Chapter 11
In This Chapter
Choosing the right social media for you
Starting a Facebook page
Sharing photos on Instagram and Pinterest
Creating content on Twitter and blogs
Exploring the best apps for your business
Over the past few years, a new term in direct sales has been circulating: social selling. It can refer to someone who just wants to sell socially to friends and family, but it is most often used to describe people who sell mainly through social networking. Social selling is the use of social media networks to interact directly with customers, leads, and clients. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram give independent representatives the opportunity to interact with their customers, build friendships, answer questions, and offer interesting and engaging content — all online.
New technologies and social media apps are constantly emerging and are changing the way you grow your brand. Social networks and apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest are changing the way we socialize, buy, sell, make money, do business, bank, and so on. I really could go on forever, because social media is changing the way we do everything.
So, if the business landscape is changing, we have to change. It’s as simple as that. Social media is becoming an integral part of direct sales, from the way you communicate with your company and teams to your customers and clients. But it doesn’t end there. It’s not enough anymore just to have an account. You have to be current and consistent and flood your walls with interesting information for your audience. Your fans are watching you and what you’re saying. They’re deciding who you are as a company and as a brand and can decide based on one post whether or not they want to do business with you.
And not only that, social media networks like Facebook are deciding whether they want to do business with you. Facebook’s algorithm (don’t worry, we’re not going to get technical) determines whether your content gets into your fans’ newsfeeds depending on how interesting and engaging your posts are.
The way my team explains social media is by comparing it to a highway. Let’s say on that highway is a billboard for a soap company. Any marketer will tell you that the billboard needs a strong call-to-action. As you’re driving past the billboard, you might glance at it, barely catch it out of the corner of your eye, or not notice it at all. A strong call-to-action means that when you see that ad, you know exactly what that soap company wants you to do — and that’s to buy their soap.
The thing with the highway is that the highway doesn’t monitor how many people actually look at the billboard. The highway has no clear deliverables to give to the soap company, other than telling them how many people use that particular highway on a typical day. And not only can’t the highway tell you how many people look at the billboard, they don’t care. The highway will not take down your billboard and replace it with another because not enough eyes are looking at it or buying your soap.
That’s where social media is completely different. Social media platforms absolutely care who is looking at your post. They can tell you how many people are seeing your content and will remove your post from your fans if they don’t find it interesting enough.
So how do social media platforms measure engagement? Through likes, comments, and shares. That means you need to offer interesting and unique content that is easily sharable, links to fun articles, videos, and eye-catching photos.
While you are learning your new business, I don’t want you to feel overwhelmed with figuring out social media. Follow the tips in this chapter and for the most part, run your direct sales business online the same way you would offline. Throughout this book, I give excellent examples on how you can increase sales, bookings, and recruiting. Apply those same techniques to these platforms, and you will start to see success.
This chapter teaches you how to utilize social media for your business, increase your reach, grow your fans, and drive people to the place that matters most: your business.
New social media platforms are emerging all of the time, so it can be hard to decide where to spend your time. The fact is, you can’t successfully master every single platform for your business.
For some, your direct sales businesses may not be your full-time job. It may be a part-time job, a way to supplement income every month, or maybe just a fun hobby. Of course, if you’re like most people, it’s important to spend time on income-producing activities. Income-producing activities are things you do for your business that make you money.
Social media platforms don’t all operate the same way or for the same purposes. Some platforms are better for communication, some are better for sales, and others are better for connecting with the community.
So before you select which is right for you, determine what your goal is. Are you trying to increase sales every month? Find new customers and leads? Increase your brand recognition? Build an email/newsletter list? Nab a fundraiser? Stop for a second and write down your goals.
My digital team’s “Five Cs of Social Media” are important to discovering what social media networks you should be on and for what reason. Of course there are many more out there, but I prefer to focus on these five main areas for direct sellers (later sections discuss each of these in more detail):
Conversation and communication on Facebook: Facebook is a great way to communicate engaging and interesting content with your customers. The ability for fans to share your business page posts is very powerful. You want to get in front of their friends to turn them into leads and customers. Facebook works much like a home party does. When you book a home party with a host, one of your objectives is to turn one of her guests into your next host. This is the same with Facebook. Your intention is to turn one of your fan’s friends into your next customer.
But you want to have genuine conversations. Stay away from sales pitches and the hard sell. On Facebook, you need to erase “Buy my product” or “Putting in an order tonight and need $___ to reach my goal! Please help me out!” from your vocabulary. Instead, try offering tips, tricks, recipes, reviews, articles, and so on that relate to the type of business you’re in. Sell jewelry? Post the latest fashion trends and designer tips. Sell cookware or food products? Post mouthwatering recipes that everyone will want to share with their family and friends. Sell health products? Share articles, workout videos, and before-and-after photos. You don’t have to share your products. Share your products’ benefits and your company’s lifestyle. People want to do business with people they want to be friends with. Position yourself as someone who is knowledgeable and in the know with what the latest and greatest is. This will help dramatically with your sales and recruiting efforts, as well as building an overall brand awareness.
Consumer sales on Pinterest: I often explain Pinterest as a place where people go to dream. They dream about the houses they want to live in, the clothes they want to wear, and the food they wish they could cook. But Pinterest is becoming much more than that. People are now going to Pinterest to shop and it is time you take advantage of that. Pin photos of your products to your Pinterest boards with a link directly to your online website and shopping cart.
Your company provides you with a personal website with a shopping cart for online orders and customers. Your company and leader will provide you with training information on how to utilize your website.
Content through blogs: A blog gives you the opportunity to create relevant and interesting content for your customers. It is also a great way to increase your search engine optimization (how easy you are to find on Google) all while driving more traffic to your website. Blogs are an inexpensive way to attract more customers, build relationships with them, position you as an industry expert, and create opportunities for sharing.
Share your blog on your other social media platforms, like Facebook. Blog posts can include product reviews, training, information, and the hottest trends in your industry.
Now take a look at your two goals and the 5 Cs and choose one or two platforms to start your business on. Remember, all of these can look appealing and can help drive your business forward. But for now, stick to just one or two so you don’t overwhelm yourself. It is better to do one or two things really well than do many things mediocre.
The majority of customers in direct sales are women. The majority of Facebook users are women. What an amazing combination for success.
I said go where your customers are, and you guessed it — your customers are on Facebook (www.facebook.com
). In this day and age, not harnessing the power of Facebook is unthinkable. Today many direct sellers rely on Facebook as a way to transform their direct sales business into an online, money-making machine. The powerhouse platform gives you the ability to increase brand visibility, sales, training, and recruiting, and establish strong customer relationships.
This section discusses why you should be on Facebook and what to do once you’re there. So ready, set, go!
Being visible on Facebook is important for a variety of reasons. The following advantages and strengths will help you further decide whether Facebook is the right fit for you and your business.
Facebook promotes authenticity. Where many social media platforms allow users to sign up with a user name — for example, on Twitter you may be @stepintosuccess, @sarahscookware, @jenthenailgirl, and so on, Facebook users are identified by their real names. This gives a realness to the people that you connect with on Facebook. This is especially helpful when you are trying to create meaningful conversations and relationships with clients, your teams, and potential recruits. If you create a Business Page, it too will use the real name of your business.
Whereas some social media platforms only allow you to target your audience by categories or hashtags, Facebook lets you narrow in on your exact customer. Facebook’s detailed About sections and personal information allow you to target gender, age, race, sexuality, interests, hobbies, location, education, profession, and so forth.
Through things like hypertargeting (being able to target specific groups of people through social media advertising) and hashtagging, Facebook gives businesses the ability to create loyal fan bases. By sharing content and information that is both relevant and useful to your demographic, you will start to create a community of natural brand ambassadors. Brand ambassadors are your elite, top-tier customers. They are the ones who are most likely to recommend your business to their friends, share your products, and promote your overall brand.
Facebook lets you stay connected with people you otherwise might have lost touch with. Your childhood friend, your roommate from college, even your old hair stylist are now all people you can maintain relationships with. These so-called weak-tie relationships are important for your business because you can connect more regularly and easily with your customers.
Facebook lets you share a variety of content with a variety of people at the same time. Let’s say you are in the food business, and you have multiple interest groups: those who are health conscious, those who enjoy cooking, and those who are looking for convenience. A post that you put on Facebook about the organic and natural ingredients in your products may only intrigue your customers who are health conscious. Delicious recipes in under 10 minutes may only spark the interest of those whose main priority is convenience. If you were with all your customers in one room, in person, it would be hard to share information while fulfilling each of their needs. With your business on Facebook, you still have your customers all in one space, but you can divvy them up into categories and share different content with each category.
Word of mouth and recommendations are very powerful when it comes to increasing your sales and overall brand awareness. If you post interesting and engaging content that is easily sharable (photos and videos work best), then you can reach thousands of people quickly.
You can review how your fans interact on your page. You are able to measure likes, reach, engagement, and overall page performance. You have the option to view insights once your page reaches 30 Likes. Insights are Facebook’s analytics for your page, such as how many people your posts are reaching, what day and time people are mostly looking at your page, what demographic your page is most popular among, and so on. Insights are helpful when you’re looking at when to post, what posts are doing well, and whether your posts are reaching your target audience.
When you have a Facebook Business Page (see the section “Setting Up a Facebook Business Page” later in this chapter), Facebook will show you businesses who are similar to you. You’ll be able to view these competitors as well as add some of your own to “watch.” You’ll be able to see whether they are getting a lot of engagement and what posts are doing best on their page. This is a great way to compare what you are doing and see what works best for them.
Facebook allows you to interact with customers on a continuing basis. It makes it easy for you to talk to your customers in real time, follow up with them on their purchases, and reach out to potential leads. You can establish one-on-one conversations through private messages and create personal relationships through instant communication.
Where do people post their dissatisfaction for a product or service? On Facebook, of course. Negative posts from customers don’t always have to be negative for you or your business. Showing your customers how well you can handle stressful situations can actually turn them into better and more loyal customers, a phenomenon known as service recovery paradox.
Your business at Facebook is not just limited to a fan page or a group. Facebook also offers you a chance to gain followers and customers through paid advertising. You can build your advertisements and set your own budget. You can use hypertargeting to show your ad to the people who matter most to your business.
You don’t have to only use Facebook Business Pages to promote your business. You can create Facebook Events for your online and home parties, product launches, open houses, and vendor events (see the section “Setting up a Facebook Event” later in this chapter for more details). Facebook Groups are a great way to build an online community around a particular subject. You can use Facebook Groups for training your team, VIP hosts, and holiday specials. In these Groups, you share tips, sales, training, and more.
SEO is a key aspect for anyone who wants to build a significant presence online. Having a Facebook page for your business can help you increase your chances of being found in search engines like Google. So be sure to post links and interesting content to your Facebook pages and remember to always use popular keywords in your industry! For example, cooking, home recipes, slow cooker recipes, freezer meals, and so on.
Facebook is free. And even if you do throw some money at it in terms of advertising, you are in complete control of your budget. Many direct sellers have very effective Business Pages without ever spending any money.
A Facebook Business Page is important when you have your own business. People utilize Facebook’s search bar to find more information on businesses, companies, and products, just as they do on search engines like Google and Yahoo!. If someone is looking for your business, will they find you?
Setting up a Facebook Business Page is easy, and www.facebook.com/help
will always give you the most correct, up-to-date information on how to create one. As of this writing, creating a Facebook page takes no more than a few simple steps.
At www.facebook.com/pages/create
you can select a type of business. I suggest selecting either Local Business or Place, or Brand/Product. Local Business allows your customers to leave reviews, which is a plus. But keep in mind you must put in a physical address.
Once you’ve selected a business type, you can fill out information and details about your business.
I suggest posting once a day. Play around with posting different times of day to see what times work best for you.
But what should I post, you may be asking? Here are some ideas:
Videos: Videos get a lot of attention on Facebook, and Facebook pushes them through into more newsfeeds and lets you play the video right there on the page, because the company doesn’t want people to leave Facebook and go to YouTube. Your videos should last 15–45 seconds. Post videos on your Business Page about your products, how to use them, and so on.
Videos are also a great way to do your parties online (see the upcoming section “Hosting Facebook parties” for more). My daughter is a leader in the direct sales field, and for one of her Facebook parties in early 2014, she videotaped herself doing a home party. Not only did her guests love how interactive the online party was, it got a lot of attention from other potential customers and leads. Her bookings increased because of how fun she made a party look, and her recruiting increased because of how easy she made her job look. She still gets interest from the video, even to this day.
Likes, Comments, and Shares help get your content seen by your customers.
Using your personal account for professional networking is also a great way to grow your online presence and to spread the word about your business.
People used to talk about achieving a healthy work/life balance, but with the technology landscape changing, it makes it nearly impossible to leave work at work. We are in constant contact with those around us because of our mobile phones and on social media sites. So instead of trying to keep our personal and professional lives separate, more and more people are looking to integrate them.
When you are more candid and allow some of your personality to blend into your professional networking and conversations, you can gain likability, trust, and respect from your customers. People want to do business with people they want to be friends with, and you can use this style of attraction marketing to grow a loyal fan base.
People are often more drawn to the lifestyle and appeal of what your products give them. Women don’t want to buy cosmetics. They want to buy confidence, attractiveness, and self-esteem. It’s important that when you post on your personal page, you share the life your business has afforded you.
But what is your personal brand? Personal branding is the commitment you make to define yourself. Ask yourself these questions:
By answering these questions, you make it easier to share your personal brand with others. In turn, when your customers understand who you are, it makes it easier for them to have a relationship with you.
Here are some other things you can do to enhance your personal Facebook page:
Virtual Facebook parties are not meant to replace your home parties, but they can be a great option for booking parties as well as hosting parties with your friends and family who live far away.
I have seen direct sellers having parties in Facebook groups because guests are automatically added into groups, whereas Events require a response. But would you force a guest into attending a home party? No! So don’t force them into a group either. Instead, set up all your parties as Facebook Events. (Note, you and your host must each have a Facebook account to run a Facebook party.)
Fill in the details.
Include the event name, location, details, time, and so on in the Create Private Event box that pops up.
The details section is very important! Make sure guests understand that they are being invited to an online event and not a home party. Many people use the events option on Facebook for live events, so make sure you state in the details section the party is being run completely online.
You will also want to share with your guests what they should expect: the best tips in the industry, fun information, and so forth. Many direct sellers run a game to encourage participation. If you decide to do this, make sure it is mentioned here. Remember, the key to successful social media strategies, including parties, is engagement and participation from your audience.
Click Create.
You’re taken to your event where you can share posts, upload photos, invite more guests, and edit event details.
Upload a cover photo.
This should be a photo of your products and your company name so everyone knows what type of party they are attending.
Once your page is set up, you’ll write and post your first pre-party post. Do that before you invite the host to the page so that once she starts adding her friends, they will know exactly what to expect.
The first pre-party post should say something like:
Now it is time to invite your host . Once your hostess has joined the Event (make sure she knows to select Attending — this will be a part of your host coaching session as well), you can make her a host by clicking Edit at the top right-hand side and typing in her name under the Host section. This will enable her to add her friends and also let everyone know who the host of the party is.
Before the party, you need to do some more pre-party posts to help encourage attendance at the party. Train your host to comment on these posts.
Then you will post your point system. Your point system is a sort of game that you can use to help encourage engagement and participation. You offer “points” for things like joining the Event, placing an order beforehand, booking a party afterwards, placing an order or booking a party after the Event, inviting a friend and tagging them, for every item they purchase that you had featured during the Event — and so forth. At the end of the party, you will use these points as ballots for a giveaway.
Before we get to the night of the party, the next important step you need to take is coaching your host (for much more information on host coaching, see Chapter 10):
Set up your party in five sections:
Now that the party is done, the next step is to follow up (Chapter 13 covers follow-up in detail). Here are some ideas for following up.
Social media platforms like Instagram (www.instagram.com
) and Pinterest (www.pinterest.com
) are great ways to share your business, products, and brands through photos and short videos. Photos typically enjoy higher engagement (more Likes, Comments, and Shares) than text (a status post on Facebook, a tweet, or a blog post) and are more effective in terms of sharing your product.
When you post text statuses, they are usually contained to the platform that you posted it on. When you post photos, the chances are higher that people will save the photo and share it across numerous platforms by pinning it or posting it elsewhere, on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.
Thinking of promoting your business on photo-sharing social networks like Instagram and Pinterest? Check out the advantages of photo and video:
Twitter (www.twitter.com
) is a powerful way to connect your business with your community. Even though the service restricts your posts to 140 characters, on Twitter you can jump in and out of conversations quickly and establish a strong presence online, especially with regard to your community.
Here are some reasons why you should be on Twitter:
Contests: A lot of people and businesses run contests on Twitter to help with their reach and drive traffic to their websites. According to Twitter, contests and sweepstakes may offer prizes for tweeting a particular update, for following a particular user, or for posting updates with a specific hashtag.
For contests on any social media platform, always be sure to check their guidelines and regulations to see what you can and can’t do.
Staying current: To be current, you have to be consistent. If a customer checks you out on Twitter and sees you haven’t posted in months, they probably assume you’re not engaged in any part of your business. This is why I always suggest starting with only 1–2 social media platforms.
It is better not to be found than to be found and appear that you are no longer in business.
Always make up a social media strategy that is manageable and stick to it. Making social media a part of your business routine is important. This will help you appear to be current and up-to-date in your industry and will help identify you as an expert/leader.
It’s easy to incorporate a productive and successful social media routine into my proven system, the Power Hour. Check out how to run your business in 15-minute increments, four times a day, in Chapter 5.
If you don’t have followers reading your content, then your posts have no value. It is important to have a strong audience. Here are some helpful hints on building your audience:
Hashtags are a great way to categorize your posts, photos, and videos into categories that are easily accessible to users. Originally created by users on Twitter, hashtags now work across almost every social media platform and are being integrated into large-scale marketing campaigns across industries. The power of hashtags is huge.
There are two main reasons for adding hashtags to your photos and implementing them into your business:
Check out some of these other popular direct sales hashtags:
Clearly hashtags are an important way to spread your message online. The next sections contain tips on how to use hashtags to grow your business.
Choosing specific tags will help you connect with other like-minded people. Your photo will then be added to a sort of virtual file folder where fans can easily search through content that is specific to what they are looking for.
For example, try adding #3dfiberlashes to your Instagram post instead of only using #makeup. Even though fewer posts use that hashtag (108,000 for #3dfiberlashes compared to 62 million for #makeup), your clients will get to what they are specifically looking for faster.
Make sure your hashtags accurately describe your photos. Using general hashtags may get you some likes, but it isn’t the best way to make your photos stand out on the platform or capture sales. Relevant hashtags will attract new followers who are genuinely interested in the content you are sharing. Remember, quality is always better than quantity when it comes to followers. Quality followers are interested in your content and are most likely to like and comment on your photos, especially over time. The biggest jackpot is when a customer Likes, Comments, Shares, retweets, and tags a friend in your post. This will help your reach grow exponentially.
Watch what other people post and what they hashtag, especially photos that tend to get a lot of engagement. Others may be using hashtags you are unaware of or never would have thought to use. You should always be testing new tags on your photos to see what works best for you and your business. Are you in the fitness industry? Look up popular fitness gurus and check out the hashtags that bring them in a lot of followers and engagement.
Here’s the scoop: Even though you’re on social media to sell to customers, you can’t let them know that. People don’t want the hard sell from you, and they don’t want to feel tricked into purchasing something they don’t need, just so you can make some extra money at the end of the month. You need to build trust and likability with your customers, and you do that through sharing your knowledge, positioning yourself as an expert and industry influencer — and, really, by sharing pretty photos.
People go on social media networks to relax, not to get sold to. That’s why you must be careful and get creative with what you post. Let your customers come to you. Do you sell food and beverage items? Share photos of what you are cooking up in the kitchen, your favorite recipes, and so on. Your fans will come to know you as a fantastic cook and will ask you for your advice. That is the perfect moment to share your products and opportunity.
The market is crowded with other representatives, other companies, and other brands, so you need to stand out. Always offer content that your audience wants to engage with — and then be consistent. You can’t start posting quality content to social media then disappear from it for months. Your customers will assume you are either not interested anymore in your business or, even worse, that you’re not interested in them.
Once you show your customers that you share quality content, they will start sharing your content even more frequently, growing your brand presence and helping capture new customers.
So find out who your audience is, target them with what they actually want to see, and surprise them with your entertaining, inspiring, and compelling content in a variety of forms. If you do this, you will foster new relationships.
The way we receive information is changing. The Internet and social media make it easier for us to get information from a variety of sources and from all over the world. And if the way we receive information is changing, it means the way we can share information is changing, too.
Many people have personal blogs that are not business related. Often they focus on hobbies. For example, food, fashion, parenting, gardening, cars, and so forth. People who have personal blogs don’t normally get paid to do so — it is usually a hobby. However, if they generate enough web traffic, they often can bring in money through selling ad space.
Business blogging is different. Your blog is not a hobby, nor is it the primary way your business makes money. Instead, your blog serves as a way for you to market your business and as a social platform.
Blogging helps support your business growth and helps drive people to the place that matters most: your website and shopping carts. Your blog can provide fantastic opportunities for driving traffic to your website, capturing sales, customers, and leads, and establishing relationships with clients and readers.
Whether you are a small business or a multimillion dollar corporation, content marketing is key. Content is king in the online marketing world. Blogging is your way of sharing content.
Unlike you, your customers will care more about your blog and your other social media sites than they care about your website. Because representative websites are created by the company whose products you represent, you have little to no control over what the website looks like, what it says, or what you can share with your customers. Having a blog gives you the content control that you lack otherwise.
On your blog, you will always want to have a Shop My Products tab that leads directly to your corporate website (check with your policies and procedures to make sure this is okay). If you continue to update your blog and share posts, it will increase your visibility on search engines like Google, and will ultimately drive more traffic to your company website (where you actually sell products and offer the business opportunity).
Updating your blog with fresh content means you will be found more easily on search engines like Google and Yahoo!. And this is important when trying to beat out your competition.
Always use popular keywords in your articles that your customers are likely to search for. Remember, you’re not writing for yourself. The point is to serve interesting content to your clients. Using keywords, topics, and categories that your demographic is most interested in will help your blog be discovered.
When you share content that is interesting, engaging, and relevant to your demographic and customer base, you position yourself as someone who is knowledgeable and someone they can trust. The more you can show that you are knowledgeable in your industry, the more likely your consumers will trust you to supply what they need.
Your blog will help you create deeper connections with your customers. It is important that your audience gets to know you as a person, because — and by now, I expect you can say it right along with me — people do business with people they know, like, and trust.
And just like on your other social media sites, your blog gives visitors the opportunity to comment. That allows you to respond and interact with your customers. One advantage blogs have over other social media is that your comments last longer than a tweet or a Facebook post and are more easily seen by everyone.
Whether you are selling online or in person, you need to forget the hard sell. The most important sales tactic you could ever master is authentically and actively engaging with your customers.
This industry really does enhance the lives of those involved, whether that be the income opportunity at the recruiting level, the social aspect at the host level, or the product benefits at the customer level. Sharing your personality and the benefits of your products is better and more profitable than directly selling to your customers.
The purpose of a blog is to get the word out there about your business and actually be seen by the people. And that means providing interesting content, not serving marketing material.
You want readers to “eat your content,” so to speak. This means you want your readers to consume what you say, share it with friends, and keep coming back for more.
Your content should always be solving a problem for the reader, sharing a great story, and cultivating a captivated audience.
Here are some helpful tips to getting your blog noticed:
Be consistent with content. Decide what your brand is. Who do you want to be? How do you want to define yourself? If you know who you are, your customers know who you are. Determine what kind of content is most useful for your customers and deliver that. Is it tutorial videos? Recipes? Design tips?
Whatever the content is, make sure it is interesting and worth sharing — otherwise, it won’t have any value for the reader. Then continue to deliver what you have committed to. It will make it easier for people to get to know you and to share who you are with friends.
Use your social media. Include social media share buttons on your blog. This gives readers the opportunity to share your posts to Facebook, Twitter, and so on, as well as any photos used in your blog to Pinterest. Making your blog easy to share is very important.
Also, any time you share a new blog post, be sure to share it on all your social media platforms as well.
Technology was designed to make things easier, but at times it can be overwhelming and challenging. But even though it can be overwhelming, done properly, it can also be a very powerful tool to add to your belt. This section discusses some of my favorite apps and tips on how to use them.
www.redstamp.com
): Use Red Stamp to create invitations and announcements for everything from parties to special events. Click COLLECTIONS to see if your company offers pre-set templates. Red Stamp has limited font and text options, but with tons of templates, it’s easy to create something that can be shared via text, email, or on social media. You can also choose to send a postcard of your creation or a card with envelope for a small fee.http://pic-collage.com
): Use Pic Collage to create invitations, announcements, special event notices, specials, and product collages. You can choose to add images from your camera roll/photo gallery or add them from the web. Lots of editing options. Also great for adding text to an image or combining multiple images into one. Your creation can be shared via text, email, or on social media. Apple users can also choose to send a postcard for a small price.www.canva.com
): Use Canva to create all sorts of images, especially for sharing on social media. You can choose from pre-set image sizes such as a social media post or Facebook cover or click on Custom to create an image of any size. Canva has thousands of layout ideas and images, and you can customize the images to fit your needs. Use it to edit or create images. Canva is free to use, and many images/layouts are free as well. Paid images cost $1 each, or you can purchase a package (such as 22 images for $20). Canva also walks you through a quick tutorial when you sign up.www.picmonkey.com
): PicMonkey is great for editing all types of images. Add text, resize an image, touch up a photo, add a border, create a photo collage, and more. You can also use it to create images. There is a free version of PicMonkey that includes tons of options, but some options are only available with a subscription. This subscription is currently $4.99 a month or $33 a year.http://wordswag.co
): This $2.99 app lets you turn quotes or messages into amazing images that you can share on social media. Simply choose a background, add text, and then choose from tons of font styles that make your words come to life.https://evernote.com
): The ultimate organizing tool for everything you want to save, share, and find. It syncs across all your devices and is perfect for staying organized on the go.www.wunderlist.com
): The ultimate “to-do” list tool. Set tasks and reminders from your computer, phone, or tablet. You can create multiple lists, set priorities, get push notifications, and even share task lists with others.www.easilydo.com
): Easily Do is like a snapshot of upcoming events and random “things to know.” This intuitive app finds information from your email and other apps and uses it to help you keep important information in one place. It notifies you of upcoming flights and shipped packages, for example, and even allows you to schedule Facebook birthday posts without leaving the app.www.flint.com
) and Square (http://squareup.com
): Both of these apps are for credit card processing. If your company offers this to you for free, then you may not need apps like these. However, there may be a time when you want/need to collect payment with a debit or credit card, and these are two inexpensive options. Sign up for free online and then download the app so you’re prepared if needed.http://quickbooks.intuit.com
): Been hesitant to use Quickbooks because the software is expensive? Quickbooks Online is another option that allows you access to all the great Quickbooks features for a small monthly fee. Track business expenses and then give your accountant access to “view” your account so they can complete your taxes.www.expensify.com
): Helps you track business expenses, including mileage. Run reports and get your taxes done in a flash.https://www.mileiq.com
): Automatically tracks your travel and allows you to designate trips as personal or business with one swipe. It’s the easiest way to track travel for business reimbursements and mileage deductions.18.221.232.187