October 2018 - Simplify Admin and Events

October 11, 2018October 11, 2018

How to make an image background Transparent

Have an image but the background is white or coloured? This tutorial will show you how to make an image background transparent using an unlikely tool, the humble Microsoft PowerPoint.

It can be frustrating sometimes when you have an image that you need a transparent background for but don’t have the expensive software to remove the background with ease.

Well, don’t despair! Watch this tutorial to see how simple it is to make an image background transparent using PowerPoint. Yes, Microsoft PowerPoint!

Here is a tutorial that I made back in 2017 using a now past clients product image. We needed transparent backgrounds to easily add her product images to her social media posts and ads.

Note: This tool is so handy, but isn’t so fabulous on fine detail images or objects with heaps of edges.

Try it for yourself! It’s such a great tool and so quick and easy to access, right in PowerPoint!

For more help with Admin, visit our Services page to see how Simplify Admin and Events can support you.

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October 11, 2018October 11, 2018

How to create a Mail Merge in Microsoft Word

Want to use the Mail Merge feature in Microsoft Word but don’t know where to start? Here is a tutorial showing you step by step how to create a mail merge in Microsoft Word.

This tutorial walks you through from start to finish just how simple it is to create a Mail Merge document in Microsoft Word.

Try it out for yourself!

Mail Merge documents are great for sending a large amount of correspondence but are also handy for things like welcome packs, or a standard letter.

What will you use the Mail Merge function for?

If you would like assistance in creating a Mail Merge document, or other Admin support, check out our Services page . Or you can contact us via our Contact us page for more information.

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October 11, 2018October 11, 2018

How to change text formatting in Excel

Did you know that there are 3 simple formulas you can use to change the text formatting in Excel?

It’s true!

Excel is a great tool which was originally created for numerical spreadsheets.
Although it’s great for keeping data, it can fall short in its abilities with things like grammar, spelling, and formatting.

That’s why this handy tip to help you change the formatting of your data, particularly when working on large amounts of data at a time, is so helpful.

Watch the below video on how to change the format of text in an Excel spreadsheet quickly and efficiently.

So that is how to change the text formatting in Excel. I have written down below the formulas I’ve used in the above video for you to easily refer to.

Make sure you watch the video to see how to copy the info from the cell to replace the original text so you no longer have the formula in the background of your spreadsheet.

To format text to have the first letter of each word with a capital letter:

=proper(cell)

To format text to have all letters upper case:

=upper(cell)

To format text to all be in lower case:

=lower(cell)

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October 11, 2018October 11, 2018

What’s the best appointment scheduling tool?

You’ve started your own business and things are going great, but your diary is getting crazy busy and you’re losing track of appointments? Then here’s the low down on all the appointment scheduling tools available to help you find the best one for you.

Keeping on top of all your appointments is essential for your brand and your reputation. Miss too many meetings with clients or potential clients and you’ll get a (bad) rep for being unreliable and uninterested.

But never fear, there’s a simple solution waiting just around the corner! Implementing an appointment scheduling tool into your diary management is the easiest way to have you back on schedule and rocking up to every appointment you’ve set.

So what’s the best option for you? It really depends on how you work, so here’s the low down on the most popular appointment apps going round to help you pick the right one for you.

Full disclosure, I haven’t used all of these apps myself, I’m a Calendly girl, but I have researched these for you and have heard from other VAs about the others on the list.

Calendly

Calendly works by syncing with your existing calendar and checks your availability to help you schedule meetings.

You can organise 1:1 meeting’s, group meetings and events like webinars.

Calendly will: send notification and reminder emails; it can add a buffer before and after your meeting (great if you want to accommodate for travel time); you can lock down how soon in advance someone can book a meeting with you (aka. they can’t book in for a meeting today or tomorrow); you can set a max number of meetings a day (say if you only have the capacity to speak with 4 clients a day) and can even deal with time zone differences.

Calendly also includes a payment platform, so if you have paid appointment times, Calendly can manage the payment of those sessions prior to your meeting with that person.

Don’t take my word for it, watch this video by Calendly on how it all works:

Calendly has a free 14-day trial. 3 pricing structures available: Free, Premium $8USD a month; and Pro $12USD a month.

For more info, visit www.calendly.com

Acuity

Acuity is a great scheduling tool with a heap of integration options.

You can: share your calendar across multiple social media platforms; customize the Acuity interface to include all your own branding; sell gift certificates; embed your calendar on your website and accept payments for appointments.

You receive a notification when a new appointment is booked, you can check your schedule from your smartphone and it sends email or text message confirmation and reminders. It can also manage offices and teams so you can have your staff all using Acuity instead of your mailing programs calendar function.

Acuity has a free 7-day trial. 4 pricing options: a free option; Emerging for $15USD a month; Growing $25USD a month; and Powerhouse $50USD a month.

For more info visit www.acuityscheduling.com

You Can Book Me

You can book me reminds me a lot of Calendly and I really like the look of it. It allows you to customise your availability and control when people can book you for an appointment. Integrates with Zapier, you have complete control over the look and feel of the platform, allows scheduling of 1:1 meetings or team meetings, mobile booking and sends appointment reminders.
Set up a regular weekly schedule of when you’re available, modify the duration of appointment availability and padding for travel time if required. It will also manage time zones for you.

You Can book me will also send follow up emails for you to thank people for meeting with you and can outline the next steps. Also, a nifty feature is that you can decline meetings people book in, so they come in as tentative and you confirm if you’re available (just in case something’s come up that isn’t in your calendar).

You Can Book Me has two options, a free version or a paid version, which is available on a monthly, yearly or 2 yearly plan.

Don’t take my word for it, watch this video by You Can Book me on how it all works:

For more info, visit www.youcanbook.me

Simply Book

An English based booking program, with multiple languages available, Simply A booking system designed to suit a multitude of industries, it’s a great option if you’re looking for a booking system.

Simply Book allows for: re-occurring meeting appointments; reminders via text or email; accept’s payments for appointments; can manage event appointments; membership bookings; and even classes.

Simply Book will integrate with your calendar to ensure that times when you’re not available, will be reflected in your availability for people to book an appointment with you. The booking site is also completely customisable to match your branding.

Simply Book also allows for multiple location sites, so if you’re based from a few offices, people can book in with you at various locations.

A free demo is available by visiting their site.

Pricing structure: a Free plan; a basic for $9.90 a month; Standard at $29.90 a month; and Premium $59.90 a month. A free one month trial of the premium available.

For more info, visit www.simplybook.me/en/

Schedule Once

Built for service based entrepreneurs, Schedule Once is a robust platform which seems to offer all the features you’d want from a scheduling tool, including direct integration with Zoom.

Schedule Once integrates with your existing calendar, can manage time zones and will send reminders. Plus is able to manage multiple event types.

With a customizable theme, payment integration and the ability to handle teams (people can book who they’re booking in with, which is great for offices with multiple practitioners), it’s hard to fault this scheduling platform.

A free 14-day trial is available. 3 pricing structures: Basic $7.50USD a month; Professional $15.80USD a month; and Enterprise $32.50USD a month.

For more info, visit www.scheduleonce.com

Appointment Core

Designed to integrate with InfusionSoft, Appointment Core is a sophisticated scheduling option.

Appointment Core will: add appointment information into InfusionSoft directly; you can generate personalised links for existing InfusionSoft contacts; allows you to select what appointment options people can book from; buffer before and after meetings to allow for travel; and will adjust to show when you’re not available based on your existing calendar appointments. Appointment Core can handle timezones with ease, along with teams. Also integrates well with Zoom and GoToMeeting.

A Free 30-day trial is available. Pricing packages: Personal $27 per month; Team $47 per month; and Professional $87 per month.

For more info, visit www.appointmentcore.com

Have an appointment scheduling app you use and love that isn’t on the list? Leave a comment below and let us know all about it!

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October 2, 2018October 2, 2018

Being Social on Instagram is good for Business

Instagram is a Social Network, so it goes without saying that being social on Instagram is good for business.

So How do you get social on this platform in a way that will help your business? Here is a guide to help you get social and use all the opportunities available to connect with your audience and grow your followers organically.

Remember, being social is about getting Instagram to share your content, but it’s also about building a community and connecting with your key audience. It’s an opportunity to build a relationship with your audience.

Post Regularly

Post 2 – 3 times a day during peak times, including on Instagram stories. This keeps you in your audiences feed and interacting with the platform.

Reply to all comments on your posts

When you reply to every comment on your posts, it show’s Instagram that you are engaged with your audience. And don’t worry about the bot comments, reply to them too, every comment counts.

Go check out people who liked your content

Especially important for accounts looking to grow, make sure you go on over to like and comment on the latest post of those who liked or commented on your post. This helps build your rapport with that follower and shows them that you’re interested in them too.

Like and comment on new followers content

Do the same for people who come and follow your page for the first time. Visit new followers feed and like and comment on a most recent post. Don’t feel obligated to follow the person back, unless you want to that is.

Follow relevant Hashtags

While Hashtags are a great tool to help get your content out to your ideal audience, they’re also used by your ideal audience in their posts.

Go ahead and follow Hashtags that are relevant to your ideal market so they appear in your news feed. Then you can like and comment on posts relating to Hashtags you use.

Don’t just like, comment!

Liking a post doesn’t get you far in the brownie points department. Instagram likes to see you commenting on posts. Why do you think all those bots do it? But unlike those pesky bot comments, be genuine and engaging.

Freshen up your Following List

Instagram understands that as a society, we’re regularly meeting new people and occasionally, unfriending others. So, for this reason, it’s good to regularly follow new accounts and occasionally, do a clean out of the accounts you’re following.

Unfollow accounts that don’t come up in your feed anymore, aren’t aligned with your brand or message or don’t interest you.

Follow whoever you like. But if they’re related to your key audience, or something that interests you, that’s great too.

Be social in Stories

I could do a whole other blog just on Instagram Stories. It’s a platform that’s just taken off! While it was a slow start, stories are where it’s at. To take advantage of the platform, or to really connect with your key audience, especially influencers, make sure you’re in there commenting and replying to stories. It’s a great way to connect and form a relationship with people.

If you’re a brand that is looking to use Influencer engagement

This is a big one for those that are looking at influencer engagement. Ready?

Write a list of 5-10 influencers you want to work with. Follow all of them. Then every day, visit their Instagram feed once or twice a day and like and comment on the most recent post or story. Start building a relationship with them, so when you do go to make contact about some influencer work, they already have a relationship with you and will be more approachable.

Check out Linktr.ee

Linktr.ee is an awesome tool that allows you to have multiple options in your bio link. No more constantly changing your bio link when you want to direct people to a product, blog, your Facebook page, a competition or somewhere else. Linktr.ee gives you options and has been shown to increase conversion rates. Check it out www.linktr.ee

Never, Ever, Ever

Never, Ever, Ever, use a bot or third party app to comment for you or follow and unfollow accounts for you. Doing this is just asking for trouble. While these programs have been around for a while, it’s becoming more and more unpopular. but most importantly, Instagram is constantly working on shutting these bots down. So stay away from all of these types of schemes.

And while we’re on it, don’t buy followers. Just don’t. Those fake followers aren’t your key audience, they won’t help you in the long run and you have no guarantee of how long they’ll last.

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October 2, 2018October 2, 2018

10 Tips for Instagram Success

If you’re finding Instagram a hard social channel to get into, here are my 10 tips for Instagram Success.

Tip 1 – Post Regularly

A regular posting schedule, between 2 – 3 posts a day is the optimal number of posts to boost your reach and get your content seen on Instagram.

Tip 2 – Post during peak times

Posting at the times when your audience is online is key. This will ensure that your content is served up while your audience is online, instead of your post getting lost.

Tip 4 – Instagram Stories is your friend

Instagram Stories is getting bigger and bigger. Did you know there are some accounts that just do Instagram stories? Make sure you’re posting on both Instagram itself and stories daily. And yes, your 3 posts a day can be one story and two posts…

Tip 5 – Be Social

It sounds like a strange one doesn’t it. But it’s not. Instagram is a social network, so the more you are on it, socializing, the better. For more information on how to be social on Instagram for your business, read my blog – Being Social on Instagram is good for Business.

Tip 6 – Mix it up

Post a variety of content, ranging from product/service posts, personal posts, meme type posts, etc. depending on your audience, to ensure you’re keeping your audience interested and they don’t feel like they’re seeing the same thing from you all the time.

Tip 7 – Clean out your friends’ list

I touch on this on another blog, but a regular clean out of who you’re following is good. It show’s Instagram that you’re engaged with the platform. A regular clean out it a good thing.

Tip 8 – Hashtags

Hashtags are your BFF when it comes to Instagram. Not only should you use Hashtags for your posts, but following Hashtags that are relevant to your industry and your audience is a great way to keep in touch. Follow Hashtags that are relevant to you, or that your ideal audience use and like and comment on posts that come up in your feed.

To find out more on how Hashtags can work for you on Instagram, read my blog – Why are Hashtags so important on Instagram.

Tip 9 – Reply to every Comment

Like and reply to every comment you receive on a post. This show’s Instagram that you’re interacting with the people who are interacting with you and improves your reach. Posts that are commented on (and replied to) within minutes of posting get better reach.

Tip 10 – Be genuine

No one likes a fake account or one that’s constantly selling to them. Be genuine, show some personality and enjoy the social side of the social network.

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October 2, 2018October 2, 2018

Why are Hashtags so Important on Instagram?

And how to make the most of Hashtags for your brand!

If you’re new to Instagram or are just getting into Instagram for business, then you might be wondering what the fuss is all about when it comes to Hashtags.

Unlike Facebook, Instagram allows you an opportunity to get into the feed of people who don’t follow you by using Hashtags.

Instagram allows up to 30 hashtags per post so you can reach more people. But how do you make the most of Hashtags? Here are a few simple tips to get started.

Where to put them

There is a forever changing debate about the best spot to place your Hashtags. The general placement is either in the post itself or in the first comment (or a mixture of both, with 3 hashtags in the post and the rest in the comment).

There’s no one way that works and it may be a trial and error with your audience, but it also depends on the scheduling tool you use to what you can do. I personally post one or two hashtags in the post, then put the rest in the first comment.

What type of Hashtags should I use?

This is the age-old question. What type of hashtags should you use? It really depends on your type of account, your ideal market, and your location.

Look for Hashtags that are relevant to your industry, your ideal audience, and your location. Using a mixture of all three is the most effective method for reaching your ideal audience.

It’s ideal to have a mix of hashtags of varying popularity, you should pick hashtags that range from a few thousand to a few 100 thousand.

Avoid using hashtags in the millions, unless you’re a larger account.

What Hashtags to avoid

Keep away from Hashtags that are single words like #happiness and #coffee these types of one word hashtags tend to attract a lot of fake followers and accounts that use bots to gain followers, which are best to avoid.

Although Instagram came out and declared once and for all that shadowbanning wasn’t a ‘thing’, there are still Hashtags out there that you should avoid. Don’t use hashtags that have been hidden from the Instagram Community.

Hashtags are regularly reported by Instagram users for inappropriate content and will be hidden by Instagram. Instagram will alert you when the Hashtag you’re viewing is restricted, by displaying a message like this one when you look at the recent tab for that particular Hashtag.

The list of banned Hashtag is forever changing, so it’s best to regularly check by searching each hashtag directly within Instagram.

Mix it up

It’s a good idea to use a variety of hashtags and mix it up. Don’t use the same 30 hashtags for each post.

The reason? It shows Instagram that you’re putting thought into your posts and you’re being social. Instagram is a social network after all.

Have a handful of hashtags that relate directly to your product/brand, then create a Hashtag bank.

A Hashtag bank is a selection of hashtags you can use for particular types of posts so you have a selection of Hashtags ready to go for each type of post. This will help you to use a variety of Hashtags which will keep Instagram happy.

Make sure you’re regularly keeping an eye out for new hashtags that are up and coming or relate to your industry, to ensure you’re using the most relevant hashtags for your industry or your ideal audience. There are alway’s up and coming new Hashtags or trends in hashtags, so regularly research new ones.

Connect with Others

Hashtags are also a great tool to reach out and keep in touch with your ideal audience but commenting on other posts using Hashtags. To read more on this head over to my blog: Being Social on Instagram is good for Business.

Hashtags are a great way to help you get yourself and your brand out and seen on Instagram. Instagram is a fabulous social network, so Hashtags alone aren’t the only answer, being social is a big key to Instagram success.

For more tips on how to make the most of Instagram for your business, read my blog: 10 Tips to Instagram Success.

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