Tag: engagement

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Unlocking Social Media Success: Content Ideas

social media content

Last week, we delved into the process of creating a social media calendar. This week, we’re taking it a step further by providing you with exciting content ideas to fuel your social media presence. Let’s dive into the world of engaging content that will captivate your audience.

For more insights on how to create an effective social media calendar, be sure to check out our previous blog post, “Manage Social Media With a Calendar.”

The 5 E’s of Content

To bring order to the chaos, let’s begin by organizing our approach. The 5 E’s of Content offer a fantastic framework for small business owners to leverage:

  1. Education: Start by sharing valuable content that educates and informs your audience.
  2. Entertainment: Tap into the power of humor and share amusing memes and content that resonates with your audience.
  3. Engagement: Encourage interaction by using polls, calls to action, and other methods to engage your audience.
  4. Exchange: Collaborate with fellow small business owners to expand your reach and connect with a broader audience.
  5. Emotion: Craft compelling stories that evoke emotions and allow your audience to connect with you on a personal level.

Getting Started

Need some inspiration to kickstart your content creation? Here are some ideas to get your creative juices flowing:

  • Transformations: Showcase before-and-after photos of crafts or projects that highlight your brand’s unique offerings.
  • Pick-me-up: Share what inspires you to keep going and spread positivity among your followers.
  • Advice: Offer relevant tips and insights that can also be used as part of a simple campaign to engage your audience.
  • Call to action: Include a sale code or special offer in your social media posts and track its success to evaluate its effectiveness.
  • Quotes: Share impactful quotes that have made you pause and reflect, inspiring your audience in the process.
  • Share influencer content: Curate content from influencers who align with your brand’s values and aesthetics.
  • Support a cause: Advocate for a cause you believe in and encourage your followers to contribute as well.
  • Run a contest: Engage your audience with contests that may not always result in immediate sales but can help grow your follower base.
  • Host an AMA (ask me anything): Conduct Q&A sessions to share your expertise and provide insights into your industry.
  • Social media takeover: Collaborate with influential individuals or brands for exposure and cross-promotion.
  • Create short-form video clips: Experiment with engaging video formats like glitter video filters to showcase your products.
  • Share a milestone: Celebrate your achievements and share your success stories when you hit significant milestones.

We hope these content ideas energize your social media strategy and engage your audience. Happy content creation!

Inspiration for this post comes from “Take the Guesswork out of Social Media Planning” by Tracy Walker published in the April 2023 issue of Creative Retailer.

If you found this blog post helpful in managing your retail business, we invite you to subscribe to Creative Retailer for more valuable information and guidance. Already a subscriber? Join our Facebook group, where industry specialists like yourself share insights and engage in meaningful dialogue. Additionally, if you prefer a specific topic or want to explore our previous articles, you can always purchase single issues of Creative Retailer to access the content that interests you most.

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How to Host an Online Workshop

virtual workshop

Work from home pivoted how work is done. One benefit is that meetings can now be done virtually. And this applies to events and workshops too! Read on for details on how to host a virtual workshop.

Before the Workshop

So you have a topic in mind, the time blocked off, and the research completed. Now it’s time to create a registration page. Luckily you can customize the workshop page in Zoom to match your branding.

In the registration description you can include event details, instructions on what attendees need to prepare, or even prompt them with questions to think about and ask during the event.

Next you’ll want to configure Zoom to your preferences. This means including a waiting room, polls, breakout rooms, and more.

Last but not least, be sure to promote the event via your social media channels.

Holding the Workshop

Now it’s time to hold your workshop. To start, provide instructions to attendees about what to do in case their connection drops. It also helps if you have a co-host to allow attendees in who may be running late.

To drive engagement throughout your session, include interactive elements. The best way to do this is to include polls throughout your session. Of course, something as simple as a gif or providing a 5 minute break works as well.

At the end of the workshop, send a feedback form so each event can get better than the last. Of course you can do some of this too by asking yourself what did you do well, what can you do better, what questions you couldn’t answer, etc.

And to follow up, a simple thank you email is sufficient, including any material attendees requested.

If you’re looking for more information to guide you in owning a retail business, subscribe to American Quilt Retailer today. Already a subscriber? No worries—join our Facebook group for insights and dialogue from industry specialists like you. And don’t forget, you can always purchase single issues if you prefer that instead.

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Video Statistics Update

Video stats

Curious to how video trends have changed in the past year? Check out these statistics to aid in your content management plan.

General stats

In 2020, 60 percent of videos were user generated or recorded, a 135% jump from 2019. And yes, a big reason for this was due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Three-fourths of smaller businesses (as defined as 200 employees or less) make their own videos. This compares to companies with over 600 employees, of which less than half of their videos are user-generated. And if you think more companies tried their hand at video this past year, you would be correct in that assumption.

Length of video

If you’re wondering how long your videos should be, check out some of these statistics:

  • 45% of people watch videos all the way through, down from 52% in 2019.
  • The average length of videos in this report was 6 minutes.
  • If the video is 60 seconds or less, 58% of people will watch all the way through.
  • If your video is over 20 minutes, only 24% will watch until completion.

What else to know

If you’re wondering what type of videos businesses posted, the most common were how-tos, product demos, explainers, and webinars. The highest room for growth on video topics include how-tos, but especially one-to-one videos.

And obviously, companies who tracked analytics and catered their content based off their audience saw the highest video engagement.

Want to learn more? Check out Vidyard’s 2021 Video in Business Benchmark Report where you can learn about the above content and dig into it more.

If you’re looking for more information to guide you in owning a retail business, subscribe to American Quilt Retailer today. Already a subscriber? No worries—join our Facebook group for insights and dialogue from industry specialists like you.

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Tips for Going Live on Facebook

Facebook live

If you’re like most of the world, you’ve received notifications from Facebook alerting you that one of your friends or the pages you follow are going live. Jump in on the action with these tips.

Promoting your Facebook live

Video is becoming more popular, and live videos get 3 times more interaction than other videos on social media. Promote your Facebook live event before it takes place, and post about it across all social media channels.

When you chose a date and time for your event keep in mind what works best for your followers. Looking at previous engagement data should help you make this decision.

Try a test run

Test run your Facebook live event before the scheduled date and time so you can avoid formatting problems. Try to get this right as watchers will stay on the video three times as long as they would other videos (nobody wants watchers to leave for silly reasons, such as shaky video).

Some things to consider include: lighting, production quality (will you be shooting in your store? Or in front of a blank wall to minimize distractions?), and whether or not you should shoot vertically or horizontally (vertical shooting can sometimes make you look too close to the camera).

Interact with your followers

Remember, Facebook live is to engage with your audience. This means you should be adding context constantly throughout your video so any new followers who jump on know what you’re speaking about.

Interact with followers by addressing their comments as they appear. This will make your stream feel like a two-way conversation, which may explain why live videos drive ten times the amount of comments compared to other videos.

Wrapping up the event

After the event is over, check your data. How are the results compared to other posts? Take the time to respond to any comments you may have missed, and encourage people to continue to comment if they’re catching the video after the event is over.

Interested in learning more? Use this checklist to help you get started with your first Facebook live.

If you’re looking for more information to guide you in owning a retail business, subscribe to American Quilt Retailer today. Already a subscriber? No worries—join our Facebook group for insights and dialogue from industry specialists like you.