Success Unscrambled Podcast

If you are still looking for an Instagram scheduler that will blow your mind this Preview vs Planoly comparison may be what you need.

You will agree with me that there are a ton of IG schedulers on the market that promise the sun, moon and even the stars.

However, not all social media schedulers are created equal.

While some allow you to schedule weeks in advance others will let you publish automatically with the 1st comment.

Let me know if you can relate.

Instagram seems like the most attractive platform for your business but there are a few challenges.

Content creation continues to be a huge obstacle for you because you just don't have the time.

Graphic design is not in your wheelhouse so batch creating graphics is the least attractive option for you.

Hashtag research takes forever which means researching 100 hashtags every month is a no go area.

If only you can find a solution that gives you the inspiration to create 30 days of content in 8 hours or less.

In the post, you will learn about the similarities and differences between Planoly and Preview.

You'll also experience a quick and easy way to create a month's worth of IG content in one day or less.

Why Use a Scheduler

If you a have been publishing content to Instagram for a while you know that IG has several features.

Apart from the IG feed you also have the ability to publish content to Stories, Reels, IGTV, IG Live, Guides and Highlights.

While this may sound overwhelming at first using all these features depends on your niche, time constraints as well as your audience.

Instagram rewards publishers for using as many of their features as possible.

So, it is for this reason that using a scheduler suitable for IG content is a productive idea.

Unless you are an octopus with nine brains and eight arms it will be virtually impossible to use all these IG features.

Yes, taking one piece of content and repurposing it to match each IG platform takes quite some time.

Imagine doing that 3-5 days a week?

What Makes a Good IG Scheduler?

Before doing the Preview vs Planoly comparison it is important to set a standard for good IG schedulers.

In my opinion, a good scheduler should help you as a business owner to save time and reduce that feeling of overwhelm.

A few ways that a scheduler can help you save time include:

* Offer a grid view of your IG feed* Seamlessly apply filters* Has a media library* Assist with hashtag research* Offers IG analytics* Helps with caption formatting* Has a hashtag bank feature* Schedules feed posts, carousels, Stories, Reels and IGTV content* Suggests the best time to post* Shows upcoming events and hashtag holidays* Can schedule mixed media carousels (photos + videos in one post).

While this may seem like a lot to expect from a single IG scheduler stay with me while I show you what Preview and Planoly have to offer.

Preview vs Planoly Comparison

Now that you know what you can expect from a good IG scheduler, let's spend some time looking at the two tools.

I will review each one individually to include pricing, features and a video showing how each one works.

PreviewApp

If you've been in business for a while you'll know that there are things to automate in a small business.

You'll also be aware that getting these things automated can be a bit of a challenge.

Automation can be a pipe dream for many entrepreneurs because setting up these workflows can take time.

Let me know if this sounds familiar.

The process of making money online can be a lot of fun when you enjoy what you do.

However, the process of optimising your income generating machine can be a bit of a nuisance because of the steps involved.

For example, if you are a blogger, dealing with brands can involve a host of emails and contracts to manage.

If you offer services, finding those clients, doing discovery calls, sending out contracts and taking payments can bog you down.

Owning an Etsy shop or selling on Amazon Seller Central can also be a challenge with getting reviews and keeping goods in stock.

As well as pricing, packaging, improving ranking and managing customer returns and feedback.

Wouldn't it be nice to automate as many steps as possible so that you can get more done in less time?

In this post, you will learn 20 business things to automate as well as what you can easily outsource to reduce overwhelm.

What is Business Automation?

Before diving into how to automate your business it would make sense to take a look at automation itself.

For obvious reasons, there are a number of aspects of any business that you will never be able to automate.

As an example, talking to someone in customer care is essential to keeping your customers happy.

Yes, with the rise of chatbots and similar initiatives businesses have been trying to answer common questions by automation.

However, there are many other tasks that have a repeatable process that can be easily automated by software.

Think of the things that you do in your business every day, week or month that has a step by step process.

Of course, this process should only require human intervention at the start but could be completed by one or several software applications.

Spend some time thinking of those repeatable processes in your business that can be completed by a robot.

21+ Things to Automate in a Small Business

Now that you have a clearer understanding of what automation looks like in a small business.

Let's spend some time looking at 25 business things that you can automate starting right now.

1. Onboarding a New Employee

If you have reached that point in your business where you started hiring virtual assistants to help with tasks then listen up.

Onboarding a new employee can be a bit of a headache because that person will need to know about the business.

As well as how things work to maintain certain levels of satisfaction.

The best way to get this done is by automating the process with the help of a welcome packet plus a series of videos.

You can use a tool like Asana to set up an onboarding process.

2. Onboarding a New Client

An equally important task in any business that is serviced-based is bringing a new client on board.

How to Live Your Life in your 20s to Experience Freedom in Your 40s

As I quickly approach my 50th birthday I thought it would be appropriate to write a letter to my younger self.

Like many other humans, I had hopes, dreams and aspirations in my 20s.

With passing time I have come to understand myself better and learned a number of key lessons.

It is safe to say that I've had a mixed bag of experiences that helped me to become who I am today.

This letter will cover several areas including health + well-being, business, wealth, recreation, environment, relationships and spiritual.

Many other people like me have written letters to their younger self so this is not a unique idea at all.

At the end of the day, this letter is going to be my take on life, love and self-growth.

It will also serve as advice to my children so that they can learn from my mistakes and have a better experience in life.

Hopefully, it will inspire you too so that you can avoid some of the mistakes that I have made and achieve your dreams minus the pain.

To Write or Not to Write

Oh, how I wish that I had taken the time to write down and cherish all my dreams, plans and aspirations.

Because I would've had something tangible to look back on to help with this reflection post.

I have to confess that I did write down my dreams over the years but it was never done in a cherished way.

In fact, I wrote them down on scraps of paper or in notebooks that I used for a variety of other things.

Of course, it is never too late to write down your dreams and aspirations.

Even at the age of 50, I would still have another 20 years of life to live so I need to get a journal.

A special book that I can cherish for 20-30 years. If you have any suggestions let me know in the comments.

In the meantime, let me see if I can remember what was in my dreams during my 20s.

My Dream

I know for certain that I wanted to get married, have a lovely wedding and have 2-4 kids.

The specifics of where I wanted to live remain unclear.

It is frustrating to think that in my 20s I never really saw marriage as a form of lifelong companionship.

At least I don't remember seeing it as super important.

However, I wanted to become a medical doctor because I saw it as a career as well as a way to provide for my family.

It's weird but I wanted to be a home owner and live somewhere stable but again no specifics about where I wanted to live.

Being able to pay my bills and afford food, clothing and shelter were super important to me.

Most importantly, I didn't want to become bored in my career so I was always thinking of the next step.

My excitement for travel was a big focus, so positioning myself with the ability to do that was a priority for me.

Health + Well-Being

As someone who grew up in an environment where it was common for my parent's relatives to be ill.

It was important for me to ensure that I lived a healthy lifestyle.

Thanks to my parents, my siblings and I were brought up on a vegetarian and sometimes vegan lifestyle.

So,

5 Secret Apps That'll Rid you of the Dreaded Mobile IG Push Notification

You've had it! Instagram Stories bring you results but getting your hands on a solution that can auto-post to IG Stories would be a dream come true.

I distinctly remember watching a story on a video or via an IG Story about this guy who posts 8 IG Stories a day.

He went through hour by hour how he manages to fit in 8 IG Stories in a 24-hour period.

Believe or not his first interaction with IG starts after he wakes up and during his first visit to the toilet.

No matter how good IG is there's no way I am having a relationship with my IG account straight after waking up.

So, I thought that maybe I could eliminate the first IG Story of the day and post 7 times a day.

If you ever published a Story to Instagram you know that it could easily take you 15-20 minutes.

Wouldn't it be great to have a solution that helps you auto-post to IG Stories complete with hashtags, animation, links, etc to IG?

In this post, you will learn about 5 applications that will help you to auto post carousels and Stories to Instagram.

Why You Need to Auto-Post to IG Stories

In case you are still on the fence about using Instagram for business here are a few statistics.

Instagram is the 6th most visited website in the world and over 1 billion people use it every month according to Hootsuite.

88% of users are outside the US and there are 140 million users from the US on Instagram.

Users of IG spend on average 30 minutes a day on the platform.

81% of people use Instagram to research products and services according to Hootsuite.

At this point you're probably wondering why would anyone need an auto post solution for IG.

Have you ever tried to post 1-3 IG Stories a day? Do your Stories include up to 10 hashtags with GIFs, polls or quizzes?

How long does it take you typically to post a single Story?

Let me give you a practical example, it would normally take me 10-20 minutes to post one Story to IG.

My Story post would normally consist of 8 x 15 second videos.

I help clients with launch sequences which would normally involve posting 1-3 Stories a day for 3 weeks.

Let's do the math. That would be 63 Stories over the 3 week period.

So, it would take me 1,260 minutes over the 3 weeks to publish those IG Stories.

What Makes an IG Story Engaging?

In order for you to understand the importance of getting an IG Story right let's look at what should be included.

You decide that you want to use IG Stories as a way to generate more sales.

However, you're not sure what needs to happen to make your IG Stories bingeworthy.

Let's look at the anatomy of a good IG Story.

A typical IG Story should consist of a minimum of three parts which are a beginning, middle and end.

The first slide should have a short introduction. The middle slides should go into detail about the topic.

While the end slide should have the call to action (CTA).

If you want a lot of people to see the Story it is important to include up to 10 hashtags...

Influencers you Need to Follow on Clubhouse and 15 Things to Do After you Join

As I stood in the kitchen, looking through the window, contemplating who to follow on Clubhouse, a strange sight greeted me.

About 1/4 mile away in the neighbours garden I noticed a man tugging on a blue rope.

Prior to this, I remember hearing what sounded like a chainsaw in the distance.

Just then another usual sight met my eyes another man appeared to be ziplining down the blue rope.

I was transfixed for some time because I was waiting for the pearl barley in the rice cooker to finish.

It was making a bit of a mess on the kitchen counter so I didn't want to leave it unattended.

More about those men with the blue rope later...

Are you wondering if it is worth your while to join the Clubhouse bandwagon?

I joined just over a week ago and I was wondering the same thing for many weeks until I finally decided to join.

Which led to me acquiring an invite.

In this post, I will tell you about my experience of joining and using Clubhouse as well as the best people to follow.

What is Clubhouse Anyway?

Well, to put it simply, Clubhouse is a social media app that is designed for live, voice-only communication.

What makes Clubhouse unique is that it allows for live conversations to take place inside rooms.

Think of it as the audio-only version of Facebook where groups are synonymous with rooms.

The unique attraction of this voice only app is that you can show up as you are and network with like-minded people in real-time.

At the time of writing this post, the Clubhouse app is only available on Apple devices like iPhones and iPads.

Founders, Paul Davidson and Rohan Seth, have indicated that they want to grow the social network slowly.

Hence the reason why you can only join on an invite-only basis.

After all, they only have a small team so it would be difficult to manage the technology if it grew exponentially in a short time.

15 Things to do on Clubhouse

After joining Clubhouse it may initially feel strange since you are not able to see the conversations taking place.

It is extremely important that you have your volume on and turned up.

One of the first things to do when you join Clubhouse is to enter a room with a topic that interests you.

Here are a few examples of rooms that are in session as I write this post.

So, what are a few things that you can do during your first few weeks on Clubhouse?

* Update your profile* Join a room that's in session* Listen to conversations* Hop on stage* Link your socials* Follow people of interest* Start your own room* Co-host a room with a colleague or friend* Find people and clubs to follow* Join existing clubs* See what's coming up* Create an event* Invite your friends* Promote your business* Create your own club

When I first joined Clubhouse I didn't think that it was possible to do a lot on a voice-only app.

However, you can see that there are so many things you can do apart from listening to conversations.

1. Update your Profile

One of the first things to do after joining Clubhouse is to update you profile.

The Most Effective Editorial Calendar on Trello

There comes a time in your business where organising content will help you scale so a Trello content calendar can help you do this.

When you first got started in business you may have had 8 weeks worth of content ready for your launch date.

However, as time went on you began to realise that the constant content hamster wheel seems like a bit of a drag.

Having to show up every day or week on your blog or social media account can leave you feeling bored.

Let me know if this sounds familiar.

You know how important it is to remain consistent when it comes to promoting your business.

Making consistent sales in your business takes more than doing an infrequent guess appearance annually like the grammy awards.

The ideal scenario is you want to find a way to enjoy the process of showing up regularly.

In this post, you'll learn how to use Trello to plan, create, publish and enjoy the process of content marketing.

Meaningful Social Interactions

Before looking at content ideas or a Trello editorial calendar, I thought it would make more sense to start at the end.

The end of the process happens after you click the publish button.

In other words, I am focusing on the response from your audience including the engagement.

Have you ever connected with someone offline? Do you remember what it felt like?

What made that interaction meaningful? If there is one word that you can use to describe that new found relationship what will it be?

Now think of a time when you connected with someone online, I am talking about the fact that something clicked.

Do you remember what it felt like? What made that interaction meaningful?

In a research paper published by Facebook in 2020, it was found that having meaningful social interactions depended on a few things.

* Community ties with that person* Participating in shared activities* Planning activities* Making memories from the encounter* Synchronous engagement

As you can see from the research making connections on social media should involve a meaningful interaction.

It takes more than a passing like or thumbs up.

What is Does MSI Look Like?

As I mentioned above what really matters before you start creating any ideas or content is the end result.

To help you understand this more fully, let's look at a few real-life examples.

A couple of years ago I decided to intentionally reach out to the top 50-100 marketers online for a collaboration.

In the end, 17 of them agreed to collaborate with me on a piece of content.

Since then one of them continues to find ways for us to collaborate on future events.

Looking back on the 5 aspects of MSI you will notice that I made an initial connection with this person covering all 5 areas.

Another great example of this is someone I refer to as a business bestie.

We met online because we belong to the same paid mastermind together.

Somehow,

The Easiest Way to Set Up an Airtable Content Calendar for Social Media

Are you thinking of using an Airtable Content Calendar to help you plan your social media content?

If yes, then this is the Airtable tutorial that you need.

A few years ago I came across Airtable and I remember thinking that it looks so flexible.

I even felt a little bit apprehensive because I thought that it will take me a long time to learn how to use it.

Looking back I can see why many entrepreneurs and side hustlers may think twice about using Airtable for social media.

While it does look like a regular spreadsheet, Airtable has so much more flexibility and charm built in.

Imagine having a tool that feels pretty much like play doh when you want to customise it.

In this post, you will learn how to use Airtable as a content calendar for social media.

You will also learn how to make it your own by mastering as many features as possible so that it is customised to your needs.

Airtable Background

If you are brand new to Airtable you can think of it as a collaboration tool that has a combination of spreadsheet and database features.

Airtable was founded back in 2012 by three people; Howie Liu, Andrew Ofstad, and Emmett Nicholas.

Since then they have managed to go through several funding rounds raising a total of $347.6 million between 2015 and 2020.

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, USA, Airtable is used by over 200,000 companies globally.

With the help of Zapier, you can integrate Airtable with over 450 other applications including Instagram.

According to co-founder Howie Liu, they are not trying to make a replacement for Google Sheets or Excel.

They are building the next Apple or Microsoft which he says is the next billion dollar opportunity.

You can take a look at Howie's video here.

Airtable Components

While reading up about the background of Airtable, I noticed that Howie mentioned that it has Lego-like features.

To help you appreciate this even more let me introduce you to the building blocks of Airtable.

In total, Airtable is made up of 6 components. These include;

* Workspaces* Bases* Tables* Fields* Views* Records

1. Workspaces

You can think of a workspace as a home for one of your departments or if you have clients, it is a place to store the bases related to a specific client.

2. Bases

Each workspace can have an unlimited number of bases. The only restriction on the free plan is the total number of records per base which is 1200.

You can think of each base as a group of related tables nested together.

As you can see in the screenshot above all the bases related to marketing are stored in the marketing workspace.

3. Tables

This is where the terminology becomes a little more familiar to you because tables are basically a spreadsheet on steroids.

A ClickUp Content Calendar Tutorial for Social Media Planning

If you are picky about the way your content calendar looks then this ClickUp content calendar tutorial may just be what you need.

While there are a ton of options on the market to create social media calendars.

Let's face it, not all the options available fall into the category of pretty or cute.

Some of them are very simple in their approach while others offer very practical options.

Like integrations to popular software or applications.

Let me know if you can relate to this.

You have been using a content calendar in your business for a few years in a somewhat consistent fashion.

In recent times, your business has grown to the point where you are using a host of other solutions.

However, you need a social media content calendar that seamlessly integrates with other tools.

Like project management and time tracking.

What would be great is having a calendar that works really well with a CRM solution and appointment calendar for small businesses.

In this post, you will learn how to create a cute content calendar in ClickUp.

As well as how to customise it using the 'automations' feature, fields and templates for business efficiency.

How Content Calendar Integration Drives Business Efficiency

In case you are new to the whole concept of integrating tools let me take some time to explain.

When you get started in business the first 1-3 years is spent getting new clients onboard to generate a consistent income.

Over time you will notice that the bigger your business grows the more overwhelming things can feel.

What I mean by this is that business processes that are manual and repeatable can consume a lot of time.

It can also cause you to reach an imaginary ceiling where you can only process so many orders in a day.

The next automatic thought is for you to hire someone part-time to take over all these manual processes.

So that you can get back to your zone of genius.

However, when compared to cost efficiencies it would make more sense to pay for tools that handle those manual processes rather than hiring staff.

Of course, at some point, you will need to hire staff to complete certain jobs.

Tasks that can be automated should be done via integrated tools or native automation features.

ClickUp Content Calendar Integration Examples

One clever example of this is the ability to integrate ClickUp with Calendly which is an application for setting up appointments.

The benefit of having this integration is this.

When a potential client schedules some time in your calendar a task in ClickUp can be generated automatically for you.

Another smart integration is with Twilio.

If you never heard of Twilio it is a communications platform that uses SMS, voice, video, email and chatbots.

One way to use the ClickUp and Twilio integration is by sending a text message to key stakeholders when a task is completed.

I think that the one you would like the most is the integration with Amazon Alexa.

Imagine having the ability to automate a task list for a project or several projects by ask...

The Only Digital Content Calendar Template that Just Works

So, you finally want to take your marketing seriously and you decided to make a content calendar for yourself.

In the last few years, you have been procrastinating when it comes to showing up online consistently.

In fact, you have purchased physical planners and calendars in the past where you had great intentions at the start of the year.

However, you ran out of steam after the first 3-4 weeks of using those systems.

What you need this time is something that will work for 1-2 years without the need to make another investment every year.

While using coloured pens and parchment paper is super exciting and inspirational.

You are just looking for something that will get you more visitors, leads and sales because that is what matters the most.

If only you can find a simple example or template that you can implement in a matter of hours instead of days or weeks.

In this post, you will learn how to make your very own content calendar so that you can get better results from your business marketing efforts.

Why Use a Content Calendar for Your Business

In case you are new to content calendars, let me spend some time explaining what they are and why you should use them.

A content calendar is a sheet, app or place where you can plan, create and schedule content over a specific time period.

Many small businesses tend to plan their content over a 90-day or 12-month period.

The main reason why small businesses use a digital content calendar is because it helps them to organise their marketing efforts.

It also helps them to set goals and to track their performance against these goals.

You can think of it like taking a 10,000 foot view of what is happening when it comes to promoting your business.

With a content calendar, you have the flexibility to plan and organise content like blog posts and events.

As well as social media posts and even podcasts and/or videos.

Content Marketing Statistics You Should Know

Did you know that 61% of consumers buying decisions are influenced by custom content according to Dragon 360?

This means that the more time you spend planning out your content to match your ideal client the higher the chance of a conversion.

Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional forms of marketing and it generates 3 times more leads based on stats from Demand Metric.

Also, from Demand Metric, 80% of people prefer to learn about a brand through custom content that they find online.

69% of marketers are planning to increase their use of YouTube while 66% of marketers are using Instagram based on a Social Media Examiner report.

While 67% of marketers are planning to increase their organic use of the Instagram platform.

Social Media Examiner also reported these next two statistics.

86% of marketers surveyed believe that social media increased the exposure for their business.

Instagram and Facebook are the top two social media platforms used by marketers with 94% using Facebook ...

Why You Should Use Instagram Live Over IGTV

Does the thought of going live on Instagram or uploading videos to IGTV continue to leave you baffled?

You have heard that video marketing is great for your business but understanding IGTV vs IG live is a challenge.

Gone are the days when you simply create a video using a complex DSLR camera or video camera.

Creating video for social media has an additional element of complexity because your viewers have the potential to get bored quickly.

Can you relate to this?

A few days ago, you recorded a simple video of you walking outdoors or showing off something new.

Later on, you decided to share your footage on Instagram but it got cut off because it was longer than 15 seconds.

The video post didn't perform as well as expected and you cannot figure out why.

You just don't like the final version of the clip although you tried fixing it 100 times.

If only there was a way to easily post video footage on IGTV or go live on Instagram without the complexity.

In the post, you will learn the differences between IGTV vs IG live as well as which one to use for your campaign and how to get started.

Social Video Statistics

Before looking at the differences between IGTV vs IG Live let us spend some time looking at video marketing statistics.

At the time of writing this post, a total of 85% of businesses use videos in their marketing efforts according to Hubspot.

A whopping 75% of video views occur on mobile devices based on research from eMarketer.

Did you know that 92% of people watching a video will share it with others? This is based on video statistics from WordStream.

One of my favourite statistics that I continue to find baffling is the percentage of people watching videos with sound off vs sound on.

85% of videos on Facebook are watched without sound while 60% of Instagram Stories are watched with sound on.

Have you ever wondered about the drop-off rate when it comes to video?

Well, 33% of people will stop watching after 30 seconds, 45% after 60 seconds and 60% after 120 seconds.

So, what does this all mean?

When creating a video for IG it needs to have sound on with captions of-course.

While Facebook will be fine with sound-off ensuring that captions are included.

Also, keep the first 30-120 seconds super interesting to increase retention rates.

Always cater for mobile devices so that you can please the crowd.

IGTV vs IG Live

Now that you know a few tips on how to create engag...