Media Monday

10 WAYS TO GET MORE ENGAGEMENT ON INSTAGRAM

Posted on November 12, 2018 by Graceful Mommy

I’m back with another post for Media Monday! I started this new series to share some tips + tricks for all things social media! Today’s topic is all about getting more engagement on instagram.

1// Engage with new followers – One way to start getting more engagement is to interact and say hi to your new followers. Notice when people start following you and go check them out! Like a few of their photos and say hi!

2//Ask questions – A great habit to get into is to start asking questions! You can do this a few different ways.

1- Use questions in your caption to get followers to comment their answers!

2- Ask questions on other accounts to stimulate conversation!

3- When responding to comments on your on posts, instead of just saying “Thanks!”, try asking them a question back! Start conversations + show up for your people!

3// Respond to comments – Speaking of showing up, make sure to respond to ALL comments left on your posts! Engage back to the people that took time out of their day to comment on your photos. I’m sure those people will want to comment again because they know they are being heard + they know you’re trying to build your community!

4// Posts consistently to IG stories – Another great way to boost your engagement is to start posting consistently to your stories! Not only will you start showing up in the algorithm more, you will also start connecting with your followers on a deeper level!

5// Stand out – Highly engaging instagram accounts all do one thing very good – they stand out from the crowd! It’s hard to get noticed now on instagram – there are SO many accounts, now! So, to get more engagement, try something new! Think about what makes you different + run with that!

6// Focus on captions – Not only do your photos have to be worth engaging with, you also want to make sure your caption is something people actually want to respond to!

7// Start or join a challenge – A great way to get people more engaged with your content is to start or join a challenge! There are always tons of fun challenges going around instagram, from fitness to organization to photography. Usually the challenge goes with a hashtag. If you participate in the challenge or even start your own, it’s a great way to be found by other people!

8// Share a mix of different content – Try switching up your content! If you always just post photos, try posting a carousel post or even a video!

9// Have a consistent look – When someone comes to your feed, are they wowed by what they see? Do they automatically follow you because they just don’t want to miss any of your content? That is a sign of a highly engaging instagram account!

10// Collaborate with other influencers or shops – Another great way to boost your engagement is to collaborate with people! Whether you team up with another influencer or a shop, partnering up with someone is a great way to capture the attention of new people!

Would love to hear what things you are doing to get more engagement on instagram!

Media Monday

MEDIA MONDAY: APPS + TOOLS FOR INFLUENCERS AND BLOGGERS

Posted on November 5, 2018 by Graceful Mommy

05
Nov

It’s MEDIA MONDAY! This is my new blog series where I share social media tips + tricks each week. Today’s topic is all about the best apps and tools for influencers, bloggers + business owners! There are SO many tools out there that help make tasks easier, but finding the right ones can be super time consuming. I use all of these apps and tools on a weekly basis + wanted to share them with you to hopefully make your life a bit easier!

PLANNING YOUR POSTS

Schedugram – This website + app allows you to schedule out your instagram posts. You can work ahead, visually see what your feed will look like, and caption out future posts. The amazing thing about this tool is that it POSTS FOR YOU! So you can set up your content and let it do the work for you! It starts at $20 a month, and then the price goes up depending on how many followers you have. Totally worth it, though!

Planoly – This app is similar to Schedugram, yet the mobile version is a little bit better (in my opinion). Planoly has a free version, so it’s a great option if you just want to try it!

TAKING + EDITING PHOTOS

Camera – While I usually use my SonyA6000 to take the photos for my blog and instagram, I recently have been using my iPhone camera for shots, too! It’s always with me + with the right light, produces some really great photos!

VSCO – I use this app DAILY for editing my photos. I use the filter S2 and apply it to any photo I will be posting on my instagram. I find that using a filter on your photos gives your feed a super cohesive look that really draws people in!

Facetune – This app gets a lot of controversy, because you can really change the way you look with it. I use it for the PATCH tool. When I take a photo and there is something clearly out of place or distracting (like an outlet on the wall), sometimes I’ll remove it with the patch tool.

Unfold – This app is great for editing Instagram stories! You can make fun layouts, combine photos + videos, and really make your IG stories stand out.

Little Nugget – My FAVORITE app for editing baby milestone photos! This app has amazing doodles + graphics for when your baby sits up for the first time, gets a tooth, starts walking, ETC. I did my whole pregnancy + am documenting Donovan’s first year with this app!

Parabo Press – After editing photos with the above apps, I love to get them printed with Parabo Press. Printed out photos make great decorations around the home + do really great in IG photos!

TEAMWORK

Slack – If you’re lucky enough to work with a team, Slack is a must-have tool for you! You can communicate with team members via their messaging system. It makes communication so organized and easy!

SIGNING CONTRACTS

Docusign – When you start working with big brands, you’ll have to sign contracts often! Docusign is a tool that makes this process SO much easier!

ORGANIZATION

Airtable – Okay, this is like one of my secret weapons for organization! It’s like Excel on STEROIDS. I organize EVERYTHING for our business, The Graceful Company on here. And I also keep track of all of my collaborations, payments, posting schedules, due dates, blog post ideas, etc. Basically anything you need to organize – Airtable is where it’s at!

Timer – I use the timer app on my phone constantly. When working on new blogs, I’ll set a timer for 30 minutes on my phone + focus only on that task during that time.

BLOGGING MUST HAVES

Google Analytics – this is a MUST-HAVE if you have a blog. You can track how many visitors come to your site, what posts they are reading, and how long they stay on each page, etc. Plus, when you start working with brands, they will ask to see this information.

Pinterest – As a blogger and influencer, you have to be on pinterest! This is such a great tool for driving traffic to your site or your feed. Read this post to help up your pinterest game!

LEARNING

Podcast – In order to be constantly growing as an influencer or blogger, you have to be willing to learn new things. My favorite way to learn the latest trends is by listening to podcasts! My favorite podcasts are On Purpose by Alex Beadon, Goal Digger by Jenna Kutcher, + The Influencer Podcast with Julie Solomon. I listen to these before I go to bed, while I’m in the car, or during workouts!

I hope these apps and tools help you in your business! Are there any must-have tools that I didn’t mention? Would love to hear what you are using!

Media Monday, Random

MEDIA MONDAY: HOW TO SKYROCKET YOUR TRAFFIC FROM PINTEREST

Posted on October 29, 2018 by Graceful Mommy

29
Oct

Chances are, you already have a Pinterest account. Maybe you occasionally pop on there when you’re looking for a last-minute dinner recipe or a DIY baby shower gift. While Pinterest can be a perfect place for these random pins + inspiration, it can be SO MUCH MORE when you are a blogger, influencer, or business owner.

Pinterest has consistently brought over 100k views to my personal blog and it continues to be my #1 source of traffic! Once you start looking at Pinterest as a search engine, and not just a random place to get craft ideas, you can start harnessing it’s power to grow your biz!

We’re going to share our favorite tips for skyrocketing your traffic from Pinterest! Are you ready to take your business to the next level?

+ CONVERT TO A BUSINESS ACCOUNT

By turning your Pinterest into a business account, you unlock all of the analytic features! This means you can see which pins are doing the best + which need some TLC!

+ CLEAN UP YOUR ACCOUNT

After converting your account to a business account, you need to clean up your page. If you already have boards, go through them and make sure they apply to your business. You don’t need to keep any boards called “Aunt Julie’s 50th” or anything super specific like this.

We recommend starting out with 10 boards.

Your boards should be related to your niche. For example, if you sell baby headbands, having a board about baby toys may not totally be in your “niche” but that board will attract your ideal customer (a mom with young kids).

One of your boards should be dedicated to YOUR PRODUCTS. Name this board something simple, like your biz name.

Note: Don’t go crazy with weird board names like “YUM”. Instead, call it Baby Food. Keywords are SO important on Pinterest.

+ WHAT TO PIN

We go by the rule of 70% // 30% . Start out by pinning 70% of other people’s content + 30% of your own. In order to get your account seen, you have to pin high-quality content that will get re-pinned. Once Pinterest sees that you are pinning good quality pins, you can start to pin more of your own products.

+ GROUP BOARDS

One of the secrets to Pinterest is group boards! A group board is a board that has multiple Pinterest users on it. All the members of the board are allowed to pin content to that board. This really expands the reach of a pin. Some group boards have thousands of followers + if you pin to that board you’re getting tons of views to your content/product.

The hard part is you have to be invited to group boards (or start your own). To be invited to one, you have to email the creator of the board and ask if they can add you. It’s super tedious, but I recommend spending some time each week emailing group board owners. To find the board owner, you look at the contributors and click on the FIRST PROFILE PIC. Either read the rules of the group board OR you can message that owner.

We have been building up our group boards for 3 years + are in some of the best ones in the Small Shop world. One of the perks of having The Graceful Company manage your Pinterest is that you get access to our group boards through our account!

+ GRAPHICS

It’s super important to always be pinning your content from your website, Etsy, Instagram, Facebook, or anywhere else your products are. However, it’s equally as important to be creating custom VERTICAL graphics designed JUST for Pinterest.

We do this by using PicMonkey, Canva or even Instagram stories. The ideal aspect ratio for a Vertical Pin is 2:3 – 600px wide x 900px high. Square images also tend to do great on Pinterest, as well! While super long pins used to preform really well, Pinterest has stated that pins longer than 1260px will get cut off on the Pinterest feed.

The words you put on the graphic also are extremely important. It MUST entice the reader to click in. After all, that IS the point of pinterest – driving traffic to your site or product. So make the heading clickable, searchable, intriguing, and maybe a little secretive. Here are some great examples: The 5 secrets of selling on Shopify, The baby product you desperately need, or anything HOW-TO.

Here are a few of our top performing pins on pinterest.

Pinterest is such an important tool you need to start using to grow your business! Millions + millions of users go on Pinterest to purchase items + if your brand is not there, you are missing out on tons of traffic + sales.

If you are a DIY sort of biz owner, these tips + strategies will help you get a jumpstart on Pinterest. If you are wondering where the heck you’ll get the time to be pinning everyday, making graphics, pinning to group boards, optimizing your pins, using keywords, and more, we’d love to help you out!

To inquire about our Pinterest Management Service, email my agency here: hi@thegracefulcompany.com . We’d love to take you to the next level!