Creative Hive

Creating buzz for your business

What To Do If Your Social Media Handles Are Taken

Are you starting a new business?

It seems like there is so much to go into at it, especially at the beginning.

Making products, finding a niche, looking for target customers, the list goes on.

What about constantly searching for the best possible business name?

Do you have a hard time finding it because you HAVE to have the most perfect name for your online shop?

But what can you do since it seems ALL the good names are already taken?

Trust me.

You're not the only one who's been there.

Luckily for you, there are so many more resources out there to help you find exactly what you're looking for. [Read more…]

How I Made Over $2K in My First Two Months On Etsy

How-I-Made-Over-$2K-in-My-First-Two-Months-On-Etsy

Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could just add your products to your Etsy shop and the sales just started rolling in?

Customers would leave you nice, positive comments.

You'd be the top shop of the search engine for your products.

Easy peasy.

If only it didn't take some major research and smart work to get there.

The market would be even more saturated if it were that simple.

You're probably wondering, how the heck can I sell over $2k?!

[Read more…]

How I Grew My Pinterest Engagement By 1200% in 30 Days

How I Grew My Pinterest Engagement By 1200% in 30 Days

Whether you’re a business owner, blogger or freelancer, having a Pinterest is crucial if you want to get more traffic, engagement, and ultimately, sales.

Pinterest has migrated from a social media platform to a powerful search engine to rival Google and Bing.

As a business owner and blogger who works with creatives, adding Pinterest to my strategy was a no-brainer.

I’ll show you how – after only 30 days of re-focusing my content and services with Pinterest in mind, I grew my engagement by 1200%.

Yep, that stat totally BLEW my mind!

Follow these 5 steps to increase YOUR engagement on Pinterest so you can get more people to:

  • read your blog post
  • sign up to your mailing list
  • buy your product
  • contact you about a consultation

[Read more…]

The 2016 Instagram Algorithm Change and 5 Steps on How You Can Fight It + Remain Unaffected

The 2016 Instagram Algorithm Change and 5 Steps on How You Can Fight It

Have you heard about what Instagram is doing that will dramatically change your Instagram marketing plans?

No more flying blind.

No more winging it.

For most makers, artists and designers I teach and mentor, Instagram is their top choice of marketing to get traffic and sales to their shop.

Unfortunately, that's about to change.

Instagram announced on March 15, 2016 that they were going to implement an algorithm that would show the best posts to you first, rather than in chronological order as it had been doing in the past few years.

This comes as no surprise, considering Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012. And as small business owners who run Facebook pages, we all know about Facebook's algorithm that prevents your posts from being seen by your own fans.

It became so frustrating, disappointing and some creatives even felt it was a total waste of time.

Creative biz owners then flocked to Instagram because it was easier to use and the highly visual layout works well for makers, artists and designers. There had not been an algorithm yet, so everyone had a fair share when it came to Instagram reach and visibility. We were at an level playing field.

From today on, the tech world will be testing creatives once again.

I teach a course on how to increase your Facebook reach and engagement, called the Facebook Recovery System.

This course isn't about how to gain more followers, even though it's a nice side effect of increasing your reach and engagement.

For starters, I explain why there's an algorithm in the first place.

And Instagram puts it eloquently:

“As Instagram has grown, it’s become harder to keep up with all the photos and videos people share. This means you often don’t see the posts you might care about the most.”

Algorithms are put in place for everyone's benefit. It's in Google search engines, Etsy search engines, your Facebook newsfeed, Pinterest's smart feed, and now it'll be in Instagram.

There's simply too much content for anyone to consume in a single day.

Instead of showing you less relevant, lower quality posts even though they're more timely, Instagram (along with all other social media and search engines) is choosing to select the best photos to show you based on, according to Instagram:

  • the likelihood you'll be interested in the content
  • your relationship with the person posting
  • the timeliness of the post

What this means for you as a creative business owner

[Read more…]

Why Instagram Feature Accounts Don’t Work + What To Do Instead

Why Instagram Feature Accounts Don't Work + What To Do Instead

Who loves Instagram?

Raise hand.

Instagram is the social media platform of choice for many makers, artists and designers running a small business.

It's a great place to have meaningful, one on one relationships with your customers.

And most importantly, it's proven to bring you sales.

I mean, that's why you keep posting on Instagram, right?

You're convinced it's helpful for your business.

But you're wanting to grow your following and reach more people.

How do you do that?

[Read more…]