made a key for. It is always a great idea to have your customer’s consent and/or to be sure it is a non-identifying photo. Caption it #ThrowbackThursday with a short description of the item. Day 26: #FriYay Wish your followers a happy Friday. Cheers to the weekend. You may want to share an appropriate meme, a light- hearted pic of a thumbs-up or a cool sun- set picture you took at a local landmark. Day 27: Did You Know... Share local or national statistics about break-ins or vandalism to catch the at- tention of your audience, and it may result in followers sharing your post. Make sure you rely on a reputable source such as the Department of Jus- tice, local police department or news website. Day 28: Happy Sunday Share a photograph of your day. Watching the game? Share your snack setup! Out for a walk? Share a picture of the sunset or your dog. Authentic posts that represent your real life and professionally appropri- ate activities help you connect with your followers and customers on social media. Day 29: Share a Product Share a product that you recommend and sell at your business. Post a real-life image of the item and, if you are up for it, an additional video of it in use. Tag the manufacturer if they have an online presence. Try not to sell the product but rather explain why it is so neat and how it functions. Day 30: Send Off! The challenge is complete! Make this a general gratitude post. Thank your cus- tomers for their loyalty over the years (or months, if your business is newer) WWW.ALOA.ORG and share some remarks of what their business means to you. Share a photo of a customer service award, a busy day at the store or a picture of your van parked somewhere neat. Now that you are looking forward to posting daily in the month of April, here are some additional pointers to make it a successful and enjoyable adventure: Practice Makes Perfect To achieve quality posts, play around on your preferred social media application so that you are familiar and competent in its functions. There are a lot of easy-to-read articles and video tutorials available on- line if you are unfamiliar with or uneasy about using social media apps. Editing apps will allow you to add borders, text, filters and more. Many of these options are now available directly on Instagram. Tag Your Locations Remember that on most social media outlets you can mark a location in your post: you can tag your storefront loca- tion, the city or wherever the photo was taken. On Instagram in particular, users can view posts based on location, so this creates another way for your image to be found and seen. Tagging Other Users, Brands and Followers If your post contains or pertains to any other big brands or local businesses, tag them! The account tagged will receive a notification and may reach out and com- ment, share or respond via direct mes- sage. These tags help your account to gain direction and support. Hashtags Don’t forget your hashtags! Many users browse posts by searching hashtags, so this is one more way to draw attention to your posts and your business. Plan Ahead and Make Your Efforts Count Remember that you can gather pho- tos well in advance. In an aſternoon of downtime, you can schedule all of these posts using an application like Hootsuite, which is free for a single user. It may take a couple hours to create all 30 of these posts and then schedule them, and then you won’t need to think about it again for quite a while! On most platforms, you can opt to post to several social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at the same time. This creates a greater impact with very little additional effort. Each social media page tends to have a bit of a different audience, so sharing across several pages is not overwhelming or re- dundant. Most brands and companies post this way. Blast Off You are ready to hit the ground running. If a certain themed day just does not appeal to you, substitute it for another! Staff birth- days or posts acknowledging a celebrity’s are always fun. Local events, news head- lines and small business shoutouts will be more relevant to your followers who are customers in real life as well. Remember to rope in tech-savvy employees or family members if you need help proofreading, creating relevant content or posting online. Have a fun time, and I look forward to liking your company’s posts! Katelyn Lucas Radtke is a ourth-generation security rofessional based in the an Francisco Bay area. he is an expert contributor o Blackhawk Living Maga- zine and lead contributor to Give-A-Hoot. com, a website, blog and YouTube channel empowering communities by providing safety and security information, tips and education. APRIL 2019 KEYNOTES 25
