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Are you a pinner? Pinning content on Instagram

Do you pin? You might pin on Facebook, but did you know that you can also pin on Instagram too?

Are you a pinner? Pinning content on Instagram


What’s a pin? This Instagram functionality means that content creators like you can pin three posts of their choice to the top of their Instagram grid.

Why is this a good thing? Is it useful? Is it the best thing since sliced bread? Or maybe not?! I’m on the fence at the time of recording, so I chat through the pros and cons of pinning on Instagram. What do you think?

Why is pinning on Instagram a good idea?

As I see it, pinning content to the top of your Instagram feed can be a good idea if there are really poignant posts that you’ve shared that you don’t want to get ‘lost’ as you add more content. Maybe it shows something you’ve achieved that you’re really proud of? Or explains why you do what you? From a business point of view maybe it’s your origin story or another form of content that helps to sell your business and ethos? Across the three pinned posts, you could share quite a lot. I’ve seen people pin all manner of content to the top of their feeds, but what’s common about everything I’ve seen is that it’s obviously really important to the creator.

Why is pinning on Instagram a bad idea?

I wouldn’t necessarily say pinning is ever a bad idea, but the main reason I think it’s something to properly consider is that this pinned content could become out of date quickly (if not regularly updated). It could also give people a false impression about how often you update social media if they head to these pinned posts rather than your most recent content.

Whether or not you decide to pin is, obviously, completely up to you. And luckily you can try and test different ideas to see what works the best for you. I’d love to know how you get on and what you decide to do! Let me know over on my @rheafreemanpr Instagram.

P.S- if you’re a business and you’re looking to do more with your Instagram and used paid for tools, do check out my #SheMeansBusiness podcast all about Instagram promotions in five steps. It’s a good one!

 

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Instagram Promotions in 5 Steps #SheMeansBusiness

Instagram Promotions in 5 Steps #SheMeansBusiness

Instagram Promotions in 5 Steps #SheMeansBusiness


Do you want to know more about how to create Instagram Promotions with ease? Well, this podcast is for you! Instagram is a great way to build a brand, create a community and grow your business. The organic side is a big part of this, but when you want to get your product or service out to people beyond your fans and followers, promotions are the way to go. And this podcast is all about how to create Instagram Promotions is 5 Steps.

Ohhh- this is a bit different, but I am excited to share this with you! Today, I’m talking you through how to create an Instagram promotion in five easy steps- and the training is provided by me (obviously!) but using one of the amazing #SheMeansBusiness trainings that are provided by Facebook themselves. As a #SheMeansBusiness accredited trainer, I provide lots of training through my groups, workshops, and Enterprise Nation, and this one translates well to podcast.

On this podcast, I’m going to share, step-by-step, how to promote a post on Instagram. This can be great for high performing posts that you want to reach more people, with a call to action that you want (so you might want people to visit your website or message you, for example), at a budget and duration to suit you.

For more information on #SheMeansBusiness, see https://www.enterprisenation.com/campaigns/she-means-business/

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6* features you might not know that Instagram has…

features you might not know instagram has

We all know social media gets a lot of stick around trolling and negativity, but did you know that some platforms have various controls to help you take the power back?

6* features you might not know that Instagram has…

 

On this episode of the podcast I share some of the features inside Instagram’s settings to help you have more control over your negative interactions with people on Instagram.

We all know that not everyone who uses social media is a ‘nice’ person- and we know that trolling, threatening behaviour and general negativity absolutely exist. Whilst we might not be able to prevent anything negative ever coming our way, there’s a lot available, inside the app, inside Settings, that you can use to help stop a lot of it ever entering your DMs or clogging up your comments.

* It could well be more than six… I lost count!

Small & Supercharged Mastermind

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Personal, Creator or Business? Which Instagram account should I have?

business, creator or personal instagram account

These are the three types of Instagram account available on the platform, and each one is different to the other (and some are more different than others!). In this podcast, I talk through the main differences that you might want to consider when trying to decide which one you need, (hopefully) provide enough information for you to be happy with your decision… and also remind you that you can switch between the different accounts as needed.

Which one do you have? Personal, Creator or Business?

 

It can feel like a big decision when it comes to which type of account to pick, I know that, but hopefully this podcast will make it a little less overwhelming. Let’s quickly whizz through…

Personal Instagram Accounts

  • Perfect for if you want to just share your life on Instagram
  • They can be set to Private or Public, so if you want to share content just with pre-approved people like your friends and family, Personal might be good for you.

Business Instagram Accounts

  • The insights are great and allow you to quickly assess what’s working and what isn’t.
  • You get swipe up when you get to 10k
  • You can advertise if you have a Business Account. You can either set your ads up in Facebook or you can press promote and simply ‘boost’ the post inside the platform.
  • Additional contact options.

Creator Instagram Accounts

  • The most recent addition to the Instagram Account family
  • It has to be public.
  • You get Insights.
  • Created for people who are an influencers or who are they business.
  • There’s additional functionality that makes it easier for people to reach places away from Instagram from your account.

It’s really easy to change the type of account you have, and you can change more than once – so don’t think that the decision you make is one that you have to stick with until the end of time. Far from it. As your account grows and changes and evolves, you can change the type of account you have to allow you to enjoy additional functionality that will make your goals and objectives a lot easier to track.

Have you ever considered what type of account you have a why? Come on over to Instagram and let me know.

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Step by step Instagram Stories – follow along and start posting!

step by step instagram stories

Do you want to start using Instagram Stories more but you’re worried about the features? You don’t want to make a mistake? And what will people think?! Well I’m here to (hopefully) help – and we’re starting at the very start. How to use Instagram Stories. And a step by step guide to Instagram Stories at that. We chat about all the functions, features, stickers and lots more too… so here you go…

Step by step Instagram Stories – follow along and start posting!

 

In this podcast, I talk you through how to post to Instagram Stories- literally step by step, to (hopefully) give you the confidence to give it a spin. I talk through the different functions and effects, stickers, all the things, and why you should be embracing all of this.

There are so many good things about Instagram Stories – SO MANY. I find that they’re such a great way to show behind the scenes, to share your day, and to engage with people in a much deeper way. I really love them. And I’d like you to too. Or maybe just to like them? Yeah, let’s aim at like.

In the podcast I mentioned a freebie all about five ways to use Instagram Stories in case you need a little help – and this is where you’ll find the download. And I also talked about hiding hashtags in your Instagram Stories – well, the blog I’d written about that – and here’s the link to that.

See you on Instagram!

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Why the Facebook and Instagram crash was a good thing…

why the facebook and instagram crash was a good thing

I know, I know, anyone who does anything with social media’s jaw has just dropped reading that title. But stick with me. I genuinely believe that the Facebook and Instagram crash was a good thing. Not at the time because, let’s be honest, when your content won’t load or refresh you have a minor panic/shake the phone/check the wifi/text people/go to Twitter. But now it’s all over, it really was. And that’s exactly what I’m talking about.

 

Why the Facebook and Instagram crash was a good thing…

If, like me, you use social media to market your business BUT you have some ‘owned’ real estate on the internet too, the crash was a bit stressful. If you have your business on Facebook or Instagram and nowhere else… I can’t even imagine the stress the crash will have caused you. Everything you’ve worked for – gone. Just like that. And nothing you could do about it.

Of course, Facebook and Instagram did come back and although it feels highly highly unlikely that both will vanish tomorrow, if they did, there would be nothing you could do about it. But what IS more likely is that something will change inside the platform (because, well, it happens all the time) and that change could make content less visible and reduce reach, thus reducing the number of potential clients who see it. If all your eggs are firmly in this basket, the crash should have, hopefully, highlighted that you need to spread them out a bit.

But there are things you can do; ways to help spread the risk and allow you to feel confident in that you have more than one way to reach who you need to. I’m talking about websites, mailing lists, real connections and lots more.

And before you think ‘what? She’s changed her tune, she’s a social media junkie’, don’t misunderstand what I’m saying here. Social media is incredible. I love it. The opportunities it provides for us are like nothing else seen to date and worlds away from how it was when I started in marketing and PR. But the line between owned and not seems to get blurred online, so it’s not uncommon for people online to exist as a business purely on Facebook. And that is what I think the crash, hopefully, shone a spotlight on as a poor business plan.

As always, I hope you enjoy this one – and I hope you pick up some ideas to firm up your online business.

Subscribe to the Small & Supercharged podcast on iTunes

 

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Let’s talk about hiding likes on Instagram

Contact Rhea Freeman - equestrian pr and marketing and business coachHave you heard all this talk about hiding likes on Instagram? There’s a lot of talk online at the moment about Instagram hiding likes on posts. How do you feel about this? Are you infuriated? Are you secretly pleased? Are you a bit confused?! Well, in this Small & Supercharged Podcast episode, I chat about my views on hiding likes on Instagram. And as I say on the podcast, this is just my own view based on what I’ve read and learnt… and obviously added my own spin on it too.

Let’s talk about hiding likes on Instagram…


I decided to record this podcast as a result of the Instagram TV video I did all about it. I did it because I HATE all this social media scaremongering. Whenever any social media platform releases an update it drives me MAD when I see so many people whining and moaning about it. Actually, what I hate even more is when people use these updates to scare people into things. And that’s why I decided to record the podcast.

In this episode, I talk all about hiding likes on Instagram. I discuss why likes shouldn’t be the only measurable on Instagram and how REAL engagement in terms of comments (that are relevant) and DMs are much more valuable. And I also talk about how Instagram removing the likes count (potentially, if they decide to, obviously!) could have big and positive impacts on people’s engagement, content, and their feeling of self worth when this is linked to popularity on the social media platforms we use each day?

So hiding likes is all good?

Now, of course, these changes don’t come without their downsides. Or not downsides as such, more adjustments. If people appreciate that the number of likes is only seen by them and no one else, the chances are that people will be looking at how to foster more visible engagement, such as comments.

There are, potentially, a lot more positives than negatives about hiding likes on Instagram. Real, genuine community is definitely one. Please don’t fear these changes. If and when Instagram decide to roll this out, there is nothing you can do about it. All you can do is look at what the people behind the platform are trying to achieve, think about why, adapt, go with it, and crack on. Or you can leave the platform.

Is there anything else?

In this episode, I also have a little chat about why, when social media platforms make these changes, it should remind us all of the importance of our own website hubs. I am a HUGE fan of social media (well, obviously, I talk about it a lot and do a lot of work on it!), but I also know why it’s so so important to have your own owned space on the internet too. Because that should be yours. It won’t just change overnight (well, it really shouldn’t!), you can customise it however you like, the features won’t change without your say so… and if you have a newsletter set up on your website or connected to your site too, you can reach out to those people whenever you like without having to worry about the algorithm or the visibility your content is receiving.

So, there you go, my take on hiding likes on Instagram – why it’s not something to fear – how you can embrace these changes… and how it might encourage better, genuine connections…

Five steps to great social media graphics

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