Hellosocial.media

22/07/2024

Thank you Esther and Melanie for having me on your podcast. We discussed my viral photos from 2021 and earlier this month! We covered going viral and what to do if it happens!

This isn’t a “I went viral, here are my 3 easy steps so you can too” because you can never guarantee it happening - it’s always a surprise! But if it does happen, what next? Esther and Melanie asked me some really great, practical questions. Do have a listen (there’s a link in my bio), it’s just 25 minutes. This is their 238th episode (and my podcast debut!) - they have a whole treasure trove of them on all aspects of marketing - go have a dig around.

In the podcast I mention being asked by a media agency for a headshot with Tilly my dog, and having to quickly cobble one together there and then. Swipe through to see it!

More to come about being on a podcast for the first time..! But for now, have a great week :)

Anna x

03/07/2024

I couldn’t resist doing a for local small business .

Back in 2015 when were organising the General Election hustings for Dulwich & West Norwood, Carolina (who’s a committee member) suggested she’d make meringues in the political party colours and invite people to “vote with their mouth” at the hustings entrance. A fun way to ask people which way they intended to vote! Not surprisingly this has become a really popular local tradition at every election hustings since!

To me it’s perfect marketing:
✔️Carolina showed interest in her local community (essential for any local business) by being involved in her local community group.
✔️It’s a great way to showcase one of her products to a large group of local customers and potential customers.
✔️It gets people talking about her fabulous baking.
✔️It’s a great twist on a very current topic - the election.
✔️Her tradition is appreciated and now even anticipated!
✔️It’s non-digital marketing that leads to great content for digital marketing (including user generated content!).

It embodies so much good stuff - community, collaboration and repeating a great idea so it becomes part of the local culture - a tradition. And people love the joy and comfort of a tradition - especially one that involves meringue!
Do go and support Carolina if you’re in or near West Norwood - all her food is excellent (not just the meringues!) and made with huge love. And follow her for mouth-watering posts!

16/06/2024

See you tomorrow? Tuesday? And even Wednesday? Will the mirror man be there?? All will be revealed when I get to Newcastle in around 24 hours!

Yes I’m off to ’s Atomicon! Last year was so much fun I got my ticket for this year before I’d left! But more than fun I learnt loads - from , , and many MANY others.

Looking forward to seeing you if you’re going, and sharing my newfound knowledge and ideas if you’re not!

Gotta go and pack now…! Have a great Sunday!

29/02/2024

Why not treat yourself this bonus day (yes, it’s 29th February already!) to a series of FREE live talks? On 22nd March, I’ll be sharing my tips on how to leverage User Generated Content to easily turn your followers into brand ambassadors. It’s part of Digital Marketing Virtual Summit, 30 expert speakers sharing their knowledge throughout that week on a range of digital marketing topics relevant to your small biz.

User Generated Content is one of the most effective ways of marketing your business. Come and find out exactly what it is, and how to make the most of it. Registration has opened, there’s a link in my bio!

Happy Leap Day! Make the most of it!

13/02/2024

Who looks best in the fascinator?

15/01/2024

Did you know Chanel’s branding has remained the same since it was designed in 1926? The font, the logo, the colours and the simplicity are as they’ve always been. A good lesson in clarity and consistency from an iconic female creative. Branding is all about instant recognition. Come with me to see it first hand at the V&A’s Chanel exhibition which is SOLD OUT and ends on 25th Feb so this is your last chance! My “money can’t buy” offer to see it with me ends TONIGHT at MIDNIGHT! All you need to do is follow me and sign up to Notes From Hello, my monthly newsletter (there’s a link in my bio, just click here - .media). I’ll pick one lucky winner!

Here’s my offer:
Follow me and Sign up to my Newsletter by Monday 15th Jan midnight (link in my bio).
On Tuesday 16th Jan I’ll announce on Instagram who I’m inviting to Chanel at the V&A!
We’ll choose the date together (before 25th Feb when the Chanel magic ends)
We’ll meet at the V&A, spend an hour discussing your Instagram account over a coffee
Then, we’ll dive into the world of Chanel’s iconic style and branding genius (or just enjoy her outfits!)

Joining my monthly Notes From Hello Newsletter opens the door to:
My top Instagram tips
Key themes and dates for the following month to nail your content planning
Inspiring social media finds…
…and a little extra something each and every month
It’s short, sweet, and perfect for busy people like you!

Ready to join me at Chanel? Click the link in bio, and feel free to share this post with your Insta friends! If you’re already part of the Notes From Hello crew, you’re automatically in the draw!

Good luck!
Anna x

For the competition terms and conditions please see my previous post!

                                       

05/01/2024

It’s time to get back to work! I’m missing the routine and can’t wait to get stuck back in! How about you?
Next week I’ll be properly launching my monthly newsletter with a “money can’t buy” special offer - anyone signed up by the end of the week (including my existing beta testers!) will be in with a chance to win!

I’ll also be starting to deliver a 12 week Introduction to Digital Marketing course (I’m one of ’s trainers) which will keep me VERY busy!

My work with will continue, which I love.

I’ll be updating my website where I offer my individual Instagram coaching services to small businesses and organisations doing (in my opinion!) good stuff :)

AND I’ll be meeting up with my buddies in The Nurturing Cowork Collective run by - I’m SO up for that!

Last but not least I’m going to finally decide on my Word of the Year for 2024 - feel free to suggest something - current favourite is “Action”! 😜

What are your plans for next week? Apart from watching out for my Newsletter offer of course?! It’ll be a real treat I can guarantee that 😆

Have a fantastic weekend!
Anna x

07/12/2023

Tomorrow’s an annual highlight in my diary! The Christmas fundraising lunch for .

I’ve worked with (almost) all the businesses in my picture at some point - local small businesses that are very much part of the community. My kind of businesses! And we’re each contributing a prize to tomorrow’s charity auction.

Do check them out, they’ve all got a story to tell and are vital to the Dulwich community! Can’t wait to see you all tomorrow and thank you to for bringing us all together!

Toni
Christine
Hester
Tricia .co.uk
Patrick
Vanessa
Gareth
Yeliz

24/11/2023

Colour Friday by .co is all about shouting out the small businesses we love! So here are five that I urge you to go and check out! And notice, unlike the corporates I know the owners, all talented, friendly women passionate about serving their clients.

- for Pia’s handmade absolutely fabulous soaps. They smell great, they lather beautifully, they leave you feeling invigorated!

for truly stunning flowers - Elizabeth has such an eye for colour and form, she’s incredibly talented.

for “pretty and edgy” sustainable jewellery. Buy Brigitte’s jewellery or ask her to make something bespoke. She’s a genius!

for all things oils, rollerballs and even well-being advent calendar kits! Vanessa makes all her products with love and has oodles of experience.

is a network of small, sustainable businesses including hugely talented craftsmen and craftswomen. Jane the founder is incredibly passionate about what she calls “positive shopping”. Really worth a look.

There are so many more of course. Please do think of small businesses today rather than the big corporates yelling at us to buy, buy, buy from them! It’s not a good look!

Have a fabulous weekend!
Anna x

21/11/2023

“Hello!” from hellosocial.media on World Hello Day!

Let’s make that more relatable - “Hello” from me, Anna! Why not pop a “Hello” below in comments - if you really want to get the conversation going, do it in another language!

Hello’s a friendly little word that means a whole lot. As far as I know every culture, every language has a greeting to start off conversations and encourage friendships. I called my business hellosocial.media because all good relationships start with the word hello, including those we have via social media.

I’ve been posting less lately, only because I’ve been very busy with some contract teaching work. But I’ve been having chats with people on social media by commenting on Posts, sharing in Stories and having little natters and sharing tips 1:1 in DMs!

During those periods when you’re too busy to create Reels and Posts my advice is always to keep in touch by engaging on other people’s Posts or sending a DM. Be friendly and supportive, show up and, literally, say “Hello!”. It’s a fantastic little word, let’s encourage each other to use it more and watch it open doors to endless relationships and possibilities! Will you give it a go?

21/11/2023

12/09/2023

When you run your own business there are all sorts of moments you can interpret as “starting points”. A very significant one for me was when I started working with Gemma founder of , delivering her brilliantly written workshops in person in South London pre-covid. And this is the first ever photo of us when we FINALLY met in person in 2019 at a conference!

Gemma taught me more than she probably realises about how to help and support small businesses and teach them in a way that keeps things simple and understandable. She’s always got new ideas and projects in the pipeline which I find really inspiring. And she’s kind, genuine, hardworking and generous too - qualities I really value in people I work with.

We had a good old catch up last week - tune in tomorrow to find out what’s next and how we’re still collaborating to support small businesses.

Thank you Gemma for being so lovely to work with! 😘

Prompt: “how it started” for

06/09/2023

Hello everyone! And a big thank you to and for inviting us all to . I’m a big fan of well-run Instagram Challenges for meeting like-minded people and for getting out of a non-posting rut. September can be a bit daunting after a long summer, so this is the perfect way to get back in the swing of things.

4 facts about me:

🟡I’m freelance and set up Hellosocial.media 4 years ago to support small businesses, freelancers and small charities to use their social media channels more effectively as part of their digital marketing. More about my services tomorrow…

🟡I live in South London and manage the social media for some of the independent shops in my local area - I love the way it keeps me in touch with what’s going on locally!

🟡In less than two weeks our household will go from 5 to 3: one son’s going into 2nd year uni and another’s starting uni - it’s going to be such a big change after a long summer together!

🟡We were lucky enough to get to Lisbon this summer and I couldn’t resist this selfie in front of some street art - especially because it just happened to have my warm yellow brand colour! Do you look out for your brand colour for on-brand selfies too?

I’m off now to find others taking part in this challenge - it’s a great one for anyone service-based. I’ll try and keep up with the prompts - a mixture of posting on my grid and/or Stories!

Have a fantastic day!
Anna x

04/09/2023

Do you find data protection rules baffling?? I recently had a super-useful power hour with on my obligations under data protection and privacy. And today with all the back to school photos popping up on social media I thought I’d find out a bit more. Turns out it’s all relevant closer to home than you might realise!

Here are my very simple tips before you post your photos this evening. I’ve posted first-day-at-school doorstep pictures plenty of times, so this is very much in the spirit of sharing knowledge rather than judging!

For a proper in-depth explanation of this topic I can highly recommend Eileen. And as luck would have it she’s launching a no-nonsense 10 part course for anyone interested in getting to grips with data privacy. Swipe to slide 4!!

Hope your kids have a great first week back at school!

17/07/2023

I’m sharing my top emoji tip for World Emoji Day today! When you send an email to clients it’s really handy to include an emoji in your email subject line. We all receive far too many emails, and let’s face it most of us aren’t good at immediately deleting what’s not wanted or no longer useful. So finding that key email can take ages, scrolling through hundreds of them in your inbox. What. A. Bore.

Include an emoji in your subject line that fits with your brand - it’s immediately MUCH easier to spot in the crowd! That makes it far more likely your clients and interested people will be able to dig out that gold-dust-of-an-email you sent them three weeks ago!

So when I send out an email I include a yellow circle emoji to fit with my yellow brand colour. It’s so easy to spot! 🟡

Which emoji best fits your brand? And do you use it?

Happy World Emoji Day!

#📅

21/06/2023

A bandwagon’s for jumping on, right? So I couldn’t resist joining in this Travis/Kardashian meme trend to remind you about the Atomicon24 deal running until midnight Friday. You’ll see from my latest post and reels what a great time I had last week at Atomicon23 - learning, listening and making copious notes about sales and marketing from industry experts.

But most importantly spending quality time “in real life” with loads of people I engage with here on Instagram. And plenty of people totally new to me too!

I can’t believe a whole week’s passed - I’ve still got the buzz!

Want a ticket for Atomicon24 on 18th June 2024 at £199 instead of the full £650? There’s an affiliate link in my bio - come and join! And if you want to ease your cash flow you can pay in 4 instalments of £50.

If you have second thoughts or something crops up meanwhile, you can cancel for a full refund , no explanation required up until 1 March 2024. That’s a promise from the organisers and 🤩🤩.

Remember - the price goes up after midnight on Friday 😱

Hope to see you there!
Anna x

Ps a couple of people have asked me Qs about the conference in DMs - feel free to pop me a note, I’ll happily chat to you 😃

#2024

19/06/2023

FANCY JOINING US AT ATOMICON24? With an early bird ticket (available only until Friday of this week)?? Then pop to the link in my bio!

You may have seen my Atomicn23 Reels last week. My first Atomic conference and I’ve already booked my ticket for next year, it was soooo good! Such a friendly event packed with interesting speakers on all things digital marketing for small businesses, creatives, freelancers and digital marketers. Several speakers came to hang out at the pre and after parties, so we were able to chat and ask questions in a relaxed environment. It’s that kind of conference!

Things I loved:
🎤Excellent speakers including Joe Wickes , Chris Do , Prerna of , and so many more!

📔The conference yearbook with all the info you need on the day and space for copious notes!

👩‍💻An online session afterwards to ensure you take action on what you’ve learnt

🥳The pre and after parties - really friendly and welcoming with free drinks!!!!

🥪☕️🍬Free lunch, coffee, tea, brownies, sweets, face glitter and lots more!

👯‍♀️A chance to spend proper time with fellow small business people in beautiful Newcastle in a gorgeous venue ( is stunning!) right by the River Tyne.

😃I came home with ideas, actionable to-dos, friendly new connections and a renewed enthusiasm for my business!

The ticket details:

Flash Sale Tickets are £199 (or a 4 x £50 payment plan) available until midnight Friday 23rd June. Full price will be £650.

To purchase go to the LINK IN MY BIO (I’ll receive a small affiliate fee but it’ll cost you the same as buying direct)
Refund Period: organisers have promised a No questions asked, full refund until March 1st 2024. You can switch between an in-person and virtual ticket at any point.

I hope to see you there - selfies incoming! Anna xx

08/06/2023

Will I see you in Newcastle next week? This is my first Atomicon adventure and I couldn't be more excited! 😆 Lots of firsts in the pipeline including flash mob dancing with led by 🤩, partying in orange with and some incredible speakers - here I come , , and so many more!!!!

Thanks to for making it all possible and to for asking "shall we go?" about 18 months ago - the answer was "YESSSSSSS!!"

07/04/2023

Not just Good Friday but the BEST kind of Friday! Coffee at and a dogwalk on Clapham Common! Camilla and I met back in 2018 when she came to one of my first Instagram workshops for her fabulous parent coaching services . We hit it off and have been friends ever since (as have our dogs!) It’s been a while so we had lots to catch up on this morning! Camilla is one of my superstars - regularly posting videos and super helpful content. If you’re a parent of young kiddos do go and check her out - her workshops and courses are seriously good and fantastic value.

Hope you’ve had a GOOD Good Friday too! For those of you who saw my Stories yesterday I FINALLY got my tomato plants repotted this afternoon! Roll on tomato harvest time!! 🍅🍅🍅

20/03/2023

I'll be rounding off my busy week with a trip to Birmingham - joining the with some awesome marketers - some I know well already, some I'll be meeting for the first time! Thanks to and for organising everything, can't wait to see you all. And afterwards I'll finally get to see my oldest son's student digs at Birmingham Uni!

Meanwhile my digital marketing students are working away on their end of course projects this week so I'm popping in and out of zoom breakout rooms to support them, and I have a very interesting 1:1 tomorrow with Aga from Hook & Help - can't wait to hear all about her fibre arts business and give her some Instagram tips!

Do you have something fun to look forward to at the end of this week? Tell me!

08/03/2023

Here I am striking the International Women's Day pose! Thanks to this fantastic campaign I've learnt a lot over the past couple of days about the value of Equity - it goes so much deeper than Equality.

Equality strives for equal opportunity for us all. It aims to treat everyone the same without accounting for their differences. Whereas Equity aims to create a level playing field, where everyone's differences are catered for. That's so much fairer.

This was my favourite explanation: “Equality is everybody having a pair of shoes. Equity is providing everyone with a pair of shoes that fit.”

Here's a link 's campaign page - it's a really interesting read and there are some great videos too - go and have a look! https://www.internationalwomensday.com/Theme

Happy International Women's Day everyone - let's all Embrace Equity for a genuinely fairer world.

27/02/2023

We’re both speaking at Social Mums Virtual Summit this week! Ella’s on at 9am Tuesday sharing tips on her favourite topic Personal Branding. Catch Anna at 9am Wednesday giving you her views on her pet subject - Engaging on Instagram! And there are 28 more awesome speakers - go to link in bio to register - it’s FREE!

We go back a long way so for us it’s super exciting to be part of the same awesome event. Back in 2017 we found ourselves in the same cohort on the Digital Mums 6 month social media strategy course (swipe left for a post graduation pic). From the first online meeting we hit it off and have been encouraging and challenging each other ever since. We both believe deeply that it’s the community you create around you that’s the secret to success! Our chosen business names say it all - come and say “hello” and get “much more social” with us!

23/02/2023

Next Wednesday at 9am I’ll be sharing my BEST tips for engaging and building a community here on Instagram. It really is the most effective way to grow your business through this platform.

My talk will be one of 30 next week at the Social Mums Virtual Summit. Gemma who heads up Social Mums has put together a really amazing bunch of speakers - and you can watch them all for FREE. Not to be missed!
Just sign up here: https://socialmums.podia.com/small-business-virtual-summit-free-pass

I’d love to see you there!

20/02/2023

What a way to start the week 😆 - with an award that I was absolutely not expecting! Thank you Fab Giovanetti and Alt Marketing School for choosing me as one of your Top 100 Trailblazers for 2023, I'm absolutely thrilled and delighted. And thank you to whoever nominated me - I have my suspicions and I'm truly grateful.

In the email I received the message was "This is us saying ‘We see you, we appreciate you and your commitment to helping and supporting others’" which is exactly what I set up hellosocial.media to do. So thank you for recognising what is at the core of my work.

And congratulations to my wonderful fellow award winners you can check them all out here: https://amschool.click/top100

09/01/2023

The perfect Ted talk for a Monday morning!

04/01/2023

Just some gentle reminders for you as we all begin to venture back onto Instagram! It's fine to have taken a break - I've just been dipping in and out and focusing my efforts on my client's account that I manage. But sometimes when we come back we need a little reminder of the basics.

If you'd like further advice I'm here! My February calendar is already pretty full but I have some space in January and March if you'd like some one to one support.

21/12/2022

“one year ago” we were in the French Alps doing what we love as a family - skiing in crisp snow under blue skies. Last year was however bittersweet - we were able to leave the UK before the borders closed (Covid) but our friends weren’t. And boy did we miss them.

This year we’re back with cousins - no covid checks, no masks and it really feels like things are back to normal. We’ve had an amazing 5 days so far under blue skies but now the weather’s closing in. It’s been an incredible way to wind down to Christmas. We’re feeling incredibly lucky.

08/12/2022

One of my kids' favourite books when they were little was "Can You Spot the Spotty Dog?" by John Rowe. For today's prompt Gold with Susannah Conway, can you spot my Golden Dog amongst the Golden Leaves? It's during Autumn/Winter that taking her for a walk can be problematic because she's more difficult to spot!

Sometimes prompts can really make you scratch your head, wondering what to post. You can take the prompts literally or add your own twist to them. Sometimes you can interpret them in a way to talk about your business, sometimes behind-the-scenes content seems to fit better. That's why I like Instagram Challenges, they make us think outside the box, stimulate our creativity and get us to try out new types of content. How would you interpret the prompt "Gold"?

30/11/2022

Here we are in December (in less than 5 hours)! Exciting! And if you're struggling for content ideas or wanting to find new people to engage with, an Insta Challenge might be just the answer! I've picked 8 that caught my eye (swipe for the prompts) so do take a look and join in one that takes your fancy, even if you can't manage every day.

is run by whose Insta Challenges are really popular. She always does one in December and luckily for us, it's back!

with isn't just about meeting people, it'll also help you get your house is order for Christmas with 12 days of quick easy decluttering prompts! Excellent!

with encourages us all to live with intention and bring that intention to life in whatever way feels right for you.

with is a 12 prompt 4 week drawing challenge starting 2nd December - let your artist flair run riot!

with is a celebration of the books you've read and appreciated - a great one for sharing book recommendations

with and .creates has prompts to inspire your December journaling - well worth checking out!

with is the perfect way to practice lettering, in time for Christmas when everyone appreciates a beautifully written note!

with is back for it's 4th year! Starting on 5th December there'll be 8 days of prompts to really think through what you've been through in 2022 before progressing into 2023.

So there you have it - my final Instagram Challenge list of the year. If you pick one of these do let me know! And please remember to follow the host, use their hashtag and go and engage with others taking part :)