Online Class: TuneUp: What To Pitch The Media This Month: October

It's time for our monthly series where we start a new month and plan ahead for what we are pitching! October is a special month because...it's your time to begin pitching Valentine's Day. Oh yes. If you missed your chance last year, and found Tin Shingle when you were Googling "how to pitch valentine's day gift guides," and discovered that the time is not January, but is October, then this is your time to shine!

In this TuneUp, we went over ideas for national print magazines (6 months ahead), local (2-3 months ahead) and trending news stories right now.

Plus, we shared a special Motivation Minute- slowing down to a slow jam.

HOW TO WATCH

Anyone can watch a Tin Shingle TuneUp from their computer, mobile phone or tablet. The process is different for premium members and the public.

MEMBERS OF TIN SHINGLE (FREE)

Stream any TuneUp Webinar anytime with your Tin Shingle membership. No need to purchase it, this TuneUp is ready to play from this page! When you are logged in, you will see a big screen.

NON-MEMBERS ($65)

Once you buy a TuneUp, you own it forever. The video or audio recording will appear on the TuneUp page that you just purchased from, and all you need to do is press play.

Online Class: TuneUp: Pitching The Media All The Ways: Social Media and Alternative Ways

We're talking about all the ways to pitch the media these days - the alternative ways. When you can't find an email, you go rogue on LinkedIn, DMs, Contact Us pages, even Text (gasp!).

This TuneUp covers all the ways to do this.

HOW TO WATCH
Anyone can watch a Tin Shingle TuneUp from their computer, mobile phone or tablet. The process is different for premium members and the public.

MEMBERS OF TIN SHINGLE (FREE)
Stream any TuneUp Webinar anytime with your Tin Shingle membership. No need to purchase it, this TuneUp is ready to play from this page! When you are logged in, you will see a big screen.

NON-MEMBERS ($65)
Once you buy a TuneUp, you own it forever. The video or audio recording will appear on the TuneUp page that you just purchased from, and all you need to do is press play.

Online Class: "8 Things I Learned After Deleting Facebook From My Phone"

It's happening. The deletion of Facebook apps from people’s phones - or from their lives entirely - as revelations continue to come out as to how invasive Facebook's social tactics are. Even Lisa Paige from PopCrush Nights deleted Instagram for her phone for a day, and was so happy.
Tin Shingle’s owner Katie is a Digital Marketing Strategist, and has deleted Facebook Personal and Business apps from her phone, but still uses the platform for marketing.
Deleting the easy access revealed much about Facebook’s design, what’s working and not working with it, and how to reach the people who are still communicating with each other on the platform.
This isn't a TuneUp to slam Facebook, but to highlight the parts of it that you should pay attention to, in your broad marketing plans where time continues to shrink as more content grabs our attention. Namely:

Showing Up. Having a pulse on Facebook. People are checking out your brand page, and want to see life.

Shopping. Facebook is investing into the shopping game as buying via Instagram takes off. Instagram shopping is connected to your Facebook account. The only way to link to products on your website from your Instagram post is via Facebook's Ad Manager, so you can’t cut the cord just yet.

This TuneUp Covers:

• Design: What is hurting Facebook's design, and why your message may be getting buried.

• Facebook as a Creative Crutch. Are you reaching as many people as you think?

• Never Satisfied. There's a reason you're hooked.

• FOMO Fuels Everything

• When Facebook Goes Dark

• Facebook Can Still Track You, Despite Being Deleted From Phone

• So How Should You Use Facebook For Marketing?

Online Class TuneUp: Trick or Treat: 5 Tricks for Instagram, PR, and SEO

This TuneUp was originally recorded on Halloween, thus the Halloween inspired Tricks and Treats you're going to get for doing your own PR and Instagram posting. This was a quick TuneUp because there was costuming to be done!

Covered In This Training TuneUp

• PR Trick: An email pitch trick that worked to hook and land a local newspaper article in a competitive market.

• PR Trick: A trick in the follow-up to your pitch to a reporter.

• Rotten Candy for PR: A follow-up email that would have rotted the possible story!

• Instagram Trick: A really easy trick to get a lot more exposure (hint: it's pretty basic but takes courage)

• Instagram/PR Combo Trick: A trick that local business is mastering pretty well to get organic PR, but PR agents might not know about it yet.

• Rotten Candy for Instagram: An easy way to rot in your intended contact's Instagram and not get heard.

• SEO Trick: Easy way to create content to get gobbled up by Google and recommended to people looking for what you sell.

Online Class TuneUp: SEO + Social: The Migration

We’re in the middle of a “social migration,” as we’re calling it here at Tin Shingle. Behavior at social platforms like Facebook and Instagram are changing. Usage activity at Facebook is still high, but it’s an increasingly questionable place, both with data privacy, and being over-designed and over-stuffed with information, causing users to miss a message.

As reported by CNBC in March 2018: “Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg broke his silence Wednesday on the Cambridge Analytica data scandal that's plagued the social media giant in recent days and slashed stock value. ‘We have a responsibility to protect your data, and if we can't then we don't deserve to serve you,’ Zuckerberg said in a statement posted to his Facebook page.”

Instagram’s co-founders abruptly resigned from Facebook two weeks ago, just one week before Facebook announced another data breach. They had worked there for six years after the merger, which apparently is a long time in the world of acquisitions. Would Facebook ever pull the plug on their-self if they were too weighed down with data issues? It's a very unlikely scenario, but is implied by Mark's statement. Plus, Facebook has deleted websites they have purchased in the past (like that data storage website Drop.io that was pre-Dropbox and we stored lots of stuff there!).

Social Is On Shaky Ground. We All Want To Connect, and We Will, But...

What do you have in your own tool belt (hopefully) all of the time that you can control?

Your website.

And how are people finding it?

Googling stuff.

What are they going to find there?

Amazing content you’re going to put at your website, and lots of pictures.

What do people do after they Google things? They buy things and subscribe to newsletters. Your newsletters and your products and services.

That’s right. Good old fashioned SEO.

The three most important things you can be doing right now for your business is what we will be covering in this TuneUp :

• Making your website pretty and alive.

• Sending newsletters to the people who subscribed and really do want to hear from you - frequently (they really do!!!)

• Posting to Instagram (yeah, do it, we’ll be watching to see if and how the user experience at Instagram changes, but so far, keep posting)

Online Class TuneUp: Instagram Stories 101: The Basics

This Training TuneUp explores Instagram's Stories - those little circle videos that appear at the top of your Instagram account. Instagram launched Stories in 2016 as a way for people to post imperfect photos, videos, and "moments in-between" according to TechCruch.

In a 2016 interview with then Instagram CEO and co-founder Kevin Systrom, people were only posting their most perfect and curated photos in Instagram. Stories was for those silly moments in-between the glossy photos, which can give people more creative freedom, and brands more opportunities to get closer with their people by being, well, imperfect and relatable. The Stories only last for 24hrs (unless you know a few tricks to keep them forever), so people can feel less attached to them.

Trivia Tip

Instagram's Stories was a copy of Snapchat, an earlier 24hr video sharing platform used by younger people. Instagram doesn't deny this, and Kevin admits in this TechCruch article: "They [Snapchat] deserve all the credit,” but insisted “This isn’t about who invented something. This is about a format, and how you take it to a network and put your own spin on it.”

This TuneUp explores Instagram Stories - the How and Why. At first blush, these may seem like one more thing you need to know about, and you may be skipping it, hoping that it's just a fad. Stories are here to stay, will be really good for your brand, and is easier than you think to do. Imperfections and all.

Covered In This TuneUp

• Why Instagram Stories? Why would you want to make these silly - or beautiful - videos?

• How do Instagram Stories help your brand?

• Design Tips and Tricks - Yes, Instagram Stories are that easy to design. Just tap and drag on something cute.

• What makes a good Instagram Story?

• Learn about how Instagram Stories work - Where do they go? Who sees them?

• One of the most important reasons to start using Instagram Stories right now - which might not be as true in years to come.

• Question answered from a viewer: "What is worthy of an Instagram Story?"

• Question answered from a viewer: "How many photos does it take to make 1 Instagram Story?" (Hint: this becomes a trick question)

Online Class TuneUp: Interview with Artist Anna West: How She Sells Paintings on Instagram

You know those people who sell things on Instagram? We're going to interview one to find out how she does it - with her paintings. Anna West is a painter full time (here's her Instagram), and she scours and devours Instagram to find the the best possible buyers of her art, and gets in front of them.

Anna has a sales goal each month, and a routine each day for her social media. Find out what it is and why it's working on this Tin Shingle Training Class!

Biggest Secret Revealed Here: The money is in the hashtags.

Sneak Peek!

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Online Class TuneUp: Digital Marketing as Circuit Training

This Training TuneUp Webinar is going to pump you up! It’s treating your social media-ing as circuit training when you work out and tone up at the gym. We’re going to:

• Cover some Motivation of Why you’re hitting certain social platforms and updating your website.

• Feature a few Tin Shinglers who are doing a great job right now (Cold Spring Fitness and She's Her Own CEO).

• Rotate between Facebook, Instagram, Google, your Newsletter and your Website as the workout routine.

• Give you a recommendation of an album to play to get your friendly but competitive juices flowing to help you put your brand out there.

Some Artwork Used During This Webinar

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Online Class TuneUp: Backup Plan for a Facebook Fizzle

Backup Plan For a Facebook Fizzle

Facebook's business model is to profit from your personal information. The more that people learn about how Facebook does this, and who Facebook's clients are (Facebook doesn't even know who their clients are, as proved this week when they admitted that they didn't know of any more fake Russian clients, and then found more...and they will find even more), the more trust people will lose in Facebook, and will leave Facebook, or show up less.

Facebook is branding its latest issue as a data breach and began offering rewards. But it's not. And it's not just a Russian issue. If you are an advertiser at Facebook - if you conduct marketing campaigns there - there is a high likelihood that the targeting features you use are about to get scaled waaaaaay back.

People market in Facebook because that's where everyone is. But if people start leaving, what does this mean for your business? You need a backup plan for how you reach your people.

We are discussing the backup plan - that should really be your marketing plan anyway. Don't worry - Facebook is part of that marketing plan. We're just removing some of your eggs from that basket.

Tin Shingle's owner and leader of this class has published her first response to Mark Zuckerberg's testimony to a House Committee in this blog post, which makes for a good read when listening to this TuneUp.

Online Class TuneUp: Hey You...With The Hardley Used Instagram Account!

All too often we see PR obsessed members with either no social media accounts or worst yet neglected (or even private) feeds. What? No, no, no!

During this Training TuneUp, Katie Hellmuth Martin will uncover strategies from effective social media accounts, giving you inspiration, as well as dont's from other accounts to learn from.  If this is you - and you want the latest Instagram strategies, and constantly hunt for them but have no recent posts to your Instagram, Facebook or Twitter - you better listen/watch this TuneUp stat!!

Online Class TuneUp: Mastering Brand Storytelling on Instagram

Instagram is one of the most fun ways customers get information about their favorite brands (yours!). Instagram helps inspire people to want to buy from your business. Marketers call this concept "brand storytelling."

After you watch this Training TuneUp, you're going to start doing more of it because you're going to understand the impact it has on your customers, whether that is getting them to attend your event, buy from your website, sign up as a client, or find your product in stores. Tin Shingle's co-founder Katie, is a digital marketer, graphic designer, blogger, and ghost publisher behind several Instagram accounts in different industries. She reveals strategies that can work for you right now to enhance your Instagram.