We’re planning something fun for the next Second Saturday Art Walk!
On March 11th, from 5pm – 9pm, stop by Hashtag Creative for the premiere of a fabulous art show featuring artist Andrea Pawlisz and photographer Laurie Ross.
Uncommon Legal will help us throw the party. Making the dream work here in the Warehouse Arts District!
It’s a #NewYear! Let’s kick if off right!
Hashtag Creative and Uncommon Legal are teaming up for a fun little workshop exclusively for our fellow Keep St. Pete Local and Warehouse Arts District members.Read More
We interview CEO of Pair O’Dice Brewing, Julia Rosenthal this episode and film at, you guessed it, Pair O’Dice Brewing!
Making a Facebook Event for your birthday party is one thing. Making a Facebook Event to draw customers into your business… is another. With how much people rely on the social network for the goings-on in their community, it’s crucial to give as many strangers FoMO (the fear of missing out) as possible. Events vary just like businesses do, but here are some basic guidelines for a successful Facebook Event. Read More
On our latest episode of Interbrews™ we, talk with Shawn Hannan of Tampa Bay Furnishings at 3 Daughters Brewing.
Enjoy our new “interviews over beer” series… aka Interbrews™.
This episode we’re talking with Uncommon Legal founder Jamie Maracario at St. Pete Brewing Co.
We talk about business, legal stuff, and beer. Educational AND fun!
Enjoy our new “interviews over beer” series… aka Interbrews™.
This episode we’re talking with Organic Beard Supply founder Tyler Goelz at Green Bench Brewing Co.
We talk about business, beards, and beer. How fun is that?
Marketing has changed. Today’s consumers are online most of their day. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN, SnapChat, Instagram, Pinterest – are all in the palm of your hand. Literally, on your smart phone.
These social media channels are indeed that – social. Your customers want to get to know you, get to trust you and feel they have a relationship (although in an online way) with you before they are willing to spend money with you. 
Many service based professionals like injury attorneys or plumbers are pros you don’t really need until you REALLY need them.
If you’ve already established a relationship with potential customers BEFORE they need you, their journey down your sales funnel just got a lot easier for you both. After people get in a car accident is not the time to start building a relationship and getting them to hire you if you are an attorney – they’ll just do a blind search for the lowest cost. But if you’ve been working that relationship for months, they won’t hesitate to call the professional they feel they know.
Let me explain it in another way, Inbound Marketing is named that because you attract ideal clients TO you (inbound instead of outbound) and they come willingly for non-sales reasons such as:
After this engagement, when it comes time to move from follower to customer they come willingly. After all, you are now someone they feel they know.
Want to learn more? Contact me today and I’ll tell you more about it over coffee.
I’m a night owl. I tend to work more in the late hours when life has quieted down than in the morning when I’m growling and searching for coffee.
It’s late at night that I can pop on my headphones (thank God Dr. Dre made the big ones cool again) and get some writing done. There is a lot of writing in social media work. It’s the life blood – the content in the content driven marketing.
Blog articles can range from “hipster beer reviews” to “behavioral health information”, from “why this sandwich is the best ever” to “reasons you should opt for wood floors over carpet!” A split personality is a plus for such writers. And each blog will eventually need a Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and perhaps an Instagram post crafted to drive traffic to it. And of course, each social media channel should be written differently (see prior post about my pet peeve here). So music can be a nice way to quiet all the unhelpful voices in your head.
Now this blog is much less serious. I’m going to talk about music. That GO-TO music that we all grab in our Spotify feeds when we need to relax, calm down and kick the work out. I’m sure my younger co-workers will groan at my choices but we all have our own comfort zone. There is no right or wrong answer, that’s the cool thing about music.
So at the risk of much eye rolling and teasing tomorrow, I’m going to share with you my feed tonight and you’ll quickly see the mood I’m in:
Leather and Lace – Stevie Nicks and Don Henley (this one is a sure fire choice to lower my blood pressure immediately – never fails)
Staying Alive – Bee Gees (listening to this right now) Don’t scoff, everyone had this album.
September – Earth Wind and Fire
My Sharona – The Knack
Do It Again – Steely Dan
Hot Stuff – Donna Summer
Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough – Michael Jackson
Mr. Blue Sky – Electric Light Orchestra
Brass in Pocket – Pretenders
Gypsy – Fleetwood Mac
Bloody Well Right – Supertramp
You Oughta Know – Alanis Morissette
Brick House – Commodores
Crazy on You – Heart
Edge of Seventeen – Stevie Nicks
Don’t Stop Me Now – Queen
Ok, let me hear it. What’s on YOUR work playlist tonight?
You’ve heard me talk about the use of hashtags and links on Facebook before, however why is it when we have hard stats and facts on results do we still see people, and paid professionals (and they are NOT cheap), continue to use tactics that we know hurt our marketing efforts?
My only conclusion is good ol’ fashioned peer pressure. When we see competitors or big agencies using bad tactics, we think “oh, well they must know what they are doing.” Not so. They are just following the crowd. Following them chasing popularity over profitability.
Let’s review again the facts.
Use all the made up, crazy hashtags you want on Instagram. They don’t hurt you. Use a ton if you feel the need. Now whether they help you or not is another question. Are people going to like what they see when they click on them? Is anyone following them? Are they used in your local area? #shoplocal #craftbeer #cityname #popularnetworkinggroup #bizneighborhoodgroup #yourpersonalhashtag are good.
Other things like #thisbeerissoawewsome or #doingitdoingit might be fun. But that’s all it is.
Do not repost your Instagram to Facebook. They are unique and need posts written for them. (Twitter too) Hashtags HURT your post. We know this as fact.
The below results from a study by Social Bakers, which examined how Facebook engagement correlates hashtag use.
Posts with 1 or 2 hashtags averaged 593 interactions
Posts with 3 to 5 hashtags averaged 416 interactions
Posts with 6 to 10 hashtags averaged 307 interactions
Posts with more than 10 hashtags averaged 188 interactions
SEE WHAT’S HAPPENING? YOU ARE LOSING PEOPLE.
If you don’t have a LINK back to your website at the bottom of your Facebook post, you are simply entertaining your Facebook followers and doing nothing to turn them into paying customers or attracting new paying customers. Your goal is to guide people down a sales funnel. This is business, not personal. Repeat – this is business, not personal.
The Education Curve is steep in social media and inbound marketing. It went from something we did for fun to the big boy in profitable marketing in a very short time. Most business owners do not know how it all works or what “great results” are. Unfortunately, a lot of agencies don’t know either and are selling a whole lot of nothing for a very high price!
Sadly, I see people continue to do this for their business even with this knowledge. Posting a pretty photo and 14 hashtags will not get you customers. So what do you want? Popularity or Profitability?