What did we learn about digital ecosystems and online visibility by putting up a tent!?
Way, way back in a pre-covid world, we owned a business called Baylily Bell Tents where we would erect bell tents for people to sleep in at weddings and events and I was the head of erections for the business...
Ou main marketing channels in the early days, were word of mouth, wedding fairs, social media and Facebook groups along with pretty much everyone else in the wedding industry.
However, this wasn’t moving fast enough and far enough for us..
Around the same time, we decided that we wanted our small Hampshire business to be a national brand. So, we started going through the motions to franchise the business across the UK. We knew we could help this along by growing our marketing to a national level, way before we actually took any franchisees onboard.
After much planning, we decided to embrace an SEO optimised content driven approach to grow our business. We wanted to grow our online visibility and build a digital ecosystem, rather then some specific outbound marketing actions.
We started this by making public, a video that we were actually saving for our franchisees. We made it public because we were seeing lots and lots or people, probably hundreds discussing and asking how to put bell tents up! At the time, there was no video showing people how to do this properly on YouTube.
So, we optimised our video and made it public…
And it grew.. It got watched, shared, referenced in groups and forums and way way more… Putting up your bell tent how we showed you even got referred to as 'doing it the baylily way..'
We wanted to share with you some of the main learnings from publishing this video, here’s they are.
This video, which has now had well over 100k views, still takes traffic to our website regularly as part of our online visibility and digital ecosystem and as you can see above, it really didn’t take very long to create.
We created a video within 2hours, that answers the questions our audience / followers / community were already asking. We then optimised it so it would appear in the rankings….
Come on, you can do this. And, if you can’t, get in touch and we’ll show you how…
Have fun always and thanks..
PS. If you fancy following our Yellow Tuxedo YouTube channel which is stuff fulled of helpful How Tos, you can by following this link - Yellow Tuxedo YouTube Channel
We have always been massive fans of Small Business Chat with Kristel from KV Communications and Karen from Hub Fizz so when they asked if we could be involved with their latest episode all about why your business should put on an event we absolutely jumped at the chance...well Alan did anyway, Emily was getting her hair done!!!!!!!
We were particularly keen to discuss this subject as this really does compliment our combined skillset at Yellow Tuxedo as combined we both have decades of experience working in events previously to working on this business. We have now successfully incorporated virtual events into our current business model and would always encourage other businesses, big or small, to think about utilising events as part of their wider growth and marketing strategy.
Do watch this episode above from the Small Business Chat team and if you have any questions whatsoever about getting started with events, how they can work for your business and what business event tools you can utilise please do feel free to send us a message. We are always happy to have a conversation about how this can work for you.
Have fun always
Emily and Alan ????
This week Alan had the absolute pleasure of talking to the PR power house that is Kristel Valaydon from KV Communications all about how to get your content PR ready and how to to start thinking about PR opportunities within your overarching content plan.
Kristel works to help business owners and brands to achieve clarity, confidence and connection with their marketing and PR efforts. So why did we choose to chat to her? Kristel is genuinely one of the most incredible PR's that we have been fortunate enough to know in the business and love how she genuinely wants more people to recognise the opportunities that they can create for themselves by embracing PR regardless of budget.
One of the biggest takeaways from todays video is that PR does NOT need to cost a single penny. However taking the opportunity to consider your communications plan and making yourself visible will really help you to understand how to find press opportunities by simply utilising the content you are already putting out there into the world.
We all seem to forget that that big world wide web is where journalists and PR's like to search for their content. Therefore by ensuring your content is out there and optimised efficiently you have every chance of being picked up. Your social media and your online activity can actually help you!
Do you track your activity? Do you look at things like Google Analytics? the tools are there to help you to understand what is currently working and how you are being seen. Find out which channels are working for you, who's interacting with you and which content is being found.
One of the big tips that Kristel offered up within this interview was to make Google alerts and trends your best friend. Get to know what topics related to your industry are coming up, how are journalists writing about them, what kind of angles are relevant to what you do and layer that within your content plan.
By ensuring that your SEO efforts and social media hashtags are relevant to trending topics journalists are more likely to stumble across you in search. Equally, if you are creating content relevant to trending topics when journalists put out #journorequests you can be absolutely ready to jump on them knowing that you have something to signpost to within your own content.
It's a simple thing that we always forget. Journalists and reporters all all just humans. Taking the time to reach out and engage goes a long way. Rather than waiting for them to find you, go and find them. Find them on social media, leave relevant and meaningful comments, share relevant info. Go and get yourself noticed. Ensure that others see you as the key person of influence in your industry and therefore worth speaking to.
Kristel offers up so much gold in this interview and it makes so much sense. If you haven't yet watched it in full, grab yourself a cuppa and give it a watch. Make sure that you are getting your content PR ready in the new year as you never know what opportunity it might bring you.
As we head further into December we're continuing with our series of Christmas collaborations with some of the most incredible legends in the online world. This week its the turn of the magician, the customer experience king, the absolutely incredible human that is Ricky Locke as he talks to Alan all about creating the best digital customer experience you possibly can.
We were keen to find out exactly HOW you create that incredible customer experience from the very start and from the absolute extremities of your online ecosystem.
For long term followers of Yellow Tuxedo you'll know that we are huge subscribers to the belief that you should have an omni-channel presence online. We recognise that our audience may not just come from one place across the internet and that we never truly know where our next customer might be coming from. Whether they have watched you on a YouTube video, seen your profile on Linkedin or even downloaded one of your gif's from Giphy that persons first impression of you as a person or business matters. And with that in mind you have to consider what that first impression is and whether thats a good representation of who you are and who they might be working with is it authentic?. Its really true that digital customer experience starts there.
It's takes up to seven seconds to make a first impression so you need to make it count. The science does state that you do have up to four minutes following this to change their initial impression of you however its important to ensure you make those first few seconds count. Make an impact.
And we're not just talking about how you show up online with your face. We talk lots about video content in what we teach but first impressions come down to so much more than how you talk. Consistency online includes the way someone is made to feel at any point in which they start their journey towards becoming a customer or advocate of your business online. Do you have consistent branding? Do people recognise that they're in the right place if they find you on a twitter post? Does your tone of voice in your posting seem similar? Does it make them feel warm and fuzzy or do they want to leave immediately?
Listen to this short video with Alan and Ricky as they discuss in more depth what is means to create the best digital experience ever.
Have great day
Emily and Alan
We were absolutely delighted when Zoe Hanson, The Podcast Lady, recently stopped by for a natter and a few buckets of tea here at Yellow Tuxedo Towers. Zoe is a great friend and was of course one of our expert speakers at The Digital Circus LIVE back in May 2021. It was pleasure to get to hang out in real life!
As an ex professional radio presenter and owner of the incredibly successful Southampton podcast The So So Show, Zoe now works to help people to absolutely nail their own podcasts and to get their stories heard with help with technical support right through to giving her clients the confidence to tell their story and to actually hit that scary record button.
In todays video Zoe kindly gave us her three top tips for successfully planning an executing the perfect podcast episode.
It is something we are all guilty of whenever we hit the record button, be it on a podcast or a video. We always go into fluff mode to introduce our subject/ guests. Remember, no one else cares and that your audience is time poor. Give them the information they need without padding for the sake of it.
Take your audience on a journey and build rapport. Rather than just delivering the cold hard facts, incorporate it into a story. Tell them something relatable and give context to your points. Its far more impactful.
Whenever you hit the record button forget about the thousands of listens/ watches you are hoping to attract. Whenever you speak try and think about speaking to just one person in the audience and connect with them. That person might be on a dog walk, or in the car. They are giving you their ears for that period of time and its incredibly personal. Stop talking to the masses and really concentrate on bringing them into your episode and making them care.
Be sure to watch the video in full at the beginning of this blog. Zoe goes into much more detail about these three tips and we found them INCREDIBLY useful!
Do you have something you would like to talk about? We are always looking for video collaborations with other experts. If you would like to collaborate on a video like this with us please do get in contact as we'd love to have a chat!
In this fourth and final part of our mini series all about short form content and Instagram Reels we're talking all about repurposing your content. In fact we list off 15 easy hitters for you without even trying.
Repurposing Reels is a smart move for small business owners. We are all time poor humans and although in theory the idea of creating fresh new content for each individual social media platform is great, who on earth has the time to do that when you've got a business to be running??
Worry less about what the algorithm favours. Trust me when I say that in 6 months time it would have changed and you can't keep chasing best practice. We always tell our clients that doing SOMETHING is better than doing NOTHING and if you keep putting blockers in place you will never create anything at all.
You spend so much time creating your content. You really deserve to get as much bang for your buck as possible and repurposing your Reels and TikToks can really help you to get more eyes on your business.
Don't forget that your short form content doesn't just have to sit on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. Think about the wider landscape. Can you share within your newsletters and emails? Can you share them to your Google My Business page? How about creating video gifs for your business.
As well as the video above we have created a simple check sheet for you to download right here with at least fifteen different places that you can repurpose your reels. Let us know if you can think of anywhere else!
And if you haven't yet checked out parts 1-3 of this series yet do be sure to go back and find them..We hope you've found it useful and do be sure to tag @yellowtuxedo in your posts so that we can support and share all of your good work too.
Have fun always
Emily and Alan!
This is the third part of our four part series dedicated to Instagram Reels and short form for small business. In last weeks video we discussed simple Instagram Reels ideas and what you could be creating for your small business. This week we wanted to share how you can create Instagram Reels with all of the various software and apps at your fingertips to use.
We use Canva pro every single day of the week in our business. In fact, it is the easiest $100 we spend every year in Yellow Tuxedo because we know how much value it brings us as well as saving us bucket loads of time.
The inbuilt video editor within Canva pro is a bit of a game changer, especially if you're not the most technically or creatively minded as it does all of the hardwork for you. Take advantage of the thousands of templates, stock images, videos and sounds for you to utilise in your content or simply just drag and drop your own onto the template. You can even schedule your posts directly to your social media platform without leaving the Canva platform.
You may not have the fanciest apps on your phone or be the best at video editing but chances are you've had a play with Power Point [ if you're a windows user] or Keynote if you're an Apple fan to build a presentation in the past. So why not use this to your advantage and build out an Instagram Reel? Reels don't always have to be video based and can be great for text based graphics or photo sharing. Simply build out your Reel on Power Point or Keynote and export as a video file when you've finished.
The app market is full to the brim with apps designed to help you make beautiful and engaging video content. We could spend hours listing them all out however we do feel that its personal choice as to which apps you prefer to use and are comfortable with. iMovie on the iPhone is always a great choice however there are more "done for you" third party apps like Splice and Inshot that are well worth a look if you're looking to utilise fancier transitions.
Its an obvious choice but often one people seem to neglect. The likes of Instagram, Tik Tok and Facebook give you all of the tools you could possibly need to create your short form videos without ever leaving the app. From timers, to music, filters and transitions. It's all there to play with for free and the best thing is that these platforms truly do prefer native content.
If you're not yet creating Reels let us know if you're thinking about any of the above. If you're already a busy Reels creator do let us know which method you prefer in the comments and if you have any recommendations for apps we'd love to hear them.
In our final instalment next week we'll be talking all about how you can repurpose your short form video to make you're content creation simpler.
Have fun and see you soon!
In the second part of our four part series we wanted to share with you our thoughts on simple Instagram Reels ideas for you that don't involve lip synching and dancing on camera.
We understand that it can be difficult to know WHAT to film. The market is saturated with influencers and social media experts seemingly killing it on social media right now, but we promise you, there is a space for the small business owner too and that incorporating short form video into your content strategy is a smart move.
So, in todays video, we share five ideas for short form video that you can execute perfectly in your business today and guaranteed it doesn't involve pointing at things in the air!
This involves nothing more than picking up your phone and talking to your camera. No editing required.
You have the opportunity to be the key person of influence in your industry. If you have something to say then say it. Share your knowledge and opinions on the things that matter to you most.
One of our most utilised styles of short form video. We create lots of macro content in our business but guaranteed we're never one take wonders. So many of our simple instagram reels are usually outtakes from when things have gone wrong in our filming. It shows that we're human, it shows that everyone experiences the same challenges when it comes to creating content and it builds rapport with our existing audience.
We often share behind the scenes short form content too. A sneak peek at a new service, life from the Yellow Tuxedo office, even our chickens at the end of the garden! It doesn't always have to be ROI specific content, it can be about human connection too.
This is a really smart one especially if you are time poor. Create short form content from your longer form content. I.e find a snippet of video, a key quote, a key sound bite, a powerful paragraph from your blog post, and share that out.
Not only is it great as an informational nugget for your audience, its a clever way of teasing your longer form content and encouraging people to get eyes on your full videos, podcasts and blog posts. As we mentioned in the first video of this series on Instagram reels for business owners people value their time and therefore need a reason to commit to watching, listening or reading longer form content. Your Instagram Reels can help you to persuade your audience that there is value in what you are showcasing.
Share what you do or what you sell with your audience! If you are a product based business why not demonstrate the product in use, being used by your customers, product flat lays, products being packaged. Literally your face never needs to be on camera, let your product do the talking.
And if you're a service based business? Talk about your headline services, a snap shot of a zoom call, client testimonials of how you have helped them, your attendance at events, walk around your clinics and offices where your clients will be arriving, discuss the client experience and how it works in practice. There are endless options and again they don't involve lip synching to a Kardashian quote in the process...
We always talk about sharing your top tips with longer form content but why not break this into shorter manageable tips? If you're never sure of what to talk about always start with things your current audience and client base are already asking and create snackable knowledge based Instagram Reels with your top tip on any given subject.
Writing a top ten style blog post? Take each of those top ten and make a series of short form videos. One blog post therefore equals ten Instagram Reels for you to share on social media. Again, you've already created the content elsewhere so you're not reinventing the wheel but simply changing the format in which the content is delivered to suit a different audience.
In the next part of our Instagram Reels for small business we'll be discussing our top tools for creating Reels so be sure to bookmark this site to come back to next week.
To conclude this post we just want you to start thinking about the benefits of short form video form video for your business rather than thinking of it as a hinderance in your content strategy. Create simple Instagram Reels that you know you can execute well and worry less at this stage about introducing fancy transitions and clever editing techniques, that will come later. For now just get started. You never know, you might just enjoy it!
We get it. Instagram Reels, or any short form video for that matter, can feel like an absolute pain in the proverbial butt. Not every small business owner out there wants to embrace the great Reels dance act or mindless pointing in the air. We spend so much time trying to get our voices heard, why do we lip sync with someone else's words?? Short form video is a great way of engaging with your audience as a small business. It doesn't need to feel overwhelming. We want to cover why you should seriously consider introducing Instagram Reels within your small business marketing strategy.
Well actually Alan did, but thats not the point. We're not all natural born performers but that doesn't mean you can't embrace short form video to grow your business.
Short form video creation like Instagram Reels is majorly efficient as part of your content sharing strategy. don't forget that we are MASSIVE advocates of repurposing your content across multiple platforms to give you more bang for your buck. One short form video can sit on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Google My Business, Linkedin, YouTube Shorts, within your blog, within your newsletter. Spread it far and wide. You put the effort into create it in the first place so make sure people get to see it.
As small business owners we thoroughly recognise that we are NOT the centre of everyone else's universe, especially when people are new to Yellow Tuxedo or discovering us for the first time. Things like Reels for small business is a great way of letting your audience get to know you without committing minutes and minutes of their precious time. People need to choose to invest their time in watching your long form content. They would be more likely to watch your YouTube back catalogue if they have had the chance to get to know your business and brand via your short form content.
At Yellow Tuxedo we always recommend working on a macro content as part of your marketing strategy. Well optimised, value led, searchable content is integral to any online presence. That being said, micro content like short form video can really help you slingshot your content further and in front of more eyes for longer. Think about key snippets, bloopers, key learnings, product descriptions and demos, key features and benefits from your services.
Look at your overall message you are trying to deliver and work on creating short, snackable content to support that message.
We genuinely believe that you can achieve great things on short form without compromising your business. We urge you think about how it can fit your brand voice and values without making you cringe inside. Think of it this way, if you had a captive potential customer for just 30 seconds in a room with you what would you say? Do you want them to get to know you? Do you want them to engage and ask questions? Do you want to turn them into a prospect? Would you try and sell your product or service?
Dancing and lip synching works really well for some. In fact there are some HUUUUGE accounts smashing it on Instagram and TikTok right now. But you have to remember vanity metrics don't always convert to sales. lip synching is thoroughly entertaining but you don't need to go viral to be successful.
We've been keeping our ears to the ground as always and am really glad to report that Mr Mosseri has had loads to report in recent weeks at Instagram HQ. In fact there has been so many updates its been a little hard to keep up!
In todays blog post we would love to share just a sprinkling of the things that have been announced and that you can expect to see on your phone in the near future if not already.
We have always been a fan of LIVE video no matter what the platform. We see great value in just picking up the phone and talking to your audience in realtime, answering questions and responding to comments. That being said we've all experienced that frustrating feeling when you do decide to go live to find that you are just talking to yourself with zero watchers.
The new Instagram LIVE scheduling tool is going to be a game changer and something that we actually used today for the first time to test. Now you can schedule your livestreams up to 90 todays in advance and can create clickable posts to notify your audience when you are due to go live and what you will be going to talk about.
This is perfect if you are looking to launch a product or service, will be interviewing guests for your stream or even if you are looking to do a LIVE from a special event somewhere.
To schedule your LIVE all you need to do is head into the app, hit LIVE and then click on the calendar icon on your left hand menu to get it in the diary.
As well as scheduling your LIVE we are also really pleased to see a new AUDIENCE tab on the menu. We thoroughly recognise that for lots of you going LIVE is a scary prospect. With the new audience function you will now have the capability to practice either by yourself or with a select few people before you speak to the masses.
IGTV is dead, long live IGTV!
Yes its true, IGTV is no longer on Instagram. Many of you might have seen that your IGTV icon has been removed from the top of your grid and has been replaced with a large play button instead.
Somethings just aren't designed to stay forever and just don't work. IGTV was one of those things and that is TOTALLY okay! Instagram has recognised this but at the same time understands the power of video and how people enjoy this kind of content on the platform.
So in IGTV's place now sits Instagram video. Video content will sit under this tab and within the grid and will include shorter post videos right up to 60mins worth of video content. The 15 second snippet has now also been replaced with a longer 60 second preview of the content to entice in your audience and to get them to view more.
The ability to add videos to your posts in this way also comes with some advantages. You can now take advantage of the new video trim tool as well as apply filters to your videos if you choose before uploading clickworthy content covers much like before. When you click into a square post the video will launch into full portrait mode so you don't miss any details!
Not quite the newest kid on the block but still worth mentioning is Instagram collaborations on posts. Now two separate accounts can partner up on relevant posts and reap the benefits of a wider reach and engagement. Historically its always been so clunky when sharing other peoples content, usually involving some sort of 3rd party app like Regram to share relevant posts.
But now with collaborations both parties can get involved in the post artwork and it will sit on both Instagram grids. With collaborations you will both benefit from the view count, likes and comments and well as the added bonus of getting your name in front of the other accounts audience.
Instagram favourites was actually trialled way back in 2017 and is now returning with full throttle to the platform. You might not see it on your account for a little while yet but keep an eye out for the little green star icon winging its way to an Instagram screen near you soon.
This is going to be GAME CHANGING.
Why? Because for the first time in forever Instagram is giving power to the user to be able to override the algorithm and to allow them to see the accounts that they are interested in first on their feed before being offered alternative content.
Never has it been so important to nurture and engage with your audience to turn them into your profile ambassadors. With your account a firm favourite with your fans the ability to get a better reach on your posts is firmly within your grasp.
We hope you've found these latest Instagram updates useful and we would love to know if you think you will be utilising any of the above as you look to grow further on Instagram. Do be sure to stay tuned as we will look to share further updates on lots more of their new features in the coming weeks and months.
Have fun Always
Emily and Alan.
P.s If you haven't yet watched it yet do check out our other video that we recently launched all about Using Instagram for Business.