It’s officially November, so whether you’re ready or not, the holiday content season is here! Chances are you’re busy preparing for your Thanksgiving traditions. With not even a full month to get ready for Christmas after turkey day, undoubtedly Christmas planning is underway too! And let’s not forget about the increased pressures at work as you close out the year.  Raise your hand if you’re stressed out just thinking about it.

While we may not be able to ease your personal holiday anxieties, we can help lessen the burden and set you up for success when it comes to generating last-minute holiday content ideas to engage your online audience and boost your brand. So, sit back, kick your feet up, grab your favorite holiday drink and relax while we share some ideas to ensure the holidays are successful for your business.

Holiday Content Ideas to Fill Your Calendar

No matter if you’re looking to promote a product or service, engage on a deeper level with your audience, or a combination of the two, you can incorporate these suggestions into any online strategy.

• Capture the Festive Spirit of the Season

From turkeys to snowmen, mums to poinsettias and the rustling of leaves to Christmas carolers, your supporting imagery should catch the sights and sounds of the approaching holiday.

• Food, Food and More Food

What holiday festivity have you attended that food isn’t at the center of the celebration. So, why not incorporate your team’s favorite recipes for the season. You can carry this type of holiday content from Thanksgiving into the New Year. From favorite Thanksgiving dishes to holiday cookie decorating, cocktails to ring in the new year and healthy options for January 1.

• Give Back and Spread Kindness

It can be easy to get wrapped up in the hustle and bustle of the holidays and forget that others may need a hand during this time. Organize a team volunteer outing, donate to a local toy drive or spread simple acts of kindness. Share what your team has done, provide additional ideas and encourage others to join along with you.

• Holiday Destressing

You may be feeling a little on edge from all the holiday activities. Not to mention the shorter days and cooler temps. Share how you unwind this time of year as a weekly holiday content tip.  

• Personal Development

As the year comes to an end, we start to think about our resolutions or goals for the new year. Share personal or company intentions and tips on how you plan to reach your objectives.

Get Connected with Holiday Content

The holidays are all about creating meaningful interactions and these ideas will get you started on making those connections. We hope you put your own personal spin on a couple of our suggestions and then put them into action.

LinkedIn mistakes can be avoided with careful branding and strategy.

LinkedIn continues to be a powerful tool for brands, B2B, B2C and nonprofits, as well as business leaders — and instead of LinkedIn mistakes your company can make LinkedIn a tool for driving your bottom line. Often, companies and nonprofits as well as business leaders approach us to partner with them on LinkedIn strategies and execution. But a few things need to be in place before we start.

When and How to Get Started With LinkedIn

Front Porch Marketing first looks at the brand architecture, target audiences, and competitive environment. For a LinkedIn strategy to be successful, there has to be a good marketing foundation. Therefore, if the branding and strategy isn’t right to begin with, we will not be able to help. We believe in being stewards of our Clients’ budgets and brands, so we consider a one-off LinkedIn initiative to be shooting money into the wind. And that LinkedIn mistake isn’t brand- or thought-leader building.

With that said, these are the five most common LinkedIn mistakes we are seeing companies make right now:

1. Brand pages reposting individuals’ content on its feed

Individuals should share brand content on their feed not the other way around. Content should lead back to the brand.

2. Brand pages posting once or maybe two times a month is a LinkedIn mistake

People cannot see the posts without regular consistency. Be consistent to create connections with your audience.

3. Brand pages only posting what is happening with the company

But what’s in it for your followers? To be truly successful on LinkedIn, provide value and insights no matter where they come from. It’s not what’s all about you you you.

4. Brand pages are not being social

LinkedIn members are commenting and liking your posts. Are you engaging them and doing the same in return? Talk to your followers and this will lead to insights that will inform future content.

5. Business leaders are not convicted about the network

They say that people are only trying to sell me things, or that social media is a waste of time. And the worst of all, *that* isn’t worth sharing. Your followers want to know more about your company, what it stands for, how it can help them, what it’s like to work there and more. LinkedIn is not a mistake — it’s a platform for engaging with your employees, your future employees, your peers and the larger business world.

Want to chat more about LinkedIn, and not make a LinkedIn mistake?

We are happy to do so, to help your company understand how LinkedIn can be a business-driving tool for their industry online. Let’s have a real conversation on the Porch.

PR and social media are both based on communication. But social media, with its real-time messaging, strengthens your client’s awareness. And it supports PR efforts. This allows PR to be stronger and more effective. Content published via press releases lives longer, spreads faster and has a further reach with the support of social media. Social media PR is today’s word-of-mouth/grassroots marketing.

Social Media PR Position Clients in the News

As stories are shared in real time, public relations professionals can use social channels as a tool to leverage their client’s brand. Follow specific hashtags that are relevant to the client. In addition, follow the journalists that cover applicable beats.

Journalists often use Twitter as means to find an expert for a story they are working. They are also searching for an idea that is coordinated with their editorial beat. Use Twitter as a research tool: view journalists’ tweets and retweets and arm yourself with the topics they’re interested in. Observe the people they engage with and use this insight to craft your message.

Setting The Stage for Success

When setting the stage for a major announcement or activation – start teasing the message on your client’s social platforms with hashtags that include media outlets. The teaser campaign should include strategic story angles that will whet the interest of news outlets. Beyond dropping links on LinkedIn or Twitter, consider additional formatting ideas such as:

• Highlighting key press release points in the caption
• Providing bullet points or a “condensed” release in conjunction with the external link
• Organizing the release into an image or infographic

When you get a media placement, share it across all platforms to integrate your client’s social media and PR strategies.

Takeaway

Social has given brands new outlets to connect and share information. The channels are constantly changing, challenging brands to adjust quickly and create compelling content to reach target markets across a variety of mediums. Brands that recognize the power of PR and social media have emerged as industry leaders, bringing value to their overall brand and creating loyalty customers.

Social media trends for 2022 look a little different than last year.

Social media trends for 2022 will increasingly be about customer experience and personalization. Those agendas are paramount. And, most if not all social media platforms are increasingly moving more and more toward “pay to play”. In other words, platforms want you to pay to get people to see your social media. For instance, this looks like boosting posts on Facebook. Trends that involve an interaction with customers, and especially those that offer some measure of personalization (as opposed to just pushing out a message to everyone) will top brands’ to-do lists.

Here are some of the social media trends we see for 2022.

• Short-form Video – Less is more, and people don’t read. The human attention span is short. So, a video a minute or shorter is plenty long enough. Do a series of short videos each making one point, instead of one long video. Repurpose your existing long videos into shorter snippets and program them for different social media channels. Reveal a different aspect of your company, or solve a different problem on different channels as opposed to playing the same content on the same day on the same channels.
• Customer Service – Customers are conversing more than ever via DMs, Twitter and comments on posts. Monitor these conversations and be responsive on any channel that customers are contacting you on.
• Social Commerce – Customers want to check out immediately on whatever social channel they are on. Social commerce offerings (like buying a dress directly from an Instagram photo) are growing on every channel. Perhaps this social media trend is appropriate for your product or service.
• Paid Social Advertising – Algorithms continue to change. And, platforms continue to ramp up their paid social offerings. There may be a need to add a paid strategy to your organic posts to get wider reach and more engagement. The ultimate goal is connecting with more potential customers, right?
• Influencer Marketing – Micro or local influencers are more important. Work with these influencers who really already love your brand. They can demonstrate your product or service in a way that is unique to them and resonates with their audience.

Content remains king.

Have a plan. Don’t chase squirrels. Plan your content for the year – or at least the next quarter – to meet your brand’s sales goals, branding initiatives, limited offerings, or even just calendar holidays. Planning your content means have a blog and regularly contribute to it. Then, promote your new content on your social media platforms. Build your content marketing practice like you’d grow a garden. Keep at it.

What do customers want to know? Customers want content that is focused on:

• Deeper Meaning – Be authentic. Answer questions that are helpful and offer perspectives that can be touch points for your brand in a customer’s life. Find your commonality. Create your company’s tenets, and do those fewer stronger things in a deeper way.
• Giving Back – Showcase volunteer efforts and donations. A company’s charitable giving is important for 73% of Americans’ purchase decisions. People WANT to love you. Showcase how you are showing love for others. Giving back increases loyalty.

Overall, after the past few years of being disconnected, consumers are craving connection in every aspect of their lives. But make connection with your brand meaningful. Be convicted. Be consistent. Create a connection that will last, create loyalty, and continue these social media trends for 2022 to the years ahead.

Now that school is around the corner, it’s time to refresh your digital marketing strategy for your school, academy, or university. From experiencing a pandemic to entirely transforming a new academic environment for students and staff, the marketing and communications strategies that used to work for your district “pre-covid” may not work in this ever-changing 2021 environment. It is now the time to be pro-active, adaptive, and present to meet the increasing expectations of today’s families. 

Practice #1: Start a School Blog 

A school blog is a wonderful way to display the activities that students participate in and around the school. It’s also a great place to distribute advice and share the community’s voice. The blog will give outsiders an inside look on the programs and events that the students participate in. Connecting with the school’s community will emphasize how much the directors care about the students and faculty, while promoting conversation. It will also let more people organically find your school when searching for their children’s next academic steps. Overall, creating a blog will strengthen your school’s brand identity.  

Practice #2: Enhance the School’s Website 

Times are changing, and so should your website! Making an inadequately designed website and not thinking about the user’s experience will produce site traffic and static action. Like the director of Front Porch Marketing, Julie Porter states, “create a clean, user-friendly website.” This will increase the school’s reputation and lead to more engagement. Just remember to keep it simple to navigate and creative. An easy way to accomplish this is to rebrand logos, create a color scheme that seamlessly translates throughout all pages, and habitually update the navigation tabs.  

Practice #3: Make Social Media Accounts 

Posting on social media platforms, like Facebook and Instagram, create opportunities for parents and guardians to find your school organically. People can easily share, like, or comment on your posts to help create more popularity quickly. As your account grows, the more recognition and traffic your school develops. You can achieve this by devoting time into capturing professional videos and photos of events and activities.

A great example of this is with one of our clients, Faith Family Academy. As Christine Finnegan, our media relations director states, “be consistent will all messaging throughout your platforms.”  In addition, you can connect with your audience by responding to their comments and other members can add reviews.

Practice #4: Begin an Email Drip Campaign 

Emails are increasing in popularity due to people relying on the digital-sphere to stay in the loop. This upward trend in email reliability is the result of them being tailored to user preferences and behaviors. This personalization helps users see information related to their interests rather that unfavored topics that are being pushed upon them through advertising.

By asking current families and interested families for contact information via a survey or sign-up sheet, users can subscribe to an email list and look at automated content daily or weekly. This proves to be an easy strategy for reminding and promoting members of future academic and recreational events. Email workflows truly provide a personal touch to electronically reach each community member. 

Practice #5: Promote School Events 

Events, such as an open house, are a great way for newcomers to meet the faculty and staff. It also helps families understand if their values align with the school’s and if the school fits their expectations. Parents and guardians will also be given the opportunity to explore the campus for the first time.  

Additionally, back-to-school kickoffs are a wonderful way to understand what people personally look for in a school and its curriculum. Having organized school events with informational pamphlets to give out aids prospective families to secure their decision of coming to your school. Whether you share the events via social media or on the website, the end result allows you to increase engagement and nurture relationships with newly inquiring families.   

Conclusion 

The expectations of parents are higher than ever. It’s crucial that your school’s digital marketing strategy adapt alongside them. As the fall semester comes right around the corner, use these best practices to ensure that your digital marketing strategy is future-proofed.  

The Bigger Picture

Picture this. You have the perfect idea for an event, and you feel that it represents your brand’s vision to a T. Yet, there are so many steps to get from A to Z that you start feeling overwhelmed and as the date of the event looms nearer, you realize how many things you wish you had planned for. If you have ever felt this kind of stress before or are currently experiencing it, this is the blog for you.

When it comes to event marketing, there are multiple moving pieces. At times there are so many pieces that it may seem like there are too many starting points. To help set a starting point for you, let’s focus on the big picture and then hone into the minute details that will lead your brand’s vision to the picture-perfect moment.

The First Focus: Scheduling

Imagine event marketing to be like a photographer setting up the most picturesque scene. To capture the moment perfectly, at times working backwards is best. In this case, thinking about what you want the vision to look like as a whole then mapping out how to get to that end goal. Although this may seem unorthodox, this process will lead you to a track record of success while also allowing you to tweak the planning breakdown to fit your needs.

At Front Porch Marketing, we start with writing everything down, especially anything that is time-sensitive i.e. inviting VIPs, scheduling speakers, printing deadlines, and booking sponsors. This timeline allows you to envision a clear reality and identify immediate “strikethroughs” or ideas that should be nixed.

Next, identify your audience, define your message, and determine the experience you want to provide. Having a clear vision is important, because all of the smaller event details and decisions will flow from it.

The Second Focus: Seamlessness

Once you have the deadlines and your audience in mind, choose a venue, food, music, entertainment, format, and feel that aligns best with your vision. Stay true to the experience you want to provide, and these decisions will flow easily.

When it comes to your deadlines, also keep geography in mind. Although it may seem natural to book an event near your location, for your professional partners, sponsors, or guests this location may be new terrain. As such, ensure the professional partners and sponsors you choose to assist you are on board with your vision. Your caterer, photographer, videographer, etc. should also be well versed in what your plans and expectations are for the event.

The Final Focus: Structure

Now that your event is on the horizon, it is time to hammer out the final details. Here are some of my final tips on how to create that picture-perfect moment for your future events.

1. Create an overall schedule for the day and share with all of your professional partners and staff.
2. Double-check with your staff on their roles and make sure that all loose ends are tied.
   • Examples of closing loose ties:
     • Posting check-in times to all communication platforms.
     • Pre-inspecting uniforms.
     • Finalizing catering details with the company of your choosing and making sure no cross-contamination occurred.
     • Securing all entrances and marking them accordingly.
     • Making sure that the exits are not blocked by staff or their respected station.
     • Posting last minute schedule changes to all social media platforms.
3. Notify staff and members who should be called in case of an emergency or in the event that something needs to be addressed.
4. Do an event run through the night before to make sure that all equipment is running smoothly. Also do another run through at least two hours prior to the event.
5. Check that social media has been posted and is shareable throughout the event. (A quick way for guests to get plugged in is to post QR codes throughout the location or on deliverables.)
6. Center the company’s brand at the forefront of the event from color schemes to logos to swag.
7.  Brand the sponsored content and products by making sure that they are explicitly seen.
8. Label Wi-Fi passwords and make them visible.
9. Double-check that all mandated COVID protocols are being followed. Have disposable masks and sanitation stations readily available to increase accessibility and comfort.
10. Promise a good time (and deliver)!

In Conclusion

We love planning, executing, and marketing events for our clients! Most recently, it has been our privilege to partner with Faith Family Academy to create a socially distanced graduation ceremony that is expandable for future success. We look forward to executing more events in the future and are proud of the recent 2021 graduates.

I hope that these tips are helpful and got your creative juices flowing! If you need help planning an event come see us on the Porch!

Chances are you have seen a post or two about what days and what times are the best for posting on social media. And in fact, they are all probably right, and probably wrong. You see, the best time and place for YOUR social media is totally dependent upon your followers.

Short Cuts to an Optimal Social Media Time and Place Posting Schedule

What people want is a quick fix to their social media. A set-it-and-forget it system that they can follow that requires the least amount of work. But social media is not a broadcast channel like television, radio, or a print ad. Social media is supposed to be SOCIAL. Your social media channels are the place where you can actually have one-on-one conversations with people who love your brand already. How do you know they love you already? They’ve chosen to follow you, haven’t they? So talk with them when they are sitting there ready to have that conversation.

Sure, there are general guidelines for posting on social media channels, many of which have to do with putting yourself in someone else’s shoes for a moment. When are people most likely scrolling thru Instagram? What are people doing on their lunch break besides eating? (hint: scrolling thru Instagram) What’s the last thing that people do before they go to sleep at night, while they’re laying in bed? (another hint: scrolling thru Instagram) You get the picture. So how do you determine what social media channels and times are the best for your brand? When can you maximize a conversation with your followers going forward? The short answer is “the past”.

The Right Channel for Your Social Media

Each social media platform has a specific and different purpose. By offering a little bit different perspective and content on each channel of social media (instead of using the channels to broadcast like a tv or radio station) a company can show their many sides and offer a more nuanced look at their company, much like you would develop a friendship with a real person and grow to appreciate the many facets of their personality. So after you’ve given your social media channels a spring cleaning, start looking at your analytics.

Social Media Analytics

Every platform you post on for your brand has some form of analytics. You can see a surprising amount of information about your followers in the insights part of your dashboard, whatever the platform. One of the most valuable pieces of information in there is when your followers are on the platform. Start there. Your followers might be the breakfast crowd, in which case 6:15 – 8:30am is a good time for you. Maybe your followers are night owls in which case, program your posts (or manually post them) after 9:00pm.

With 63% of American users checking Instagram at least once a day, and 74% of American users checking Facebook once a day – according to Hootsuite – , you’re sure to find at least one and probably more than one heavy use time in your follower insights.

Scheduling platforms like Hootsuite, Buffer and Planoly make it even easier – they look at the analytics of your followers and tell you the best times to post without the research. Taking advantage of these low-cost automation platforms can save you valuable time, so you can concentrate your efforts on content creation.

Past Performance

Look at your social media feed on any channel as an indicator of what to post in the future. Which posts did well? What type of content got the most likes or comments? Do more of that. Look to your past performance to guide your future endeavors.

What are your competitors doing?

Competitive research is not just for branding and creative. Take a look at what your competitors are posting – what, when and where – when you’re setting up your optimal schedule. Look for patterns in not just your own feed, but in the similar feeds of your competitors and do more of what they are doing the best.

Post, Rinse, Repeat

Testing your content in different forms and at different times will also provide key insights when scheduling the best times and places for your social media as part of your content marketing plan. There is no one-size-fits-all best time solution that will fit every grand, as your brand’s best time and best platform are just as unique as your branding.

With a little effort upfront, you can glean insights into your audience that will not only increase your engagement, but actually help your followers even more. They have questions they want answered and you have the answer – so use the information that is readily available and answer that question sooner.

The Clean Up 

Spring cleaning comes in many forms but have you extended it to your social media? Although this sounds like an odd notion, tidying up your social media ensures that your online platforms are building up daily engagement and generating leads. 

When you don’t pay attention to your social pages, your platforms become dated – something that should always be a priority to avoid. 

By focusing on these five points in your social media, you can make sure to revamp your social presence, renew your look, and refocus your brand strategy.

The Logo

When it comes to spring cleaning, start out with the basics. Your logo! Are your colors dated? Should you go brighter? Bolder? Is your logo still considered modern? These are all questions you should ask yourself to make sure that your company is putting their best foot forward and aligning with today’s day and age. 

The Header 

The header is one of the first things that your viewers will see when they come to Facebook and LinkedIn! When you look at it, ask yourself if the picture is…

1. High quality? 
2. Modern or dated? 
3. Reflecting the season your company is in? 
4. Updated with the awards and certificates your company has gotten throughout the year? 
5. Used across all platforms? 

Once these questions are answered, your social media strategy is that much closer to being polished.

The Bio

The bio for your company may be short and sweet or long and informative but is it as updated as possible? Are there new hashtags you want to include that are easily found? Are there any typos you may have missed the first time you wrote it? 

No matter how fantastic your bio may be, the smallest writing error can cast doubt about your capabilities to be detail-oriented. This is a mistake you never want to have reflected in your platforms.

The Feed

When it comes to your feed you want to make sure that it is an extension of your latest brand strategy. If your brand is bold then extend that message through bold colors, sharp photos, and succinct captions. If your brand is playful then extend your brand through bright colors, whimsical photos, and emojis. 

Now that you know what you want your feed to look like, look at it from a grander scale.

Do the last posts reflect a past brand strategy? Do you want that to be the first thing that viewers note? Or do you have a new brand strategy that you want to promote and want that to be the focal point? 

Whatever the case, you will want the most current brand strategy to be noticeable at first glance. Take the time to see your company from the eyes of your viewers.

The Website

When your customers look for your website, are they able to find it easily? If not, you may need to revamp and renew the list of keywords that is used for your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) on each page.

By using the most up-to-date keywords, you’re able to make sure that your site is found in an easy manner. Decreasing the level of friction for customers to be able to locate your website and find the information they are looking for is important because it can be the difference of gaining or losing a lead. 

You’ll also want to make sure that all the tweaks that you make on your social media platforms are extended to your site. If you made the colors brighter on your logo, extend that color palette to your site. If you modernized your feed, make sure that your photos and messaging on your site reflect that change. For every action there will always be a reaction.

The Conclusion

No matter how big or small your spring cleaning is, always keep your brand at the forefront. Taking the time to be detail-oriented, using these focal points, and putting your brand first is sure to create a springtime glow for you and your company.

Empathy. Understand and share the feelings of another. More relevant in our country now more than ever.

Like many, last week on the Porch was spent defrosting from the massive winter storm.

Natural disasters occur. Business owners and leaders lead with empathy.

Heed these marketing and communication 101s:

• Safety first. Focus on the wellbeing of your team, then your clients. Reach out to check on them, their families and business. Focus only on their immediate needs and any help you may be able to offer. Show genuine empathy for those in crisis. Everything else waits.
• Teamwork makes the dream work. Thanks to one of our amazing team members, we had two co-working spaces. We were able to use that to communicate with our clients and to help them manage their internal and external business messages. In turn, it was easier for our clients to focus on their own team’s needs. Rally the troops that are available and get to work focusing on others’ needs.
• In addition, dedicate to serving who, how and where you can. We know from our own experience that the smallest gesture can make a powerful impact. This time, the Porch had power so we were able to offer our space and internet, and laundry room, to our Clients and friends who did not. Other clients had water their neighbors did not and eagerly gave of their own resources. Others may simply need an ear to listen. Make it a point to let your clients know you are there to help them in any way you can, not only with the needs that earn you income.
• After that, patience is a virtue. Rethink planned marketing initiatives.
  • Email marketing: Your communication can wait when other people are in crisis.
  • Social media posts: Meet your customer or Client where they are. During these times, emotions are highly-charged. Be authentic and empathetic.
  • Press releases: Don’t send press releases during times when a portion of the country is going through damaging events. Timing is everything.

Most importantly, extend empathy. There will come a time when you are facing your own unexpected storm and will need someone else to freely offer it to you.

In conclusion, we hope you and yours are safe, warm and damage-free. Client service is not simply our job; it is our heart.

Please reach out if we can help you.

With the ever-growing presence of technology in our world, social media is something that should not be overlooked. It should actually be at the forefront of your business, giving people an idea of what you are all about and hopefully prompting them to become customers! Whether you are skeptical about the use of socials to generate business or have an active presence on all platforms, there is something to be learned for everyone! Here are some ways you can boost your business on social media:

Engage in Comments Timely

Simply put, you want engagement! Facebook and Instagram use this as a primary factor when determining what to display. Posts that have more comments are displayed more prominently within feeds and pages.  Also note that the faster you respond, the more likely others will too, which can spark a conversation and increase engagement. Some companies employ a social media monitor whose primary focus is to react timely to comments.

Measure On-Platform and On-Site Success

Google Analytics is an excellent tool to see if your social media strategy is measuring up. It tracks follower growth, engagement, distribution, and on-site performance. Analytics also measures on-site behavior, so you can see the average time a user spends on your website.

Improve Search Engine Ranking

Good news- social media can improve your search engine ranking! When your social media share rate increases, your domain authority increases! This leads to an improved search engine ranking. Hence, more visits to your socials will also increase your social media page ranking, improving your chances of being one of the top ranked pages.

Drive Traffic

Relying on only your network to drive traffic is completely nonsensical! Social media expands your brand reach and generates traffic organically. If you don’t have a profile yet, create one and use it to share customized content. You want to make sure your audience can seamlessly share your content!

Conclusion

Using social media to boost your business is as important, if not more important, than other business-boosting tasks. Front Porch has provided these tips as a way for you to dive deeper into your social strategy. We want to see you succeed with your socials!