Minelli's Marketing Blog

There is nothing as uninteresting as staring at a block of text. Today, people crave engaging visuals coupled with informative text. Graphics are a powerful addition to any social media marketer's toolkit. The design tool VistaCreate gives social media marketers the ability to create eye-catching content quickly. VistaCreate is a design tool that requires no design experience to create engaging graphics. In “ Best Image Editing Tools to Create Killer Rich Media ”, Neil Patel discusses free image editing tools like VistaCreate. The editing platform can be used to create graphics for a variety of social media platforms and print applications. Individuals can create everything from an Instagram story ad to print posters. To save time, VistaCreate offers a variety of customizable templates to choose from. Designers can modify color themes, include images, text, objects, and sound, and animate the design to their preference. VistaCreate's time-saving templates allow users to create ...

Due to the pandemic, remote working became the norm for job titles such as social media marketer. Staying connected with members of a social media marketing team became an awkward task. Hootsuite offers digital alternatives to stay in touch with team members virtually, depending on the Hootsuite plan. The platform assigns roles and includes messaging functions. Before learning Hootsuite’s collaborative features, individuals should understand Hootsuite’s organization levels. According to “ Introduction to Hootsuite Organizations and Permissions ” , an Hootsuite organization is composed of members, teams, and social networks. There are three levels to a Hootsuite organization’s members: super admin, admin, and default. Super admins are the top level and can manage all members, billing, vanity URLs and more. Admin have access to all social networks, users, and teams. Defaults are the lowest level and can only view information for teams and social networks that they have access to. Teams a...

Robots, self-driving cars, spreadsheet programs, and Alexa all involve a form of artificial intelligence (AI). To comprehend how AI performs tasks such as driving a car or answering a question, an individual needs to understand hardware and software. AI involves a complex system of connections that is difficult to follow. Understanding the basics of hardware and software can help an individual understand the complexities of AI. Hardware and software work together to make AI possible. Todd Kelsey describes the basics of hardware and software in Surfing the Tsunami . Hardware is the framework of any computer, including silicon chips and circuits that form computers. The chips connect to form a relatively fixed path. Electricity runs through hardware, allowing complex calculations to be made. To create functioning AI, hardware must be coupled with software. Software is the instructions that direct hardware. According to Kelsey, software is similar to the human mind's thought process. ...

Figuring out the best ways to promote a company through digital advertising varies. An artist promoting their art may start by posting their artwork on Instagram. The craft supply store Michaels could use paid advertising on Google to promote a sale on oil paint. Organic and paid marketing have similarities and differences that can help marketers decide the best route. Organic social media marketing is free and maintains relationships with customers. The image below is an example of an organic Facebook post. According to Page Cooper’s article “ Paid vs. Organic Social Media: How to Integrate Both Into Your Strategy ”, organic social media marketing includes free content shared through posts. Organic posts reach the social media account’s followers, possibly the friends of followers that shared the post, and people following a hashtag in the post. Word of mouth, when people share content, is the holy grail of organic marketing. Individuals share excellent content, products, or services ...

LinkedIn is a well-known social media platform for professionals and job seekers. A LinkedIn profile should be ever-evolving to reflect yourself. People are continuously growing and developing new skills. LinkedIn profiles are an expression of an individual and showcase their skills.  A LinkedIn profile picture and summary are two of the first aspects prospective employers will see on LinkedIn. In “10 LinkedIn Tips For Students & New Grads” , Omar Garriott discusses the importance of a profile photo. LinkedIn accounts with profile photos get fourteen times more views. A LinkedIn profile photo should include a smiling, professionally dressed individual ready to work. The profile photo for a Facebook or Instagram account with a pet cat would not work for LinkedIn. The about section tells a personalized story. In the about section, write in the first person and discuss aspirations and accomplishments. Including keywords in the about section can also help recruiters find the profil...

Imagine managing five or more social media accounts. Logging in and posting to each platform is time-consuming and difficult to track. Forgetting to post to a social media platform at a favorable time is a regular occurrence. The task of managing multiple social media accounts is overwhelming. Scheduling and planning posts using Hootsuite can lift the burden of a social media marketer. Hootsuite allows users to schedule multiple posts across various social media platforms. When creating a post, users can select multiple social media platforms to post on. In the following example, the selected platforms are Twitter and Facebook. Individuals can toggle between the initial content for the posts and the specific platform, allowing them to identify elements such as word count. The word count for Twitter is 280, while Facebook’s is 2,000. Users can schedule the posts for a later date. Scheduling allows individuals more time to create quality content and facilitates an active social media pre...

Imagine posting content to a Facebook page and receiving sporadic interaction with the posts. Posting content does not equal user interaction. Facebook Insights provides data about a Facebook page's content performance and audience. The powerful tool allows social media marketers to test and improve their content.  Facebook Insights gives Facebook page admins information about content interaction and audience. Admins can check the post reach and engagement for the page and individual posts. In last week’s post to the Marketing Novice Facebook page, the post reach was twelve and the post engagement was four. Twelve people potentially saw the post. Users engaged with the post four times and gave the post three likes. After accumulating one hundred followers, admins can acquire more data on their audience. Neil Patel dives into Facebook Insights in his article “ A Beginner's Guide to Facebook Insights ”. Facebook Insights informs admins of the demographics of their audience such a...

DALL·E 2 , a free Artificial Intelligence (AI) system, can be used to create images and art from a description. The system combines concepts, styles and elements from a text description. The created artwork can be further edited by adding or removing elements from the composition. DALL·E 2 lets an individual’s imagination run wild! DALL·E 2 allows users the ability to create artworks with a few phrases. The more detailed the description the better the accuracy of the image. Including specific art styles, colors, or additional elements can create a more detailed image. In my experimentation, I explored various descriptions using the theme of Halloween. Creating artwork becomes as simple as entering a description, such as a grocery shopping ghost or a 3D rendering of a pumpkin in a witches hat. After a few moments various versions of the description are produced. Here are a few artworks I created:  After inviting family and friends to experiment with the system through social media a...

Hootsuite is a versatile tool to add to any successful social media marketing toolkit. After creating multiple social media accounts, an individual can start posting content. Instead of several sign-ins and hoping for the best, Hootsuite empowers social media marketers to oversee multiple accounts in one place. Hootsuite benefits include organizing and tracking social media platforms. Hootsuite manages multiple accounts from one platform. According to Todd Kelsey's book Introduction to Social Media Marketing , manually posting content on various social media accounts is sporadic. In the beginning, enthusiastic individuals post multitudes of content. As time progresses, posts dwindle due to busy schedules. Hootsuite allows individuals to schedule posts avoiding missed deadlines. When creating a new post using Hootsuite, an individual can input the date and time to publish the post. Posts can be published on several social media accounts. Hootsuite includes a mock-up of the post all...

Imagine being a college senior frantically searching for a job after graduation. After spending hours crafting résumés and cover letters, you receive no response. Individuals often overlook the importance of a social media presence such as LinkedIn. A personal brand on social media reflects an individual and promotes networking. Cover letters and résumés are not the only part of job applications. To really stand out, an individual must build an online presence. A social media profile is a reflection of a person’s personal brand. Recruiters get to know an individual through social media platforms like LinkedIn. Omar Garriott discusses LinkedIn strategies to get hired in the article " 10 LinkedIn Tips for Students & New Grads" . Approximately, 90 percent of companies use LinkedIn to hire individuals. LinkedIn is used to show off a personal brand. A LinkedIn profile can include a professional profile picture, a headline, and summary statement. Individuals should incorporat...

  Mindlessly scrolling through the Facebook mobile app allows individuals to see how their family and friends are doing. There are images from last week’s wedding party, prom photos, and the latest local news. After every few posts, an ad appears to try to gain the user’s attention. Facebook ads could be promoting a product, service, company, or Facebook page. The flexibility and monitoring capabilities of Facebook ads are advantageous. Facebook ads have flexible audience targeting, ad formats, and budgets. According to Introduction to Social Media Marketing , audiences can be targeted based on demographics, language, and interests. The more specific the target audience, the better the ad will perform. An ad with a targeted audience specified as Americans that speak English will create a large audience pool of 251 million. By adding interests like graphic design, the target audience shrinks to 90 million. A smaller target audience increases the probability of users clicking the ad....