Hard Facts

Pinterest is a massively undervalued asset when it comes to social media platforms to leverage. It has the capacity to drive massive amounts of traffic because it's increasingly being used as a search engine. You can use Pinterest to drive traffic directly to your website, because users aren't expecting to stay on the platform when they're using it like they do when they're scrolling through their Facebook feeds. Seasonal pins, or timely pins, that focus on what's happening currently; be it winter sports or summer project time; drive massive amounts of traffic and can increase awareness at 10X the rate of a normal post. Need I say more?! I'm going over how you can leverage seasonal pins on Pinterest to drive more traffic to your website in today's Hard Facts!

With recent Instagram updates hitting headlines, I focused on the platform on my latest few episodes of Trending Topics and received a ton of questions about Instagram. I wanted to share my 7 hacks for increasing engagement and so much more! #1- Untag Yourself on Instagram #2- Focus on Engagement #3- Increase Engagement with Geotags #4- Reorder Your Filters #5- Utilize the Color Blue #6- Consider Spaces & Emojis to Draw Attention to Your Bio #7- Match Your Highlights to Your Intended Audience I'm breaking these hacks down in today's Hard Facts!  

Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms out there, but its lack of features available for a desktop experience has been a major issue for many; especially when it comes to posting! Not anymore-- in today's Hard Facts I'm sharing 2, yes not one but TWO ways you can post to Instagram from your computer.

Website load times exceeding just a few seconds can mean major problems for your conversion rates as online traffic moves exceedingly mobile; up to 20% to be specific! Despite this, the average load speed for mobile sites is nearly 16 seconds. This wouldn't be such a big deal if consumers weren't 62% likely to purchase from you after having negative mobile site experiences... but they are. While all this may terrify you, it's actually good news; because chances are if you put some work into your mobile site now-- you'll see increased conversion rates immediately! Our go-to girl for all things digital, Juliana, is sharing why your mobile site speed is so important and how to know what to improve to increase load times in today's Potratz Pointer. Use the link to check your site speed! https://goo.gl/JRaVLE

Creating a content calendar is no easy feat but it's absolutely necessary to have some way to organize our content in order to syndicate it. A few weeks ago, we talked about how to create a content calendar but in today's Hard Facts we're going to focus on ways to organize your information in order to execute on that calendar you created.  There are a ton of tools and software out there that can make this possible; and nearly all the options I cover today come with in a free version. Here are the tools I cover in today's episode: 1) Google Calendar- This is a great tool to utilize when looking to organize ourselves as individuals (not so much with a team). It's always available right in your email and you can set notifications for events or times. You can also maintain multiple calendars for different areas of content. 2) Google Sheets- This tool is just as convenient as Google Calendar but far more customizable. Sheets is great for organizing all your content in one place. You can utilize rows and columns fo

When it comes to bringing your brand to life, consistency is key! From the imagery and colors you use in your promotional materials to the fonts you utilize on your content, you need to maintain a level of consistency in order for your audience to be able to build a connection with your brand. There are 6 elements necessary to consider when curating your branding. These elements are... 1-Tone 2- Color Scheme 3- Logo 4- Brand Image 5- Photography 6- Font In this week's Hard Facts, I wanted to explain how these elements work in building your brand identity, as well as why they're important.

You’ve been making noise on social media, but it’s time to get serious. You need a space that’s all your own— where your audience can come to see you and you alone! You’re ready to make the leap and make a website. Commiting to a specific platform and finding the right template that suits your needs can be difficult. There’s a lot to consider; from the design of your site matching your particular style to the platform and interface being user friendly for both you and your audience. So in this week’s Hard Facts, I want to make it easier! Follow my 3 tips for finding the perfect platform template and plugins for your personal website and this major project will become much more manageable. PLUS, I am sharing some top providers you can find your new website with.

The National Association of Realtors came out with a report that’s full name is an absolute mouthful, so we’ll just call it the Generational Tools Report. The purpose of this report— to identify what age ranges and generations were buying homes; how they went about the research and buying process, from platforms or devices used to recurring issues experienced; and beyond! But if you think this report only applies to real estate agents… you’re wrong! There’s a major lesson to be learned from the content it provides, one being that WHO is buying should effect HOW you’re communicating. I’ll break down the details in today’s Hard Facts, but trust me- you’re going to want to see the findings from this report, real estate or not.

Attention spans continue to shorten drastically; are you considering that when writing your ad copy? Extended text ads are nothing new, but just because the option is there doesn't necessarily mean you should take it. Waiting to include those important details and calls to action later in your copy puts your message at risk of not being noticed! That's why I wanted to focus this week's Hard Facts on rethinking your Google ad copy, and be ready-- I'm sending you home with some homework after the video! Look at the Google ads you're currently running. Are you burying important information in your description or is it prominently displayed early on? If not, make the edits necessary and see if that ad performs any better. My guess... it will ;)

Are you a solo-preneur or working with a small team and aren't sure if you can handle expanding your staff, or if you really need to yet? Then this week's Hard Facts is for YOU! It can be difficult to determine when you need help- and what kind of help you need- when building your business, but with the 3 tips I'm sharing in today's episode- IT'S SIMPLE! It all starts with making... a list! I love lists, but this is the kind of list that reveals to you EXACTLY what you need as far as help or staff for your business as you're building it.  I'll be explaining exactly how to write out and work your list of responsibilities in order to determine what you need help with and if you need to hire for it-- as well as how to go about your hires.  

There is one medium where you can guarantee how you interact and engage with your audience? An audience you own? Email marketing offers the most control when it comes to how you share a message with and engage your audience. But— that’s only if your emails are landing in inboxes and getting opened; NOT if they’re spam-bound from the start. Items like your ISP- internet service provider, email subject lines, IP/domain reputation, trigger words and the quality of your email list all play a part in your success. In this week’s Hard Facts, I’m breaking down what tactics and email deliverability best practices you need to ENSURE your emails get delivered to inboxes AND get opened!

Social media can be overwhelming to conquer when it comes to your marketing, but the rewards can be well worth the trials and tribulations. Like anything in life, going in with a plan can make all the difference-- and the only way to do this in terms of your social marketing is by devising an actionable strategy and content calendar. Don't stress out! I'm breaking down exactly what you need to get started in this week's Hard Facts!   PS- Here's the link to my video on hashtagging best practices. Trust me, you're going to need it!

While consumers are unnerved learned their digital data has been compromised by their favorite social site, marketers are reeling at the upcoming loss of the “secret sauce” in their Facebook strategies. What do I have to say about it? RELAX! Yes, our jobs got a little more difficult– but not undoable! I’m sharing 3 ways to leverage the changes happening in your social landscape in this week’s Hard Facts!

It's easy to blame our issues on others, particularly when we're not seeing the outcomes we think we deserve. But that doesn't mean the blame belongs with them. Is there something you could be missing? Or something you're not doing differently? Chances are the answer is yes. I'm elucidating all the BS in this week's #HardFacts.

Youtube is increasing its competitiveness among the ranks of other social platforms giants with new updates and features for users. I'll explain what they are and what they could mean for your channel on this week's Hard Facts.

Like most social media platforms, Twitter has announced new updates to how they prioritize and publish content. But what does that mean for us as marketers? No more leveraging content across multiple client Twitter accounts. But before you cancel all your Twitter campaigns, let me explain the exact changes being made & strategies for how to deal them in this week's #HardFacts!

We all want to capitalize on product-specific, service-specific marketing options to get our message, service or product out there.  On Facebook one of the ways we can accomplish this is with the carousel ad format; we’ve talked about using those before BUT this week let's talk about a similar option in Adwords. I'll explain how to use Adwords Gmail Catalog Ads in this week's Hard Facts.

You would think uttering a single word wouldn't be difficult, but saying “no” can sometimes feel impossible, especially in terms of business. We equate it with being closed off to opportunity, not being able to juggle all we feel we should; with failing. But, that could't be further from the truth.

Quality feedback from your customers can be priceless information capable of pinpointing the strengths and weaknesses of your business, the needs and wants of your customers and, in turn, leaves you with a better idea of how to sell to them. Are you doing all you can to make the conversation happen naturally? Are you focusing on their experiences and not you? Listen to this edition of Hard Facts to learn what you should be doing to start the conversation, what to consider including in that conversation and how to move forward with their feedback in mind.