch-choose you”? To help get the ball rolling, Blab put together some fun, social-media inspired Valentine’s messages that are sure to make you swoon. Feel free to share, text, save, gram, tweet, like, or snapchat them, just promise us that you’ll put down your phone and spend some quality time with your Valentine today!
