How To Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions
New Year, new you. How many times have you said that to yourself? Every year? Us too! So many of us set unrealistic resolutions each year and end up breaking them. The key to setting reasonable New Year’s resolutions that you won’t break is to make them measurable and achievable. We’ll leave your personal resolutions up to you, but to help you get on track for a more productive year at work, here are some of our top productivity tips!
- Address must-do’s first
Have you ever put of a big project in favour of smaller, less critical ones? We’re all guilty! Although you may get the smaller tasks done faster, you could find yourself running out of time to complete the big project. So, to ensure they get done on time, always work on the more important projects at the start of the day. Your future self with thank you.
- Take breaks
Try to figure out when your productivity begins to drain and take a break. Go for a walk around the block, grab a drink or snack. When you sit back at your desk, you’ll feel more alive and ready to tackle your to-do list. Also, taking time out of each day for a bit of mindfulness will do wonders for your productivity.
- Stop multitasking
It’s a myth, okay. We all think it’s possible but really it’s not. Instead of jumping between multiple tasks at once, commit your focus to one task at a time. You’ll be surprised how much faster you get them all done simply by tackling one project at a time.
- Schedule email time and turn off notifications
These are two infamous concentration breakers. Having a set time to check emails means you aren’t getting distracted throughout the day. Set aside time in the morning and afternoon to read through and respond to emails. As for notifications, turn off the insignificant ones to allow yourself to focus on the job at hand. Nothing is more distracting than a snapchat notification popping up on your phone!
- Know when it’s time to delegate and outsource
Many business owners think they can tackle everything on their own, and this is when they become overloaded and overworked. Learning which projects and tasks can be outsourced and which ones require your input is a skill. By outsourcing jobs to other professionals, you’re freeing up your time to focus on more important jobs.
Here’s to a greater, more productive work year for you and your team!
If you find your workload increasing and think you may need to outsource, whether it be with content creation, branding and strategy, or community management, our team is here to help! Shoot us an email to book a consultation.
Managing social media over the holidays
Managing your social media presence over the holidays: what you can do now to plan ahead!
You’ve worked hard all year...you’re craving a holiday and can’t wait to take a break from corporate life. Phone on silent, cocktail in hand, feet dipped in the pool. Sounds like a dream...can we come?! But wait...what about your social media accounts? Who will look after them while you’re busy unwinding? Social media never sleeps and consistency is key. Correct! So, we’ve come up with some tips to help you manage your social media presence over the holiday season.
Plan, plan, plan. Planning ahead is key. Sure you’ll have to work your butt off up until your holiday break begins but you’ll definitely thank yourself later! Think of what you want to do and achieve over the holiday season. How many emails will you be sending out to subscribers? Are you launching a new product? Are you planning a huge sale? Write all this information down so you know what you’re striving for.
Create content now! Content creation takes time so set aside some one-on-one time with your camera and computer to put together some amazing content your followers will love. Having a bank of images ready to caption and schedule is invaluable come holiday time. Create some short, fun little videos to engage your audience. They’ll be sick of seeing ‘SALE’ images and baubles in every second photo on their social feeds, so grab their attention by giving them something new and exciting to look at.
Schedule away! Scheduling programs will be your godsend. They make life 110% easier. Facebook is great because it allows you to schedule content on the platform itself. For other social platforms like Instagram, you’ll need to use an external scheduling program to plan your content. Some examples include; Hootsuite, Later and Buffer. You will have to spend quite a bit of time adding each piece of content to the schedule, but your future self will forever be in debt when all you have to do is press ‘publish’.
Yes, a dream holiday would mean zero responsibilities and ever flowing cocktails but if you’re a business owner, you may have to succumb to checking your social accounts every now and then just to check in. Respond to comments, direct messages and do a bit of good ‘ol community management. 10-15 minutes out of your day isn’t so bad hey!
We hope these tips will help in the lead up to the Christmas period where all you want to do is relax!
Do you envisage this next month being a tough one? Do you think you’d prefer to have someone else manage your social accounts? Shoot us an email; we’d love to help!
Why you should invest in Facebook advertising
Are you a bit skeptical when it comes to paid advertising on social platforms like Facebook and Instagram? Well, we’re here to show you the bright side because there are 1.3 billion active daily users out there for you to engage with! Here are some reasons why we love Facebook advertising.
Facebook ads are great because they help your business attain additional reach and exposure, and they’re also ideal for targeting purposes. Amazing right?! Another great thing about Facebook ads is the fabulous feedback you receive. You’re given important insights into your current and potential audiences, and information like this will help you craft even better ads in the future!
Facebook advertising allows you to select your audience based on location, demographics, interests and behaviours. This is the biggest drawcard of Facebook advertising by far: its targeting capabilities. For example, if you’re a skincare brand based in NSW with a young audience, you can set your Facebook ads to target those with an interest in skincare, beauty, and fashion, who are between the ages of 18 and 25 and are based within as little as 10kms of your targeted area. You can’t get much better than that!
Cheap cheap...that’s another reason we like Facebook advertising. Although traditional methods of advertising like radio ads and billboards can be successful, they often break the bank and this is not what small or new businesses want. You set the budget on your Facebook ads, whether it be $5 for a weeks promotion or $500 (hey big spender!) Facebook will work to get you the best results possible for that amount.
Do you want to know what’s big right now in the Facebook ads world? Video ads. Facebook is heavily investing in video content to try and steal time and attention away from TV and online streaming sites (*cough* Netflix). On average, 100 million hours of video is watched on Facebook every day. Crazy right? Get on that video content stat!
Another fabulous thing about Facebook is that it is the leading network when it comes to purchasing decisions. 74% of consumers rely on social networks to guide purchase decisions so having your product/service sponsored for them to see is a great advantage!
So, Facebook advertising is pretty cool right! Have we convinced you to give it a go? We hope so!
If you want to craft some amazing ads for Facebook and your other social accounts, shoot us an email and we can lend you a hand.
Build your email database through social media
Is your email list looking a little dismal? Do you desperately want to turn your social followers into subscribers who will then become loyal customers? Sounds like a dream right? Not anymore! Here we share some of our top tips to building your email database through social media.
Share an incentive for those who subscribe
Make it worth their while for signing up! Many e-commerce stores offer a discount of 10%-20% on the next purchase. Alternatively, you could offer a free sample, a coupon or exclusive content. These are great ways to encourage people to subscribe because hey, who doesn’t love a discount or freebie!
Email only offers
Supplying exclusive, premium content in exchange for an email address is a tried and tested technique. For example, offering early access to a mid-season sale or a new e-book would be perfect. This creates excitement and a need to be ‘in the know’. Current subscribers might share this with their friends and family, which will lead to more subscribers. Winning! Additionally, to make this exclusivity known, make the followers on your social channels aware that they’re missing out on amazing offers. This should entice them to sign up!
Host a competition
Hello freebies! Hosting a giveaway is a great way to grow your subscribers. If you’re thinking about running the contest on Facebook, make the call to action a sign up to the mailing list. You can promote the competition on your other social channels too; just make sure to add a link to a page where the audience can subscribe. Here is one way to run the competition; anyone who provides his or her email address will receive a competition entry. You can also encourage your followers to share the competition with their network, possibly offering them additional entries for doing so.
Implement a Facebook sign-up button
If you haven’t already, you should add a sign-up button to your business Facebook page. This call to action button will take the user to a landing page on your website where they can subscribe to your mailing list. The sign up button is near the top of the page so its easily visible to your audience and they’re more inclined to click on it!
If you’re looking for a little more help when it comes to email marketing, shoot us an email and we can give you a helping hand.
Create, Credit, Copyright
Don’t get us wrong, the Internet is a wonderful platform that has leveraged marketing opportunities for thousands of brands and created a whole new industry for those creatively driven. However, it hasn’t come without some bad practices largely due to ignorance and laziness. If you haven’t figured it out by now, we’re talking about copyright.
Did you know that if you create something original, whether it be music, written work or a photo, your work is protected under Australian Copyright Law? This protection is instantaneous from the moment of creation and no copyright registration is required. What many people don’t realise is that this law extends to content that is posted to social media. Have you ever come across an Instagram #inspo account or seen a photo credited with ‘image via pinterest? If you have, then it’s likely you’ve come across content that is breaching federal legislation.
Social media, particularly Instagram, is a platform that encourages people to share content and inspiration. However, in some scenarios, people have taken the sharing culture a little too far by claiming other’s content as their own.
To ensure that you are following social media etiquette, we have put together a few tips that will help you to keep your feed honest, reputable and legal.
- Ask permission to regram the original content creator’s image by simply sending them a quick DM. Most people are more than happy for you to share their content as long as you tag them in the photo and credit them in the caption.
- Tag and credit! Be sure to always tag and credit the content creator in both the caption and the image tags. This way you’re never misleading anyone.
- If in doubt or you can’t find the original content creator, consider whether you really need to post that particular photo.
Why not have a go at trying to create your own content. We’ve shared plenty of handy tips and tricks in our ‘Mastering the #flatlay’ online course to help you get started.
Ten tips to leading a more productive life
Do you find yourself clicking your pen an hour after you sit down at your desk? Do you take a few too many coffee breaks just so you can escape the office? Here are ten tips to help you lead a more productive life both in the office and at home.
- To-do lists (tackle the toughest to-do first)
To-do lists help organize our chaotic lives, so start writing friends! Even better, write tomorrow’s to-do list today. Before you go to bed each night, jot down the list of jobs you want to complete tomorrow. You’ll have a head start for the following day! #winning
- Switch off
A good nights sleep is super important if you want to be a fully functioning adult the following day. Switching off your mobile phone will stop you from checking Instagram at 2am, leading to an amazing sleep. If you’re feeling daring, you could even leave your phone outside your bedroom (gasp!)
- Exercise regularly
Exercise is great because it gives us more energy (yay!) When you exercise, the brain releases serotonin, which stimulates positive moods and emotions. Exercise also increases blood flow to the brain, sharpening awareness and alertness.
- Set goals
Setting goals that are achievable yet difficult will help push you to greater success. Writing goals down on a piece of paper and making them visible everyday means you’re more likely to focus on achieving them!
- Start your day early
Okay so waking up at 5:30am might be a hard ask, but getting up when the sun does has its benefits. Completing tasks early in the day leaves you feeling accomplished by 10am and gives you the confidence to tackle the rest of the day. Not to mention you have the whole evening to relax!
- Organize your office space
Your environment is important factor when it comes to productivity. Try de-cluttering your desk, adding some plants and perhaps burning a candle. This will create an environment that makes you feel positive and creative.
- Stop multi-tasking
As much as we’d love to believe otherwise, it’s near impossible to do more than one thing at a time. Free your mind (and your desktop) of distractions so you can focus on one task at a time.
- Eat well
Eating well and drinking plenty of water is important for both our physical and mental health. A study by the British Journal of Health Psychology highlighted that the more fruits and vegetables people consumed, the happier, more engaged, and more creative they tended to be.
- Take frequent breaks
We’re all guilty of thinking we’re superhuman and that we’re able to sit at our desk working for four hours straight. Our brains can only function for so long so remember to take breaks throughout the day; stretch, grab a coffee, have a snack, or walk around the block. You’ll feel refreshed and ready to conquer the next task!
- Utilize your commute
If you use public transport to get to and from work each day, use the journey wisely. Instead of spending half an hour in the office checking emails, why not go through them on your commute. If you’re stuck in traffic driving to work, put on a podcast! Try Girlboss Radio with Sophia Amoruso.
We hope these tips help you overcome that slump of productiveness we all go through every now and then.
Do you have any productivity pointers of your own? Share them with us in the comment section below.
5 reasons to add greenery to your workspace
Have you always wanted to fill your workplace with terrariums and indoor plants? Well we're here to tell you, you should!
A number of scientific studies have proven the psychological and physical benefits of having plants in the office.
Here are five reasons to add some greenery to your workplace!
Reduced stress
Adding plants to the workplace has been known to reduce stress, as well as feelings of anger, depression and anxiety. Being in an environment with greenery present makes employees both calmer and happier.
Cleaner air
Air quality is significantly improved with the presence of plants as they help clear the air of chemicals. They decrease carbon dioxide levels and also assist in reducing dust levels.
Increased productivity
Research has shown that having plants in the office increases productivity among employees. Individuals perform cognitive tasks better, along with being more focused and having much better concentration. Employees also display greater creativity when plants are present in the office.
A better environment to be in
It is reasonably fair to say that plants make for a pretty great environment to be in. Along with their psychological benefits, plants make for a much more pleasant and tranquil environment to be in...and therefore work in!
Reduce sickness and absence
Having plants in the workplace can reduce sickness among employees as plants bring moisture back into the environment, which helps reduce the likelihood of headaches, sore throats and stuffy noses.
So which plants should you have?
There are a number of plants that will fit perfectly into the workplace! Here are some of the best indoor plants that thrive in low light, dry environments and will stay alive if you forget to water them every now and then (we’re all guilty of this!):
- Spider plant
- Snake plant
- Peace Lily
- Devil’s Ivy
- Succulents
- Cacti
As for the placement of plants in the office, this is dependent on the office conditions. If your workplace is blessed with large windows and natural light, you can essentially choose any of the plants listed above and put them wherever you like...lucky duck! If your office receives very little sunlight, you’re best to stick to plants like Peace Lily and Devil’s Ivy.
Do you have plants in the office already? Let us know your favourites in the comments below!
Building a social media audience
You've got great content, but how can you make sure it's being 'seen' and 'heard' on social media?
Your engagement rates now play a huge role in your brand's visibility on social media, but how can you go about building an engaged audience? Here are some of our top tips.
Have a good strategy in place to make sure you’re creating the right types of content, and sharing it on the right platforms (at the right time!)
When planning your content, you shouldn’t necessarily be thinking about how to get it in front of everyone – it’s all about getting it in front of the right people! To do this, you must define who your audience is, what their interests are, and create content that will really speak to them. The more engaged your audience is, the more likely it is that your content will be shared.
Consistency is key! Make sure you’re posting good quality content on a regular basis.
Engage, engage, engage! Spend at least 15-30 minutes every day engaging with fans, likeminded users and influencers to build your network. The more you show interest in and support others on social, the more you’ll be supported right back!
Use hashtags, both branded and unbranded to curate your content.
And finally, think about supporting your social media content with an advertising budget through Facebook/Instagram ads.
If you’d like to learn to how master social media marketing from our team, The Social Co Academy are currently offering a very special offer.
For a limited time only redeem Coupon Code: ‘SOCIALMELB50’ at the checkout to receive 50% OFF The Social Co Academy‘s signature online course – the Social Media Masterclass!
A guide to using hashtags on social media
Hashtags are a way of life in 2017.
In fact, the hashtag is so recognised that it was added to the Oxford dictionary in 2010!
But, despite the fact that we all know what they are, many small business owners are yet to unlock their benefits when it comes to promoting their businesses.
The right hashtag, (or combination of hashtags,) will increase the reach and exposure of your content. And by making yourself more discoverable on social media, you’re increasing your chances of attracting new followers, increasing engagement, and ultimately, increasing awareness for your brand.
Not sure how to make the most of hashtags on social media?
Our friends at The Social Co Academy and sharing their top hashtag do’s and don’ts in a new eBook. Click here to download it now.
How to use Instagram to build brand awareness
By now, we're sure you know why Instagram is a must-have tool to grow your business.
With over a third of social media users on Instagram, it’s an essential social media platform for not only connecting and engaging with existing consumers, but marketing to new people as well.
However, using Instagram to build brand awareness is so much more than creating an account and posting pretty pictures.
Need help getting started? Try these four tips:
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Use Instagram stories:
When Instagram decided to jump on the Snapchat stories trend back in 2016, consumers got excited. Nearly 100 million people use Instagram stories daily, to showcase live updates on their personal lives, share behind the scenes content or promote products and services.
So if you haven’t already started posting stories on our business account– we’re here to tell you to join the trend! Instagram stories are a great way to get your content in front more people, tap into location stories and engage existing followers (especially since the new algorithm is making it harder for your content to be visible in the feed.) The trick? Keep consumers interested by posting useful and engaging content that isn’t too promotional or 'salesy'.
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Host a competition:
What better way to increase awareness for your brand than by hosting a competition? Instagram competitions that use a follow and ‘tag a friend’ approach, help to get your business name and account in front of new people who are likely to also be interested in your product or service based on what you’re giving away.
Just ensure you have an engaging graphic, simple entry method and back it up with paid ads. If you're ready to take your Instagram competition to the next level, why not partner with a relevant influencer to cross promote your competition to their followers?
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Run paid ads:
Instagram advertising is a great way get your great quality content in front of a highly-targeted audience. You can now run Brand Awareness ads through Facebook’s Ads manager which places your ad in front of people who are the most likely to recall it, and then optimises it accordingly. You don’t have to spend a fortune on these ads, as little as $5 per day can make a world of difference!
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Collaborate collaborate collaborate!
Whether you choose gifting campaigns, influencer takeovers or sponsored collaborations, one of the most effective ways of building your brand awareness on Instagram is by tapping into the large followings of Instagram bloggers and celebrities. Just ensure you choose influencers who are suitable for your brand as their followers are likely to pay attention when they post about your business!
Do you need help building your business’s brand awareness on Instagram? Speak to our social media experts at Melbourne Social Co today!
Call us on 1300 386 165 or send us an email at info@staging.project-progress.net.