Be social with your Creations.
READY FOR THE NEXT CREATIONS CONTEST?
IS YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA GAME ON POINT?
If yes to both, great! But maybe (like most of us) you could use some tips and inspirations. Read more below on how winning at social media can lead to a win in the Bella Creations contest.
Step one of the Creations Contest is submitting your creative awesome designs using Bella or Prisma frames.
Step two is getting the word out to your friends, family and customers to vote for your design.
At the start, the Creations contest all happened in-house with judging by our Chicago frame shop staff. Then we moved the contest to Facebook and changed the format to function as a marketing vehicle for your frame shop. Instead of by a few opinions, the winner is now chosen by popular vote - and therefore the best way for you to win is to get the most people to vote for your design.
ARE YOU DOING STEP TWO?
Beggars can be winners. You could enter the Creations Contest with the most amazingly fabulous design, but the winner will probably be the person who got the word out and earned the most votes. The winner gets the message out there to their peeps either via newsletters, in-store signage and social media channels. Some of you are deep into the social game with thousands of followers, some of you have dipped a toe in and some of you may be wondering why or how to even start.
There are many on-line tutorials, classes and advice columns that can give you tips for social media success. I’m no expert, but here are some observations from running the Bella Moulding social sites and also that of our Chicago retail framing store.
I’M BUSY. DO I HAVE TO DO THIS?
Yes. Think about your Facebook or Instagram page as a frame and your business is the art. Your social media pages exist to display your shop, services and creativity. It’s kind of like a secondary website or idea database where the world can engage with your brand and get the flavor of the experience they can expect to have at your store.
Susan Boni at Frames of Mine still finds time for social media even while hand-making frames.
The top sites to be on are Instagram and Facebook. Instagram is #1 for every design-minded industry because it’s all about the visual and show-don’t-tell. Facebook has an * ahem * older demographic and more politics but is still a place to post pretty pictures. It’s easy to have both going because you can link your facebook and insta accounts and post to both at the same time.
WHAT STUFF SHOULD I POST?
The way to excel here is to make content that is visually arresting and interesting - so people stop scrolling a minute and rest their eyeballs on your stuff. You can post about anything you are interested in or excited about around the shop. Things like:
new products and service
new samples
cool frame design ideas
awesome finished pieces
local news and events
behind the scenes
interior design trends
framing that is inspirational or aspirational
A repost from Lonny Magazine highlighting the minimal look in interior design.
AGAIN, I’M BUSY. HOW OFTEN DO I HAVE TO POST?
You should spend as much time on this as you feel comfortable. Some will tell you to post every day, weekly or bi-weekly. Some find it helpful (as a time saver) to create a content calendar with everything planned out a month at a time.
My opinion and experience is it’s more important to be authentic than to keep a schedule. In the early days, you should post a lot to build your audience faster. Sometimes I plan out content around a certain theme, holiday or event but otherwise I post spontaneously when I come across something worth posting. If I’m not feeling it - I don’t force it.
@TAG. YOU’RE IT.
Your post will travel further when you tag relevant people, products or businesses. Tags bring your post to the attention of their audiences too. You can tag the glass or moulding company used (hint hint), the customer (if they want that), or the artist (share the love) by adding the @ symbol before their profile name.
A proper tag from Silverleaf Framing.
WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM YOUR FRIENDS: REPOSTS
You don’t always have to make your own content - you can borrow from others! Good sources for reposting content are interior design sites, magazines and your favorite vendors - like us! Sometimes we repost your stuff too. Downloading an app like REGRANN lets you copy posts from other people and repost them to your own page. Always, always, always follow the reposting etiquette and tag the original source!
A cool project featuring a Bella Moulding that we reposted from Metro Frame Works.
DO YOU NEED THOSE # HASHTAGS?
Yep. Hashtags allow people to sort through thousands of posts and hone in on topics that interest them. Hashtags will help you build your audience. You don’t have to go crazy - the standard recommendation is 5 to 10 tags on a post. The best kinds of hashtags are:
industry wide topics (like #interiordesign or #customframing)
location specific (like your zip code, city, or neighborhood)
about the framed art (like #mirror or the artists name, the medium or the style of art)
about the design (like #modernart or #bohoforever)
I also like to throw in a little humor in the hashtags as well - really for my own amusement. A nifty tip is to make a note in your phone with a list of your favorite hashtags. Then when you post just copy and paste your list in without having to type them out every time.
Added the hashtag #happydude here just for fun.
HOW DO I PROMOTE THE CREATIONS CONTEST ON SOCIAL MEDIA?
Facebook: It’s super easy! Once the voting becomes live, click the “share” icons at the bottom of the contest page and the contest can be posted directly to your facebook page. OR create your own post with images that highlight your entry and include the contest url in the post copy.
A contest share on facebook from The Frame Maker.
Instagram: It’s easy but not as direct. Instagram only allows one url link which is entered in your profile. Generally you want it to be your website url. But for the 10 or so days that voting is live, you can change the url in your profile to the contest. When you craft your post, just mention “link in profile”. (And then set yourself a reminder to change it back!)
Example of a contest share on Instagram from The Gilt Complex. Notice the tag for the artist as well!
QUESTIONS?
This blog just skims the surface. We’re figuring a lot of this stuff out as we go just like you, but we’re happy to discuss or try to fill in any info you didn’t find here. Add a comment here, email me at nellie@bellamoulding.com or (hey!) direct message me on the Bella Moulding facebook or instagram pages.
RESOURCES FOR FURTHER READING
Once you have your social media pages running smoothly, there’s even more to think about like creating stories or putting some of your marketing budget towards boosting posts. We don’t do much of that, but some people find it works really well in their market! Below are some links to take you further down the social media advertising rabbit hole.
creativelive.com (a wealth of phone photography tutorials)
skillshare.com/business (info on branding and social media)