SCORE of Orange County (Calif.) hosted an online program titled “Creating Content for Social Media 2022” on Thursday, December 30. It was advertised through the C.H. Booth Library.

SCORE mentor Roni Ramos, who is the founder of Harmony 3 Productions, led the webinar, which covered everything from social media platforms to the importance of e-mail lists and photography.

According to Ramos, “SCORE is a national nonprofit organization and a partner of the US Small Business Administration (SBA). We have over 100 unpaid volunteers and we offer our services no-charge through funding from our sponsors and Congress. Since 1964, SCORE has helped 11 million businesses.”

In addition to one-on-one mentorship, SCORE offers a wide variety of workshops and webinars with experts from different fields of work.

Ramos explained that her company Harmony 3 Productions specializes in photography, video, motion graphics, coaching, and social media workshops.

With her background, she wanted to help the small business owners attending the class learn how to set themselves apart from other companies and utilize social media efficiently.

“You need to stand out, and you do that by being a resource,” Ramos said.

Consumer Connection

An important task for any business, Ramos noted, is to find its audience and speak to them directly. One way to do that is through social media.

“Social media content is everything today,” she said.

Companies and entrepreneurs can now post across multiple platforms – such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and TikTok – however, Ramos emphasized that “Customers search for brands on Instagram.”

She says to tell what the company is on Instagram through its highlights and top nine posts, as well as its profile image and description.

“Make sure that first impression is a good one,” Ramos said.

It is also crucial to keep the brand consistent across all platforms because authenticity is key to keeping customers.

She pointed out that a mistake people commonly make is jumping on hashtag trends just for the sake of it, but that it ultimately will be a turn-off for customers if they feel it is inauthentic.

“Make sure the hashtags reflect your brand. Don’t jump on if it doesn’t ring true … 51% of people will unfollow brands that share irrelevant content on social,” Ramos wrote in her slide.

In addition to social media, Ramos pointed out that having a website as a main hub with all the information is important and so is e-mail marketing.

For the latter, Ramos said it is “very, very valuable” to curate your own e-mail list of people who have given you permission to contact them about your company.

Not only is it “a must,” but it is also a cost-effective way to reach your targeted demographic.

She stated that 90% of e-mail reaches the designated audience while only 2% of fans will see a Facebook post.

When creating a design for an e-mail, Ramos recommends considering how the format will look on mobile devices, since that is how the majority of people read e-mails now.

To make it easy for people to enjoy the content on their phones, she says to include a photo, paragraph of information, then a call to action.

Ramos noted that having a person at the company specifically designated to handle social media and digital content is a great resource, but that it is not mandatory for success.

Increase Engagement

Along with establishing an online presence, Ramos said, “Engagement is so important.”

She advised that people ‘don’t post and ghost,” which means do not publish a post on social media then walk away. Instead, she encourages people to stay online to monitor the comments and likes on the post.

Ramos says that for her company she responds to people in real time to get a back-and-forth conversation going. Many times, she will then go to the commenter’s page and like something appropriate there to keep up that connection.

Another way to keep engagement up is to post consistently.

As for what to post, Ramos suggested people can try testing a few types of posts to see what their audience responds to, such as posts with a picture, video, or even inspirational quote.

“Your own photos are important ... you can do this,” she expressed.

When taking photos, she reminded people to consider lighting (such as ring lights and tent lights), trying FlatLay photography (taking overhead images), and utilizing their iPhone camera. For editing, she said that she uses the apps Snapseed and A Color Story.

At the end of the webinar, Ramos stayed online to answer any questions from attendees and encouraged everyone to set three goals for themselves to track their success in 2022.

To learn more about SCORE, visit score.org. For more information about Roni Ramos and Harmony 3 Productions, visit harmony3productions.com.

Reporter Alissa Silber can be reached at alissa@thebee.com.