Did you ever think of niching as a marketing tool? Being incredibly specific is the best way, because it lets you weed out the potential clients who are not a good fit, and gets your ideal customer excited. Megan Van Groll gained her experience in social media by volunteering at a local non-profit, joined the
Malvika is the founder and digital content creator behind the platform "Style by Malvika", focused on creating content in the luxury fashion world. According to Malvika, the key to Instagram is finding the balance between aspirational and relatable. Those can be contradictory, so it's important to meet somewhere in the middle. Small business owners can
Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Alexa Conference in Tennessee! Everyone was super nice, and I learned a ton. Here are my key takeways: Keynote on the Future of Voice: 1. Smart speaker devices are being purchased faster than any other device in history. It took smartphones 5 years to reach 50%
Aaron Render hosts a podcast called "Uncontained" where he interviews people in the entertainment industry - actors, musicians, comedians - about their roots, what advice they'd give, how they promote themselves, and what's kept them going when others tell them they won't succeed. In this episode, we talk about how Aaron can use Instagram to
Josh Klemons is a digital storyteller and strategist. He helps brands find, hone, and tell their stories online. Josh works with brands on Instagram Stories, and shares the reasons businesses should be using Stories, which are pieces of content that are only visible for 24 hours. He calls them "ethereal" - which means "characterized by
Michael Sherman has a digital marketing firm called "The Interactive Imprint," a full service South Florida interactive marketing consulting company focused on social media and influencer marketing. He recommends companies focus their social media efforts on being original and showing what's behind-the-scenes from a human perspective. It's not a sales tool like other platforms are
Lauren Davis helps organizations improve their branding, social marketing, and public relations. She's a small business owner of a brick-and-mortar store, and has ingrained herself in the local community in her city. Want Lauren's key strategies to using social media wisely as a small business owner? Lauren teaches her clients the importance of creating an
A few weeks ago, I joined a Facebook group to help me find guests for my Instagram themed podcast, called “The Instagram Stories”. I posted my request for guests who were versed on building a following, then checked back later to see this response from a random person: “Daniel, I’ve had a few friends recently
Beverley is a Social Media Strategist from Canada. Her title is "Your Favorite Social Media Strategist", which is one of the greatest titles I've ever heard. She gave some great information on this episode, including: 1. Start building a content database of striking images. Take pictures wherever you are and wherever you go. 2. You're
To have guests on my podcast, I'd email them asking if they'd be interested in coming on, they'd respond saying they'd love to, then I'd send over some times/dates that would work, then they would respond with some other times/dates that would work for them, then we'd agree on one, but then something would change,
Q&A continues to be one of my favorite things. Here's more Instagram Q&A! Q: What are Stories? A: Stories are short, disposable posts that last for 24 hours. You can add photos or videos to your story, and people watch and tap through them like television. Viewers can reply to stories, and you’ll get
When I attend a conference or a talk, the Q&A section is always my favorite part. It’s one thing to prepare a talk, but it’s another to field questions from those who are trying to grasp this new information. Here's some Q&A geared toward to a small business owner or entrepreneur who is completely new
Overland Unlimited consists 3 guys - Shane, Neil, and Steve. They saw an under-served community, and wanted to do something about that. There are people who spend time going on multi-day outdoor trips, living out of their vehicles, so they decided to build an Instagram community based on other people's posts. Their goal is to
How to Use Instagram To Market Your Small Business Marisa from AllTheSocial is a self-starter. She's taken on a variety of roles that led to her owning her own small business, offering her social media experience to clients. She started on Instagram at the outset, when things were old school. How old school? She started
Headed to a conference, convention, or other event? Here’s how to use this opportunity to get more followers. (Caveat: the point is not just to get followers for the sake of followers, but actually find people who you can have meaningful relationships with. These relationships could be coaching, being mentored, sharing business opportunities, or working
Spencer and Sequoia are musicians with an extremely engaged following. I asked them how they got such an engaged following. Here's what they told me. To start with, everything has to be sincere, authentic and genuine. Here are the steps they took to build a community. First, separate things from your personal account, and tell
Alisa Meredith is obsessed with Pinterest advertising. She's the content marketing manager at Tailwind, a Pinterest and Instagram scheduling tool. Pinterest is based on images that you "pin" or save, and it's built to give people ideas, and then do them. MIND SHIFT: Instagram is about projecting an image of yourself. Pinterest is about planning
JoJami and Lana of Ladies Roadmap have found an under served audience and are making content for them. They're starting a podcast for women over 50, going around the country in a motor home to meet women and inspire them. Here's some of the recommendations I gave them. On Instagram: People care about what you're
Tabitha Carro teaches small business owners and people working on their side hustles how to use their phones to create visual appealing graphics for social media. Are you a small business owner who doesn't have the time to learn all the social media platforms and tools? Tabitha recommends sticking to just one platform, and give
James Santos is a visual artist and designer. He's done work for major companies as an employee of a company, but now he's in the process of becoming a freelancer. He's proud of the experience he's gained working for larger clients but now he's looking to build up his own business. What's the best way
So many people are obsessed with email lists. "How many people are on your email list?" they ask. "How engaged is your email list?" Email lists are not new. I had an email list back in 1998. I made a fake advice column, and people would email me questions, and I would make up silly
Jen Lehner teaches digital marketing and has built an amazing community on Facebook called "The Front Row". She has some great social media courses and even has a course on how to make your own course. Jen talks about her Instagram strategies for posts, ads, building a community, stories, livestreaming, and more. Subscribe on
I remember the exact moment things crossed a line. I was out with my wife on a Saturday night, we'd had dinner, then some drinks, and now I was insisting on pizza. I wasn't hungry, I just wanted pizza. But I couldn't get my wallet out of my jeans, because they were too tight. I
Keeyahtay has a fulltime photography job. He's got also got a photography business on the side. Here's what I learned from him. Subscribe on iTunes! First - if you're doing something for the fame, you're doing it wrong. Second, the beauty of Instagram is being able to see other people's work - seeing photos from
People constantly tell me "I don't know anything about computers or phones. I didn't grow up with this stuff." I feel the same way about cars or anything home repair related. I didn't grow up fixing cars or houses. I'm constantly trying to figure out how people know how to fix cars and houses. I
Building Your Instagram Quickly Using Facebook Friends and Phonebook Contacts I wanted to make a podcast where I interview people who know a lot about Instagram. My plan is to get them to spill their secrets (for free!) so you can listen and learn from the best. But this plan has some downsides, which center
5 Instagram Strategies I Learned From Sadie Olsen of Otto's Cassava Flour Sadie markets a flour for people who can't eat gluten or are on the paleo diet. She started her company from scratch 2 years ago and she's now on shelves in major food retailers. Here are her Instagram secrets. Subscribe on iTunes! 1.
If you’re like me, you spend your day in front of a PC. You’re faster at typing on a full keyboard than a phone, and apps that insist on creating a mobile-only experience can be frustrating. Yesterday, my friend Luke sent me a direct message on Instagram with a response to my latest Story that
My screen popped up with a message from a friend. “Help!” it said. “I’m on vacation and I lost my wallet and I’m stuck! Can you wire me $2,000?” I sent a text to my friend to verify this, and it turned out he wasn’t on vacation at all. “People have been asking me about
Hashtags are typically described as discovery tools. "The best discovery method", you might hear. "The best way to be found," someone might say. But ask yourself - when was the last time you personally clicked on a hashtag? If you're like me, you don't click on hashtags very often. You may occasionally, to see where
I remember hearing about Instagram in 2012, signing up, and being confused at the concept. "Why do we need Instagram if Facebook already exists? Who wants to see pictures of other people's food?" And this was before the selfie craze was born. Here's the way to think about it, using a brief foray into recent
In case you missed it, I recently answered 10 questions about Instagram here. But the questions kept coming in, so I made a second blog post. Here's round 2! 11. What type of posts encourage interaction, versus which ones get passed over? It depends on your audience, there are so many variables. I recommend posts
Last week, I started writing a book about social media, to give away for free to you. It's getting long, but I felt like it might not be addressing the questions that you might be wondering. I asked on a couple of Facebook groups filled with smart people "do you mind giving me your top
How Instagram and Snapchat Stories Can Help You Build Relationships In Ways Blogging and Vlogging Cannot Are you too busy to blog? Even if you had the time, you have to write in an engaging way, and you need to write regularly. You need to buy appropriate pictures for the post, or take your own
Do you have an email list? Do you have a Facebook page? Do you want to reach a younger, wider audience? If so, keep reading. If you don't like to read, here's a 45 second video with the highlights. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFzEPz605Zo&feature=youtu.be Once upon a time, way back in 2010, I went on a job interview with
I was standing on the train platform, waiting for the subway uptown. I'd been waiting for a few minutes, but no sign on the train. They made an announcement over the loudspeaker and the woman next to me angrily removed her earbuds in impatience. "What did they say?" I could tell she was late. "The
A few years ago, my wife Lauren, along with some friends of hers, planned a surprise baby shower for her best friend. My wife sent out an email to her pregnant friend with their "pretend" plans to get lunch and BCC'd (blind carbon copied) the other friends she was planning the shower with. The email came
I was in a meeting with the CEO and the marketing person. The marketing person doubled as the CEO's personal assistant. The CEO had just returned from a conference and was upset because he missed a session he wanted to be part of. He blamed the marketing person for this. "I don't understand why I
How to Use Snapchat. 1. Download the app. Go to the Google Play Store or iTunes Store, search for "Snapchat". Install. (Note: there's no "computer" version - this is phone/tablet only.) 2. Open up the app. It looks like this: 3. Once you've installed the app, open it up, and click "Sign Up" 4. Enter
In 2010, I went on a job interview with a tech company that made mobile apps. Toward the end of the interview, the interviewer told me one of their clients was a major bank who wanted a Facebook app for their customers to use for transactions. At that time, Facebook games and apps were the
