How to Handle Negative Facebook Reviews

February 13, 2018 By Mindy Leave a Comment

Nobody wants bad reviews. That’s a given.

But, sometimes it happens. Whether you feel it’s warranted or not.

As a business owner, one of the toughest parts of the job is dealing with unhappy, or even angry, clients. What do you do when a client turns to Facebook and seems hell bent on destroying your business?

This sounds dramatic but it does happen. And while we love social media because it brings everyone together, it’s a double edged sword. Someone who is angry at your business could “rally the troops” and attack your Facebook Reviews.

If you think I’m being extreme, let’s remember the case of the blogger vs the photographer. Blogger Neely and her husband Andrew had a $125 disagreement with their wedding photographer – so they took their complaint to the local news. Soon after the segment aired, the photographer’s Facebook Page was flooded with nasty messages to the point where she had to delete her Page.

More recently a Southern California DJ has come under fire after a potential client posted a screenshot of an email where the DJ made a misogynist comment about female DJs. Soon their Facebook Page lit up with 1 star reviews from people who had never even worked with them. Unfortunately, the owner of the company made the situation much worse by trying to justify the comments rather than offer a simple apology and retraction.

And with Facebook reviews, they can’t be deleted. Only the person who posted it can delete their review or comment. Oof.

So what should you do with negative Facebook reviews? Whether you find yourself in an extreme situation like the photographer, or are doing damage control like the DJ, here are a few things to remember. Obviously all of these suggestions won’t apply to every situation, but keep these in mind if you find yourself starting to go viral for the wrong reasons.

How to Handle Negative Facebook Reviews

Honesty is always the best policy. Even if someone is lying about you, take the high road and share your side of the story in the most honest way possible. As time goes on it’s too difficult to try to keep up with all the fibs, so just be honest from the beginning.

Never (ever ever) complain about the client on your private Facebook profile or in a private group. Guess what? The Internet has eyes and ears everywhere.

Also, never ask your friends to leave you positive reviews to balance out the negative reviews. Asking for fake reviews is always tacky, period.

Trying to explain yourself without an apology will often make a bad situation worse. In the case of the DJ he kept making comments trying to explain what he really meant, which led to MORE angry comments. If someone misconstrues what you said, be the bigger person and apologize for the offending comments. This isn’t the time to try to change someone’s mind about their personal beliefs and values.

Everything will calm down if you leave it alone. Yes, I know you want to fight back. Yes, I know you want to clear your name. There’s a quote by Alan Watts that I love … “Muddy waters are best cleared by leaving it alone.” Apologize, take the conversation offline, work it out, and stop talking about it online.

The customer is always right. It’s the #1 principle of business. Even if we know they are wrong. Even if we know they are lying. The customer is always right. Try your best to find a way to make it right with them before a situation gets out of control. Even if you have to take a hit, either financially or to your ego.

Last resort: Start gathering evidence. I hate to include this, but in the example of the photographer above the couple was set on destroying her business (as evidenced by a text message to a friend that came out during legal discovery). If you have a really bad feeling about the situation, start taking screenshots of everything just to be safe. I’m not saying this to scare you – these situations are extremely rare; most negative comments are just Internet trolls having their idea of fun and will eventually go away if you ignore them.

While negative reviews and Internet trolls are not fun, it’s part of life in the social media age. Social media makes it easy to spread positive news, but negative news seems to spread like damn wildfire. Whatever you can do to douse it as quickly as possible will serve you well in the end.

The One Secret to Beating the Instagram Algorithm That No One is Talking About

February 6, 2018 By Mindy 2 Comments

Instagram. You love it, you need it. It’s your favorite platform for business. But that pesky algorithm keeps changing on us, and with every change comes new strategy tips. Use enough hashtags but not TOO much! Your caption shouldn’t be too long but ALSO not too short! Like other people’s photos but especially if they’ve posted within the LAST EIGHT MINUTES!

Oh gosh, seriously?

All the experts want you to follow all these rules to game the system, but no one talks about the one thing you need to do to beat the Instagram algorithm. And that thing is …

POST GREAT CONTENT.

Okay yeah, I can sense your eyes rolling from here. But hear me out.

Instagram is a platform that was built to share authentic photos. Photos of what you’re up to, what you’re doing, what you’re looking at.

It was never meant to be a platform used to market our businesses with perfectly curated photos and 30 hashtags in the first comment. But, that’s what it turned into.

So now people think they can post whatever, follow all the algorithm-busting tricks, and their account will soar. And then they get frustrated when nothing happens.

You can try to trick the algorithm all day and all night, but if your content sucks it’s all for nothing.

Now I realize that posting great content is easier said than done, so I’m going to give you a few basic pointers. Keep all of these items in mind before you post on Instagram.

How to REALLY Beat the Instagram Algorithm

1) Is your photo good? Is it pretty? If you saw it in your feed would you double-tap it? Is the photo easy to understand, is it clear and bright, does it make sense? Above all, your photo has to be good, if not great. (If you need help editing your photos, click here.)

2) Does your photo speak to your audience? This is where things get a little complicated. Do you know your target market? Are you posting content that relates to your ideal client?

I’ll give you an example … I could post the most beautiful photo of my lunch that anyone has ever seen. The lighting, the composition, the colors, it’s all perfect. But, my audience loves Disney, so they don’t care about my food photos. However, my friend who is a food blogger could post the same exact photo and get hundreds of likes and comments on it.

3) Does your caption tell a story? Don’t just drop an emoji and your hashtags and run. Ideally your picture should speak for itself, but use the caption to share a bit about what the photo means to you, and engage your followers. Ask them a question, or give them a bit of inspiration or motivation. Don’t be a passive Instagram poster!

4) Use Stories. Instagram is putting a lot into their Stories platform and I wouldn’t be surprised if, in a couple years, Stories is the “main” platform while “regular” Instagram takes a backseat. So start using Stories, and interacting with other people’s Stories. (Get some Stories tips here.)

5) Above all, be authentic. Don’t use the same string of hashtags on each photo. Don’t post at the same exact time every day. Don’t engage with other accounts by commenting “Cute!” all their photos. Don’t just upload photos to Stories without doing some live videos as well. If you act like a robot, Instagram is going to treat you like a robot. Instagram rewards users who use their platform in an authentic way. Instagram is watching you, and they see eeeeeeverything.

Bottom line? Post good content and be authentic; it’s the only way to beat Instagram’s constantly changing algorithm.

Enjoyed this article? Please pin it!

The One Secret to Beating the Instagram Algorithm That No One is Talking About

Need a Social Media Strategy for 2018? Let’s Plan it Together!

December 20, 2017 By Mindy 1 Comment

Let’s cut straight to the chase …

Are you feeling frustrated with your social media results (or lack thereof)?
Are you tired of staring at a blank screen while you figure out what to post?
Are you spinning your wheels trying to keep up with every social media platform?

If you answered yes to any of these, then you probably are missing one thing – A STRATEGY!

Marketing your business on social media without a strategy is only going to lead to failure, and I don’t want any of you to fail on social media!

Because it really is SO EASY to set up a strategy, and stick to it!

It just take a little time and effort, and a little bit of guidance.

Setting up social media strategies for business owners like you is what I do in my consulting sessions. I love doing it, but I know there’s no way I can reach all of you, due to budget and location restraints.

Which is why I created my goal setting course, Step Up Your Social Media!

Through Step Up Your Social Media, we will deep-dive into your business goals, review your ideal client profile, discuss the different social media platforms, and tie it all together so you can start seeing results from social media!

Step Up Your Social Media will launch in January and consist of the following:

Social Media Goal Setting Workbook
Two 60 Minute Online Group Calls with Mindy
Additional Resources Just for Members
Three Quarterly Group Calls to Revisit Your Goals and Strategy throughout 2018

This is a LIVE COURSE taking place in January, which means we will get on live webinars together. However, the webinar replays will be available so you can go through the course content on your own time.

Best of all, this course is available for only $39. That’s a fraction of my hourly rate! For the value and time I’m providing, I could potentially charge a lot more … and maybe the price will go up in the future. But my only concern for now is to reach as many people as possible and get you on your way with a social media plan for 2018!

Click here –> Step Up Your Social Media
Note: This course will start mid-January 2018, and there will be no materials available until then.

4 Ideas for Using Instagram Story Polls

October 12, 2017 By Mindy Leave a Comment

It has been over a year since Instagram Stories debuted and it seems to be a huge hit. Most of my friends are using the platform daily and Instagram keeps adding more and more features. (Although, I really need them to step up their face filter game; Snapchat is still light years ahead.)

Recently Instagram introduced the “Poll” feature, which allows you to set up a voting poll in your Stories. Your followers can then vote on the poll and you can see the results, including who voted and how they voted. It’s really fun! And a great way to get to know your followers better and boost engagement.

If you’re not familiar with how to use Instagram Story polls, here’s a quick tutorial.

Open up your Instagram app and swipe right to get to the Story screen. Create a new Story picture or video but don’t add it yet.

Go to the “sticker” icon and you’ll see the “poll” option. (If you don’t see the poll option, make sure your Instagram app is up to date.) Click on that to add the poll to your picture.

Type in your poll question, then type in your poll answer options. It defaults to yes/no, but you can type in anything, or add emojis.

When you’re ready, add it to your Story feed.

To check the results of your polls, watch your Story and swipe up to see more detailed results.

Here are a few ideas on how to use Instagram Story polls to engage with your followers.

4 Ideas for Using Instagram Story Polls

1. This or That? Ask your followers their opinion between two items. Do you prefer pizza or tacos? Wine or beer? Summer or winter?

2. Choose Your Own Adventure. Get creative on asking your followers what you should do next! When the poll feature was first introduced, I asked my followers if I should skip work for the day and go to Disneyland (surprise – I was already planning on going anyway). It got a great response!

Another idea is asking your followers what you should eat or drink.

3. Do You Want to See? Let’s say you’re working on creating a new product. You can ask your followers if they want to see some behind-the-scenes videos. Or maybe you’re packing up your supplies for an event; you can ask your followers if they want to see inside your bag.

4. Have You Ever? This is a fun one that generally requires easy yes or no answers! You can ask your followers “Have you ever been on an airplane?” “Have you ever tried the Dole Whip dessert at Disneyland?” “Have you ever planned a bridal shower?” Ask them anything!

How are you using Instagram Story polls to interact with your audience?

A Case Study in How NOT to Do Twitter Customer Service

September 27, 2017 By Mindy Leave a Comment

If you receive a business complaint on social media, can you stay cool under pressure?

Remember the old phrase – “the customer is always right?”

All businesses should remember social media is not just for networking and promotion, but for customer service as well. And everyone who follows you or writes to you is a potential customer or client.

Recently, a blogger discovered a small local magazine had reprinted one of her recipes. The magazine listed her name as the creator of the recipe, but did not get her permission to re-print her recipe. This is, of course, a clear copyright violation.

When the blogger sent a tweet to the magazine’s Twitter account, their social media rep became defensive.

“We gave you the same credit as everyone else. This was found on Pinterest, updating that information would be helpful.”

*wince* My goodness, where to start here ….

First of all, defending the decision to print a blogger’s content without permission with the “we did it the same way for everyone” excuse is not really an excuse.

Second, using Pinterest as a “source?” No way. Any decent publication should know Pinterest is a content aggregator, not a place to dip into when you’ve run out of original ideas.

Third, and most important … do I sense some sarcasm? Implying that it’s the blogger’s fault the magazine stole her content?

And the blogger certainly took offense to this, based on her reply:

“Are you joking? Pinterest is not a source. It’s a content aggregator. You have to follow through to source content. Due diligence. Try it.”

To which the magazine replied with further sarcasm:

“Apologies for including you in our print. Thanks for addressing this ‘concern’ tactfully. Email the editor if you have existing concerns.”

(Note – the original blogger and some of the other responders later deleted their tweets, so I blurred out everyone’s identities here. However, the magazine did not delete any of their tweets.)

The whole situation got a lot worse when fellow bloggers jumped in to defend the original blogger.

And that’s just a small sampling.

Eventually the magazine said their editors were in touch with the original blogger and stopped responding to comments. But, whoa … the damage was done.

Obviously this was a bad situation that escalated way out of control.

Perhaps whoever runs the magazine’s Twitter account did not realize the magazine was actually in the wrong here. Still, in this situation, when faced with public criticism, the only appropriate response is to thank the user for bringing the issue to their attention and to please DM or email them to discuss further.

A simple initial response such as this one could have avoided what ended up being a huge tweet storm full of condescending and sarcastic comments.

Even if you feel you are NOT in the wrong and have the urge to defend yourself, it’s best to write a simple public acknowledgement of the issue and continue to address the concern privately.

I hope this example of how NOT to do Twitter customer service can act as a learning experience for everyone.

How to Schedule a Week’s Worth of Facebook Posts in 30 Minutes

July 20, 2017 By Mindy Leave a Comment

One of the complaints I hear often about social media is never having enough time to keep up with posting. There are too many platforms, and only so many hours in the day! I totally understand. Which is why I love to take advantage of platforms that include their own scheduling function, like Facebook.

Facebook makes it very easy to schedule content to your business page. They also make it very easy to find content to schedule to your page. In fact, I’ve got my system down so I can schedule a week’s worth of Facebook posts in just about 30 minutes. I try to post four times per day on my Facebook page, which I realize is a rather aggressive schedule. I always recommend business should post 1-4 times per day, so if posting four times a day makes your eyes cross, just focus on scheduling one post a day!

Here is my Facebook scheduling routine and sources. Your first time going through it may take a little longer than 30 minutes. But once you’re used to it, you should be able to fly through your scheduler in no time flat!

Keep in mind this tutorial is for using a desktop computer or laptop. You can schedule content via the Facebook mobile app but I work quicker on my laptop.

And if you have any questions about any of these steps? Please leave me a comment or ask me for help in my VIP Facebook group.

How to Schedule a Week’s Worth of Facebook Posts in 30 Minutes

1. Go through your Pages Feed, open up seven articles that look interesting in new tabs, and schedule one per day.

To add Pages to your Pages Feed, click the “Like Other Pages” button and search for the Page.

To schedule a share of a Facebook post, copy the post URL and paste it into a new post on your Page.

2. Go through your blog’s analytics, look at your 30 most popular posts, pick seven to share, and schedule one per day.

3. Go to your Pinterest feed, find seven images you love that relate to your niche/business. Pin them to your own boards and save the image to your computer. Then upload the image and link to your pins on Facebook. Schedule one per day.

4. Do a search for your niche on Etsy or any shopping website. If you’re in the wedding industry, for example, search for beautiful handmade wedding items. Schedule one link on Facebook per day.

Congrats, you now have a week’s worth of content scheduled (or maybe even more)! I hope these tips help you explode your Facebook Page!

5 SEO Mistakes You Might Be Making on Your Business Website

June 27, 2017 By Mindy Leave a Comment

SEO … ugh. The worst, right? What is it, really? And what do you really need to know about it?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and the concept of SEO is, on paper, rather simple. SEO is how well your website ranks on search engines such as Google. There are literally hundreds of ways you can optimize your SEO, and this is why most business owners become overwhelmed. But really, there are only a handful of things you need to do to boost your SEO and your Google ranking. Make sure you’re following all the rules listed below and you’ll be off to a great start.

5 SEO Mistakes You Might Be Making on Your Business Website

1. Not having a blog! I totally understand that maintaining an active blog is difficult. Most business owners push it to the back burner and only update their blog when they have absolutely nothing else to do. But what most business owners don’t realize is how crucial an active blog is for SEO. Instead of letting your website get stale, a blog will help you maintain fresh content, which Google loves. Also, with every blog post is another chance to rank for a new keyword. The more your website can come up under different search terms, the better! (See #2 for more.) And don’t forget creating blog posts gives you tons of social media content. I truly believe blogging is critical for maintaining a healthy online presence.

2. You’re focusing on only one keyword. Want to rank for “Wedding Planner?” So do thousands of other people. And there’s nothing wrong with it, but you’re better off focusing on a handful of niche keyword phrases, such as “Los Angeles Wedding Planner,” “Los Angeles Wedding Coordinator,” “Top Los Angeles Wedding Planners,” “Los Angeles Event Planner.” Sprinkling your keywords (or key phrases) throughout your website copy will help diversify your results on Google.

3. Using generic file names. This is probably the EASIEST SEO strategy you can do! Be sure you’re changing your image file names BEFORE you upload them to your website. Never (ever ever) upload a photo with a name like “IMG_001.” Be sure to change the file name to match a description of the image. For example, “wedding-ceremony-on-beach-1.”

4. Ignoring Alt Text on your images. Renaming the files is a great strategy, but not enough. Once you upload a photo file to your website, be sure to type in a descriptive Alt Text for each image. The Alt Text is used to tell Google what’s shown in the photo, which is how images show up under Google Image search.

5. Your website is not optimized for mobile. I’d be willing to bet more than half of your website’s traffic comes from a mobile device. Mine is around 60%, so I’m at a point where I’m focusing more on how my site looks on mobile than on desktop. Google knows mobile is important, too, so they are actually restricting non-optimized mobile sites from coming up on searches. You can use the Google Mobile-Friendly Test to check your site.

Be sure you’re not making these SEO mistakes. And if you are, it’s not too late to fix them! Remember your website is your “store front” so make it clean and inviting, and Google (and potential clients) will take notice.

101 Content Ideas for Wedding Professionals

May 10, 2017 By Mindy Leave a Comment

Has this ever happened to you? You know you need to write a blog post because you haven’t written anything in ages, so you pull up a blank page and then …. stare at the cursor for hours because you have no idea what to write about. I feel like every business owner has had this struggle at some point. Which is why I wanted to create this list of content ideas especially for wedding professionals!

This list contains 50 blog post ideas to get the creative writing juices flowing, plus 51 social media post prompts. I hope they help you get out of the writing slump!

101 Content Ideas for Wedding Professionals

Blog Posts

1. Introduce yourself.
2. Share 5 fun facts about yourself.
3. Write about how you got into your industry.
4. Share how you came up with your business name.
5. Tell everyone about your first gig. How did it come about?

6. Share your most recent wedding or event.
7. Share your DREAM wedding or event. Use pictures from Pinterest (with proper photographer credit).
8. Write about ONE amazing wedding detail you’ve seen recently.
9. Write about your favorite wedding trends.
10. Write about your LEAST favorite wedding trends (but be gentle so you don’t offend any clients!)

11. Create a FAQ – what questions do you get from clients over and over?
12. Share your expertise. What do you want clients to know about your business and your job?
13. Interview a fellow business owner. Do a blog post swap and interview each other.
14. Or have your spouse/partner interview you. Or interview them!
15. Share a DIY! If you have a product, show how you make it without giving away all the details.

16. Share your favorite wedding color combos.
17. Do a round up of your favorite wedding flowers.
18. What’s the best food you’ve ever had/seen at an event?
19. What’s the funniest thing you’ve ever seen at an event?
20. What’s the most romantic thing you’ve ever seen at an event?

21. Welcome your new couples/clients to your business family. Share an engagement photo and a little about them. (Ask permission first.)
22. Interview one of your couples/clients. Ask them what they are looking forward to about their wedding or event. (Better yet, create a questionnaire you can send to ALL your clients.)
23. Share a positive testimonial from a past client. Be sure to say something positive about them and their event as well!
24. Share what you’re reading lately. Can be personal or business related!
25. Post about a recent vacation.

26. Make a list of your favorite First Dance songs.
27. Do a round up of First Look images.
28. Do a round up of amazing bridal gowns.
29. Do a round up of your favorite groom style.
30. Spotlight one of your favorite venues.

31. Talk about indoor vs outdoor weddings.
32. Talk about small vs large weddings.
33. Talk about wedding dress codes.
34. Bust a well-known wedding myth in your industry.
35. Talk about the pros and cons of eloping.

36. Share some of your early work and talk about how you’ve grown and evolved.
37. Write about one of your big dreams – either business or personal.
38. Write about your family.
39. Write about a favorite childhood memory.
40. Write about one of your favorite teachers or someone who changed your life.

41. Write about a celebrity or public figure you really admire.
42. Share some of your favorite poems.
43. Write about your biggest business regret.
44. Talk about some good business advice your received when you were just starting out.
45. Talk about a pivotal moment in your career.

46. Share your “Instagram week in review” showing all your Instagram posts from that week.
47. Do a follow up or “Part 2” for your most popular post.
48. Do a round-up of your most popular posts.
49. Do a monthly recap of your events or products.
50. Do a year-end post highlighting your favorite events.

Facebook

51. Share your favorite wedding-related links and articles.
52. Post funny GIFs or memes about weddings. GIPHY.com is a great resource.
53. Share your favorite wedding-related YouTube videos.
54. Write up a quick story about a recent event, and share with a picture.
55. Create a slideshow of recent event images.
56. Create an album of your favorite event or product photos.
57. Share a link to a pin on Pinterest you love.
58. Post your most recent blog post.
59. Share breaking news regarding your industry (for example, celebrity or royal weddings).
60. Share a selfie of you with a recent client/couple.
61. Welcome a recent client/couple who just hired you. Include a photo of them. (Ask permission first.)
62. Let people know if you’re going to be at a wedding expo or event.
63. Ask a question. “What’s your favorite flower for weddings?” or “What were your wedding colors?” can create some good engagement.
64. Post a “fill-in-the-blank” question. For example, “If I could get married anywhere, it would be at ______”
65. Share a funny or cute animal video … just because. No one can resist them!
66. Share the link for the Facebook Page of your business besties and let your followers know why they should Like their page.
67. Re-share a Snapchat or Instagram Story video that did well.
68. Do a Facebook Live video showing behind-the-scenes at your job or an event.
69. Do a Facebook Live video answering some of your most frequently asked questions.
70. Share your Instagram photos with different captions.

Instagram

71. Share a great photo from a recent event.
72. Post a selfie of you at work.
73. Share a pretty landscape photo with a love quote.
74. Write some fun facts about yourself with a recent headshot or publicity photo.
75. Post a pretty photo from a recent vacation.
76. Share a #tbt (Throwback Thursday) post from an old event, or a picture from childhood!
77. Do a “Caption This” with a funny picture from one of your events or a picture of yourself doing something weird.
78. Post about holidays and wish your followers a good day.
79. Post about those obscure holidays too, like #NationalCupcakeDay or #NationalHuggingDay
80. Do a “thank you” post when you reach follower milestones.

Snapchat/Instagram Stories

81. Introduce yourself.
82. Share a “day in the life.”
83. Show behind-the-scenes of an event.
84. Talk about how you “treat yo’self” or do self-care after events.
85. Answer follower questions.
86. Interview a business bestie.
87. Show what you’re cooking/eating.
88. Use geofilters to show where you’re at.
89. Offer a sneak peek of a new product or recent photos.
90. Ask your followers to tell you how their day is going!

91. Pin any eye-catching photos from your website.
92. Create vertical images for your blog posts to share on Pinterest.
93. Make a board featuring your best work.
94. Pin your favorite wedding products – dresses, jewelry, shoes, rings, etc.
95. Pin from blog posts or websites of your business besties.
96. You can pin videos on Pinterest so share your favorites from YouTube!

97. Share your best testimonials.
98. Post links to your new blog posts.
99. Share inspirational quotes/images.
100. Want to network? Post and see who in your area might be available to meet up for coffee.
101. Have a great new headshot or publicity photo? Share it!

Grow Your Pinterest in 10 Minutes a Day

March 22, 2017 By Mindy Leave a Comment

Are you using Pinterest to its full potential? I can’t tell you enough how important Pinterest has been to growing my blog and my business. Pinterest accounts for about 40% of my blog traffic every month! And since it’s a visual platform, weddings is one of Pinterest’s most popular categories. A couple years ago, 70% of brides admitted to having a wedding Pinterest board – and I’m assuming the number has only grown from there (source)! In fact, in a recent poll of my bride community, the vast majority said they used Pinterest, not Instagram, to search for wedding vendors. So if you’ve been slacking with your Pinterest account, let this be a wake up call for you!

Growing your Pinterest following doesn’t have to be terribly time consuming. In fact, I spend about 10 minutes a day working on Pinterest (however – I do spend some extra time browsing and pinning, for fun).

Here’s a quick 10-minute per day strategy for Pinterest. The routine may take you a bit longer at first, but once you have it down you’ll fly through it!

Grow Your Pinterest in 10 Minutes a Day

1. Pin five things from your feed. (2 minutes)

This is an easy one! Just pull up pinterest.com and scroll through your feed and find five pins you love, and repin them to your boards.

2. Check your notifications. (5 minutes)

Click on the top right icon where you see the little red number bubble. These are your notifications, telling you when someone pinned your content. Find people who recently pinned your content and follow their boards. Also repin something from one of their boards. Do this up to five times, but don’t spend longer than five minutes on it.

Just click on the red “Follow” button to follow their board. Once clicked, the button will show “Unfollow” and this means you successfully followed them.

3. Look at related pins. (1 minute)

Use the notifications to find a pin that has been recently repinned. When looking at the pin, you can scroll down to see “related pins.” These are pins that Pinterest considers to be similar to your pin. Find a pin you love and repin it.

4. Leave one comment a day (2 minutes)

It’s great practice to leave a comment on at least one pin per day. It’s great if you can find a pin that already has a lot of repins, because this means it’s popular. Leave a genuine comment about the pin, meaning don’t just type “Nice pin!” or “Great!” and defintely don’t leave your website in the comment. The goal with leaving comments on other people’s pins is to try to get your profile seen by more eyeballs! And if you leave a spammy comment, the account owner will likely delete it.

5. As you do the above, look for a pin you can share on other social media accounts.

Need Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter content? Grab an image you love and share it on one of your other platforms. Don’t forget to make a note of the original source of the image so you can give them credit!

That’s how you grow your Pinterest following in 10 minutes a day! Of course you can spend more time on it, and get results even quicker. But if you only have 10 minutes to spare, this is a great strategy!

The Introvert’s Guide to Networking

March 14, 2017 By Mindy Leave a Comment

This post contains affiliate links.

Alt Summit SLC 2014 – Photo Credit: Brooke Dennis via Flickr

When I first got into blogging several years ago, I really threw myself into it. I read books, posted in forums, participated in webinars, basically anything I could absorb about the business of blogging. Before I knew it, I got carried away and I found myself suddenly signed up to attend three blogging conferences in a four month period! The only problem was … I’m a total introvert. Yep, I’m that girl who ate lunch by herself in the bathroom in high school. I’m that girl who doesn’t make eye contact unless absolutely necessary. I’m that girl who always preferred online socializing to real life human interaction.

Oh geez … what was I going to do???

Luckily for my first conference I went with a friend, which is good and bad. It was easier to walk into a room full of strangers with someone you’re comfortable with alongside you. But for the first part of the conference, we found ourselves sticking together. For the afternoon sessions, we were assigned to different tables for each session, which forced us to move around the room and meet new people. And luckily, every session started with a business card exchange and it wasn’t too difficult to find someone you could connect with (“Hey, you’re from Los Angeles? Me, too! Hey, you blog about weddings? Me, too!”). By the end of that first day, my friend and I, who are both somewhat shy, were chatting it up with anyone who would walk by.

I’m still pretty shy and socially awkward, but here’s the thing to remember about bloggers and most solopreneurs: we all are to some degree. We all chose a life where we work from home, usually alone or with small humans or animals, and communicate with clients via typing instead of speaking. There’s nothing wrong with that. But attending conferences and meet-ups and interacting with each other is important if you really want to learn new skills, collaborate with other companies, and grow your business. And if you want to do all that, you can’t be a wallflower.

So if you’re shy like me, I have some tips for you.

The Introvert’s Guide to Networking

Set goals. Why did you sign up for networking event? Don’t say to “to meet new people” or “find collaborators.” Be specific. My goal for one conference was to gather thoughts and opinions about a new website idea I wanted to start. Another conference I set a goal to pass out 300 business cards, creating 300 new contacts and 300 new pairs of eyes on my business. One friend told me she had a goal of connecting with three specific conference sponsors. Another friend had a goal to find and build collaborations with all the bloggers in her same niche. Yet another friend wanted to get better at using her DSLR, so offered to take free headshots for attendees (she was quite popular). By the way, all these “friends” of mine? They were not friends before I met them at networking events.

Get awesome business cards. Speaking of cards, I would strongly suggest getting some professional cards verses printing your own (unless you’re an amazing designer with professional printing equipment). If only because nice cards are an instant and easy conversation starter. Moo and Minted both offer eye-catching, easy to use business card templates. I personally use Moo for my business cards and I always get compliments! Having a unique or interesting business card is often an instant conversation starter. And make sure the card clearly shows off what your do and how to find you online.

Bring your credit card statement with you. If you paid to attend the conference or event, seriously, print out the receipt or statement and carry it with you. When you feel like leaving early or hiding in a bathroom stall for half of the event, take out that statement and remind yourself how much money you spent to be there. Are you getting your money’s worth? Are you letting this networking opportunity slip away? Will you have any regrets on the trip home?

Take a moment if you need it. No one is perfect, so don’t try to be. If you’re feeling overwhelmed – really overwhelmed – take a moment for yourself. I had some social anxiety during a party at one conference and had to go back to my hotel room and cry a little bit. But I gave myself a pep talk and got back in the game. I could have changed into my pajamas and climbed into bed at 7pm (I really wanted to). But I fixed my makeup, got back out there, and actually talked with some fellow attendees about my dumb feelings and felt a million times better.

Be yourself. The buzz around some conferences can make you feel a little intimidated about your appearance. But, I promise you everyone there wants to meet the real you. If you feel better wearing a cute skirt and heels when you’re networking, then do it. If you wear jeans and sneakers every day, dude, rock your jeans and sneakers to the conference. When I went to Alt Summit for the first time, I stressed hardcore about my outfits. And you know what? No one really cares. If fashion’s your thing, then by all means, dress it up, go bananapants. But the bottom line is to wear whatever makes you feel CONFIDENT and comfortable.