At FHC Socials, we understand the unique challenges and opportunities that women face in the business landscape. That’s why we are committed to providing tailored solutions that help female-owned businesses thrive in the digital sphere. From strategic planning to creative content creation, we support our clients every step of the way, amplifying their voices and expanding their reach.

We are privileged to work with a diverse array of female entrepreneurs and business owners who inspire us daily with their passion, resilience, and innovation.

These remarkable women embody the spirit of entrepreneurship and serve as role models for aspiring business leaders everywhere.

As we reflect on the significance of International Women’s Day, we recognise the progress that has been made toward gender equality while acknowledging the work that still lies ahead. FHC Socials remains steadfast in our commitment to fostering an inclusive and supportive environment where women can thrive professionally and personally.

Together, let us continue to uplift and celebrate the achievements of women in business, not just on International Women’s Day, but every day. Here’s to strong women: may we know them, may we be them, and may we support them in all their endeavours.

Happy International Women’s Day from all of us at FHC Socials!

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What is Threads?

Threads, unlike its predecessors, places a heavy emphasis on intimate conversations and engagement. It’s designed as a platform for sharing thoughts, ideas, and stories in a more private and focused environment. The platform’s user-centric approach means users can engage in threaded conversations with others, exploring topics they’re genuinely interested in. This design has garnered attention as an alternative to the fast-paced, often overwhelming nature of mainstream social media platforms.

Marketing on Threads

For small businesses, Threads presents a compelling opportunity. The platform’s focus on authentic conversations aligns well with building genuine connections with potential customers. Businesses can use Threads to showcase their expertise, share valuable insights, and engage with a niche audience interested in their industry. By joining relevant conversations and providing valuable input, small businesses can establish themselves as thought leaders and trusted sources within their field.

Embracing New Platforms: Why it Matters

As a marketer, staying ahead of the curve is essential. Incorporating new platforms like Threads into your marketing strategy can be a game-changer. Early adopters often have a chance to build a strong presence before competition saturates the space. Additionally, trying out novel platforms demonstrates adaptability and innovation – qualities that can resonate positively with your audience.

The Counterargument: Quality over Quantity

While exploring new platforms can be exciting, it’s important to remember that not every platform is a perfect fit for every business. Rather than spreading resources thin across multiple platforms, focusing on a select few that align with your target audience and goals can yield better results. It’s about quality over quantity. Jumping on every platform may dilute your efforts and divert attention from platforms that are truly impactful for your business.

In conclusion, Threads offers an intriguing avenue for small businesses to engage in meaningful conversations and connect authentically with potential customers. However, the decision to integrate it into your marketing strategy should be a deliberate one. Embracing new platforms can demonstrate your adaptability, but it’s equally vital to weigh your options and choose platforms that align with your business’s unique needs and objectives. Remember, it’s not about being on every platform, but about making a meaningful impact where it matters most.

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What is personal branding?

Essentially, it does exactly what it says on the tin. Personal brand is all about building your own brand alongside your business’ brand. This could be showing up more on your personal social media, sharing more information about yourself or showing the face behind your business on your business’ channels more often!

Why is it so important?

Personal branding is important because more often than not, audiences like to know that there is a real person behind the business. It helps them connect with you, as well as making them more likely to purchase (and repeat purchase) with you. Also – did you know that, when done right, more leads come from your personal channels than your business’ channels? Building your personal brand could genuinely help generate more business.

So, how do I get it right?

1.First and foremost, BE AUTHENTIC! Personal brand is all about showing the real you and what you have to offer. Copying what other people do won’t help you stand out. Instead, focus on being your honest and real self, sharing your thoughts and opinions, and not being afraid to open up!

2. Secondly, be brave. It can be really scary to start showing up on your personal channels, sharing your business on your own social media, talking about yourself on LinkedIn etc. But be brave! No one is going to judge you – personal branding is so popular these days that sharing these sorts of things is normal!

3. Be consistent. Think of your favourite influencer – how many times a day do they post? Making one LinkedIn post and then dropping off the face of the earth for three months isn’t going to build an audience, you should be consistently posting 3 or 4 times a week for maximum engagement.

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1. Remember you are your brand’s biggest advocate

Each and every member of the Royal family, for better or worse, is a representative of the Monarchy and it’s brand – so what they say and how they act is REALLY important. If people have negative perceptions of one Royal family member, this can reflect badly on the whole. Similarly, if one member of the family has lots of public support, this can have a really positive impact.

The same applies to your business. How people feel about your personally really matters in ensuring that your brand is reflected in the right way. This means that how you present yourself in public and on social media can make or break perceptions of your business and brand. The most important thing to remember is to always treat people with kindness and respect, and never post anything you wouldn’t want a potential client to see!

2. Being flexible is really important

In recent years, we’ve really seen the Royal family start to move with the times – which, for a thousand year old institution like the Monarchy, is no small thing. Whilst it’s important to keep tradition in some aspects of their brand, we’ve also seen a shift towards embracing modern life, from various Instagram accounts to tv and radio appearances.

In the same way, it’s important for any business to be flexible and move with the times. No matter how much you like the way you do things, the simple fact is that to stay on top of your game you need to be willing to change as the market does. One great example in the SMM world is reels – no matter how much you love a static grid post, embracing your best short form video life is the key to stay on your marketing A-Game.

3. Don’t Neglect to humanise your brand

Finally, one thing the Royal family is GREAT at is showing the people behind the brand. Especially over the last decade, we’ve seen a real conscious shift towards opening up and showing the people behind the institution, which helps the Royals stay relevant and accessible to everyone else (hello, Wills and Kate and their gorgeous babies!)

Just as important is showing the human behind YOUR business and brand. People ALWAYS prefer to buy from real humans than from a faceless website or IG account. Humanising your brand is the key to building genuine relationships with your audience, and cultivating long lasting and fruitful sales partnerships!

On behalf of the FHC family, we would like to wish Her Majesty the Queen a very happy Jubilee weekend, and thank her for 70 amazing years of service. What better role model is there for women running the show?!

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1. add value in the caption

Every caption you write should add some value to the overall post. Don’t just write something meaningless and assume the post is doing the job for you, get creative! Include a personal anecdote, an extra little tip / trick or even share an offer. More than anything else, just make sure the caption is doing something useful!

2. Include a call to action

Captions are a great way to connect more with your audience, and encourage them to get involved. Ask them to share an opinion in the comments, share to their story, save for later etc. Not only will you be building a conversation and connection with them, but the more engagement you encourage, the better your reach will be too!

3. Keep it interesting

The last thing you want your caption to be is boring. No one is going to read a big, uninterrupted block of text so you need to keep it interesting. Experiment with different fonts, use lots of (relevant) emojis, and ALWAYS ALWAYS space it out with proper paragraphs.

4. NEVER USE A LINK IN CAPTION

Instagram does not, I repeat, does NOT allow clickable links in captions. This means that if you’re copying and pasting a URL into your caption, you’re just adding something that looks messy, takes up space and ultimately won’t actually work. Direct people to click a link in your bio or stories – this will boost your post anyway.

Read NEXT:

• 5 top tips for nailing your IG reels.
• How to stay productive when working from home.
• Why engagement is key for IG growth.

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Show your face!

Number one on the list is showing your face in reels – it can be daunting when you’re used to staying on the other side of the camera, but it’s a great way to open up and let people see the face behind the brand! It doesn’t have to be an embarrassing Tik Tok dance, even just coming on to talk about your services is enough.

Use trending sounds

Pay attention to which audios you’re hearing a lot of on your own feed, and find a way to relate them to your own industry or niche! You’re far more likely to show up on the feed when your audio is trending, and people are likely to be more engaged with it, too.

Always include closed captions

When you’re talking on reels, make sure wherever possible that you’re using closed captions. Not only is this SUPER important for accessibility, did you know that the majority of people scroll through videos on their feed with the sound off? That means if you’re talking without subtitles you could be losing the attention of so many potential customers.

Hashtag, always

Hashtags are important for ANY social media post, but they’re absolutely crucial for reels. Hashtag your industry, your area, your business niche, the sound you’re using, but just get them in there!

Use text in the video

This one’s a bit of a hack ….

The name of the game with reels is to get as many views as possible. To maximise views, ensure people are watching your video more than once (or sort of). Film a really short clip (roughly six seconds) and be sure to include plenty of text on the page. By the time they’ve finished reading, bam! the video is started again, and you’ve doubled your views.

Thank me later x

Read next:

• How to stay productive when working from home
• Why engagement is key for Instagram growth

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1. Have a set working environment

When working from home, you ideally need a specific place dedicated to getting your work done. As tempting as it is, that means not only working from your bed, or on the sofa in front of the tv! Not everyone has the luxury of a home office environment, or a whole room dedicated to working. But that doesn’t mean you can’t carve out a specific workspace. Try:

• Working from your kitchen or dining room table.
• Investing in a small desk that can be put in a corner of a living room or bedroom.
• If you’ve got the time, think about renovating your garage or shed!
• You could even consider taking days out to work in an internet cafe or coffee shop.

By having a dedicated space for work mode, it helps you separate your work life from home life, and means you can switch off at the end of the day just like if you were leaving the office!

2. Give yourself set working hours

When working from home, the temptation is to just work whenever you like, because your laptop is never far away. For many of us, this is convenient, but it can result in bad habits like forgetting to take a lunch break, or working way too late at night. This creates an unhealthy work life balance and stops you getting the rest you need.

Aim to have set working hours (for example, 9-5) like you would in a real office environment, and ensure you take things like lunch breaks seriously. One thing I try to do is mimic a ‘commute’ by spending 15 minutes walking or jogging outside in the fresh air before and after work. It gives you the time you need to mentally switch off from work mode, and come into relaxing mode!

3. Embrace the perks

It’s important to remember that working from home definitely isn’t all bad, and there are a lot of benefits to take advantage of. They’re probably the reason why you made the decision to work from home in the first place. It could be:

• The luxury of being able to head off to the fridge for snacks whenever you feel like it.
• Being able to squeeze in household chores like putting on a load of washing between meetings.
• Being able to take care of your children whilst still getting your work done.
• Having a furry friend keeping you company.

So if you’re working from home and struggling to stay motivated and productive, give our top tips a try and let us know how you go on!

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What engagement looks like

Engagement basically covers every interaction that makes you an active participant in the IG feed, rather than someone who just posts and runs. This could be:

• Liking and commenting on other people’s posts on your feed.
• Voting in polls, getting involved with Q&As and replying to stories.
• Following RELEVANT people in your industry or niche.

Why it’s important

First of all, technically, engaging on the IG feed means you’re going to get seen more often. You’re keeping yourself fresh in your audience’s mind and, what’s more, the Instagram powers that be will see that you’re an active member of the community and NOT a bot. The algorithm is far more likely to favour you if you’re getting involved and engaging on the feed.

TOP TIP: Try engaging 15 minutes before you upload a new post. This way, you’ll be fresh in your audiences’ mind when you do post, and they’ll be far more likely to go and have a look!

However, even more importantly, proper engagement helps you build a relationship with your audience:

• Building trust: by actively commenting on your network’s posts with helpful thoughts and insights, you’re going to be presenting yourself as an authority in your industry who can be trusted to give good advice. BAM – more visitors to your page!
• Making connections: engaging allows you to get involved with more conversations, and often times they can convert to potential new leads that you’d never have even thought of.
• Being part of a community: the more your name crops up in the likes and comments of your audience, the more you’ll begin to immerse yourself into the wider community of your niche.

How to engage properly …

Is there a wrong way to engage on the IG feed? Absolutely. If you’re engaging purely with selfish purposes (i.e. building followers) then it’s going to show. And it’s not going to work. There is definitely a right way to engage:

• Only follow people who can add genuine value to your feed. If you’re spam-following just in the hope that someone follows you back, not only will this not work, but your account could even be flagged. Relevant follows only people!
• Only comment when you have something useful to say. Don’t just comment ‘love it’ on every post you see and think your job is done. Real engagement means commenting to share insights and advice or ask questions that are specific to each post. A good rule of thumb is to never comment less than five words – but usually quite a few more!
• Spread it out. Engaging 15 minutes before you post might be a good hack, but it’s not all you need to do. Staying consistent with your engagement is key to true growth. We recommend spending 15 – 20 minutes every day engaging. And if you can manage it, do more.

Ultimately, real engagement on the IG feed is about being authentic. And if you do it right, it can help build real connections and genuine leads!

ps. Don’t have time to engage yourself? We offer an engagement package that takes care of all of this and more. Pop us a dm over on @fhcsocials to enquire today.

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