Michelle Windram Social Media Manager

31/12/2024

🥂 Happy New Year 🥳

🥳🥂 May 2025 be the beginning of your best years ahead of you! I’m hoping it will be the start for us with our life on the road as nomads!

🥰 Stay safe and I hope you dream BIG for 2025!

Much love, Michelle 💜

23/12/2024

As another year comes to a close, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and to thank all my clients new and old and wish you all a wonderful 2025.

As most of you know Craig retired earlier this year and we sold the house to start a nomadic lifestyle in our beautiful new home on wheels!

Well we are finally down to single digits for our dream to become a reality!

We head off on December 30th with no end date in sight!

I will still be working while we travel (gotta love Starlink), so fortunately all my clients have stuck with me and we will work together to keep their social media ticking over!

Have a wonderful Christmas if you are still reading this post and I hope 2025 brings your dream another year closer!

Michelle 💜

02/12/2024

It never gets old and still makes me laugh 🤭 😂

23/11/2024

🇦🇺 22 𝐅𝐮𝐧 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐀𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰! 🇦🇺

For all my non Aussie friends as well!

1. The Australian Alps get more snow than the Swiss Alps.
2. 90% of Australians live on the coast.
3. Tasmania has the cleanest air in the world.
4. The Great Barrier Reef is the largest ecosystem in the world. It is made up of nearly 3,000 individual reefs and can be seen from space.
5. Australia has over 60 separate wine regions.
6. Fraser Island in QLD is the largest sand island in the world.
7. The Indian Pacific train has the longest straight section of train track in the world.
8. The Great Ocean Road is the world's largest war memorial.
9. 80% of Australian animals are unique to Australia.
10. Australia has the world's longest golf course measuring more than 1,350 kms long.
11. Australia is home to 21 of the world's 25 most venomous snakes.
12. It would take around 29 years to visit one new Aussie beach every day – there are 10,685 of them!
13. Australia is the 6th largest country in the world.
14. 91% of the country is covered by native vegetation.
15. 33% of Australians were born in another country.
16. Australia is the only continnt in the world without an active volcano.
17. Australia is home to the longest fence in the world, the Dingo Fence. Originally built to keep dingos away from fertile land, the fence is now 5,614 km long.
18. The Australian dollar is considered to be the most advanced currency in the world – its waterproof, made of polymer and notoriously hard to counterfeit.
19. Australia is the only continent covered by a single country.
20. The world's oldest fossil was discovered in Australia – 3.4 billion years old.
21. Australia is home to more than 1,500 species of spiders.
22. And probably the most important and impressive... The world's OLDEST indigenous people.

Michelle 💜

22/11/2024

New feature in instagram!

12/11/2024

There is a whole lot to unpack in Maris post below! For many of you this won’t be relevant or have an impact on you. For more professional profiles it may!

At least the option is there to turn off Pro Mode if it doesn’t align with what you want it to do for your profile!

I don’t have the option to turn it on yet, so I can’t elaborate more at this stage!

Thanks Mari Smith for always being on top of Facebook updates and changes! 🙏

Michelle 💜

Facebook Professional Mode: Important Update directly from Meta.

Earlier today, I posted about the new automatic switch to ProMode that Facebook will be making on personal profiles with followers. This is a follow up post with further clarification!

There's a wee bit of confusion about this whole transition to professional mode that Facebook is working on, including the timing...

First, I jumped the gun with the date. Oops. 🙊 November 14th is *only* for an initial small 'wave' of users. It is NOT for all users. Phew. 😮‍💨 (More info in #4 below). I'd seen the screenshot and made the assumption that Nov. 14 was for all users. My apologies for the incorrect assumption, folks! At least we have a bit more wiggle room now!

Second, I spoke directly with Meta today to get a bunch of questions answered that came up after I made my post. Here are Meta's responses. (Note: In this communication, Meta refers to 'classic mode profiles' as 'main profiles').

1️⃣. Will the option to switch to ProMode still be available down the road if some users choose to stick with classic for now?

Yes.

2️⃣. For those who choose to stick with a classic mode profile (friends only), will there still be a privacy selector allowing sharing posts to public? Or will that be reserved only for ProMode going forward?

Main profiles can post publicly, they just won’t be eligible to be recommended in the same way as posts from ProMode profiles or a Page.

3️⃣. If the privacy selector will allow public posts on classic mode, will there still be a privacy setting to choose who can comment on such posts?

Yes, we aren’t making any changes to what main profiles can do. You can still determine who can comment on any public post.

4️⃣. Does Meta have any rough estimate of the actual rollout timeframe seeing the November 14 deadline is only for a small wave of users?

We don’t have a set timeframe yet. It will likely be well into next year.

5️⃣. Will it be very obvious with multiple clear notifications before profiles with followers automatically get switched to ProMode?

Yes!

6️⃣. After the full rollout, for those who have chosen to enable ProMode, will it ever be possible to revert back to classic mode if they change their mind?

Yes, you can always turn off professional mode (or turn it back on) at any time.

7️⃣. What exactly is a 'followable profile?'

Followable profile is a main profile that has followers (essentially the setting that we’re transitioning to ProMode). We found that a lot of people using this setting could really benefit from the professional tools that they get with ProMode (insights, audience growth, monetization), which is why we are simplifying the choices and deprecating this follower only option. So now you can have a main profile, a main profile with professional mode turned on, or a Page.

~ ~ ~

And I'm pasting below the communication I received from Meta that sparked me asking the above 7 clarifying questions.

● We are gradually starting to transition profiles with followers to Professional Mode. People who don’t want to transition to ProMode can select to revert to a regular profile, however they will lose their followers. Friends will be unaffected.

● If you transition to ProMode, you’ll keep any followers who aren’t your friends. Anyone on Facebook will be able to follow you and see your public content in their Feed. There’s no limit to how many followers you can have. If you want to, you can still choose to share content to friends only, which followers will not be able to see.

● November 14 is only a deadline for a small group of profiles. This will be a gradual transition with rolling dates. If you did not receive a notice, you’re not in this wave. However, you can always still transition to ProMode, no need to wait for the notification!

● While the transition will indeed simplify settings, it will more importantly provide access to many more features. With ProMode, you’ll now have access to insights, be eligible to have your content be recommended to people who don’t already follow you, get additional publishing tools (ie Broadcast Channels, Collabs) and access to monetization opportunities, if you are eligible. These features are not available on followable profiles. [See my Q7 above for what this means!]

● People using ProMode still maintain the option to share content with their friends-only or to the public which includes friends and followers.

~ ~ ~

Okay, friends - that's a wrap!!

Are you less confused now?! Hope so!!

If you have further questions, just holler and I'll get you the facts!!

11/11/2024

“Lest we forget” 💜🌺

09/11/2024

What is Social Media Kindness Day?

💜 Social Media Kindness Day is a celebration dedicated to promoting positivity, compassion, and respect across all online platforms. In a digital world where negativity and cyberbullying can spread quickly, this day serves as a reminder of the power that kind words and actions can have in transforming virtual spaces. By encouraging users to share positive messages, support others, and foster respectful interactions, Social Media Kindness Day aims to make the online environment a more welcoming and uplifting space for everyone. Social Media Kindness Day takes place every year on November 9th.

How Can I Celebrate Social Media Kindness Day?

There are many ways to celebrate Social Media Kindness Day. We offer six key ways to celebrate and share kindness during Social Media Kindness Day:

1. Share Positive Messages 😊
Post uplifting quotes, kind words, or messages of encouragement.

2. Leave Supportive Comments 🙌🏽
Take time to comment on others’ posts with genuine compliments, words of appreciation, or encouragement.

3. Highlight Acts of Kindness
Use your platform to showcase stories of kindness.

4. Send Personal Messages
Sometimes, the most meaningful interactions happen privately. Send direct messages to friends, family, or even acquaintances, letting them know you appreciate them.

5. Avoid Negativity
Social media can often be a breeding ground for negativity or divisive arguments. On this day, make a conscious effort to avoid engaging in negative discussions or posts.

💜 By engaging in these actions, you contribute to a more supportive and caring online community, helping to reduce negativity and promote kindness year-round.

What else can we do to make social media kinder?

Michelle 💜

08/11/2024

Are you a BIG IG user? Then you will want to know about the latest 16 new updates!

Check out Jenn's Trends in Social Media’s breakdown of those updates!

Thanks Jenn 🙏

Michelle 💜

Instagram gave us SIXTEEN updates in October! Ok, that was a lot lol

But lucky for you, I have the breakdown of all the updates and what you need to know. Some of the big news from last month include:

✅ IG confirms carousels get more reach (duh! I've been telling you this for years)
✅ New IG profile cards for sharing your account
✅ Two new Reels updates
✅ Testing a Collage feature for Stories
✅ Testing a "Library" of past activity on IG (this will come in super helpful finding that video you watched the night before and can't remember where you saw it)
✅ IG confirms some videos are shared at a lower resolution
✅ IG offers direct message strategies for success

Those are just some of the 16 updates - but if you're on my email list, you got today's email with all 16 updates and all the other big social media news you need to know.

If you're not on my email list, you can sign up at bit.ly/jennstrendsnewsletter
And if you shoot me a DM, I'll send you the link to read today's newsletter.

18/10/2024

Carousels get more reach than single photos on Instagram!!

Here why!

As per Mosseri:

“Why [do] carousels often get more reach than photos? Two main reasons. One, multiple pieces of media are going to mean more interactions with your carousel posts, and more interactions is going to mean more reach on average. And two, if someone sees your carousel post but they don’t swipe, we’ll often give that carousel a second chance and automatically move to that second piece of media for the viewer.”

Do you use the Carousel feature?
I must confess I don’t 🤷‍♀️ maybe I will do more so in the future!

Carousels provide more opportunity for reach, according to IG chief Adam Mosseri.

11/10/2024

💥 10 NEW Facebook Updates!

🤔 Which ones will be of use to you and your business?

Thanks Mari Smith for always making sure we are kept up to date with what’s happening on Facebook 🙏😌

Have you seen these TEN new Facebook updates? 😮 Here’s a roundup of all the latest new features and updates to hit Facebook. Which ones will have the biggest impact on your business? 👍🏻 Which ones will you use the most? (And which ones are totally meh and you don’t care about them! 😆 Ha!)

1. SMS, EMAIL AND INSTAGRAM INVITES FOR EVENTS 💌
Do you create events on Facebook? Now you can invite your Instagram followers to your FB events via SMS and email. This means anyone will be able to view and RSVP to an event, whether they are on Facebook or not. Nice! Will you make use of this feature?

2. NEW FACEBOOK LOCAL TAB 📍
Facebook is testing new Local and Explore tabs that pull together content from across Reels, Marketplace, Groups and Events on Facebook to help you find what you’re interested in.

Along with the new Local tab, Meta is testing an Explore tab, "where you can find a variety of content tailored to your interests."

Plus, you'll see a Weekly and Weekend Digest for Events, a compilation of upcoming event recommendations in your area based on your interests, delivered each week via a notification on Facebook. Will this be useful to you?

3. A SINGLE SEAMLESS VIDEO TAB ▶️
Exactly like Meta did on Instagram, Facebook is now amalgamating ALL video types/formats/lengths into ONE VIDEO Tab. The company states they "want to make it easier for people to find Reels and other videos they love on Facebook." In the coming weeks, you'll start to see an updated, full-screen Video tab that gives Reels a more prominent home on Facebook.

The goal here? Facebook wants you to get drawn into binge watching (my words, not theirs!) all the 'best' short-form, long-form, and live videos in one seamless experience. Oh, and the video player is powered by Meta's "turbo-charged recommendations technology." Watch one cat video? You'll be shown a trillion more, as y'all know (myself included, haha!) 😹

4. MESSENGER COMMUNITIES 💬
This is a new way for small- to medium-sized communities to connect over shared interests. It seems Meta is encouraging the younger generation to not bother with Groups... "Since we started testing Messenger Communities, we’ve seen college students use them to forge new connections and share information about important community topics, like student club recruitment, campus events and class schedules."

5. META AI EXPANDS TO MORE COUNTRIES 🤖
Meta AI is live in six more countries: Brazil, UK, Philippines, Bolivia, Guatemala & Paraguay. In addition, Meta plans to release Meta AI in more countries in a gradual rollout, including the Middle East. After this rollout, Meta AI will be available in 43 countries and more than a dozen languages.

The upcoming rollout includes regions such as Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Malaysia, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Thailand, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, and Yemen. Meta AI will also start supporting Arabic, Indonesian, Thai, and Vietnamese languages by the end of this release cycle.

The AI assistant is available on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger apps, and on the Meta.ai website.

6. FACEBOOK GROUPS AI 🫂
Facebook claims this feature will help members of groups find answers to their questions, especially questions that have previously been asked.

You can *choose* to enable this feature or not. If you do, members can then open a chat with the group’s AI, which can answer questions and link to relevant Groups posts. (Note: This test just started rolling out in the US and Canada to a small number of groups.)

Some AI features in groups have been out for a while for a few group owners. Yet, I'm hearing reports that it is not always accurate, can be a real nuisance and is practically impossible to disable or adjust... even though Meta calls it 'customizable' and assures us we can decide to enable or not. Hm, we'll see.
Btw, almost 1.8 billion people use Facebook Groups every month. And there are 25 million monthly active public groups.

7. AI UPGRADES TO HELP ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS ❓
The new 'Imagine Yourself' feature more widely available, along with AI Comment Summaries for public Groups, Pages & Creators. (Most likely, you've seen the comment summaries on people's posts, right? They seem to only show on mobile, so far. And only after there are a certain number of comments. This feature is enabled by default. It might be annoying at first, but it does come in handy. I imagine fewer people bother to read actual comments vs. just skimming the summary).

8. NEW MONETIZATION PROGRAM FOR CREATORS 💰
Facebook Content Monetization beta merges In-stream ads, Ads on Reels + the Performance Bonus into a single monetization program, making it easier for creators to earn from more content formats. Meta also plans to test monetization options to Stories in the coming months, FYI. You can join Facebook Content Monetization to earn from Reels, longer videos, photo and text posts.

9. MATCHMAKER FOR FACEBOOK DATING 👩🏼‍❤️‍👨🏻
Invite up to five friends to 'swipe for potential matches on your behalf.'

10. ADD MUSIC & MENTIONS TO NOTES 🎶🎶
In Messenger. And Notes are coming soon to Facebook. More 'toys' to play with. Anything to get more eyeballs glued to the screen.

MANY of these features & updates are designed to "help young adults – and all Facebook users – explore their interests and connect with the world beyond their close friends."

🤔 Bottom line, friends? We can see that Meta is continuously attempting to appeal to the youngest generations, year after year. It's the ONLY thing that will keep the Facebook relevant and competitive ... and at the top of the social media platform list. (Even if young folks think that Facebook is for 'old people,' you know 35+ 😆).

Meta states that, "Young adults on Facebook spend almost 60% of their time on the app watching videos, and more than half of young adults watch Reels daily – so we want to make sure we’re creating a video experience that helps them get valuable tips, advice and recommendations." Hm.

01/09/2024

Happy Dads Day to my Dad, Husband & Son love you all 💜💜💜

26/06/2024

🇦🇺 It’s one way to market “Straya” lol

What’s missing? 🐊 🐍 🪼 🦈 🦟 🪰 🪨 🌊 🦘🐨

29/05/2024

I too can admit I have used the fancy fonts on mine and clients post! I was not aware though that they can actually damage your reach on Instagram! Lesson learnt on that today! No more using fancy fonts! Do you use them? Have you noticed your reach drop?

Thanks for another important post Jenn's Trends 🙏👌

I still see this happen all too often - and it's a mistake you do NOT want to make on Instagram.

Those "fancy" font options - cursive, block, bubbled, typewriter, etc. - that you put in your bio and captions are actually hurting you.

Those aren't text characters. They are emojis.

And emojis are not read by the tools on the platform to determine relevancy. So all those words you put in your bio... not helping you get found in search. Same for all that text you just put in your caption looking all fancy. No data is collected to help rank your posts in search, Explore, or recommended posts.

Plus, how those fonts/emojis look on iPhone is often different than how they look on Android. So while you think it looks great, half your audience either can't read them or thinks it looks wonky. Which is not helping your branding at all.

So, let's retire those "unique" fonts to stand out on IG and just use good ol' fashioned text characters to maximize your performance on the platform.

25/05/2024

I came in at just over the 389,000 person to “open the glow up” just keep clicking the “for you” icon until it opens up for you too!

Don’t dawdle though, as the early release is only for the first 1 million people!

22/05/2024

Hi gang 👋 it’s been awhile since I have posted anything about “me” on my business page! That’s because life has been busy!!!!!

For those that don’t know, my hubby Craig decided a few months ago that he wanted to retire (5yrs early)! That was a massive decision to make, considering we still had a mortgage!

But wait…. He also said, I don’t want to just retire and sit around doing nothing! I want us to travel this beautiful country of ours in our caravan!

So we sat down and discussed all the ways we could make this happen and for it to be the best decision for us, not anyone else!

Long story short! We sold the house packed up our belonging that we decided to keep into a 20ft container, gave away, sold, or threw out the rest! Boy was that taking cathartic to the next level!

Next stage, house sold, belongings packed up and stored, move into 21ft aluminium rectangle box! Happy days!

So far we have travelled up the coast of WA and are presently in Darwin NT for a couple of weeks, before we head back down to Perth via the Pilbara region to visit Karijini NP.

It’s not all sunshine and unicorns though. We have managed to break the bed 🛏️ (not the way you are thinking lol 😂) and hit a kangaroo on our way to Monkey Mia (not a pleasant experience) so we have some repairs to get done when we get back to Perth!

July will be a big month for us as well! We go to Bali to celebrate my 60th birthday for 12 days, then come back and pick up our brand NEW home on wheels, which has all the bells and whistles to live in super comfortably and off grid if we want! Get old van fixed to sell and fix car!

So that will be a big task emptying the old van and trying to fit all that was in that into the new van! Hmm 🤔 it ain’t gonna happen lol 😝 not as much storage in new van as was old van! It’s ok though, even though I have this old van packed minimalistic as possible, I am sure I can cull it more for the new van!!

Soooo, if you are still with me to this point! I am still working!! Yep, I haven’t retired like hubby has!

Why? Because I can work anywhere in the world as long as I have my phone, computer and INTERNET 🛜, plus I’m not ready to retire yet, I enjoy what I do (most days lol) and my income will help us travel longer and take some overseas trips as well!
My clients are the absolute best and know I will still work for them giving them 100% of my service!

Do we regret not having a brick and mortar home? Hell NO, NOPE, NADA, NOT!! The simplistic life of being a Nomad suits us more than we thought possible and we are not ready to trade this life in to be stuck and tied to a house in one place again! Maybe when we are old and frail we will look at our options, but not for a long while, we hope!

Well I could keep going on, but I think I have bought you all up to speed on what’s happening in my world! But… let me just say, if you are feeling like you are in a rut and want to break free, if you can make it work, don’t let fear stop you! Or your family or friends! Just do it! We will be back visiting our family and friends a lot so we don’t miss our granddaughters growing up, so no one misses out! Plus we have FaceTime!

I will keep you updated on our journey as we go! I hope you enjoy some of the photos below, (can only share 10) they are just some of places we have been so far since we started our nomadic lifestyle! From walking the Kalbarri Skywalk, to walking on the beach with an Emu, to riding a camel and riding in a helicopter over Darwin! Not to mention getting up close and personal with the NT 🐊😱 … plus so so so much more, and we are only 2 mths into our nomad journey!

Michelle 💜
Living the dream 🥰

11/05/2024

Happy Mother’s Day to my mum who I won’t see this year for the first time in years, with me being in Darwin! And Happy Mother’s Day to all who have the title of being a mum to either humans or animals 💜

30/04/2024

Lots to read and absorb! Thanks to Jenn's Trends for being our Instagram guru 😊

It's true this time! Instagram has made a significant change to the algorithm in hopes of better serving smaller creators. But what does this mean for YOU?

From IG's announcement:
➡️ "Every piece of eligible content is shown to a small audience that we think will enjoy it"
➡️ Top performing posts in these audience subsets will get more distribution and placements
➡️ If two pieces of identical content are found, only the original post will get the additional distribution and placement (Explore, suggested, etc.)
➡️ If there is identical content found, they will REPLACE the reshared/reused content with the original piece from the original creator
➡️ If your content is reused, a label will be applied to their post giving you creator credit and you will receive a notification that content is being given your attribution
➡️ They will also punish accounts that repeatedly repost others' content

⚠️ These changes are primarily for Reels but I'm hoping it'll impact feed posts as well.

⚠️ Note that if someone remixes your Reel, that is considered their "original" content so that won't apply to this rule.

⚠️ This is for distribution to non-followers through results in Explore and in recommended posts. This should not impact how your current followers experience your content.

⭐ These changes are designed to give credit to original creators and reward smaller accounts with the reach and distribution they deserve, not rewarding large following accounts with more views.

❓ So what does this mean for YOU?

In general, this should be a good thing. It means giving you attribution for the content you've created.

It also indicates a KEY shift in that IG will intentionally share your posts (again, focused on Reels) with a select audience along with other similar content. If your content performs well in the small subset of viewers, it'll be shown to more people and so on as long as it continues to perform well.

This puts a higher weight than ever before on the POPULARITY of your posts. But that's still weighted based on users it's shown to, not the size of your audience.

So get out there and create those Reels to reach those audiences!