Success Unscrambled Podcast

You started this year determined to develop an amazing social media content plan.

The colour palettes have already been selected and you also know which social platforms will work for your business.

In your head, you can see the results of all the efforts you will put in to your social calendar.

A 200% increase in engagement is what you pictured on your vision board for the last few months.

However, you are completely stuck. Why? You have no idea how to get this wildly successful social plan in place.

I mean, this should be easy right? All you need to do is slap on a few quotes, social holidays and a few buy now posts.

Truth be told you have no idea what else to say to your audience. How do you make them respond to you.

What if all you hear are crickets? Then what do you do next?

Have no fear, in this post, you will learn how to literally jump-start your entire weekly social schedule using a few secret hacks.

You will also learn how to set up your own social plan in 8 hours or less. Are you ready?

Disclosure: Please note that this post may contain affiliate links which means that if you buy one of my recommended products I get paid a commission for sharing the link at no additional cost to you.  I only recommend products that I have tried myself and have experienced success.

What is a Social Media Content Plan?

If you have never planned content for social media before you are probably wondering what is a social media content plan?

Well, to be honest, it really is developing a structured plan for your social media profiles so that you get the desired results for your blog or business.

In a nutshell, it involves sitting down and planning out all your social content across your social profiles for 90 days or 52 weeks.

It is possible that you have been doing it all wrong for the last few months or years.

One way to know if you are doing it wrong is if you spend hours every week planning social content.

A structured plan for your social media does require getting a return on your investment.

However, the most important aspect should be mapping it out depending on your buyer's journey, planned themes plus the season of your business.

The Buyer's Journey and Social Media

Chances are that you have heard me mention this before in other places on my blog.

However, understanding the buyer's journey is crucial to getting your social media content right every time.

Let's take a brief look at that journey again.

As you can see at the very beginning it is all about building awareness of who you are and what you do for potential clients.

A great way to look at it is the analogy of getting married.

When you meet someone on a date for the first time there isn't an expectation of a marriage proposal.

In the same way, when a potential client finds you online for the first time they are not expected to buy your $497.00 product or course straightaway.

You will need to court them for a while and show them how good you are at what you do.

They also need to experience your delivery of service via freebies, blog content or low cost items first to build that trust.

Once they get to know you then they are happy t...

So, you looked at your competitor's social media metrics and they went from 607 followers to 10,321 in 6 months.

When compared to the 1,391 followers that you have amassed over the last three years their stats are unbelievable.

Suddenly, thoughts race through your head where you start doing a quick evaluation of your strategy.

What have they been doing over the last 6 months that you are not currently implementing?

Did they buy their followers? (you know this is a mean thought to entertain but you are just innocently wondering).

At this point, you remembered reading somewhere that running social media contests can rapidly grow your following.

But wait! You don't have any prizes to offer contestants anyway and doing contests takes too much time.

The truth is that there are so many 'experts' giving advice about gaining success on social media.

However, in this post, you will first learn what are social media metrics by platform and which metrics are the most important to focus on.

You will also learn the number one secret to beat the Facebook and Instagram algorithm using a single tip.

Disclosure: Please note that this post may contain affiliate links which means that if you buy one of my recommended products I get paid a commission for sharing the link at no additional cost to you.  I only recommend products that I have tried myself and have experienced success.

What are Social Media Metrics Anyway?

Well, if you are new to social media or even if you have been using various platforms for years it's time to fully understand what these metrics are all about.

Social media metrics in simple terms are the key performance indicators (KPIs) used to measure the results that you achieve from your posts.

Another name for metrics is analytics and it is like doing an analysis of all the activities that you did on social media.

Let me give you a practical example. You post an image of a cute puppy on your Instagram profile and people will comment, share or even like the post.

The action of your audience is considered a metric or a vote to say that what you did was good.

If you are promoting anything on YouTube you know that you can also get thumbs down on that platform which is also another type of metric.

Let's spend some time looking at the benefits of these metrics.

Social Metrics Benefits

So, why should anyone be concerned about whether or not someone engages with the content anyway?

If you are in business you know that it is super important to get a return on your investment.

As a business owner that investment could mean time, resources or even cold hard cash.

You are in business to not only generate an income but to make a profit so reviewing your efforts is super important.

When you first decided to create a profile on social media it could be that you did it because you were told that you needed to be everywhere so people can find you.

However, as time went by you realised that this social media thing requires a lot of work with constant posting to keep things fresh.

At some point, you learned that people were using it to generate leads and traffic to their business but you have no idea how to do this effectively.

The key benefit of social media metrics is to give you direc...

Have you conducted a social media listening exercise in the last 12 months for your blog or business?

Did you find anything fascinating?

I am a problem solver by nature with a background in the natural sciences so I have a thing for experiments.

This means that I like conducting research every week to find out if something is fact or fiction (myth-buster eat your heart out).

Sometimes it's just to compare or contrast applications, tools or software that are similar in their functionality.

You may find this pretty boring but for a business or blog doing research on your competition can give you a surprising edge or insight.

The truth is that legally spying on your competition is not frowned upon but it is very welcomed and normal.

In this post, you are going to learn what is social media listening, the tools used to get it done and the benefits of listening to your competition.

What is Social Media Listening Anyway?

In case you never heard the term before social media listening refers to the practice of listening in to conversations or activity on social media.

You will need to get an understanding of the capabilities and limitations of this process to grasp how you can use it.

It does not involve the use of specialist headphones or spying equipment from the CIA, FBI, MI5 or any such organisation.

Thankfully, there are quite a number of solutions available on the market that can be used to complete this project.

The good news is that the stuff that you will uncover can fall into the categories of serious all the way to hilarious.

Even if you don't like doing research you may find this exercise intriguing since we are all curious by nature.

First outlining the benefits are key to understanding why you should even consider this as part of your social media content plan.

Benefits of Social Listening

The benefits of social media listening can be broad and wide but worth the effort to get it done.

Think of social listening as a way to have one ear to listen to everything that is happening across 1,000 channels.

You can see it as a way of sifting information into two big baskets of valuable or useless.

The reasons that it can be a very valuable exercise is that it allows you to do the following:

* Keep an eye on key competitors from a single dashboard* Engage with potential clients just when they need your products or services* Have meaningful conversations with potential influencers* Find pain points that your service can solve with a few tweaks* Manage feedback in a central location as and when comments happen

In other words, without these listening or monitoring tools, it would be difficult for your blog or business to get 360-degree visibility across several social platforms.

Let's spend some time looking at what you need to start spying on your competitors legally.

What Can You Listen to or Monitor?

Before looking at a big list of tools available to conduct social listening let me first dive into what to look out for on social media.

This may be obvious to you but just in case you did not know you will need to go with a few objectives in mind before getting started.

Have you ever done a social media audit of all your social media accounts in the last 12 months?

If yes, were you happy with the results? Did you make plans to improve your findings?

Was your answer no? Do you think it might be time to take a look at the effectiveness of your social media campaigns?

You may be thinking what on earth is a social media audit? If that is your question I will explain it a little later on.

In the meantime, from a 10,000-foot view posting stuff on social media may appear to be 'working'.

However, because it does require an investment of time, resources and money it is important to take stock of your objectives.

In this post, you will learn what is a social media audit, why you need one and how to do one yourself to improve your results overall.

What is a Social Media Audit?

I am so glad that you asked because like you many years ago I had no idea that a social media audit even existed.

In a nutshell, a social media audit is the ability to do a review of all of your social media footprints or profiles.

These would include Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter and Snapchat.

The goal is to take a look at what is currently working, what is not working as well as how to improve going forward.

As simple as this sounds it does involve some research, looking at your blog or business goals and assessing your ideal customer.

One of the hardest things to do after an audit is to change a habit because it is not bringing in the desired results.

The Benefits of Doing an Audit

Some entrepreneurs who look at the definition of a social media audit may not quite understand the benefits of doing one.

So, let me give you an analogy in order to help you grasp the importance of doing a social audit.

Let's say you decide to do a road trip from New York to San Francisco and you get everything ready to get there.

You have clothes, money to pay for food and accommodation, bits and pieces to keep you entertained as well as insurance.

However, you realise after 10 days of travel that you are not closer to your destination and you did not really map out the journey.

In other words, you have no idea how long it will take you to get there but you know it shouldn't take more than 5 years!!

I know that may sounds ridiculous but it is the same with a social media campaign or strategy.

If there isn't a specific plan in place and you are on social media because everyone else is doing it then a social media audit is probably a great way to help you with your goals.

What you Need for an Audit?

Well, the first thing you will need is a big list of all your social media accounts.

You will also need the analytics of each account over the last 12 months if possible.

Another thing that you will need is a copy of your ideal customer avatar so that you can see if you are targeting the right audience.

Your analytics should include the following:

* Likes* Clicks* Comments* Retweets* Shares* Reach* Impressions* Mentions* Followers

Every social media profile will have a different group of metrics. You will also need to log into Google Analytics to see click-throughs and/or conversions.

Are you tearing your hair out trying to find the best remote working tools to get stuff done?

Whenever there is a crisis or a sudden need to isolate yourself from others you may realise you need to change the way you work.

In the past, it was easy for you to meet clients or prospects face to face.

The thought of not being able to chat with colleagues in the same office can increase your stress levels.

It is no secret that we are so accustomed to human interaction that to some extent we take it for granted.

Maybe, you are an extrovert by nature and the need to self-isolate has taken you by surprise so what do you do?

In this post, you will learn about 37+ tools that will give you the best remote working software and accessories.

Disclosure: Please note that this post may contain affiliate links which means that if you buy one of my recommended products I get paid a commission for sharing the link at no additional cost to you.  I only recommend products that I have tried myself and have experienced success.

Why Consider Remote Working Tools?

Earlier this week I was scanning posts and comments on Facebook when I noticed a single mother of a 4-year old looking for help.

She is still doing her same workload as if she were in the office but she is finding it difficult.

You see, this lady has to conduct conference calls, webinars and prospecting calls while still minding a young child.

It got me thinking if I were in her situation what will I do.

Bearing in mind that I have only 24 hours a day, having to work 8-10 hours a day, all while minding a 4-year old.

What I would do if I were in her shoes is to work smarter and use the best tools to aid that process.

Of course, I will also find activities for my 4-year-old that will keep them busy during those important business interactions.

Working smarter does mean that I will now need to try and accomplish more business tasks in less time.

How to Work Smarter

At this point, you are probably thinking how on earth will you reduce your working day from 10 hours to 6?

The secret to this is to first find those tasks that can be completed in less time.

Also, if there is anything that can be done in advance I will get that done while my child is asleep.

Finally, if there is anything that can be batched together then I will get those completed in huge chunks.

Here are a few examples of what I mean.

* Use an app to take notes during meetings (manual notes slows down calls)* Reduce meeting times from 60 minutes to 35 minutes* Create templates for each type of report or document that is repetitive* Record every call, webinar or meeting using two different software (stuff happens so be prepared)* Avoid unnecessary meetings where possible* Prepare a strict agenda and get approval from all parties* Ensure that everyone is aware that your time is precious* Outsource labour-intensive, repetitive tasks if possible* Delegate other team members to complete non-core items

As you can see just by making a few small adjustments to the way you approach your day allows you to free up precious time.

37+ Remote Work Tools that Make You Look Clever

Let's spend some time looking at the best remote working tools to help you cut time by 50%.

Are you interested in work from home jobs for beginners with families?

Every few years there seem to be issues that affect cities or countries where a country needs to go on lockdown.

Let me know if this sounds familiar...

You know that job security is no longer promised and every year you wish that you can find a work from home option.

One that is recession-proof, crisis-proof and even one that would replace your full-time income.

The truth is that it is very difficult to find something that is recession-proof.

Except for rental properties which continue to be a good investment during a recession.

However, finding a work from home job or opportunity, where you don't need to meet people face to face, is great especially during a crisis.

In this post, you will learn about over 47 different jobs that you can do from home even with social distancing.

Disclosure: Please note that this post may contain affiliate links which means that if you buy one of my recommended products I get paid a commission for sharing the link at no additional cost to you.  I only recommend products that I have tried myself and have experienced success.

Benefits of Working From Home

If you never considered working remotely or from home before this should help you understand the benefits.

People who have young children, health-related challenges, disabilities or even a child or children who needs to be homeschooled will get this right away.

You see we live in a world that is not at all perfect which means that we are all different and unique in one way or another.

This diversity means that some of us are unable to do a 'regular' 9 to 5 job so a work from home option would be more suitable.

If there is one thing I wished for when my children were younger, it is the ability to work remotely while spending more time with my children and loved ones.

The Internet and the advancement of technology over the last 20 years is making it possible to work from virtually anywhere in the world.

Work from home benefits include:

* A shorter commute to your home office* The ability to supervise older children at home* Reduced childcare costs* Low-cost meals* Better work-life balance options* Flexible work hours* Lower stress levels

As you can see the advantages of working from home can be quite attractive for families with children.

Work From Home Equipment

The thought of working outside of a standard office can be quite daunting for some people as they are unsure about what is needed to get started.

At this point, it is pretty obvious that not all jobs can be done remotely or from home.

There are only certain kinds of jobs that require a few basic items which means you are ready to get started.

Here is a list of those items:

* A modern computer (Mac or PC)* VOIP telephone* Headset with microphone* Office standard desk* An ergonomic chair* Great natural lighting (where possible)* Fast Internet access

Some roles would require you to make and receive calls while others only require email and text message communication.

You may come across some that need you to have a physical landline number as well.

It is important for you as an employee or freelance worker to have the best equipment to av...

You've clicked the validate button then hit the apply now button but cannot seem to set up rich pins on Pinterest.

Many days, weeks and months have passed and the promise of success on Pinterest is only a dream.

Everyone keeps saying that the process is easy.

You are constantly seeing report after report of fellow bloggers who managed to increase their traffic by 200%, 500% and even 900% in a short time.

Truth be told, you are this close to either tearing your hair out or totally avoiding any post that mentions Pinterest.

Oh, how your heart yearns to experience that success yourself.

Is it you, or maybe your blog. It could even be the platform you're using or just the theme.

In this post, I will take you through a number of ways where you too can finally pop a bottle of bubbly after you set up rich pins on Pinterest.

What on Earth are Rich Pins Anyway?

In case you are brand new to Pinterest and have not yet had to go through the agony called rich pins let me explain.

Back in 2014, Pinterest introduced a new feature called rich pins which in layman's terms means that more details can be seen by the end-user on your pin.

Depending on the type of pin, these details can include a larger title, more information in the form of two descriptions as well as a call to action button.

Let's look at real-life examples.

In the above image, you will see a Pinterest pin where the rich pin feature is not enabled.

In this example, you can already see that there are a lot more details included on this pin.

This account has rich pins enabled for article pins so you can see much more information about this pin.

Types of Rich Pins

In case you are wondering if there are different types of rich pins, the answer is yes.

When the rich pin feature was launched there were 5 different kinds of pins.

* Recipe pins* Movie pins* Article pins* Place pins* Product pins

It means that a wide range of businesses was being accommodated with this new feature.

However, at the time of writing this article only three types of pins continue to exist, recipe, product and article pins.

Pinterest also gives each business the option to remove rich pins should they decide to do this at a later stage.

You already saw an example of an article pin so let me show you what a recipe pin looks like.

Some experts may argue that there is already so much information on this pin that users will not click-through.

However, if you look carefully you will notice that the method of how to make the cake is missing from the pin.

I think it is a clever way to check the ingredients before clicking through to the page.

5 Key Things to Set Up Rich Pins

Before looking at the process to set up rich pins let's look at the five (5) key things you need to have to make this work.

* Blog post* A tags plugin like Yoast or All Meta Tags* Pinterest business account* Pinterest boards with pins to the URL for validation* Access to pin validator

Let's look at each of these in a little detail.

1. Blog post

In order to set up rich pins,

If your website traffic is abysmal and your SEO efforts are slow you may want to consider an advanced Pinterest course.

At least 85% of bloggers make less than $35,000 a year consistently and the main reason for this is insufficient website traffic or no tribe.

Let me know if you're experiencing this pain.

You have been blogging for more than 2-3 years and using Pinterest for more than 1 year.

As time marches on, you wonder if you have chosen the correct blog niche because things are going at a snail's pace.

One big goal of yours was to qualify for Mediavine in 12 months but this doesn't seem like it will happen anytime soon.

You've taken several blogging courses along the way but none seem to be the silver bullet that will crack the blog traffic code.

It would be great if you can master Pinterest to get a bigger source of traffic while you wait for SEO to kick in.

In this post, you will learn about a number of advanced Pinterest courses that are available and which one would suit your needs best.

Disclosure: Please note that this post may contain affiliate links which means that if you buy one of my recommended products I get paid a commission for sharing the link at no additional cost to you.  I only recommend products that I have tried myself and have experienced success.

What Makes an Advanced Pinterest Course Different?

In order to understand the value of an advanced Pinterest course we first need to see what is covered in a basic course.

Here are the main features you can expect to see in a basic Pinterest course.

* Creating or converting to a Pinterest business account* Setting up rich pins* Claiming your domain* Pinterest boards best practice* Profile optimisation* Overall Pinterest SEO* The perfect Pinterest pin* Best images to use* Doing keywords right

What many bloggers don't realise is the fact that a lot of strategies exists behind a Pinterest business account.

Just creating a post and pinning a pretty pin will not bring overnight success because a lot more occurs behind the scenes.

Now that you have a fair idea of what is covered in a basic Pinterest course let's take a look at advanced strategies.

Key Features of an Advanced Pinterest Course

At this point, you are probably thinking that there could not be a whole lot more covered in the advanced course.

Well, the truth is that it really depends on your overall business goals. You see many different kinds of conversions exist.

Someone with an eCommerce site requires a different action from a person with a standard blog.

Here is a list of module tutorials that you can expect from an advanced Pinterest course.

* Landing pages* Email marketing* Freebies + Funnels* Google + Pinterest SEO* Blog monetisation* Tailwind strategy* Manual vs automated pinning* Seasonal vs evergreen content* Granular anatomy of a Pinterest pin* Promoted pins* Advanced keyword research

As you can see, the advanced Pinterest course is very focused on what happens after a prospect leaves the platform.

In other words, Pinterest shows your pins more if you have a favourable bounce rate.

After someone clicks on your pin do they consume your content or do they quickly hit the back button?

You just clicked the publish button on your new post...

However, now you feel anxious again because you need to research hot niche markets to write about in a matter of days.

Your brain is racing faster than a 2-year-old can go from cutie pie to temper tantrums with screaming in the supermarket aisle.

I received a bid of $1,200.00, to streamline the chaos called social media from software engineers who said that they can do it.

What do you think happened?

As bloggers and entrepreneurs, our dream is to solve problems for millions of people.

Finding solutions to challenges is our purpose so why hasn't anyone developed a system to get this done faster?

In this post, you will learn 9 secrets to unlock access to those hot niche ideas that you need every single month.

Niche Blog vs General Blogging

Depending on your current situation you may have either a blog that is focused on a specific niche or a general lifestyle blog.

While both blogging types are good they differ in terms of the long term intent.

A general lifestyle blog will have a few different ways to monetise the blog compared to a niche blog.

Lifestyle blogs are not very narrowly focused and cater to a variety of interests like food, beauty, travel, home decor and crafts.

This means that the potential to grow a focused list of followers or a tribe on a specific topic can be difficult.

A good example of this is offering freebies or printables to cater to a wide interest range.

Even launching a course with an audience of a niche blog would have a better chance of success compared to a lifestyle blog.

What is a Hot Niche Market

In a recent post, I went through the process about how to pick a blog niche in 2 days.

I don't want to confuse you as my reader.

So I thought it would be best to clarify the difference between finding hot niche markets compared to picking a standard blog niche.

When someone is thinking of starting a blog it would make sense for them to pick a niche based on their skills, talents, education and other important factors.

After establishing that foundation as a blogger, looking out for hot ideas in your niche is always important.

These hot niche ideas can be compared to adding the jam on a layered cake or even the frosting.

The cake is your overall blog niche focus.

While the jam, frosting, sprinkles and icing are the topics that make your blog different from similar blogs in your niche.

In fact, the stuff that your granny used to decorate cakes 50-100 years ago is very outdated. Unless you are going for a retro cake.

Hot niche ideas will help you to connect more easily to potential readers and followers in the current economy.

Get the Most Searched Blog Topics List, even if you...

Suffer from Mom guilt

Are feeling overwhelmed

Are you thinking of becoming a blogger but you need to pick a blog niche?

You notice that many of your friends or people who you know are getting into this blogging thing and you want to do the same.

Let me know if this sounds familiar.

As the years go by working at that 9-5 job is proving to be more difficult when you want to spend time with your loved ones.

The idea of running your own side hustle sounds super attractive but you are terrified to get started.

In fact, you don't think that you are any good at writing and besides who would listen to you anyway.

Creating your very own website or blog seems pretty scary because you are just not a techy person at all.

The good news is that none of us was born knowing how to blog, we all learned along the way.

In this post, you will learn the necessary steps that you can take to get this blogging thing right as well as how to pick a blog niche that is right for you.

What on Earth is a Blog Niche Anyway?

You can think of a niche blog as a website that is focused on a specific topic that addresses the concerns of people that share a common interest.

That common interest could be a location, food, gadgets, experiences and just about anything.

In fact, according to Wikipedia, niche blogging "may appeal to geographic areas, a speciality industry, ethnic or age groups, or any other particular group of people."

The most important aspect is that this group of people would share a common interest that is meaningful enough for them to talk about.

A location could be Manhattan, a speciality industry could be 3D printing and age could refer to millennials.

One thing I find super interesting about blogging is that generally speaking no one likes to be labelled.

However, everyone wants to belong to a group or a community that represents them in some way.

Get the Most Searched Blog Topics List, even if you...

Suffer from Mom guilt

Are feeling overwhelmed

Get distracted with a bazillion things

Have a hard time staying focused

Don't know where to start

Need to balance home, work and kids

Are feeling clueless

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