2026 Social Media best practices: What has changed and how to adapt

Social media has evolved rapidly in the past few years.  Algorithms are smarter, AI is now part of nearly every social media marketing workflow, and users are increasingly turning to social platforms as search engines.

For brands, social media best practices are no longer about posting consistently.  It’s about creating discoverable, authentic content that works across algorithms, AI apps, and social communities.

Three major changes are shaping social media marketing in 2026:

1. Using AI Tools

Artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini have become standard tools for marketers to brainstorm ideas, generate drafts, analyze performance data, and repurpose content.

Nearly all social media professionals now use AI in some capacity, though the most successful brands still rely on human creativity and editing to maintain an authentic voice.  If you have never used an AI tool like ChatGPT, read our blog, How to Use ChatGPT to Create Social Posts.

In addition to using AI applications to generate ideas and rewrite content, you will also need to consider how to create content that is found and referred to by ChatGPT, Claude, and Google Gemini to allow your content to be more discoverable.

2. Authentic content matters more than ever

On the flip side, as AI-generated content floods social media, audiences increasingly value real human voices and experiences.  Research shows many consumers trust brands more when they believe the content was created by a real person rather than entirely generated by AI.

3. Social Media and AI platforms have become search engines

More users are now searching directly on platforms like Instagram and YouTube instead of Google.  In addition, searches start in ChatGPT and Claude rather than in the Google search box.  That means two things.

#1: Captions, titles, and even spoken words in your Instagram Reels and YouTube videos should include keywords you want to be discovered for.

#2: You need to create content that is AI-friendly.

In short, social media success in 2026 requires a mix of authentic storytelling, smart use of AI tools, and search-friendly content.  Let’s dive in and explore new changes you should embrace this year!

Social Media Best Practices for 2026

In the ever-evolving realm of social media, staying ahead of the curve is crucial for both B2C and B2B businesses aiming to make meaningful connections and drive results.  As we move through 2026, understanding social media best practices, creating posts on the best days and times, and using AI correctly can help you maximize your social media efforts.

1. Using AI in Social Media Marketing (without losing your voice)

AI tools like ChatGPT have dramatically accelerated how marketers create content, but they work best when used as assistants, not replacements.  The most effective brands use AI to support their creativity, not automate it entirely.  Smart ways to use AI in social media marketing include:

• Brainstorming post ideas or campaign concepts
• Repurposing long-form content
• Summarizing blogs into multiple social posts
• Identifying keywords or hashtags
• Analyzing performance trends

Keep in mind, AI-generated content should always be reviewed, edited, and personalized before publishing.  Social platforms are increasingly detecting and labeling AI-generated content, and overly automated posts may see reduced engagement if they feel generic or impersonal.

The AI social media best practices for 2026 involve a “human-in-the-loop”.  Therefore, here are the steps to guide you:

• Use AI to speed up brainstorming and drafting
• Edit heavily to add real experience, personality, and brand voice
• Publish content that feels human!

For a deeper look at how to use AI tools effectively in social media marketing, read our guide: How to Use ChatGPT to Create Social Posts.

2. Be More Authentic

Wth AI-generated posts dominating the landscape, one of the best social media practices for 2026 is to be more authentic.  Human storytelling wins!

Be honest, revealing, and show that a human is still driving your business.  Authenticity can help you build trust and foster a stronger connection with your followers.  In addition, create more empathetic posts instead of relying solely on sales-focused messages.  Our blog, Empathetic Marketing: How to Communicate in Times of Crisis, can help!

3. Optimize your content for Social search

Creating content for social search means thinking like your audience and how they ask questions.  Instead of posting generic captions, use natural, keyword-rich language.  Use phrases like “best cycling gear for cold weather” or “how to train for a triathlon”.

Where to use keyphrases to optimize your content for social search:

• In your copy
• Video titles
• Saying the keyword or keyphrase out loud in the audio
• Descriptions
• Image ALT tags

This enables your content to be found when viewers search within channels like Instagram or YouTube.  The goal is to make your content discoverable not just in the feed, but long after it’s posted. 

Creating this optimized, AI-friendly content means structuring your posts so algorithms can easily understand, categorize, and recommend them.  Use clear language and descriptive captions so platforms can confidently surface your content to the right audience. 

Got a brick-and-mortar shop or restaurant? Or even a coworking space? Include your Instagram handle in a high-traffic area to allow visitors to find you on social and tag you in their posts!

4. Build community and foster engagement

Social media best practices are not just about broadcasting messages; it’s about building a community around your brand or organization.  Engagement is worth more than likes or follows!  By engagement, we mean your readers or followers are:

• Clicking on your links
• Adding a comment
• Sharing your post with others
• Sending you a DM (direct message)
• Sharing your posts in a text or on WhatsApp

These last two, sending you a DM and sharing your post in a text or WhatsApp, are a more ‘dark social’ or private engagement, but are still important.  In addition, engagement means liking, commenting, and sharing like-minded posts from respected brands and leaders in your industry. 

How do you determine which of your posts are getting the most engagement so you can replicate them?  Take a look at your LinkedIn, Facebook Analytics, or Instagram Insights to see which posts not only have good reach but also good engagement.  Tools like Hootsuite are also helpful as they can tell you when your audience is online and more likely to engage! 

How to Foster Engagement

Other ways to foster engagement and build community are to share testimonials and product reviews, and recount one-in-a-lifetime experiences!

If you’re not already doing so, encourage past customers or clients to share their experiences, photos, and videos through social media and with a review on your site or through Google.  See how we’ve done this for Maui Snorkeling!

In addition, make it easy for someone to leave a review.  On a trip to Sayulita, Mexico, we booked a boat tour with Chica Locca, and their staff had QR codes on the backs of the shirts!  You could easily scan and leave a review or submit a photo or video during the tour.  Leverage your social media platforms to amplify these authentic stories and testimonials!

One of the best social media practices is to foster a sense of belonging.  Make followers feel heard and valued.  

5. AI Is Driving What Content Is Seen

In 2026, social media algorithms rely heavily on AI to determine what content users see, analyzing signals like watch time, interaction patterns, and even scroll behavior.  Social media success isn’t about “hacking” the algorithm.  It’s about creating AI-friendly content that holds attention and feels relevant in the moment.

The more your content encourages people to pause, watch, save, or share, the more the algorithm learns to distribute it.  In this AI-driven world, strong storytelling and authentic moments will outperform overly polished or overly promotional posts every time.

6. Strategically use hashtags and emojis

Hashtags remain important for increasing your discoverability and reach on platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and X.  However, it’s crucial to use relevant and targeted hashtags rather than relying on generic ones.  Instagram now limits hashtags to a maximum of 5 per post or Reel.  Research trending hashtags in your industry.  Create a hashtag for your brand!  Remember, everything can’t be #instagood

For emojis, go lightly.  Social media best practices are to use emojis to break up copy; 2-3 in a post is plenty!  A runner emoji with the wind behind them or a monkey covering its face could catch your reader’s eye more than just text.

With the worldwide daily average a person spends on social media at 2 hours and 30 minutes, it’s a great place to build or scale your brand!

 7. Where to POST

Determine the best channels to distribute your content by defining your audience.  Once you know who they are and which social channels they spend most of their time on, focus on those channels.  First, if you need a refresher on how to use Facebook, Instagram, and X, read our blog: Social Media Back to the Basics!

• YouTube has more viewership and a larger active base than Instagram!
• X (formerly Twitter) has faced a rapid decline.
• TikTok is still the most popular among younger demographics.
• LinkedIn remains the go-to platform for B2B marketing.
• Facebook remains the largest social network!

Keep in mind, these social platforms may not be where YOU spend most of your time.  You may have deleted your personal Facebook page in 2016!  Instead, think about where your target demographic spends most of THEIR time.  Facebook users are an older demographic, but one with high purchasing power!

Not sure which social channels people are using to find your brand?  Look at your website’s analytics, or better yet, Google Analytics.  The data may surprise you!  Need more help?  Drop us a line!

8. What to post on social

Many of us stare at the blank slate when it comes to writing engaging copy.  This is where AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude can help! Easily create captions for your photos and videos, then edit to add your own voice and brand messaging.  If you haven’t read our ‘Using ChatGPT for Social Posts‘ Blog yet, bookmark it for later.  

Don’t rely solely on static images or text-based posts!  Experiment with videos, infographics, and Instagram Story panels.  Use a poll or ask a question to keep your feed dynamic and engaging.  If you are not using Canva yet, get on it!  With Canva, you can easily use their AI tools to build out infographics, YouTube videos, and Instagram Reels.

How to Create BetteR Videos with less effort

You do not need to pay someone to help you create videos!  Experiment with recording yourself, and use Canva’s video templates for YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok to save time and money.  Ensure you make them more authentic by overlaying your recorded audio, your logo, and using your brand colors and fonts.

As video content continues to be a powerhouse on social media, driving higher engagement and retention rates, we’ve packed this section with lots of ideas you can begin using today!

Leverage short-form videos like YouTube Shorts to capture your audience’s attention.  Think more Instagram Reels and less polished full-length YouTube videos.

Videos and multiple images will perform better than a single static image almost every time.  Therefore, here are 2 blogs to read for more ideas to take better photos and videos:

• How To Take Great Photos
• Create Videos for Social Media

Pro tip: Do not post the same exact copy and imagery across each social media channel on the same day.  First of all, the links, videos, image size, copy style, and @ mentions will not work across all channels in the same way.  In addition, broken links or missing images can be seen as spammy.  Or just lazy.  Change up the copy and imagery slightly for each post.

Split Your weekly posts into themes

• 1 sales post (advertising services or products)
• 1 curated or UGC post (user-generated content). Share something from an industry leader or an article.
• 1 blog post share (from your blog) 
• 1 stellar customer review or success story!

This mix can change depending on what your marketing strategy is that month.  Are you running a sale or hosting a fundraiser?  If so, prioritize that in your weekly content mix!

9. How to post: use a content calendar + scheduling app

Plan out your social media posts and videos using a content calendar.  You can also use a Content Calendar to:

• Track email campaigns
• Blogs to be written
• PR campaigns
• Product launch dates
• Events and holidays

Having everything in one place makes it easier for everyone on the team to know what you’re posting and when.  Once you’ve planned out your content and everything is approved, use a scheduling app like Hootsuite to schedule your posts.  This saves you time and, therefore, money, and is one of the best social media practices you can get started with today!

Even if you are just using one social channel like Instagram, planning and scheduling your posts will help you stay consistent.  Social networks love that!  In addition, this will also give you a good idea of how posts will look on your Instagram profile page and help you stay on brand with a color profile or page style.

Read more on how we’ve helped brands get started with scheduling posts!

Don’t use a Content Calendar yet?  Get started by downloading our Content Calendar Template from Google Docs for FREE!  We’ve included Instructions for Use in the Content Calendar template.  Make a copy of it, and start populating your content today.

10. When is the best time to post on social media?

Besides what to post, the next question we get asked about our social media best practices is when to post.  Specifically, what days and times are best to post on social media?

How do you determine when your followers are most active?  First, take a look at your social channel’s analytics.  Schedule posts at peak times and on peak days.

• Days with the best engagement:  Tuesday- Thursday
• Best times to post: 9am-3pm

Keep in mind that some posts may do well regardless of the day or time you post!  And the opposite is true.  If something newsworthy or scandalous happens, your post may not get as many likes and engagement.

11. How to listen on Social media

A great way to write more engaging content for social media is to listen.  Social ‘listening’ involves hearing what people are saying.  Are you creating content that addresses their issues or answers their questions?  Learn more about how and why we follow the They Ask, You Answer philosophy.

How do you listen well?  Set up a Google Alert.  In addition, this is a great task to have ChatGPT, Claude, or Google Gemini help with!

Pro tip: Another social media best practice is to listen to your competition.  How do you do this?  Follow them on social.  Sign up for their email newsletters!

12. Sharing Links on Social Media to Articles, Blogs, or Videos

When you share a URL or website link on platforms like Facebook, X, and LinkedIn, and there is no social sharing or preview image that appears, first, shame on the author of the article or news source for not adding a preview image!  If this is the case, you can leave the URL in your post and then add your own image.  A warning: Often, this does confuse people if they click on your image and it does not take them to the link.  To avoid this, be clear in the wording of your post.

Pro tip: Once you add a link to a website or news article to a social post, clean up your copy by removing the URL link from the text.  The preview image (with the embedded link) will remain.  Then you can schedule or post.

For posts on X, leave the link in place.  For Instagram, you cannot add a live link to your copy, so you will need to use the link in bio- more on this below.

Pro tip: Give credit, tag, or @ mention the news source or publication you are sharing.  Ex: “Read more about traveling to Italy from our friends @AFARMedia!”

13. Update your social media Bio and Profile Links

In this ever-changing world, the copy you wrote last year for your YouTube or Instagram bio may no longer be relevant.  Update your bio or social profile a few times a year.

In addition, your bio is a great place to put limited promotions or holiday sale discount codes!  For example, “Save 50% by using code SUMMER50.”  This could easily fit in your Instagram profile.  Use tools like Linktree or LinkinBio to share several links under one profile link on Instagram.

Why do this?  You want people to take action in the least number of steps.  As an example, if you only have your homepage linked in your Instagram profile, and you just launched a new blog, how do you get readers there quickly?  If you are saying ‘link in bio’ and it only directs people to your homepage, do you think they will take the time to click the link in bio, then find your blog page, then find the right blog you were speaking of?

14.  Your Content is Your Storefront

Treat your content as your storefront.  As more and more searches begin on platforms like YouTube and Instagram than on Google, make your social channel a place where people can see your products or services in real life.  Allow for in-app shopping!

Do you use Facebook and Instagram and have a separate store on Shopify or WooCommerce?  One of our social media best practices is to connect your store and import your products through Meta Commerce Manager. 

In addition, you can choose whether to sell directly through Facebook or Instagram, or people can complete their purchase on your website. 

15. Use AI to Evaluate Your Social Media Performance

Social media best practices for 2026 include not only reviewing your social media analytics, but also using AI to help!  Ask ChatGPT and Claude to evaluate a channel’s performance and make recommendations!  

Still not seeing steady growth?

• Review your posting strategy
• Switch up days/times of posts
• Change up the type of content posted (hint: more videos!)

16. Instead of AI, work with brand ambassadors + content creators

Instead of solely using AI tools to generate your social content, work with content creators and ambassadors.  If you haven’t read our blog on Finding the Right Brand Ambassadors– get on it!

It takes time to find and build relationships with the right content creators or brand ambassadors.  So be patient, ask lots of questions to make sure you have the right fit, and think long-term.  You’ll find the investment is worth it when your ambassador is connected with your brand for years to come!

Takeaways from our Social Media Best Practices

We’ve covered a lot of ground in our review of the 2026 social media best practices.  Here are a few to remember:

2026 Social Media Best Practices Takeaways:

• Be smart about using AI tools!
• Determine which social channels your potential customers use
• Be authentic and engage
• Plan out content with a Content Calendar
• Be an active ‘social listener’ 
• Use AI tools to evaluate performance
• Work with brand ambassadors and content creators instead of solely relying on AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, or Google Gemini

Thanks for reading and happy posting!

Meredith McConvill, Top Rope Media

Holiday Marketing Campaigns: Tis the Season to Sparkle

We just went to our first Christmas Market here in Europe, and it’s barely November 15th!  The festive piazza in Asti was packed with little wooden cottages, each decorated in red, white, and green.  The smell of cinnamon, evergreen, and fresh Christmas pastries wafts through the chilly evening air.  Personalized stockings and ornaments, mugs of mulled wine, and a little bit of holiday cheer.  Small, local brands with well-designed holiday marketing campaigns are capturing seasonal shoppers, and you can too.

We all remember those Budweiser holiday ads with the majestic Clydesdales pulling a Budweiser carriage through snowy landscapes.  The Hershey’s kisses in Christmas tree formation, ringing out ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’ with the last kiss ringing the hardest, then wiping his ‘brow’ with the little Hershey logoed paper.  Or my personal favorite, the Folgers’ ‘‘I’ll be Home for Christmas’ ads, where a young man or woman makes it home for the holidays, sneaks in, and brews a pot of coffee as the whole house wakes up to the aroma and they share a holiday moment together.  Sniff, sniff.

These holiday marketing campaigns make you smile.  They make you feel something for the brand while capturing the sentiment of homecoming, warmth, and family bonding that the holidays are known for.

Shopping Holidays: Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday, and Giving Tuesday

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, and Cyber Monday, the Monday following Thanksgiving weekend, are still heavy hitters when it comes to holiday sales.  In Italy and the rest of Europe, Thanksgiving is not celebrated.  It’s a normal workday with no traditions, no turkey, no long weekend.  However, there are still promotions for Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales!  Therefore, if you are targeting an audience outside the U.S., include Black Friday and Cyber Monday in your marketing strategies.

In addition, there are several other ‘shopping holidays’ you can take advantage of:

• Small Business Saturday:  Started by American Express, encourages you to ‘Shop Local’
• Giving Tuesday: The Tuesday after Cyber Monday is a day for non-profits to start their end-of-year campaign push.
• Women-Led Wednesday: Supporting Women-owned businesses.

With so many opportunities to create a promotion that aligns your brand with the holidays, it is time to roll up your sleeves and get creative!  Our Holiday Marketing Campaign Guide is packed with lots of ideas you can start using today.  We’ve included holiday spending projections, top advertising channels, seasonal themes, pop-up events, and more.  Don’t wait for the snow to fall to start planning.  Let’s start under the mistletoe trailhead together!

Holiday Spending Projections in the U.S. and Europe

This year’s holiday spending is expected to continue an upward trend, but this is in part due to inflation, not just increased spending.  Total U.S. holiday retail sales are projected to hit $1.01–$1.02 trillion.  That’s a 3.7%–4.2% increase compared to last year.  Spending on gifts for yourself, or ‘self-gift spending’, is up, along with spending on travel and wellness.

In Europe, holiday spending is expected to grow 3% from last year.  Europeans are favoring “affordable luxuries”, such as beauty products, travel, vintage clothing, and live experiences.

Here’s more categories expected to see an increase:

• Experiential Purchases: Consumers are prioritizing adventures, wellness retreats, and travel.
• Outdoor Gear: Hiking gear, skiing equipment, all the gear for those family adventures!
• Sustainable Gifts and Giving Back: Eco-friendly, second-hand, and gifts that give back

In addition, there is a tug at the heartstrings of consumers, and they are more likely to contribute during end-of-year giving campaigns.  If you haven’t read our giving back blog, ‘Make a Charitable Donation and Get a Tax Write-Off’, bookmark it to read next!

All these holiday spending projections indicate a prime opportunity to tap into consumer demand through thoughtful holiday marketing campaigns.  Now is the time to gather the wagons and get creative!

The 4 Best Channels to Advertise Your Holiday Marketing Campaigns

Choosing the right channels for your holiday marketing campaigns is essential for reaching your target audience.  Especially during the busy holiday period!  Here are the top options that travel operators, outdoor and lifestyle brands should consider for the holidays:

1. Social Media Ads

Save a portion of your marketing budget to run more robust ads around the holidays instead of spending on social ads year-round.  Use Meta Business Suite to set up social ads across Facebook, Instagram, and all Meta platforms.

Keep in mind, Facebook is great for reaching an older demographic (45–60+ years old) who might be purchasing high-dollar travel or tour packages as gifts.  Instagram, however, is ideal for a slightly younger demographic who may be searching for discounts during Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales for items $200 or less.  Finally, use TikTok to appeal to younger audiences, with video tutorials, gear reviews, or family adventure stories that resonate.

For your holiday marketing campaign assets, begin collecting visually appealing festive product shots and holiday-themed storytelling.  Lean on user-generated content by reaching out to your brand ambassadors to create holiday collaborations!

2. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

As people search for gifts for mom, dad, or the family pet, using Google Search Ads, PMax Campaigns, and good SEO can help get your products in front of those holiday shoppers.  Set up ads using keywords and key phrases to target those searching for the best gifts for outdoor lovers (yes, we’ve written a blog about this!), or last-minute holiday travel deals.  Write a blog with key phrases you want to rank for, like ‘best ski holiday packages’ and ‘winter vacation spots’!

Here’s a list of some other favorite key phrases you might want to start ranking for:

Gift Shopping & Ideas

• “Best holiday gifts for [specific person: mom, dad, kids, boyfriend]”
• “Unique Christmas gift ideas”
• “Last-minute holiday gifts”
• “Personalized gifts”
• “Gift cards online”

Deals & Discounts

• “Black Friday deals”
• “Cyber Monday deals”
• “Shop Small and Save”
• “Best online holiday shopping sites”
• “Cheap holiday flights”

Holiday Travel

• “Best winter vacation spots”
• “Holiday travel tips”
• “Holiday travel deals”
• “Warm places to visit in December”
• “Christmas market trips”

3. Email Marketing

That email list you’ve worked so hard to build is priceless.  Email remains one of the highest-converting channels for holiday promotions.  Outdoor brands, travel agents, and tour operators can create segmented campaigns based on past purchases, open rates, or reward their most frequent customers with an extra discount during the holidays!

If you are running a holiday fundraising campaign, email is your best friend in this effort.  Ensure you have a holiday marketing campaign strategy for Giving Tuesday!  Create engaging storytelling around the impact someone can have by making a tax-deductible donation before the end of the year.  Read more about why end-of-year giving is so important for non-profits and learn more about the best 501c3 organizations in the outdoor industry!

4. Tap into Brand Ambassadors & Partners for Holiday Marketing Campaigns

Partnering with outdoor and adventure-driven brand ambassadors as you enter into the holiday season can be highly effective, especially when promoting travel or adventure experiences!  Ambassadors can create authentic content, showcasing their trip with you, or using your products in a festive and engaging way.  Read more about how to find the right ambassadors and content creators for your brand! 

When it comes to brand partnerships and affiliate marketing, consider partnering with bloggers, podcasters, and industry publications or websites that specialize in adventure travel.  Find out if they will be putting out a holiday gift guide!  Create a collab with a special offer for their listeners or readers!

5 Holiday Marketing Campaign Themes and Trends

Understanding the trends shaping holiday marketing campaigns can give you a competitive edge.  Here are some key themes to consider as you plan:

1. Sustainability and Ethical Marketing

Consumers are increasingly concerned about the environmental impact of their purchases.  Highlight eco-friendly practices, sustainable materials, and ethical production in your messaging.  Emphasize durability, repair services, and recyclable packaging in your holiday promotions.

2. Personalization

Tailor your holiday promotions to individual consumers.  Use customer data in Mailchimp or your preferred email marketing platform to send personalized product recommendations based on previous purchases or browsing history.  Did you just sell someone a pair of skis?  Maybe they need a new ski bag, ski straps, or mounts for their car.

3. Early Shopping

With concerns about shipping delays and inventory shortages, consumers are shopping earlier each year.  This trend began during the pandemic and is expected to continue in 2026.  Therefore, plan and launch holiday campaigns earlier.  Offer “early bird” discounts and encourage customers to buy now to ship to their loved ones before the holiday rush.

4. User-Generated Content

Customers trust other customers.  Encourage your audience to share their adventures, and tag your products or your tour on social media!  Offer incentives, such as a special discount.

5. Experience Over Products

Many consumers, especially millennials and Gen Z, are prioritizing experiences over physical products.  If your brand offers adventure tours, guided experiences, or a coaching clinic, market them as the ultimate holiday gift.  Highlight how these experiences create lasting memories and unique moments rather than just things.

5 Unique Holiday Marketing Campaign Ideas

To stand out as a special snowflake in a crowded holiday market, consider these creative marketing strategies:

1. Gift Packages:

Bundle your most popular gear and accessories into holiday gift packages.  Create themed bundles like “Winter Biking Essentials” or “Ski Adventure Package,” offering them as ready-to-go gifts for outdoor enthusiasts.

2. Gift Cards for Activities + Experiences:

Promote gift cards, not just for gear, but also for experiences, such as guided tours, adventure trips, or lessons.  If you do not have digital gift cards set up for sale on your website yet, do it now!  This allows your customers to give the gift of adventure, which can be a more personalized and memorable gift option.

3. Holiday-Themed Giveaways:

Run a social media giveaway that encourages users to share their favorite outdoor holiday moments. This can drive engagement and increase brand visibility.  Consider offering a prize like a free tour or a premium outdoor gear set.

4. Christmas Gift Guides:

Besides pitching industry publications to cover your offerings in their gift guide, develop your own holiday gift list!  An online holiday gift guide can make it easier for customers to find you in search.  In addition, a Christmas gift guide can help you build partnerships with like-minded brands by featuring them on your Christmas wish list.  Here’s our holiday gift guide.

5. Seasonal Outdoor Events:

Host or sponsor outdoor events during the holiday season.  Ideas might include a winter hike, nighttime bike ride, polar bear swim, snowshoeing excursion, Christmas market, or outdoor photography workshop.  Make it festive by asking attendees to don lights on their bicycles or wear ugly Christmas sweaters!  These events not only promote your products in action but also create community engagement and share that holiday spirit!

Final Thoughts on Holiday Marketing Campaigns

For travel, wellness, outdoor recreation, and lifestyle brands, the holiday season offers a significant opportunity to drive sales and engage with consumers.  By understanding the expected spending patterns, leveraging the right marketing channels, and staying ahead of trends, you can create a holiday marketing campaign that resonates with your audience and boosts your brand visibility.

Set your brand apart this holiday season and be creative in your approach!  Here are a few more blogs with festive strategies and marketing campaigns that you can use this winter:

• Giving Back: Make a Gift That Supports Your Favorite Outdoor Non-Profit
• Gifts for Outdoor Lovers: The Best Gifts for the Adventurer in Your Life
• How to Promote a Fundraising Campaign
• Email Marketing: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Sending Better Emails

Thanks for reading, and happy gift-giving season!

Meredith Caccese McConvill, Top Rope Media

Marketing Costs for small businesses and non-profits who want to outsource

One of the first questions a potential client asks us is, “How much will our marketing costs be if we work together?” This is because spending conservatively is more important than ever for small businesses and non-profits. 

We know this well, as we’re not only a small business, but we’ve also been supporting mom & pop brands in outdoor recreation, travel, and action sports for over 20 years.  Tight budgets, limited staff, rising costs, and competing priorities can make it difficult to spend on things like marketing and advertising, especially when you are just trying to stay afloat!

Marketing can often feel like both a necessity and a luxury.  You want to be smart, cost-effective, and gain expert support without the overhead of a full-time employee.  But how much should you spend, who should you hire, and what are the trade-offs?  Let’s dive in!

In this blog, we’ll cover the following:

• Benefits to Outsourcing Your Marketing
• How To Determine Your Marketing Costs
• Who Could You Hire and What Should You Expect to Pay
• What Services are Included in Your Marketing Costs

benefits to outsourcing your marketing 

When you outsource, you’re hiring external professionals, freelancers, or an agency to handle some or all of your marketing needs. This frees up your time to work on other projects.  Marketing tasks an agency or freelancer can handle include:

• E-Commerce management
• Content creation, videos, graphics
• Paid advertising
• Email marketing
• SEO and search engine marketing (SEM)

For small businesses and non-profit organizations, outsourcing some of your marketing needs provides flexibility and access to specialized skills without the commitment of a full-time salary or benefits.  Before we move on, if you’re curious about working with a small agency like ours, take a peek at our marketing services and pricing!

How to determine your marketing costs

In order to figure out what your marketing costs might be, whether you are a bike shop or a tour operator, start by deciding which marketing tasks you can continue doing easily and which ones you need to offload.

Taking a look at the marketing services listed above, which are you most comfortable continuing to manage?  Which ones do you need help with?  If you’re a one-man or one-woman show, it’s critical to be honest with yourself about the amount of time you can dedicate to marketing.  Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

• Are tasks like daily social media management or sending weekly email newsletters something you enjoy?
• Do you have the time to manage these tasks?
• Should you be spending your time elsewhere where it is of more value to your business?

For example, if you are an executive director at a non-profit organization, you should not split your time between managing fundraising and marketing tasks.  Instead, you should be out having meetings with big donors, making phone calls, and pitching corporate partners to bring in high-dollar gifts!

Who Could you hire and what should you expect to pay?

There are four main options for small businesses and non-profit organizations who want to outsource some or all of their marketing:

1. Connect with a Freelance Marketing Specialist
2. Hire a Digital Marketing Manager (full-time or part-time)
3. Hire a Marketing Agency
4. Work with a CMO or Marketing Consultant

We’ll review each below.

1. Connect with a freelance marketing specialist

 A freelance marketing specialist is Ideal for individual tasks like blog writing, social media management, or graphic design.  Expect to spend $700 – $1,500 a month for a good freelance marketing specialist.  Sites like Fiverr, Freelancer, or Upwork can help you find freelancers in your price range.

Best for: One-off projects or small ongoing needs
Pros: Affordable, flexible, specialized
Cons: May lack strategic guidance or availability for fast turnarounds. May need to share your logins and passwords with a complete stranger.

2. Hiring a Digital Marketing Manager

As a small business or a non-profit, you may be ready for a full-time or part-time digital marketing manager.  As long as you can provide the overall marketing strategy and structure, your digital marketing manager can handle things like social media management, copywriting, email marketing, and website updates.  Marketing costs for a full-time digital marketing manager range between $55,000 to $85,000 a year here in San Diego, California.

Best for: Regular, ongoing support
Pros: Can work independently on projects once given direction
Cons: Expensive and will require standard employee benefits and compensation

3. Hire a Marketing Agency

What about hiring a marketing agency?  The benefits include a better ‘package deal’ where you can add on more services, you’ll have more resources at your disposal, and more experience in tough areas like SEO.

However, hiring an agency to manage your marketing costs between $850-$4,500 a month, which might be steep for a small business or non-profit.  Of course, these costs can be as high a $20K or more, depending on your goals and your budget!

Best for: Regular, ongoing support
Pros: Can offer a package deal, provide access to resources, and has more experience
Cons: May require a larger upfront investment or a long-term contract

As an example, at Top Rope Media, we work with many small businesses and non-profits on a monthly retainer to help them manage their marketing needs, such as SEO, email marketing, and paid advertising. 

We allow for flexibility in the marketing services we provide each month; you’ll never pay for something you don’t need, and we do not require a long-term contract.  Read more about our marketing services and get a range of pricing here!

4. Work with a CMO or marketing consultant

Thinking a CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) or marketing consultant might be better suited to help your small outdoor brand or non-profit grow its wings?  A Marketing Consultant or CMO, whether part-time (often called a fractional CMO) or full-time, can build you a comprehensive marketing strategy, define your KPIs, and lead your outsourced team.  This is the perfect choice if you do not know where to start.  However, their services do not come cheap. Expect to pay between $150-500/hr for a marketing consultant.     

Best for: High-level support and startups
Pros: Great for audits or company restructuring
Cons: Will not execute and dig into the details, expensive, and not invested in your business long-term

So, while the short answer to “What will our marketing costs be?” is ‘it depends’, these key choices above will help you narrow things down. Below, we’ll address a few other areas you’ll want to think about when you search for marketing help. 

What services are included in your marketing costs 

As a small business owner, when you search for a service you need, you want to know early on how much it will cost.  However, when you start your search for marketing help, you may feel like you have reached a ‘gatekeeper’.  They will not give you the pricing details, but are more than happy to set up a sales call.  Grrr…this can feel incredibly frustrating.

If you’re wondering why there’s such secrecy in marketing costs, this is because an agency may not want its competition to know its pricing.  Or, they may feel like they could be leaving money on the table if they provide you with upfront pricing.  As we loathe those sales calls as much as you do, we’ve created a Services & Pricing page to give our customers a better idea of their marketing costs if they decide to work with Top Rope Media.

To further complicate marketing costs, several services fall under the marketing umbrella.  Prices will range greatly depending on the services you need.

First, let’s talk about what should be included in your pricing.  Your typical marketing manager, freelancer, or marketing agency should be expected to perform the following tasks:

• Social Media Management
• Content Production and Blog Writing
• Email Marketing
• Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Paid Social, and Google Advertising

A big plus if they also have experience in the following areas:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Graphic Design
• Photography + Videography
• Web Development
• Public Relations

Look for a marketing partner that is well-versed in the marketing tools you need, whether that’s Instagram advertising, SEO, or email marketing.

final thoughts on marketing costs for small businesses and non-profits

Now that you have a better idea of what your marketing costs might be if you outsource and what they include, you are ready to take the next step!  Remember to ask lots of questions.  Become familiar with the current marketing trends and platforms before you bring someone in to manage them for you.

If you’ve got a question, drop us a line and let’s navigate the marketing wilderness together!  Lastly, if you’re seeking more tips on do-it-yourself digital marketing, check out these posts:

• Best Email Marketing: Improve Clicks and Open Rates 
• How to Use Your Website to Generate Better Leads
• 8 Steps to Kickstart Your Online Advertising with Facebook and Instagram

Until next time, happy marketing friends!

Meredith, Top Rope Media

Finding a Job as A Brand Ambassador or Influencer

Interested in finding a job as a brand ambassador or influencer?  And getting more than just free gear?  Here are some thoughts as to why you would want to represent an outdoor brand:

• Get paid to do what you love
• Be part of the team or club
• Meet awesome people who share the same passion
• Adding ‘Patagonia Brand Ambassador’ to your resume makes you more attractive to recruiters!
• You want free stuff, discounted gear, and equipment

If any of these sound like you, read more about how to best present yourself for brand ambassador jobs!  However, if you are here as a brand and seeking ambassadors to create more brand awareness, check out our last blog: Finding the Right Brand Ambassadors!

Sports like surfing can be expensive, and being a good brand ambassador could help you save on that new wetsuit you’ve been eyeing.

5 Things to Consider to Become a Great Brand Ambassador

First, finding a job as a brand ambassador or influencer should not start by simply applying for the brands you want to work with.  Here are a few things to think about before you scour the web:

1. Are you an expert?

To be a great brand ambassador, you need knowledge.  Presentation skills.  Personal experience.  And, the capability to deliver.  It doesn’t mean you have to be as good as Kelly Slater when you paddle out to surf!  You should know enough about the industry trends and come prepared with ideas on how to help a brand generate revenue.  

2. Are you active on social media?

You don’t have to be active on every channel.  However, you should have a strong presence on at least one.  YouTube. TikTok.  Instagram.  Bonus if you’re active on a few!  Your number of followers and views are important metrics, but they quake at the sight of the almighty engagement.  Be sure to create content that encourages your followers to like, share, and comment.

3. Are you good at creating content?

At its root, finding a job as a brand ambassador or influencer is about being a good content creator.  Yes, there’s more to it than just creating content.  You want to be available for in-person events, provide the brand with ideas on how to best reach their audience, etc. However, at its core, being a great ambassador does mean creating good, authentic content.  Here are tips on how to get started if you are not yet creating content:

• Creating Videos for Social Media
• How to Take Good Photos

4. Can you stick to a schedule?

One of the perks of being a brand ambassador full-time is freedom from the cubicle!  However, you still have to be responsible and submit your content on time.  Even Patagonia ambassadors need to submit photos, videos, or write blogs regularly! 

Failing to follow through with your agreement with a brand can get your brand ambassador contract canceled.  In addition, it can give you a bad rap with the brand and its other ambassadors. 

5. Do you have the right attitude to be a brand ambassador?

Most brands, especially in the outdoor space, have positive vibes as a cornerstone of their brand identity.  But don’t fret if you’re not a naturally cheerful, bubbly person.  It means you may have to work a little harder!  Or, pitch them on your sarcastic, dry humor instead.  Either way, authenticity is key.  You do not want to enter into an agreement with a brand where you cannot be yourself.

This is just a small sample of Patagonia’s Brand Ambassadors, and just the climbers! They also have surfers, fly fishers, trail runners, skiers, snowboarders, and Global Sports Activists.

The Journey to Finding a Job as a Brand Ambassador

So you’ve found the trailhead to the brand ambassador wilderness.  Consider this your trail guide!  If you need extra help and want a sherpa on this trek, send up a signal. For now, here are the action items you should focus on. 

1. Find Your Passion

What are you truly passionate about?  When seeking a job as an influencer or brand ambassador for your favorite brand, make sure there’s PASSION behind it.

If you’re not passionate about the brands you work with and what they represent, it will be extremely tough to fake it.  Plus, brands want expertise and experience.  And, if you’re passionate, you’re more likely to put in the work to get the experience in the industry you’re targeting!

2. Learn the Best Digital Marketing Practices

Are you really good at creating content?  Being active on social media?  What about supporting brands you love?  Take time to learn everything you can about the best digital marketing practices.   

Got this down already?  Already demonstrating it in your YouTube videos, Instagram Stories, on TikTok, or Facebook?  Well, then you are much more knowledgeable than your competitors!

HubSpot, one of the leaders of the digital marketing world, puts out great content constantly to further prove how the way we market to consumers has changed.

3. Niche Down

This piggybacks off the first step but has some majorly important distinctions.  Take your knowledge and experience and translate it into a niche within the outdoor industry.  We often try to cast a large net to catch the most fish, but with a more targeted approach, you can bring home a tastier catch!

Brand Ambassador Example: Camping

Let’s use camping as an example of a brand ambassador’s niche.  Niching down may mean focusing on glamping, cold-weather camping, or just good old-fashioned backpacking.  By choosing one of these areas and becoming an expert, you’ll be a more trusted specialist.

Spending in the camping sector is growing strongly!  7 out of 10 millennials are going camping.  You can bet that all people are researching online before making a purchase.  Show a brand how you can help, and also support them on YouTube or Instagram!

Niching down doesn’t mean you can’t broaden your scope or go outside your niche from time to time.  By proving your worth in that niche market, you make yourself a great ambassador for brands.  Plus, by niching down, you’re much more likely to get a paying gig rather than just free gear!

4. Start Networking

How do you start developing more contacts at outdoor brands within your brand ambassador niche?  Follow them on social media.  Not just passively following.  Liking, commenting, and engaging with them!  

Another one of our favorite activities?  Hanging out with our favorite brands and their amazing employees.  Joining them in the sport you both enjoy!

Example: CABDA Show Networking

For example, at the CABDA West Show (all things bike-related), there was an Industry Ride.  This is a pretty common occurrence in the cycling world.  The week began cold, rainy, and gloomy.  Rare in Southern California.  Therefore, I wanted to sleep in and stay warm. 

However, I set my alarm for 5:30am.  Drove in rush hour traffic.  Pedaled out of the parking lot in Del Mar in the misty rain with a great group of cycling industry peeps.  And, a surprise guest appearance by pro cyclist Mark Cavendish!

Documenting these events from your perspective allows your followers to walk a mile in your boots.  And, shows brands you know what you’re doing.  Need more reasons to be at these events?  Read our Best Tradeshows in the Outdoor Industry!

Joining your favorite brands in their favorite activity is also a great way to show your interest and get to know the players. Here’s our crew from the CABDA Industry Ride!

5. Develop Impactful Content And Offer Your Services

With your niche chosen and some connections in your industry, build a portfolio of high-quality content.  In other words, start by creating impactful content today, and leverage that into a paying gig tomorrow.  Read more about how you can use great photos and videos to market yourself or your business.

Brand Ambassador Example: Becoming a Tiny Home Expert

For example, do you live in a small space?  If so, share your story about being a minimalist and living in a tiny home.  Or, what storage hacks work best for small spaces?  In addition, you might create how-to videos for building and outfitting a tiny home.  Or, stunning photos with your favorite gear in that tiny space.  Climbing and skiing videos of people in their homes during the COVID-19 lockdown went viral!

Remember, you serve as a resource for those in the industry.  Give them vital feedback on what is trending!  Get to know existing ambassadors at your favorite brands.  Remember not to be the guy or girl who’s always asking for handouts.  Reach out and see how you can help them.  Ask what types of content they are looking for.  What comes around truly goes around.

6. Stay True To Yourself

Think of brand ambassadorship like dating.  And, as your mom always told you, “Just be yourself.”  Altering your interests and core values may pay off in the short term.  If you want a long-term gig representing the brands and values you really care about, make sure to stay true to what you believe in.

If you are that bubbly, energetic person… let your personality shine through!  Yes, Black Diamond pays Alex Honnold to be a brand ambassador because he is constantly pushing the limits of rock climbing.  But, they also hire him because he’s a goofy, laidback, and fun-loving human.  In other words, he represents what they’re looking for in a customer.

Black Diamond loves Alex Honnold’s work as a brand ambassador so much that they’ve created the Alex Honnold collection- with part of the proceeds going to support the Honnold Foundation.

How to Kickstart Your Brand Ambassador Career

With all your provisions in place and a map in your pocket, howl to the wide wilderness that you’re open for business!  How do you do it?  Below are just a few of the ways to send smoke signals:

express yourself through a website

Having a website will benefit you in many ways.  A good website will add credibility, save you time explaining who you are, and showcase exactly what you do. Need help with yours?  Howl at us today. 

Create a slide deck, media kit, or press kit

We help athletes build out a media kit to take with them to events and to better pitch to the companies they’d like to work with.  Here’s more from our Shopify partners about how to create a great press kit! 

Learn how to take great photographs and create engaging videos

One of the best ways to share your content is through photos and videos.  There are so many tools and apps that can help!

In addition, YouTube is also a great resource for how-to videos.  Or try a Masterclass: Adventure Photography with pro climber and photographer Jimmy Chin

Learn how to take better adventure photos and videos through Jimmy Chin’s MasterClass!

Target the brands you love

One of the perks of being a brand ambassador is working with brands you already love.  Take stock of what products and equipment you already use.  Make sure you are using their hashtags and tagging them in photos.

Use a BRAND AMBASSADOR PLATFORM

Today, there are dozens of platforms out there to help you be a better brand ambassador.  These platforms often feature brand RFPs or a request for a proposal from a brand ambassador interested in participating in their upcoming campaign.  They’re a great way to be more strategic in helping you find paid gigs!  In addition, ambassador platforms will also help you increase visibility as a more established brand ambassador.

Here’s a great list of the Top 12 Brand Ambassador Programs and the pros and cons of each!  What else can these platforms assist with?

• Easier to find brands seeking ambassadors or content creators
• Helps brands find you
• Earning rewards and getting paid!

What You Don’t See from brand ambassadors

Whatever your reasons, the truth is that becoming a good brand ambassador takes time, knowledge, and a bit of skill.  Sure, it seems easy.  You see an abundance of ambassadors on Instagram with thousands of followers.  All out there sending perfect jumps on a mountain bike. Cruising through fresh pow on a snowboard.  Or sitting on their longboard, waiting to catch that perfect wave.  What you don’t see is the time and effort they’ve put into creating that video or photo!

High above the clouds, temps at 13 degrees, but still able to get a few shots that make it look like I’m all by myself out here.

Final Thoughts: Finding a Job As A Brand Ambassador

Here’s a quick review for you of what we’ve covered:

1. Pick your passion and niche (or get one)
2. Learn best digital marketing practices
3. Start creating useful content
4. Network, network, network
5. Be true to yourself
6. Create a website, YouTube page, or somewhere people can find you
7. Take a class or brush up on your photography and videography skills

Thanks for reading!  If you want more of Top Rope Media’s adventures on the regular, subscribe with your email below, or follow us on Instagram, Facebook, or X.

– Meredith McConvill, Top Rope Media

Using ChatGPT for social media: Your New Secret Weapon for Content Creation

Wondering if you can use ChatGPT to create your social media posts?  Well the short answer is yes!

As social media continues to play an important role in our lives, individuals and businesses alike are always looking for new and efficient ways to create compelling social media posts that engage and resonate with their audience.  This is where ChatGPT comes in – an artificial intelligence language model that can help you generate creative social media copy for Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or any other social platform in a matter of seconds!

In this blog post, we will take a look at how you can use ChatGPT to create social media posts and highlight the pros and cons of using this tool.

Getting Started with ChatGPT: 4 Easy Steps

1. Choose Your Platform and Topic

Before getting started with ChatGPT, you’ll need to decide which platform you want to create content for – whether that’s Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter.  In addition, you can use ChatGPT to create longer form content, which we’ll get into in our next blog!  Once you’ve chosen your platform, identify the topic you want to create content about.

2. Access ChatGPT

To access ChatGPT, you’ll need to use a platform that supports it.  There are a few different options available, such as OpenAI’s API or Hugging Face’s API.  You can also use third-party platforms that integrate with ChatGPT, such as Copy.ai or Jarvis.ai. 

You will not need to pay to access ChatGPT, but you will need to create an account and provide your email address.

3. Create Your Prompt

The next step is to create a prompt for ChatGPT.  A prompt is a sentence or phrase that gives ChatGPT context for the content you want to generate.  Therefore, try a much more long-form question and write out how you would like to see the response.  Keep in mind, this is not Google Search.  And you will be very surprised at the results!  

Example: If you’re creating social media posts about the benefits of outdoor recreation, your prompt could be “Please write 5 Twitter posts (or Tweets) that outline the benefits of outdoor recreation for busy professionals, families, and kids.” 

You can also include specific parameters in your prompt, such as the length of the response you expect or the number of responses you want to see, even what style you want the responses to be in.  A table that shows pros and cons perhaps??  Yeah, ChatGPT can do this!

Example: Here’s another option to try “Create 5 social posts for LinkedIn to advertise my latest blog post on Fundraising for Non-Profits to drive visitors to read the blog on my website.” Include the link you want to be referenced.

As you are using ChatGPT for social posts, you can also ask that relevant hashtags be included, although we’ve been finding they often are already without asking!

4. Review and Edit

Once ChatGPT has generated content for you, take some time to review and edit it.  You may need to revise your prompts several times to get the responses you need or expect.  Click ‘regenerate response’ if you’d like to see a new reply.  

While ChatGPT is great at generating content, it’s not perfect, and you may need to make some changes to ensure that the content is accurate and relevant to your audience.

Now that you’re content is edited and ready to post, use a Content Calendar to lay these posts out, and a scheduler like Hootsuite to schedule each post.  Need help?  Review our DIY Best Social Media Practices!

Pros and Cons of Using ChatGPT for Social Posts

Pros of ChatGPT for content production:

Saves Time and Effort

One of the biggest advantages of using ChatGPT for social posts is that it saves time and effort.  With ChatGPT, you can generate high-quality content in a matter of seconds, rather than spending hours brainstorming and writing posts from scratch!

Increases Productivity

Using ChatGPT can also increase productivity by allowing you to create multiple posts quickly and easily.  This means you can focus on other important tasks, such as engaging with your audience on social or creating email campaigns!

Provides Fresh Ideas

ChatGPT can provide fresh ideas for your social media content, which can be especially helpful if you’re feeling stuck or uninspired. By entering different prompts and adjusting the settings, you can generate a wide range of content that’s tailored to your audience and goals.

Improves Engagement

Finally, using ChatGPT can improve engagement by helping you create more compelling and relevant content. When your audience sees posts that are interesting and relevant to them, they’re more likely to engage with your brand and share your content with others.

Cons of Using ChatGPt for Social Posts:

social posts May Lack Originality

One potential drawback of using ChatGPT is that the content generated may lack originality.  Since ChatGPT is using pre-existing data to generate your social posts, there’s a risk that the content you create may come across as inauthentic.  Vague.  Spammy. 

chatgpt Requires Editing

Another potential issue that we mentioned earlier is when you use ChatGPT for social posts the generated content may require editing.  ChatGPT is great at generating content, but be prepped to make edits and fact-check the content before sharing to ensure it’s on brand and accurate!

Content created is not your own

Content that is supplied by ChatGPT is not your own.  Someone else can prompt ChatGPT to create almost identical content to what you’ve created.  Especially if they are using the same exact prompts.  In addition, you should never include any personal data within your prompts.

need help with using chatgpt for your social posts?

ChatGPT could be your new secret weapon when it comes to creating content.  And, not just for social.  If you haven’t guessed by now, we’ve used chatPGT to help write parts of this blog! 

Need help getting started with ChatGPT, or want us to create and manage your social media posts?  Let’s chat!  Also, check out other posts we’ve written about marketing and paid advertising:

• Using Photography and Videography to Marketing Your Business

• How to Find the Right Brand Ambassadors and Influencers for Your Brand

• Social Media Best Practices

• Best Email Marketing: How to Improve Open Rates and Clicks

To learn more about what we do on the regular, follow Top Rope Media’s adventures on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.

Until next time, happy posting!

– Meredith McConvill

how to grow your Social Media and gain more followers

One of the most common questions we’re asked is how to achieve social media growth and gain more followers.  It’s become more challenging than ever to cut through the clutter and gain the attention of your potential customers.

And, since we generate many of our leads from social media channels like LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter, we continue to improve our social media strategy each year.  What worked in years past may no longer be generating the same engagement, impressions, or likes. So we’re going to show you how to change up your strategy to continue growing!

The quick + Dirty way: Why we don’t buy followers

Before we dive in, If you are looking for an easy way to gain followers and engagement, and have some room in your marketing budget, we got you covered.  In our steps below, we share how to more quickly achieve growth by spending on Instagram ads or promotions. 

However, since we often get the question about social media growth as it pertains to Instagram follower counts, we wanted to emphasize why we do not buy followers or use 3rd party apps to help grow on Instagram.

Instagram began cracking down on those that buy followers, create fake accounts, and accounts using 3rd party apps to generate likes and comments.  In addition, Instagram is quick to flag or suspend accounts that violate their terms of service.

So while buying likes and follows could be the fastest way to grow, you put your account at risk of being deactivated.  Don’t take our word for it.  Read more on experiments gone bad from our friends at Hootsuite.

Finally, we also urge you to think about the reason you want to reach 25K or 250K followers on Instagram. 

•  Is it just a vanity metric? 
• Do you believe those bought followers will visit your website? 
• Will they buy your products or services? 
• Share your stories on their social channels? 

Sadly, they will not do any of this.  So, here’s ways that actually work!

Best Practices for social media growth

1. Post AND ENGAGE on the social media channels where your audience spends their time

First, make sure you are posting + engaging on the social media channels where you have the best chance to connect with those interested in your non-profit, outdoor, or lifestyle brand.  Not sure where that is?

Well, start by defining your audience.  As an example, we tend to attract non-profit leaders, startups, and small outdoor + lifestyle brands without a marketing department.  Therefore, we make most of our connections via LinkedIn, but also on Twitter and Instagram.  

Need a refresher on how to best use social channels like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter?  Read our last blog!

Keep in mind, this may not be where YOU spend most of your time.  You may have deleted your personal Facebook page in 2016!  Instead, think about where your target demographic spends most of THEIR time.

Not sure where to find this information?  Look at your website’s analytics, or better yet Google Analytics, to see where you acquire your website visitors.  The data may surprise you!  Need more help?  Drop us a line! 

2.  Plan Out posts with a content Calendar

Now that you’ve outlined what your brand’s personality is, write out your posts for the month using a content calendar.  You can also use your Content Calendar to track the following:

• Email campaigns
• Blogs for each week or month
• PR campaigns
• Product launch dates
• Events + holidays

Yes, we know you have a calendar already, maybe two!  But adding all of these items to a separate Content Calendar makes it easier for everyone on the team to stay on the same page when it comes to what you’re posting and promoting, and when.

Select a weekly theme.  Or have certain days reserved for different types of content- sales, blog shares, or sharing curated content from like-minded brands or leaders in your industry!

Don’t use a Content Calendar yet?  Get started by downloading our Content Calendar Template below!

3. Write authentic content that showcases your brand’s personality

The best practice for what to post on social media begins with remaining true to your brand’s mission and values.  You can’t ‘stay on brand’ if you’re not quite sure what your brand stands for these days.  

Dial-in the persona that showcases your brand’s personality. 

• Is your outdoor brand or non-profit fun and playful? 
• Super into design or fashion?
• Trail running or camping?
• Do you always have your dog in tow as your co-pilot?  

Remember, this may not necessarily be YOUR personality.  But, that of your brand.

If you will be using these posts across several social media channels, change up the copy slightly for each.  Do not post the same exact content on as you do on Tiktok as you do on Instagram or Twitter.  Links, videos, image size, copy style, and @ mentions will not work across all channels in the same way. 

And that Tiktok logo in the corner of your Instagram video?  Yeah, you can do better.

Pro tip: Videos and posts with multiple images will perform better than a static image almost every time.  Therefore, read our blog on how to take better photos!

4. what to post + how often for better growth on social media

Best practices for how many social media posts are needed each week varies widely depending on the social network you are using.  And how much time you or your team have to dedicate to this! 

If you can post everyday, great!  We do not recommend posting more than this, unless you are posting to Instagram Stories or Twitter.

We break up our posts, and our clients’ posts, into the following categories:

• 50% sales (advertising services or products)
• 30% curated content
• 20% just for fun! 

This mix can change depending on what our marketing strategy is that month.  Are you running a sale, or hosting a fundraiser?  If so, that should take up more of your content!

Get creative and use social posts not only to share what you or your brand is up to but to direct traffic back to your website!

example: what to post

• 2 posts per week that focus on your brand and drive traffic to your website.  Advertise your products, services, case studies, or blog posts.  Not enough content on your website fill these posts?  Well then read How to Use Your Website to Generate Better Leads!
• 1-2 posts per week that share curated content.  So for Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter, this might be a post that links to an article that you loved or found helpful.  Expert advice from an industry leader.  Something that provides value to your followers.  Remember to always give credit to the source you are linking.  This also helps them recognize you as a trusted name or expert in your industry.  
• 1 post per week that’s just for fun.  Fridays and Sundays are great days for this!  Showcase what happens behind-the-scenes, or your latest adventure.  Just be sure to stay true to your brand and personality!

example: how to Curate Content on Instagram

As we mentioned earlier, with Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter, you can easily share content you curate like articles you think your readers might enjoy.  With Instagram, this becomes more challenging as you can’t share links in posts.

However, you can save Instagram posts that you love, and reshare them, creatively, in your Stories.  Here’s how:

• Click on the flag in the lower right corner under the posts you like and want to reshare in your Instagram Stories.
• Once you’ve selected all of the posts you like throughout the day or week, go to the upper right corner of your Instagram Profile Page and click on the Instagram menu to get a drop-down of options.
• Click on ‘Saved’ or flagged posts and here’s where you will find all of your saved images.
• Here you can also create Collections to further organize the images.
• Then, you can then repost these in your Instagram Stories, creating a theme by topic, product, color, sport, etc.
• You can add a link, yes, regardless of follower count, you can now add a link to bring people right to the website or article to learn more or shop!

Bam!  Beautifully-curated content ready to share each week!

5. When to Post

Besides what to post, the next question we get asked to improve social media growth is what days and times are best to post on social media. 

Your potential clients and customers might be on social throughout the day.  Here’s steps to take to determine when is best to post for your non-profit or outdoor brand:

• Determine when your followers are most active by looking at your social media analytics.
• Days with typically the best engagement: Sundays and Tuesdays
• Best times to post: 7-9am most days

Keep in mind that some posts, based on the content shared, may do well regardless of the day or time you post!  And the opposite is true.  If something newsworthy trumps your post that day, you may not get as much love.

Sometimes it’s a combination of the image, copy, or the hashtags used to get your post lots of love!

6. Schedule Your social Posts

The best practice for social media growth by far is to schedule your posts.  This saves you time and therefore, money.  We love using Hootsuite to schedule both our posts for Top Rope Media and posts on behalf of our clients.  Why?  Some days we may have 15 different posts going out on 4 different social channels!

However, even if you are just using LinkedIn or Instagram, scheduling your 3-4 posts per week will help you stay consistent.  Social networks love that.  Read more on how we’ve helped brands getting started with scheduling posts!

Next, once your post is scheduled, check that is posted correctly.  For Instagram, add locations, tag brands, partners, collaborators as you cannot do this in Hootsuite.  And lastly, engage on behalf of your brand when your post goes up.  Like, comment, or share the post or similar posts in your Stories!

7. create more engaging content

Engagement is worth more on social media than likes or follows.  By engagement we mean your readers are:

• clicking on your links in a post
• visiting your profile page
• Adding a comment
• Sharing your post in their feed or Stories

How do you figure out what posts are getting the most engagement?  First, take a look at your Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook Analytics, or Instagram Insights.  Pay attention which posts not only have good reach but good engagement.  Not seeing much?

Take a good look at the content you’ve been posting.  Can you create more engaging posts?  Need more ideas on how we do it?  Ask for help!

Now then, when you do get a comment, message, or DM on social media, respond promptly to keep your response rate up as well! 

8. begin Social Listening + engage

A great way to write more engaging content for social media is to listen and engage with your audience.  Social ‘listening’ involves reading what people are saying about your brand, product, service, or industry online.  Are you creating content that addresses their issues or answers their questions?  Learn more about how and why we follow the They Ask, You Answer philosophy.

How do you listen well? 

• Set up a Google Alert
• Follow your brand’s hashtags, and also ones that align with your brand
• Listen to your competition.  Follow them on social.  Sign up for their email newsletters.  Add them to your Facebook Page Watch list!
• Read your industry publications!!

And what do we mean by engage?  Like, comment, share relevant content that you love and you think your audience will love too!  Apps like Instagram give you more love, and show more of your content to others when you spend more time on the app!

9. run ads + promotions

If you want that extra boost, and can afford to pay to play, run ads or promotions on your social networks!  So instead of paying $25/month to some 3rd party sketchy Instagram growth service to boost your followers or likes, pay Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn directly to do it for you!

Using Facebook or Instagram Ads can help you:

• Generate more brand awareness
• Get more donations for your fundraiser
• Increase the amount of followers on your social accounts
• Build more engagement
• Sell more products! 

Get step-by-step instructions on how to run ads on Facebook or Instagram.

10. Update your Bio and Profile Links

In this ever-changing world, the copy you wrote last year for your Instagram profile or LinkedIn bio may no longer be relevant.  As a best practice, update your bio or social profile every quarter. 

In addition, put promotions and discount codes in your social media bios.  For example, “Save 35% this holiday season by using code MBHOLIDAY35.”  This could easily fit in your Instagram profile.

Update your profile link often.  Especially on Instagram.  Examples: If a client’s content theme for a certain week focuses on summer activities, we may change the link to share a blog post where readers can learn more about how to prep for summer.  If we want to encourage more appointment bookings, we might swap out the main website link for the appointments link.  You get the idea.

Why take these extra steps?  Because you want people to find what they are looking for in the least amount of steps.  If you only have your homepage linked in your profile, and you just launched a new blog, how do your readers get to it quickly?

If you say ‘link in bio’ and it only directs people to your homepage, do you think they will take the time to click the link in bio, then find your blog page, then find the right blog you were speaking of?

Lastly, you can use tools like Linktree with Instagram to share several links under one profile link.

11. Use Emojis in your social posts

Use emojis to help break up text or to emphasize a point you’re trying to get across.  In this world of constant scrolling, a campfire or a monkey covering his eyes could catch your reader’s eye more than just text!

12. use Hashtags to help with social media growth

Everything can’t be #instagood.  Therefore, do some research on which hashtags are trending within your industry.  If you do not already have a hashtag for your brand, create one!  Or, take a look at what your brand ambassadors or competitors are using.  You can also view your post Insights on Instagram to see how many likes you get from your hashtag use!

What platforms do hashtags work best on?  Instagram and Twitter.  You can use up to 30 hashtags on Instagram, and as many as you want on Twitter.  However, as Twitter is limited to 280 characters, so keep your tweets to 2-3 hashtags!

Where should you put your hashtags?  After your copy.  We often separate our copy with line breaks and drop the hashtags so they are out of view, especially on platforms like Instagram.  Get the full scoop on Instagram hashtags from Hootsuite!

13.  Sell Through your Social media channels

If you use Facebook and Instagram and have a separate store on Shopify or WooCommerce, you can easily connect your store and sell directly through Facebook or Instagram, or people can complete their purchase on your website.

14. work with brand ambassadors + content creators

Work with content creators and ambassadors to help you create more brand awareness for your products or services!  If you haven’t read our blog on Finding the Right Brand Ambassadors– get on it!

At Top Rope Media, we think of working with content creators, which is the more PC term now as opposed to ‘influencers’, like backpacking.  To get the best results, to see the most beautiful and untouched terrain, you have to plan.  Prepare.  And, be willing to walk – a lot!

It takes time to find and build relationships with the right content creators or brand ambassadors. So be patient, and think long-term.  You’ll find the investment is worth it when your ambassador is connected with your brand for years to come.

15. Evaluate Your Post Performance

If you are not reviewing your social media analytics each week, you could be missing out on some great insights into your customers.  Set an alarm or add a meeting to your calendar each week to review your Google Analytics, along with your social media metrics.

Still not seeing steady growth?

• Switch up the days and times you are posting
• Engage on the network- this means spend time on it liking, commenting, and sharing other posts you find compelling!
• Change up the type of content posted (hint: add more videos or multiple images!)
• Upgrade your phone for better photos, use a camera, or buy a GoPro!

final thoughts on Social media growth

One of the biggest reasons to continue posting on social media for your brand is that shopping habits have changed tremendously!  In addition, there is a growth in online spending not only from Millennials, but Gen X, and Baby Boomers alike.

What are millennials, Gen X, and baby boomers purchasing through social media?

• Apparel + Accessories- Clothes, shoes, anything to save us from having to go to the store!
• Health + Fitness- gadgets, sneakers, yoga pants, swimwear, you name it.
• Jewelry- especially hand-crafted unique pieces
• Beauty + skincare products

And which social channels can you reach these Millennials, Gen Xers, and Baby Boomers?  Well, 67% of millennials are on Instagram, and 75% of baby boomers are active Facebook users.  9 out of 10 Gen Xers are on Facebook.

slow and steady Social Media growth takes practice

We’ve covered a lot of ground, but here are the top takeaways for growing your social media presence:

• Create videos and share multiple images in posts
• Use a Content Calendar and schedule that content using a tool like Hootsuite
• Be an active ‘social listener’ by following hashtags, creating Google Alerts, and pay attention to your competition!
• Engage on the social network you want to grow on by liking, commenting, and sharing relevant content
• Work with brand ambassadors or content creators
• Run ads or promotions in combination with your organic posts for that extra boost!
• Upgrade your phone, work with a professional, or learn how to take better photos

Thanks for reading and happy posting!

Meredith McConvill

What are Instagram Reels?

Instagram Reels are short, 15-30 second videos that function similar to Tiktok videos.  And, this is why dozens of Tiktok celebrities have started using Instagram Reels to share their content.  So if you want to keep your TikTok channel going, but grow your Instagram followers, Reels are the way to do it!

What kinds of Reels can you create?  And which ones will get the most love?  We’ll tackle all of that in this blog!  First, here’s an example of a Reel we helped to create with our friends at Frank Subaru:

Videos with animals are definitely some of the top watched Reels, and we had a lot of fun putting this together!

What Can You Do with Instagram Reels?

• Combine several video snippets, editing just the part of the video you want to feature
• That pop/snap outfit change? Yup, you can do it with Reels
• Overlay a soundtrack, and select the specific section of a song you’d like to feature
• Add in text and special effects that fade in and out at certain parts of the video
• Make it look as though you are pointing or revealing the text in your video
• Publish your Reel directly to your main Instagram feed, or just save it to your Reels section
• Generate more views, reach, and engagement than with Instagram Stories!

Where Can You Find Instagram Reels?

Back to Instagram Reels and How to Create One

1. Select Your Video or Take a New Video

• A fun how-to video to teach someone how to use your product
• Videos that share beautiful scenery, mountain top views, crystal clear lakes, etc.
• Exercise videos, but make sure to ramp up the speed to make it more fun! (read below on how to do this)
• Anything with your pets!
• An outrageous or daring video… Brands like RedBull are geniuses for creating those POV mountain biking videos!

Exercise videos or how-to videos are great for Instagram Reels, just remember to increase the speed so you can fit more in and make the video more fun to watch!

2.  Adding Music to Your Instagram Reel

3. Change the Speed of Your Video

4. Add Text and Effects to Your Reel

Adding text and music to your Reel can help you better tell your story!

5.  Touch Up

6. Timer

Why Use Instagram Reels vs. Instagram Stories?

The Downside to Instagram Stories and Reels

Summing Up Instagram Reels