Media training 101 for small businesses

-
Image
Great news: you just scored a big press interview to promote your business. The story will expose your brand to the perfect new audience and drive meaningful traffic to your website. So…don't blow it. Yes, just as quickly as the excitement for the opportunity arrived, the realization that you now have to do an interview sets in. I get it—press interviews can absolutely be intimidating. The resulting coverage represents a significant opportunity to acquire new customers, drive sales, or raise awareness, and you want to be sure to represent your brand well and really compel the audience to check out your company. On top of that, you have to contend with adrenaline and nerves in the moment. You may be thinking, "So many other business owners are so polished and articulate in their interviews. How am I going to pull that off?" Deep breath. A successful interview is usually the result of good media training: preparation and practice in advance of an interview. I've tr...
1 comment

5 ways to automate your Instagram

-

With over a billion monthly active users, Instagram is one of the most popular apps in the world. For many individuals and businesses, it's not just a fun time-waster to surreptitiously scroll through during meetings. It's the core of their social media presence and a way to connect with friends, customers, and fans.

Zapier is an automation platform that lets you connect Instagram with other popular apps to automate your work and grow your social media following. You can automatically crosspost content across social media platforms, save new photos to a content library app, and more.

Zapier's automations are called Zaps, and you'll see several Zap templates—our pre-made Zap workflows—throughout this piece. To get started with a Zap template, just click on it, and we'll guide you through the quick process of setting it up.

Automating your social media management is a great way to save time and develop a broader reach—especially if you automatically share content across multiple platforms. Want to learn more about using Zapier and Instagram together? See all 2,000+ apps that you can connect to using Zapier. And read more about setting up Zaps on our website.

Share new Instagram posts on other social platforms

One of the best ways to get more out of Instagram is to keep it in sync with your other social media profiles. When you share great visual content on Instagram, of course you want your Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest followers to see it too.

Instead of reposting your content manually, Zapier can automatically crosspost for you. This automation is simple to set up, but it can be a real timesaver if you share a lot of new content.

It can be a great alternative for Instagram users who don't need a more robust social media management platform like Buffer, but it can also be handy in conjunction with one of those tools. For example, you might post a photo to Instagram directly from the mobile app while you're on the go. Instead of trying to remember to add it to your social media management app for crossposting later, you can just use a Zap that adds posts to your queue for other platforms whenever you share new media on Instagram.

Here are a few pre-built Zaps that can get you started.

Add new Instagram posts to a content library

If you post to Instagram often, chances are you may want to reuse content in the future for other campaigns. Instead of manually uploading all your Instagram posts to a content library tool, Zapier can automatically save them for you as soon as they're posted.

Alternatively, you can use Zapier to save Instagram content to a cloud storage platform. This workflow is a great option if you want to save your content but not necessarily reuse it in the future.

These Zaps are a good jumping-off point. If you don't see your preferred content library tool or cloud storage app, you can create your own Zap with your favorite app.

Create branded URLs for new Instagram media

Branded links are useful for sharing your content and tracking clicks, but manually generating them for every new Instagram post can be a pain. Instead, you can use a Zap to automatically create branded short links for your social media content—no extra work required.

You can also add a step to those Zaps to automatically post the links to another app.

Not sure which URL shortener is right for you? Check out our list of the best URL shorteners—including some tricks for making the most of your short links.

Send new Instagram posts to a channel in your chat app

If you want to encourage employees or colleagues to engage with new social media content, it can be helpful to post it in a chat app channel. (That is, assuming they spend most of their time at work in a chat tool like Slack, rather than browsing social media.) Zapier can automatically pull new Instagram posts into a dedicated channel in your favorite chat app, so they're instantly visible to your team.

This automation can also be really helpful if you use a chat app like Discord to stay in touch with your followers or fans. You can pull new Instagram posts into a feed-style channel so your community can instantly see (and engage with) them.

These Zap templates can help you set up this workflow, or you can set up your own Zap with the app you use to communicate with your team or fans.

Setting up Instagram and Zapier

You can read all about setting up Instagram and Zapier on our website, but don't worry: it's incredibly simple. When you start creating an Instagram Zap, you'll be asked to connect your Instagram account.

Log in to your account

You’ll then be asked to log in to your Instagram account (unless you are already logged in).

Log in to your account

Next, you'll need to authorize Zapier's access to your Instagram account by clicking Authorize.

Authorize Instagram

If all steps were successful, your Instagram account will now be successfully connected, and you can continue setting up your Zap.

Continue setting up your Zap

Need more help? This video will walk you through setting up your first Zap.



from The Zapier Blog https://ift.tt/3aSUvME

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

If Time-Tracking Apps Don't Work for You, Try a Productivity Journal

-
Image
Monitoring how you spend your time leads to a wealth of useful information: It can tell you what time of day you're most productive , help you create better estimates for how long tasks will take, and show you what activities you'd have to cut to focus your energy on a new idea or project. The most precise way to monitor how you spend your time is to use a time-tracking app . But these apps require a lot of overhead. You have to diligently log your hours (or make sure your app is logging them correctly) and sort your tracked time into categories. You have to pause after every task—no matter how brief—to capture time spent accurately. If tracking your time at such a granular level sounds like a punishment, but you still want insight into how and where you spend your time, consider the less menacing sibling of time-tracking apps: a productivity journal. What Is a Productivity Journal? I kept a journal as a preteen, though in those days I called it a diary. Snoopy and Woods...
Read more

The 25 Best Productivity Apps for iPhone in 2018

-
Image
The best productivity apps for iPhone make possible something that would otherwise be impossible, or they make something you need to do simpler and faster. Imagine being asked, unexpectedly, for a copy of a tax form from last year as proof of address during an important appointment that you traveled many miles to attend. In fact, it happened to me, and thankfully I had a copy of the document I needed saved to a file syncing application, which meant I could pull it up on my phone and show it to the gracious Customs and Border Protection officer who demanded to see it. If that's not productivity by way of efficiency, I don't know what is. Perhaps a more routine example is keeping track of time spent in an off-site meeting so that you can claim it as an expense later. If you have the right time-tracking mobile app, you can record the time on the spot rather than having to estimate it and remember to record it later. The use cases for productivity apps are infinite, and sometimes...
Read more

What's the difference between the Wiki and OneNote tabs in Microsoft Teams?

-
Image
It's easy, in a team chat app, for key points to get lost in the ongoing flow of conversation. That's why every channel in Microsoft Teams has a Wiki page, where you can store things like meeting notes or outline the current state of a project. You can also add a OneNote tab to every channel for similar purposes. The Wiki and OneNote tab are pretty overlapping features, so you might be wondering which one you should use. My answer, unhelpfully, is "it depends." Here's a quick overview: The Wiki is fast and simple but only works inside Teams. OneNote offers more features and can be used outside Teams. My advice: if the Wiki works for you, that's great. Use it. If you want more out of your note-taking, and the ability to reference notes outside of Teams, use OneNote. Let's go over both features with more detail, so you can choose the tool that works for you. The Wiki is fast and functional—but only exists in Teams You can probably find the Wiki in ...
Read more