Anita KirkbrideAnita Kirkbride

Anita Kirkbride helps business owners stop performing for the algorithm and start making intentional choices about their marketing. Her company, Twirp Communications Inc, is for entrepreneurs who know social media matters, but are done with random posting, borrowed tactics, and advice that never fits real life. Through strategic training, no-nonsense education, and the Social Media Strategy for Anti-Heroes approach, Anita teaches people how to run their own social media with clarity, confidence, and a plan they’ll actually use. No hacks. No hustle culture. Just smart strategy for people who want their marketing to feel human and work on purpose.
Social media bird on movie set with megaphone

Equipment DIY Social Media Marketers Need to Improve their Content (updated for 2023)

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I definitely espouse the philosophy that one should just. get. started. no matter what equipment you have. Seriously. Thinking you have to have all the perfect equipment before you can start creating your own videos, podcast or other content is simply procrastination at work. You CAN get started with natural lighting and the cell phone in your pocket.  I’ve been creating videos for a few years now and I’ve only ever used natural lighting and my phone until this year when I finally bought a ring light! When you’re ready for an upgrade, or to polish your look and sound a bit, here are a few things to consider.

Social media bird using AI

How to Set Up and Use Facebook Automated Responses

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Have you noticed on someone else’s Facebook Page there’s a little box that pops up on and suggests questions for you to ask? Or perhaps you’ve sent off a message to a Page only to receive an instant message back letting you know your message was received? Many small businesses have not taken the time to set up these very useful features in Facebook and their popup boxes suggest I ask questions that simply do not fit the business. Facebook’s automated responses are very easy to set up, can help build trust and credibility on your page, and will definitely save you time in the long run.

Rocket ship emerging from laptop screen

Setting Your Website Up for Social Media Success

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In most marketing models, your website is the heart of your business and social media is the arteries bringing lifeblood to it. Social media spreads the word about your website and encourages people to come and read what you’ve written, or check out your products. We often think of social media as standing alone in this but really, if you want want to be efficient, you need to set up your website for social media success, too.

10 Things You Can Do During a Slow Period to Improve Your Social Media

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So you’ve found yourself with some downtime? Whether it’s life in a pandemic or life on summer holidays, there are lots of things you could be doing during a slow period to improve your social media for when things pick back up. I’m talking about doing all the stuff you usually say you don’t have time for. Here’s a list of 10 things you can be doing right now to improve your social media presence when the economy picks up again.

using social media for good

How Social Media is Helping us Thrive During a Pandemic

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As someone who spends inordinate amounts of time on social media for work, I get to see both the negative and the positive aspects of each platform. Lots of people are focusing on the negative right now, adding to the fear and anxiety of our collective situation. I want to give a shoutout to a few people who are shining a light in the darkness and giving us a way to spread hope. Social media is helping us THRIVE during this crisis, if you know where to look.

hashtags on Twitter and Instagram graphic

8 Types of Hashtags Every Small Business Owner Should be Using

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After 9 years of teaching entrepreneurs to use social media to grow their businesses, I can honestly say the thing I am asked most is “What is a hashtag?” People who are new to Twitter or Instagram look at the seemingly complex combination of characters, abbreviations and words and feel like it’s a completely new language they must learn. The good news is hashtags are actually quite simple.

Which Social Media Scheduler is Best for You?

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If you are doing any decent amount of social media marketing for your own business, or for others, you’ve probably already tried a scheduling system or two to help with the workload. Maybe you’ve felt it’s wrong to schedule content and you gave up? Or maybe you just didn’t find the right social media scheduler for your needs. Because I believe in responsible scheduling of content (please note, this is not content automation), I have tried many different scheduling systems. Some work with one platform, others with many. From my experience, all of the different scheduling programs have their benefits, it’s a matter of which scheduling process works best for you and your workflow.

twirps building relationships on social media

Do’s and Don’ts of Building Relationships on Social Media

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The key to building relationships on social media is to do it one step at a time. One small interaction at a time until you trust each other for a larger interaction, and then maybe you work together in a small way, and then you finally have built a relationship with that person that leads to bigger and better things and they become a friend.

content distribution plan twirp selling flowers

A Simple Evergreen Content Distribution Plan

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Once you’ve created the original content, be it a blog or a video, you will post a link on your social media. If it’s content you were able to repurpose into other related pieces, you’ll have multiple bits of content to post for a while. Now you need a content distribution plan and a good scheduling tool.