Instagram Shopping – A new feature

May 22, 2020Leave a comment

We know you’ve been able to “shop” via Instagram for a while now, but the ability to set up a shop via Instagram is now available (for those that sell physical goods at least!)

There are several boxes you need to tick before you can set up shop, so to speak, including having a linked Facebook page and ensuring your Instagram account is a business account and not a personal account. To read the other requirements click here.

So, what does this mean for the marketplace?

Well, Facebook /Instagram Shops will also allow small businesses to sell products through Instagram Direct, WhatsApp, and Messenger, and tag products during live broadcasts! Talk about engaging directly with your customers!

Shops are free and easy to create and, most importantly, they’re integrated across Facebook’s many apps, meaning once you’ve set up your shop, it’s going to be available on your Facebook Page and your Instagram profile (and accessible from stories and ads).

It’s the perfect tool for businesses to pivot online, and during a time when that’s needed more than ever, Facebook /Instagram have delivered a solution that helps.

The good news? It’s available in Australia right now, to see where else the service is available, click here.

If you’d like assistance setting up your shop, content for your social media or any other PR or social media service, please get in touch.

Service highlight: Getting ahead of the curve – What to do in post Coronavirus world… NOW?

May 7, 2020Leave a comment

As I’ve been progressing through the isolation period, one very important question has been front of mind for me.

What’s next?

It’s a question that can’t be answered on many fronts, however, there are some aspects that CAN be answered.

In the “Getting ahead of the curve” consulting service, there are many aspects that are considered for businesses interested in participating.

We look at:

*Previous activities carried out across advertising, marketing, public relations and social media

*Planned activities prior to COVID-19

*The new goals for your business in a “post-COVID-19” world

*Refining the best channels for communicating your message to get the maximum return on investment for your business

*How to best execute using these channels in plan format (an outline)

PLUS MORE!

But the question remains, why should I do this now when so much remains unknown?

The simple answer is because it’s VITAL to keep planning and forecasting.

Even if these plans have to change, a plan, in any case, is better than no plan at all.

If you’re interested in this one-hour session click here, choose COVID-19 services and the option will be the first one in the list, proceed to fill in your details and you’re booked in!

Thank You – the most important tool in your PR toolkit

February 2, 2020Leave a comment

‘At the end of the day people won’t remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel.’ – Maya Angelou

We’re told as children to remember our manners, “Please” and “Thank-You”, yet when as we get older the intent behind them seems to disappear.

Whenever I meet with a Journalist, Editor, supplier, or client (new, potential or exisiting) I always start by saying thank you for your time. Taking time out to meet with anyone should be acknowledged.

It’s the organisation that goes into being prepared for that meeting that should be acknowledged, along with the time out of their day.

I go a step beyond and send thank-you cards to potential clients, to let them know how much I appreciate them taking the time to hear my ideas and consider my PR services for their company.

It’s all about making that person feel valued and appreciated.

Other ways I say “Thank-you”:

Letting my media contacts know about stories that they may not be aware of – outside of my scope of works
Taking someone out for coffee /lunch
Recommending their business to others
Shout-outs on social media (including liking their posts or sharing their content)

So for now, I’d like to say thank-you to YOU. For reading this, you could have quite easily clicked somewhere else, decided to read another blog post or news site.

Instagram Fact V Fiction

December 2, 2019November 4, 2019Leave a comment

One of our offerings at Pursuit is social media management.

We pride ourselves on creating great content, that will engage and drive results for your business.

We also make sure we’re all over what’s fact and fiction when it comes to social media.

Below you’ll find some clarification about some of the myths that have been circulating about Instagram.

Shadowbanning is a real thing…

Nope. FALSE. Instagram has stated, “it doesn’t hide people’s content for posting too many hashtags or taking other actions”. **

2. Instagram will “punish” your account if you don’t post at least once a day

What? I’m sorry, how does this even make sense? In Australia alone Instagram has 9,000,000 Monthly Active Australian Users (FB/ Instagram data)*. Trying to monitor all that data alone is a mammoth task.

Instagram is (and always has been) about quality over quantity.

So think about your style and what your customers will want to engage with, remember you’re posting for THEM, not for yourself.

Suffice to say this one is also FALSE.

3. The old “Only 5%, 7%, 10% of my audience will see this post, please comment to ensure more people see this post” post!

Instagram reached out to users via Twitter to clear this one up. They said; “What shows up first in your feed is determined by what posts and accounts you engage with the most, as well as other contributing factors such as the timeliness of posts, how often you use Instagram, how many people you follow, etc.”**

So drops in engagement are due to content not anything behind the scenes.

There are dozens if not hundreds more that we could clarify – and new myths popping up every day.

If you’d like some advice regarding social media, give us a call. We’d love to have a chat and share some ideas on how we think this medium could work wonders for your business.

Photo by Katka Pavlickova on Unsplash

*= Source

**= Source

Thinking outside the box for success

October 13, 2019October 10, 2019Leave a comment

If you’ve found this post via our Instagram, you’ll know that Pursuit Communications has been working with Generator Property Management for a number of years now.

Generator Property Management is the caretaker of the former Munmorah Power Station site on the NSW Central Coast.

Pursuit’s tasks include traditional PR services, issues management advice and services and general media /consultative advice.

The project has been an eye-opening experience and one that the Pursuit team has loved working on.

Through this project, we’ve been able to work with a team that are industry leaders and share our own expertise to achieve some pretty unreal results.

As an example; one of the last demolition activities saw the news story go NATIONAL. The video footage was provided to television stations in Sydney. The story was aired on all commercial television networks news bulletins the evening of the event. Exceeding our client’s goals.

Pursuit actively monitors the media across a variety of topics for our client so they’re more than aware of what’s happening in the media landscape within their industry.

If you’d like to have a chat about your business and how Pursuit can assist, shoot us an email.

We work within your budgets, tell you what’s achievable and create a plan to not only achieve your goals, but we work hard to exceed them!

Send us a message now.

Image: Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash

Podcasts: What I’m currently listening to

October 3, 2019October 3, 2019Leave a comment

Whether you’re in the car, commuting to work on the train or bus or hitting the gym and need some distraction, Podcasts are a fabulous way to be entertained, informed and educated.

Below I’ve shared my list of my favourite podcasts (in no particular order!)

The Squiz – These girls are my WAKE-UP crew. After I listen to local news, I’m straight into this podcast and their daily email. You won’t regret adding this to your must-listen list, you’ll be kept up-to-date with current news and events in an instant, so you can impress your work colleagues with how very informed you are!

Seize The Yay – If you read our post about Gary V, then you’ll know I’m pretty darn keen on Sarah and her Podcast Seize The Yay. What I love about this podcast is Sarah’s interviewing style, it’s very natural, I feel like I’m sitting with friends, having a conversation. Added bonus – the show notes – are BANG. ON. Always great if you’re keen to learn more about a guest.

Lauren Conrad – Asking For a Friend – Okay, so for anyone who has known me for more than 15 years will know, that I have an absolute girl-crush on Lauren Conrad aka LC. So much so that a friend bought me an authentic LC autographed picture one Christmas. What’s so fabulous about Lauren’s podcast? The topics are varied but so relevant to any young woman. Her guests (often friends of Lauren’s) offer great bits of advice that’s achievable, in any particular area. It’s the honesty, but also the support network that’s clearly a reflection of what an absolute gem Lauren is inside and out.

Socialette: Bite-Sized Online Marketing Podcast – This is the perfect quick listen after a meeting or whenever you’ve got less than 10 minutes. Steph’s podcasts and short, sharp and to the point. I love the frequency of the Socialette podcasts and the variety of guests.

I’d love to be guest on a podcast, in fact, it’s a goal on my vision board for 2020. In the meantime, I’ll keep listening to these podcasts and hoping that I get closer to that goal day by day.

Tell me, what are YOU listening to? Any recommendations would be gratefully appreciated.

Featured image via Unsplash

Consult with someone who knows

September 4, 2019Leave a comment

When you’re running a business, you want to engage with the best people to get optimum results.

We’ve all heard the saying “You don’t ask a mechanic about your water pipes”, so why would you engage the services of someone who doesn’t understand the PR landscape to help you communicate your message?

Pursuit Communications knows the best media outlets to contact (and the people behind them) across a wide variety of sectors, including niche “vertical” outlets within a multitude of industries.

It’s knowing “Who’s who in the zoo”, their deadlines, their communication preferences and so many other variables to get your message across to the media and to your desired audience.

It’s also an ability to think creatively, understanding what’s the BEST way to communicate your message to the media and your customers, that’s going to stand out from the rest!

With our first Small Business September offering – a 1:1 phone call, over 30, 60 or 90 minutes, we can cover all of this – and more.

So if you’d like to have a discussion, click here to get started and connect with someone who knows.

Liking the new Instagram changes…

July 25, 2019Leave a comment

We’ve all had some time to digest the fact that Instagram has removed likes in what is being called a “test” across seven countries.

In case you missed it, no longer will you be able to see how many times an image (that isn’t yours) has been liked or viewed that has been posted by someone else – unless you’re looking at Instagram on a desktop computer!

You’ll be able to see WHO has liked the post in some circumstances when people you follow like an image from an account you follow.

The

I think this is a fabulous step from Instagram /Facebook.

Why?

Because for many of us, (including yours truly) we’re guilty of focusing on the number of likes our content receives rather than the content itself.

Speaking of content – it’s all well and good to post the things we love but business accounts are about the customers and what *they* want. In short, post the aesthetically pleasing pictures on your personal accounts.

I’m not saying that your business account should be a “hodge-podge” of images, but it should serve your followers well.

Employ a local photographer for a day, have a plan of what sort of shots you want to get and then you’ll have social media content for at least a couple of months.

So, now that the number of likes has been removed, what will this mean for metrics?

In short, nothing.

Some influencers may argue with that point, but you’ll still have the data in the back-end, so in my opinion, it’s a moot point.

While it’s been called a “test”, I don’t think we’ll see likes come back in the way they were.

My thoughts? In the future, I think Instagram will allow business accounts to see the numbers, perhaps not directly under the image but perhaps somewhere on the home screen.

Perhaps the whole issue is best summed up by this quote;

“Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.” – Dyer.

An (overdue) update

July 11, 20191 Comment

If you’ve missed our posts on Instagram and Facebook and indeed our blog posts here there’s been a very good reason.

Our Founder, Brooke was ill (we’ll spare you the horrid details!) and after presenting at her doctor’s clinic with a RESTING heart rate of 175, it was in an ambulance to Gosford hospital.

After two days of examinations, ultrasounds and what felt like millions of questions, Brooke was diagnosed with a kidney infection (which was remedied quickly with antibiotics) and a thyroid condition called Graves Disease.

So, why are we being transparent about this? Especially on a business platform?

A few reasons.

To explain the absence and the fact that as much as Brooke would have liked to have been on an island sipping cocktails, this simply wasn’t the case
To praise the nurses in Gosford Hospital – Brooke has said on numerous times since coming home, it was the nurses care that got her through her hospital stay.
Finally, to let you all know – that there are some exciting developments that Brooke will be releasing in the second half of 2019.

Thank you to our clients for your understanding during this time and to those who are yet to join us, we look forward to sharing with you the next phase of Pursuit Communications.

Why we offer freebies

December 12, 2018November 29, 2018Leave a comment

Did you know we have a freebie page?

We do!

Right now, we’re offering a New Year’s hashtag cheatsheet. A complete list and thought-starter document for your social media needs.

Go and check it out.

We offer freebies to build rapport with our existing audience and to build on that audience.

Our content changes frequently because we know our audience’s needs changes as frequently as our own!

We’re currently working on ideas for 2019 for our freebie content and we’re excited about the offerings you’ll be able to download.