And just like that, another month is behind us! September brought back-to-school, the first day of fall, and some exciting social media happenings.
Welcome to the second edition of Getting Social With Shayna, a monthly recap of the social media updates and news that matters most to your business, and what to do about it.
Read MoreHello, friends of Citrine! Social media moves a mile a minute, and for most of us that are busy building our businesses and brands, that can be totally overwhelming. So, I decided to start Getting Social with Shayna, a monthly recap of the social media updates and news that matters most to your business, and what to do about it. Welcome to the very first edition!
Read MoreHilary Hartling is a brand strategist that helps businesses gain clarity around how they want to present themselves to the world. In 2017, she worked hard to build up her Instagram presence and following, making it the milestone 10K and beyond.
In May 2018, Hilary's account was hacked and almost gone forever. She chats with me about what the experience taught her and how she recommends other entrepreneurs protect themselves and prioritize their efforts.
Read MoreWe come bearing good news: Instagram finally listened to our pleas for a better algorithm. Rather than fully going back to the chronological newsfeed, they created an algorithmic compromise that considers three factors.
Read MoreFacebook, Instagram and Whatsapp released new data policies. Did you read any of the updated policies or blindly accept?
Read MoreThe recent changes to Facebook and Instagram’s API has shaken me to my core - as I’m sure anyone in the marketing world feels the same. We are constantly scrambling to keep up with changing algorithms and right when you think you’re in the clear, a breaking news story comes out to shake things up.
Read MoreWhen Facebook announced that personal profiles and content that creates conversation amongst friends will get priority in the newsfeed over businesses and publishers, marketers let out a collective cry that this could be the Facebook apocalypse.
But is it really?
Read MoreBuffer’s The Science of Social Media 2018 podcast recently revealed five of the top trends that social media marketers should utilize this year—read on to learn what they are and our take on how you should apply them to your business.
Read More
If you haven't heard, today, Thursday, September 29, is National Coffee Day.
I learned that this morning lying in bed, checking my email and scrolling through Facebook and Instagram posts.
Just about everyone had shared a post in honor of our favorite source of caffeine addiction. As usual, I thought about this from a marketing perspective. "Holidays" are often utilized by social media and content marketers as a way to lend their voice to a trending topic, and for good reason: days like National Coffee Day go viral.
But doing this expertly is another story. In order to get successful results with timely content, you have to stay true to two things: your brand and your audience. Here are some great examples of brands and publishers doing just that.
Via The Penny Hoarder
The Penny Hoarder shared a blog post with all the places that were serving up a free cup o' Joe. TPH is an online publication that teaches you how to live your life more frugally, so this was a perfect application of timely, highly-sharable blog content. Because who doesn't love free stuff?
Starbucks took a different approach.
via Starbucks
Instead of simply offering a free cup of coffee for National Coffee Day, Starbucks is going the corporate social responsibility route. When you buy a cup of their new Mexico Chiapas coffee today, they are promising to give a whole rust-resistant coffee tree (!!!) to a farmer in need.
Why is this important? Well, as Starbucks puts it, coffee rust is "coffee's biggest enemy." Their tactic enables their coffee-fiending following to feel good about their cup for the day because they're giving back in a way that helps farmers and the coffee industry.
On Instagram, Disney shared this cool video of Jack Skellington latte art:
What's this? What's this? It's #NationalCoffeeDay! ☕️ (🎥: @ohmydisney)
A video posted by Disney (@disney) on
Disney employed some tried and true social tactics for their approach to #NationalCoffeeDay branded content. They utilized the currently trending over-head "tutorial" video with similarly trendy content—latte art.
Even though their content isn't the newest of ideas, it works because of one important factor: Jack Skellington. Disney used a beloved character (and they have many of those) to connect their brand to an unrelated "holiday." They cleverly used copy to conjure up the memory of Jack's famous ditty "What's This?" from "Nightmare Before Christmas."
It's also almost October, which makes Jack Skellington a smart character for Disney to use as he's their Halloween poster boy.
Refinery 29, an online publication for Millennial women, compiled a "Coffee Lovers In Pop Culture" video that contained clips of Millennial gal faves from "Miss Congeniality" to "FRIENDS."
This video—published natively on Facebook—works as the perfect timely social fodder. They expertly re-purpose content that their target audience (nostalgic twenty and thirty something ladies like myself) will want not only want to watch, but to share.
When jumping on the #NationalCoffeeDay bandwagon (or any other day, for that matter), it's important to remember two main things: your brand and your audience.
Brand storytelling is the concept of creating a narrative that people can connect to. It takes you from being a faceless, nameless entity and connects your audience to you as people.
The brands and publishers above did a great job of using brand storytelling to stay true to what they are all about, and what their audience is all about. They created content that was more about who they are as a brand than any specific day.
When setting out to create stellar branded content, keep one short phrase in mind: DO YOU.
Now if you'll excuse me, it's time for another cup of you-know-what.
The process of starting a company is a road paved with challenging decisions.
What to call your burgeoning empire is one of the more important decisions you'll make, because it truly sets the tone for everything else. Everything from the logo to website copy is influenced by your moniker, so it's important to not only pick a name that inspires you, but that does the same for others.
For me personally, I wanted a name that had a little piece of me, meant something deeper than just a word and most importantly, was not limiting in terms of how others perceived my company.
In search of inspiration, I set out to create a mood board. I stumbled across an image of gemstones with rich, beautiful tones. One of them was citrine, and a lightbulb went on.
Citrine (and topaz) are the birthstones of November. With a birthday like 11/11, I've always felt connected to my birth month. But it was the meaning behind citrine that really got me.
Via CrystalVaults:
"Natural Citrine is a premier stone of manifestation, imagination, and personal will. Carrying the power of the sun, it is warm and comforting, energizing and life giving. Its frequency awakens creativity and imagination, and sustains the process of transforming dreams and wishes into tangible form. With its pure yellow energy, Citrine encourages fullness of life, fresh beginnings and new pursuits."
Citrine is often referred to as the "Merchant's Stone," or the "Success Stone" because "it is a stone of abundance and manifestation, attracting wealth and prosperity, success and all things good. It also encourages generosity and sharing good fortune."
Though I've never been big into crystals, the meaning behind the stone spoke volumes to me. In reflecting about the values I want my company to uphold, citrine embodies them all. Imagination, creativity, fullness of life, and not only attracting wealth and success but sharing that with others—these are the things that matter most to me in business.
So there you have it—the reason behind Citrine Marketing.
Shine on!
