GREAT BIG SMALL

Hands up, we’re guilty and we’ve used reviews to pad out content. It’s quick and easy, find a nice template – Bosh!

However, without addressing the pain point or problem you solved, it won’t be valuable content. Make it relatable and useful to your audience to truly engage them. 💡

So, if a client has raved about your fitted wardrobes, tell the audience about the tiny room and awkward space they needed to utilise. 🏠 If a customer loved your Sunday lunch, share how they didn’t want to cook after a big family day out. 🍽️ For a haircut, explain how your client’s confidence was low and this brightened up their year. 💇‍♂️ Lead with the customer's story and your review post will find a better reach. 📈

Instagram's changed the game! Say goodbye to those old square posts and hello to 1080 x 1350 pixels. Here's why you should care:

Bigger & Better: More space means more detail. Your posts will pop and grab attention as users scroll. 📸

Made for Mobiles: Most of us use Instagram on our phones, and the taller format fits better on screens. Perfect for those vertical video vibes. 📱

Look Sharp: The new size looks sleek and professional. It’s like giving your profile a mini makeover. ✨

Algorithm Love: Instagram’s algorithm favours this size. More visibility, more engagement. Win-win! 🎉

Stay Trendy: Vertical content is in. Keep up with the latest trends and keep your followers engaged. 📈

So, give your posts some extra height and watch your engagement soar! 🚀

Drop us a follow and save this post for later. 📌

A Future Waste Of Time
What do I mean by that?

Briefing your next piece of content to an Agency or Team Member (even yourself).
We manage over 25 social media accounts and we see it all. WhatsApp 25 images of pretty much the same thing with a voice note trying to explain what's in the images. Or 6 emails with random 'examples' of what they would like you to create for them. Or a 12-page brochure with the subject line "Make this into a social media post."

STOP 🚫

You are simply wasting your time a little further down the line. Here’s why:

1. You will have to correct the content.
2. You will have to reiterate what you mean.
3. You'll get cross and frustrated.
4. Your agency or team member will be confused.
5. You won't get what you want.
6. The whole process will take twice as long and be substandard.

There is NO POINT in posting content that doesn’t meet these criteria. You will soon have a disengaged audience who will scroll past your content because you have not taken a moment to read over your own ideas.

• What is this for? 🎯
• Who do I want to read it? 👥
• What do I want them to do with it? 📢
• What is their 'takeaway'? 📝
• Do I need to post this? 📅
• Does the image/video/graphic represent what I want? 📸
• Is it eye-catching? 👀
• WILL ANYONE READ IT? 📖

I had an interesting conversation with a beautiful young professional horsewoman 🐎 this week. In addition to competing and teaching, she'd like to grow her social media presence 📱 and possibly earn some brand endorsements 💼. She mentioned that other young women in her field, who are not as experienced, thorough, or passionate as she is, seem to garner much more engagement and followers.

It made me reflect on how much I value quality over quantity. I'd rather my clients have a dense following, an authentic audience of users who share many commonalities and interests, gained by creating high-quality content. This is far more valuable than a wispy following, which lacks commonality or relevance and is often gained through follow-for-follow strategies or trends.

Even a light following, where followers share some broad characteristic but differ widely in habits and preferences, is less desirable than a dense following. A relevant following, where the audience shares some commonalities like location, demographic, or interest, is also valuable but still not as effective as a dense following.

So, what do you think? If you had 5k followers with every post reaching 80% 📊, would you still prefer 25k followers with a 25% reach? I can tell you that working on the 5k is much easier than the 25k, and it also feels more authentic. Brands are starting to catch on, with some already looking at micro and nano influencers to promote their products. Sponsoring a young athlete while they are growing their authentic followers could be a great tactic for smaller brands with tighter budgets 💡.

This one came to mind recently when a client asked us to follow a certain number of accounts in order to increase their following on Instagram. Carefully choosing an audience is absolutely okay, but using the follow-for-follow tactic is frowned upon now in 2024. 🚫 If you are following other accounts in your niche to keep abreast of the industry or to stay up to date with the competition, then go for it. There is no reason not to, and it can be really useful. 📈 However, mindlessly following accounts in hope of return follows is not a great tactic. ❌

Why not search a relevant hashtag and scroll through the results? 🔍 If you genuinely like the content, then drop them a comment and follow. 💬 Instagram loves genuine in-app engagement. If your account is active, positive, and posting quality content, then regardless of the number of followers, Instagram will give your content better reach, resulting in better engagement. 📊 Quality is always better. ✅

Drop us a follow and save this post for later. 📌

Over the years, we have seen many examples of contradictory information from clients. From the briefest of briefs to the ridiculously micro-managed 100-page documents. 😅 Frustrating, baffling, and sometimes anger-inducing, however, it's never not funny and it is usually as frustrating for them! 😂

If you are unsure how to explain what you want from an agency, not up to speed on the 'jargon,' or feel embarrassed by your lack of digital prowess, don't worry! We can prize that design brief out of you. Just come with as many of the small decisions made as possible. 📝

🎨 Colours: You know your brand, go with your gut. Narrow it down to a palette, if not three specific colours.

🔖 Logo: A logo is not usually part of a design project unless it's a branding project. A logo is NOT a quick job, so please come with your logo OR a very good idea of what you want - font, size, colour, etc.

We can send you a complete list of how to create a design brief. Just comment "Design brief" in the comments and we will send you one FREE. 👇

Had you even heard of banned hashtags?
It's amazing the lengths some will go to attract new followers. Hashtag spamming for various and sometimes dubious reasons has got over 100 of these banned. Scarily, you probably don't realise there are some pretty innocent-looking hashtags on this list, and you may be unknowingly using them.

And if you use them? Well, it's the cold shoulder, sent to Coventry with your reach confiscated!

Comment "check hashtags" in the comments, and we will send you the full list for FREE. 👇

A client of ours has recently fallen victim to this. Years of work gone in an instant. Do not fall for it. It will appear in your Messenger and looks convincing.

The link you provided leads to a webpage that appears to be a phishing site. It claims to be a part of "Facebook Protect" and states that your page's accessibility is limited. It suggests that higher security requirements need to be applied to your account and offers to help you unlock your page. The website's URL and the content raise red flags, suggesting that it might be a scam designed to harvest personal information. It's recommended to avoid interacting with this site and not to provide any personal information. Always be cautious with links that seem suspicious or unaffiliated with the official website they claim to represent.

Kate & Chris x

Do you see your peers and competitors seemingly nailing their social media? Feel like you need a ‘leg-up’ on how to get the best out of your valuable marketing time? ⏰

As a small business owner or a sole trader you’re probably time-poor but idea and motivation rich. Never before in this time of uncertainty and rising overheads, has it been more important to make the most of what is available free and cheaply in the digital world. 🚀

Learn how to harness the power of your social media and the most popular apps available. Even if you’re an absolute beginner, after our 3-hour hands-on practical workshop you’ll leave feeling like a pro! 💥

Our small group beginners workshops harness peer-to-peer learning and are tailored to each delegate's needs. The mix of experience levels can create a fantastic organic space to share and learn. 👩🏼‍🏫

Only £69.95 per person. Group prices are available.
https://greatbigsmall.co.uk/product/social-media-for-small-business-workshop/

Great tool - we use it to list all our clients' events accross Dacorum. Thank you Berkhamsted & District Chamber of Commerce

Get your events listed!

👀 There's a new events listing website in town! 👀

We are excited to be part of Dacorum's new Event Hub Event Hub Dacorum - a not-for-profit website created and run by Berkhamsted & District Chamber of Commerce, funded by Dacorum Borough Council.

The site features What’s On in the HP4 postcode, mainly covering Berkhamsted and the surrounding villages, and in time we hope to have all of our events and classes on there! (bear with us, we're w

🤩 Visit the site at www.eventhub.org.uk 🤩

The Chamber says "It’s quite simple. The more we can support putting Berkhamsted on the map, that is, bringing people to Berkhamsted as well as helping our community know what they can do right on their doorstep, the better for our members and the wider
It really is that simple. Shop Local | Stay Local | Support Local"

Nobody panic 😅 Our email and phone lines have been down over the last few hours. Luckily, we work with a tech genius who has our systems back up and running; however, if you have tried to call or email us in the last few hours, please can you resend your communication so that we can ensure your enquiries are dealt with, promptly.

(And if you haven't reached out to us yet, maybe now is the time... wink, wink, nudge, nudge 😉😂)

And here we have the head of the s**t jobs department.... Er... we mean... our social media content creator, Lauren.

(It's far from a s**t job, we just make her do the washing up run and pretend we have important clients in on the days she hasn't put her face on 😆)

At Great Big Small, we strive to cover all the digital bases that help your business stand out above the rest. Web design, branding, rebranding, SEO, content creation - the list goes on, we leave no box unticked. We're also a pretty fun bunch to work with, if we do say so ourselves.

Get in touch with us today to see how we can help. Or, even better, pop in and see us for a cuppa. (Just let us know beforehand, Lauren will want to put her face on 😉)

[email protected]

https://greatbigsmall.co.uk

**tjobsdepartment

Quote of the day 😝

https://greatbigsmall.co.uk

Search Engine Optimisation/ SEO...... Potato/Potato

Our digital agency can help ensure you are brushing up all on all effective, free tools, to help keep your business visible to current and potential customers.

Get in touch to see how we can work our magic on your great, big or small business.

info@greatbigsmall@gmail.com

https://greatbigsmall.co.uk

Let us help you achieve your business goal.

From new website design to rebranding, Great Big Small is on hand to help your great, big or small business.

Contact us today info@greatbigsmall@gmail.com

https://greatbigsmall.co.uk

Website Management at Great Big Small.

We have the ability to host, modernise, maintain and refresh your current website. It pays to have a team like ours on the ball, ensuring your website is always performing to a high standard 🤓

Get in touch to see how we can help - [email protected]

https://greatbigsmall.co.uk

Starting up a business or in need of a brand refresh? We'd love to help.

Check out our website for examples of our work, and get in touch to see how we can help your great, big or small business.

https://greatbigsmall.co.uk

[email protected]

And here we have the Great Big Small, Technical Master, Chris.

Chris says: "I launched my first business 5 years ago in the retail sector starting with a market stall and growing an online presence, using variable revenue streams including our own website, building relationships with 3rd party sellers, as well as opening a high street store.

The insight this has given me into customer behaviour is of huge benefit to this my newest venture. Alongside my 8 years of experience before that working for a knowledge sharing platform that facilitated the sharing of ideas and experiences within the corporate world I have a developed a rounded understanding of the needs of “Business to Business” and “Business to Individual” marketing ideas and also ways to build better relationships.

My personal goal is to help you and your team deliver an increase in sales, and provide a better customer experience all round."

There's very little this man cannot build or automate.

Need a Chris in your life? Contact us at [email protected] to find out how he can help you and your Great Big or Small business.

Video content... Are you creating enough of it?

At Great Big Small, we can help you create and brand all sorts of video content for your business, to help keep your social media presence both current, and out there.

Contact us today to discuss, we'd love to hear from you 🙂

[email protected]

No job too big, no request too crazy 😝

At Great Big Small, we strive to listen carefully to the ideas and creatives of our clients, and ensure we provide them with a finished project to be proud of.

Need some help with your great, big, or small business? Get in touch to see what magical tricks we've got up our sleeves.

[email protected]

https://greatbigsmall.co.uk

Automated marketing campaigns got you like 🧐🤯🤷‍♀️

Fear not, GBS is here to save the day. In our monthly retainers, we take care of all things marketing and social media. We'll have your business name popping up on every, appropriate social media platform; meaning you'll have more time to focus on your to-do list. Winning.

Send us an email to discuss our services in more depth, and see how we can help you.

[email protected]

https://greatbigsmall.co.uk

Great Big Small boasts a real, web-designing genius in it's team.

Whether you're starting from scratch, jazzing up your current website or looking for guidance on where to start (it's a minefield, we know 😅) our experienced, web expert is on hand to help.

We also offer an open-door policy, and the kettle is always on 😃

Contact us for more information on how we can help you with your great, big or small business.

https://greatbigsmall.co.uk

[email protected]

Here she is... Our creative master, Kate, at Great Big Small.

Kate says "I have successfully built businesses, ideas, brands, customer bases and visibility strategies from scratch. You don’t really know business until you’ve built one. Aside from running my own businesses my background is Graphic Design, Ad Copy Writing, Magazine Publishing and Marketing. Industries including Retail, Hair & Beauty, Business To Business, Publishing, Construction, Fashion, Product development and lots more.

As a natural creative and ‘ideas person’ I began my career at The Mirror Group in the 90’s and cut my teeth in hardball advertising. At first sales and copy writing eventually transitioning into artworking. Through all the successes and failures, my love for marketing and digital media has always grown.

My personal goal is to help you make the most out of the amazing platform we can provide – creatively and strategically."

Everyone needs a Kate when it comes to needing a creative... Get in touch to see how the lady who thinks she's boss (😝) and the GBS team can help you.

[email protected]

https://greatbigsmall.co.uk

If you can print it, we can design it 🤩

Whether you're starting out, rebranding or refreshing your business, we can create, support and implement your vision.

Get in touch to see how we can help you - [email protected] .... We can't wait to meet you 🙌

Take a look at our previous projects https://greatbigsmall.co.uk

We cannot wait either!! We've tried these pizzas and OH WOW you're in for a treat! 💥

ONLY 5 DAYS to go until you all can tuck in to our delicious REAL Italian fluffy crust pizzas. 🍕

We cannot wait for you to try for yourself, not only our pizzas but our fresh and delicious salads, focaccia, dolci and pastries at The Pantry @ Warehouse Pizza.

Be the first to see our menus and sign up to our newsletter www.warehousepizza.co.uk