Sparking Connection Blog

Social Media, Tips & Trends, Marketing Nancy Sheed Social Media, Tips & Trends, Marketing Nancy Sheed

Nurturing your nonprofit's message: strategies for authentic engagement

Recently I had a truly insightful conversation with a friend who's navigating the world of communications for a wonderful nonprofit. We chatted about the unique challenges of sharing impactful stories, especially when the organization’s work involves sensitive situations and clients privacy is paramount. It made me reflect on how many purpose-driven organizations are doing incredible work but might feel stuck when it comes to effectively communicating their mission and building engagement online.

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Business, Website Design, Tips & Trends Nancy Sheed Business, Website Design, Tips & Trends Nancy Sheed

Website Refresh Checklist: Essential Elements and Best Practices For Increased Visibility and Engagement

Even in this era of social media proliferation, your website is still a key marketing tool for you and your business. As it is controlled by you (not a mega platform that changes the rules of engagement frequently and unexpectedly), it makes sense to regularly check that your website is working as hard as it can for you.

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Tips & Trends Nancy Sheed Tips & Trends Nancy Sheed

The algorithm is not a person

Escaping the algorithm trap: Building authentic connections on your own terms. Recently I’ve witnessed two different scenarios where people referred to the algorithm as though it were a being: “The algorithm doesn’t like me today.” and “We can’t stop posting or we will be penalized by the algorithm.”

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Tips & Trends Nancy Sheed Tips & Trends Nancy Sheed

Celebrating Women Coming Together

As this month of celebrating Women’s History winds down (not that we shouldn’t be celebrating women every month), I’d like to give a shout-out to all of the amazing and inspiring women I’ve admired, met, learned from, connected with and worked with who have helped me get to where I am today. 

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Tips & Trends Nancy Sheed Tips & Trends Nancy Sheed

Why It Took Me Two Weeks To Send This

How do you handle this?

This blog post was meant to go live over two weeks ago. But I couldn’t send it. I didn’t know how to strike the balance in acknowledging the acts of war occurring in Ukraine while trying to move forward with “business as usual” without seeming unmoved, unsympathetic, or tone-deaf.

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Business, Tips & Trends Nancy Sheed Business, Tips & Trends Nancy Sheed

A New Way to Use Personal Brand Photos for Marketing & Business Growth

Alice Patterson is not just another photographer. She specializes in personal brand photography for women entrepreneurs. She has created and designed her business, Loving My Company, to be a unique membership for female business owners who are expanding their businesses and their networks through very engaging social media and content marketing.

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Business, Tips & Trends Nancy Sheed Business, Tips & Trends Nancy Sheed

The Ideal Working Relationship Between an Author and Editor

While Brooke and I met waayyyy back in our magazine publishing days, she has since worked in nearly every capacity of the book publishing world. She now balances her book work between the roles of ghostwriter and book editor. In addition to being one of the most fun AND funny people I know, Brooke has really smart things to say about helping authors.

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Business, Tips & Trends Nancy Sheed Business, Tips & Trends Nancy Sheed

Tips & Trends in Good Book Design

Even though George started with his design passion way back in high school and carried him through college, his journey to become a book designer was anything but straightforward. Being part of a publishing start-up out of college George got immediate exposure to client facing work. Nearly 12 years later he had grown into the “Creative Director” position with a staff larger than the entire company when he had started.

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Tips & Trends, Business Nancy Sheed Tips & Trends, Business Nancy Sheed

Why You Need Brand Strategy

After going through the “brand breakthrough” process with Michelle earlier this year, I was so captivated with her approach that I really wanted her to share it with others. Listen to our conversation, where she explains the concept of branding – in an authentic way that makes sense – and is FUN!

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