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How To: Setup Facebook Business Page

Congratulations, you’re finally ready to get your company’s presence on Facebook up and running. But now, you’re curious how to actually set the business page up — and for that matter, set it up correctly. 

One of the first steps in getting your profile optimized is making sure that you setup as a business profile, which not only helps users differentiate people from brands, but also gives your followers more ways to contact you and discover offerings.

After entering your page’s information and selecting a category, it’s time to get the page setup aesthetically. Whether you have pre-made designs, or need to use a tool like Canva, you need to get a proper profile image and cover photo. If you need help on how to properly size your social media images, we’ve got you covered.

Then it’s time to complete your company’s profile. Head on over to your page and select the “about” tab to enter all pertinent information that helps consumers and fans understand what your company is all about. This includes writing a “story” to tell more about your company, complete hours and business information, add contact information such as a domain and website, and set up your “Learn More” button.

Once your page is setup, it’s time to start planning out your posts and a creating a marketing strategy.

Need help connecting your Facebook page to your Instagram profile? Click here.

 

Every company has a story — and at SmartSolutions, we’re passionate about helping you tell that story. 

Looking to give your company’s social media marketing presence the boost it needs to start seeing a more positive return on your investment? Click below or call us today to get your free consultation!

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Great American Media Services’ SmartSolutions Division Named a Finalist in Folio Magazine’s 2019 Eddie Awards

Sparta, MI, August 22, 2019 – SmartSolutions, the marketing services division of Great American Media Services, has been named a finalist in the Sponsored Content category of Folio Magazine’s 2019 Eddie Awards – the publishing industry’s most prestigious and coveted honor for editorial excellence. The sponsored content being acknowledged is the Coach’s Playbook: The Summitt Legacy, appearing in the November/December 2018 issue of Coach and Athletic Director.

“We are proud to be named a finalist for one of the industry’s highest honors,” CEO Matt McCallum said. “This recognition is the result of dedication, hard work and the industry expertise of our custom solutions team. We’re proud to be listed among some exceptional finalists in this category.”

For 25 years, the Eddie and Ozzie Awards have celebrated excellence in magazine editorial and design across all sectors of the industry. The Eddie Awards recognize the best in print and digital editorial, while the Ozzie Awards recognize the best in magazine and website design. For the 2019 awards, a panel of more than 300 judges selected finalists from among more than 2,500 entries. Winners will be announced on October 30 during the 2019 Folio Show in New York City.

Other Great American Media Services titles being honored in the 2019 Eddie and Ozzie Awards are Gift Shop®, Full Issue; Gift Shop®, Overall Design; Gift Shop® Pets, New Magazine; Stationery Trends, Data Visualization; Fruit Growers News, Analysis; Fruit Growers News, Full Issue; Vegetable Growers News, Full Issue; Vegetable Growers News, Graphic Art; Vegetable Growers News, Series of Articles; Spudman, Series of Articles; and Greenhouse Product News, Full Issue. Information about all magazine titles can be found online at www.greatamericanmediaservices.com.

 

Every company has a story — and at SmartSolutions, we’re passionate about helping you tell that story. 

Looking to give your company’s social media marketing presence the boost it needs to start seeing a more positive return on your investment? Click below or call us today to get your free consultation!

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Best Small Business Marketing Tools

As social media becomes an increasingly prominent piece of a company’s marketing strategy, there are more marketing platforms, organization tools and tips and tricks than one can keep track of. Allow SmartSolutions to break down some of the best small business marketing tools to help take your company’s marketing to the next level.

Social Media Management Platforms

Hootsuite

Best described as a “simple” social media management platform, Hootsuite offers businesses a cheap and wide-ranging alternative to some of the more expensive marketing platforms available. Starting at just $99/month, Hootsuite maintains its holding at the cheaper end of social management platforms, with customizable analytics and easy bulk-scheduling features.

Buffer

Similar to Hootsuite, Buffer also holds as one of the cheaper social media management platforms available to small business owners. With it’s “social queue” scheduling and in-depth analytics, Buffer offers small business owners and marketing pro’s alike a uniform platform to expand your company’s reach.

Organizational Tools

Asana

An organizational tool, Asana provides businesses with a way to manage projects, deliverables and custom branding plans across all teams members. This solution provides teams with means of communications, project tracking and more to help your company stay on track.

Content Creation Tools

Canva

Looking for a way to create custom images for your company’s marketing or print advertising, but not sure where to start? Canva offers simple photo editing and custom creation tools that can be best described as an “Adobe Photoshop” for beginners.

 

Every company has a story — and at SmartSolutions, we’re passionate about helping you tell that story. 

Looking to give your company’s social media marketing presence the boost it needs to start seeing a more positive return on your investment? Click below or call us today to get your free consultation!

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How To: Setup Instagram for Business

Congratulations, you’ve just set up a brand new Instagram account for your business. But now comes the intimidating part — getting that profile set up and optimized to reach your desired audience.

One of the first steps in getting your profile optimized is making sure that you are setup as a business profile, which not only helps users differentiate people from brands, but also gives your followers more ways to contact you and discover your offerings.

Once you’ve setup your Instagram business account, it’s time to connect the account to your company’s Facebook page, should you already have one.

And just like that, your profile is ready to go!

Now, not only are your accounts linked together for easy management, but your advertising on Facebook can run on Instagram as well and vice versa (since Facebook owns Instagram). Converting to a business profile also gives you analytic insights into your followers, such as engagement rates, keeping tabs on your following and best time of day to send new posts.

 

Every company has a story — and at SmartSolutions, we’re passionate about helping you tell that story. 

Looking to give your company’s social media marketing presence the boost it needs to start seeing a more positive return on your investment? Click below or call us today to get your free consultation!

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Client Spotlight: Food MarketMaker

Every company has a story — and at SmartSolutions, we’re passionate about helping them tell that story. Our first client spotlight feature is Food MarketMaker, a national network that connects farmers and fishermen with food retailers, processors, caterers, chefs, consumers and more.

 


 

In their own words

“Whether you are a producer looking to reach new markets; a buyer wanting to connect with local or specialty suppliers; or a consumer looking for goods and services in your area MarketMaker is a must-have resource.

MarketMaker is the largest and most in-depth database of its kind featuring a diverse community of food-related businesses: buyers, farmers/ranchers, fisheries, farmers markets, processors/packers, wineries, restaurants and more. MarketMaker provides simple yet powerful search tools to connect with others across the production and distribution chain.”

 

Learning more

At Food MarketMaker, there are ways to benefit everyone — from producers and buyers down to consumers.

For producers — Register your business in MarketMaker, creating your entry in the database where consumers and buyers can find your products. Through MarketMaker, producers are able to reach and form alliances with buyers more efficiently.

For buyers — Registering yourself as a buyer makes your business discoverable to producers who are looking to grow, source or sell more of whatever you might be looking for. Using MarketMaker helps buyers find more suppliers of differentiated, high-quality products, leading to more efficient sourcing and, in-turn, higher margins.

For consumers — Looking to find fresh strawberries, organic apples or mirlitons? Consumers are able to use MarketMaker to locate suppliers selling exactly what they’re looking for. Use MarketMaker to search for literally any product, such as chick peas, specialty mushrooms or seasonal fish, from anywhere in the United States.

 

What’s in Season app

Looking to find fresh produce, but not sure what might be in season in your neck of the woods? MarketMaker’s “What’s in Season” app provides consumers and buyers a place to search for just that — produce in season in your geographical region.

Click here to learn more about the What’s in Season app.

To learn more about Food MarketMaker, you can visit foodmarketmaker.com or follow their Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages!

 

Every company has a story — and at SmartSolutions, we’re passionate about helping you tell that story. 

Looking to give your company’s social media marketing presence the boost it needs to start seeing a more positive return on your investment? Click below or call us today to get your free consultation!

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Top 5: Business & Marketing Podcasts

Podcasts can simply be described as the new generation of “talk radio,” but can be played anywhere, at any time, from nearly any device. The difference between talk radio and podcasts, however, is the vast variety of topics and personalities — virtually anybody can host a podcast.

But how does this apply to the world of marketing and your business? 

One of the most popular podcast niches is the business, advertising and marketing worlds — specifically social media. As a business owner, we understand you’re always looking for ways to better your business. Here are the top five business and marketing podcasts currently available for download.

 

Seeking Wisdom — David Cancel & Dave Gerhardt

A podcast for people who want to get better every single day.

Hosted by David Cancel and Dave Gerhardt, Drift’s podcast Seeking Wisdom is considered a must-listen by all entrepreneurs and business owners. The podcast, primarily focused on business management and marketing practices, also delves into topics such as wealth, learning and health for business owners. 

Click to listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts

 

Marketing over Coffee — John J. Wall & Christopher S. Penn

One of the best “short listen” podcasts available, Marketing over Coffee features hosts Wall and Penn recording from a local coffee shop, designed to be a casual conversation (over the traditional news-styled podcast).

Each podcast, roughly 20 minutes in length, sees the two sharing tips on marketing, social media, search engine optimization, copywriting and taking listener questions.

Click here to listen to Marketing over Coffee’s most recent episodes

 

The Science of Social Media — Buffer

Social media management platform company Buffer prides themselves on their organic content creation — so it shouldn’t be any surprise that their podcast, The Science of Social Media, is any different.

Whether you’re brand new to the idea of social media marketing or a seasoned veteran, Buffer’s podcasts offers insights into best practices, mind-blowing digital marketing statistics and a great flow that makes for an easy and informative listen.

Click here to listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts

 

StartUp — Gimlet Media

An award-winning media company, Gimley’s podcast, StartUp, gives listeners a real and unbiased glimpse into what the process of getting a business off the ground is truly like. Hosted by Gimlet CEO Alex Blumberg, a wealth of experience and knowledge provides business owners with a great resource for learning.

 

Click here to listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts

 

Social Media Marketing Podcast — Social Media Examiner

A weekly podcast dedicated to the latest and greatest in the world of social media, Social Media Examiner’s podcast, Social Media Marketing, is hosted by Michael Stelzner and various other members of the SME team. 

In this podcast, which is a longer-form podcast of roughly 45 minutes per episode, SME’s team breaks down the latest in social media news, talks about best practices and new strategies, and features some of their favorite examples of proper social marketing tactics, and is a must listen for any marketer or business owner looking to level up their marketing strategies.

Click here to listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts

 

 

Every company has a story — and at SmartSolutions, we’re passionate about helping you tell that story. 

Looking to give your company’s social media marketing presence the boost it needs to start seeing a more positive return on your investment? Click below or call us today to get your free consultation!

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Social Media Image Sizing Cheat Sheet

Keeping up with the latest social media image sizing trends can be confusing, we understand. 

What looks good on Instagram won’t show properly on Twitter, and what populates in an Instagram link won’t look the same as LinkedIn. Allow our (free to use) social media image sizing cheat sheet to help!

Note: all image sizes are listed in pixels.

Facebook

One thing to remember when sizing images for Facebook is that different images will display differently on mobile vs. desktop. With most of the traffic nowadays being mobile traffic, be sure that when you’re creating your social images, you’re using mobile-friendly images and templates. 

Your profile photo will be the photo that universally represents your brand across searches and posts on Facebook, so be sure you’re selecting the proper logo and displaying it properly.

A cover photo is particularly tricky, as the image will display differently on both mobile and desktop — so be sure to create an 820 x 312 cover photo, while containing the messaging or particular imagery to 640 x 360.

One of the most common ways of sharing on Facebook is to share links — and with verified domains, you can customize the image with the accompanying link. This is one of the most popular ways to share custom content on Facebook.

 

 

Instagram

One of the most popular photo-sharing social networks (and really, social networks overall), Instagram is the best place to showcase your company’s visual experiences and creativity.

With Instagram being based on visuals and pictures/videos, it’s important to be sure you’re using the correct dimensions. 

You can choose one of several photo sizes on Instagram, but the best is to either post a 1:1 (1080 x 1080) or a 4:5 (800 x 1000) ratio image. While 1:1 fits within the grid more uniformly, the 4:5 ratio choice takes up more of the news feed, giving your brand optimal exposure.

One of Instagram’s hottest features at the moment is stories, a format that allows users to view uploaded videos and photos that are only available for a 24-hour period. The best format when posting created content (that’s non-organic) is 1080 x 1920.

 

 

Twitter

With over 313 million active monthly registered users, Twitter is known worldwide as the “engagement” platform. If there’s a discussion happening around your brand, or support needed, chances are it’s coming from a Twitter account.

Similarly to Facebook (and every other social channel, really), your profile picture will be the main image that represents your brand or company across the platform. Next in importance when setting up your profile will be your cover photo, which will maintain the same aspect ratio on both mobile and desktop.

And finally, the in-stream images, one of the staples of the Twitter timeline. Make sure to keep the image to 440×220 (or 2:1) as any other aspect ratio will display improperly.

 

 

LinkedIn

With over 460 million registered users, LinkedIn is the world’s largest social media network dedicated specifically to the professional realm — so it is imperative that your company’s LinkedIn profile look professional as well.

When it comes to LinkedIn’s imagery style, the most apt comparison is Facebook. The cover photo, profile photo, and shared images are the most common images needed to get your profile on the right track.

 

 

Every company has a story — and at SmartSolutions, we’re passionate about helping you tell that story. 

Looking to give your company’s social media marketing presence the boost it needs to start seeing a more positive return on your investment? Click below or call us today to get your free consultation!