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Sara Duggan

Virtual To-Do List Annihilator

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Social Media Marketing

Sample: Celebrate Every Day with Sara Assists You

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Each month I put together a social content package for Facebook. Inside you’ll find 7 images for your business page, 7 images for Holidays, as well as content for Facebook Groups and Status Updates.

Here’s last month’s Holiday Content:

How can You Use This Content?

1. Share on Your Business Page

You will always need new content for your business page. You can make it yourself or use this pre-made images in this package.

Take this image from the November package:

Add it to your page and share it. The image itself encourages your fans to like and share it.

2. Share in Groups

Groups are where you connect with PEOPLE. Simply copy and paste into your groups. You’ll get text updates, video updates, article updates, Memes, and more.

In October, I included post ideas for business, inspiration, creative, educational, non-promotional, expert tip, as well as a lesson learned (life tip) post.

3. Share on Your Personal Page

If appropriate, once you share the content on your business page, share it to your personal page. Get your friends talking about it.

4. Make a Slide Show and Upload it to SlideShare or Youtube

Repackage the monthly images and posts into a slide show.

5. Tweak the Group Messages to Your VOICE

Group messages and Status updates are written in a general tone. Tweak it to fit your audience.

SAMPLE group engagement post:

This post is personalable, informative, solves a problem, and encourages engagement.

What happens when you just don’t feel like working with a client or writing another blog post?

All you want to do is curl up under your covers and sleep. No phone calls, no demands, no thinking, just sleep.

For those that suffer from depression this is a reality almost everyday.

I know it’s difficult but here are some actions you can take today to resist the dark clouds of depression waiting to envelope you tightly in its arms.

1. Get out of bed and take a shower (even if your mind screams NO, do it anyway)
2. Get a nice warm cup of tea or coffee and sit on the couch (no blankets allowed)
3. Read one chapter of psalms or another uplifting book
4. Listen to soothing yet inspiring music
5. Get outside even in the cold. Walk five minutes (you’ll appreciate your warm home more)
6. Tell someone they matter and are loved (with a smile) /social media is okay but phone calls and face to face are better.

I realize in your darkness all of this seems pointless, but do it anyway.

Whether you feel it or not - someone needs you today.

Accept this mission and know that in 12 hours you can go back to sleep.

Congrats on making it through another day.

November’s content is ready to download. Visit Social Media Fairy Dust to get your pre-made content.

Is there anything you would add to this package? Let me know in the Contact Form Below and I’ll send you October’s package as a Thank You.

76 National Days to Easily Promote on Social Media

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76 National Days for Social Media

Sprout Social #HashtagHolidays Infographic Plus Tips for Selecting & Using Them

Inside you’ll find Sprout Social’s Infographic with 76 National Days. Many are popular days on social media like doughnut day, taco day, or Star Wars day. Others are a bit obscure like Civic Day of Hacking (June4 #HackforChange).

Planning social content for an entire year can be a bit challenging. After working with clients to prepare content calendars, I know holidays, observances, and just plain weird days for nearly every day of the year. If there isn’t a day, just make it up!

After taking a look at the graphic, Pin on Pinterest, Share on Twitter (using #hashtagholidays @socialsprout), and be sure to say hi to Darryl when visiting the blog post. Grab the code to share it with your audience and download the PDF too.

Share this Image On Your Site

Hashtag-Holidays-Infographic

3 Tips For Selecting & Using Days of the Year

1. Be selective when choosing
Andrew Mucci says to “pick niche holidays that relate more to your industry”. He also mentions that it may be beneficial to choose lesser known days to increase your chances of being heard in a loud social world.
http://fyre.it/0AOR8kEP.4

2. Do Your Research
Find out about the day, who created it, how and when it started, as well as a few facts about the day, celebration, or cause. This way you can create a variety of images for multiple networks.

3. Add Your Unique Spin
Most will select a day, add the name and date to the graphic, share it and consider it done. Stand out! Commission a coloring page, an interactive quiz, a short explainer video, or host a giveaway or fundraiser.

Source: http://sproutsocial.com/insights/national-days/ Darryl Villacorta

P.S. October’s Social Fairy Dust Beta is Out! Inside you’ll find 7 Facebook Image Quotes, 7 FB-statuses, 7-FBGroup posts, 7 Days of the Year Images, 7 pieces of Curated Content and 7 creative commons curated images on the theme of the month - Autumn Harvest. Find out more.

You May Also Enjoy Reading:
5 Shortcuts to Social Media Success
2 Things You Need to Simplify Social Media + How to Curate Content Opt-in Video
Ask Questions on Facebook - Sample Graphics Make your own with these FB banner ‘blanks’.
6 Tools to Solve Social Media Overwhelm
FREE DOWNLOAD: Social Media Posting Schedule - sample
Does Social Media Make You Feel Like a Slacker? Series Conclusion

I’m linking up this week with the Blogger’s Pit Stop. Won’t you join in?

P.s.s. TailWind has social media content calendars for Pinterest and Instagram that include popular hashtags and holidays. Free Download with Optin. (no affiliation)

Your Business Should Be on Facebook And Here’s Why

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There are billions of people on Facebook and your business should be too. Whether you like Facebook or not, it is the place to be in front of your customers. You don’t have to connect with people from high school if you don’t want to, simply create a business page.

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of hearing Livvie Matthews speak and invited her to share her knowledge about social media (Facebook in particular) with you.

Alexas_Fotos / Pixabay

In your social savvy webinar, you recommend starting with Facebook, Why do you think it’s important for small businesses to start with that network as opposed to others?

Good question, Sara. I recommend starting with Facebook for several of reasons.
In real estate you’ve heard, it said… it’s always about location, location, location. Well in online marketing it’s all about visibility, visibility, visibility!
You must be seen for your market to know about you, what you offer, and how you can solve their problems. And nothing…absolutely nothing gives you more visibility than social media!
With that said,let me repeat those stats I shared in my Social Savvy webinar:
Currently, there are over 1.35 BILLION ACTIVE users on Facebook with 78% of them accessing by mobile. Just in mobile that’s 1053 MILLION people per day. In just a 24-hour time period there are over 2 BILLION people Liking, commenting, and liking comments on Facebook.
1.35 BILLION ACTIVE users on Facebook with 78% of them accessing by mobile. Click To Tweet
Believe me, when I say, whoever and whatever you market is…. it’s there on Facebook, Visibility!!
Social media, as you know Sara, has changed forever how we market and we aren’t going to go back to the old style of traditional marketing. And now, with the social platforms, we don’t have to have a huge marketing budget like in the old days, so now a small business owner…even one just starting out…can (and should) utilize social media for their marketing.
All social platforms are free to open an account and free to use unless you are paying a third party to manage your social media sites for you. So now you can do for free or very low cost what it used to cost thousands $$$$ to do in the past.
[Read more…] about Your Business Should Be on Facebook And Here’s Why

Using Instagram to Connect with New Readers

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I’m new to using Instagram for business purposes and decided to run a little experiment.

Here are a few questions I’ve asked this past week. I shared my answers as part of the post but didn’t really get the response I was after. I’m thinking next week I’ll add my response to the comments section to see if the response is better.

What was your dream job growing up? #questionoftheday When I was little my only ambition was to get married and be a mommy. ^_^ Once I was in Junior high I grabbed onto being a Pediatrician and stuck with that until my Freshman year in College. (changed to Psychology then to Nursing) I finally graduated with a Biology degree only to determine I dislike medicine. ^_^ After children I did study to become a Doula which matches my heart more, but after my second son was diagnosed with Bipolar which doesn't really work with being on call for Mommies. While my boys were growing up I was mainly a stay-at-home mom with little bits of working as a File Clerk, Receptionist, and Data Entry clerk. (Temp agencies) I pursued my hobby - crocheting - for a while but decided against it as I was starting to lose the enjoyment in it as business sucked the life out of it. (for me) Now, I am a virtual assistant which concentrates on many of the things I enjoyed about blogging/business. (Social Management, Blog management, and Autoresponder management) I'm in my 40's so it interesting to the evolution of my life "dream job".

A photo posted by Beth Duggan (@saraassistsyou) on

Do you find it easy to be “social” on social media?

I am a shy introvert so being social is work for me. I find being online is easier but transferring my personality onto the screen can be tricky. I find that I either appear robotic or over excited which seems fake.

Posting these type of open-ended questions helps me get to know my readers, but it also helps them know me. It allows people to see that I’m not a robot, but someone just like them with fears and struggles to overcome.

Another experiment I am doing is scheduling posts to Instagram. I am using Hootsuite which isn’t really scheduling, rather it sends a notification to your phone to post to Instagram. I must have an auto-ignore feature in my brain because it seems that I always miss the notifications.

Do you use an app to schedule your posts? Which do you recommend and why?

Productivity Tip: Use templates or pre-made backgrounds to save time on graphic creation

I made a set of 10 background images for Instagram. They are optimized for the network and all I need to do is add my text and logo. I use PicMonkey (affiliate link) but you can use any editing software or app.

FREE DOWNLOAD: Instagram ready backgrounds. Simply add your text and logo

Another quick tool for making graphics for Instagram is Buffer’s Pablo. Simply select the image type (Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook or Twitter), choose an image for the background, and add a quote. When you are ready you can either download the image to your computer or share directly to Instagram. You can even add a Header and Caption to your image.

See sample below:
samplepablo

Join me on Instagram @SaraAssistsYou where I share quotes, daily rainbows, and outsourcing tips

5 Shortcuts to Social Media Success

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5 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Pave the Way to Social Media Success

Social Media Success Shortcuts on SaraDuggan.Me/Blog

A virtual assistant can help you:

  1. Curate Content for Social Media
  2. Design Graphics for All Platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, Linkedin, and Twitter)
  3. Write statuses based on your content, book, podcast, webinar, etc.
  4. Pre-Schedule social media posts to give you time to - Be Social
  5. Develop a strategy for your blog/business

I’ve been working as a V.A. since August 2015 trying to hone in on what I want to concentrate on. I like many things but not everything I like is needed by the people I serve.

One project I consistently receive job inquiries about is Social Media Management. People are overwhelmed by it and often abhor the amount of time needed to manage their online reputation.

In November of 2015, I did a little survey and asked a number of Facebook Group members what one service they would pay $7.00/month for. The results were unanimous - Social Media Management. More specifically, premade graphics, image quotes, and statuses as well as curated content (SlideDecks were another).

From this survey I created my first $7/month product called “Social Media Fairy Dust”. The name comes from by tagline “Magical To-Do List Annihilator” so sprinkling a little ‘fairy dust’ on your social media helps by offering ideas for statuses, curation, and even a few premade graphics. Below are sample images from my first issue released December 2015:

 

Slide1 Slide2

Inside you’ll find 26 social media graphics ready to post to Google plus, Facebook groups and pages, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter. You’ll also find prewritten content to post on G+, Facebook groups, and Twitter. Ideas for posts are suggested for your Fan Page. Bonus: 29 Pieces of Curated content to share invoking your audience’s emotions, need for information, and entertainment.



More recently I asked the following question and received the same request - Social Media Management.

Q. Let’s assume you have the financial resources to hire a virtual assistant, What would be the first task you’d want to outsource?

A. David Leonhardt (President, THGM Writers)

The first task I would assign would be social media dissemination. Not interaction, but dissemination. This would include monitoring amplifiers like Viral Content Buzz and Just Retweet. This would include ensuring that old blog posts still get shared. This would include monitoring for posts I might want to comment on (but not to actually make the comments for me).

A. Phil Turner (The 5 Currencies Guy)

The first task I would outsource would be social media tasks such as promoting posts by other bloggers in my niche. I find that social media tasks are a massive time-soak and that they take up a large amount of my creative time. Simple social media tasks like these are perfect for a third person to do

Now, let’s review the 5 Shortcuts to Social Media Success.

Shortcut 1: Content Curation

An assistant can search for topical content for you. She can also use resources like JustRetweet and Viral Content Buzz to find content to share.

Read my post 15 Sites to Curate Content

Shortcut 2: Design and Create Graphics for All Networks

It’s frustrating when each network has a specific image size as you have to resize your images for each channel. Hand this over to your assistant. In Social Media Fairy Dust, I created image blanks for each network so clients simply add their photo and text.

Facebook Blanks - Just Add Your Image and Text

Shortcut 3: Write Statuses From Your Content

Your assistant can create Facebook posts and Tweets from your blog content. Adding a tweetable to your blog post with plugins like ClicktoTweet encourages shares.

#VATIP Adding a tweetable to your blog post encourages shares Click To Tweet

Shortcut 4: Schedule Social Media

Although it’s best that you be the source of socializing your assistant can pre-schedule quotes and old blog posts using tools like HootSuite, SocialOomph, BufferApp, or Postplanner.

Shortcut 5: Social Media Strategy

Your assistant can brainstorm a social media strategy for your blog/business. She can create a custom posting schedule and help track your analytics.

Sample Twitter Schedule

Social Media Success is attainable with a little help. You no longer need to dread creating content for your social sites. Enlist the help of an assistant and spend your valuable time socializing with your fans and connections.

YOUR TURN:

Do You Use a Blogger’s Assistant to help with your Social Media? What would be the first task you’d hand over?

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