Month: June 2015

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5 Bad Social Media Habits Your Business Needs to Break

/ Matthew House / Leave a comment

5 bad social media habits for business

When it comes to maintaining a presence on social media, businesses have very little wiggle room. If you aren’t running your social media profiles with a solid level of efficiency, you run the risk of losing your audience and making your business look incompetent. If you can’t run your social media profiles correctly, how can you be trusted to proficiently deliver the services that you provide?

While your social media presence likely has no bearing on your ability to run a business, your potential customers might see otherwise. What you do on social media is, after all, the online representation of what your business is, and looking professional – at least in terms of execution – is of the utmost importance. Here is a list of 5 bad social media habits that your business needs to break to ensure you maintain a positive online presence!

Auto Posting the Exact Same Content to All of Your Social Channels:

Auto posting is an integral element of social media marketing for many businesses simply because it saves a lot of time. However, it’s extremely important to avoid posting the exact same thing on each social media profile. Not all social media sites are created equal, so the content you share on Twitter should be formatted and worded differently from the way you share it on Facebook and/or Google+. Each social media site has a specific way that posts should be formatted, especially on Google+, so take a few extra minutes to tailor your content correctly to each site.

Not Double Checking Grammar and Spelling As Well As Not Making Sure What You’re Saying Actually Makes Sense:

It’s easy to make a mistake, so be sure to go back and double check all of your social media posts before they go out to the world. Bad grammar and spelling can make you look unprofessional, so take the time to go over everything a second and even third time. Also, make sure that what you are saying actually makes sense. Pay close attention to sentence structure, and try not to over explain things.

Inconsistent or Infrequent Posting:

If you aren’t consistent, your audience will forget about you and find great content somewhere else, which could result in them taking their business somewhere else as well. Stay in your customers’ and potential customers’ minds by posting great content on a regular basis. If you aren’t using one, create a social media calendar and plan out when you want to send out your content. Then, use an automated service such as Hootsuite to set your content up to go out at the opportune times.

Alienating People With Your Personal Opinions or Beliefs:

“Could I be offending anyone?” If the thought even crosses your mind that what you are about to post may be seen as offensive, DO NOT POST IT! A social media business page is not the place to share your beliefs or politics, it’s a place to share your products and services. It’s not worth alienating people for the sake of expressing an opinion. Unless maybe you don’t care, in which case you will have to come to terms with the fact that your business’s growth may suffer for it.

Abusing and Misusing of Hashtags:

#Hashtags, #Hashtags, #HASHTAGS! We all LOVE to use hashtags. Unfortunately, there are many businesses (and people in general) who overuse and/or completely misuse them. First of all, hashtags should always be relevant to the content you are sharing. Don’t try to ride the coattails of a trending hashtag to generate some cheap clicks. Doing so would be completely misdirecting your audience. Also, be aware of how many are too many. This scientific guide to hashtags really covers all you need to know about how many you should be using, if any, on each social media profile.

In the end, you put a lot of work into your business, and for all the work you have put into it, you deserve nothing more than to have a social media presence that truly represents your company for what it is. If you have any questions or need any further guidance with your social media marketing, please do not hesitate to leave a comment or contact me via phone or email.

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Best Ways to Find Safe Free Images to Use for Blog Posts and Websites

/ Matthew House / Leave a comment

Best Ways to Find Safe Free Images to Use for Blog Posts and Websites

Very recently, a client of mine was sent a letter claiming that my client was using an image protected by copyright on their website, and that they (my client) had the option to either provide a valid license number to prove they had authorization to use the image or remove the image from their site and pay $528 (a 20% discount!).

Naturally, the owner sent myself and a few of his employees an email asking if this was a scam or a legitimate claim. He was also curious as to how this could’ve happened. With my experience providing blog posts to various companies, I am aware of how copyright works when it comes to images, so I told him that a copyright insignia isn’t necessary for images on the web as well as gave him a brief explanation about fair use, stock photos and public domain.

This led to a number of emails back and forth answering questions, and in the end, it all came down to one thing:

Where can I find free images for my website/blog that won’t result in another copyright infringement?

Naturally, there are a number of websites that feature free images and stock photos that can be used for commercial use on blogs and websites. A few examples are as follows:

Flicker is another great option, but be sure you use advanced search with these options checked:

  • Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content
  • Find content to use commercially
  • Find content to modify, adapt, or build upon

There are an endless number of sites where you can find free photos, but this should be a great start for you. Of course, sometimes it takes a little work sifting through these types of sites to find the images you want, but it’s worth it to prevent a copyright claim.

Another option for finding free images that are safe to use is simply to take and create your own.

Nowadays, you don’t need a fancy dancy camera to take a great picture. In fact, if you have a relatively newer smartphone, the camera is likely more than good enough to take some really nice pictures. Now, the prospect of playing photog may sound a bit daunting, but in this day and age taking great photos is infinitely easier, especially because there are so many ways to make your photos look great after you’ve taken them.

Here are a few options:

  • Instagram: Photo sharing sites like Instagram are a fun and simple way of editing your photos and adding a cool filter. It’s also a great social media tool.
  • Your Phone: Many newer smartphones have an in-phone photo editor that allows you to crop, adjust, tilt, and add filters to images. Some even feature the ability to manually adjust the light and color of your images. I personally have an iPhone 6, and let me tell you, the camera and photo editor are really impressive.
  • Pixlr: Pixlr is one of the very best photo editing sites out there. The best part? It’s absolutely free to use. It might take a little time to learn how to use the editor, but Pixlr offers a slew of tutorials and helpful tips if you find yourself struggling with any elements of the editor.

Sure, the easiest way to find a great image is to use Google, but that’s exactly the reason why my client had to pay a fine of over $500. If you are looking for free images and photos for your website and blog posts, then using the methods mentioned above are infinitely safer options.

Have any tips of your own? Please feel free to share them below!

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First Blog Post AND… GO!

/ Matthew House / Leave a comment

Blog post matthew house copywriter

At this point, I’ve probably written a few thousand blog posts and articles for over a dozen different websites, yet this is my first blog post as me, a professional copywriter and social media expert.

It certainly has a different feel, as the content I am creating at this very moment has nothing to do with helping another business grow or me waxing poetic about a film I love (or hate). In fact, the content I am here to share is what I, myself, bring to your table in terms of copywriting and social media.

And what exactly is that, you ask? Well, quite simply, I help businesses grow their internet presence through social media and copywriting, which in turn helps them grow their business. Of course, a growing business is one that is going to see bigger profits, and bigger profits is the ultimate end goal, now isn’t it? Well, the short answer would be yes. The slightly longer answer, however, is to also help you develop a brand with a voice; a voice that existing and potential customers will hear; a voice they will actually want to listen to.

As easy as I might be making this all sound, it really isn’t. In fact, it takes an incredible amount of hard work and time to do what I do. It also takes a lot of thought and care, but it’s the thought and care that drive me to do what I do.

Whether it be time, fear or simply a lack of knowing where to start, taking up the reigns of the internet is not something every business is ready to do. This is where I can help. I can act as your guide and provide training to get you and your business started on the right path to success. I can also be the one going full-steam ahead by providing the social media and copywriting services that best fit your business, your needs and your budget.

In closing, it has been a pleasure to meet you, and if you have any questions whatsoever, please feel free to leave a comment or contact me via phone or email. All of my info is just down below at the bottom of this page.

Now, what to do for my next blog post….