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So, What’s Your Story?

What would you say if someone asked you to tell them your story? We all have a story to tell. We all represent our own brand. But when it comes right down to it, are you able to tell your brand story. I have to admit, it wasn’t easy for me!

Everyone has a story… here’s mine.

Since primitive humans painted the first images on cave walls, storytelling has been around as one of the most effective ways to convey a message and get others to take action. I have made a career out of telling the stories of others leveraging traditional and new media.

My background is in broadcast media with two decades of experience producing for network and cable TV. For ten years, I dedicated my career to social and digital media. But whether I’m telling a story for millions of viewers on television, thousands on social or helping thought leaders and organizations craft their messaging, I am a storyteller at heart.

Schedule a time for us to chat so we can start to tell YOUR story! https://daniellericksproductions.as.me/

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Stop Counting The Number of Followers You Have

You’ve bNumber Imageuilt up a loyal follow of thousand upon thousand of folks across multiple platforms. Yet, you are unable to get them to buy your goods or services. You can’t get them to donate to your cause and you online marketing efforts are failing. Before you even think about getting more followers, start instead by setting some goals on the return you want from you do have. Here are a few tips to up the ante on your online engagement.

  • Post Good Content: Sounds simple right? From your Twitter and Facebook bio, to you profile photo, and each post you make, your content should support your mission, tell your story and the convey the essence of your brand. The content should be so good, so entertaining, followers want to be a part of your mission.
  • Develop an Engaging Voice: Your brand has a unique personality. That personality should translate to your online presence. Whether it’s fun, witty, cutting edge or all about business, your posts and online voice should match up with your brand.
  • Engage in other people’s conversations: Participate in Twitter Tweetchats. Follow hashtags discussions on Twitter and Facebook. Be sure to follow the hashtags of events you attend, and make easy to follow hashtags for your events. Start a conversation based on a link someone shared.

Getting more followers isn’t the end game. You win by getting followers who are invested in your brand and responsive to your calls to action. 

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Why You Should Have A Social Media Plan AND Ten Ways To Get Started

4You know you should be active in social media. It’s good for your personal brand and your business. But you just don’t have time to do all those posts. One way to help you get organized is having a social media plan. A social media plan or mapping out what your posts will be on a weekly and even monthly basis helps you think strategically about what you should share with your audience. The social media plan includes a daily breakdown of what you should post most days of the week.

Yes, I said most day so of the week.

Consistency is the key in social media. Don’t ride the social media wave unless you can commit to a consistent schedule that your followers can depend on.

I tend to use themes to map out the days of the week on my social media plans. I am also a big fan of iteration. Below is an example of a Monday through Friday Twitter and Facebook social media plan. I developed this weekly plan for my client, AmeriCorps VISTA. It helped guide my posts throughout the week. You’ll see the days of the week divided up into five categories:

  • Mission Monday
  • Tip Tuesday
  • Webinar Wednesday
  • Throwback Thursday
  • Follow Friday

SMM Plan Image

SMM Plan Twitter JPEG

To get started on your plan, think about the content you have to share. If you are new to the social space, focus on one social media site at a time. I would recommend you consider getting starting with Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube.

Twitter – Without a doubt, Twitter is the best way to share and discover what is happening in the moment. To grow your audience, think about following and sharing popular hashtags and TweetChats.

Facebook – Most of your friends and colleagues are on Facebook. So are your clients and customers. Why not join Facebook Groups that support your mission and vision? Better yet start a group of your own. It’s a great way to connect and engage with the people that mean the most to you or the people you are trying to reach.

YouTube – Everyone has a story to tell. YouTube provides a forum to allow people to connect, inspire, entertain and inform. If you are comfortable in front of the camera or have a lot of video content, YouTube is a great place to start. Consider producing a web series of your most popular content. 

Here are ten tips to keep in mind once you are ready to start your social media plan:

  1. Determine which platforms you will use – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube or all four
  2. Devise a daily, weekly and monthly social media schedule that incorporates each platform
  3. Monthly posts should reflect recurring dates such as holidays, celebrations or conference dates
  4. Determine who will manage your accounts and how often they will post
  5. Build upon the content you already have (photos, video, press releases)
  6. Come up with a regular posting schedule and stick to it
  7. Use a social media management tool such as Hootsuite to schedule your posts
  8. If you are cross posting from one site to another, factor in a few organic, original posts for each site
  9. Remember that it is a plan, a guide, so leave room for unexpected breaking news stories or changes
  10. Engage, engage, engage and then engage some more

 If you need help developing your social media plan, I’m here to help!

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Designing Your On-line Brand Identity

daniellericks.com/production
daniellericks.com/production

One of the hottest topics these days is how to develop your on-in presence.  The critical first step in any on-line identity campaign is defining your authentic personal brand or rather, how you want to be represented to the world. Keep in mind this is not about painting a picture of how you think you should be represented but rather it’s a look into your most authentic self. In order to do this you must be clear about what you want to communicate before making a bunch of digital fingerprints that will be difficult to remove when you change your mind.

The next step is to draft a design brief and share it with your designer for input. A design that you feel proud to represent your personal brand is usually the result of a collaborative effort among you, your personal brand coach and your designer. This blog will be dedicated to how you can go about step one and two in a world where you may be over whelmed with the choices and short on time.  So, come back often as we attempt to show you how to brand yourself on line and increase awareness about yourself and your brand.