The post Past Live Streams: Automation Cookbook appeared first on Angie Jones.
The post Past Live Streams: Automation Cookbook appeared first on Angie Jones.
Creators are always looking for ways to connect with their audiences, starting with producing and sharing content that resonates with them. But how do you take these interactions to the next level and build a stronger sense of connection with your followers? We asked creators who cover a wide range of topics how they turned their followings into active, engaged communities.Use multiple platforms to build your audienceMost creators have a favorite platform they post on, but there are benefits to being active on more than one. For example, posting on multiple platforms can help with discovery, boost engagement and drive traffic to your website. Lindsey Bomgren, a fitness trainer and blogger who posts at Nourish Move Love, says, “I use Instagram for building audience engagement, Pinterest for driving traffic to my website and YouTube for sharing full-length workout videos. No matter where you post, you can always link back to a common destination, like your website. Our most loyal readers are our email subscribers, but we love YouTube and Pinterest for their discoverability!”Lindsey Bomgren posts content for her brand, Nourish Move Love, on multiple platforms to boost discoverability and engagement.Choose how you want to measure and define successAs a creator, how do you know whether you’re building community among your target audience? Should you focus on how big your audience is, how well your topics resonate with them or both? Two important tools to measure success are analytics and direct feedback, including using direct messaging through platforms, comments or emails.Lindsey uses analytics to understand “which posts are driving the most traffic, and where that traffic is coming from.” She adds, “We create content for different audiences. Some of our content is designed for search engine optimization; whereas other content, like full body high intensity interval training (HITT) and pyramid workouts, is geared toward our Instagram followers.”Other creators rely more on community feedback to find out what content is resonating. Payton Cavin, who built the media brand Mellow Yellow Media to inspire women to explore the world and their passions while working remotely, shares, “Analytics help us understand what our audience is craving more of. That being said, direct feedback is always more beneficial. There’s nothing like having a conversation with a follower who found value in what you shared.”Mellow Yellow Media founder Payton Cavin values direct feedback from her fans and followers.Find ways to engageInteracting directly with your audience can not only help you figure out what’s working, it can build community and bring your brand to life. Many creators shared that they interact with followers in comments or direct messages on social platforms, or via email. Beauty blogger Kendall Alfred says, “I try to respond to as many YouTube comments as I can, and my direct messages are always open on Instagram. I go live on my platforms and answer questions in real time. I also try to do giveaways and donations as often as possible.”And Lindsey hosts “live workouts on YouTube and Instagram, sharing weekly seven-day workout plans and daily #WOD’s [workouts of the day] that we follow together as a community.”Beauty blogger Kendall Alfred engages with her community through live sessions, giveaways and donations to promote her YouTube channel.Partner upEager to grow your brand’s reputation and think outside the box? Partnering with other creators can be an effective way to mix things up while bringing your communities together. It can also help you get creative by exploring more topics related to your brand.Shylah May, a lifestyle and wellness blogger, says, “I’ve made friends with a lot of other creators throughout the years. We travel, take photos and attend events together, and they even help promote my clothing line, Shop Shylah May. Teaming up with other creators helps your brand so much — it creates awareness, better defines your brand and allows you to grow your audience.”Shylah May loves partnering with other creators.
Predibase emerged from stealth with its commercial platform that lets both data scientists and non-experts develop flexible, state-of-the-art ML with best-of-breed ML infrastructure. Predibase has been in beta with Fortune 500 enterprises the last nine months who have seen time for model development deployment drop from months to days and used by data practitioners and engineers across each organization.
Technology shines when it helps us get things done in our daily lives, and that’s exactly why a group of around 100 very eager seniors gathered in Odense, Denmark. All older than 65, many up to 85, they decided to stay on top of the latest technological tricks and tools. On this March day, the eye-opener was the often overlooked potential in searching for information using visual tools, like Google Lens.So now the seniors searched their surroundings directly: Scanned trees, plants, animals and buildings, used Translate to get hold of Turkish language menu cards or Japanese sayings, and found product declarations through barcode scanning.The group was taking part in a training set up by Faglige Seniorer, which organizes 300,000 seniors in total. They first partnered with Google back in 2019 to train seniors in using voice to search, and now the time had come to use live images.A room full of people seated at large tables listening to a woman speak.Around 100 seniors gathered in Odense, Denmark to learn more about Google Lens.Two older people looking at cell phones near models of birds.Participants used smartphones to scan images of animals like birds.An older person stands next to a model of a bird.The group was taking part in a training set up by Faglige Seniorer, which organizes 300,000 seniors in total.“Often, when I go for a walk, I stumble upon an unknown flower or a tree. Now I can just take a picture to discover what kind of plant I am standing before,” Verner Madsen, one of the participants, remarked. “I don’t need to bring my encyclopedia. It is really smart and helpful.”Seniors in a country like Denmark are generally very tech savvy, but with digitization constantly advancing — accelerating even faster during two years of COVID-19 — some seniors risk being left behind, creating gaps between generations. During worldwide lockdowns, technological tools have helped seniors stay connected with their family and friends, and smartphone features have helped improve everyday life. One key element of that is delivering accurate and useful information when needed. And for that, typed words on a smartphone keyboard can often be substituted with a visual search, using a single tap on the screen.Being able to “search what you see” in this way was an eye-opener to many. As the day ended, another avid participant, Henrik Rasmussen, declared he was heading straight home to continue his practice.“I thought I was up to speed on digital developments, but after today I realize that I still have a lot to learn and discover,” he said.
When Binti Mwallau started Hasanat Ventures, her dairy processing company in Kenya, she expected some resistance from her peers in an industry dominated by men. But she was surprised to run into more skepticism from her customers. Despite her background in finance and biochemistry, many of them questioned her credibility as a woman entrepreneur.Worried that her gender would affect Hasanat Ventures’ reputation, Binti considered hiring a man as the face of the business. But she eventually decided against it, standing firm in her pride as a solo founder and committed to tearing down the perception that women-run businesses in Africa aren’t as successful as those run by men.“I think we should be challenging the outdated narrative that businesses run by men are guaranteed to be more successful,” Binti says. “Based on research, we’ve seen that businesses run by women actually perform better. We should use this as an opportunity to prove that as a woman, you do stand a chance to succeed in everything that you do.”Just as important to Binti as breaking this bias was giving Kenyans more access to affordable nutrition. “I realized that many people couldn’t afford premium yogurt. So we entered the market with a high-quality product that’s affordable for lower and middle-income earners who have become more health-conscious,” she says.Binti knew she had to drive awareness for her brand, particularly to reach Kenyans who needed convincing about yogurt’s health benefits. So she turned to Google Digital Skills for Africa, which offers virtual classes to help entrepreneurs grow their skills and businesses, and completed a digital marketing course to help her get Hasanat Ventures online.“After participating in the course, we knew our online presence had to be bigger than just social media,” Binti says. “Now that we have a fully functional website, we are actually getting leads from outside Kenya.”As part of the course, Binti learned how to use Google Analytics to measure her website’s performance. She could now monitor traffic insights, analyze pageviews and better understand who was visiting her site.Binti’s determination and passion for her business are showing up in the results. In its first year, Hasanat Ventures supplied over 300 retailers with affordable dairy products. Three years later, it’s grown to support more than 50 farmers and even built its own production facility to keep up with demand.“I really want to make sure that I am visible and speaking up in spaces women don’t usually have access to,” Binti says. “As Hasanat Ventures continues to grow, I am confident I can help change the perception of African women in business.”58% of Africa’s entrepreneurs are women. That’s why we’re empowering them with the platform and tools to grow their businesses. Learn more about our #LookMeUp campaign, highlighting Africa’s women entrepreneurs like Binti who are working to break the bias.
