Professional Promotion Resources

7-min. read

In this blog post, I feature a roundup of my favorite websites focused on professional promotion and social media management. I highlight five resources: Making It, Hootsuite, Morgan Timm, Sprout Social, and Louise Henry.

Making It

URL: <Squarespace.com/blog>

Sponsor: Squarespace

Annotation

Making It, the blog published by Squarespace, features guidance on how to get more out of the platform’s website builder, articles about trends in entrepreneurship, and profiles of entrepreneurs who use Squarespace to launch or grow their businesses.

Keywords

website, online store, blog, portfolio, Squarespace

Recent Content from Making It

Making It has published content about social media marketing, how to create a portfolio and portfolio entries, and what to consider before launching a blog.

• Ask Us: Integrating Social Media into Your Website. Jaclyn Bergin recommends that Squarespace users link Squarespace with their social media platforms, include social icons in their website’s navbar, auto-share newly published blog posts on social media, and use analytics tools from the Squarespace dashboard to track engagement. Read the article.

• Making a Stand-Out Student Design Portfolio. Chloe Harlig encourages designers to include non-standard projects in their design portfolio, such as collaborations and work that was completed outside of professional or academic environments but still demonstrates skill sets that employers value. She also recommends developing thorough project narratives that “show [the] process, especially if it’s messy.” Read the article.

• Before You Start a Blog. Alyssa Wolff writes to prospective bloggers about first steps, such as defining the focus of and audience for their blogs, developing a realistic posting schedule, and planning where to create or borrow imagery and iconography. Read the article.

Thoughts on Making It

Making It is subtitled “stories and solutions for the modern entrepreneur,” which accurately frames the blog’s value proposition. Content categories include On Trend, Makers, and Know, which correspond with articles about news in entrepreneurship, about entrepreneurs, and about features Squarespace users may utilize or optimize on their websites. Squarespace also has a video library to supplement the Making It blog.

Making It is the community building aspect of Squarespace as a business model, the primary activity of which is selling subscriptions to the website-building platform for individuals and businesses. The website plans have a range of features and functionality, from personal to business to basic and advanced commerce, which means that Squarespace must cater to the needs and tastes of varying audiences.

Hootsuite

URL: <Blog.Hootsuite.com>

Sponsor: Hootsuite Inc.

Annotation

Hootsuite, a service for scheduling social media posts across platforms, also maintains an active blog on strategies for building social campaigns and social media best practices.

Keywords

social media strategy, social media marketing, best practices, sentiment analysis, inclusive design

Recent Content from Hootsuite

Hootsuite has published content about following best practices for inclusive design, analyzing users’ brand experiences by tracking their engagement per social campaign or social media platform, and branching out to paid advertisements, such as through Google Ads.

• Inclusive Design for Social Media: Tips for Creating Accessible Channels. Katie Sehl advocates for making social media friendlier for people with disabilities and representing women and minorities in digital imagery and iconography. Read the article.

• How to Conduct a Social Media Sentiment Analysis. Christina Newberry encourages social media managers to conduct regular social media audits (that include an index of customers’ emotional experiences with the brand as a key performance metric) and recommends tools and processes for engaging in a sentiment analysis. Read the article.

• A Beginner’s Guide to Using Google Ads. Tony Tran describes how to plan, implement, and evaluate a Google Ads campaign. As Tran indicates in the title, his article is beginner friendly. Read the article.

Thoughts on Hootsuite

Hootsuite gives social account managers a framework for understanding social media best practices. The various toolkits offer guidance on how to evaluate existing social media strategies and how to create a social media plan from scratch or by revision.

In addition, Hootsuite provides a good model of engagement through blogging. The posts are framed as knowledge sharing but make mention of Hootsuite’s social media scheduling services where applicable. This comes across as authentic brand storytelling versus a sales pitch.

Morgan Timm

URL: <MorganTimm.com>

Sponsor: Morgan Timm

Annotation

Morgan Timm, created by an experienced lifestyle blogger of the same name, features articles about blogging, entrepreneurship, and social media.

Keywords

blogging, blog traffic, social media, business, brand strategy

Recent Content from Morgan Timm

Morgan Timm has published how-to articles about growing engagement, an FAQ listing for new bloggers, and an excerpt from Morgan’s brand style guide.

• How to Grow to 2500 Daily Blog Views. Morgan Timm shares ways to leverage SEO, strategies and tools for posting consistently, strategies for driving traffic by platform, and tips for brainstorming post topics that resonate with a business or brand. She emphasizes generating sustainable traffic and an engaged followership rather than quick wins on social media. Read the article.

• Your Blogging Questions Answered: Blogging FAQ. Morgan Timm answers her readers’ commonly asked questions on how to select a blog niche, how to earn money as a blogger, how to circulate posts, and how to announce a new blog. Read the article.

• My Brand + Branding Tips. Morgan Timm describes and contextualizes branding decisions she made for her two blogs (Morgan Timm, a blog about blogging, and her lifestyle blog) and offers strategies that new bloggers can leverage to develop an effective brand presence, from choosing the right color palette to selecting an appropriate brand voice. Read the article.

Thoughts on Morgan Timm

Morgan Timm created a blog about blogging after running a successful college and lifestyle blog and earning readers who sought her advice about how to succeed as an online content creator. She maintains an archive of posts that help entrepreneurs navigate the world(s) of blogging and social media.

Content categories on Morgan Timm include Blogging, Social Media, and Business. That said, there is a measure of overlap between and among these categories, as Morgan discusses, for example, how to promote blog posts on social media and how to turn a blog into a business.

New to blogging? Hint: Morgan Timm features an additional category geared toward beginners, called How to Start a Blog.

Sprout Social

URL: <SproutSocial.com/insights>

Sponsor: Sprout Social, Inc.

Annotation

The Sprout Social blog emphasizes best practices on social media and offers tools and templates for social media managers to ensure their social presence is on track across multiple platforms.

Keywords

social media audit, post length, posting time, analytics

Recent Content from Sprout Social

Sprout Social has published content on how to evaluate a social media presence for gaps (read: opportunities), best practices for the length and content of social posts, and optimal social media posting times.

• How to Conduct a Speedy Social Media Audit. Brent Barnhart explains how to set objectives by platform, analyze follower engagement, learn about the demographics and psychographics of a follower base, and identify opportunities for a more robust social media presence. Read the article.

• Know Your Limit: The Ideal Length of Every Social Media Post. Dominique Jackson discusses both the ideal and maximum (ceiling) number of characters for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and YouTube posts and other text fields. Read the article.

• The Best Times to Post on Social Media in 2020. Elizabeth Arens writes about the optimal days and times to engage with social media followers by platform and industry. Read the article.

Thoughts on Sprout Social

The Sprout Social blog provides a good framework for understanding strategies and best practices on social media, and the unwritten rules within and among social media platforms.

It includes information both about what is possible on social media (what functionality various platforms allow) and what tends to be effective (what has historically performed best with followers).

Insights, such as when to post and how long to make a post, are backed by Sprout Social analytics. Paid users may also check their Sprout dashboard for more personalized recommendations.

Louise Henry

URL: <LouiseHenry.com/blog>

Sponsor: Louise Henry

Annotation

Louise Henry, created by an online business owner of the same name, features articles about blogging, entrepreneurship, web content creation, and project management.

Keywords

online business, blogging, Squarespace, project management, Asana

Recent Content from Louise Henry

Louise Henry has published productivity hacks for online business owners, articles on how to create and maintain a Squarespace blog, and strategies for writing web content as the ambassador of a business or brand.

• How to Organize Your Business (Step by Step). Louise Henry recommends that online business owners list the tasks and goals that drive their business, create an organized workspace (physical and digital), and choose project management tools that streamline work processes. Read the article.

• How to Blog with Squarespace (Version 7.1). Louise Henry, a Squarespace authorized trainer, demonstrates how to launch a blog on Squarespace. Read the article.

• How to Sound More Like You on Your Website. Louise Henry suggests that new bloggers compile a list of words and phrases they commonly use in speech or informal writing (she calls this a “brand bank”), experiment with dictating content before or while typing it, and use a few non-work-related interests as threads in the blog. Read the article.

Thoughts on Louise Henry

The Louise Henry blog is closely linked with Louise Henry’s YouTube channel. The written articles serve as transcripts or summaries for her video library.

Content categories on Louise Henry include Create Your Own Website, Online Business Tips, Squarespace (a website builder), and Asana (a project management tool). Readers can also download “roadmaps” for the tools Louise recommends and sign up for her email list.

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