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Writing is hard. Writing captions for social media is hard. Writing to tell a story is hard. Purposeful posting with engagement in mind is challenging. Let us tell you a secret: even people who do this all day, every day sometimes get stumbled up in their words. Writer's block is real and especially when you have been batch creating and batch writing sometimes your brain only thinks of all those crazy songs and audio sounds floating through your Reels or TikTok. (You know it’s true.) Instead of staring at a blank caption box with that blinking cursor, let’s navigate the world of captions with prompts to tell a story. Read more for 5 caption prompts to get your posts ready for whatever project you are working on. 1. How do you spend your day?
Things you do everyday might interest your audience.The will interest your audience. Behind the scenes are the perfect way to get your audience intrigued and involved in what you are doing.
2. What is a business service or product that has been top-performing lately?
Explain how to use that service or product. Don’t think of this as a sales caption but a chance to solve a problem that this service or product does for your audience. Be specific and real.
You as a business owner are in the thick of it and aware of what people are buying. It takes 7 times on average for a person to resonate with your message and truly hear it. While we care immensely about the things we create and share, not everyone is going to care as much as you. It’s our job to share often what we know and create for our audience. A call to action that you might end this caption with might be “tag a friend who needs this” or “save this post for later.” 3. Who is on your team?
As a business or organization, your team is what fuels you to get all the tasks done in a day. Maybe you are a creator of one, or have a contractor that helps you out on certain projects? Maybe you have a team of 10 in your shop that help you capture content and share your story on the daily. No matter the size of your team, introduce yourself.
Remember that people buy from people. The more often you can show your face or have your team show their face people will connect with YOU, your brand and ultimately think of you when they are completing that sale or purchase or hitting that follow button. 4. Help us choose…
Getting your audience’s feedback and engagement can be as easy as asking them to help you choose between Product A or Product B. Maybe you have a new profile picture you want to post. Share in your stories a post between the options or even pop it in your stories real quick with a poll. The same can work for Podcast graphics, product photos or new headshots.
Any way you can get your audience to feel like they are a part of your decisions in choosing something next for your business lets them in on the journey and like they are contributing without actually contributing. 5. What’s something you wish your audience knew about your business?
Start the caption with “Have you ever wondered…. *insert what you wished the knew about your business* ?
Share the answer by describing what you wish your audience knew about your business. Keep it light and consider sharing something that they might be afraid to ask or you aren’t really sure how to share in another format with your audience. Call to action examples include: “Share this post so everyone knows the secret” or “What else did you wish you knew about our business, tell us in the comments” caption best practices
Turn your answers to these questions into captions by simplifying it down into a succinct, clear caption that adds value to your audience's day.
If your post is engaging, entertaining or educating your audience you are on the right track. If your post is simply just to get something out like a social media holiday that isn't relevant to your journey or your audience's, you may want to rethink why you are posting. Each platform will have their limitations to character account and hashtags, but customize your message to be purposeful and engaging with your audience at the front of your mind. After all that's what social media is all about? Want more prompts & ideas?
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July 2021 | Renewal & Reception Isaac & Mo got married almost a year before this day, but couldn't celebrate with all their friends and family due to COVID. A little over a year later, they finally were able to come together and celebrate their union. Even more special than their celebration, Isaac & Mo had their celebration in the backyard of one of their parent's house! What?! Can we talk about gorgeous and dreamy. What's even more special is that the bride's parents also got married here. This wedding was even more special for us at Brincefield Studios, because it was the second one that CJ & Helen got to capture together. The first one is always a whirlwind, but this day was special and CJ got the hang of it and helped capture some of my favorite photos of the day. Oops, did we not address the kilt? Both family's have lots an Irish connection. This wedding was the first of many Irish traditions like a bag piper, kilts and lots of adventure. The rain came in while set up was happening, but then it cooled off into a beautiful day. Congratulations, Isaac & Mo! Here's to years of adventure and love.
-Helen & CJ There are so many content platforms and avenues to share your story. Whether it's through social content or speaking into a microphone, you need to choose a way to communicate with your audience that first addresses your target audience or ideal client & second, you can enjoy. If you hate dancing in front of a camera for reels or don't feel your story lends best to a social media post, starting a podcast may be the right thing for you. Starting a podcast is not just talking into a microphone. There's equipment to consider, how to edit and the most important is what you are going to talk about. Brincefield Studios has prepped a list and worksheet for you to start your path to developing your podcast. Be sure to click the button to download your FREE worksheet. Items that are covered in the worksheet:
Keep your audience in mind all the while planning your podcast. The information you share is for them. How can you serve your audience and stand out to them? By providing value, especially in a form that is free to listen, you are not only going to see a return on your investment but you will be building a community.
Need to stay accountable? Send us a message to say that you are starting your podcast. Your worksheet will help you lay the groundwork for great conversations with your audience. Here at Brincefield Studios, your success is our goal. Be sure to ask any questions if you have them. In the last week of July, it’s a great idea to start prepping your social media content for the month ahead. Here are 31 content ideas to create your content ahead of time, so you can take more time each day engaging with your audience or trying new features on stories & reels.
1 - Introduce your account as if you are a new follower. Be sure to include your WHY, what to expect from YOU and ask a question about how they found you? 2 - Post your favorite motivational quote. 3 - Two truths and a lie. Make this about your favorite tasks as a business, page or organization. Be lighthearted and ask your audience to guess the lie in the comments. 4 - Summer Reflection. What have you done this summer that you are so glad you did? 5 - Share a quick tip from your business, how to use a product or services you offer. 6 - What is your favorite tool for business, personal organization or something you must use every day? Why? 7 - Happy Campfire Day! If you Google monthly holidays, a list for each day has an odd celebration. Post something relevant to ones that lend well to your business or organization. Make sure your whole account isn’t just these posts. 8 - Sunday scaries...post a note of encouragement, quote or photo of the real life that is behind doing what you do. Let your audience know they aren’t alone. We can tackle the week together. 9 - Behind the Scenes are a great way to let your audience feel like they are included. Share bts video as a post. Go even further and post more behind the scenes stories and save to a highlight. 10 - Try something new! Haven’t done a reel? Try it! Take a timelapse of your normal activities you do in a day. Haven’t posted an Instagram story? Post one or try something out of your normal social media realm. If posting every day is it, keep it up! You’ve got this. 11 - Who’s on your team? Share a photo(s) of your team members and you. Talk about why you like to do what you do. 12 -Post a photo of you just starting out. Talk about challenges or things you wish you knew. 13 - That Friday feeling: share a photo that describes your Friday. Maybe it’s a giant cup of coffee or maybe it’s a funny picture. Ask your audience about their plans this weekend. 14 - Check in: ask your audience how they are doing? Be ready to engage back with them in the comments and in your messages. Reciprocate the communication. 15 - Take a Day off. Focus on preparing future content in a batch or large group so you can have more free time later. If you want to post, share a story. 16 - Inform your audience about an upcoming program, sale, launch or remind them of something you can do for them. 17 - Share a testimonial from a customer or client. People love to see reviews and other people raving about YOU. 18 - Solve a problem for your audience. Can you use a product or service that you offer to do it? Be sure to share a high quality photo. 19 - Throwback: what were you doing last year at this time? 20 - Share a tip with your audience. Remember accompanying photos should be tied in to your caption in some way. 21 - Saturdays are for hanging out, free time and acknowledging even the smallest celebrations. What’s something you're proud of or celebrating right now? 22 - Educate your audience that engaging on social helps YOU. Even if they can’t spend $$$ for your services, products, etc they can like, comment and share on posts to help you! Tell them how! 23 - Where’s your workspace? Share a photo/video and tell us about it. 24 - Share a tutorial on something you want your audience to know. Product demo, how to do a service or a tip that will make their experience with you helpful. 25 -DAY OFF- Start prepping content for September. Trust me, you will thank yourself later for getting a head start. 26 - Encourage your audience. It’s the last week of August. What are they looking forward to next month? 27 - Remind your audience of upcoming programming, launches or products that are coming up. Be light hearted and relevant. 28 - Share Behind the scenes of your day. 29 - Share answers to frequently asked questions on your stories and post about your mission/services or business goals. 30 - Be silly. Is there a fun video or photo of you and your team to share to say thank you for following along? Recap the month. Any way you can create value for your audience, be uniquely YOU & create more time for you to do the things that make your business run is a win in our book. Happy planning and good luck. The perfect social media plan looks like a perfectly made ice cream sundae.
COOKIE DOUGH: A combination of your passion and why behind what you are doing at the base will fuel the rest of the work you put in to show up for your audience. VANILLA: Have a strategy and a plan to execute the content creation and scheduling of the pieces that you create for your audience. CHOCOLATE: Engage with your community on your posts and theirs. Don't just like their posts... comment, message, watch their stories, answer the poll and genuinely show up for them. SPRINKLES/CRUNCH COAT: Share behind the scenes on your stories, follow trends and cross your fingers for a little bit of luck in the finding your niche audience over time. MIX IT TOGETHER: Your audience sharing and engaging with your posts will help your content reach the right people. Repeat by eating all the sundaes you'd like (I wish)... Continue to engage consistently and show up for your audience and watch your results. Grow and change with the platform, your audience and your goals. You got this! Questions? Send us a message on our website through our contact form or on social media. Batch creating a month of content isn't easy... It takes strategy, planning and a little bit of grit to get down and just do it. Here are 30 free content ideas for the month of April to help get you started. Keep in mind that your plan is flexible, but holding yourself accountable to a plan will only help you consistently show up for your audience. Brincefield Studios has services and strategies that can help you plan ahead, strategically post and show up for your people. Whether you are a business, organization or individual... we have an option for you to learn, grow or even just get started. 30 free content ideas1 - April Fools, it’s up to you to figure out two truths a lie listed below. Make it about you, your org or business. 2 - Post a springtime quote or Easter wishes. 3 - Day Off: prep the next week of content! 4 - It’s Easter! Share something that fits springtime, Easter celebration or Easter bunny related. 5 - Motivation Monday. Ask your audience what they are looking forward to in their week. 6 - What is your favorite tool for business, personal organization or something you must use every day? Why? 7 - National Beer & National Walking Day. If you Google monthly holidays a list for each day has an odd celebration. Post something relevant to ones that lend well to your business or organization. Make sure your whole account isn’t just these posts. 8 - Throwback to a photo of you just starting out. Talk about challenges or things you wish you knew. 9 - Try something new! Haven’t done a reel? Try it! Post an Instagram story or try something out of your normal social media realm. If posting every day is it, keep it up! You’ve got this. 10 - Who’s on your team? Share a photo(s) of your team members and you. Talk about why you like to do what you do. 11 - Sunday scaries...post a note of encouragement, quote or photo of the real life that is behind doing what you do. Let your audience know they aren’t alone. We can tackle the week together. 12 - Behind the Scenes are a great way to let your audience feel like they are included. Share bts and go even further and share more on your story. 13 - Inform your audience about an upcoming program, sale, launch or remind them of something you can do for them. 14 - Check in: ask your audience how they are doing? Be ready to engage back with them in the comments and in your messages. Reciprocate the communication. 15 - Day off, focus on preparing future content in a batch or large group so you can have more free time later. 16 - That Friday feeling: share a photo that describes your Friday. Maybe it’s a giant cup of coffee or maybe it’s a funny picture. Ask your audience about their plans this weekend. 17 - Share a testimonial from a customer or client. People love to see reviews and other people raving about YOU. 18 - Solve a problem for your audience. Can you use a product or service that you offer to do it? Be sure to share a high quality photo. 19 - Educate your audience that engaging on social helps YOU. Even if they can’t spend $$$ for your services, products, etc they can like, comment and share on posts to help you! Tell them how! 20 - Share a tip with your audience. Remember accompanying photos should be tied in to your caption in some way. 21 - Share a tutorial on something you want your audience to know. Product demo, how to do a service or a tip that will make their experience with you helpful. 22 - Throwback: what were you doing last year at this time? 23 - Where’s your workspace? Share a photo/video and tell us about it. 24 - Saturdays are for hanging out, free time and acknowledging even the smallest celebrations. What’s something you're proud of or celebrating right now? 25 -DAY OFF- Start prepping content for May. 26 - Encourage your audience. It’s the last week of April. What are they looking forward to next month? 27 - Remind your audience of upcoming programming, launches or products that are coming up. Be light hearted and relevant. 28 - Share Behind the scenes of your day. 29 - Share answers to frequently asked questions on your stories and post about your mission/services or business goals. 30 - Be silly. Is there a fun video or photo of you and your team to share to say thank you for following along? Recap the month. You can do this!Remember that if you show up and engage with your audience, you are being put in the forefront of their mind. Maybe your logo popping up that day reminded them, they need a service or a product that you offer.
Pro tip: end your captions with a question and begin with a hook to drive engagement or conversation in the comments and your messages. Be open to talking publicly and privately to show your audience you care! For more questions on how to schedule your content ahead of time or how to set up your social media content calendar, feel free to send us an inquiry to partner with us at our contact page. Do you feel the way Helen looks in this photo? Are you overwhelmed with day to day tasks like posting to social media, responding to messages or emails? Do you know that there are ways you could market yourself better, but don't have the time? A virtual assistant might be the right fit for you. Virtual assistantIn most instances, virtual assistants help business owners conquer online tasks that take up time they need to do the day-to-day operations of their biz. Virtual assistants thrive upon great partnerships to work on building a good work flow, approval and revision processes and building a relationship with their clients. When we launched full-time, we knew of virtual assistants but didn’t realize our exact skill set is what small business owners and organizations need. Helen started her career in an administrative position in higher education. The skills she learned there were crucial in setting up Brincefield Studios & being a project manager queen, however the stigma behind the word "assistant" rattled Helen. But that's exactly what we do, we assist people. Our partnerships with our clients allow for a two-way street of both individuals excited to grow and make your business or organization better. Virtual assistants can make the world go round so that YOU can spend more time doing the tasks you can creatively do for your business. We have embraced the virtual assistant life! We celebrate being your assistant as long as you celebrate and prepare us for the good work we can do together. services we can help you with:Our education in communications & social media marketing paired with experience in photography, alumni & event planning give us a unique perspective and range of skills to help you grow!
What is the one task you wish you didn’t have to do at work? Be honest.
1. Go to google.com/alerts in your web browser. 2. Enter what you want to create an alert for. Make a list of keywords that are common for you, your business or organization. Include team members names, the name of your business/organization, services you offer, etc. A preview of your results will show. 3. Choose “Show Options” to narrow down your search. This is helpful if you want to be alerted by region in addition to specifying how often/how many notifications you receive and where you receive them. 4. Click, “Create Alert” 5. Once you create your alerts, you can click on the settings icon to adjust the frequency of when you receive your alerts specifically by time or a digest option. Think about how your work flow would benefit from receiving these alerts: Do you want to scroll through news about you in the morning or evening to plan how to share news or other articles of people talking about you, your business or organization? Setting up Google Alerts allows you to be informed about what others are saying about you and find good news to share with your audience about the work you are doing in your community and beyond. When thinking about how this relates to your marketing plan print and digitally, you can use these alerts to sprinkle in content on days that you aren’t planning to share something that you created. Repurposing other content is to your advantage and Google alerts help you do this without spending a whole lot of time scrolling the internet for something to share. For more ways to implement tools like this or to start a conversation with us about your social media strategy or marketing needs, please don't hesitate to reach out.
We are happy to provide tools and resources that make connecting with your audience meaningful and informative. Visit our contact page to start the conversation today. Talk soon! This year has been nothing short of crazy, but down the road we may someday forget the things that made 2020 such a weird year. CJ & Helen totally plan to scroll through their camera rolls to pull out the best photos of the year to create a photo book but also need some written memories to remember the year by. Cue Helen who makes a worksheet for everything: now presenting your free, PDF of written prompts to "remember" & hopefully forget 2020. Feel free to download and fill out your own worksheet or take the prompts and write them in your own journal or even a photo book like us. If you use this PDF, please leave a comment below or on our social media. We love knowing that our resources are in your hands & hopefully will provide some clarity or release to the hectic year this has been.
We know that 2021 is still a ways off, but as you start reminiscing this year & looking forward to the new one ahead, CJ & Helen wish you the best in navigating this thing we call LIFE. Calendars hold us to a plan & make us accountable to the consistency we are trying to build with our audience. As an organization or business, building this consistency is key to creating a relationship with your audience online. I know, I know-but how do I start? Utilize these 6 steps to start from a blank monthly calendar to go to a full, ready to execute plan for your next month of social media content. Note: This timeline of steps is applicable to creating all sorts of content whether that be for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, your next podcast schedule, YouTube series and more! 1. Monthly events / holidaysStart with what you know & plot the dates during the month that are a given. What are days that your audience is already going to be thinking about that month? How can your organization/business talk about that holiday in your own way? Are you celebrating New Year's Day? Google "monthly holidays" to be sure that you are not missing out on any crucial events & even add silly holidays, too. For example, January 8th is National Bubble Bath Day! If you sell soaps or are a interior designer, maybe use this holiday to promote your services for a new bathtub or some of those special soaps you sell. 2. local eventsWhere you are at, think of what local events are happening? Even if some events are virtual, what is currently going on that might be important for your business or organization to talk about? Think parades, food drives, and local events that are going on where you live. 3. Organizational milestones & programmingThis is one of my favorite steps, because it requires us as an organization or business to think ahead about what is going on next month. What goals do we have as an organization or business? Do we have any programming that is launching or kicking off? Are there important sales deadlines or service requirements that we need to hit? How can we promote these events or goals while informing our audience the "why" behind what we do. Why are these programs & requirements important to us? and more importantly to them? 4. topic categoriesAt this point, your blank calendar should be starting to fill up with general ideas. Take a step back and look at where there are "holes" or a chunk of days where you aren't sharing anything with your audience. Think of important reminders like missions and operations posts that you can fill in the empty spots to remind your current audience or inform your new audience what is important to you. If you are unsure of how to fill up more days with content, think of 20 questions & answers that you wish your audience knew about your business or organization. Write these down in another tab of your spreadsheet or in a notebook. Think about the tasks & people that fill your day to day & how you can share behind the scenes with your audience. Organize them in like categories or topics, so that you can distribute those content categories across your month in the "holes" between the other content that is being shared. 5. create your contentYour plan is done! You have all the rough ideas slotted in your dates. Nice work! Now let's get to creating your content. Create a new column in your spreadsheet and label it captions. Start writing the caption for your post. Be sure to use a hook at the beginning or something to catch your audience's attention so they stop their scroll. Consider ending your caption with asking your audience to do something. By doing something, I don't necessarily mean say "buy this in the shop today" I mean like "Comment your favorite local place for pizza below" or "Leave your favorite emoji to describe that Friday feeling" or something along those lines. Add a new column and label it graphics. Use a template tool such as Canva to create a social media template graphic or place photos here that you are planning to use on that day. I like to use Google Drive to organize social media assets such as photos, videos or content pieces to keep my plan organized. Google has a wonderful share feature, where you can copy the photo's link and insert it in to your spreadsheet for easy access. 6. Schedule or post your contentYou should be pumped once you make it to this step. Your spreadsheet & plan are complete for the month! Woot! Be sure to remember to post your content on the days you have it planned for on your social platforms. If you have a Facebook business page, utilize the publishing tools to schedule your posts to release ahead of time. If you have a scheduling tool such as Planoly or Hootsuite, be sure to schedule your whole month using your tool. It goes without saying that this is a constant cycle of planning ahead & executing. Mid-month around the 15th or so I begin the whole process over again to plan for the upcoming month. Don't worry: if you are running behind or starting in the middle of the month, utilize this same process week by week until you can work up to planning a whole month at a time. Time & EngagementWhile this bulk creating and planning does take up an afternoon, even a couple afternoons, this method will allow for you to be executing your day to day operations or day-of engagement instead of posting. Rather than spending the half an hour each day to create a post, caption and all that manual labor you just did, you will be spending that time meaningful engaging with the people who interact with your social media. Creating a culture online is all about that two-way communication a.k.a you need to comment back to your audience or invite those people who like your post to like your Facebook page. This meaningful engagement will build trust between your audience & in turn you will get to know them and vice versa. For more questions or examples on how to create a full content calendar, feel free to contact us via social media or our contact page. Helen is a planner by heart and is happy to walk through how to create a calendar to help you stick to your plan. Each month we have several clients that we tackle the obstacle of planning together & educate on how to use these tools effectively.
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