Finally back to school! Who else is happy about this?? I am happy, to a certain extent. My youngest daughter has now begun Secondary and although it's nice to only have to go to one school now, the age of innocence is over for her and I'm well aware of this. I hope she doesn't change too much over the coming months but I'm learning to let go.
What this also means for me, is I can now change my working hours! For the last few years I have pretty much only had 2 full days a week and the rest working around my youngests' education / schedule. Now with the longer school hours and the less reliance on me, I can shift and change more easily. However, I have remained self employed because I wanted to be there for my family, so things won't drastically change for us, thankfully.
Enough of all that! Let's get started:
Last month Meta released this new AI that can help creators and small business owners come up with something entirely new for their content going forward. It's using several technologies and AI's at once but it's promising to really transform FREE content creation. I'm looking forward to seeing and hearing this over the coming weeks and months. I mean that quite honestly. Learn more in the announcement here.
Did you know that Instagram has made it possible to show exactly where you are? Not a lot of people do as it happens. It's a geotag attached to your images / videos and if you want to feel better protected then you may want to watch this video on TikTok or perhaps read this blog..
This is some what of an issue that companies are having. They create and build a new Company LinkedIn page but as staff don't have sufficient training on it themselves it's rarely utilised to its fullest. So if you're looking to bring up to speed your staff with this particular issue, then check out this latest video from Louise Brogan. She shows you in easy steps how to make the most of this for you and for your staff.
Are you on Threads? Tell me what you think of it please?
There was another few updates on Threads last month. So now you can see all of your past threads by checking a setting and now you can send thread post as Instagram messages. There are a few other changes but their more a functionality thing. Check out the changes here if you missed them last month:
Apparently you can now search through posts on Threads now.
Bless them, Canva has had to start pulling out all the stops to stay ahead! Now you can create videos in Canva and they have a nifty guide on how to in this blog from Small Biz Trends.
You might want to use the Image Generator they have to add images to your video as well. It's a little tricky to navigate in my opinion and I know I'm not alone, when I saw this blog in a search and had a good read, I thought you'd find this handy.
This came out the middle of last month and I can remember physically cringing. I really hope nothing comes of this update. I've not noticed anything yet but it has only been a couple of weeks.
We're all aware of the "pay-to-play" scenario I'm sure? Now X are offering to pay creators for their tweets - as long as they meet the criteria that X sets up for them. These include an Ads Revenue Sharing Programme as outlined here on their website. So now Elons pay-to-play may mean you get a payout instead? I fear not, its just likely to be an awful lot of engagement bait but we'll see. It wont be the first time he's stepped back from something, so watch this space I guess.
I don't feel that Bard AI get's enough mention in my opinion. It's always ChatGPT. It seems PC Mag UK feels the same as well. Now their sharing a blog about how to get the most out of it and aside for a couple of warnings its actually pretty good and very useful. I'd love to know if you're a Bard user, I know so few.
I appreciate this isn't seen as massive useful but hear me out. You can now add all of your social links in your profile. This means that when someone finds you in a search they can go to their preferred social platform to follow you. It's pretty simple and available now in Ireland, so follow the simple directions and make getting your followers that little simpler again!
I started a challenge - today actually on YouTube Shorts. Its a month long challenge that I am doing at the prompting of Matt Hughes the King of Video. YouTube Shorts is getting more popular with the Millennial's now (not just the weeny teens) and I thought it was about time I upped my video input. If you're interested in learning more about the updates then follow me on YouTube, simply look up @MelanieBoylan and you'll see me shorts further down!
GA4 was created because people were getting insufficient data in the previous version (I would imagine??). So these new reports should be considerably more useful. What I love about the new upgrade is they are formatted for ease as well.
You will most likely enjoy this blog post about the changes and updates that have happened when Constantine von Hoffman sat down and spoke with Russ Ketchum, Product Director of Google. This is a Q and A about the changes and why they were implemented and of course, how to use the reports today. Read on, its pretty interesting actually.
If you're looking for a more one on one style of training to create a strategy for your social media and overall digital marketing and would like to know how to do this by yourself for your own business or for the company you work for, then you maybe interested in doing this training that I offer.
I help you create it at a pace you set, filling in the gaps in your knowledge along the way. You'll be given work to do between the sessions that you can manage and that won't be overly disruptive to your everyday workload.
This will give you accountability and you can contact me anytime during the training if you have any questions that crop up between sessions.
Are you on track for your goals and targets so far? If not, then maybe you should contact me. I have set aside some regular time slots to offer this training and it can run either in 1 month, 6 weeks or even 12 weeks if you prefer! I can give you the dates to fit around both our schedules from day one so you know this in advance. If you would like to learn more about what this covers, then visit this page.
This course has been currently accepted by 5 Local Enterprise Office Areas as suitable for the Trading Online Voucher but you can also get this training directly. Check out all the lovely testimonials I have received regarding this course.
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From January 2023 I started running a monthly subscription of 30 minute per week Business Strategy Pods. These pods are one on one and are strategy and accountability weekly sessions that are pre booked by you at times that work around your own schedule.
You will first complete a pre qualifying form so I know where you're starting from and we shall then speak weekly and have a private 1:1 Facebook Group that keeps you pushing forward and getting stuff done.
How they work:
Podcast 188 - X, Threads and Looking After No. 1
Podcast 189 - Web 3.0 with Joeri Billast
Podcast 190 - Episode 190 - Automated responses - pros and cons
Podcast 191 - Affiliate Links
Esther and I are delighted to announce that we have now opened a Etsy Store and you can pick up merchandise and useful downloads that will help you learn and better understand your marketing!
Visit the shop today and every month for new downloads!
I hope you find this months round up useful and look forward to bringing you more updates in a few weeks time. If you need anything in the meantime, don't hesitate to contact me.
Working with clients Nationwide from base in Mullingar.
