PR professionals and influencers alike know the struggle of social. We put time and effort into posting on social media for who to see?

Social media experts determine the perfect time to post, the perfect length of video, the best picture to post with it and yet it can still fall flat.

Audiences can stay the same, but platforms change their algorithms all the time, and often with no warning. 

What are social media professionals to do?

How much information can you gather from a first impression?

 First impressions set the tone for any relationship, personal or professional. These days, we not only make first impressions face to face, but online as well. According to AdAge, people are able to retain news feed information after only 1.7 seconds of viewing on a mobile device.

You have one point seven seconds to make a good impression, GO!

Continue reading to learn a few ways to ensure you’re making a good impression and prevent your reader from scrolling by.

The holiday season is here – which means goal setting and planning for 2017, lots of holiday parties and, for many, giving back to others.

In fact, the holidays are the most popular time for companies to harness the spirit of giving. Nearly 34 percent of all charitable giving is done in the last three months of the year, 18 percent in December alone.

It's for this reason that #GivingTuesday was created, a global day dedicated to giving back. This year it fell on Nov. 29. Next year it falls on Nov. 28. 

Here at Garden Media, we celebrate the holiday spirit by giving back at our annual Christmas Wrap. This year we had the pleasure of working with Oxford Church of the Nazarene and the Lighthouse Youth Center, a para-church organization that gives back to youth ages 9-18.

We gather as a team to sing Christmas songs, eat cookies and wrap our gifts. It’s a time of year when thinking about others is easy, fun and makes us feel good.

But enough about us. Let's take a look at what some of our favorite companies do for others:

Instagram, an app that allows users to edit and share photos, wants to become the go-to source for information and trends.

Instagram recently updated several search features, allowing the app to become increasingly more user friendly.

The search icon now offers an expansive menu of dynamic content and trending tags. One of Instagram’s newest functions allows users to explore live updates happening around the world.

Instagram CEO, Kevin Systrom, told Wired magazine “It’s a real-time visual pulse for what is happening in the world.”

Read on for more information on how garden brands can utilize the new Instagram updates.

Oxford English Dictionary debuted a new word in June 2014 – “Hashtag.”

The popular metadata tag allows social media users to combine words and phrases to formulate a search of key words pertaining to anything imaginable.

Hashtags have revolutionized social media since they were introduced on Twitter in 2009. Today, they serve as mini search engines and create opportunities for brands to categorize content, showcase personality, promote events and build buzz around a product.  

Although they began on Twitter, hashtags have since been incorporated into every social media platform available to consumers. They have even become incorporated into vocal speech.

Continue reading to learn how garden brands can incorporate hashtags into their social media branding strategy.