Make Your Own Social Media Icons for your Emails

It’s actually pretty easy to make your own Mailchimp social media icons for your email campaigns.

Here is exactly what I do:

  1. You first need to make your colored icons. I use Flaticon.com. You’ll sign up for a free account and then search “Instagram,” for example, and pick the icon you want to use.
  2. From there you can click EDIT ICON and you will choose the exact color you would like your icon to be. Enter your brand’s HEX colors at this step.
  3. Download a PNG file of your colored icon. I usually do 32px size.
  4. Then you will go into Mailchimp and head to your Content Studio > My Files. Upload the images of your new custom-color social icons.
  5. You will then click on the actual file in Mailchimp and then click “View Details” and then click COPY URL. This is the URL you will need for your coding.

Now the easy part!

  1. Now head to your email campaign and you will drag in a “Code Block” wherever you want your icons.
  2. PASTE IN THIS CODE and we will soon put in that link you just copied.
<style type="text/css">
.social { font-family: 'Lucida Sans Serif', sans-serif; size: 10px; }
.social img { width:35px; height: auto; }
.social a {text-decoration: none;}
.social a:hover { color: #ffffff; }
.social ul { list-style-type: none; margin-right:40px; text-align: center; }
.social li { display: inline-block; margin: 10px; }
</style>
<div class="social">
<ul>
    <li><a href="https://www.twitter.com/emilyryantweets" target="_blank"><img src="https://mcusercontent.com/73b7dc46becfe523a3c6cbd58/images/ce277f61-a3df-ffd9-6fc0-a0756260241d.png"></a></li>
    <li><a href="https://instagram.com/emilyryanlikes" target="_blank"><img src="https://mcusercontent.com/73b7dc46becfe523a3c6cbd58/images/0e498196-ce63-f6eb-509f-ea1173064000.png"></a></li>
</ul>
</div>

NOW, SIMPLY REPLACE THE LINKS IN THE CODE.

You can edit the code above and put in YOUR social media handles for each button (you see here – emilyryantweets and emilyryanlikes) – REPLACE with your handles.

And then PASTE in that URL you copied of your first social icons where you see the link “mcusercontent” – Make sure you paste between the quotes.

You’ll need to go back to your Content > My Files in Mailchimp and upload your other icons and grab those other links and repeat this for each.

That’s it! You should have pretty, custom-colored icons now!

Any questions? Let me know! You can email me at hello (at) westfield-creative (dot) com.

8 B2B Instagram Marketing Tips & Best Practices

B2B Instagram Marketing Tips

Instagram has always been a place for brands to shine–interacting with customers and creating a feed akin to an art show. But what about B2B businesses looking to enter the game?

How should a B2B business use Instagram? 

We asked eight B2B leaders, “What Instagram tip would you have to offer other B2B businesses?”

Here’s what they had to say:

It’s All About Insights

For us, Instagram is a place to share insights and wisdom. Our work is about people and we want to put people first through the content we share. As a result, much of our content is motivational and inspirational. Connect your business, whatever you offer, to something personal and that will offer something valuable to your audience. 

Jenn Christie, Y Scouts

Share Your Brand Personality

We use Instagram as a way to share our brand’s personality beyond our site while still promoting our business. Instagram allows us to connect to our audience in a way that’s more personable. We share our sales and products, of course, but we also engage with our followers by asking questions and including them in the content. Create a brand personality and use that to guide your content.

Vanessa Molica, The Lash Professional

Network

We have a podcast (CEOpodcasts.com) so we use it very much as a way to connect with podcast guests and generate content. The reality is that most businesses are looking for visibility so we try to provide that opportunity with our platform. By doing that, it opens up the opportunity to develop, nurture, and cultivate relationships. Simply by sending a direct message to a potential podcast guest can open up a tremendous amount of opportunities.

Gresham Harkless, Blue 16 Media

Promote Brand Identity and Culture

We use Instagram for culture posts. Our audience doesn’t consume content or convert on Instagram so we’ve switched from trying to promote on there to showcasing a more human side of us and highlighting our great brand!

Janelle Amos, Revenue Marketing Manager

Be Consistent

We use Instagram to promote our mission, programs, and fundraisers. The best practice we strive for is consistency. What I have learned about social media engagement is it is all about consistency. It is also important that you create polished and eye-catching content for social media since it is driven by picture content.

Lloyd Hopkins, Million Dollar Teacher Project

Start Your Narrative

You are not the hero of the story. This comes from Storybrand by Donald Miller and it is more applicable than ever. To be effective on Instagram, start your narrative where the user is and not what you want them to see. Provide value by helping them navigate the problem they are currently having.

Lukas Ruebbelke, BrieBug

It’s OK if it Isn’t Right For You

First, determine what business objective(s) you want to achieve from Instagram (and social media as a whole). Instagram isn’t for everyone, and if your efforts on the platform aren’t organic or authentic, it could actually damage your brand reputation with your followers. If you do create a presence on Instagram, commit to conceptualizing the type of visual content that will tell your brand’s story in a compelling way.

Rennie Leon, Director of Marketing and Communications

Feature Behind the Scenes

Instagram is our favorite tool for letting our brilliant team shine. Since we’re a digital marketing company for small businesses, it’s important for us to have a medium where our clients can learn more about the awesome people they’re working with. Through our efforts, we aim to show that we connect small businesses with customers and have a great time doing it. Since Instagram is a casual social media platform, I recommend using this channel to feature the people working behind the scenes. Show people what your business is all about, but don’t forget to highlight those who make things happen! 

Grecia Olachea, Markitors

11 Best WordPress Design Tips For A Clean & Modern Website

Whether you like it or not, people will judge your company based on your website. In light of this, it’s important to have a clean, user-friendly webpage to attract clients. If you’re operating on WordPress, there are multiple options available to impart a modern feel to your website. 

In this piece, 11 small business leaders share the steps they took to breathe new life into their company sites.

Conduct Research

We recently just did an overhaul of our website. We started by researching large companies we look up to and see what type of content and style they’re currently using. Once we had a better understanding of current trends, our own user experience, and the ideal layout, we found a template and plug-ins that would drive conversions.

Megan Chiamos, Cannabis ERP Software 

Have Easily Identifiable Calls to Action and Negative Space for Easy Navigation

We are currently working to move our website to WordPress from a different platform because of its versatility. During the transition, we are working with a designer to ensure the best possible SEO performance with the new design. Two of the key components of our new site will be easily identifiable calls to action and negative space to help ensure easy navigation.

Pete Newstrom, Arrow Lift

Use Meaningful Images

Selecting images is a very important part of website design. For our adoption agency, the images we have chosen to select on our website are very reflective and respectful of the unplanned pregnancy our birth mothers face. Previously, our website was populated with photos of babies. Now, the hero images on our site are filled with images of the life situations birth mothers face: the initial positive pregnancy test; the discomfort of a pregnancy; wondering what the future holds; research; joy. By including these images, it is our hope that we can visually communicate to birth mothers that we understand what they are going through…and that we are here to help. 

Kenna Hamm, Texas Adoption Center

Simplify the Messaging

We have simplified and cleaned up the messaging. Ensure load times are fast and provided call to actions right at the top of the site. We also are telling people what happens to their information right up front using video so we can eliminate any fear. Finally, we are including video and virtual tours as much as possible.

Thomas Ahern, Embark Behavioral Health

Prioritize User Experience

Carefully think about the user experience and flow of information. Write enough but not too much — nobody likes to read the web. Make sure the design is clean, simple, and appealing.

DD Kullman, University of Phoenix

Keep it Fast and Efficient

I am in the process of a redesign. I was using a template that had a lot of custom css that just slowed the site down. Speed is one of the biggest ranking factors so I have switched to a lighter template with fewer plugins and a whole lot less custom CSS. Most of the fancy stuff I didn’t use anyhow. Simple, clean, easy to navigate, and fast is better than cool bells and whistles.

Eric Rutin, Rutin Marketing

Keep it Simple

Simplicity.  Easy, clean, and to the point without extra bells and whistles.  Use this style for a quick reference and then to start a real conversation about meeting your customer’s personal needs.  Every business and website has different needs.

Joe Harlan, JoeHarlan.net

Keep it Clean and Basic

My team and I are always updating our WordPress website. We keep it clean and basic. We want our customers to be able to easily flow through our website. 

Vanessa Molica, Eyelash Supplies Company

Use a Fresh Design and Real-Time Data

We have an expert and award-winning team that uses fresh design and real-time data to create brand awareness and help our services stand-out. We look at our site every day and it shows.

Cameron Robb, GPEC

Short, Choppy Copy Wins

One underrated aspect of a modern website is the copy. Short, choppy copy wins in today’s world. Say what you need to say in as few words as possible, as clearly as possible. For example, “We help ____ with ____ by ____”

Michael Norris, Youtech

Don’t Overcrowd the Pages

To adopt a clean, modern look, I do several things. One, I use a font that’s readable. I make sure that it’s big enough and that the color has high contrast against the background. Two, adding adequate space in between text and elements. If the page looks too squished, it looks outdated and messy. Three, use high-quality images to add visual interest.

Danielle Ganon, SEO Marketing Company

Why the name “Westfield Creative”?

In 2016, I had just relocated from NYC to Lake Tahoe and was trying to find a way to work from home, so that I could be around my then 6-month-old little boy. I have never been an office person and never will be. I had to find a way. In early 2016, after a call with my friend, Val Geisler (now an email marketing guru/expert), I started my virtual assistant business, “Emily Ryan Works,” which was helping entrepreneurs and small business owners with really anything they needed. From WordPress website help, to Mailchimp email newsletters, to graphics, to social media and much more.  They thought of something, we did it. It was really my dream at the time…just to be working from home.

 

Elizabeth Bogh and Emily RyanThen, this little business grew very quickly. And maybe too quickly. I kept taking on more and more clients and in 2017, my sister, Elizabeth, came on to help me manage it all. We grew to a full-time digital marketing agency, specializing in Mailchimp, social media and WordPress. As our business grew, we desperately wanted a new name. I hated the name “Emily Ryan Works.” It was a name that I quickly chose because www.emilyryan.com was NOT available on that day in 2016 and this was the only domain name I could find. And over time, as my sister took on 50% of our workload, I hated standing behind just my name. She never minded and actually preferred it that way (she always says that I should be the “face” of the business, but it feel right). So we began the search for a new biz name.

 

And it took FOREVER to come up with something that made sense for our business, for both of us and where the domain was actually available (harder than you think!). I think we went through 100 names. It had to be special for us. It had to be cool.

 

And then one day, we landed on a name that made so much sense to us both — Westfield Creative. Westfield (Road) being the street that we grew up on together in Charlotte, NC.  Liz and I lived at 3000 Westfield Road for 18 years (14 of those together) and it was truly a magical home to grow up in.

 

We grew up in an old, big blue house, covered in ivy. We could both tell you every corner of that house. We had a pool and a trampoline and our yard was a giant playground of awesomeness. We also had computers in several rooms of our house (which in the 80’s was pretty techie). Elizabeth actually went to a magnet school for science and technology (she was the real techie in our family) and I went to a performing arts school (I was the crazy, artsy theatre kid).

 

Westfield was our home and now with our new business name, it can be forever.