Business, Blogging
Lauren Hooker
40 Ways to Use Adobe Illustrator to Improve ...

Adobe Illustrator is my go-to software for anything and everything design-related. It's the one program I truly couldn't work without.

And while it's easy to assume that the program's primary focus is illustration based on the name, there is so much more to this design software. 

With tools for type, color, photo cropping, image tracing, drawing, and much more, it has innumerable benefits for bloggers and business owners, alike.

To get your creative gears turning, here's a look at 40 ways Adobe Illustrator can take your blog and/or business to the next level.

40 Ways to Use Adobe Illustrator to Improve Your Blog and Business
Blogging, Business, Branding, Design
Lauren Hooker
How to Create Eye-Catching Blog Post Graphics

First impressions are crucial, especially in business.

Potential customers and clients make judgments about your business within the first few seconds of coming into contact with it, whether it’s through your website, your social media accounts, or a simple blog post graphic.

And those initial thoughts - whether they’re spot on or far off from what you want them to be - are within your control. You have the opportunity to make a killer first impression through high-quality, branded visuals.

If your blog is a large part of your business or you’re hoping to drive more traffic back to your site through your blog, you have to have eye-catching blog graphics to not only generate a positive first impression, but to encourage readers to share your posts on sites like Pinterest and be seen by an even wider audience.

So how do you create eye-catching blog post graphics? And better yet, how can you set them apart so they’ll stand out from the rest and be recognized time and time again?

How to Create Eye-Catching Blog Post Graphics
Business, Visual Marketing
Lauren Hooker
40 Easy, Engaging Video Content Ideas for Your ...

“When I discovered YouTube, I didn’t work for 5 days.” - Michael Scott

Video platforms like YouTube (and more recently, Periscope) are easily the world’s greatest time-wasters. We’ve all been guilty of losing track of time on YouTube at least once, because videos are easily consumable, very addicting, and highly entertaining.

As a matter of fact, studies show that a whopping 78% of us watch videos online every week and 55% watch videos online every day.

Which is why Youtube is also the world’s greatest overnight-success-maker. If you’re on the production-side of a video and you’ve come up with a clever idea, you might just have a viral hit on your hands.

Video holds a lot of potential for interaction, engagement, and shares for creative businesses. And for that reason, it’s one of the best visual marketing tools you can use.

But it producing videos can be a little overwhelming, can’t it? Even with helpful video tools out there like Animoto, many of us struggle to come up with simple ideas for video content that would appeal to our audience. 

And that’s where this post comes in. I’ve rounded up 40 easy, engaging video content ideas to help get your creative gears turning. My hope is that you’ll find a few ideas to implement and as a result, bring your business more exposure.

40 Easy, Engaging Video Content Ideas for Your Creative Business
Business, Visual Marketing
Lauren Hooker
Why You Should Be Using Infographics for Your ...

If you’re looking for a good way to kill at least an hour of your time, type in the word “infographic” in the Pinterest search bar.

Thousands of clever graphics will pop up on everything from “how to make a salad taste awesome” to a baby’s first year in a review. There’s even an infographic that answers the pressing question, “Is your dog sleeping a little too much?”

Then, after you’ve admired the genius creativity behind them, take a gander at how many repins and likes each of those infographics receives. Thousands upon thousands.

In fact, infographic volumes have increased by over 800% in 2 years. Publishers who use infographics grow in traffic an average of 12% more than those who don’t. 

What is it about infographics that makes them so appealing? And better yet, how can you come up with some clever infographics for your business so it gains more exposure through likes and shares?

I have all the answers for you in this post.

Why You Should Be Using Infographics for Your Business (And How to Create Them)
Blogging
Lauren Hooker
How to Create Catchy Headlines

Is your headline the first thing you consider when you sit down to write a post?

Probably not, but creating a catchy blog post title is one of the most important aspects of each blog post. It's the gateway to your content; it convinces people to click or scroll right past your latest post'. 

In fact, studies show that 8 out of 10 people will read your headline but only 2 out of 10 will read your entire post. 

Here are a few pointers for drawing in potential readers and a couple "templates" to help you create a catchy headline for your upcoming posts. 

How to Create Catchy Headlines

Social Media

Ideal Image Sizes for Your Blog and Social Media

Ideal Image Sizes for Your Blog and Social Media

You know those inconvenient tasks that always seem to creep up on you? 

Maybe it’s an email reply you always find yourself sending or a URL you often visit but can never remember.

In instances like these, it’s beneficial to keep that information in a helpful place, create a template or bookmark it so you can easily refer back to it later and save yourself a headache. 

That’s why I wrote this blog post.

It seems I’m constantly trying to track down image sizes for social media, both for Elle & Company graphics and client design projects.

And surely you’ve found yourself hunting down image sizes for your social media accounts, too. 

So I decided to make it easier on all of us by rounding up ideal image sizes for blog posts and social media and creating an infographic. 

Feel free to bookmark this post or pin it to Pinterest for future reference!

Why I’ll Never Schedule Social Media Again (And Our MeetEdgar Strategy!)

Why I’ll Never Schedule Social Media Again (And Our MeetEdgar Strategy!)

Imagine this. 

It’s 8pm on a Sunday evening. Tomorrow is Monday, which means the craziness of juggling clients, projects and business tasks is about to crank back up. And the thought just occurred to you that you haven’t yet scheduled posts for each of your social media platforms for the coming week.

So you pull out your laptop and spend the last 2 hours of your Sunday brainstorming about what the heck you’re going to post on social media.

You browse through old blog posts and choose a few at random to feature for the upcoming week. You spend forever digging through your Bloglovin’ and Twitter feeds to find articles to highlight from other industry peers. You save images to your desktop until you can no longer see your screensaver and you have a field day shortening links with bit.ly.

Finally, 10:30pm rolls around and your Buffer queue is filled for the week…until next Sunday, that is.

What if I told you the rat race of social media scheduling could finally end? What if you never had to schedule social media again? 

I’ve started using a tool that takes those questions out of the hypothetical and makes them a reality. 

Non-Salesy Strategies for Marketing on Instagram

Non-Salesy Strategies for Marketing on Instagram

You know Instagram is working for your creative business when:

  • You’ve found a way to stand out in an oversaturated industry when everyone else seems to be doing the same thing.
  • You’re attracting the right kind of followers who are not only interested your products and services, but they’re actually purchasing them.
  • Your following is consistently growing.
  • Your Instagram followers turn into clients and customers.

The good news is that you can do all of the above without being pushy or salesy. 

In fact, Instagram is a fantastic way to unobtrusively market your business on Instagram without being salesy.

Why Instagram’s New Changes Don’t Scare Me (And Shouldn’t Scare You)

Why Instagram’s New Changes Don’t Scare Me (And Shouldn’t Scare You)

Instagram seems to be the social media platform of choice for creative business owners. 

It’s visual, business accounts easily blend in with personal accounts, and - unlike Facebook - posts show up in chronological order.

Well, they used to show up in chronological order. 

On March 15th, Instagram announced that posts would “soon be ordered to show the moments we believe you will care about the most.” 

In other words, they’re following Facebook’s footsteps and displaying posts in your feed according to engagement. Posts will no longer appear in chronological order. Business owners aren’t guaranteed that their posts will appear in the feeds of their followers. 

So it’s no surprise that this recent announcement has caused widespread panic in the creative community. 

However, I saw this one coming. I predicted it would happen several months ago in this post. 

While these recent changes might change the way we approach our Instagram marketing strategies, they shouldn’t be causing business owners to freak out. 

Here’s why they don’t scare me (and certainly shouldn’t scare you).

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The Glaring Issue with Using Social Media for Business

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The Glaring Issue with Using Social Media for Business

The benefits of using social media for business are obvious. 

Social media platforms allow you to reach your target audience in the places where they hang out the most. They help you network with others in your industry (and stay up to date/keep an eye on what they’re up to). They give your audience the opportunity to follow along with you and it give you the opportunity to engage and communicate with them. 

And, oh yeah, social media accounts are free. 

But despite all of these excellent benefits, there’s one glaring issue with using social media for business.