You’ve decided to jump on the Instagram bandwagon and don’t know where to start. You’re wondering alright, another application to add to the rest. I’m sure you’ve come across at least one Insta picture without actually downloading the app or even knowing it. It’s everywhere!
Your Instagram account can be whatever you want it to be.
Just put in thought to your posts and you’ll see your followers grow. If you’re not sure what to post on Instagram, try doing A/B testing. Post different pictures and see what your fans prefer. Whichever images get the most likes, that is your category to target.
Keep in mind not everyone on Instagram has the goal to gain followers or likes. Some are on Instagram to promote their products, brand, post their opinions, speak out for a cause or a place to be recognized for their awesome food pictures. What ever it may be, you’ll need to know how to use this application. Check out the below youtube tutorials. On a side note I finished recording these videos right before the Instagram update. So add this to your learnings from the videos:
Instagram direct is Instagram’s new update. It allows you to choose if you want to share your photo with all your followers or just a few. Click on the “Direct” tab, and select the followers you would like to share them with. The picture will not show up in your public feed, and just the users you selected will be able to see your photo.
Have you thought about your social marketing strategy for 2014?
Be the master of your social universe. Right now the social marketing universe is expanding at an overwhelming rate. New networks are sprouting regularly. I bet you didn’t know about Jelly. The technology that ties them together also continues to advance. With its advancement comes great opportunities.
Those who are intimidated by it all will be tempted to avoid learning. The social followers will dive in headfirst and fail. Somewhere in between are the curious souls who do their research on how to master the social networks that their customers are on. That could be YOU!
Some people think all you need is a Twitter account, or a Facebook community/business page. Reality is social is a lot more than just one platform. In order to gain success in the social marketing universe, you need to be involved in more then one platform. The more platforms you’ve dipped into, the better. Not to be confused with making accounts on different social platforms and just leaving them bare. You need activity on all of your platforms. It’s easier than you think. Upon hearing this most people get scared and think “oh my goodness, ain’t nobody got time for that“.
The trick is, use one platform as your hub station for the social universe you’ll be creating. I recommend a website or a blog.
Whenever you create a new post or put up something on your website, use tweetdeck, hoot suite, or manual copy and paste to post it to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and whichever platforms you’re using. The point is, it’s all got to come back somewhere that has MORE content and information for your customers/fans/followers to engage with.
If you look at the social universe from this angle, you’ll be on your way to increasing your social network:
Foundation of your social community: Website/Blog
Social pushers of your content: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
Visual stations: Instagram, Youtube, Pinterest and Flickr
(you don’t need to be set up with all of these platforms, as some are very similar)
Increase your social network with solid information and engaging content. If you can’t manage and differentiate the use of all of your social platforms then it would be best to start with less and do your best. Less posts but amazing content is better than more useless posts and crappy content. Check out the infographic below:
Join me on Twitter with hashtag #SMXChat on Tuesdays at 3pm EST.
If you haven’t noticed from my previous recipe posts, I love easy recipes. I work all day and come home and need something healthy, fast & flavorful. This recipe goes amazing with potatoes, steamed veggies or rice. The outcome of this recipe is a sweet, spicy (depending on whether you add spices), garlic glazed chicken. I recommend using aluminum foil on top of your roasting/baking pan for an easier clean up.
Ingredients
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil
Add spices and herbs as desired. (I used a spice rub from William Sonoma and spices by Club House)
Directions
Preheat oven to 450F and line a baking/roasting pan with aluminum foil, lightly coat or brush oil on foil.
In a small sauté pan, sauté garlic with olive oil until tender. Remove from heat and stir in brown sugar. Add additional spices, salt etc as desired.
Place chicken breasts in the prepared baking/roasting pan and cover with the garlic/brown sugar mixture. Add salt and pepper on top for taste. I used sea salt and fresh ground pepper.
Bake uncovered for 15-30mins, check on the chicken. The cooking time differs depending on the size and how thick the chicken breast is.
is marketing on or with a mobile device, such as a smart phone. Mobile marketing can provide customers with time and location sensitive, personalized information that promotes goods, services and ideas.*
SMWTO Learnings
There was a recent study done on the psychological connections with users and their mobile screens. The study found some areas where companies could make connections with their customers overlooked.* Most companies were missing a connection with their consumers hearts. To build your brand you need to connect with your consumers, it isn’t about connecting with the mind with fancy wordplay anymore. Email blasts with Sale, Last Chance or 50% off just don’t do it anymore.
Mobile allows targeting specific consumers who want to see unique content. The average user that looks at their mobile device looks in seconds. If it’s not interesting, consumer is lost.
Brands that are leveraging content know how to use vine, instagram, twitter, facebook etc to push content and gain new audience and in some cases re-establish their brands, especially in markets that didn’t exist before. Social media is about building an asset. Create a strong foundation for the next generation of consumers who will interact with your brand via mobile.
Engaging content is getting smaller and smaller. What started off at 50 second videos, are now 6 seconds on Vine. Consumers love it! The future of mobile video content = shorter attention spans. Content delivered through applications may be considered “less intrusive” than banner ads. Yes, banner ads are impersonal. Then here we have corporations saying “I don’t know if we should invest in mobile..” Ask those who are living in this generation. Do some studies of your own and you’ll be surprised to see that investing in mobile is your best bet. Consumers are also opting in receiving real time messages on their mobile devices.
So you’ve decided to get into Mobile Marketing. You need a full strategy if you’re building your brand on a social aspect. Content is key, but brands need to remember to be responsive to tweets and posts as well. Minimal content is better than lots of crappy content.
People focused content needs to be well thought out. Every company is a media company and therefore, every company is a publishing company. Did you know there’s pieces of content created every day?! The best people to talk to for free research are customer service. Have them make notes of what customers are calling in about. Customer service understands the customer journey. Let’s face it. It’s not about helping the seller to sell, it’s about how we help the buyer buy. 75% Canadians grab their phones at 4pm. Whether it’s to check what they’ll be having or making for dinner, check their facebook, instagram or other social platforms. What is your company posting to that 75% at 4pm? Are you sending promotion texts, updating your apps and social media profiles?
To move your buyer down the path to purchasing, your content should answer a consumers question before they’ve even asked. And then don’t just answer the questions no one is asking, maybe work on finding out what people are asking.
Mobile is predicted to surpass desktop usage in 2014. Consumer phone and smartphone usage is continuing to rise, and in 2014, content marketers will need to ensure that the huge online community they’ve built, need to be getting the same brand experiences on their phones as well. Prepare a mobile marketing strategy now if you haven’t already.
*SMWTO Content & Creativity Achieving Mobile Success with Content
SMWTO People Focused Content Strategy
Wikipedia
Looking back at this year, I must say that I am full of gratitude.This is the year I chose to expand on my web status. Come up with new ideas for the new year. Started this blog and a plan to share my knowledge with all of you!
2013 was also the year I celebrated my marriage to the most brilliant man on earth. Truly a blessing to have him in my life. Travelling to California, Texas and Egypt were experiences I will cherish forever. Tales of my travels are just ones to marvel at and lust to want to go as well. Purchasing a home and getting our kitten Beep! are just samples of 2013 milestones.
So what are your new year resolutions?
What steps will you take to make sure you acheive them?
The best advice I could give you is don’t leave things to tomorrow. Make use of the time you have today. You’ll thank yourself tomorrow.
To an even better year, 2014.
Thank you everyone for all of your love on Instagram!
My obsession for chocolate chip banana bread believe it or not was purchasing a loaf from the Forest Hill Shoppers Drug Mart. It was the perfect balance of sweet, yet salty and moist. My advice for this recipe is tweak it where you need to in order to get to perfection. Your perfection could differ from mine by a 1/2 teaspoon of more salt or less. On that note, take risks and enjoy! :”)
Prep Time: 2hrs
Ingredients 1 cup of granulated sugar (or regular sugar)
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (or salted based on your preference. I used salted once.) 2 large eggs
3 ripe bananas (1 cup of mashed bananas)
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup of chopped pecans (optional)
Semi-sweet chocolate chips (as many as desired or 1/3 cup is what I put)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray/Butter/Oil up a 9×5 inch loaf pan with a non-stick spray coating preferably.
Mix or blend together the eggs, butter, buttermilk, mashed bananas and milk.
Sift together the sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add this to the mixture above and stir in desired pecans and/or chocolate chips. Mix well.
Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake 1 hour and 20 minutes. However, check up on the bread after an hour and do the toothpick test. If it comes out clean, it’s ready. From my experience sometimes it’s 1 hr 14mins or 1 hr based on maybe a miss-measurement of ingredients or the oven you use.
Social Media Week Toronto took place this year from September 23-27th. The theme for 2013 was “Looking Ahead to 2015″.
All the seminars were in some way about what changes and trends would be coming up in the next 12-15 months. The Windsor Arms Hotel, a beautiful petite boutique, was the venue for Social Media Week.
Day 1 was kind of like the first day of school. Everyone following the calendar board to see what seminars they wanted to go to next and which rooms they were held in. The first day buzz of being around like minded social media people was exciting. The first tweet using the #SWTO hashtag, purchasing a snack from the cafe to donate money towards Social Media Week and sitting in that extremely hot with no air circulation, St.Thomas room. Just a few of my fond memories of that week. My first day schedule, was a half day due to some work meetings I had that morning.
Day 1:
Tracking Visual Data; Measurement Without Words
Preempt Me: The Future of Marketing and Marketing Communications
Comedy is the Currency of the Internet
Social Media Isolation
Day 2:
Peer to Peer Strategy: How Koodo Leverages its Online Community to Reduce Support Costs
Content and Creativity: Achieving Mobile Success with Content
Big Data, Small Data, Data that Totally Rocks
Small Data. Big Wins.
Day 3:
The Death of the Home Page
Social Media goes to University
People Focused Content Strategy
The Crowdfunding Success Pattern
Why Behavioral Data is Key to Social Selling Success
Day 4:
Campaign to Commitment. Social Media, Brands and Long Ideas
The Pitch Powered by Cision and Umbra
After Party with Idea Rebel
Social Media Barometer
Day 5:
The Danger of Dusty Ideas
Big Data meets Social Commerce
Creating Constructive Content Calendars
Prep time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 40 mins
• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 4 oz cheese, shredded (you can use up to 6 oz) I used mozzarella and havarti jalepeno cheese
• 1 c frozen spinach, thawed and drained (you can also use fresh cooked spinach)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp Cajun seasoning – I bought mine from William Sonoma
• 1 tbsp breadcrumbs (I use the regular kind but the italian one is better)
• Sea salt, to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• Lots of toothpicks
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Flatten the chicken to 1/4-inch thickness.
In a medium bowl, combine the cheese, spinach, salt and pepper.
Combine the Cajun seasoning and breadcrumbs together in a small bowl.
Spoon about 1/4 c of the spinach mixture onto each chicken breast. Roll each chicken breast tightly and fasten the seams with several toothpicks. I typically use about 8 toothpicks in each roll to ensure none of the filling seeps out. Be sure to count how many total toothpicks were used.
Brush each chicken breast with the olive oil. Sprinkle the Cajun seasoning mixture evenly over all. Sprinkle any remaining spinach and cheese on top of chicken (optional).
Place the chicken seam-side down onto a tin foil-lined baking sheet (for easy cleanup). Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.
Remove the toothpicks before serving. Count to make sure you have removed every last toothpick. I topped the stuffed chicken with saffron sauce. If you’d like the recipe for saffron sauce please leave a comment below.
Here’s the deal. You come home from the gym and you’re exhausted! Your body aches and you just want to drop to the floor. Don’t let the beat drop just yet and pick yourself up to try this AMAZING stuffed green pepper recipe. Quick and easy.
Prep Time: 35mins
You will need:
Whole Green Peppers ( 1 for each person)
Rice
Dice tomatoes, mushrooms, broccoli (whatever veggies you want)
Crushed cashews
Chicken breast cut into cubes
Cheese
Coriander
How to:
Put your rice in a rice cooker or Uncle Ben’s instant rice
Cut the top out of the green peppers. Clean them out. Place in oven to soften to desired texture.
In a sauce pan cook your chicken breast cubes until cooked. You can add honey, or just salt, pepper and cayenne pepper for a more spicy flavour.
Add your chopped veggies and crushed cashews. Sauté veggies with soy sauce or any other sauce you prefer. Healthier substitute would be coconut oil.
Place rice inside whole green pepper, chicken, veggies, rice again, topped with cheese and coriander. The images attached are a beef version I did.
This is the fastest Honey Lemon Chicken recipe ever! For all of you who live busy lives and never have time to cook. You can do this!
Prep Time: 20mins
You will need:
Chicken (I used 3 chicken breasts)
Honey
Lemon
Vegetables – I used broccoli, green peppers & parsley
Cashews or Peanuts (which ever you prefer)
Salt & Pepper for taste and seasoning
How To:
Cut chicken breast into slices and start cooking on medium. Season with mixed ground pepper and a bit of salt. Just before chicken is cooked turn temperature to high and add honey to pan (Make sure you use enough honey to cover all the chicken). Cook till the chicken is golden and then add fresh lime or lemon juice on top. Cut up your vegetables and mix in a bowl. Either you can add it into the chicken honey mix and cook to desired texture or eat it as is with dressing on the side. For the rice, I just use my rice cooker or there’s always Uncle Ben’s if you’re really in a rush.
