Business Growth Time

In this video/podcast, we walk through 10 ways to use images.  Here are the 10 ways that we cover.

1. Post a picture of your open sign and caption it with your hours
2. Create a guessing game using teaser images
3. Showcase a product with multiple color selections and let your customers indicate the best choice
4. Entertainers, post still images of an upcoming video shoot
5. Use a split panel image and ask what option is their favorite
6. Post a series of sneak peak photos that show part of a new product
7. Display your mission statement over a staff/location photo
8. Post a photo about a local event that you attended
9. Post a photo of your team hard at work
10. Post a photo and invite users to share their best idea for a caption. (Not included) - 

Melanie Perkins is CEO and co-founder of Canva, an online platform that makes graphic design amazingly simple for everyone. Since launching six months ago, more than 1 million designs have been created using Canva by 320,000 users.

Previously, at 19, Melanie founded her first company, Fusion Books, an online design system for schools to create their yearbooks. Fusion Books is now the largest yearbook publisher in Australia and recently expanded to France and New Zealand.

We start the interview discussing their new big announcement that Guy Kawasaki became part of their team!  They actually met through a tweet, so it shows the power of social media.  Click here for full details on this announcement.

Some of the other areas we cover in this interview:

• Why Canva was created?
• The use of Canva for Designers
• Affordable stock images
• New Pinterest Layouts in Canva
• Walk-through of the 23-second guide - Video Demo
• Branding your business through images - consistency
• Canva's Design Tutorials
• Pinterest layouts walk-through
• Her advice: Just dive in and try it!
• The copy method

To sum it up, Canva saves people time, money, energy!

David Foster came from a construction background, but realized his body would fall apart.  He started with building websites.  He even created custom pages on MySpace. He launched Fan Page Engine and with the industry of the Facebook apps, he moved over to Google+ and is now working with GeekBeat.tv!

Here are some nuggets from the interview with David Foster.

Tool that posts from Google+

Tool to post from Google+ to Facebook, Twitter and/or Linkedin is Friends+Me.  With Friends+Me you can control where the post is pushed to with a #hashtag.

As a local business using Google+ links to Google Places.  This can be a main place for potential customers to find you.

Specifics to do on your Google+ Page:

• Submit photos and tag themselves
• Visual Branding and Posts
• Fill out your profile information fully
• Fill out your hours
• Get reviews

How did he get circled by over 5,000 people in a very short amount of time?

• Respond to every comment
• Search for hashtags in his area where he wants to find conversation
• Picky about who he adds

Who is Google+ for?

Any business who focuses their efforts there.  If you focus there, you will see success.  Commit to one and follow through. Set a schedule and stay consistent.  It takes time to build it.  But if you stay consistent, it will grow.

Why is Google+ scary?  So many facets, but it really is basic if you break it down and shut off some of the noise.

• Circles
• Hangouts
• Events
• Communities

David is teaching people how to make Google+ a better experience with all the above.  Circles makes it so organized.

He is now with GeekBeat.tv.  How did he find this gig?  Google+, of course!  Be sure to circle David on Google+.

Content Calendar Strategies with Pamela Muldoon

What is a content calendar?  Why do one?  Is it really necessary?  What tools can help with the content creation?  All these questions and more are answered in this podcast with Pamela Muldoon.

Who is Pamela Muldoon?

Pamela is Principal of Next Stage Media Group, a marketing consultancy firm specializing in content strategy, implementation and measurement. Head here to learn more about Pam and Next Stage Media Group.

Pam discusses how to set up a content (or editorial) calendar strategy for all your online marketing.

We discuss the below list of tools that will streamline your efforts:

• feedly
• buffer
• pocket
• Linkedin Pulse

We also talk about specific strategies:

• Setting a Timer
• Breaking down the overall year into quarterly chunks
• Breaking down your calendar into monthly segments based on your quarters
• Prescheduling Posts

 Want more content ideas?  Download the Ultimate Guide to Social Media Content Creation.