Tag: content marketing

90% of small business owners are NOT ready for what happens after a post goes viral

Anna PengLeave a comment

Why?

Sudden spike in demand means you sell out of stock fast and you can’t sell to people who actually want your product (if you’re selling physical goods)

It gets hard to predict demand on a day to day basis

Suddenly getting hype for your product mean production has to be made more efficient to meet demand (which is fine on paper but the reality might be different depending on what you sell)

BUT!

The good news?

Your business grows and you begin to see holes in your model that you haven’t seen before (opportunities for growth).

Having a post for your business go viral can be terrifying and awesome at the same time.

Is social media marketing a full time job? 

Anna Peng1 Comment

If you’re a business owner looking to take social media seriously, you’ll have to treat it like a full time job. 

That means in any given week you’re: 

  • Taking responsibility over your content (responding to comments and DMs, sharing it to those who need it) 
  • Doing market research (by looking at what your users are saying/doing, what kind of content is trending or gaining attention)
  • Producing high value content frequently and publishing it across different platforms 
  • Engaging with your audience through comments, DMs, other posts, or stories

All this should take a very focused 1-2 hours of your day, every day. 

How to get your product noticed without Ryan Reynolds

Anna PengLeave a comment

You can find business success without Ryan, just hear me out. It’s all about social media content marketing.

On this post specifically, Tiktok.

My family runs one of those really old Asian food court restaurants in Scarborough, Ontario. It’s one of those places you would least expect to see having an active social media account.

The restaurant is hidden from the main road. 

Heck, it’s even hidden within the plaza itself. 

Uber Eats and Doordash drivers have troubles finding us all the time.

But, back to the point. 

Your product and business can get noticed for free, without celebrity endorsements. 

All you have to do is be willing to post content about your product in a way that will resonate with others.

Speaking from experience.

Our result from posting on Tiktok was a long line of customers willing to pay money for food.

This stuff works.

Even for tiny, unassuming Asian food court stalls like ours.

Social media content marketing is for every business. 

Social media success is not based on likes and follows

Anna PengLeave a comment

Here’s why. 

The sole reason why social media is important for your business is because it helps create trust for your brand. 

I repeat. 

The only reason why social media marketing is important for your brand, is because it allows you to build relationships with the types of people you want to serve. 

Let’s pause right here. 

Did you notice that likes and follows were not a part of that sentence? 

Sure, likes and follows are metrics that most people look at as factors of success. 

However, likes and followers ≠ money going toward your bank account. 

Every business owner knows which one keeps the business running. 

Don’t focus on likes and follows. 

Instead, keep building trust and relationships. 

Keep sharing.

Are you struggling to write your first blog post?

Anna PengLeave a comment

You can’t keep editing forever. 

At some point, you have to launch.

Only most don’t.

But you can.

If you truly care about delivering your message,

helping someone else,

sharing a piece of advice that changed your career, 

then it needs to be heard. 

But, that only happens when you hit publish.

The editing process isn’t going anywhere. 

Go for it.

“How do I improve my writing?”

Anna PengLeave a comment

I’ve been writing consistently for over 2.5 years

Though, I admit, I’m not the greatest blogger—but that’s not why I write.

From these few years, I’ve learned how to differentiate bad writing from the good.

How?

By simply writing a lot. 

I’ve written nearly 1000 blog posts that I keep recorded. 

I’ve shared several thousands (3000+) content pieces for my businesses. 

All this has given me time and practice to improve my writing skills.

But first, what does bad writing entail? What makes bad writing bad and what makes good writing good?

Or the better question, who decides? 

Who gets to make the final decision on what’s good or bad?

The answer is simple.

I love to write with the follow question at the back of my mind: Who are you writing for? 

Take this question very seriously. 

Who you’re writing for represents the people who decide whether your piece is bad or good.

Everyone else’s opinions don’t matter (including mom’s unless she’s the audience).

So before you go into a deep spiral about how terrible of a writer you are, just remember that the value of your writing is in the eye of the reader.

So there you have it.

As long as you provide a message that is valuable for a specific reader, then you’ve got yourself a good piece of writing (at least it would be in my books).  

The Law of Diminishing Returns On A Blog Post

Anna PengLeave a comment

You have a point, state it. 

Make it interesting, relatable, and real. 

But the moment you’re scouring every sentence for grammar errors and punctuation edits, you’ve hit the threshold of diminishing returns on a blog post. 

Wrap up, share it.

Move onto the next thing.

Good Content Follows An Audience

Anna PengLeave a comment

In design, we talk about form follows function.

In marketing, I’m learning that there’s something similar.

Content follows audience (the phrase could use some work).

Audience above all, because who really is going to buy your stuff and support you?

Who is going to be watching and reading your content? 

Good content has to have a purpose. 

Content follows audience.

Make content that makes sense for a specific audience. 

Out Of Writing Ideas?

Anna PengLeave a comment

Here are 3 ways I come up with mine. 

Whenever I’m feeling stuck, I like to brainstorm headlines and imagine what I could write about if I weren’t feeling in the mud. 

I go into the 3 categories set for myself: 

  • personal design takes (hot takes, opinions, taking norms and writing it out with a twist) 
  • personal achievements (people like to say congratulations when you do something neat)
  • stories from my experiences and lessons learned 

That’s it. 

When the ideating is done, it’s time to actually get to work and write out the piece (which is the hardest part).