Staying Creative during the Coronavirus outbreak 0 660

Tough times often require creative ways to get through it, as all tested solutions may no longer apply. Welcome to 2020.

For those working with content, travel, and events, the recent movement restrictions imposed in several countries around the world are forcing people to discover new ways of staying creative, useful, sane and, in some cases, still getting paid even when the world seems to have come to a standstill.

Monica Stott – Travel blogger

Shifting focus

“All of my trips have been canceled or postponed. I had one skiing trip to France, one trip within the UK, and one trip to Portugal. As I can’t plan anything at the moment, because I don’t know when we will be traveling again, over the next few months, I’m planning on focusing on family lifestyle, which is the secondary niche for my blog. I may end up losing some followers who aren’t interested in children, but no travel content is being read at the moment.”

Monica Stott – Travel blogger – www.thetravelhack.com

Israel Cassol – Model and Digital Influencer

Recycling content

“Due to our quarantine in London, I have been doing lots of housework and cooking that usually would be looked after by our regular cleaner. I have been posting content on the same days as I always have done. However, to maintain regularity whilst I can’t go out, I dig into photos and content previously left out and recycle and use them now. Revisiting content you left behind, forgotten in your laptop’s folders, can also be an amazing therapy as a way of remembering good times when we all took for granted the freedom of coming and going to create unforgettable moments.”

Israel Cassol – Model and Digital Influencer – www.instagram.com/israel.cassol

Kenneth Surat – Designer and Travel Blogger

Learning DIY

“Even as a travel content creator, I have always been a fan of ‘do it yourself’ carpentry.

The challenge is when you run out of materials as all hardware shops have been closed in my city. I’ve heard of people that are making their own face masks, using fabrics that allow them to wash it over and over again. Although it is only a very basic barrier against Covid-19, it keeps people busy when there is very little to do.”

Kenneth Surat – Travel Blogger – www.kennethsurat.com

 

May King Tsang – Professional Live Tweeter, Social Media Correspondent

Working with virtual events

“The current pandemic has given me an opportunity to think creatively! Before it, I would go to events, and I’d create an instant buzz for them by generating live social media posts, real-time content featuring event organisers, speakers, and attendees. After asking myself if I could keep that same level of excitement virtually, one of my clients turned his face-to-face 1-day conference into a virtual one, because of Covid-19, and I jumped on the opportunity to help. As a result, after creating 13 Facebook posts, 19 LinkedIn pieces of content, and over 700 tweets – which combined reach was over 4 Million accounts – I can see some of these posts still gaining likes and comments today. I am now reaching out to more face-to-face conferences who are shifting towards conducting their conference virtually, as I am still able to create my FOMO content. It is different from face-to-face events, but I can still make an impact with my work nevertheless.”

May King Tsang – Social Media Correspondent – www.twitter.com/MayKingTea

Other ways to keep creative indoors

Photo: Bench Accounting

Create a production calendar

Many content creators and marketeers already have a publishing calendar. Now, it is time to get efficient when it comes to bulk creation.

Start by confirming which platform works best for you. Then, double-check engagement to see what your audience reacts well to and create even better-related posts in the near future.

 

Discover indoor photo-worthy things

By now, you are probably getting used to the idea that shooting outdoors may yet take a while. Studios that I often work at, in London, have suspended their activities and sent out emails canceling photoshoots. It hasn’t stopped me creating imagery, though.

When it comes to content, you can still do wonderful things without setting foot outside your home. Look for old books, corners with good natural lights, unusual shapes. Don’t underestimate your kitchen worktop or any drawers around your home that haven’t been opened in a while – you will be surprised how many gems can be found when you are actively looking for it.

 

Stock up on production

When it comes to your own image bank, you should have the same approach. Many people have to toilet rolls in times of pandemics: stock it up. Reserve a set of hours, once a week, to create content that you can leverage later in the month, be it blog entry, clever content copy, or photography.

 

Make research a habit

Good content doesn’t magically fall from the sky. You can be an excellent photographer or a seasoned copywriter, and, still, some days, you will find yourself struggling to get your creative juices flowing. Create a ‘brainstorm’ folder in your PC to save ideas, chats, prints, and random notes of things that catch your attention, online and offline. Then reserve some time to create quality content about them, even if you haven’t been commissioned for a specific topic. Add to your folder a list of relevant hashtags and topics that are making headlines, as well as things that keep people talking.

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Marcio Delgado is a Journalist, speaker and a Content Producer working with brands and publications in the UK and Latin America.

Instagram reels: will your business be using this new feature? 0 544

Probably the last thing we needed in 2020.

But Reels, a new feature launched by Instagram earlier in August, is officially here, allowing people to record and edit short multi-clip videos with audio and effects. This feature is already available in over 50 countries around the world. Just a few days after hitting the market, some of the short videos uploaded to Instagram Reels are already getting 5M+ views – not bad for something that is supposed to be ‘new’. We use the term new loosely, as this feature barely differs from Tik Tok, which has been around for years.

Like it or not, brands, influencers, and marketing professionals have to be quick in adapting to features brought to the market by social media platforms. New features are their way to keep its user-base online for longer and it may benefit your business. However, with marketing budgets and resources as tight as ever, will businesses be adding Instagram Reels to their content calendars and overall social media strategy?

 

Instagram’s eagerness to push Instagram Reels will help you

“I have been testing it out from the beginning. I posted some short educational content and quickly gained 200+ followers. I also had one coaching client signed that found me through Instagram Reels. The views are exponentially higher than my follower count, as Instagram pushes the new feature and its video content. I can totally recommend trying it and posting educational, inspirational, or informative content at least once a day.

Hannah Geuenich – Social Media Coach at www.thecreatorconcept.de

 

Adoption by brands might take some time

“I expect Reels will help engage newer audiences, while also helping businesses to serve their current followers with interesting new forms of content. This will ultimately be good for business. The short-form nature of Reels is going to be great for experimenting with storytelling for paid/sponsored programs. However, adoption by brands might take some time. Data is hyper important to determining ROI; however, Reels does have the advantage of being built on Instagram’s strong data-centric creator platform.”

Kyle Hjelmeseth – Founder at digital talent management agency www.gb-dm.com

 

I will strategically add it to my monthly content calendar

“Reels is perfect for business because Instagram audiences are already used to being sold to. This was not the same for TikTok. I plan to do short-form videos that tease and get people to click the link in my bio for a free training or lead magnet and follow from there.

I will be learning on a daily basis and adding it to my monthly calendar of posting every day for a month. This is the same approach I took on TikTok and this helped me to grow fast.”

Olumide Gbenro – Public Relations and Digital Nomad Summit Founder

 

It’s an opportunity to repurpose content

“For a brand or someone who isn’t utilizing TikTok or short-form content yet, this might be an opportunity to repurpose content from YouTube or Facebook Live. So, don’t think of Reels as a new branch, but rather a means of repurposing.

From what we are seeing so far, there may not be as much visibility for smaller creators through Reels. The biggest benefit for me will be recycling TikTok content and reviving it in another discoverable format. I truly believe the more content, the better. If there is a new means of blasting your product or ideas to your followers in a fresh and engaging way, without sacrificing the quality of your content, why not give it shot?”

Victoria Jameson – Social Media Strategist, radio host, and Lifestyle Influencer

 

Create new ways to use new tools

“Developed as a direct competitor to TikTok, we are looking at the platform’s new addition in a different light. Rather than shifting our content from one platform to the other in its entirety, we are working on developing two separate content strategies for our clients – each with different goals in mind. For TikTok, we are capitalizing on viral trends, topics, and partnering with influencers to leverage the rapidly growing audience in a new and creative way. With Instagram Reels, we feel it will be beneficial to align this content with our already-existing brand voice hosted on the platform. However, we will seek to delve deeper with the new visual, interactive offering. Hopefully, this will create a seamless experience throughout. Case in point, why cut the content in half? We see this as an opportunity to broaden the scope of our coverage online for each brand we represent.”

Anneliese Peper – Director of Social Media at PR News Agency www.heronagency.com

 

Having all your tools in one place is helpful

“From a business perspective, the Instagram Reels feature is a clever move from Facebook as it allows businesses to stay up to date with the latest trends in marketing. For me, one of the biggest benefits is that it’s all done within one platform. You are already starting off with a following that you have gained over time. You don’t have to worry about starting all over again on another platform. Reels are also easy to create and they sit on your profile in a similar way to an IGTV.

I’m discussing the possibility of adding Reels to our social media strategy in two particular ways. Firstly, they’re an ideal length for sharing small, snappy pieces of information you want people to remember. Secondly, as a business, people like to see behind the scenes. Quick but fun videos could allow our followers an insight into how we work.”

Jaye Bonser – Social media manager at online advertising platform www.adzooma.com

How NOT to promote your Instagram if you want it to grow 0 529

Every business regularly spending time creating and adding content to an Instagram account has two things in mind: sales and growth. In the beginning, every new follower is celebrated, and engagement is followed closely.

However, not all businesses are the same, and nor is it a new Instagram account. Starting to see tangible results on social media can take a while, leading some small business owners and digital marketers to try and get ahead of the game.

From buying followers – a tried and tested technique that can seriously harm your Instagram – to binge posting, mass following, and other hidden ways of gathering more followers and leads. I have seen it all. The more desperate a new business or a novice social media professional is to get to the top of the social media pyramid, the more likely they are to fall into traps promising instant fame and money.

Here, 10 entrepreneurs, content creators, digital consultants, and even a magician share 10 hacks to avoid while promoting your business on Instagram.

 

1. Follow/Unfollow

“The worst hack is using some sort of automated application or Chrome extension (like Everliker) to gather followers through automatic following/unfollowing. On the one hand, it works…for a while. But the users you get from such techniques, for the most part, don’t actually engage with your content. This is also a great way to get your account temporarily or permanently suspended, as Instagram heavily monitors and cracks down on such abuse.”

Jay Andrew Allen – Technical Writer

 

2. Posting for the sake of it

“One Instagram hack or myth that should be busted is that you need to post every single day.

While consistency is key to keeping yourself visible, it doesn’t mean you need to post everyday. Curating an Instagram account is all about quality and not quantity. If you can post a quality image only 4 times a week then

That is better than several poor-quality posts per day. However, make sure you keep that weekly habit in place.

Mollie Newton – Founder at www.petmetwice.com

 

3. To use someone’s comment section to promote yourself

“There are several approaches that are not effective for promoting your Instagram. A few things that I see most newbies doing is spamming other accounts’ comment sections with self-promo and having no posting strategy at all.”

Brianna Desira – Content creator at www.girlhustlers.org

 

4. To buy cheap ads in countries with no potential clients

“I am based in San Francisco, however, when I first started using social media I bought lots of ads in Egypt. I did this because, for a long time, they had the cheapest cost per click. Over time I learnt that buying ads in countries your potential customers were not in is a waste of resources. On top of this, it also skewed who saw my future ads.”

Daniel Chan – Award-winning magician at www.danchanmagic.com

 

5. Aiming your content at the wrong audience

“I’ve known some companies tapping millennial influencers for IG growth but seem oblivious to the fact that it just won’t work because they’re in the wrong market. Millennials are, by nature, true digital natives. They’ve learned to know which brands to trust and which ones to avoid. They understand how brands are marketing to them. So, they approach campaigns with scrutiny rather than enthusiasm. However, they will react well if the message is authentic, if the product or service is valuable, and if the brand isn’t too pushy. Because of this, the best way to market to them is to avoid being overly aggressive and straight-in-your-face. It’s the reason why influencer marketing has become big business in the first place on Instagram.”

Michael Hamelburger – CEO at Expense Reduction Group.

 

6. Buying fake followers

“The worst technique that you could possibly use to promote your Instagram account is to buy fake followers.

By doing this, there is no promise of user engagement or promotion of your business. Essentially, most of these

accounts are bots or fake personas created for the sole purpose of inflating your follower count. Not only are these followers useless, but the spammy visuals often associated with these accounts is sure to deter potential customers away.”

Tom Mumford – Co-founder of Undergrads Moving

 

7. Promoting your Instagram while commenting on someone else’s content

“The worst hack that I have observed on Instagram is people engaging with others in the community with a reference back to their profile. This means commenting on a post with some valuable information, then ruining this connection by referring straight back to your profile. The comment with the valuable information is ok, but the reference back to your profile is not fine. In fact, this is considered spam by Instagram.”

Anjana Wickramaratne – Social Media Marketing Manager at Inspirenix Digital Marketing

 

8. Following people with the sole intention of selling to them

“One of the worst techniques I’ve seen is mass following, then immediately sending a copy/pasted sales message. Then, unfollowing a day later.

This approach will leave you disconnected from long term growth & authentic connection! Plus, it leaves a bad taste in people’s mouths. This hack is even worse as people do it so often. I’ve seen people follow/unfollow multiple times. This world is smaller than you think!

Sara Tea – DJ and Creative Consultant

 

9. Following everyone is not a strategy

“As the founder of a website, I made promoting my business my main responsibility. I do it on every platform that is willing to help, especially on social media. However, not all tips and techniques that can be found online can give an advantage to your business. For example, following everyone who follows you. More often than not, they are just following you so they can tag you in their posts to widen their reach. To prevent this, do not follow every account that follows you.”

Samantha Moss – Editor & Content Ambassador at www.romantific.com

 

10. Off topic comments is a no-no

“One of the tackiest tactics to get more followers and likes on Instagram is commenting on something completely irrelevant under the photos of other Instagram users just to get more attention.  I’ve seen a lot of smaller accounts try to comment completely ridiculous things under the photos of celebrities and popular influencers to try to get people in the comments to follow them. Commenting under popular photos and videos for the sole purpose of getting more followers is not just tacky, but it can also anger the person who posted the content.”

Liz Jeneault – Influencer and VP of Marketing at product review website www.faveable.com

 

Bonus tip – Using someone’s content without crediting it

“Our Instagram account is popular because it reposts content from customers, including celebrities, that use our products. These products include vehicle restoration projects and custom cars. Hence, reposted photos of those transformed cars always help grow our Instagram. However, a mistake you don’t want to make when sharing other people’s content is not properly crediting the person who made or owns that content. When you don’t properly credit customers or creators for their content, you are increasing your chance of frustrating others and potentially getting reported. You also want to properly credit people for their content on Instagram because those people will often share the reposts that you tag them in, which can help your account gain more followers.”

Sturgeon Christie – Auto industry expert and the CEO at www.secondskinaudio.com

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