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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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Why you need Canva in your world for your social media graphics

canva for social media graphics

Let’s talk about Canva – can we? If you’ve ever had any coaching with me or asked a question about graphics on social media, you will have heard me talk about Canva.

This episode even includes a freebie I’ve made, just for you! It’s called ‘Five steps to great social media graphics’ and it’s on my freebies page alongside the Instagram Stories freebie.

Before I go any further – I just want to be clear that this is something I have made on my own and it’s not in any way endorsed or sponsored by Canva. I’m sharing this free software and some ideas of how to use it because, to me, it’s been a game changer. And I get lots of comments from people who I recommend Canva to saying what a game changer it is. And it really is.

Why you need Canva for your social media graphics…

If you’re looking to create graphics such as quote graphics, top tips, testimonials or anything like that, Canva is going to become your new best friend. In this episode of the Small & Supercharged Podcast, all about why you need Canva in your life, you will hear…

  • Why I use Canva and a quick tour of some of the different sizes available and when you might use them. I talk about a few of the common ones I use and how I use them.
  • How you can use Canva’s own templates for your social media graphic design, but how you can also design your own.
  • How you can learn more about Canva through the free resources on their website.
  • Why I don’t tend to use Canva’s templates- but how it’s really easy to create your own templates, either through choosing their sizes of artwork or setting one with your custom dimensions.
  • How I created my TEDx talk slides on Canva (I imported the slides into Powerpoint) because I wanted more control over the artwork, colours and fonts.
  • Why Canva allows you to really stay on brand – you can even pick the exact hex colour to match to yours.
  • We chat through headings, sub headings and text, and how you can then select fonts, sizes and colours.
  • Why I add boxes behind the text to make the words really pop out… and what might have happened when the elements disappear (and how to get them back).
  • How you can use your own images as the background, how Canva has a pretty extensive free library of images, and how you can use their ‘frames’ option to organise your images, display them in a frame, or a mix of the two.
  • Why you might want to add your logo to the downloads file, why getting a logo with a transparent background is a good idea, and that that’s called a png.
  • How to decide what kind of file to download as from Canva. This will depend on whether or not you’re printing the design or using it on social media.
  • Why I use Canva AND work with graphic designers. I am a huge advocate of using graphic designers for big jobs and for the ground work when the brand identity is formed. When you have your brand assets, with things like colours, fonts, etc organised, you can create quick graphics inside Canva using these guidelines. It might also be worth telling your graphic designer you plan to do this – they might be able to even create templates for you.
  • Don’t forget to download the freebie called ‘Five steps to great social media graphics’ – there are some examples of what I do inside the freebie too. As I’ve mentioned a few times, I am no graphic designer – neither do I pretend to be – but I wanted to share how I use it and how you might too.

If you have a go at Canva as a result of this podcast of the freebie, I’d love you to tag me – I’m @rheafreemanpr on Instagram and /rheafreeman on Facebook!

five steps to great social media graphics
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5 Instagram post ideas…

5 instagram post ideas

Instagram – you know how much I love this little app, but I realised that I don’t talk about the main grid all that much. Those little squares that reveal snippets of our lives that we then share with the world. I usually talk about Instagram Stories, but I thought I’d change in up a bit and give you five Instagram post ideas today – for when your inspiration is lacking a little. These Instagram post ideas will work for all businesses, whether you have an equine business, a country business, or whether you have a business completely unrelated. They’re broad in theme but should help you come up with some great posts…

Instagram post ideas – five to get you started

  1. Introduce yourself. Making sure your followers know who the person behind the account really is can be a great way to increase engagement and, also, creates real connection with your followers. The great thing about Instagram is that your account will continue to grow and change, and this means that your audience will too. You can introduce yourself at regular intervals. Maybe when you’ve had a steep increase in followers or on special occasions. A simple ‘I wanted to say hello to all my lovely new followers, so here’s a little bit about me…’ will do (spoiler alert- next week’s Thursday post will be a little challenge all around this subject…)
  2. Where are you working today? Whether you’re an influencer or a business, sharing your world with your followers is important. And one way to do this is showing the behind the scenes of your day to day life… and one of these could be where you’re working today.
  3. Share a quote you love. Quotes are, usually, pretty popular on Instagram. If you follow me over there, you may have noticed I use them quite a lot. I create quotes on a couple of different apps and use a mixture of my own quotes, famous quotes, and podcast quotes too.
  4. Awareness days. There are SO many awareness days, I can’t even tell you! If you have a Google or buy a media diary, you’ll be able to find them. These can help you connect to a popular theme or # and just give you a few more ideas. Things like Wear A Hat Day are a real thing… and there’s a load more of these days ranging from the really random to the oh so serious.
  5. Testimonials. If you listened to episode 28 of the Small & Supercharged podcast, you will have heard me rave about the power of testimonials – and one place to use these is on your social media. You could publish an image of the person who left the testimonial, then add the copy to your caption, you can create a graphic and use bits of the testimonial on that, or maybe you could combine the two in some clever way? Testimonials can be great for your business or blog… but you have to promote them!

So there you have it, five Instagram post ideas that are super easy to implement and should, hopefully, give you some inspiration. If you need additional help, Sophie Callahan has created a full year’s worth of social media prompts that give you ideas for what to post each day of the year. It might be worth a look!

Subscribe to the Small & Supercharged podcast on iTunes

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5 things I loved about #hihoandco

hihoandco group shot
Image by Matt Sweeting Photography

Unless you’ve been in a hole for the last few weeks (and that’s fine, we all need to go to ground occasionally!), you’ll know all about #hihoandco. This event was put on at Blackdown Shepherd Huts in Somerset, by Hiho, on Monday 11th Feb. As you’ll know if you know me at all, I work with Hiho (and have done for a while!), and I was also part of the organising team for the event. Hiho & Co was, quite simple, amazing, and I loved every moment. I lost my voice for three days afterwards but gained huge amounts of amazing memories and good vibes… so I’m fine with that!

I could write a very long blog about the Hiho & Co day, but I thought it would try and find the top five things about the day… it’s taken some thinking about, but here goes…

Five things I loved about Hiho and Co

  1. The venue. Oh my. This was something else. I work with Blackdown Shepherd Huts and was absolutely blown away the first time I visited. The huts are like nothing I have ever seen before and are so beautifully designed. Not only was I amazed by the huts, but the workshop. I have this thing about workshops and warehouses – I kind of love them. I see them as the heart of the business and am always amazed by the degree of organisation in them. The Blackdown workshop was next level with specially designed bit for each thing – like the special sinking floor, for example. More than the beauty of the venue alone – the Blackdown team. Will, who owns Blackdown, along with the rest of the team, allowed us to completely take over their premises for two days… seriously- how many people would let you do that?! They also let us use another hut (the selfie hut) and take over their tearoom. I loved them all before but I love them even more now.
  2. Capture By Lucy. I’ve been a fan of Lucy and her amazing backdrops for quite some time. I think she’s incredibly talented and I love what she creates and the story behind her brand. But in person? She’s absolutely lovely! Not only did she handle the level of madness that follows me around, but she delivered the most amazing talk to the Hiho & Co guests. I’m going to treat myself to a backdrop too – I just need to decide which one!
  3. The brands. We were very, very lucky to have the most amazing support from some incredible brands in the equestrian and country industry, as well as those beyond. Mackenzie & George are heavily involved with Hiho & Co as Melanie (co-founder) is also part of the organising group. We had Fairfax & Favor, Albion Saddlemakers, Joules, Cupsmith, Hullabaloo Drinks involved with the goody bags. In addition we had additional props loaned from The Tartan Blanket Co and Albion Lifestyle. It was great having such an incredible range of products to use in our workshops and for dressing areas.
  4. The team. I have to talk about the team, don’t I? Whenever we embark on one of these events, I’m reminded how incredible the people I work with are. At the head of the Hiho & Co idea is Emma Warren – who’s also MD of Hiho Silver. This lady is so hardworking, kind and welcoming – words can’t express it. She’s also a sandwich short of a picnic. But no one who wasn’t would suggest these big things… and pull them off to such a degree, would they? Next up, Melanie Clarihew. Melanie, and her husband Chris, founded Mackenzie & George, and are some of the kindest, hardest working and most talented people I know. I’m regularly found laughing about something random with Melanie, but I am always in awe of what they create. The new luggage tags that they made and personalised for each goody bag were a great example of this. They’re amazing. Ruth Chappell- my little roomie and organisation whizz kid. Ruth is the lady behind Dressage Anywhere and I’m so impressed with how she runs, manages and promotes that. But at Hiho and Co, she keeps us organised. She sorts out so many behind the scenes things, and is a fixer. She makes me laugh a lot and has the kindest soul. I love Ruth a little bit. Then we have Rachel Bragg aka Sweet Images aka the flatlay queen. Rachel is also a very good friend and her gentle encouragement to everyone is incredible. She has no idea how good she when it comes to her teaching or photography, but she is next level. And shares this all so so willingly too. And last but not least is Sophie Callahan. The photography whizz kid. I have so much respect for Sophie – not just her skills but her whole demeanour. I adore Sophie and constantly learn from her attitude to life. She’s very laid back and takes the knocks in a way that she uses them to fuel her rather than lets them get her down. If you’ve read her baby blog you’ll understand exactly what I’m talking about. She’s stubborn as a mule too – and if I told her off once for trying to lift something heavy, I told her off 10 times… but I was the same when I was pregnant!
  5. The people. And this is a big one. The people who came to Hiho & Co were incredible. We had a lot of people come and see us for the second time (after coming to the first event held at The Fish in September) and it truly was like meeting up with a load of friends. How good is that? I feel that everyone who comes to one of these days is there for the right reasons. They get a huge amount of value from the workshops we run, but there’s also a lovely vibe, the chance to find new friends and so much more. Some of the people attending shared lifts – some even went out to dinner the night before – and this really did warm my heart…
hiho and co cupcakes

So there you have it – five things I loved about #hihoandco – but be in no doubt I could have written a book on the subject! If you want to see a little more of the magic, pop on over to Instagram and have a look at the #hihoandco hashtag. Equally, have a look at Hiho’s own blog and follow the links listed to the blogs created by some of our amazing guests.

Rhea Freeman Newsletter Link
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