10 Laws of Social Media
If you’re interested in managing a brand’s social media presence or increasing the engagement on your personal social media accounts, there are 10 basic laws you must abide by to succeed! Read more →
Women Grow: Skills for the Modern Business Woman Recap
We kicked off Women’s History Month at our Social Media Unicorn headquarters with our monthly Women Grow event. This month we focused on ‘Skills for the Modern Business Woman: Taxes, Staffing and Power Brows. The intimate affair led to great conversation between the guest and the speakers, while the power brows tutorial was a huge hit amongst everyone in the crowd!
What We Learned
Our first speaker was Natalie Rasmussen, tax senior manager at California Cannabis CPA. She provided us with a brief and informative discussion about the new tax code for cannabis companies and even reminded all of us about the upcoming filing deadline. Thanks for the reminder, Natalie! Next, we dived into the world of staffing with Valery Godina, owner of Full Moon Harvest. She gave us a breakdown on licensing, and knowing how to pick the right candidate. (Hint, it’s not always about looking good on paper.)
Finally, makeup artist Angel Bello treated us to a tutorial on how to create the perfect “power brows’ for your face. Altitude Products Director of Nevada, Melissa Romero volunteered to be the eyebrow model. Angel also answered numerous questions from the audience and taught us that our eyebrows were sisters, not twins. As the tutorial came to end, members of the audience were also able to get their eyebrows done by the magical makeup unicorn.
Similar to every Women Grow event, the evening included light mingling and snacks. In addition to networking opportunities and crudités, guests were treated to a complimentary gift from Bella’s ultra premium CBD infused bath line. We hope our visitors ended the night with their relaxing Bella bath bomb, bath salts and body cream.
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Social Media Burn Out – When Working in Social Media Makes You Hate Social Media
We’re living in the age of information, where connecting with people from all different walks of life is only a few keystrokes away. And what a wonderful world it is! However, working in social media can make maintaining your personal social media feel like, well, work. Here are some tips to keep your creative juices flowing!
Take time to unplug
Social Media is a 24 / 7, 365 job. Trends happen and disappear in the blink of an eye, and consumers expect near -instantaneous responses to their questions or comments. At this point, I feel naked if I’m not attached to my phone or computer. The constant screen time can block creativity and make everything feel fabricated, which makes creating content and captions feel like pulling teeth. It’s so important to take some time for yourself – to put down the electronics and simply observe the world around you, and not through a camera lens or Snapchat filter. Pressing the “reset” button on your brain is as simple as taking a 5 minute walk or meditation break, and it works wonders for clearing out the white noise of endless social media profiles.
Use what you know!
When you work in social media, you learn all the tips and tricks of the game: the best times to post, when to use or not use hashtags, how to up your engagement, etc. There’s no shame in putting these best practices to use in your own social media profiles. Taking the guesswork out of the details frees up your mind to focus on what matters: utilizing your creativity to put out authentic content.
Utilize a scheduling platform
Life gets busy, and when you manage social media accounts for others, managing your own can be tedious and time consuming. Utilizing a scheduling platform, such as Sprout Social Media Manager, is such an easy way to make sure you’re getting out the content you want people to see, without having to take time out of your busy day to post something spontaneously. Whenever you have some free time and are feeling creative, schedule out the next few days’ worth of content and then forget about it! It’s liberating to not have to think about it, and all it takes is a little forward thinking and pre-planning!
Social media is an ever-present part of our lives, and connecting with people from all across the globe is made easy by this information age. Taking advantage of the things you’ve learned and the technology you’ve been introduced to through social media marketing is a great way to save time and energy on your own social media. Don’t forget to take a few minutes each day for yourself, away from the tech, and you’ll find the joy in staying connected!
Photo Credit: Courtesy of HTSABO
Get Connected: Be Vulnerable
The Internet is connecting people everywhere every day. Why do we want to connect? To feel community, to not feel alone in our thoughts. One of my favorite aspects of cannabis is its ability to connect people. Combining cannabis and the Internet has been refreshing and exciting! Learning about branding has shown me how much fakeness is out there. These are some reasons to be authentic and vulnerable on social media.
Genuine Connections
Honesty is the best policy, you’ve heard it before! People do not want to interact with fake accounts. They want to talk to the source! Create a brand voice that people can connect with. Get comfortable with your products and brands and be honest about them. If you are speaking from a comfortable place then you create a comfortable environment, people will want to join in on the conversation!
Inspire Others
Showing your true self will inspire others to be themselves as well. You never know who you will connect with when you’re genuine online. When you put words together they have the energy to move people. You cannot bounce off of each other’s energy if only one of you has the energy. Present your magic every day and you will attract the right people.
Be Real
Be honest even on social media! This may be curated content, but we, the people, are the ones generating it! Use your passion, curiosity, and experience to produce amazing posts. Sharing your knowledge is caring for the betterment of others.
There is strength in your vulnerability. How amazing is it to have an online community for everything nowadays? Everyone can express their true colors and support one another. Let’s get real and get connecting today!
5 Ways Cannabis Changed My Life
5 Ways Cannabis Changed My Life
1. Cannabis improved my grades.
It was never my intention to get high before doing homework. But one day I forgot to do a discussion post and had already indulged in my nightly toke, so I had to write it high since it was due that hour. It was the first discussion post that scored 100%! I thought this could not be a coincidence. Cannabis got me an A! I realized it was not hard to do my homework high, it was actually easier! It killed my writing anxiety and replaced it with curiosity and enjoyment. I stopped procrastinating. If I was high, I was working on something. Cannabis inspired me to figure out what I could achieve.
2. Cannabis made me more creative in school and at home.
I became interested in classes I never thought I would like before. Philosophy class was truly inspiring. I never liked English, but somehow I enjoyed reading and writing about the often lame required subject. I found that I wanted to express myself with art, something I had not liked since elementary school. Cannabis enabled me to fill my room with hand painted canvases.
3. Cannabis helps me connect with myself and others.
I’ve never wanted to spend more time with myself than when I started smoking cannabis. When I started spending more time with myself, I found it easier to be around others as well. I have more patience and more understanding for people. Cannabis helps me honor my time with myself and with others. It slows time down and makes me appreciate the time we have here.
4. Cannabis makes boring life chores fun.
No one likes washing the dishes or doing laundry, but I smoke and enjoy myself while doing all my chores. It makes me curious like a kid again. Cannabis keeps me present and helps me focus. I am more productive at home and cannabis gives me the desire to live life more efficiently.
5. Cannabis gave me a career.
I studied psychology and social work in college so I knew I always wanted to help people. Cannabis became a passion of mine throughout college, but I never thought I would make a career of it. After I graduated University and I found out a lot of jobs drug test their potential employees. I would never pass a drug test and I refused to give up my cannabis. Soon I was exclusively applying to jobs in the cannabis industry. Getting involved in the industry has inspired me tremendously, I never thought I would love working so much. I work with cannabis brands and talk about cannabis all day. It is a dream come true that I get to help connect people with cannabis daily.
I believe everyone is a patient of the earth and this is our medicine. Cannabis changed my life, has it changed yours?
Becoming a Unicorn
The first month of a new career always brings fear and excitement.
I’m glad to say that here at Social Media Unicorn it has been a lot more excitement than fear. Everyone is great! Not only is my entire team fun to work with, they all have an in-depth knowledge of the cannabis culture and the wants and needs of the community we serve. With that being said, I am starting a weekly blog to inform and educate about the new innovative products, services, and happenings within our community. Stay tuned each week to see what this Unicorn is getting into 😉
Just recently, we had the pleasure of hosting a patient appreciation day for Tahoe Hydro Company with the lovely people over at Medizin. They operate one of the premier dispensaries that cater to Las Vegas and the surrounding areas. Medizin, unlike many other dispensaries, is also involved in cultivation. They have some award winning flowers like Chloe, one of the most medically beneficial strains that is offered in Las Vegas. We had a great time representing Tahoe Hydro Company while we were there. THC is a boutique cultivator out of Carson City, NV, that is sure to fit the needs and wants of any consumer out there. They have award winning strains: Blackjack (S), Gelato 45 (H), Tahoe Hydro OG (I), all winning their respective categories at the 2016 Jack Herer Cup. THC also just entered the preroll game with the introduction of their STIX line, currently offering Tahoe Hydro OG. Needless to say, they know what they are doing over there at Tahoe Hydro Company. We passed out tons of Tahoe swag and educated patients on our products and specials. It was great meeting and creating future Tahoe fans! I loved hearing all the positive feedback regarding our products. Huge thank you to Tanya and the whole crew at Medizin for making my first patient appreciation day a success!
All in all, these first few weeks have been an adventure and a blessing. I’m so lucky to be surrounded by people who are so passionate about cannabis. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for me as a Unicorn. Be sure to tune in next week for my next post and mark your calendars for our upcoming events!
Las Vegas Social Media Day – Fri. 6/30
Follow Tahoe Hydro Company on IG @tahoehydroponics
Get updates from Medizin at http://medizinlv.com
The Most Useful Social Media Automation Functions
Did you know that you can put your brand’s social media activity on auto-pilot? It takes some strategy, just like anything else. But there are tools out there that can definitely make you feel like a one-person social media department.
These tools have many different functions, and not all of them are going to be useful or economical for your brand. In fact, everyday social media users have grown savvy to some of the automated tools out there and can spot automated activity a mile away.
You don’t have to go “full robot” – here are the most useful automation functions you can start using right away to politely grow your social media accounts.
Scheduling
For those of us (most of us) who are simply not around to post on their channels all day, managing social media can seem like a daunting task. Signing on and posting takes precious minutes that we could be spending on another task.
Scheduling tools can be found through software services like Hootsuite or Buffer, or, you can schedule future posts to a brand’s Facebook Page for free, right inside the Facebook platform. That way, you can schedule posts out for the week (or the month) in one sitting.
Engaging
There are apps and tools out there to make it seem like you are liking, commenting and engaging with others’ posts on Twitter and Instagram. Typically it requires you to target the type of user, or a hashtag in order for the “robot” to find people to interact with.
Unfortunately, there aren’t yet automation tools for engaging with Facebook posts. You will have to engage authentically there by liking and commenting on existing posts.
Following
On Instagram and Twitter, the amount of followers you get is proportional to the amount of time you spend following other similar accounts. Easy to do for those of us who live on our phones – but for a busy entrepreneur? Not so much.
Auto-follow, and more importantly, auto-unfollow tools are some of the most valuable in the social media world. Nobody in their right mind could sit and follow 400 new users per day with their thumbs, but with automation, it’s more than possible.
We’re getting started on InstaZood after another of our favorite tools got shut down. Give it a try and see how powerful your account can really be!
Need a team to help you delve into the world of social media marketing? Our experts are here to help, and located all around the west coast. Reach out to Social Media Unicorn to get started.
3 Lessons Learned as a New Unicorn
3 Lessons Learned as a New Unicorn
A new job always comes with a learning curve, and being a Unicorn is no exception. Within my first month, I’ve learned three very important lessons that will always stay with me.
Find What Works For You
Over the years, the adult-skill that I have struggled with the most has been time management. Having ADD can make managing my time particularly difficult, but since I joined the Unicorns right before 4/20, it was crucial that I had my schedule under control. I’ve combed the internet for any and every “hack” involving time management – and what I learned from it is something we all already know, that everyone is different.
For me, it’s lists – I’ve found that I respond best to visual reminders and cues. “Out of sight, out of mind” is practically my accidental life motto. How do I use this to my advantage? Write. Down. Everything. If it’s something I need to do, I write it down. It doesn’t matter if I need to do it immediately, or in a few weeks – if I don’t write it down I’ll forget it. Every morning, I write (and prioritize!) a new list of tasks that need to be completed. When something inevitably comes up, I add it to the end, and reprioritize if needed. While this might seem like a lot of unnecessary and repetitive work to some people, it allows me to function ten times more efficiently, ultimately making me better at what I do.
Be Honest With Yourself
New people and new environments can be truly intimidating – pair that with a need to prove yourself, and before you know it you’re enthusiastically saying “yes!” to everything that is asked of you. This is when you need to be honest with yourself, in order to be honest with your co-workers. The amount of work that you initially agree to will set the precedent for the workload that you are able to handle – but I’m not saying that’s a bad thing!
Being honest with yourself also means challenging yourself. Just because you’re not particularly excited about the new project doesn’t mean that you can’t absolutely crush it. And on the opposite end of the spectrum, don’t turn down projects simply because you’re afraid to fail either. Failure is simply an opportunity to learn and grow.
Never Settle
Super cliché, I know, but hear me out. Now, before you go out and quit your stable office job in order to pursue your dream of being a nomadic juggler, that’s not quite what I’m suggesting. “Following your dream” sounds great in theory, but the reality is that “following your dream” doesn’t always pay the bills.
What I *am* saying is don’t lose sight of your end goal. Figure out what you’re best at – what you undeniably excel at doing – and pair that with your biggest passion. That is your end goal. It’ll probably take time, hard work, and patience to get there, but persevere. Being content isn’t good enough. You deserve to be truly happy.
The 5-Point Social Media Strategy Anyone Can Master
Doing social media strategy yourself is a learning process. There are new rules, trends and influencers to follow any given week. You’ve got to understand algorithms (as best you can, anyway) and principles of copywriting, photography and public relations. It can certainly be a lot to remember!
Whether you manage your brand’s entire social presence, or just have a say in the process, you should know these five guiding principles of social media.
Be Authentic
The first rule of social media is to be authentic! Whether that means embracing your goofy side once in awhile, or telling the truth when your brand has a crisis, the idea is the same.
Engage Regularly
You might think that posting on Facebook about once a week, when you feel like it, is an adequate strategy. While this is the bare minimum to keep a page active on the platform, it won’t help your account gain any users. For the most part, you’ve still got to actively engage with other humans on Facebook in order to see success. That means:
- posting daily or multiple times daily;
- inviting your personal contacts to Like your page and asking others to do the same;
- engaging and adding value in Groups; and, likely,
- running Ads to generate traffic.
Plan Ahead
So you wrote a month’s worth of blogs, tweets, and Instagram posts, but now your 30 days is up and you’re out of material. The content planning process is literally never ending for social media managers. Remember, you’re playing the long game, and regular (even daily) authentic engagement is a must to stay relevant in a sea of trendy new accounts.
Use Spell Check
Typos? Grammar slips? Plain poor phrasing? None of these things make a pretty social media share. Yet, so many are too trigger happy and hit “post” before their content is on point. Run post copy, graphics and spelling past a colleague or friend that you trust. Sometimes all you really need is a second set of eyes on your work.
Be Cohesive
Our last piece of advice is to stay consistently on-brand with all your social media postings. Use the same colors, symbolism, voice and phrasing in ever post. By doing this, you’ll avoid confusing your audience like many brands do trying to capitalize on the latest memes and trends. Instead your fans will recognize your posts seconds before they even see the brand name.
Maybe you know all this already, but for some reason your social strategies just haven’t been sticking lately. Your content may just need a nudge in the right direction, or a second creative opinion.
Brands and individuals making their mark in the cannabis industry, we’ve got your back. Call a Social Media Unicorn to help give your project some much-needed direction.
The Best Types of Posts For Each Social Media Platform
When it comes to social media, far too many brands make the mistake of posting the same exact content on every single platform. This is ill-advised because there are so many diverse groups on social media, and they all hang out in different social environments – and respond to different stimuli as well.
We put together a guide for DIY marketers to help you plan your approach to each top platform.
From humble beginnings, Facebook has become extremely diverse and dynamic. Not only is every demographic present on the platform, it’s also now been segmented into Groups. People and brands providing quality content to their audiences are holding on to their organic growth and influence on the platform, even as Facebook continues to try and monetize almost every interaction.
One thing is for certain about the Facebook algorithm – it favors video posts. Heavily. A strong video content strategy will help you acquire more fans organically. Otherwise, set aside a small budget and learn to optimize Facebook Ads with amazing photography and graphics and some clever copy.
It’s changed a lot over the past year, but Instagram is still the place to be for the hippest and most social-savvy people in the world. It’s where trends are made, and visual content is king. You can repurpose some of your Facebook content here, but really make the captions pop. Professional photography is almost a must these days as outstanding “pinch-to-zoom” resolution photo posts are becoming the norm (especially delectable close-up photos of cannabis products).
There are lots of “tricks” and theories out there for how to hack this platform, but really, Instagram runs on a few key principles. If you engage genuinely, post regularly, and utilize the proper hashtags. How you get there is up to you – as long as you make it absolutely beautiful.
The original microblogging platform is far from dead – in fact, Twitter remains one of the most active platforms for breaking news and commentary on current events, as well as conversations amongst journalists and influencers.
That being said, all your content on Twitter should be newsworthy and put on display the unique voice and vision of your brand. Image and video posts, polls, memes and hashtags are essential parts of the Twitterverse you should know about. Research hashtags being used by your target niches, incorporate them into your tweets, and remember to always engage authentically.
Snapchat
On Snapchat, anything goes. The people following you are doing so for one reason: to catch a glimpse into what you’re doing all day. Again, authenticity is key. Using Snapchat gives you the opportunity to build your brand its very own personality from scratch – or, start building your personal brand as a living, breathing embodiment of the company.
So, in short, you should always share the awesome adventure that is your business with the world. Having partners in the industry who know the rules and trends on each platform will strengthen your influence even more.
Hire us today and learn to finally rock social.