White Hat vs Black Hat SEO

black hat vs white hat seo

Today, I wanted to talk about black hat versus white hat SEO.

Basically, black hat SEO is where you’re doing everything you can, you’re finding loopholes, and you’re just working the system in order to have your website ranked quickly for specific keywords. White hat SEO, on the other hand, is a much more long endgame. You’re not only creating content and doing strategies to please Google, but you also are thinking about that end user and how people are interacting with your website. You’re creating more authentic, is how I view it, content that’s really informative and educational and solving problems.

This then allows you to get those backlinks and really create partnerships with other websites so that they are also linking to you because they see what a valuable resource you’ve created.

With over 7.5 million blog posts published every single day, and 61% of the blogs that are out there publishing more than one blog post per week, SEO really is a long-term strategy that you have to really consistently nurture and build over time. It’s not something where in the first week you’re going to see results. It’s not something in the first month you’re going to see results. Depending on what industry you’re in, what niche you’re in, it could take years to really stand apart from your competition and make sure Google has found you.

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Always utilizing white hat SEO strategies is a great way to make sure that you consistently are staying on the radar of Google and that they’re not going to ding you for doing something incorrectly and trying to play the system. So let’s just go through a couple of typical black hat versus white hat strategies that we see.

Black Hat SEO Strategies

The first black hat strategy is creating duplicate content.

The second is having invisible text and stuffed keywords.

And let me actually talk a little bit about this invisible text and stuffed keywords.

Way back in the day, maybe seven years ago, we had a client who had hired us to work on their SEO on their website. And we did a review and they were missing a couple of header tags and a couple of keywords, and those mains or traces within the header tags. Their resolution to this was creating a white H1 tag and adding it to every page and listing off all the keywords that we had recommended. They were making sure the keywords were on the website because that’s what people were searching for, but they didn’t want readers to actually see the headers. That is considered a black hat SEO strategy. You should not be doing this. This client wanted to add the content but didn’t want people to see that he had the content on there. So he did it in a not very user friendly way, and it’s something that Google can very clearly see white text, white background. So don’t do this. When you’re writing content, think of variations of the words that people are using, variations of the phrases people are using, rather than, you know, putting that same phrase or keyword in your content multiple times.

The next one, the third one is cloaking or redirecting the user to another site or page.

This is kind of a more advanced strategy, but you want to make sure, again, that that user experience is really there. And then the other one is links from sites with non-relevant content. So this is when you’re going out, you’re getting all the links that you can into your site, but they have nothing to do with your business.

We have a client now who does a fantastic job with helping self-publishers get noticed and ranked on Amazon. If you do want an introduction to her, let’s say you’ve written a novel or a book and you are self-publishing it, feel free to reach out to me. I’ll put you in touch with her.

One of the things that she talks about is this exact same strategy but on Amazon. So if you have a Kindle book, for example, and you have all of your friends, all of your neighbors go on, buy the Kindle book on Amazon and leave a review.

The problem here is that all of these people in your network enjoy reading different things. So Amazon will have no idea of what category your book should be listed in, what type of people should actually be reading the book and enjoying it.

This is the same thing as having links from non-relevant content. You are basically telling Google, you have no idea what niche you’re in, what industry you’re in, and what your content is about.

Another client, a brewery, who’s in the gluten-free industry, he had a cannabis company reach out and the cannabis company was saying they’ve write a blog for him and all they wanted was a link back to their site. This really made no sense whatsoever because then his site would be telling Google they’re related to cannabis, and the cannabis site would be telling Google they were related to beer. Think about this as you’re going out and building these links with other websites.

White Hat SEO Strategies

Now, let’s talk about white hat strategies. These are those long-term strategies that really you’re thinking about your business, you’re thinking about Google, you’re not trying to find loopholes, and you’re thinking about that end user.

The first one is relevant content.

Make sure that you are writing content that is relevant to the needs of your consumer, of your patients, of your practice. You want to make sure that the content you’re putting out there isn’t fluff and that it really is relevant.

Number two, have well-labeled images.

Images should clearly describe what’s going on in the picture, and I often try and relate it to the page as well. Especially if you are taking your own photos and loading them to the website, you want to make sure that these clearly state what they are about. So this is very, very important and it’s very easy to implement, also making sure that you have those alt tags on the images as well.

The third is to build relevant links and references

The next, and this is what we just were talking about with the black hat strategies, it’s building relevant links and references. And so the relevant links and references really show Google what the content is about, and if it’s a high quality website that’s linking to you, that’s even better. The next is complete sentences with good spelling and grammar, I’m sure this will become more and more important. Websites like Grammarly or there are a few AI writing websites, that have done an incredible job making sure that automatically you can tell what’s written properly and what’s not. And so I’m sure, Google will continue to get better at telling what’s broken English or broken Spanish or whatever language you’re speaking, and where is grammar not good, because they want to show people the best content that’s out there.

If you’ve been writing for a long time and you know some of your blogs aren’t that great, you can either go back and edit them, create new versions of them, and redirect the old version to the new version, or even consider taking it down. That’s okay.

The next is making sure that you are following HTML best practices.

For this, if you’re using a website that’s built on Squarespace, WordPress, Shopify, even Wix, typically, you are in good hands. So websites like this, they follow best practices. So I wouldn’t be too worried. Make sure in your content, however, you’re using those header tags and things like that though. And then the last one is having unique and relevant page titles. So make sure each page title refers directly to what is on that page and what people will learn from reading that content.

SEO is one of those things that does take time. You want to make sure that you are trying to consistently get better and better at the content that you’re creating, at the websites that you’re attracting to link back into your site, and if you ever hear somebody talk about a strategy that’s going to work overnight, I would steer clear of it. Maybe it will work overnight this time, but the next Google update, you might see your rankings plummet.

If you have any questions about search engine optimization, white hat versus black hat strategies, even how to track how well you’re doing, head on over to our digital marketing consultation page. I’d be happy to chat, just fill out that request a consultation. Thanks so much and I’ll see you next time.

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6 Reasons Why Doctors Should Use LinkedIn

6 Reasons Why Doctors Should Use LinkedIn

UPDATED BLOG POST – You’ve heard LinkedIn is important but is it really? The short answer is yes.

LinkedIn is a social networking site that allows professionals and business people, regardless of their industry, to connect. With more than 600 million users in over 200 countries, it is the world’s largest professional network on the internet. Despite its popularity, many people ignore this platform simply because they do not understand how powerful it can be for exposing and growing their business.

Do you have a LinkedIn account? Here are 6 reasons to create one or dust off your long-forgotten one.

Opportunity to network

We’ve all heard the phrase “It’s not what you know, but who you know”. LinkedIn was built with that proposition in mind.

If you’re looking to build a strong network, LinkedIn is the best place to start. It is great for building strong networks with other healthcare professionals. It has a decent search feature that can help you find people in your industry. There are also numerous healthcare groups on LinkedIn that you can join. Use your LinkedIn connections to build a community. It is up to you to decide how much time and energy you want to put into this process.

When you’re an active LinkedIn user, your opportunities to interact with other healthcare professionals are virtually limitless. Professionals who are using the platform are open to networking, connections, and possibly, professional referrals. If you reach out to them in a genuine, non-spammy way, they’d be more than happy to have you in their network.

Demonstrate your knowledge and expertise

LinkedIn is essentially a digital translation of your CV. It is a great place for keeping all your career information. In fact, there is an entire section available devoted to recognitions and awards you’ve won. This could be an excellent way to tell your audience that you’re good at what you do.

Many people have a Linkedin account. The problem is that their profile is incomplete. Remember, your profile is the first professional impression people will have of you. Completing your profile with your experience, skills, and credentials will increase your credibility. Think of it as your online CV. Go ahead and show off your skills, academic accomplishments, and professional successes.

Content sharing

Unlike other social media platforms, where the focus of sharing is generally personal content, LinkedIn is a suitable platform for professional content.

The open publishing format of LinkedIn provides users an opportunity to both teach and learn. Here, you can share content that reflects your line of work and presents your thoughts and ideas to a wider audience. You can share blogs that have the potential to create a buzz around your name, participate in discussions and express your thoughts or views on certain topics.

Publishing high-quality content regularly creates trust with your connections and positions you as an expert in your field. If your post is featured on LinkedIn Pulse, your reach is exponentially increased.

If you’re not getting enough engagement on your posts, you may want to check out our blog on how to make your LinkedIn posts stand out.

Tap into industry news

In today’s competitive job market, it is important to stay up-to-date with industry news and trends in order to thrive. With new regulations and technologies affecting the healthcare industry, there are lots of industry news to stay on top of. LinkedIn makes it easier for you to stay relevant in today’s evolving healthcare landscape.

Joining industry-specific groups allow you to connect and interact with industry peers. From here, you can get the latest news, post, and announcements.

Be found online

Whether you like it or not, people are going to look you up on Google. And it’simportant that your patients, students, and other industry professionals find you online.

The good news is that Linkedin profiles have high authority with Google. That means, if you have a LinkedIn account, it will appear toward the top of the search results page.

LinkedIn is a great tool for managing and controlling your professional digital reputation since you’ll have direct control over how your online identity is presented. Plus, it will be easier for future patients to find you. Your profile will not only appear when they search your name but also when searching for your specialty.

Further your personal branding

Your brand is what people say about you. Try Googling yourself to see what comes up. These are the first impressions people will have of you.

In today’s digital world, first impressions are formed online, and Linkedin is the best place for people to “meet” you. Your profile is a showcase of your skills, experience, and achievements. It is a great way to present your professional experience, tell your story, and the goals you want to achieve. Make sure your profile is 100% complete. Don’t forget to update your profile photo.

Remember, you will never get a second chance to make a first impression, so make sure that you do it right. Make one that will differentiate you from the competition and reflect who you are.

6 Reasons Why Family Medicine Doctors Should Use LinkedIn 6 Reasons Why Mental Health Practitioners Should Use LinkedIn

6 Reasons Why Healthcare Providers Should Use LinkedIn

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How to Easily Write a Good Blog Post for your Business (Top Tips)

how to write high quality blog posts quickly

In 2018 we published a blog on how to easily write a blog post for your business. This is a supplemental video to that blog with updates for blogging in 2021!

Namely, don’t hesitate to write shorter blogs if they fully answer the question at hand.

With the rise in mobile searches and voice searches, Google has prioritized some answers that get straight to the point rather than blogs that include the answer within a long drawn-out piece of content.

You’ve been told that you need to write blogs for your business, you now understand these blogs need to be >2,500 words, but how do you find the time in your schedule to actually write a good blog post?

Everything in marketing always comes back to finding systems that will work for your schedule to write an educational and informative blog post quickly.

In this post I’ll be going through my top tips for writing a good blog post quickly.

If you are just tuning in, over the past few weeks we’ve been talking about how to perform keyword research and find related keywords to include in your blogs:

Ok, so let’s jump in an get started.

First and foremost, when you write a piece of web content, it should be about something you are knowledgeable about.

If you are a psychotherapist who specializes in EMDR, but have never done Brainspotting, don’t try to write a blog post explaining the intricate details of Brainspotting. (I’m not an expert in either, so for our psychotherapist clients, I pass the writing of those blog posts to one of our all-star copywriters.)

As you are creating your content strategy and your blogging calendar, try to include blogs that are timely and relevant, but make sure you feel comfortable actually sharing information on them.

A 2,500 blog post may seem daunting as you are getting started, but it really doesn’t need to be when you follow the tips outlined below.

Tip 1: Once you have your topic, see what other articles have been written about it

Before you even get in the writing zone, do a quick Google search about the topic you want to write about. Remember, you want to get a sense of what those related keywords are to include in your content anyways, so this step has a dual purpose.

For this post, my search was for Write a Good Blog Post Quickly.

Guess what comes up?

A blog titled 5 Ways to Write High-Quality Content – Fast

5 Ways to Write High Quality Content Fast

Hey! That looks right on the mark for my blog post.

Ehh, actually after a quick read-through, this blog doesn’t include all the information I want to, but that’s okay! I know it is highly ranked on Google for my proposed keyword and includes super basic topics:

  • Have a brainstorm of ideas you can pull from
  • Batch your time
  • Know your own self and when you are most creative
  • Write ahead
  • Keep it simple

These are great tips, but again, I want to be more technical in this blog post on easily creating systems for writing a blog post quickly.

Don’t worry, my efforts to research what other people are already writing haven’t gone to waste.

If you do find a blog post that nails your topic on the head, make a quick note of the outline they follow including:

  • The headers they use
  • What keywords or topics stand out
  • The general flow

Then … CLOSE THE WINDOW. This is your blog and you need to make sure you aren’t plagiarizing. You want to make the blog post your own not a word by word replica of what you just read.

So why is it okay to open up an article or two that just don’t include the information you want to include? Well… It could be that you want to write about something completely off the grid or it could be that nobody has actually taken the time yet to post a detailed enough guide on the topic you want to explore.

If I open up an article that just doesn’t seem to include the information I want to share, I take a moment to consider what I would include in my blog post that is missing from the blog I just read.

Not sure what Keywords to include in your Blog?

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Tip 2: Take a Moment to Write Down What is Missing from the Blog Post you just read

Let’s go back to 5 Ways to Write High-Quality Content – Fast. Though the author has some great content tips, he’s missing some major items that help me write my own blog posts effectively.

Namely, the author is missing the steps to:

  • Research what other pieces of good content are ranking on Google
  • Create an outline for your blog post
  • Transcribe audio or video to create not only great written content for your website, but also to include multimedia in your blog posts.
  • Include filler adjectives and words
  • Outsource writing for blog posts

The post also has an incorrect fact about how short, concise content is the way to go. You don’t want to ramble on and on, but you want to give valuable information that will actually benefit the reader rather than a quick 300 word blog post (I’m already at 800 words and only on tip 2 for writing high quality blog posts quickly… you better buckle up).

Creating a list of what is missing from the example blog posts will help you create an outline for the informational blog that you want to write for your website.

Tip 3: Write down an outline for the content you are writing for your blog post

You now have the list of elements that are typically included in blogs related to your chosen topic.

You also have the specifics that are missing from the posts that you would like to include in your blog post.

AND, from before you even started your blog, you have the keywords you wish to include and the related keywords from Google.

Even though you already have this information compiled, I always find it helpful to write an actual outline for your blog post.

Why?

There are a number of reasons why you should, but most importantly it is because:

  1. You are a busy professional who will get called into a meeting or be interrupted by a conference call.
  2. You are a mom (or parent) like Amber and myself who will need to change a diaper, make sure homework is getting done, or run their child to T-ball.
  3. Do you really have the focus to write 2,500 words in one sitting?

As you get interrupted, it may feel like you can jump right back into the task at hand, but in reality, it takes your brain a few moments to get back on track and figure out where you are with your blog post.

Creating an outline allows you to more easily spend 15-30 minutes here and there on the blog without out feeling like you are spending half the time rereading what you’ve already written and trying to decide where to go next in the blog post.

Having an outline also keeps you on track for the final parts of your blog. Many writers often cut their blog short towards the end because they are just over the process of writing. Having an outline allows you to take a break, but not loose focus.

This process is called Batching your time (see I am including some of the information from the blog post example).

Tip 4: Batch your time while you are preparing to write and actually writing the blog post for your website

As I just mentioned, batching your time is the process of focusing on one at a time rather than trying to multitask.

Here, it means not checking your email or jumping to Facebook while you are writing.

Each time you shift your focus, your brain needs to reorient itself.

In the process of writing your blog post for your website, there are some things you can do to help you batch your time:

  1. Focus on each step in sequence: Keyword research and finding related keywords, researching similar blog posts, creating your outline for your own blog, actually writing the blog, going back and editing the blog, finding images for your blog, writing the title of your blog post.
  2. Don’t try to edit your blog post until you’ve gotten all of your information down.
  3. If you realize you need more information to write thoughtfully on a topic, but you’ve already done your initial research and are in your writing stage, make a note and then jump to the following section that you can write about. Unfortunately, if you jump back to reading articles, trust me, your blog will take 10 times longer to write.
  4. I’m sure I have more, but because I am using this blog as a way to show my own blog writing process, I’m jumping to the next section because additional points are not coming to me at this time. I may come back and add them, but for now, I move on. 🙂

So again, you want to think of writing your quality blog post as a process. Just like anything else in business, processes help to make you efficient and effective. Batching is one way to help you write your long blog post quickly.

Tip 5: Don’t Write! Transcribe from Audio and Video to Create your Blog Post

This is one of my favorite tips for busy professionals who just don’t seem to have the time to get into a writing groove.

10 minutes of audio creates a blog that is about 2,500 words long.

So, after writing your outline for your blog post you could use an audio converter or record a video to transcribe your words to text to include in your blog post.

Some tools I recommend are Google Docs and YouTube.

Let’s take a look at Google Docs first. 

Head on over to Google Drive and click to create a new document. Better yet, you could create your outline as a Google Doc so you can add to it on the go if needed.

Under Tools, there is an option for Voice typing (Ctrl+Shift+S).

voice typing google

Click this, start talking, and your document will start filling up with words.

Now when I do this speech to text, I do find that I need to edit the text as I go. I’ll talk for about 5 sentences, stop the recording, and then edit what was written. You may be able to do the entire document based off your outline and notes, however.

The iPhone speech to text works well, as well. I’ve actually ‘written’ blogs while out for walks with the girls, but Apple will stop transcribing every couple of minutes, so you need to make sure you don’t keep talking with nothing being written down.

I’m sure there is other software you can use that also records your audio for use in a Podcast. Or you can send the audio file off to Rev.com for transcription at $1/minute. Totally worthwhile if you have spent hours trying to get into writing, but not filling the page with any content.

The other option is to use YouTube to transcribe a video.

Using your computer camera or your phone, record yourself talking through the outline you created.

When you upload your video to YouTube, you may need to first verify your account (enter in your phone number in the settings) to post videos that are over 10 minutes long.

Typically, most of our clients who generate a transcription of their blog upload their videos as Unlisted or Private, though I am all for listing these videos as Public to get more of a reach – blogs with videos perform really well, YouTube is a search engine, and you can share your video to social media (always think of how you can repurpose your content as you create it). Make sure the space you are in looks professional if you also plan to publish the video as Public and include it in your blog post.

After you have uploaded your video, click in to edit it and find the link that says Subtitles/CC.

youtube subtitles

You will be prompted to select your language (I use English though at times I’m not sure).

Then, click under Published where English is listed again.

subtitles for youtube

On the next screen you can download the subtitles created by YouTube as .srt.

save subtitles you tube

 

I’m not sure what a .srt file actually is, but all you need to do is convert it to a .txt file online and you will be able to open it with your computer. In the past I’ve used Subtitle Tools for the conversion, though a Google search for “Convert .srt file to .txt for free” will work just fine.

The text that is created will be formatted a little strangely with about 7 words per line and no punctuation. Honestly, I get a little overwhelmed by this, but the ability to create the video and written blog in one go is well worth the effort to run through your post and edit it.

Your outline makes this easier as well. 

You can work through small chunks and sections by pasting the text under the corresponding blog header. Please let me know if you often work through your transcripts, I’d love to feature more tips about converting a YouTube video into a blog post.

Again, if spending $10-$20 isn’t a problem, you can submit the video to Rev.com and utilize their transcription services.

Tip 6: Outsource your Blog Writing

We frequently outsource blog writing. I’ll keep this section short, but you can find experts in your industry who cost anywhere from $0.03 per word to $0.65 or more per word. So, depending on your budget and time you have available to provide an outline and edit your blog post, you may decide for yourself what budget for the blog writing really makes sense.

We utilize freelancers on Upwork.com and WritersAccess.com to find niche bloggers for our clients. Again, as I mentioned earlier, I’m not an EMDR or Brainspotting expert, so why would I spend hours trying to write that blog post when someone else can write it for a fraction of the cost of my time to research.

Depending on your industry, you can also probably find Guest Bloggers who would write a post on your site for free if they can include their bio and a link back to their own website.

With Guest Bloggers, just make sure their content is unique and reserve the right to edit it slightly so the headers include your focus keywords and related keywords.

I love guest bloggers because they often then will share the link to their own networks or link to it from their website, which then in turn helps get new visitors to your website and helps in SEO.

How to quickly write a great blog post for your business, #blogging #bloggingtips, learn how to write a long blog, how to blog for your business, blogging for business

How to quickly write a great blog post for your business, #blogging #bloggingtips, learn how to write a long blog, how to blog for your business, blogging for business, #business

Wrap Up

Writing a high quality, long blog post doesn’t need to be a difficult task. Depending on how you work you may find that you are better suited to transcribe and audio or video file rather than sitting down and typing.

The most important starting point for any blog, however, is to make sure that you create an outline. I just sat down and busted out this blog before 9am, but it is on a topic I am VERY familiar with (have you checked out our blogging course yet?).

You may not have time to finish a blog in one chunk, so be sure to batch your time to most effective and efficient.

What long blog posts are you working on writing? I’d love to check out your work!

Not sure what Keywords to include in your Blog?

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Interested in learning more? Take a look at these articles:

Blogging in 2017 – The Startling Truth About Blogging

Blog SEO Checklist

4 Reasons Why Contests Should be a Part of Your Marketing Strategy

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6 Ways to Grow Your Business Using Clubhouse

6 Ways to Grow Your Business Using Clubhouse

Everyone is talking about Clubhouse right now and for good reason. Where else can you listen in on conversations with influential entrepreneurs, celebrities, politicians, and venture capitalists?

Most of you have probably heard of Clubhouse by now, but if you still haven’t joined, here’s what you need to know about this exclusive, invite-only app and how you can leverage it for your business.

What is Clubhouse?

Clubhouse is an audio-based social media app. Here, users can listen to conversations, interviews, and discussions between interesting people on various topics. It’s something akin to a live, free-flowing podcast.

Unlike other social networking apps, Clubhouse is currently invite-only. You can’t just download the app and create an account. You have to secure an invite to get in. But here’s the thing… Members-only have two invites to handout, so that person must like you enough to get an invite.

The second hurdle is that is only available on the iPhone. So if you’re an Android user, you’re currently out of luck.

Here how you can take advantage of the app’s community and turn it into an asset for your business.

Optimize your Clubhouse profile

To make the most of your Clubhouse profile, we highly recommend that you optimize your bio.

Use the first three sentences in your bio to tell people who you are, what you do, and why they should follow you. Don’t forget to include keywords throughout your bio. This way, if they search for the keyword, your profile will come up.

Make sure your profile looks professional. Remember, the goal is to captivate your potential audience in case you don’t get the chance to be heard on stage.

Build an engaged following

One of the best features of Clubhouse is the ability to build an engaged community grow your sphere of influence.

Since Clubhous isn’t as saturated, this is your chance to ride the wave and get on top. If you constantly engage in conversations and reach out to the right people, you’ll be able to grow your following in no time. Use your time on the platform wisely, and you are likely to see your brand’s community grow and strengthen.

Make new connections

One of the biggest reasons why Clubhouse has grown so quickly is because it has some big-name users. We’re talking Oprah, Elon Musk, Kevin O’Leary, etc. Here, you’ll also have the opportunity to connect and network with people within your industry.

Find like-minded people by joining clubs related to your business or within your industry. Stay for a few minutes and listen to conversations. If you like it, stay. If not, then move to another room. Follow people who seem interesting.

Keep up with current news and trends in your industry

You may not realize it, but Clubhouse is actually a great tool for social listening. You can keep tabs on your competitors or follow influential people in your industry. By doing so, you’ll be able to keep up with the current industry news and trends.

Chances are, your target audience may also be on Clubhouse. You may immerse yourself in the conversation to gain a deeper understanding of your audience’s sentiments, needs, and behaviors.

Learn from experts

We all know the value of networking and learning from experts within our industries, but imagine the value of learning from tech giants and multi-million dollar CEOs.

Clubhouse doesn’t just give you an opportunity to learn from industry experts and big players in the industry, it also makes it possible for you to tune in on their conversations, ask questions, and even share the stage with them.

If you have a business problem you’re struggling with, you can start a conversation with leading experts in your industry and see what solutions they’d recommend.

Position yourself as an industry expert

Everyone on Clubhouse is there to add value, and you should too. As you enter different virtual rooms, you have the option to listen or join in on the conversation. If you have something valuable to add to the discussion, request to be on the stage. You can voice out your opinion, share your experience, or give advice about certain issues or problems. This will not only help you build your reputation as a thought leader, but it can also increase your Clubhouse followers.

Another way to establish yourself as an industry expert is by creating rooms on topics you are passionate about and providing valuable conversations. In Clubhouse, your followers will receive a notification when you go live, giving them an opportunity to tune in or join in on the conversation.

6 Ways to Grow Your Business Using Clubhouse (1)

6 Ways to Grow Your Yoga Practice Using Clubhouse6 Ways to Grow Your Mental Health Practice Using Clubhouse

6 Ways to Grow Your Family Medicine Practice Using Clubhouse

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How to Create Custom Graphics in Canva

How to create custom graphics in canva

Today, we’re going to talk about Canva, and we’ve talked about Canva a few times in the past. The reason I want to bring it up again is it’s such an important tool to your digital marketing strategy. Canva is going to be your go-to resource if you are doing any type of social media, blogging, YouTube videos, you’re going to be able to create all of your custom graphics through Canva. And the one thing I love about Canva the most is that they make it super user-friendly, they’re always introducing new aspects to the platform, and it really allows you to stand out from the crowd and you don’t have to be a graphic designer in order to do this. That’s what I love most. When you come to Canva, there is a free version and a paid version. We use the paid version, I think it’s $12.95 a month, and it’s amazing. What you’re going to do is you can come in here and click “Create a design.” As you can see, there are so many different types of designs you can choose from.

Things you can do with Canva

Canva helps with presentations, obviously, all social media posts, logo design, posters, you can do videos on here, you can create a flyer, you can do Instagram stories. There are so many different types of graphics you can create with Canva. The one I’m going to show you today is one that you’re going to use most often, and it is going to be social media. The social media is a 1080×1080. This is a square image, and the great thing about this image, the size, is it works on all social media platforms. It works on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and even Pinterest. I’m going to go ahead and click the social media option. And then, once you come into here, it’s going to allow us to look at different templates. Now, with these templates, there are free and there…it’ll say, “Free.” If it doesn’t say, “Free,” but you’re already paying for the service, it’s included with your pro monthly subscription.

There are hundreds of different templates that you can use, and this is where I like to educate our clients on choosing between five and 10, and it seems like a lot, but five to 10 different templates that they like to save them time when they come in here to create their social media posts. For our clients, when I’m writing the post, I will have certain templates I use for each of them that I can customize. You can customize the image, the font, the color scheme. Just for the sake of time, what I’m going to do is I’m going to click this one. And again, we’re not talking about a baby shower, show your cookies, but let’s say I want to have this image in the background. I’m going to create a social media post. I can come here to photos, and I can start typing in what it is I’m looking for. I can look at social media and any of these images. Canva has again, royalty-free images, and they usually pull from Pixabay or Pexels. And if you are… Right here where it says, “Pro,” if you are paying for the pro service, those are included in your monthly subscription. If it says, “Free,” you could use either one of these if you are logged into your pro account.

Social Media Images

As you can see there are tons of different social media images to choose from. I can choose any of these. I’m going to go ahead and again, sometimes it can be a little time-consuming because you’re always looking for that perfect picture. Let’s take this one here, and I’m going to drag it over to this image, and it will automatically take place on the screen. If you double click onto it, I can adjust which way I want this to go. Then, I can change the font, the color scheme. I want this image to be my brand colors. I’ve already uploaded my images… Or excuse me, my brand colors to Canva. You can create your own brand with your fonts, your colors, your logo, and I’m going to change this to here. I’m going to take this out. I’m going, here, say, “Social media tips for the healthcare industry.”

Now, this font is not the font that we use. This isn’t our brand font, I’m going to click here. And again, you can upload your own fonts here, but Canva does have a ton of free fonts as well. I’m going to go ahead and choose Raleway. And then I don’t want these all to be in the capital, I’m going to come here to “More” and then click the As. That will allow it to go back to just having… If I made those letters capital. I also am not too fond of the spacing for these letters, I want them to be closer together. What you’re going do is come here to spacing, and letter, you can move them in, and then the lines you can move in or out. Now, one thing with Canva, when you’re using a template, is usually the text will be grouped together. I just want this text here. Just this text to scoot up, not this text here. What I’m going to do is now that this is highlighted, I’m going cover here to ungroup. Once you ungroup them, that means now they’re their own text boxes, and then here I can say, learn more at www.socialspeaknetwork.com. 

I want to make sure that these are, they are Raleway, but the spacing, I don’t like, I want the lettering to be closer together, and I want these to be unbold and maybe a 22 font, that’s what that could look like. Now, I can go into… I can also add my logo, I can come into here into logos, and then you can… Let’s add a yellow logo, and I can put this right here and this back in the middle, and then let’s say I want this picture to be a little bit, I don’t want it to be so transparent, I can bring this all the way up to 100 and there I have my social media image.

Animating Images on Canva

The other great thing is, let’s say I want to add a page. Maybe these are social media tips for the healthcare industry, and I want to go into three different tips, I’m going to go ahead and click here to add a page. And I want to add a video to this. I’m going to type in social media, and these are videos that you can use as well, I’m going to bring this over here, I’m going double click on it I can choose the screen that I want, and I may not like that one as much, maybe I will use this one or… Oops. This one, let’s get rid of. Now this will play. You can move it this way, maybe I’ll just leave it like this it shows, it doesn’t show the percentages, but you can up here, click this and you can edit how long this is for, okay, you can see kinda what that idea is, I want to say… I’m going to put a text box here that says tip number one, and then let’s just say, choosing the right platform.

Now, a couple of things here. With this video background, it may be a little hard for my audience to be able to read my text, even though I make it bold and it still is a little dark or it’s a little hard to read, I can click onto this video and I want to trim that because I don’t need it to be 27 seconds long. I can just have it be three seconds long, and what I can do is I can click done, and then I can make the transparency fade out a little bit. I can also come over here to the area of this element, and maybe I want to add a box, but I’m going make it this wide, and I’m going to bring it up, and I want this to be a little transparent and the video, not to be transparent anymore, I want that to be full, and then I’m going bring up my content, okay? Here, if you click onto the background image, I want this to just be three seconds, it doesn’t need to be five seconds long.

Right now, I have a 6.1-second video, then I can come to add a page for my tip number two, and maybe I don’t want to do necessarily a video, I’m going to go back to digital marketing for a photo and… Oops, digital marketing. And I’m going find the photo that I want, I’m going to bring that over here, and then and again, I’m going add my text, I may want to keep the same element of this background here, I can copy that, and then bring it down here. I can also copy my text box and bring that down here, and then I can edit the text box, it would say tip number two.

Now I want to maybe bring this text down to the middle of this box, and maybe this color is going to be a little bit different, I want this one to be here, and then I want to… What’s called animate this because I want to have it be a little bit different. I want it to be three seconds, and I want to still make it look fun and interesting, but not necessarily a video, you can have it tumble in, you can have it fade. You rise, zoom in. I think I’m just going to do this tumble in, okay, and then I’m going just do one more tip, and I want to go back to the templates. With the templates, you can see this one here is an animated video and you can… You’ll notice that because it will have the play button, and I want to look for another animated template that we can use, and as you scroll through here, and again, there are many different templates that you can use, and even if you see a template that you like, you can still animate it, I may just search… Oh this one here, let’s do this one.

Using Video in Your Social Media Images

I want to do a video, and I’ll do digital marketing. I’ll bring this one here, maybe over a little bit more, and actually, maybe this will be video marketing… I’ll just leave this here. Now I want to make this a little bit bigger. And then again, I want to be able to ungroup this context box, I’m going click ungroup, I’m going move it over, and then I’m going say tip number three content strategy, and again, this is not the text I want to use, we’re going use Raleway, and you want to make sure you have that consistency, again, we’re going to make sure that we’re not doing that, and then you want to know what was that font. It’s Raleway 50 bold. I want to say here, Raleway, 50 bold, and I want it to be black text to go along with what I have on my tip number one and tip number two. Now, here, I want to make these, I have my brand colors, going back to your board there, I want this content, the text, the words to be closer together or the letters, there we go, I want this to be this light bulb, I like the light bulb, but I want it to be my brand colors, and then we can say, check out more tips at socialspeaknetwork.com. Okay, and then we want to make sure we’re bringing this over, that this needs to be Raleway, and I’ll make this 20 unbold and I’ll put this back into the black.

This video here, I want to trim to just three seconds because I don’t want it to be a 45-second video, I want it to be consistent with what I had above. Now if you click play, you have a branded quick 12-second video that allows you to put your own content on here and still being able to grab the attention of your audience. With Canva, again, it’s very simple to use, and it’s important to make sure that you are trying the different features that it has to offer, your Instagram Stories… Instagram Stories are a great way to build your followers and to be able to stay on top of mind with your audience. Here, you can do an Instagram Reels video, layout Instagram Stories. It allows you to really personalize every single graphic that you put on to your digital marketing, you can do your blog images through here, your YouTube thumbnails, your YouTube intros, really everything, in here, you’ll be able to see they have different featured images that you can use and this is great because if you upload a reel, they always pick the worst thumbnails, that’s why it is important to have branded graphics. 

If you need help creating branded graphics for your company or help to manage your social media. We are here to help, you could book a free 30-minute consultation, and we would love to help you build a consistent brand on your social media and your digital marketing. 

 

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6 Easy Tips to Make Your LinkedIn Posts Standout

6 Easy Tips to Make Your LinkedIn Posts Standout

By now, you probably already know that Linkedin is a great place to generate leads. And publishing valuable content on the platform positions you as an authority in your industry, so you started writing content.

You spent hours researching, writing, and editing. Finally, your article is ready for publishing. Beaming with excitement, you clicked “post”. A few minutes later, you checked again hoping to see some likes and comments. Unfortunately, there is none.

Here’s the thing… If you’re not getting views on your LinkedIn posts, then you’re missing out on thousands of potential leads. The good news is that you can boost your engagement rates with just a few tweaks.

Follow these tips to write Linkedin posts that attract views and engagement.

Headlines are crucial

If you’re not getting enough views and engagement, then you’re posts are probably missing one of the most powerful user attractions of all – an intriguing headline.

In a world full of noise, it is your headline that captures the attention of your audience. So take the extra time to consider what headline would grab people’s attention.

When writing a headline, you should always ask the question: “would this make me want to read on?”. If it doesn’t, then try again.

Create content that strikes a conversation

A lot of professionals and entrepreneurs are using Linkedin to promote their business. The problem is that many of them would just pump out content, promote their services, and then leave.

You see, you can’t just post content, leave, and expect unlimited traffic. It doesn’t work that way. Start treating your audience like real people. Talk to them. Genuinely ask people to give out their opinion on industry-related topics. Ask questions to get people talking.

By keeping the conversation genuine rather than salesy, you’ll leave a much better impression. Eventually, your engagement rate will rise, you’ll reach a wider audience, and grow your business in the process.

Tell your personal brand story

If you scroll through your LinkedIn feeds, you’ll notice that most people are sharing some tips, tricks, advice, etc. After all, we know that posting valuable, informative content is one way to capture the attention of your audience, right? Well, it does. But if you want to cut through the noise, then you need to differentiate yourself from the others — and telling your brand story helps.

If there’s anything the internet has taught us, it’s that everyone has a story. And believe it or not, people are more interested to read about your story than listen to your sales pitch. Your story may seem ordinary to you, but others may find it interesting. Go ahead and share your story with the world!

Make images work for you

You probably already know that social media posts with an eye-catching image get more views and engagements. It turns out, the same principle applies to LinkedIn. In fact, studies suggest that LinkedIn posts with images receive an average of 57,000 views; whereas, posts with no image only receive about 6,000 views. That’s a huge difference!

What does this tell us? Visuals play an important role in capturing the attention of readers. Using a visually attractive image with your content will make your posts standout in the LinkedIn feed.

Lower the reading level

Linkedin is a social media platform for professionals and entrepreneurs. The majority of them are well-educated, read frequently, and can understand complex content. So why would you lower the reading level? It’s all about the ease of comprehension.

Writing copy that is 5th to 6th-grade level is not talking down to educated readers. Rather, you want your audience to easily grasp and digest your content. If you go much higher than that, it will require concentration. Remember, the most powerful LinkedIn content is straightforward and easy to read.

You can use the Flesh-Kincaid score to determine whether or not your content is easy to comprehend. A higher score means the article is elementary.

Timing is everything

If you want to get your posts read, then you need to publish them at the most opportune time. You need to keep in mind that LinkedIn is primarily used by business professionals. That means you should publish your posts on weekdays.

Research shows that most articles are read between 1:00 and 2:00 PM, 4:00 and 5:00 PM, and 7:00 and 8:00 PM. Try to schedule your posts around these times.

Final thoughts

LinkedIn is such an awesome place for networking. It allows you to connect with some of the biggest names in the industry, as well as your prospects. One of the best ways to build a relationship with your connections is by providing value first — which you can do with your content.

Follow the tips above to establish your presence and strengthen your reputation. But if you need help writing killer LinkedIn content that hooks readers, we are here for you. Click that Free Consultation Link for a free 30-minute consultation.

6 Easy Tips to Make Your LinkedIn Posts Standout

6 Easy Tips to Make Your Nutrition LinkedIn Posts Standout 

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5 Benefits to Running Remarketing Ads on Facebook

Benefits to Retargeting ads

Today’s blog discusses remarketing ads or retargeting ads. Specifically, we’re going to be focusing on Facebook, however, this also applies to Google or any other ad network that you’re on, as long as you have that tracking code on your website, that then tracks what people have been doing with either the ads, or with your website once they get there.

First of all, why should you have retargeting ads for your marketing?

There are five main reasons that I think of when it comes to remarketing ads. These include:

  1. Brand Awareness
  2. Create more qualified leads
  3. Show Your Audience Compelling Content that Aligns with Their Interests
  4. Automate and Streamline Upsells and Sales
  5. Increase ROI with Retargeting Ads

 

Listen to the Digital Marketing Podcast

Read the Transcript

Hi there, Caitlin McDonald here with the Social Speak Network, and today we’re going to be talking about remarketing ads, or retargeting ads. Specifically, we’re going to be focusing on Facebook, however, this also applies to Google or any other ad network that you’re on, as long as you have that tracking code on your website, that then tracks what people have been doing with either the ads, or with your website once they get there.

First of all, why should you have retargeting ads for your marketing?

There are five main reasons that I think of when it comes to remarketing ads.

Raise Brand Awareness

The first is to raise brand awareness. It often takes people between seven and 12 touches in order to make that purchasing decision with your company, and so by having retargeting ads you are really building that brand awareness. The second reason is to increase the marketing efforts from your other platforms. So let’s say you have an email campaign, or you’re working with another company that drives a lot of traffic to the site, you’re paying money to get people there the first time, you might as well make sure that they are then converting into clients of yours, or customers of yours. So remarketing really helps to make sure that people who are being driven to the site through other efforts, then are growing with that brand awareness and learning to know, like, and trust your business.

Create more qualified leads

Next, it helps you create more qualified leads. And the reason why this is, is because you can actually utilise retargeting ads to track somebody and to drive somebody through your sales funnel. So what we sometimes do, is we’ll show ads to somebody who’s been to a landing page, but not a thank you page, or we’ll show ads to somebody who has been to a thank you page, or looking very high top of the funnel, maybe somebody has just been to the home page of your website, but never drilled down to specific content. Having the retargeting ads really helps to drive more qualified leads, because we are progressively getting somebody to interact more and more with your content, with your website, with your services, so that when you actually get on the phone with them, or they actually get to the sales page, they’re ready to say, “Sign me up now.”

Show Your Audience Compelling Content that Aligns with Their Interests

Next, number four. Is that through using retargeting, you can actually show people more compelling content. If you know what pages of the website, or what products, or services, people have viewed you can actually create a whole campaign to show them more similar content, or similar products, related products, or even the same product, over and over again through different media and through different links, so that you really are showing them that you understand what they are looking for and interested in. If we’re talking about a website let’s say, that has both books and products on it, and somebody keeps on going to the book section of the website, they’re probably not as interested in the product services of the website, so you want to make sure that they’re seeing more and more information about potential books that they could be interested in. If you notice that somebody never goes to the book section of the website and only looks at the products, then they probably are going to be more interested in there.

You can also think about the same way with videos. Let’s say somebody watches part of a video, Facebook allows you to target people who have only watched three seconds let’s say of a video. You can show them content that’s related to that first three seconds of the video, and show somebody who’s watched more of the video more advanced content, so that you are really helping them move through that sales funnel, without them having to remember to come back and go to your website, or check you out.

Automate and Streamline Upsells and Sales

Now, the fifth reason is to help automate and streamline some of the upsells and sales moving forward after somebody has purchased that initial product. So if you know somebody has gotten to the thank you page after checking out, then you can show them more advanced products, or related products and services that are going to help them even more with whatever journey they’re on with your business. And so this is a great way to help get repeat customers, or help them share your offer with other people. Imagine having a Refer a Friend ad pop-up after you’ve made a purchase for a website, this would be a great way, an easy touch, to get them to interact with your business more and to engage their family and friends with your business as well. And so we highly recommend creating multiple different types of retargeting campaigns on Facebook and testing out linking to things like blog posts, product pages, posting videos, boosting posts, and diving in deeper with webinars or more advanced pieces of training.

So by doing this, again, really you’re working to build that brand awareness, working to drive people down through that sales cycle at lower cost than just showing somebody one ad and forgetting about them, and also making sure that people don’t get bored seeing the same thing over and over again. You want to make sure that you’re showing them related content that is very interesting to them, but not the same offer over and over again, especially if they’ve already clicked to learn more and decided not to move forward.

I hope that this has been helpful, about the reasons why you should make sure to include remarketing or retargeting in your ads on Facebook. It is pretty easy to set this up. You need to make sure that you have the Pixel installed on every page of your website, and that you’ve created audiences for either specific pages on your website, or categories of blog posts, or things like thank you pages, or landing pages about specific topics. You can group these together in different audiences and then just select that audience as you are creating the ad campaign. Additionally, if you have an email list, let’s say one of the things that you’re working on is growing an email list, you can then re-target to these individuals, or create a lookalike audience to continue growing your email list at a lower cost. We’ve done this for a few clients where their big goal is growing that email list with qualified candidates. And so we take the list that’s already built of qualified candidates, we load it as an audience and then we create a look-alike audience, so that we’re sure we’re targeting similar people to the folks who have already pushed forward and moved forward. And so this is a great way, again, using remarketing and re-targeting tools, to drive the cost of your marketing down.

Increase ROI with Retargeting Ads

If you can squeeze a few more conversions out of each person who sees the ad, or each campaign, excuse me, then it’s definitely well worth your effort to spend the time to create the remarketing campaigns. Of course, pay attention to what website, or what pages people are going to on your site, how they’re interacting with the content, and from there you’ll be able to drive your business forward with Facebook ads.

Now, if you have any questions about how to run these ads on Facebook, or get your account all set up, we’d love to have a conversation with you. Head on over to socialspeaknetwork.com, click that Free Consultation link and we can hop on a 30-minute phone call just to get acquainted. If this has been beneficial for you, click that Subscribe button and of course follow us for more information. Thanks so much and I’ll see you next time.

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How important is video marketing? We ask the experts

How important is video marketing_ We ask the experts

In our most recent podcast, we interview G. the Creative Director at B.Co Agency.

With over 11+ years in design and creative visuals, I have been able to study and learn the creative industry and the impact of having proper marketing tools. With my role as the Producer and Creative Director at B.Co Agency, it is my mission to continue to study, learn and produce for companies big and small to help their clients take action! My goal is to produce visual tools that can exponentially grow the company’s byways of video marketing.

 

Well, we have, as you all know, we talk about videos a lot and how important they are to your digital marketing strategy, especially after our wonderful year of 2020. I think people really realized how important they are and you have to have them. So we brought G on, we have some questions we’re gonna ask him today.

Tell us a little bit about you and your business – 

 My name is G, it’s short for Gagan. I have been in the creative industry for over… I wanna say 11 plus years now, and my background has been graphics and web design. But seeing how marketing was going and where my team was building, we started a video production company. And I’ve been in that industry for going on six years now. We just had our fifth year anniversary last month. So yeah, my company’s name is B.Co Creative Agency. And yeah, we do story-based advertising, we do a lot of commercial work, we do YouTube, Vimeo. We do videos for tech companies, we do videos for sports companies. We do… A huge range of our clients, but primarily focused on the tech world, on healthcare and startups and things of that nature. So yeah, that’s us.

Why is video so important to a client’s digital marketing strategy?

My personal philosophy and B.Co’s personal philosophy are always in four parts, in how I kind of break it down. And we’ve turned a lot of our clients away because they don’t have these four elements before they work with us. And those four elements are branding, website, content creation, and advertising. We kind of build that marketing house with our partners that we have, but those things are essential for the success of our clients. So branding, which… Branding and website are absolutely foundational, so if our clients do not have that, we actually partner with other marketing agencies such as yourself to handle that part of it. So without good branding and a good website, your content creation, which is where we play in the marketing world of video, that video cannot go as far without the proper foundational elements when it comes to marketing. So with that in mind, you’re doing yourself an injustice if you don’t have the proper content strategy. And the video is the most efficient and easiest to consume, the easiest to consume marketing tool out there to reach your clients.

Video is more important than having reading materials or photos, and it’s still the most effective way to market your audience to understand your messaging. And I believe it was Hootsuite who put out a stat from last year stating a survey that said about 70% of consumers would rather watch a video about your product. So to answer your question, if you’re trying to reach your audience in the most effective way then a video is absolutely, enormously important.

Yes, definitely. I liked how you start with the foundation because a lot of people jump in, they don’t have that strategy behind it, and they wanna create a video. With that one video, they want 50,000 views overnight, and it’s just not gonna happen. Unless you have a million dollars to spend on ads, and even then it may not happen.

How often should you update your videos on your website? 

This is actually a really hard question to answer. Probably the right answer is, it depends, but I know people probably don’t like hearing that. Because it’s so specific to your industry and whatever campaigns you have out, you know what time of year you’ve been posting things, right? It depends also on what type of videos are on your website and where exactly. For example, an intro video about your company might last longer than say your fall collection of your clothing line would. There’s a time limit on it. I would say, as a blanket statement, you should update your videos on your site as often as you can or need to. I personally do not believe in evergreen content, even though some… Again, some videos might last longer than others.

The questions to that question I would ask are, are your clients changing, are your client’s interests changing, are your audiences consuming the same video over and over again and not seeing… Or you are seeing a drop in a wash rate or conversion? If you answered yes to any of those questions, then the answer is probably it’s time to update your video and your marketing agency or your marketing experts that you trust should have access to your analytics and they should be able to tell you when time is due for a new video.

 Is it okay to record your own videos for social media use? Do you think there’s a difference between video quality on social media and website? 

Generally speaking… I actually get this question asked a lot. Generally speaking, I believe not only is it okay, but sometimes even needed. Having you record video from your perspective gives you and your company character and personality, but I also believe your customers need to know that you are legitimate and your product or service is worth it, and that’s why you are a professional. So there has to be a mix of the two. The heart of this question usually stems from, do I need a video production company in the first place? Can I do it myself? And my answer to that is usually, “Yeah, try it.” If you need it to be cost-effective, then do it. Equipment is more and more affordable nowadays, but I would also say the majority of businesses or professionals who have come to us usually have tried to film themselves or have worked with less experienced video production companies. And currently, that’s where I’ll leave it at for that question there.

At what point or what types of videos should they really think about hiring a professional company like yourselves? When do you know it’s that time?

When you sent me these questions over, hiring a professional videographer is how you worded it, and I kinda wanted to… Part of it, as I believe I have probably answered this question above as well, but I wanna preface my answer by defining the difference between a professional videographer and a video production company or agency. And a videographer, by definition, is one person, and a videographer is someone who usually operates a camera. But what about an editor? What about a scriptwriter? A lot of people do these things all in one. There are a lot of one-man bands out there that wear a lot of these hats, which is great, and no knock against anyone who is hustling and grinding in that way, but generally those relationships are not long-lasting and because they are usually looking for the next gig or cannot stretch their capacity to make the types of videos or content that you might want out. What’s gonna happen when you have to operate two cameras? What’s gonna happen when you need a faster turnaround and this person has multiple projects asking the same thing?

Think about this. When you see credits to the next show or movie that you watch, granted a lot of businesses are not creating Hollywood blockbusters, but think about how many tasking experts are out there that need to complete this show or movie. There’s a reason why a commercial or show or movie have teams and teams of people. If you’re expecting a videographer to handle 0.01% of those tasks, you are sacrificing something somewhere. 

Whether that be speed, cost, quality, or output, those one-man bands that are producing at a high level are very rare. So the difference in working with a video production company is that you are working with the video team. We are a production company. We hire for specific duties before we ever roll the camera, and they range from director level to editors or animation teams. And we’ve already taken the time to connect with the assets or resources to produce at a high level, or get your message across and connect with your audience. So to answer your question, so when to hire, it is when you have tried it yourself when you have worked with the one-man band, and the message is not coming across as needed or when you need your product or service to be thrown out in a wider net when you are ready to spend advertising dollars. These are just some of the whens you should hire those professionals, but the real answer is as soon as possible. Because most likely your competitors are doing video, 50% of your audience is online daily and 70% of America is online weekly. And those numbers are specifically during the pandemic. Video is becoming more and more of a need rather than a nice to have, due to the ease of access of info, and you want to get your message out there again quickly and in the most effective way.

I think you bring up a great point as far as that team because if anyone has tried to edit their own videos, oh my gosh, it’s painful and that alone is a lot. It’s just as you’re hiring a digital marketing team, it’s not just me at Social Speak. We have a whole team of people that have that special niche in what they do. And so video production is no different, and I think that that sometimes can get people… They can be a little scared to jump into it because as soon as they hear the video, they think of dollar signs. But when you break it down to those videos that they are producing, if it’s able to bring them in patients or clients or customers in their door, then it pays for themselves. I think that’s something that people really need to think of. With video being as big as it is, and it’s not going anywhere, and I think the pandemic really showed that it’s even more important because that’s how people are connecting. If you’ve been putting it off, the time is now to do it.

How do you think that these videos help streamline a company’s brand? 

As you mentioned, we’ve talked about some of the elements already based on the stats that are out there. Again, 50% of your audience is online daily and 70% of America is online weekly. But to streamline, by definition, is to be the most effective and your consumers want an easy way to consume. Whichever company takes it easy or makes it easy, rather, or is more visually engaging or a company is effective in conveying their brand messaging is going to win. And to be quite honest, video can do all of that. To have videos in your strategy, I would say is streamlining your business [chuckle] and your brand itself. To have video is to streamline. To be more effective, to reach your audience, isn’t that what you want to do?

Yes. It really adds that, again, going back to that question, one of the foundations. You have your website, you have your social media. You start with your logo and your brand colors and all of that and then add the video into the mix, it really allows your brand to step outside the box and just live its fullest potential, adding in these different types of videos.

Right. Absolutely. Actually, this is one point I wanted to go back on. You mentioned dollar signs in the previous question.

My immediate thought process was also, what is the opportunity cost of not having video? Again, those competitors are out there doing it and going back to streamlining, those things go hand-in-hand. You wanna get, again, your message out and show the product or service that you have to the world. That is the most effective way and if you’re not doing that, then you’re missing out on something there.

How has the pandemic affected the filming process and is it something that businesses need to worry about? 

This definitely is a topical question, obviously. The film industry has taken a hit because filming is such an art form that it thrives off collaboration. The fact that you have to gather and film, the pandemic has made filming obviously very difficult. And we were stuck in that same wave early last year as well. And I was lucky enough to have partners who had specific insight early on the pandemic which led us to think about how to counter that. We have certain protocols now that help us gather and film, but what inspired us to make these protocols were actually Apple. They were continuing their famous keynotes but converted to videos instead of having live audiences attend. People who know me personally, I’m a huge fan of Apple, so, of course, I watched their pandemic presentation, their latest, greatest releases. But what intrigued me was their end credits which also specified how they filmed their pandemic keynotes.

I looked at those and thought of those precautions that they took. To be quite honest, they’re not hard or difficult to execute. So our protocols essentially became the same as Apple’s. We took those and the ordinances that were made by our county in Santa Clara and our industry, and merged those with those of Apple’s. And out came B.Co’s protocols. So I guess my final advice would be, when you are looking to hire a video professional or a production team, to be safe is, ask for their safety protocols. The last thing you want is your marketing efforts to kinda lead to health problems [chuckle] which that obviously is not what you want there. So there are plenty of other high-stress situations specifically that comes to marketing, but COVID should definitely not be one of them.

As people are recording and doing their own videos, I know the iPhones are of great quality, we use Zoom a lot for our interviews. What types of tools or tips can you give people that are recording on their own?

This goes actually not even to people who are doing it themselves but even the camera operators or directors that are coming up, is focus less on the equipment that you have and focus more on the story that you’re trying to tell. Because, as you mentioned, literally every camera phone that’s out there has a great and amazing camera on it. So it’s hard to mess up on the camera, the lenses that you have at your disposal. The only thing, if it does come to equipment and it does come to what it looks like in front of the lens, is definitely focused more on the lighting aspect of it. If something is less lit, then it’s just harder and less appealing. You want something that is either dramatically lit or well lit. Generally, those, from what I have experienced, go further as far as likes go on your Instagram. I think there was another stat by Hootsuite that said people are more likely to like a clearer, more well-lit picture versus the opposite. So focus on the story and make sure you have good lighting and yeah, use your phone. Absolutely.

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6 Ways to Use Pinterest for Your Healthcare Marketing Plan

6 Ways to Use Pinterest for Your Healthcare Marketing Plan

For most people, Pinterest is nothing but a big visual search engine. It is a platform users turn to when looking for  DIY projects to tackle, put-together outfits to wear, or recipes to make. But a lot of people fail to realize that Pinterest also provides a great opportunity, not only for businesses but also for healthcare providers and organizations.

Pinterest isn’t the first platform you’d think of when promoting your practice, but it can introduce your practice to a whole new audience. Plus, it can help you drive traffic to your website, generate leads, and even attract new patients.

So if you’re still not using Pinterest for your healthcare practice, now is the best time to get started.  Here are 6 ways to use Pinterest for your healthcare marketing plan.

Create pin-worthy images

Pinterest is an image-sharing platform. It is filled with appealing eye candy. So if you want to get gain some traction on the platform, then you need to create eye-catching and attractive images.

Unlike other social media platforms, Pinterest’s images are tall and vertically-oriented. The ideal image size is 1,000 x 1,500px and an aspect ratio of 2:3. Also,  including texts in your images can make a difference. Not only will it make your pins more enticing, it will also help users know exactly what your pin is about at a glance.

Educate your audience

According to Hootsuite, two-thirds of Pinterest users are women, and the majority of them are mothers. As moms, they are always looking for new ways to keep their kids healthy. If you’re a pediatrician, you can use the platform to educate them and promote healthy eating. You can share kid-friendly recipes, suggestions for making living a healthy lifestyle fun, or help moms identify health concerns in kids.

If you’re an OB/GYN, you can promote good breast health with pictures of what to expect during a mammogram. Or if you’re a cardiologist, you can create a pin on the importance of a stress test, and how to prepare for the said test. Simple pins like these can help take some of the anxiety out of such tests and would help your audience understand the importance of these tests.

Create boards centered around your specialty

Pinterest isn’t just about sharing your content and images. It’s an excellent platform where you can expand the idea of what your brand is.

Create boards that are centered around your specialty and make sure that it resonates with your audience. If you’re an OB/GYN, you could pin educational resources related to prenatal care, fertility tips, and gynecology information. If you’re a yoga instructor, you can create boards about yoga poses, yoga outfits, meditation, and healthy recipes.

The key is to create boards that interest your target audience. The more users engage with your content, the more likely will Pinterest see you as a great pinner. As a result, your content will be more visible in searches. Win-win.

Drive more traffic to your blog

Do you have an updated blog that you post content to? Pin your posts! Doing so can help drive traffic to your blog.

To capture the attention of your audience, the visuals need to stand out. It’s a great way to entice readers to click through your blog post. Keep in mind, though, that you don’t need to pin every blog post on Pinterest. Consider pinning blogs on topics that already have an audience on Pinterest.

To really maximize your pin’s potential, you also have to focus on your copy description. Provide enough information to entice a pinner to click through your blog.

The main goal is to draw people’s attention to your boards, get people to share your posts, and attract clients who are looking for your services. Keep these tips in mind when creating content for Pinterest. It won’t be long before you start seeing them coming to your website to find out more about what you offer.

See what topics are trending

One of the best things about Pinterest is that it gives you an opportunity to see and understand topics that are trending at the moment.

Pinterest acts as a search engine all on its own. Simply type in the keywords on the search bar to see what’s showing up on Pinterest already. Before you start creating pins and driving traffic to your website, it’s a good idea to look around on the platform to see what shows up. You can also check what your competitors are doing in the space.

According to Entrepreneur.com, pins related to trending topics see an average of 94% increase in click-throughs. Use the platform to find trending topics and use the information you gathered to position your products and services.

Promote your event

Pinterest might not get as much attention as compared to other social media channels. However, it remains to be a powerful platform for getting your content discovered and connecting with your audience. That said, this image-centric platform would be a great place for promoting upcoming events.

You can do this by creating boards specifically for your event. Make sure to include all relevant information, including the venue, behind-the-scenes photos, freebies, etc. Also, keep in mind that pinners are planners. In fact, 75% of pins are saved 1 to 2 months before an event. So make sure that you start pinning your event-related content months before the big day.

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Content Consistency is KING

Content Consistency is KING

We are always talking to you about planning out your content, the importance of having a content calendar, researching your keywords, and it all comes down to consistency. With digital marketing, consistency is king, and this goes hand-in-hand with your social media posts. If you are trying to grow your social networks and you Google how to increase, or how to grow your Instagram followers or your Facebook likes, one of the first things that come up is consistency.

Social Media Consistency

Consistency can look different for each company, that could be maybe two posts per week, three posts per week, or a post every day, and you have to really decide what’s gonna be the best for your business, and if you’re just getting started, maybe starting out with only two or three posts per week, and as your followers grow, increasing that to maybe four or five posts per week. You also need to look at your audience to see when are they engaging with you? So what days of the week? Maybe Mondays are really not high engagement, but Saturdays are or Sundays, so maybe the weekdays are really when you want that engagement going on.

Also, think of is when your office is open. If your office is open Monday through Friday, it may make sense to just be posting Monday through Friday, and not the weekends, if somebody is not there to be able to monitor that activity. But you really need to have that content consistency with each social media platform. We always tell our clients to make sure that starting with, if you’re new to social media or you’ve had accounts but you haven’t really been actively using them, look at the ones where your clients are first. So if your patients or clients are on Facebook and Instagram, start there, and then maybe grow into LinkedIn, if you think Twitter would be the right fit, Pinterest. You don’t have to do them all, but you need to do the ones that you are managing the right way and have that consistency with your social media posts.

Blogging Consistency

A few years ago, even a year ago, having those cornerstone blogs were really important, and these cornerstone blogs could be 3000 to 5000 words, and not saying that blog content would be great on your website, but we were finding it was harder for our clients and us to put together such a big blog post, and it was taking up a lot more time where we weren’t having that consistency with these blogs. SEO is always changing and growing, and we really do follow Neil Patel and the foundation he has built. And so one of the strategies he has mentioned is doing smaller blog posts, so what we call micro-blogs. And this can be if you’re doing an Instagram post and you’re writing a long Instagram post already, you can just add to that and create a blog post. And again, that consistency is huge, because you’ve spent all this time, money, and energy on building this amazing website, and if you’re not feeding it, Google is not gonna see it. So these blog posts at that organic SEO to your website, and each time you are updating that blog post, Google is indexing that content.

Really work on what that micro-blog can be about, maybe you have one overarching content topic that you wanna talk about, and then you’re gonna write three or four or five little blogs that can be 750 words or even 500 words they can be short, sweet to the point. Maybe even thinking of asking a question. What questions are you being asked in your practice and addressing that one question?  Go to Google just to search, start typing in that question and seeing what Google suggests, and then write your blog post based on that question, because people are clearly searching for that. So the more clear and niche you are on this micro-blogs, and if you did one per week or two per month, again, having that schedule that works for you, that you can stick to it. That is key.

Video Consistency

This also goes into our video marketing. Videos are huge. We have a podcast coming out with a videographer and his crew in LA, and it is really important, and I know you know this because if you listen to us, you know that we’ve been talking about video marketing, but it’s easy to do one video and then say, “Okay, I’ll do another one.” And a week goes by, two weeks go by, and you haven’t recorded the other video. So having that plan and being able to… If you’re doing these blog posts, add a video to the blog. Your social media strategy, have one video per week. Be consistent, and if it’s easier to take one hour a month and have a couple of different change of outfits and record six videos. These videos don’t need to belong, they can be a variation of one-minute videos to five-minute videos, maybe up to 10-minute videos, depending on the topic you’re talking about, and really just put them all together so you have them. You’re able to put them into your blog post, you’re able to use them on social media, put them on to YouTube, and there’s that consistency.

Start small, start with one per week and work your way up. Then this also goes into all this hard work you’re doing on the digital front, you want to make sure that you are having something where you’re collecting names and emails. In your ads, are you providing a freebie for your audience, are you collecting their name and email, and in return, they’re getting a handout that you’ve put together, maybe it is 10 easy ways to naturally lose weight, or if you are a pediatrician, maybe it is 10 healthy snacks or five healthy snacks for children under the age of 10, something along those lines. Think of these conversations that you’ve had with your patients and with your audience and what do they need and put together something that you can market to them.

Newsletter Consistency

You’re providing a value to them, but then you’re also being able to collect their name and email, be consistent with that newsletter, so they get a welcome email, and then once a month they’re getting a newsletter email from you, so you’re staying top of mind, and in that newsletter, you’re putting valuable content. In that newsletter, you can reuse some of the blog posts, you can do a customized video that’s introducing you and your staff to them if they’re new, so they have an idea, they really feel like they are building this know-like trust factor with you. So they feel comfortable when they’re coming in the door, and especially now with the pandemic going on and still having to take those protocols, video is more important now than ever because people aren’t just coming in, they’re doing their research, they’re trying to figure out where they really wanna go. So having that consistency with the newsletter is really important.

Podcast Consistency

If you’re taking it one step further and you have any podcasts. Again, all of these tools are a great way to get in front of your audience and grow your client base. That’s all digital marketing is. Building those relationships, nourishing those relationships and turning those relationships into paying patients or clients, and all of these tools have a specific way to help do that, and so it’s important to make sure you know how to use them for your advantage, but that you’re not overwhelming yourself either.

If you need help really honing in on this digital marketing strategy and what that consistency looks like for you in your practice, we would love to sit down with you on a video chat and go over what are you guys currently doing, how can we implement new things and help with building that consistency to make sure that your efforts online are working for you?

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