Planning for August

Keeping up to date with special days, international days of celebration, national events and awareness weeks can be a challenge, particularly for small business owners who are trying to stay across ALL aspects of their business including their marketing and social media management.

Incorporating national dates and special events into your marketing activities and social media posts can be a great way to create engagement, further grow your followers, link in with trending hashtags and network with other like minded businesses.

I hope the following list has taken the hard work out of planning August for you and will assist you with preparing posts, content and your businesses marketing calendar. There are a number of other events that are specific to certain States in Australia but in an effort to make the list more general I have tried to focus on key dates. Please don't hesitate to comment below if I have missed something and I will update the list accordingly. I hope you all find this useful!

1 - 31 August - MS Readathon
1 - 31 August - Tradies National Health Month
1 - 7 August -  Healthy Bones Action Week
1 - 7 August -  Meat Free Week
1 - 7 August -  Dental Health Week
1 - 7 August - OCD and Anxiety Disorders Week
1 - 7 August - Homelessness Prevention Week
1 - 7 August - World Breastfeeding Week
2 August -  Ice Cream Sandwich Day
3 August - Watermelon Day
4 August - National Aboriginal & Islander Children's Day (NATICD)
5 August - Cafe Smart
5 August - Jeans for Genes Day
5 August - International Beer Day
5 - 21 August  Olympic Games (Rio)
7 August - Sisters' Day
7 August - Friendship Day
7- 13 August - Speech Pathology Week 
9 August -   International Day of the World's Indigenous People
12 August - International Youth Day
12 August - World Elephant Day
13 August - Left-Handers Day
13 - 21 August - National Science Week
15 August - Cupcake Day
15 August - Relaxation Day
15 August - Best Friends Day
19 August - World Humanitarian Day
19 August - International Orangutan Day
20 - 26 August - Book Week
21 - 27 August - National Op Shop Week
22 - 28 August - Keep Australia Beautiful Week
26 August - Daffodil Day 
26 August - Women's Equality Day
27 August - Amnestea 
27 August - Burger Day
28 August - 3 September - Legacy Week


Happy planning,
Amanda

Hello February

Well 2016 is off and racing for us! I thought we might be able to ease into the busyness of another year a little more slowly but that wasn't to be!!

We enjoyed a two week break away in early January and I had big plans for some planning, reading and goal setting during that time away but surprise, surprise, reading my stock pile of fiction novels won over each time! I also battled a poor Wifi connection for part of our holiday which slowed things down but that probably wasn't such a bad thing!

So February is a ahead of us now....we've hit the ground running with lots of equiries coming in and quotes being finalised. If you're looking for a lift with your social media or need to free up some much needed time spent at the computer screen then please contact us for some more information regarding our services and the support we can offer your business - we'd love to hear from you!

Happy New Year

As 2015 comes to an end and we start to plan ahead for 2016, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support over this last year. 2015 has been a big year for this little business and I look forward to an even better year next year, supporting more businesses, sharing more tips and information and taking the pressure off many of you by assisting you with your own social media management. Happy New Year everyone - may 2016 be good to you all!!

Amanda

   

Resolutions

R E S O L U T I O N S

I've never really been one for resolutions. I like to think that I set goals for myself that are achievable, both personally and professionally but sometimes throughout the year, these goals change and/or I become a little distracted along the way!

I found this great image on Pinterest yesterday and loved it!! I like the idea of resolving to do more things that will make me smile, motivate me and encourage happiness along the way so the following list is what I will be resolving to do more of in 2016! What about you? Have you set yourself any resolutions or goals for the year ahead?

The Best Times to Post on Social Media

I get asked this question all the time and if you're reading this, you must be wondering as well!! The truth is, there is no "best time" across the board but there will be a "best time for you". Use your page insights for a snapshot into the activities of your page likers. Try to post at different times across the day and see which posts receive more "likes", more engagement, more reach, more retweets and you will soon work out the ideal times for you and your business.

As a starting point, I found this great info graphic at Social Media Today which I think provides a good guide across each of the platforms. I would be interested to know if you've spent time on working this out for your own business.....what did you decide were your best times?

I hope this helps you achieve better results across your chosen social media platforms.

Amanda

Using Photos in your Marketing

I posted to my Facebook page recently regarding the use of photos in the marketing of your business. You can find the relevant post here. With photo sharing and the use of images playing such an important role in social media, I am aware that people often search Google Images for photos that can be used on websites, Instagram, Facebook and even Twitter and Google+ as we all know that the reach of posts can be so much more successful when an image or images are added.

What some people don't realise is that many of the photos that are made public on Google Images are actually copy righted images that can't be used without a license or having been purchase to use to promote your own business activities. Getty Images own the rights to many of these and they will fine businesses for the incorrect use of these.

If you are searching for images the make sure you add the word "FREE" to your image search and confirm that the images your are downloading are Free for commercial use with No attribution required.

There are several sites that you can join that allow you to purchase images if yours is a businesses that needs a good range of images to use regularly but if you are just looking to use free images once every so often then there are some great free sites to use as well. I've added a few links to my Facebook post to get you started! I hope it helps.

Amanda

Your Biggest Opportunities Could be the Smallest Moments

Following on from Sunday's post, I just wanted to share this video from www.thinkwithgoogle.com with you. I love this.... I think it perfectly sums up how much we now rely on the internet, smartphones and electronic devices and how we expect to have the information we need at our fingertips at any given time!

Do you live your life in moments?
I-WANT-TO-KNOW-MOMENTS
I-WANT-TO-GO-MOMENTS
I-WANT-TO-BUY-MOMENTS

Consumers are turning to their mobile devices more and more to fill these moments....will they find your business? Recent statistics from Google show that 95% of Smartphone users tun to their devices to help them make a product decision. Are you one of these Smartphone users? I know I am!

Consumers are looking for immediacy. They want their questions/searches answered quickly and if the links or information and not there or not working they will quickly move on. Their expectations are higher ad they are loyal to their needs so businesses need to be there when the consumers need arises.

It's never been more important for businesses and retailers to be "in front" of people in that moment in time......you might just find that "Your Biggest Opportunity is the Smallest Moments"!!

Amanda