Is Wedding Blogging Dead?

April 11, 2018 By Mindy Leave a Comment

Yesterday’s announcement regarding the shuttering of popular wedding blog Style Me Pretty sent shock waves through the community. Many wedding pros saw Style Me Pretty as the gold standard of wedding marketing and often made it a career goal to be featured.

The hysteria seems to be even worse the next day. Some of my wedding blogger friends are getting messages from worried vendors on their preferred list – Are you closing too?

And wedding vendors are wondering if it’s worth their time to submit their work to blogs going forward. Or maybe blogs will start charging vendors for features so they can stay afloat. After all, if Style Me Pretty can shut down and disappear, what’s to stop that from happening to other blogs?

I totally understand the frustration, and I hope I can address (and calm) some of those concerns here.

Even the most perfect of weddings must eventually come to a close. The same is true for us here at Style Me Pretty. After an incredible twelve years of sharing your beautiful weddings, we will close Style Me Pretty on April 30th. While we won’t be posting any new stories after today, you’ll be able to view and save anything on the site up until the end of the month. We’re so proud to have played even a small role in sending so many brides and grooms off into their happily-ever-after. Thank you for sharing such special moments with us. | Photography: @elizabethmessina

A post shared by Style Me Pretty (@stylemepretty) on Apr 10, 2018 at 12:19pm PDT

Is Wedding Blogging Dead?

The situation with Style Me Pretty is a complicated and unique one. While we can only speculate as to the exact reason for its closure, it’s important to remember Style Me Pretty started as a small wedding blog created and edited by one person, but most recently was sold and became a tiny part of a much larger corporation (Verizon/AOL). While Style Me Pretty may be “huge” to us, it perhaps wasn’t making enough profit (or any profit) for the parent company to see it as something worth keeping around.

If I had to make an educated guess, Style Me Pretty‘s demise was the result of corporate restructuring.

It’s important to remember most wedding blogs are not like this. Most blogs are run by one person or a small team. Blog owners are often easily approachable and accessible. If you have a question or concern about a blog you love, just send an email and talk to them! Don’t make assumptions and don’t freak out over rumors and gossip.

This is also a chance to step back and take a look at your marketing strategies and your goals. Many wedding pros (and many brides) made it their life’s mission to be featured on Style Me Pretty. It’s fine to have goals, but be sure your business and marketing does not revolve around one singular goal or platform. Any vendor who put all of their eggs in the Style Me Pretty basket is in a world of hurt right now.

As a blogger myself, it frustrates me when I hear people say phrases like, “blogging is dead,” or “nobody is reading blogs anymore.” I can see by my analytics this is simply not true. It’s a shame Style Me Pretty is going away, but blogging is certainly a booming industry and there are plenty of blogs out there just waiting to feature you.

So is wedding blogging dead? No, but it’s certainly evolving and unpredictable, and it’s safe to assume your favorite blog probably won’t last forever. The situation with Style Me Pretty is yet another reminder that we are all responsible for our own marketing and we can’t solely rely on third party platforms to carry our business.

Remember:

Maintain your own social channels.
Maintain your own blog.
Maintain your own email list.

Social media and blogs are wonderful marketing tools, and the closure of Style Me Pretty shouldn’t stop wedding pros from investing in these tools. As long as it’s just a slice of your marketing strategy pie.

Photo by Elisabeth Messina

How to Set Up a FREE Email List in Under 30 Minutes

April 5, 2018 By Mindy Leave a Comment

This post contains affiliate links.

How many times have you heard this: You need an email list for your business.

Well, it’s true … you do! Social media followers are great, but hopefully you’re collecting their email addresses as well. That way if something ever happens to your social media accounts, you have a way to reach your fans.

If you’ve been putting off starting an email newsletter because you don’t know where to begin, I’m here to help! Yes, maintaining an email newsletter is yet another thing to add to the to-do list. But the most important step is to get started with a way to capture and collect those emails. And that’s exactly what we are going to cover today!

For this tutorial, I will be using an email service called MailChimp. MailChimp offers a free plan up to 2000 followers, so it’s perfect for anyone who is just getting started. If you want a more robust email experience and you are willing to pay, I recommend the paid version of MailChimp or Convertkit. But for this tutorial I will be using MailChimp.

Sign up for a paid account with MailChimp and get a $30 credit on your account!

If you’ve got 30 minutes, you can do this first step for creating an email list and start collecting those email addresses! Follow this guide and it won’t be difficult at all, I promise.

How to Set Up a FREE Email List in Under 30 Minutes

Step 1 – Create and log into your MailChimp account. On the main page, select Lists. Then click on “Create List.”

Step 2 – You will be asked if you want to create a new list or group. You want to “Create List.”

Step 3 – Fill out the List details. Give your list a name (“Your-business-name Newsletter” works), use your business email address as the Default “From” Email since this is what your readers will see (don’t use your personal email), your business name as the Default “From” name, as this is what your readers will see as the sender in their in-box (don’t use your real name [unless your real name is also your business name] because your readers don’t know YOUR name, they know your business name. Make sense?). For the “Remind people how they got on your list” section, you can copy and paste this:

You are receiving this email because you opted in for the YOUR BUSINESS NAME newsletter.

Make sure your contact information is correct. You need a valid address for the U.S. CAN-SPAM Act. It can be a physical address such as where you live or conduct business, or a PO Box. You cannot make up an address. This is very important.

Next you’ll see a section about double opt-in. I recommend turning this on. This means new subscribers will receive an email asking them to click a link to confirm this subscription. It helps eliminate bots and spammers, so I see it as a good thing.

Then select your email list notification options. This is to control the emails YOU get as people subscribe (or sadly unsubscribe) to your email list. I recommend the first option, which is a daily summary.

Click SAVE.

Step 4 – From here you will see your new list! Now we need a way to tell people about your list. Click on “Signup forms.” Then go to “Form Builder” and hit “select.”

Step 5 – This page is a little busy but don’t worry, we will get through it!

The default screen is “signup form” under the “Forms and response emails” dropdown. Leave it like that.

The Signup Form URL is going to be your unique URL you can send to people to join your list. You can post this URL on your social media pages, or hyperlink it on your blog. You can test it right now – open a new browser tab and copy/paste in that URL so you can see what it looks like. Although, I recommend making the following modifications before you share the link:

The default signup form is very robust. It asks for a lot of things, like email, name, address, and phone number. I don’t think you need all that! I recommend only asking for email and first name.

In order to remove the Last Name, Address, and Phone number section. Simply click on that area on the form. The toolbar to the right of the form will change, and at the very bottom you will see “Delete.” Click on that to remove the field. (It will ask you to confirm by typing DELETE into a field. Go ahead and do that.) Do this for the Last Name, Address, and Phone Number field, until you only have the Email Address and First Name fields left.

You don’t have to “save” anything – it saves by default.

Your signup form page is complete!

Now let’s assume you want to put this form somewhere on your website, like in the sidebar or below your blog posts, or in the footer. I’ll get you started, and if you’re not familiar with how your website works you may have to contact your webmaster for help.

Step 6 – On MailChimp, click on Signup Forms at the top menu, and now click on the Select button for “Embedded forms.”

Step 7 – Under the “Preview” section, you can see the beautiful signup form you just created! Isn’t it so lovely? This is how it will look when embedded into your website. Just copy/paste the code at the bottom and place it into the backend of your website in the desired spot.

For me, I have a WordPress blog with the Genesis theme, and I used the Simple Hooks plugin to add the code so it shows up at the bottom of every blog post. You can see how it looks below. If this is gobbledy-gook to you, you may have to reach out to your webmaster for some assistance. Or use Google to search how to add this code to your own website setup.

Congratulations! You are now ready to collect emails for your business! How exciting! I hope this tutorial was helpful and if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or visit my Facebook Page – Joy Social Media Strategies.

Is Facebook Doomed?

March 27, 2018 By Mindy Leave a Comment

Facebook is not having a great year.

First they were messing with the algorithm, leaving a lot of Facebook Page owners frustrated with lack of reach.

Then news broke of a massive data breach involving Cambridge Analytica, a breach that Facebook knew about in 2015 but failed to inform its users. Because of this, there has been a call to #deletefacebook. Even big companies, like Tesla, have deleted their Facebook Pages – although some wonder if this was done just as a marketing ploy.

Is Facebook doomed to shut down or drastically change its format? Or is Facebook “too big to fail?”

Despite significant stock value drops this year, Facebook remains one of the largest companies in the world. It’s still the third most visited website in the world (Google is #1, YouTube is #2). And based on my friends feed, it doesn’t look like anyone is quitting any time soon.

Facebook still remains the easiest way to get in touch with friends, catch up on the latest news, and find the cutest puppy videos.

And I’ve spent the last year focusing on building and growing a few Facebook Pages that have so far proven to be algorithm-proof. And I’m not giving up on those quite yet.

The truth is, ALL social media platforms are watching us. They are watching what we talk about, what we “like” and “love” and get angry about. Facebook’s goal is to keep you on Facebook, so it takes all this data and uses it to show you things it thinks you will want to see. It feeds off of your actions and mutates it – whether that’s good or bad is up to you. But it’s the way ALL social platforms work.

HOWEVER, let this be a reminder that we shouldn’t be solely relying on any social media platform to grow our business. Social media platforms don’t care about your business – sorry. They care about THEIR business and growing it and making money for their shareholders. If helping give YOUR business a platform helps them grow, then so be it. But Facebook, or Instagram, or Twitter, or Pinterest … they don’t really care about making you money and growing your biz.

As social media platforms grow, there will always be changes. For better or for worse. And there will always be data breaches. And sometimes things can change drastically, overnight.

If Instagram went away tomorrow, do you have a way to reach all of those followers and fans you’ve collected? If this thought sent a wave of panic through your body, it may be time to make a few small business changes.

Yes – use Instagram & Facebook & Pinterest to market your business. BUT ALSO be sure you’re blogging and maintaining an email list. These are two things that YOU have control over.

Social media platforms come and go. They are great marketing tools as long as we are willing to ride the ever shifting tide that comes along with them.

But email is forever and no matter what happens on social, you’ll be able to reach your fans via email. If you are collecting them.

3 Ways to Create Your Own Instagram Aesthetic

March 15, 2018 By Mindy Leave a Comment

How many times have you opened your Instagram app and just stared at your phone, because you know you’re supposed to be posting something but you just have no clue what to post?

Do you ever stumble across an Instagram profile that just seems to perfectly put together and you feel like yours is a mess? (It’s not a mess, I promise.)

If you struggle with Instagram you may want to consider creating your very own Instagram aesthetic. Instagram is a visual platform, and creating a style and pattern for your photos is not only beneficial for attracting new followers, but it will make your life easier as well!

The main trick is to not only make sure your individual photos look good on their own, but they look good within your grid as well. And of course, be consistent. Once you establish an aesthetic, don’t stray from it!

Here are 3 ideas for creating your Instagram aesthetic that won’t be too difficult to follow at all – I promise!

3 Ways to Create Your Own Instagram Aesthetic

1) Focus on a color.

One way to keep your grid consistent is to only post photos that reflect a certain color. I’m actually doing this right now on the Tuesdays Together Los Angeles account. I’m trying to focus on photos with blue in them. But from time to time a photo pops up that doesn’t fit with my blue aesthetic, and that’s okay! I think the blue effect still comes across.

DoleWhipDani takes this up a notch by creating a beautiful rainbow spectrum on her grid. This takes some serious dedication but the results are beautiful!

You can also use filters to give your photo a color tint. TheDisneyDorm does a great job of this. She gives all of her photos a purple wash and it’s beautiful! You can do this with an app like A Color Story or VSCO.

2) Focus on the grid.

Another suggestion is to use the three-column grid to your advantage. If you want to go this route, one word of caution … if Instagram ever changes up it’s grid, you’ll have to adjust your strategy! But that shouldn’t be a difficult adjustment and let’s just hope Instagram doesn’t make any changes. 😉

My friend Geniabeme, a beauty blogger, does an amazing job with her grid. She will post two beautiful, bright product and fashion photos, and the third photo will be a selfie showing off a new makeup look.

Another use of the grid that I love is posting a row of similar photos. HeatherTraska posts three photos in a row from one event, so her outfit is the same, the lighting is the same, and the visual aesthetic is the same. This keeps her grid looking consistent!

3) Focus on a niche.

My final suggestion is to pick a niche and run with it. With an account name like DisneyHungry, what would you expect to see …. Disney food, right? DisneyHungry shares beautiful close-up photos of foods you can only find at the Disney parks. Every now and then she will post a photo of herself at Disney, too. This is perfect!

Balloonzilla creates epic balloon arrangements for events and guess what … her feed is FULL of balloons! Just balloons.

If you have a special skill, show it off. TwinkleAndToast does beautiful calligraphy and stationery and that’s all she features on her feed (with the occasional personal post).

Want to make sure your photos are going to flow together? Use a planning app like Planoly or A Color Story to organize your grid and make sure all your photos compliment each other.

Remember, no matter what aesthetic or style you choose, the key to Instagram success is consistency! So once you settle on a style that works for you, stick with it and make sure you’re posting on a regular basis.

What is Vero and Should You Join It?

March 1, 2018 By Mindy Leave a Comment

Image via Vero.co

In the last couple of weeks, a new social media platform has burst onto the scene. It seems like everyone I knew was signing up for Vero, an app that promised an algorithm-free experience. Vero also promised the app would be free for the first one million people who signed up, which caused a bit of an Internet panic.

Yep, I totally bought into it and I signed up for Vero. Just to grab my user name at the very least. After signing up I did poke around a bit and created my first post. I posted a screen shot of my profile page on Instagram Stories to show everyone I had joined. A few people responded that they had joined too.

Vero seemed to appear out of nowhere but the app has actually been around for a few years, and before now had never really gained traction. Because, who really needs ANOTHER social media platform? I certainly have trouble keeping up with what’s already out there. But perhaps on the heels of Snapchat’s unpopular redesign and constant updates to Facebook’s algorithm, the platform gained strength.

Whatever the reason for the sudden popularity, I don’t want to miss the boat on the next big thing so whenever there is buzz about a platform I generally will sign up, just in case.

However, in this case, it seems I should have done a little more research.

Literally the day after I signed up for Vero, I started seeing tweets and articles popping up about one of the creators of the app, Ayman Hariri.

Well… Vero was Cool for a quick minute. Then I found out that the CEO is a scumbag and screwed over 9,000 Filipinos. Pair that with a shady user agreement and I’m out! #DeleteVero

— Dominic Briones (@dominicphillip) February 27, 2018

It seems Hariri was an executive for a construction company that shut down and left thousands of workers unpaid. A report from Reuters claims workers were abandoned at desert camps without food and water. (Hariri denies any involvement, saying he left the company before the company shut down.)

You can read about this further on Entrepreneur.

There are other issues as well. A friend noticed that out of 23 employees on their “Team” page, there is only one woman and one person of color. This is really disappointing.

It’s up to you if you want to stick around and give Vero a shot. Based on the above information, I have decided to delete my account. And if Vero turns out to be the “next big thing,” I’ll deal with that later.

How to delete Vero if you want to

Turns out it’s not as simple as pressing a button and confirming you are sure. You need to submit a request to delete your account. But, it’s quick. Here’s how you do it.

Go to your profile and click on the ? symbol at the top left.

From the drop down menu select “Delete Your Account.” In the next screen you are required to type comments in the “feedback” section. I simply put I was no longer interested. Then click submit.

Perhaps the Vero fiasco is just a reminder of the Universe to slow down and always do your research before jumping into something. Or that it’s okay to say “no” once in a while!

How to Handle Negative Facebook Reviews

February 13, 2018 By Mindy Leave a Comment

Nobody wants bad reviews. That’s a given.

But, sometimes it happens. Whether you feel it’s warranted or not.

As a business owner, one of the toughest parts of the job is dealing with unhappy, or even angry, clients. What do you do when a client turns to Facebook and seems hell bent on destroying your business?

This sounds dramatic but it does happen. And while we love social media because it brings everyone together, it’s a double edged sword. Someone who is angry at your business could “rally the troops” and attack your Facebook Reviews.

If you think I’m being extreme, let’s remember the case of the blogger vs the photographer. Blogger Neely and her husband Andrew had a $125 disagreement with their wedding photographer – so they took their complaint to the local news. Soon after the segment aired, the photographer’s Facebook Page was flooded with nasty messages to the point where she had to delete her Page.

More recently a Southern California DJ has come under fire after a potential client posted a screenshot of an email where the DJ made a misogynist comment about female DJs. Soon their Facebook Page lit up with 1 star reviews from people who had never even worked with them. Unfortunately, the owner of the company made the situation much worse by trying to justify the comments rather than offer a simple apology and retraction.

And with Facebook reviews, they can’t be deleted. Only the person who posted it can delete their review or comment. Oof.

So what should you do with negative Facebook reviews? Whether you find yourself in an extreme situation like the photographer, or are doing damage control like the DJ, here are a few things to remember. Obviously all of these suggestions won’t apply to every situation, but keep these in mind if you find yourself starting to go viral for the wrong reasons.

How to Handle Negative Facebook Reviews

Honesty is always the best policy. Even if someone is lying about you, take the high road and share your side of the story in the most honest way possible. As time goes on it’s too difficult to try to keep up with all the fibs, so just be honest from the beginning.

Never (ever ever) complain about the client on your private Facebook profile or in a private group. Guess what? The Internet has eyes and ears everywhere.

Also, never ask your friends to leave you positive reviews to balance out the negative reviews. Asking for fake reviews is always tacky, period.

Trying to explain yourself without an apology will often make a bad situation worse. In the case of the DJ he kept making comments trying to explain what he really meant, which led to MORE angry comments. If someone misconstrues what you said, be the bigger person and apologize for the offending comments. This isn’t the time to try to change someone’s mind about their personal beliefs and values.

Everything will calm down if you leave it alone. Yes, I know you want to fight back. Yes, I know you want to clear your name. There’s a quote by Alan Watts that I love … “Muddy waters are best cleared by leaving it alone.” Apologize, take the conversation offline, work it out, and stop talking about it online.

The customer is always right. It’s the #1 principle of business. Even if we know they are wrong. Even if we know they are lying. The customer is always right. Try your best to find a way to make it right with them before a situation gets out of control. Even if you have to take a hit, either financially or to your ego.

Last resort: Start gathering evidence. I hate to include this, but in the example of the photographer above the couple was set on destroying her business (as evidenced by a text message to a friend that came out during legal discovery). If you have a really bad feeling about the situation, start taking screenshots of everything just to be safe. I’m not saying this to scare you – these situations are extremely rare; most negative comments are just Internet trolls having their idea of fun and will eventually go away if you ignore them.

While negative reviews and Internet trolls are not fun, it’s part of life in the social media age. Social media makes it easy to spread positive news, but negative news seems to spread like damn wildfire. Whatever you can do to douse it as quickly as possible will serve you well in the end.

The One Secret to Beating the Instagram Algorithm That No One is Talking About

February 6, 2018 By Mindy Leave a Comment

Instagram. You love it, you need it. It’s your favorite platform for business. But that pesky algorithm keeps changing on us, and with every change comes new strategy tips. Use enough hashtags but not TOO much! Your caption shouldn’t be too long but ALSO not too short! Like other people’s photos but especially if they’ve posted within the LAST EIGHT MINUTES!

Oh gosh, seriously?

All the experts want you to follow all these rules to game the system, but no one talks about the one thing you need to do to beat the Instagram algorithm. And that thing is …

POST GREAT CONTENT.

Okay yeah, I can sense your eyes rolling from here. But hear me out.

Instagram is a platform that was built to share authentic photos. Photos of what you’re up to, what you’re doing, what you’re looking at.

It was never meant to be a platform used to market our businesses with perfectly curated photos and 30 hashtags in the first comment. But, that’s what it turned into.

So now people think they can post whatever, follow all the algorithm-busting tricks, and their account will soar. And then they get frustrated when nothing happens.

You can try to trick the algorithm all day and all night, but if your content sucks it’s all for nothing.

Now I realize that posting great content is easier said than done, so I’m going to give you a few basic pointers. Keep all of these items in mind before you post on Instagram.

How to REALLY Beat the Instagram Algorithm

1) Is your photo good? Is it pretty? If you saw it in your feed would you double-tap it? Is the photo easy to understand, is it clear and bright, does it make sense? Above all, your photo has to be good, if not great. (If you need help editing your photos, click here.)

2) Does your photo speak to your audience? This is where things get a little complicated. Do you know your target market? Are you posting content that relates to your ideal client?

I’ll give you an example … I could post the most beautiful photo of my lunch that anyone has ever seen. The lighting, the composition, the colors, it’s all perfect. But, my audience loves Disney, so they don’t care about my food photos. However, my friend who is a food blogger could post the same exact photo and get hundreds of likes and comments on it.

3) Does your caption tell a story? Don’t just drop an emoji and your hashtags and run. Ideally your picture should speak for itself, but use the caption to share a bit about what the photo means to you, and engage your followers. Ask them a question, or give them a bit of inspiration or motivation. Don’t be a passive Instagram poster!

4) Use Stories. Instagram is putting a lot into their Stories platform and I wouldn’t be surprised if, in a couple years, Stories is the “main” platform while “regular” Instagram takes a backseat. So start using Stories, and interacting with other people’s Stories. (Get some Stories tips here.)

5) Above all, be authentic. Don’t use the same string of hashtags on each photo. Don’t post at the same exact time every day. Don’t engage with other accounts by commenting “Cute!” all their photos. Don’t just upload photos to Stories without doing some live videos as well. If you act like a robot, Instagram is going to treat you like a robot. Instagram rewards users who use their platform in an authentic way. Instagram is watching you, and they see eeeeeeverything.

Bottom line? Post good content and be authentic; it’s the only way to beat Instagram’s constantly changing algorithm.

Enjoyed this article? Please pin it!

The One Secret to Beating the Instagram Algorithm That No One is Talking About

4 Ideas for Using Instagram Story Polls

October 12, 2017 By Mindy Leave a Comment

It has been over a year since Instagram Stories debuted and it seems to be a huge hit. Most of my friends are using the platform daily and Instagram keeps adding more and more features. (Although, I really need them to step up their face filter game; Snapchat is still light years ahead.)

Recently Instagram introduced the “Poll” feature, which allows you to set up a voting poll in your Stories. Your followers can then vote on the poll and you can see the results, including who voted and how they voted. It’s really fun! And a great way to get to know your followers better and boost engagement.

If you’re not familiar with how to use Instagram Story polls, here’s a quick tutorial.

Open up your Instagram app and swipe right to get to the Story screen. Create a new Story picture or video but don’t add it yet.

Go to the “sticker” icon and you’ll see the “poll” option. (If you don’t see the poll option, make sure your Instagram app is up to date.) Click on that to add the poll to your picture.

Type in your poll question, then type in your poll answer options. It defaults to yes/no, but you can type in anything, or add emojis.

When you’re ready, add it to your Story feed.

To check the results of your polls, watch your Story and swipe up to see more detailed results.

Here are a few ideas on how to use Instagram Story polls to engage with your followers.

4 Ideas for Using Instagram Story Polls

1. This or That? Ask your followers their opinion between two items. Do you prefer pizza or tacos? Wine or beer? Summer or winter?

2. Choose Your Own Adventure. Get creative on asking your followers what you should do next! When the poll feature was first introduced, I asked my followers if I should skip work for the day and go to Disneyland (surprise – I was already planning on going anyway). It got a great response!

Another idea is asking your followers what you should eat or drink.

3. Do You Want to See? Let’s say you’re working on creating a new product. You can ask your followers if they want to see some behind-the-scenes videos. Or maybe you’re packing up your supplies for an event; you can ask your followers if they want to see inside your bag.

4. Have You Ever? This is a fun one that generally requires easy yes or no answers! You can ask your followers “Have you ever been on an airplane?” “Have you ever tried the Dole Whip dessert at Disneyland?” “Have you ever planned a bridal shower?” Ask them anything!

How are you using Instagram Story polls to interact with your audience?

A Case Study in How NOT to Do Twitter Customer Service

September 27, 2017 By Mindy Leave a Comment

If you receive a business complaint on social media, can you stay cool under pressure?

Remember the old phrase – “the customer is always right?”

All businesses should remember social media is not just for networking and promotion, but for customer service as well. And everyone who follows you or writes to you is a potential customer or client.

Recently, a blogger discovered a small local magazine had reprinted one of her recipes. The magazine listed her name as the creator of the recipe, but did not get her permission to re-print her recipe. This is, of course, a clear copyright violation.

When the blogger sent a tweet to the magazine’s Twitter account, their social media rep became defensive.

“We gave you the same credit as everyone else. This was found on Pinterest, updating that information would be helpful.”

*wince* My goodness, where to start here ….

First of all, defending the decision to print a blogger’s content without permission with the “we did it the same way for everyone” excuse is not really an excuse.

Second, using Pinterest as a “source?” No way. Any decent publication should know Pinterest is a content aggregator, not a place to dip into when you’ve run out of original ideas.

Third, and most important … do I sense some sarcasm? Implying that it’s the blogger’s fault the magazine stole her content?

And the blogger certainly took offense to this, based on her reply:

“Are you joking? Pinterest is not a source. It’s a content aggregator. You have to follow through to source content. Due diligence. Try it.”

To which the magazine replied with further sarcasm:

“Apologies for including you in our print. Thanks for addressing this ‘concern’ tactfully. Email the editor if you have existing concerns.”

(Note – the original blogger and some of the other responders later deleted their tweets, so I blurred out everyone’s identities here. However, the magazine did not delete any of their tweets.)

The whole situation got a lot worse when fellow bloggers jumped in to defend the original blogger.

And that’s just a small sampling.

Eventually the magazine said their editors were in touch with the original blogger and stopped responding to comments. But, whoa … the damage was done.

Obviously this was a bad situation that escalated way out of control.

Perhaps whoever runs the magazine’s Twitter account did not realize the magazine was actually in the wrong here. Still, in this situation, when faced with public criticism, the only appropriate response is to thank the user for bringing the issue to their attention and to please DM or email them to discuss further.

A simple initial response such as this one could have avoided what ended up being a huge tweet storm full of condescending and sarcastic comments.

Even if you feel you are NOT in the wrong and have the urge to defend yourself, it’s best to write a simple public acknowledgement of the issue and continue to address the concern privately.

I hope this example of how NOT to do Twitter customer service can act as a learning experience for everyone.

How to Schedule a Week’s Worth of Facebook Posts in 30 Minutes

July 20, 2017 By Mindy Leave a Comment

One of the complaints I hear often about social media is never having enough time to keep up with posting. There are too many platforms, and only so many hours in the day! I totally understand. Which is why I love to take advantage of platforms that include their own scheduling function, like Facebook.

Facebook makes it very easy to schedule content to your business page. They also make it very easy to find content to schedule to your page. In fact, I’ve got my system down so I can schedule a week’s worth of Facebook posts in just about 30 minutes. I try to post four times per day on my Facebook page, which I realize is a rather aggressive schedule. I always recommend business should post 1-4 times per day, so if posting four times a day makes your eyes cross, just focus on scheduling one post a day!

Here is my Facebook scheduling routine and sources. Your first time going through it may take a little longer than 30 minutes. But once you’re used to it, you should be able to fly through your scheduler in no time flat!

Keep in mind this tutorial is for using a desktop computer or laptop. You can schedule content via the Facebook mobile app but I work quicker on my laptop.

And if you have any questions about any of these steps? Please leave me a comment or ask me for help in my VIP Facebook group.

How to Schedule a Week’s Worth of Facebook Posts in 30 Minutes

1. Go through your Pages Feed, open up seven articles that look interesting in new tabs, and schedule one per day.

To add Pages to your Pages Feed, click the “Like Other Pages” button and search for the Page.

To schedule a share of a Facebook post, copy the post URL and paste it into a new post on your Page.

2. Go through your blog’s analytics, look at your 30 most popular posts, pick seven to share, and schedule one per day.

3. Go to your Pinterest feed, find seven images you love that relate to your niche/business. Pin them to your own boards and save the image to your computer. Then upload the image and link to your pins on Facebook. Schedule one per day.

4. Do a search for your niche on Etsy or any shopping website. If you’re in the wedding industry, for example, search for beautiful handmade wedding items. Schedule one link on Facebook per day.

Congrats, you now have a week’s worth of content scheduled (or maybe even more)! I hope these tips help you explode your Facebook Page!

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