Digital Marketing Archives - Legendary Social Media

How often should you post on Google My Business?

Posted on 26-08-202125-08-2021 by Bianca So

Google My Business, or GMB for short, is a free tool that allows businesses to appear in local search results when users nearby are using Google. It provides users with the necessary information to contact the business and allows businesses to be reached by prospective customers.

While a lot of businesses have a Google My Business listing set up, one feature that most people don’t know about is Google My Business posts. Posting content on Google My Business is free and can help businesses with their SEO, ranking higher in search results.

When used strategically, publishing content on Google My Business can be an effective way to generate website traffic, leads, and sales for your business.

A frequently asked question we get from our clients is: How often should you post on Google My Business?

One important thing to note first is that all GMB posts will expire after 7 days. That means you will want to publish fresh content at least once a week to stay active on your page. For maximum engagement, post daily.

5 things to know to maximize your Google My Business posts

Post Photos

Use high-quality photos to go with your GMB posts. Pairing your captions with a photo is a great way to show your audience what your business is about. Including a photo can also help capture attention and bring users to your page.

Keep Posts Short

People’s attention spans are short – especially when they are browsing online. That’s why it’s important to keep your posts short. Publish relevant content that will resonate with your target audience within a few seconds to keep them engaged. We recommend 150-300 characters max for each post.

Add Keywords

Make sure your post contains relevant keywords to help more users find your business on Google. This will help with SEO and boost your rankings in the search engine.

Proofread Your Posts

Remember to always read through your posts thoroughly to make sure there are no spelling or grammatical errors. Remember, you are writing to represent your business!

Repurpose Content You Already Created

If creating fresh content daily for GMB page is too much work, we recommend repurposing the content you already have that you post on your social media channels (Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook). Don’t start from scratch – start with what you already have!

Here are some examples of Google My Business Posts that we published for one of our clients – The Facial Room!

Looking for more tips on SEO? Check out these related posts:

5 Shopify Apps that help increase checkouts

Posted on 14-01-2021 by Erin Reynel

Your eCommerce website’s revenue can only grow so much without the right tools. We’ve uncovered the best Shopify apps to help increase your sales!

We recently wrote a post about conversion optimization, where we compiled our top tips for optimizing your website and turning website visitors into paying customers.

What is a Shopify App?

Before we dive into our list of the best Shopify apps, let’s clarify what they are exactly!

Shopify Apps allow you to expand the functionality of your online store with new features. By using these plugins, you can increase your conversion rate, increase customer spend, recover or reduce abandoned carts, promote your store, reward customers or simply create a better customer experience!

So, let’s dive into some of the best plugins available for your Shopify website!

1. Product Reviews

The Product Reviews App allows you to add a customer review feature to your product pages.

In our previous post about conversion optimization, we discussed the importance of including customer reviews of your products on your website as it offers up ‘social proof’ to new and potential customers.

According to eMarketer, 98% of consumers look at reviews during the purchase process, so this Shopify add-on could be integral to increasing your website sales.

Product reviews can also help with your SEO ranking, as online customer reviews communicate trustworthiness and authority to search engines like Google!

2. Plugin SEO

SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimization” and is essentially a series of techniques that improve your website’s ranking in search results, specifically Google. And this is important because most people use Google to search for products and services!

In order to run a successful online store, you need to increase your website traffic! When done well, SEO is one of the best ways to boost traffic to your website and ultimately more sales!

Plugin SEO helps to fix SEO issues, improve store rankings and drive organic traffic to your online store. This Shopify Plugin is like having your very own SEO assistant, regularly checking your online website and alerting you of any issues. Continually reviewing the important areas of SEO optimization, such as:

Page titles
Headings
Meta descriptions
Speed
Blog post structure
How often content is updated

3. Parcel Panel

Parcel Panel is an automated parcel tracking system that will tell customers their order status and shipping information. We have heard from small businesses that this plugin has eliminated a huge volume of emails from customers requesting after-sales information.

This Shopify app allows you to create a better experience for your customers, making it more likely for them to recommend you to other people and for them to return to your website. Plus, your time is valuable, so it’s important to automate as many aspects of your business as possible!

4. Wishlist Plus

According to HuffPost, wishlists can boost your website sales, so Wishlist Plus is a well-reviewed plugin that will allow your customers to bookmark their favourite products and pick up where they left off when they return, it also allows shoppers to easily share their wishlist with friends and family without being logged in.

This tool allows you to identify what your customers like and want, so you can personalize your email and social campaigns resulting in increased traffic and sales.

For eCommerce store owners, the smart dashboard provides useful metrics and reports on wishlist activities. This information should be used to identify what products are popular and used for future marketing initiatives!

5. Sales Pop

Add social proof to your Shopify website with Sales Pop! This plugin adds validity and authenticity to your website by showing a pop-up with customer order details, such as their location and what they ordered showing new customers that real people are buying your products!

We think of this one as a busy restaurant – nobody wants to eat at an empty restaurant! So by showing customers your products are in demand, you’re adding a sense of security to their checkout process.

Final Thoughts

There are so many free and paid Shopify Apps that could extend the functionality of your website and create a better customer journey. We recommend doing your research, reading through reviews and making use of free trials wherever possible.

We boosted their revenues by 104% – and more data on what we achieve for our clients

Posted on 31-12-2020 by Erin Reynel

Are you looking for a social media agency in Vancouver? Selecting an agency that can prove it generates results for clients through social media marketing is key to making your investment worthwhile.

Let’s take a closer look at some specific stats we have achieved for clients:

Digital Marketing for Vancouver Coffee Chain

For our client Waves Coffee House, we reached over 540,000 people in BC and Alberta through our social media and Google ad campaigns. That’s a lot of people now thinking about where to get their next cup of coffee and sweet treat. We’ll soon be launching their Spotify ad campaign – how exciting!

One of Waves’ best performing posts in the last month has been this giveaway which resulted in the following:

3,090 reach
3,538 impressions
447 likes
1,250 comments
27 saves

Some other great performing posts:

Digital Marketing for eCommerce Brands

Through our email marketing campaigns and paid social media campaigns, we have been very successful at helping to increase revenues for eCommerce clients.

For one such client, we helped generate over $45,000 with just 2 emails to their customers.

For the same client, we transformed $776 in ad spend into over $28,000 in sales in one month.

We’re so grateful that we’ve been able to make a big impact on the growth of local Vancouver businesses with our digital marketing efforts.

We helped another eCommerce apparel client improve their website conversion optimization and increased their revenue by 104%.

Digital Marketing for Vancouver Restaurants

By creating radio, Spotify and social media ads, we reached over 523,000 people to tell them about Disco Cheetah’s mouthwatering food, available for delivery and takeout.

Online Marketing for Travel Companies

With our social media ad management, we have increased website traffic for Sahara Touring – despite travel restrictions due to the current pandemic, over 4,800 visited their website so far, thanks to our social media services.

One of our top tips to increase social media engagement: Giveaways

Another giveaway that we created for The Facial Room increased their following and engagement, some quick stats from this post are:

70 profile visits
282 likes
555 comments
2,663 impressions

We’re here to serve

Here at Legendary Social Media, we offer full-service social solutions to our clients, this includes:

Social media auditing, strategy & competitive analysis
Creative direction & project management
Social media management
Instagram stories & highlights
Influencer campaign management
Reporting
Paid ad campaign management
Content creation
Styling & photography
SEO content writing
Google PPC campaigns

By identifying the specific needs of our clients, we have been able to increase revenue, followers, website traffic and engagement through our work.

According to research, 3.6 billion people are using social media worldwide. Therefore, you need to manage your social media effectively in order to reach your target audience. If managing your business’s social media platforms seems overwhelming to you, then consult with an expert, a social media agency!

Want to step up your social media game in 2021 with a social media agency in Vancouver? Reach out to us for a custom quote!

How often should your business post to Instagram Stories?

Posted on 24-12-2020 by Erin Reynel

If your business isn’t currently utilizing Instagram Stories, then you’re missing out on a huge opportunity! Instagram Stories are one of the best ways to increase your engagement, build brand awareness, drive sales and they’re just really fun to create! Let’s take a deeper look:

Why should your business optimize Instagram Stories?

Instagram Stories have over 500 million daily users, therefore Instagram Stories have the potential to reach new potential customers and build a stronger connection with your current audience.

Instagram Stories allow you to:

Share everyday moments with ease
Start conversations and get interactive with followers
Inform your following of promotions/giveaways/events/launches
Share user-generated content

The aspect that we love the most about Instagram Stories is the opportunity for engagement – by adding question stickers or polls to your posts, you not only start conversations, but you can gain more insight and feedback from your audience, learning what they like and don’t like.

Instagram has continued to develop its engagement-boosting features over the past few years, allowing you to be more authentic and humanize your brand. So if you’re not regularly publishing Instagram Stories for your business, then you’re missing out on an opportunity to connect with your audience.

Posting consistently is key

There are no hard and fast rules to how frequently you should post on Instagram Stories, but we recommend keeping it consistent. Consistency is the key to social media in general and it’s no different for Instagram Stories. It will also depend on your business’s goals and the amount of time you are able to dedicate to your social media marketing. But if you can only post 3 times a week, then at least make sure you consistently do that.

If you have a special event or promotion happening then we would advise you to bump up the frequency of how often you post to Stories!

Ideally, you’re posting throughout the day, focusing on documentation rather than creation. Break it down and post 1-3 times morning, afternoon and evening to remind your followers of your event and showcase different aspects of the event!

For example, you might want to try the following for a special event or:

BTS of your business operations
Showcase new products
How to use the product
Share customer reviewing the product
Customers unboxing/using products
BTS of packing orders

IG stories we created for our client The Facial Room during Black Friday week:

So how many times should you post?

It’s up to you to find the sweet spot for your business’ needs, but we recommend posting to Stories up to 10 times a day. Any more and you risk being annoying and potentially getting muted by your followers.

Some tips for posting to IG stories:

Don’t post all 10 Stories at once, schedule throughout the day
Don’t worry about the production of stories, your photos and video don’t have to be perfect (it’s a backstage pass into your business)
Engage your audience (ask them questions, answer their questions, and have meaningful conversations)

Are you and your business in need of help developing and creating a social media content strategy? Let us help with that!

Our top 5 favourite social media publishing apps

Posted on 17-12-2020 by Erin Reynel

We have previously posted about our top 9 favourite social media apps that we believe will step up anyone’s social media game, but what about publishing apps? If you want to be efficient in your social media strategy then using a publishing app is the only way to go. Here are our top 5 picks:

Hootsuite is one of the most popular social media publishing tools (with over 15 million users) and for good reason. They offer a complete solution for all of your social media management needs. Hootsuite is compatible with over 35 social media networks, including Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram and Pinterest.

Our favourite aspect of Hootsuite is their bulk uploader and unlimited scheduled messages – by uploading a CSV file (with your pre-planned content), you could literally plan your content for the next year and beyond!

One of Hootsuite’s other most compelling aspects is its analytics abilities, though you need an upgraded plan to access these. The tool helps you and your team understand social results by producing more than 200 metrics to measure performance. Once you’ve generated reports, you can easily export them to Excel, Powerpoint, PDF and CSV files to be distributed amongst your team/or company.

Hootsuite also has a limited free plan that includes 3 social media profiles, 1 user and a limit of 30 scheduled messages.

Later is a scheduling app for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. We personally love – and use – Later because they have an awesome visual posting calendar and it’s easy to use. You simply upload photos to your media library and then just drag and drop them to the time you want to post, allowing you to create a visually pleasing feed quickly.

Another nifty aspect of Later is it allows you to schedule your first comment on Instagram, so if you want to use hashtags (a great way to reach a wider audience) but wish to keep your caption neat and tidy, then scheduling the first comment is the solution for you.

What really sets Later apart from other publishing apps is their “free forever” plan, that would sustain the social media needs for some small businesses:

Similar to Hootsuite, Sprout Social combines several media tools into one platform, including social media scheduling, monitoring and reporting. Sprout Social is one of the few publishing tools that has a CRM (customer relationship management) feature. Sprout’s CRM allows companies to better serve their customers by analyzing previous interactions.

Sprout Social is most commonly praised for its reporting features: beautiful reports ready to be downloaded and shared with clients without editing (a big time-saver for a social media manager).

Their integrations include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Reddit, LinkedIn, Youtube, Tripadvisor and Google. Making it a very impressive centralizing publishing tool.

One drawback of Sprout Social, however, is the price:

Tailwind is focused on visual content for social media – specifically for Pinterest and Instagram. For Pinterest, you can use this app to schedule posts, find trends through their insights, monitor your brand, launch contests and promotions as well as gaining access to analytics and reporting.

Included in Tailwind’s software is a smart scheduler that will help you decide when is best to post your updates in order to maximize engagement.

For Instagram, Tailwind has a nifty feature called ‘hashtag helpers’, which will assist in finding, using and analyzing the best hashtags to help improve your reach and engagement.

Tailwind is ideal for bloggers/influencers who produce content that includes a visual element and needs to link back to a website, which is perfect on Pinterest. Pinterest has 322 million active users per month, so the potential reach is massive and not a platform to be forgotten about!

Buffer is an intuitive and streamlined social media publishing platform that allows users to optimize their posting schedule to ensure the best engagement with audiences. It supports Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and pro users can use the platform to publish to Pinterest. Free users have the option to connect up to 3 social accounts, including Facebook Pages and Groups.

As the name suggests, Buffer allows users to build up a selection of relevant posts you want to share, which you can then schedule to go out at the most suitable time for your audience and provide the analytics to show the success of your posts.

Our favourite feature within the Buffer platform is the ‘Buffer reply’ which allows you to take the following actions:

Reply
Like
Follow
Archive

This feature also allows you to tag a conversation, allowing you to follow up later and assign the conversation to another team member who might be able to answer queries better than yourself!

Final thoughts

If you haven’t yet dabbled with any of these publishing apps for your social media, then we would recommend checking out as many free trials as possible and see which apps work best for you and your existing workflow.

If you need help with your social media management, our team can help!

Check this out: Holiday stop motion video & social media photography showcase

Posted on 10-12-2020 by Erin Reynel

The team at Legendary had a lot of fun creating holiday photography and stop motion video assets for our clients. Due to COVID-19, Christmas arrived a little early this year. As soon as Halloween was over, we saw Christmas trees and holiday decorations popping up all over Vancouver!

A lot of planning goes into the assets we create. Our in-house photographer, Kat, works alongside an account manager and sometimes with the client themselves to create a plan of action. It goes a little something like this:

The account manager creates a schedule of upcoming promotions, events and themes to discuss
Schedule a shoot date
Create the shot list
Prop shop
Photoshoot and styling
Editing
Delivering the final edited files

After all the hard work that goes into creating and executing content, it’s super satisfying to see everything come together, so we want to share some of our work with you today!

What we created for The Facial Room

Our client The Facial Room offers an exclusive experience that goes beyond delivering beautiful Eminence Organic Skincare products across Canada, and we need to emulate that in our work – especially our photography work, as that’s what initially draws customers in.

For The Facial Room, we currently create and run the following elements of their social media marketing:

Styling & photography for a visually cohesive feed
Facebook & Instagram content creation
Community management
Social media advertising campaigns
Blogs for SEO
Email marketing campaigns
Stop-motion videos

To kick off the holiday season this year, The Facial Room ran an irresistible Black Friday promotion for their customers. Check out our photography work on the homepage of their website and how it came together:

We also created a blog (which is great for your SEO btw, you can read more about that here) sharing more in-depth product knowledge with customers, giving them product suggestions and gift ideas for the upcoming holiday season.

We made sure to share the blog in early November, allowing customers enough time to plan their gifts and get their orders in (before Canada post is overwhelmed by the holiday season). Check out the blog post here!

As you can see in this blog post, we shot lifestyle images of The Facial Room owner, Patricia Asmar, and her daughter against a holiday-themed backdrop. During our lifestyle shoot, we paid close attention to the colour of props, clothes and products to ensure the final images were cohesive with all our other product photography.

Check out The Facial Room on Instagram to see what awesome promotions they’re currently running.

And here is the stop motion video we created for their Black Friday promotion in action!

What we created for Waves Coffee House

Our longtime client, Waves Coffee House, is a Vancouver-based chain with over 31 coffee shops across BC and Alberta. Not only is Waves all about serving customers delicious coffee and locally made snacks, but they also invite their customers to connect with each other at their local Waves Coffee shop. We just love this sentiment!

For their holiday campaign, we created photography for their social feeds that showcase their holiday beverages, snacks and gift sets. Check out some of our favourite shots from our holiday photoshoot:

As part of their social media marketing, we also create the following:

Instagram and Facebook content
Community management
Paid social media ads
Spotify ad campaigns
Stop-motion videos
Influencer campaigns
Giveaways and contests

Check out the stop-motion video we created as part of their holiday marketing campaign:

What we created for Love & Natural

Love & Natural is a skincare eCommerce platform that was born during the COVID-19 pandemic when Winne, the owner, wanted to help her clients and others by offering personalized skincare solutions online.

Check out some of our favourite photography from this holiday period:

Since coming on board with us, we have built a multi-faceted social media plan for Love & Natural. Our work so far has included creating and managing the following:

Styling & photography
Social media management across Facebook & Instagram
Community management
Traffic advertising campaigns (leading audiences to your website)
Conversion advertising campaigns (converting sales on the website)

We also created this stop motion video for the launch of their new product collection, Esenti Body Mists.

Are you thinking of stepping up your social media game in 2021? Then look no further! Legendary offers well-rounded knowledge and services that could help elevate your business to the next level!

How to optimize your Instagram Business profile

Posted on 26-11-2020 by Erin Reynel

Your social media channels act as a digital storefront for your business. Instagram has 500 million daily users, so the potential for high volume digital traffic is huge. This means that your Instagram Business profile needs to make a lasting impression in order to stand out against your competitors.

You only have a few seconds to capture the attention of Instagram users, so here are our top tips for gaining the attention of your target audience.

1. Create an Instagram Business profile

Make sure you set up an Instagram Business profile that allows you to gain insight and understanding of your followers in order to grow your business on Instagram.

2. Write a badass bio

Your bio is going to be one of the first things viewers see when they land on your Instagram profile, so it deserves your time and consideration when writing it.

Your bio will also likely influence what actions the viewer takes once they’ve landed on your Instagram Business profile, so make it snappy!

Your Instagram bio should include:

Explanation of your business/products or services offered
Establish your brand tone
Appeal to your target audience by defining your mission and what solutions you have to offer them
Share retail/restaurant location

Check out how we have optimized some of our clients’ Instagram Business profiles below, using the suggestions above.

3.Create a searchable Instagram handle

It’s important that your Instagram handle/username makes sense, is searchable and the name of your actual business. If the username you want is taken, try adding your area code to the end. Our client Disco Cheetah added YVR to the end of their handle which is synonymous with Vancouver.

4. Optimize your profile picture

When it comes to optimizing your profile picture, it’s essential that it’s instantly recognizable for users when they visit your Instagram page. For most businesses, this means using one of the following options:

Logo
Logomark (the logo without text)
Mascot (this would be applicable if you have an iconic mascot)
Headshot

Whatever you decide to use, just make sure it’s on-brand with your business and be consistent across all your social media channels.

5. Add a CTA or link to your profile

Instagram wants its users to stay within the platform, therefore they have limited how many URLs you can use in your profile to just one.

If you have over 10,000 followers, you can use links in your Stories and drive traffic from there, but of course, this doesn’t work for smaller accounts.

We recommend using Linktree which will lead users to a page with several URL options. Check out how two of our clients have used Linktree to suggest link destinations to users.

Final thoughts

Just remember, an optimized Instagram account is an active one. So remember to build your Instagram community, by following and engaging with other users. As a business, you should make sure you answer questions, DMs and reply to comments regularly. As well as creating consistent, high-quality content. Here at Legendary, we can help with content creating and social media strategy. Get in touch for a personalized quote!

How to get more Adds To Cart and Purchases on your website

Posted on 12-11-2020 by Erin Reynel

If you have an eCommerce website, then your ultimate goal is to convert your website visitors into paying customers, right? Unfortunately, just because you built a website, doesn’t mean paying customers will come. You need a little thing called conversion optimization!

How do you optimize your website so visitors take the actions you want them to? There are lots of ways you can encourage people to make a purchase on your website, but we have three conversion optimization tips that we believe will get the sales you want.

1. Establish trust on your homepage

It’s important to establish trust with users immediately. Just like in real life, first impressions can be everlasting. Firstly, include some text on why people should buy from you, instead of going elsewhere. What do you offer that your competitor doesn’t?

A landing page that speaks to everyone, speaks to no one in particular. So make sure you accurately describe the products and services you offer, and who exactly would benefit from buying from your business.

Things to include on your homepage that will encourage users to shop or use your services:

Advertise current promotions
Free shipping (if you offer this)
Link to reviews
Pop up for a first-time buyers discount code
Reviews, such as Google Reviews, Better Business Bureau or Trustpilot
Trust badges
Previous client logos

See below, how our client The Facial Room has included many of these elements in order to establish trust with viewers.

2. Send abandoned cart emails

Abandoned cart emails are a great way to remind customers they left items in their cart and to entice them to come back and finish their purchase.

You can easily set up Abandoned Carts email with a platform like Shopify or Mailchimp, which offers many add-on functions.

Abandoned cart emails should include the following information:

A fun and engaging subject line
Introduction text
List of products left in the cart
Offer or discount
Checkout button or Call To Action (CTA)
Product reviews
Other product suggestions
Free shipping (if this option is available)
Add a sense of urgency with a time limit

Check out the different ways in which these three companies below executed a great abandoned cart email. They’ve used colour, snappy copy, humorous images and CTAs to regain the customer’s attention.

Image source: Really Good Emails

3. Include customer reviews on your product pages

Reviews on your website offer up a sort of social proof to your potential customers. Customers will gain a better understanding of the products, how they work, and what past customers liked and disliked. This will influence their decision-making.

Customer feedback will also give you insights into how your business can improve its products and services, which can also be invaluable in improving your business.

Reviews can also help with your SEO ranking, as online customer reviews communicate trustworthiness and authority to search engines.

One way to encourage customer reviews is by offering a discount code to customers who complete a review on your website.

Final thoughts

Remember to keep tracking your results! Analyze the data, test new conversion optimization methods and eventually, you will know what does and doesn’t work.

If you enjoyed this blog post, you might also be interested in learning about how to set up social media ads that lead to sales.

How often should you blog for SEO?

Posted on 30-10-2020 by Erin Reynel

Starting a blog is hard work. First, you need to think about what to write, and then you need to consider how you are going to promote your content. But you can’t just post once and then leave your readers hanging. The secret to operating a successful blog is posting on a consistent and regular basis. But how often should you be posting if you’re looking to boost your website’s SEO? Let us break it down…

How frequently should you blog for SEO?

The answer to this question is: it depends on what’s best for your company.

Smaller businesses may find success posting only a few times per week, whereas larger companies may have the capability to push out daily posts. The main factor you should keep in mind is consistency. Find a schedule that is feasible for your business and stick to it.

Keeping to a schedule when blogging is important for two reasons:

1. It helps build organic traffic by boosting your website’s SEO

Blogging is important for SEO if you want to increase visits to your website. By regularly creating SEO friendly blog posts, your website will make the climb towards Google’s page one for the keywords you are targeting. The higher you rank, the more likely people will find your website and visit it.

2. It increases brand awareness

Every blog post you write has the chance to improve not only SEO but awareness of your brand, so make sure that you’re always producing high-quality content. Including relevant images and keywords will help you build your brand and establish credibility.

Try to think of the ways each and every blog post can showcase your brand and help to define your company’s voice.

How to set your blog posting schedule to improve your SEO

If you’re in a hurry to massively increase your website’s traffic, we’d recommend posting as often as you and/or your team has the bandwidth for, without sacrificing quality.

If your time is limited, your company’s niche is small, or you’re satisfied with growing at a slower pace, you may want to consider posting only once or twice a week or even once a month.

If you’re preparing to launch a new product or service, you may want to consider increasing your posting schedule to generate buzz.

When it comes to actually outlining a schedule, we recommend creating a monthly blog plan where you can decide on topics and keywords ahead of time. This will make writing your blogs easier and give you a clear idea of what you need to do to stay on track. This is the process our team at Legendary Social Media takes for our internal SEO, and it’s gotten us to Page 1 of Google 3 years running.

Starting a blog and keeping it consistent may seem burdensome, but since it isn’t an exact science, you just need to figure out what works best for your business. Looking for an easier way to improve your SEO and produce consistent blogs? Consider working with a company that specializes in just that!

Ready to get started? Contact us and tell us about your business, your blog and your SEO goals and we’ll create a customized blogging plan just for you.

How our social media photographer set up an at-home studio

Posted on 15-10-202018-08-2021 by Erin Reynel

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing measures, our social media photographer, Kat, has been shooting our client photography from home since March. With these few tools and tips, let us guide you through the process of how we create scroll-stopping content from home.

Firstly, we recommend that you purchase photography equipment that packs away in a space-efficient manner. Or alternatively, invest in some storage boxes, so you can pack your gear and props away at the end of each shoot. Working and living in the same space can present some challenges, so keeping things tidy and organized will certainly help you work productively.

The basic equipment needed for a home studio setup

- Camera. Your camera doesn’t have to be a professional camera, you can still create beautiful content with your phone camera.
- Tripod. If you are working with a professional camera, then consider using a tripod to steady it. We also recommend getting a tripod with an arm extension for shooting flat lays.
- Lighting. You can rely solely on natural light if that’s all you have, but we recommend setting up near a window with the most available light even if you’re using studio lighting as well. Amazon has some great start-up kits available for under a hundred bucks, such as this one.
- Light reflector. One of Kat’s most used items, great for bouncing light back into shadow areas or softening harsh light.

Backdrops. We use paper backdrops from BD backgrounds or Savage. We also use fabric from Dressew and marble slabs from Home Depot. If you’re on a budget, use a plain bed sheet or your natural wall colour.

Backdrop stands. Some budget-friendly options are available on Amazon if you want to properly hang/drape your backdrops.

Props. Flowers, plants and decorative household items will certainly bring your products to life.

Find the best light

We adore natural light! Try to find a space in your home that has the best natural light for your setup. If you’re shooting in the middle of the day, avoid harsh midday sunlight by using a diffuser. If your home doesn’t get much natural light, consider purchasing some budget-friendly lights. If you’re just starting out with photography, then these continuous lights will definitely do the trick!

Our social media photographer, Kat, generally uses flash whilst working from home as her apartment is south-facing and gets very little natural light. Here, you can see her at-home setup taken on an iPhone vs her professional image using flash photography.

Create your studio setup

Once you have figured out where in your home you’re shooting, it’s time to set up your studio. Set up your backdrop stands, backdrop and table. We often shoot flat lays, so by shooting off the ground slightly, we’re saving ourselves from bending over too much. Once you have this setup, you can easily interchange your backdrop with fabrics and textures. Swap out the plain white backdrop for a marble tile to add some variety.

We recommend setting up a tripod as it allows you to:

Steady the camera
Slow your shutter speed if you need to allow more light into the camera
Take the weight off your back and shoulders
Allows you to set the camera down while you style your shot or move products in and out of the shot
Allows you to change the angle of your shot

Let your creativity flow

Get creative! The more unique, original and creative your content is on social media, the more engagement it will receive from your audience.

Here are four tips to help you get creative:

Vary the angles of your shots! Try shooting overhead flat lays, eye-level shots, close-ups and wide shots.
Depth of field. Even if you’re using your phone, most phone cameras now give you the ability to change your depth of field.
Experiment with lighting. Play around with shadows or even add a gel to your light source.
Props! We recommend laying out all your props on a tray so you can clearly see what you have to work with, making it easier to visualize your shots. You can read more tips on props here.

If you’re working with people, then props can give them something to interact with. Check out this recent shoot we did for Le Hibou Kids. Here below, you can see our studio setup (including the props) and then how the kids interacted with them. So cute!

Final thoughts

Good luck with your home-studio setup! Play around with it and have fun– why not take your audience on the journey with you and show them some #BTS of your home studio setup. And just remember that you don’t need to invest in expensive photography gear when you’re just starting out.

If you’re shooting food, then check out our tips for better food & beverage photography. We hope you found our tips from our social media photographer helpful!

Category: Digital Marketing

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vancouver's boutique
marketing agency.

A frequently asked question we get from our clients is: How often should you post on Google My Business?

5 things to know to maximize your Google My Business posts

Post Photos

Keep Posts Short

Add Keywords

Proofread Your Posts

Repurpose Content You Already Created

Looking for more tips on SEO? Check out these related posts:

What is a Shopify App?

1. Product Reviews

2. Plugin SEO

3. Parcel Panel

4. Wishlist Plus

5. Sales Pop

Final Thoughts

Digital Marketing for Vancouver Coffee Chain

Digital Marketing for eCommerce Brands

Digital Marketing for Vancouver Restaurants

Online Marketing for Travel Companies

One of our top tips to increase social media engagement: Giveaways

We’re here to serve

Why should your business optimize Instagram Stories?

Posting consistently is key

So how many times should you post?

Final thoughts

What we created for The Facial Room

What we created for Waves Coffee House

What we created for Love & Natural

1. Create an Instagram Business profile

2. Write a badass bio

3.Create a searchable Instagram handle

4. Optimize your profile picture

5. Add a CTA or link to your profile

Final thoughts

1. Establish trust on your homepage

2. Send abandoned cart emails

3. Include customer reviews on your product pages

Final thoughts

How frequently should you blog for SEO?

Keeping to a schedule when blogging is important for two reasons:

1. It helps build organic traffic by boosting your website’s SEO

2. It increases brand awareness

How to set your blog posting schedule to improve your SEO

The basic equipment needed for a home studio setup

Find the best light

Create your studio setup

Let your creativity flow

Final thoughts

request your custom quote.

vancouver's boutique marketing agency.

vancouver's boutique
marketing agency.