Instagram is an amazing platform to promote your content and if you know how to use it correctly it can drive thousands of visitors to your website. However lots of us become stumped as soon as we write a post and push publish we kind of leave the post to linger on our website and die. But here are seven ways to promote your blog just using Instagram.
Continue reading “7 ways to promote your blog on Instagram”
We have all been there, it’s half term or you are about to switch into holiday mode and the panic starts… how can we manage our work load whilst the kids are home or we are off travelling?
Well, I wanted to put together a guide with some quick tips to help you manage your workload and automate some key aspects of your business so you can actually take the break you need.
Continue reading “3 Hacks to Automate your Business”
Launching a online brand can feel like you have to suddenly become a graphic designer and web developer or at least have one on tap to create all sorts of funky designs you didn’t even realise you needed.
Creating a business doesn’t end once you have decide on the look and feel of your web site. You’ll need to make sure your brand’s design aesthetic carries across all your online platforms in order to become a recognisable brand.
As female entrepreneurs, we are constantly reminded of how important it is to have an online presence that is cohesive in content, design, and structure to enhance our client experience and drive brand recognition. But between balancing life and business building, you may find that you don’t often have too much time for creative play.
The good news is that Canva has you sorted. This online software allows you to create professional graphics for your website and social media feeds for free. It even let’s you save templates so you can just tweak the wording and your new graphic is ready to go. You can see I do this for all my blog posts, it keeps it simple for me but also allows my brand to stay consistent and recognisable.
Here are our 7 c’s to using Canva effectively for your social media:
It’s important to make sure you know the colour “number” code. This is called the hex colour value often seen as “colour code #”. Using the Canva colour picker you can simply type this number into the box and it will match your brand font or background colour, allowing you to design with consistency.
I recommend you design with consistency in mind. What are the fonts, colours, background images and textures of your brand look and feel? Deciding on your brand style as early on as possible and sticking to these decisions whenever you’re designing in Canva will ensure you create consistent content no matter which pre-made design you choose to work with. It will help to make your brand ‘instantly recognisable’.
Canva makes it really easy to select which social media platform you’re working on. Once you choose from a variety of pre-made designs for Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest, you can constantly view “my designs” and bulk design for across all platforms to promote the same update for your viewers.
It’s also a good idea to include your URL address at the bottom of your design, allowing whoever views your content to know where else to find you.
Quick tip: try and design with the platforms you want to share to in mind, for example if you are going to promote something on Instagram stories and in feed you could pick the story template and make sure the bulk of your design is in a square so that the same image can be used in feed.
Canva allows for several design layers, fonts, and images to be combined into one design. Make use of this feature when tweaking pre-made designs to create interest. We recommend you use up to three different type fonts, alter the layer transparency and carefully select your copy that keeps your ideal clients interested in your products.
While Canva has many styled stock images you are able to purchase, this can get costly. We recommend making use of your own stock library, or creating custom brand images or basic coloured backgrounds that suit your brand, to then upload as you design. This helps with your brand consistency but also with keeping your design costs to a minimum.
You can also grab 5 FREE #girlboss stock images by clicking here
Canva makes it’s quick and easy to create visually consistent and shareable images for your brand. By following the colour and consistency “rules” while designing to create interest, your site visitors and social media followers will begin to know your style. Seeing one of your designs in their feed will immediately get them thinking of your business and brand, creating the recognition that results in sales.
With such a wide selection of pre-made designs and ready-to-use stock images, it’s easy to start playing the comparison game when using a program like Canva. Try to get clear on your own style before starting and always stick to your style guide.
It’s useful to sketch out what you need the design for before starting. Planning ahead and design in bulk whenever possible will save you time and effort and free up your creativity to focus on what you love doing for your business.
When I decided to start my own business the most important element of any business I was going to create was it had to be flexible around my little boy Henry.
I needed a business that allowed me to spend time with him when he needed me and get work done in the short amount of time when he napped (fingers crossed this lasts a while longer, I feel I’m running out of time with an 18 month old).
Before I talk about how I have implemented automation in my own business I want you to consider a couple of things. Ask yourself:
If you haven’t already set up an email marketing campaign I urge you to go do it now. It is a way you can nurture your audience, getting them to like, know and trust you with out spending too much personal time daily sending emails.
I personally use ConvertKit I found it much easier to use than other email marketing platforms out there. It allows you to create a form which you can embed on your website or link to it on your social media platforms, this form ideally promotes a freebie or blog post which is so enticing it encourages the user to part with their email address to get the freebie.
Once they have entered their email address they get sent an email with the freebie and then they should be placed on what is called a welcome sequence this is usually a 5 email long sequence which introduces the new subscriber to who you are why they should care about you and your product or service and then in the final email you can offer them the opportunity to buy into you.
By doing using a service like this it is a once and done scenario, you write the freebie and welcome sequence once and then promote it continuously across different platforms so it keeps bringing traffic to your site.
Whilst this isn’t true automation it means you can get a lot of important work done in a couple of hours meaning you don’t have to spend all day working. If you want to read more about Time Blocking check out my blog post HERE but here is a quick condensed version.
Think about what’s most important for you to work on each day. This could be slowly completing a long-term project, or finishing something you have been procrastinating on for a while. Make a list of your top three work priorities.
Make a list of your typical workday tasks. Beyond the bigger stuff, you’ve probably got tons of other things going on that take up time every day. Write down these smaller tasks, noting about how long they usually take you to complete. This could be answering emails or phone calls, promoting your company on social media, or posting an online comment about a book you’re reading in a networking group.
Block time for your hardest tasks when you’re most productive. For most people, this will be right at the start of the workday. Dedicate a minimum of one hour to your highest-priority task. Start there, and then move through to the next time block in order of priority.
You didn’t think you could read a blog post from me and I wouldn’t talk about social media did you? I have spent a lot of time reading and researching this because I needed all the help I could get initially, I used to find myself going round in circles on various social media platforms and an hour would pass and I wouldn’t really know where it had gone or what I had done.
To stop this time wasting carousel I decided that at the beginning of each month I would sit down and map out my content for social media. By planning my images, captions, hashtags and strategy. This completely changed the amount of time I was spending on social media.
Whilst I still hang out there regularly, I can spend the time engaging with followers and discovering new accounts rather than scratching my head trying to think of a witty caption that helps my overall business plan.
Need a little extra help with what to post? I’ve got you covered, check out my free 30 day content plan guide below. Using this it will help your customers get to know, like and trust you and not over sell your business each time you post which will help to eliminate that feeling of being sleazy selling online.
[convertkit form=821978]
What are favourite ways to automate your business? I’d love to know.
Love Abi x
