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Social Trends 2024

Long-form video. Well, that’s just one of the secrets. We’ve sleuthed the internet and our collective brain power to pull together a wrap of all things social media so far this year into one, nice tidy little (big) post.It’s been a big few months in the social media landscape. Things are as fast-paced and quick-changing as they’ve always been. Platforms are fighting to keep users on the platform rather than clicking off, and they’re all competing with each other to grab and keep the at...

Our guide to landing the joke every time: a.k.a knowing your audience.

Ever told a cracking story to a group of people and it just fell….. well, on its face?That’s because you didn’t know your audience (or it was a terrible story, let's be honest).You’ll hear us harp on about your audience in the social media sphere A LOT. That’s because it’s important! Why? Simple, it means you can craft content that resonates with them. This makes it easier to connect with them and earn their loyalty. Which, you guessed it, means more sales (or whatever your busi...

Top Tips for Social Media Event Coverage

Originally published June 2016, updated November 2022. We’ve been inspired by the upcoming National Fieldays to share our best tips for covering events. Firstly, live event coverage is easy content, and secondly, it can give your audience a behind the scenes look at your business, giving it life and showing your interaction with your industry and community. You need to have a loose plan in place for covering any event and there’s a couple of stages to consider as well....

Do I need to pay for people to see my posts?

Originally posted May 13, 2020, updated October 13 2022. With marketing budgets being constantly under the microscope, we know many of you are re-evaluating business spend and wondering if you should be investing money into your social media advertising or simply working harder to boost your organic reach....

Here’s how we help clients regain control of their narrative

As a content creator you need to wear many hats and internally channel many personalities. It takes a special kind of human to be able to change these hats often - something our social media and community manager’s have mastered the art of. So for us, it’s no surprise we constantly get asked the question by our community ‘How do I write different content for different audiences on our social media channels?’  Often people think they need different accounts to talk to different audie...

How to Freshen Up Your Instagram During A Lockdown

For some people, Instagram imagery and grid layout comes easy - we love those people and we love their work - but we are not talking to those people today. We are talking to YOU. We are talking to those of you who feel uncertain about sharing your own images, struggle to get consistency and how to get a grid looking beautiful. We’ve been there. To be honest, when Grass Roots Media’s Instagram purely fell under our Content Chick’s responsibilities, she struggled. She loves words but imag...

7 Content ideas when working from home

Are you in lockdown or needing to work remotely? We understand that during this time there are a tonne of business challenges that marketers have to deal with. But with a little clever thinking this time can also provide you with a great opportunity to create some compelling content that drives really positive engagement. To help you out, we’ve pulled together 7 content ideas for you to utilise in your marketing during this period....

Sustainability - is it really more than just a word?

Sustainability is an encompassing concept that is becoming increasingly more so a ‘way of life,’ or at least one that many try to achieve in varying capacities. Within our Food & Fibre sector, the word sustainability can cause murmurs and shuffling of feet, scratching of heads and eyes throwing to the sky. This is not because we are not embracing this concept, but because what often comes with it is a wrath of red tape, legislation, and heavy regulation. But when the idea of sustai...

How do I write captivating Instagram captions?

How do I write an engaging Instagram caption? What should our tone be? How do I even get started? One of the questions we’re often asked here at Grass Roots Media is how our clients can create more compelling Instagram content. Critical to your business being a ‘hit’ on Instagram is the ability to create engaging captions to support great imagery. Hitting the right tone at the right time, and providing the right mix of content that engages your audience, while driving them to take the act...

Why do I need to use hashtags on LinkedIn?

As the GRM Community Manager, I’ve been spending some time digging into LinkedIn and what will help our small businesses thrive. I was struggling to build communities on behalf of our clients and did some exploring to find the best ways to boost engagement and how to interact with other pages. To be honest? There wasn’t a lot of information out there on how to work best as a business page so it took a lot of trial and error. However, this is what we did find to be important (today):...

How do I connect with others on social media?!

Intentionally connecting with communities and other brands as a business on social media is known as Community Management. In 2019 we restructured the entire Grass Roots Media team to create an role dedicated to Community Management, because we believe it is an essential, often overlooked, part of social media strategy. Anna seamlessly moved from “Super Admin” to our “Community Chatter” - a community management role. She has blown us all out of the water. Our clients’ content is more...

Can I sell my products on Instagram?

The internet is full of Social Media News. We try to sift through the many articles to find those that will actually matter to our community and share them in quick bite-size pieces. You have enough on your plate. Let’s make this easier for you. This month? Learn how to set up shop and sell on Instagram, a helpful advertising article, and Instagram community management update....

Produce Boxes From Field to Facebook

MyFreshProduce is a Manawatu based vegetable delivery service that is rooted in the community and founded on Facebook. Over Lockdown 2020, the owners worked hard to meet the sudden changes in demand, adapting to users shifting needs and desires....

How can I pivot my social media after a global pandemic?

June is usually a good time to revisit your New Year’s business and marketing goals and see if you’re on track.  June 2020 - #pandemic #postlockdown #closedborders #upcomingelection - is a REALLY good time to check into your January goals. They might have changed juuuuust a little, #amiright?! Without a doubt, many of us have had to pivot this year. Our end goals may have shifted and our social media goals need to go along with them.  {We know, you may be tired of this word, but st...

Facebook, Instagram, and Google All Go to Bat for Small Business

The internet is full of Social Media News. Every month we try to choose the articles that will actually matter to our community and share them in a quick bite-size pieces. You have enough on your plate. Let’s make this easier for you. This month? Social media companies (and Google!) are ALL about helping small businesses thrive. It seems new tools and capabilities are popping up all over the place. Here are three stories that caught our attention. ...

Instagram to the Small Business Rescue and Other News

The internet is full of Social Media News. We try to choose the articles that will actually matter to our community and share them in a quick bite size pieces. You have enough on your plate. So here’s the latest…....

Can Instagram Carry Your Small Business Through A Global Pandemic?

Many NZ small businesses are wondering how to ride through this global pandemic season and come out successful on the other side. Can social media carry a small business through this time? That is an excellent question. We don’t know the answer to that. But this is what we do know. Last quarter we worked HARD to step up our Instagram game. Consequently, our brand advocacy last quarter grew by 70.4%. 70.4%!! That is a big number - even for us. If you’re unfamiliar, brand advocacy is essenti...

Calm in the Face of A Crisis

Hmmmmm well, we didn’t see a global pandemic coming. Granted, ya’ll would have looked at us like we were nuts if we focussed on that topic when we wrote this Crisis Communications blog piece a few months ago. Even though this situation is more than simply responding to a negative comment online, many of our recommendations remain the same but we would add a few tips....

New FB app, Newsletter Benchmarks, and Pinterest Stats

Time to spill the social media tea. We’re keeping an eye on social media news updates — especially those that may pertain to small businesses. Our clients deserve to have a peek into what is coming, what’s arrived and how THEY can stay on top of their game. Here are three things that caught our eye this month....

Is My Social Media Working For My Small Business?!

How do I know if my social media is working for my business?! This month we are heading back to the basics -including answering some of the most Frequently Asked Questions. This one doesn’t have an easy answer. Start by asking yourself these questions: Are you meeting the goals that you set for yourself when you first started? (see the goal setting downloadable if you need more help)Are you building relationships with past, existing, or potential clients and industry members - or just getting...

Does Your Small Business Need Social Media?

“Does my small business need social media?” If you have asked yourself this question, you are thinking in the right direction. Honestly, sometimes the answer is no. Most of the time? The Grass Roots Media team strongly believes answer is YES. {are you really surprised?}Allow us to explain. In the past we have shared that social media is like one giant party - a party where your customers, clients, and competition are spending their time. So why should YOUR small business show up at this...

How do I write Social Media Content?

Ever feel you are on the struggle bus when it comes to planning or writing content for your social media pages? We know we need to consistently post a couple times a week at least to stay at front of mind, but let’s be honest, “Content Creation Rut” is real. Yes, yes it is. As the Content Chick at Grass Roots Media, my goal is to help you get out of this rut, start planning your content, and getting on with your Real Job. Before we go anywhere - let’s be honest about WHY we find ourselv...

Control Twitter Replies and Instagram Filters Photoshopped Images

This internet thing is bursting with Social Media news. Here are three things that caught our eye this month....

10 Things We Hate About Social Media

It’s true, the Grass Roots Media team spends a lot of time on social media. We love how it can bring people and communities together. We love how it can be used to build businesses. We love how it can connect us with the rest of the world in an instant. However, we also have a serious bone to pick with the biggest tool of our trade. So, at our Christmas party we decided to start a list as a healthy outlet for our frustrations. Here is a condensed version of the things that drive us nuts about...

....These are a few of our favourite things..

If you are loved by the Grass Roots Media team, you will know it. The Grass Roots Media team is known to fan-girl hard over our favourite products and frequently share them with each other and on our social media pages. Especially if they involve any of the following: food, coffee, wool, wine/whiskey/gin, agriculture, locally owned, female owned or run, environmental stewardship, exercise, travel, photography, innovation and horses. (The four of us have a lot of shared interests!) With this li...