Meaghan Alvarado

November 28, 2016February 10, 2018

How to Find Powerful Hashtags for Social Media

Over the last few weeks, I’ve had two yoga teachers ask me about how to use hashtags on social media. Technology is often not high on the priority list for many yogis, and I’m gathering that very few in our industry know how to attract new students or customers by properly utilizing hashtags.

If you grew up with social media this may not apply to you, but you still may learn a new way to find hashtags that can help to get your brand noticed. Skip down to the section on Finding Hashtags if you already know how to use them.

Hashtag Basics (or #basics)

Hashtags help you to get noticed. If you click on a hashtag on Twitter, it jumps you to a stream of every tweet with that hashtag. Same goes for Instagram and Facebook. Someone that is interested in yoga is likely to scroll through photos/posts with #yoga. If you’re using #yoga too, they’ll see your image.

Try to use only two per tweet, maybe three max. You should be using them in EVERY tweet you post.

On Instagram put your hashtags in a comment below your caption. You can use up to 30 on Instagram.

For Facebook, a lot of people don’t use them. I’ve even had some people ask me why I was using them there and almost get defensive like I wasn’t following the “Facebook rules.” But, these were individuals who don’t work on digital so, poo on them! If you do use some on your Facebook posts, three is a good number. Test it out and see how your audience takes to it.

LinkedIn is another place where many users aren’t used to seeing hashtags, but you should still be adding them to your posts. The hashtags on LinkedIn help to categorize posts and allow new readers to find your content.

Finding Hashtags

You’ll need to find hashtags that are relevant to what you’re sharing. So if your post is about writing a book use tags like #amwriting #fridayreads #amreading, etc. You can find new ones to use by looking through the streams of others using these hashtags. Click a photo in the hashtag stream you’re viewing and see what other tags that user listed.

If you are targeting a geographical area, use relevant hashtags to your region, i.e. #StAugustine #JaxBeach #Jax. Again, if you look at other people’s posts, you can find new hashtags to use on yours.

Here’s a trick to finding new hashtags on Instagram:
Go to the search section on Instagram and click the Tags tab.
Type in the hashtag you want to find more about (using yoga in my example). You can see from this screenshot a list of other relevant hashtags.

Click one of the tags and then read the Related hashtags at the top of the page, you can scroll to the right for more. This can be a rabbit hole and lead you to find tons of new relevant tags.

Hashtag research will lead you to new accounts you may want to take notes from and follow. Reviewing what works for others in your industry is smart. Check out what are other yogis are using that appears to be gaining traction for them.

Another way is to start writing a word and see what other tags show up through Instagram’s autocomplete.

When looking for hashtags to use on Twitter, I often consult Hashtagify. It provides you with a popularity rating of a particular hashtag and gives a web of relevant hashtags. Again, this can be a rabbit hole and can lead to an overwhelming amount of results. I use Hashtagify weekly to find new hashtags to use on social media.

Finding hashtags is something you want to revisit regularly. New ones are popping up constantly, and you’ll want to test and reevaluate the ones you are using every so often.

Do you have any other ideas about how to find new hashtags?
Let me know in the comments below!

October 25, 2016February 10, 2018

5 Ways to Market Your Yoga Business on a Small Budget

The idea of marketing is a daunting task to many. Something you may have little time for, and even less of a budget. But it doesn’t have to take endless hours, and you don’t need thousands of dollars to build your online presence. The suggestions below require a small time investment, but little to no monetary expense.

1. Create a Website 

According to Inc. Magazine, 60% of small businesses with 1-5 employees don’t have an online presence. Don’t let that statistic include you! If you have a Facebook page for your yoga business, great. But that’s not enough. Facebook goes down sometimes, and there are a number of adults who chose to veer clear of social media.

Creating a website for your business will cost money, but it will also help new clients to discover you and is worth the investment. If you’re a yoga teacher, a website will differentiate you from other teachers without one and give students a place to view your schedule if you work for multiple yoga studios.

2. Publish Blog Posts

Consistently posting to a blog can assist in increasing your page rank on search engines and it humanizes your brand. Each time you publish a piece of content, Google comes back to index your website.

Using your blog to communicate discounts with customers is one thing, telling your brand’s story is another. Publishing regular blog posts will encourage your audience to visit your site giving you another opportunity to connect with them and take one step closer to converting them into a client.

As a private yoga teacher, you could break down the anatomy of asanas in a weekly column, post recipes related to Ayurvedic spices, or discuss the metaphysical benefits of energy healing. You should post about whatever it is that differentiates you from other yoga teachers. What else do you know that many yogis have an interest in?

3. Host a Twitter Chat

Conducting a Twitter chat can be a very productive way of marketing your business and reaching a new audience. Involving a partner or an influencer from your industry with a substantial Twitter following is even better. Here’s a 6-step plan to launching your first Twitter chat.

1- Find a partner/influencer in your industry.
2- Decide on a topic that you can conduct your Twitter chat around and create an event-specific hashtag. Be creative and try to make it on the brief so it doesn’t take up many characters when people respond.
3- Promote your Twitter Chat! Start early on this and include any involved parties requesting that they join in sharing the event.
{This handy infographic on using Canva to create images will come in handy here.}
4- Generate five questions you can ask attendees.
5- Provide the questions to the involved parties before the Twitter chat so they can prepare their responses in advance. Doing so will allow them to interact with other attendees more because they won’t have to spend time crunching their responses down to 140 characters.
6- Launch your Twitter chat at the scheduled time and be sure to engage with attendees.

4. Guest Post

Writing for other businesses’ sites will allow you to reach a new audience. Search out companies that attract similar clients, but are not competitive with your business. When pitching an idea on your proposed post consider the problems that your products or services address.

As a yoga teacher, look for local organizations you can partner with on a guest post. If your business is online (maybe you even teach online), do your research and then approach non-competitive industry related businesses. You can even offer a trade, where they guest post to your site too.

5. Video  

Live video is an inexpensive way to get your face in front of customers. It doesn’t require much to air a video. Decide on the platform you’d like to use (Facebook, Periscope, Snapchat, Instagram…), come up with a topic and maybe a general outline of what you’ll say, and go live! People don’t expect videos that were published in real time to be edited.

Businesses that sell yoga products can offer a behind the scenes look at their production, show the product in use, answer FAQ’s, etc. As a yoga teacher, you can broadcast your next group class.

Sharing videos is a great way to get yourself and your brand in front of customers, invite shares, and possibly create an awareness of your brand for a new client.

There are a number of other budget-friendly marketing strategies you can employ as a yoga business. I hope that the ideas listed above provide some guidance and initiate the next step in your client seeking efforts.

Are you ready to start marketing your yoga business but aren’t sure where to start? Contact me and let’s build a strategy to generate more sales for your business!

October 19, 2016February 10, 2018

3 Ideas to Borrow From Yoga & Apply to Your Social Media Marketing

Looking at the parallels between yoga and social media might sound unnatural to many. But as a yoga instructor and social media professional, it seems normal. Here are three parts of yogic thought that can be rolled into how you approach social media in your business.

-Centering
-Drishti (focus)
-Pranayama (breathing)

Now let’s take a closer look at each one.

Centering

Centering or meditation often starts out yoga classes. It’s meant to bring you into your space, allow the mind to calm, and create a sense of body awareness. Centering is also the time when the teacher lets you know what you’ll be doing in the class, a plan so to speak. In social media listening and planning should be the first steps.

While practicing yoga the practitioner aims to quiet the mind. Social listening requires silencing your initial ideas of what to share and rather listening and analyzing what others in your industry are saying and talking about first.

You should pay attention to:

-What questions is your target audience asking?
-What problems need solutions?
-What real-time events are happening that can allow you to enter a conversation?

Drishti (focus)

The dancer pose is one of many asanas that requires a focused gaze, or a Drishti, to maintain balance. Without focus, you will wobble from side to side and fall out of the posture.

In social media, you must have a focus too. Otherwise, you can get pulled in various directions. Keep a business goal in mind as you utilize social media.

Some companies use social media mainly for customer service reasons; others use it to increase brand awareness and for lead generation, etc. Be sure to establish your primary objective when starting to use social media in your business.

Pranayama (breathing)

Each inhale has an exhale, just as each interaction deserves a reaction from the brand. Maybe the reaction is a quick tweet to thank someone for sharing your content, simply a like, or perhaps you respond with a question asking what the person’s biggest takeaway is. Just as there are different types of responses to an interaction, there are many different pranayama techniques.

Approach social media marketing as you would a headstand. Prepare a plan, stay focused, and keep breathing.

If you need assistance with your social media plan, shoot me an email or give me a call. Let’s work together to get your yoga business discovered by more students!

July 20, 2016February 10, 2018

Why You Need a Blog for Your Business

If you have a website, you should have a blog. If you don’t have a website — get one already! In today’s world, everything is online. People Google everything from the time of the sunset, to what Angelina Jolie wore to the Emmys this year.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and humanizing your brand are two of the main reasons why you should be doing content marketing at your organization. Let’s explore these two topics in a little more detail…

Search

Having just a website isn’t enough anymore. The website acts more like a placeholder if you don’t post often to your site. For some businesses that might be fine, your information is on the site and people can call you if they need you, understood. But with a blog, Google and other search engines will come back often to “crawl” your site and increase your ranking in their search results. For example, if someone searches “Cupcake shop in St. Augustine” and there is more than one cupcake bakery in town, the one with regular blog posts is more likely to come up first in the list of results.

Humanize Your Brand

In addition to having a blog to increase your searchability, it will also give you more of a chance to connect with your customers. People are more conscious of who they are buying from now than ever, they want to know who is the owner of the cupcake shop and how they got into the business. So tell them in a blog! There are many things you can blog about to keep in contact with your clients and prospects that will help build a relationship with them.

Do you have a business blog? How often do you post to it?

If you are interested in getting a new blog started for your site, or would like to outsource your blog posts, email me and let’s talk about it.