Travel
Esther Swaty
Moving to Austin, Texas

It’s hard to believe I from Seattle in Austin, Texas on August 8, 2019 and now I’ve almost been here for two weeks. In a way it feels like so much has happened and so little at the same time. The story of how my partner and I ended up in Austin is long and short.

Moving to Austin, Texas
Learning, Social Media
Esther Swaty
Today’s Citizens Must Equip Themselves For The ...

Today, data and algorithms have influence over everything from our democracy, to our homes, to our work. We are in an era of seemingly unlimited technological progress and the speed of innovation requires citizens to be engaged in non-partisan learning and discussion. We don’t have to know everything but we need to know enough to think critically and ask questions about the technologies being developed, as well as be able to hold accountable the individuals and organizations creating them.

Today’s Citizens Must Equip Themselves For The Technological Future

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TOP 5 RESOURCES FOR GROWING YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE

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You can be hustling away, but if you are not sharing what you are creating then it’s virtually impossible to grow your audience. As freelancer, entrepreneur, an individual in the gig/project based economy, I know that I have to put work out there in order to get more work. So I wanted to share with you a couple of the sites/tools which I have found helpful for doing this. CALENDAR

Social media can be a bit overwhelming, but if you make a plan then it is much easier to stay consistent, which is a major KEY to growing your online presence.

Content Calendar:  It's important that your content be relevant and shareable. Reviewing a content calendar before mapping out your social media strategy helps you make sure your content will be in the right place, at the right time which will increase the odds of exposure.

Passion Planner: I have found having a physical calendar really allows me to map out my content. Also, if you are someone who works with affiliates, they have a buy three get one program.

IMAGES

A big challenge that artists and small businesses face is getting fresh content for use in their social media, website and marketing materials. Here are two sources for FREE content, start taking advantage of them today to grow your online presence.

The New York Public Library – Public Domain Images: Did you know that more than 180,000 of the items in the New York Public Library Digital Collections are in the public domain? These images are free for you to share and reuse.

Unsplash: Free Stock Photos: A great source for free stock photos. You can either explore the site, or choose to sign up to have 10 hi-res photos delivered to your inbox every 10 days.

IMAGE EDITING AND LAYOUT

Once you have images, now what do you do?

WordSwag: If you are not a designer but like sharing tips, quotes, etc. This is an app you should download asap. It’s a great solution until you can afford to work with a designer. Once again just remember your brand aesthetic and try to be consistent with the styles you choose.

Photoshop Express: Allows you to make easy touch ups to photos you have taken.

Layout: It’s important to spice up the number of photos you are posting. The layout app allows you to lay out multiple photos in a simple way.

CONTENT CURATION

One way to stand apart from your competitors is to position yourself as a thought leader, this can be done by writing blogs and articles. In addition to writing, you can also be a source that others turn to for trends and fresh content.

Scoop.it: Create and grow your online presence in minutes by publishing curated content.

ENGAGEMENT AND MEASUREMENT TOOLS

If we have ever set down to discuss your social media, you will know there are a couple of items that I continually FOCUS on: aesthetic, consistency, experimentation and measurement. The following tools allow you to schedule your posts and experiment, then provides you with the data to see what did and didn’t work.

Hootsuite: This tool allows you to save time and be strategic with your social media. The free plan lets you: monitor and engage in every conversation, schedule messages and measure social media growth.

Crowdfire: Helps you to keep track of how your social media updates affect your follower/unfollower stats.

Note: If you are reading this post about social media, then I want to make sure you have also heard about the Instagram's recent feature update, Instagram Stories. This is Instagram's response to Snapchat and could turn out to be a very competitive move.