Hey everyone welcome to Social Media Hangout Time! Today we are here with, Kimmy’s back! Hey Kimmy!
Hi everybody, how are you?
And we have a guest who happens to be a relative/wife of our last guest, Carol Lynn Rivera. Thanks for coming on Carol Lynn.
Thanks for having me, I can’t wait.
Yeah, excited, excited. We’re kind of get to continue on from the last conversation. But first I’m going to have Kimmy introduce you and talk about your background and what you do.
That’s awesome. Hey before I get started Carol, have you ever been interviewed by a puppet? That’s a silly question.
I’m just going with no but I’m happy to have be the first time.
Oh awesome, I’m honored. So to introduce you Carol Lynn is a writer, content curator and your go-to person for planning strategy and ultimately getting your marketing done. As a co-owner of Rahvalor Interactive and Websearch Social, she builds WordPress sites, manages social media, writes for email campaigns, blogs websites, what-the-heck going to. Anyway, she has gone into the digital marketing business since 1999. Carol Lynn loves reading, writing and sunflowers and cupcakes and being able to work with her husband and business partner Ralph. So welcome to the show today Carol Lynn.
Thanks for having me, it’s great to be here,
Yeah, welcome, welcome. Great. Well, we’re going to talk today about content curation a little more. Sounds like we’re going to get deeper into the conversation that we previously had with Ralph, a couple of shows ago. So if you guys didn’t catch that then definitely go back to show number 30, sorry, I don’t know the name, 34 I believe. I believe it was 34 and listen to what he thinks about content. And now let’s expand on that and get into deep into content curation, Carol Lynn what’s your opinion on that?
Well Ralph and I share similar opinion and we’ve actually been talking about this for a long time which is that it’s not the best business strategy, in terms of marketing. And Ralph was on and he talked about why it’s not a good idea but what I really want to talk about is what is a good idea. Because it’s one thing to say, “oh, content curation is not going to get you the results you want,” but then the question is, “okay, now what?” So the reason that it doesn’t work really, if we kind of want to make a transition from our last conversation to this one, is because ultimately you’re sharing stuff from other people and that doesn’t say anything about you. It doesn’t say anything about your business. It doesn’t say anything about your abilities, your personality, your brand, nothing. All it says is that you can find something interesting and share it. And anybody can do that. So that to us is not really a good profitable strategy.
You know and I’m going to go a little against the grain with this and have a little fun. It would have been more fun with Ralph but I thought about this after because he just, we’d probably bounce back and forth for awhile but question, you know with Facebook being the way it is, and I am friends with, I do love the program Post Planner because it does come up with a lot of content curation. But if you don’t, I’ve seen it and have it documented. If you do not post on Facebook enough, you’re not seen. And so to come up with a large amount of content, it’s pretty difficult. So give us some feedback on what I’m talking about. I’d love to hear your feedback on that because I do know, I took a break a little bit of a break on Facebook and just kind of backed out and lowered how often I post and nobody was responding. So suddenly then when I decided to ramp a back up and do more, then all suddenly the responses happen. So go ahead and talk about that.
Yeah, well see there’s a whole lot in that that I can go on about ten different responses. But let’s start with the fact that you’re never going to be seen all the time anywhere anyway because, first of all, the platforms are designed to make it so that you won’t be seen all the time. The Facebook’s EdgeRank has made it so that if you post something on your page and you have a hundred fans, maybe 5 of them won’t see that unless you pay to boost and advertised it. And that’s why they designed, two reasons: one they want to sell you advertising and two, people are posting so much and it comes real hard to build it and people see that all day long. And so Facebook is saying, “well what are we going to do with these a lot of content… I know, let’s eliminate some of it.” And it’s kind of this self-defeating cycle where Facebook says, “no, too much content we’re not going to show it.” And people go, “oh my gosh I’m not being seen, I must post more.” So that’s part of it. And then the other part of it is that engagement does not always translate to results. And I think that’s where we can talk about like misnomers when it comes to marketing because just because I posted a really cute picture of a cat and twenty people liked it, that doesn’t mean they’re going to hire me.
Right.
And I love sharing stuff. I share stuff all the time. And we share fun stuff, we share photos and different things but there’s a difference between engagement and business. And like I said, just clicking that like button, getting that “engagement” doesn’t mean that someone thinks that I’m qualified to do whatever it is I want them to hire me to do.
So let’s talk about target market. Is that something that you want to think about, obviously? I mean that’s, go ahead and talk about into reaching that target market and how you would suggest doing that with your content?
Yeah, I mean the first is start with building up a relevant audience, which I guess can kind of tan into the whole don’t-buy-Facebook-fans and don’t-but-Twitter-followers and stuff like that. But it’s always quality more than quantity to me. So if you have hundred Facebook fans that you know you can engage with and generate business from, that is way better than having a thousand fans that you never talk to you and don’t really care. So in terms of targeting people, you have to start with building that audience and that’s a whole other conversation – how you do that. But once you have the audience then you have to feed them things that are relevant. Not just things that they want to see. Everybody wants to see a picture of a delicious slice of chocolate cake. Everyone wants to see the cute, you know…
The cats, yep.
That doesn’t help you so you have to … In case you are wondering when he was going to make an appearance.
Uh-huh! The cat. Oh, that’s great! Well, okay, so, what would you suggest, let’s go through a step by step process of let’s use Kimmy, once again. Kimmy as the salon owner. So let’s just go through step by step kind of what kind of content for strategy she should be doing?
Sure. Well there’s lots of things that you can do and some of it depends on part of what your goals are in social media so, again a whole other conversation. But let’s say she has a salon and somewhere in there she’s got some really awesome shampoo, equipment, some kind of really nice shelves of nail color. And she’s got a luxurious little couch where she serves people espresso while they’re waiting. Photos of that kind of stuff is way more relevant than just kind of arbitrary stuff that you might find that’s just fun across the internet. People love behind the scenes stuff. They like to see what they’re missing. It doesn’t even have to be an amazing picture. Just like, “oh look, this are my nail polish bottles,” and suddenly everybody likes it. So, I mean, that’s just human nature. People want to get in your door and behind your scene and see what’s going on. So..
People like those photos. People like to see people in tinfoil all over their head. That one gets a lot of shares.
Exactly. So that’s another great thing that you can share which is pictures of your actual customers. What better testimonial for your business than a photo of someone with their beautiful hair style that they’re, someone’s going to the prom. And now you’ve done their hair and it look gorgeous. You don’t have to post articles about the best ways to treat your hair from somebody else’s website. You don’t have to post pictures of other hairstyles and ideas from other peoples, you know, idea from other people’s stuff. Post your own stuff. You’ve got plenty of customers. Do a before and after. This is the girl when she came in, look at her boring hair. This is the way she went out:stunning. And people love that stuff. They want to see that in action. And specially when you’re dealing with that kind of clientele, I’m sure that those people will be more than happy to tag their own photos, share their own photos. Be like, “look how awesome I look,” you know that kind of thing. Look at my great manicure… Look at the little crystal rhinestones I got…. So all that kind of stuff, that’ll generate engagement but that’s actually relevant to you because now people know wow you do awesome manicures, then you do some great styling and cuts and things like that.
That’s a great idea! And so can you give me some ideas on, you know I like to run contest once in a while. So what would be some good ideas for a contest that would be considered relevant?
Hmmm for a salon, that’s a good one! Alright you might stop me on that one. Let me think for a second.
Oh yeah!
Come on!
What kind of things would you give away like a surprise for a contest?
Well we carry a line of products in our stores so we give a bottle of shampoo and conditioner if they get a haircut. And sometimes it’s the gift certificate, we had lots of fun things. And contests on favorite color of finger nail polish. So we put something up and say, “you don’t give us your vote, is it pink, blue, yellow or green?” We’re just having fun with it, I was just pushing your button to see.
Oh that’s okay, actually we’re going for that one, too, which is that if you want to sell certain products you can have a contest where you do a before and after. So take a picture of drabby housewife comes in, looks like heckand then goes out looking stunning and beautiful like a model. And then do a series of it. Now you have your fans vote which one is the best makeover? And whoever gets the most votes, they get the free product.
Oh that’s a great idea, I like it.
There you go, that’s a really good idea. We’ve got a picture. Well you know the selfie stick could come in very handy in a salon, don’t you think?
That’s a great idea, too, for content. And you don’t even have to do any work at that point. Have your own customers take their own selfies and post them to your social account, how easy is that?
That’s awesome!
Exactly, exactly.
How would you like that camera guy?
She’s trying to say it serious! That’s great. So what would you say would be the best, what could businesses do for real effective. So you’re saying, I like this idea, this concept but now let’s take it to off of, I love this idea so this would be one type of post, okay. So what else could they do that’s not inside their salon or their business. Because like for me, I took a picture with the selfie stick in my messy, sort of office but there’s not a whole lot when I’m working by myself that I can do. So what are some other ideas?
Right. Well I think that having a customercentric approach is a always a good idea. You can find endless material in that. And you’re doing a video podcast here so you have Kimmy, when she’s looking rather stunning and she could be in many poses and photos. You can have pictures from guests and your appearances and stuff, or are we still talking about salon?
Either one. And she’s part of our show so there you go.
You don’t have to talk about me all the time.
Yeah why not, you’re cute!
Well the average entrepreneur, maybe the person that works at home because we really focus this show on small businesses that the salon, small business, but also entrepreneurs. Like people that maybe are, maybe they are network marketer, maybe they’re just working at their house doing their own type of business, a small business. What suggestions would you have for them?
I think when it comes down to those kind of businesses, well really for any business, but specially when you’re talking about people who, there’s a lot of. There’s tons of network marketers, there’s tons of contractors and landscapers and people who work maybe they work by themselves but they’re running a business. And there are lots of people who do that. So a lot of times when it comes down to in terms of who should someone choose to do business with will ask for your qualifications. But also it’s you and it’s your personality. So if I had a choice between contractor A who is really good at his job, and contractor B who is really good at his job; but contractor A is fun and I like his pictures on Facebook, I’m going with contractor A. So I think that people just, they like to see you and there’s this like weird mentality in heads of small businesses and solos and people working on their own, that they shouldn’t be promotional; that nobody wants to see all their self-promotional stuff. And so they get really uncomfortable when they have to share things about themselves like, “oh I don’t want to post my blog post twice because that’s too much.” No it’s not! You’re awesome, you’re doing what you’re do for a reason because you’re good at it and because you want to help people, presumably. And so get that out there. And people, like I said, people like to see the people. And I’ll give you an example from our business. We work from our home office. So your point before there’s a not a whole lot going on, it’s a room, right? But you’d be amazed at the amount of let’s call it engagement and response that we get for posting things like the guitars on the wall. I can’t tell you how many people start conversation with us about guitars. The Hello Kitty that made an appearance earlier, I can’t tell you even blog post that we’ve spawn out of Hello Kitty. So anything down to the minutia on your desk can become a piece of content if you spin it correctly. So all you need is a little bit of creativity and suddenly your pen is part of your personality and it doesn’t really take much. And that’s the kind of engagement that you want because those are people who are really talking to you and…
My kids love that. I wish, I have one upstairs.
There’s no lack of personality in this room.
There’s none.
That’s awesome.
People who work on their own should not be afraid to get themselves out there. Be yourself, share the things that you like even if it’s outside of business. It’s not a terrible thing to say, “hey, me and my kids we went to the zoo and we had a great time looking at this tiger.” You know I know that in some way that kind of goes back to the cute cat photos but the idea still reflects you, not someone else. And so when you start conversations like that with people, it gives you a chance to get to know them and you can build those business relationships that are more important than just click a like button because it’s cute. Click the like button because it’s interesting, that kind of stuff.
Got it! Love it. These are some great ideas. So you’re teaching to think outside the box. Really instead of just thinking oh-I-got-to-post-whatever-everybody-else-is-posting, I have to just go share somebody else’s blog content because I don’t have enough of my own. Or something like that where thinking outside the box. I know one gal who we actually had on our show and she goes out and on beautiful days she’ll go take pictures outside around her area to put quotes and tips and that kind of thing on her own pictures. And it’s kind of a cool idea — taking your own scenery and making something out of it, spinning the quotes and stuff like that. So and of course, once again like you said, she’s focusing on the target market with those quotes. So it’s tips and quotes that are specific to the audience.
Yeah…
Go ahead.
What you just said is a perfect example of how you can create content really easily. These days who doesn’t have a smartphone? Walk outside or take a step out your front door, take a picture. You don’t have to go to to Bigstock and spend $2 on a picture of a tree. Go outside and snap one. Now you’ve got a piece of content. You put that on your computer and you don’t even have to borrow somebody else’s quote. Go right to your blog and pull out one liner that you said that was interesting, or that’s twittable or that’s quotable. And you can take 1 photo and 1 blog post and turn it into a bunch of content that’s yours and that’s relevant to your business and your audience.
Yes, absolutely.
You’re reusing that content, I completely agree. Why spend all the time on a blog post, we’ve preached this all the time. If you’re going to spend all that time, take it and reuse it into different formats… Completely agree.
Yeah and a blog post they’re like 2,000 words and somewhere in that 2,000 words I can come up with half a dozen quotes. Now I’ve got half a dozen pieces of content of my own. And the filters and stuff on the camera these days, you can take that picture of a tree and make it look twenty different ways. So it’s not that tough to create content that belongs to you.
Yes, yes.
We like to use Instagram in our salon so then we’ll take our Instagram pictures and we create a video, before and after video.
Yep, perfect. And you can repurpose that to Facebook and you can post it to Twitter so, that can go all over the place.
Uh-huh, absolutely. Well good, I am just, Kimmy anymore questions on this? I think we covered so much information. I think the bottom line of it is thinking outside the box using your own content. Just don’t do content just to do content. Do it focus on your target audience and the end-all goal we discussed this with Ralph, the end-all goal is truly why are we on Facebook? Go ahead and answer that Carol Lynn. Or why are we on social media all across the board? Why is the business specifically on there?
Well hopefully there are on there to generate leads. And I know that there’s this idea that you’re going to be out there just for branding purposes. You just want to be seen. You want to make sure you have a presence. But what good is your presence if it’s not bringing you business. So ultimately, and I know it can be tough to measure very specific point A to point B transaction. So you may not know okay this lead came from Facebook to my door which is why you kind of create that robust presence online — your Facebook, your Twitter, your Google, your podcast, your blog, things like that. But at the end of the day you need to be generating business. So that’s why you’re on social media. You may not be able to say click here and buy now but when you’re there the goal always have to be leads and business.
Yes, yes. So you want to think, you know it was Gary Vaynerchuk the other day and he was talking about you’ve got to start looking at that end goal and go backwards. Instead of lot of people what they do is go on social media and they post, post, post, post, post but they don’t know what that end goal is. Or they’d go oh it’s sales, well that’s pretty generic. So start with what exactly that is and go backwards instead and then you can come up with all that content, too, which like what you just talked about but you know specifically what that end-all goal is.
Right. And by the way there’s roundabout ways to do it. I mean it doesn’t have to be that cold and clinical post-to-Facebook-make-sale. At the end of the day you’re still building relationships which then lead to sales. And you still sometimes getting to know people who may never become your customers but who may become advocates for you and then bring you business through another channel. So there’s different kinds of relationship you can cultivate all which lead back to sales. So I don’t want to leave people with the impression that it’s just mercenary and we’re posting there to make it. Oh yeah you are, ultimately because you’re running a business. You have to make money. But you are there to build a relationship that leads to the business, to the leads and the sale. So you do that through the engagement, the relationship building and the content that’s relevant to your business.
You couldn’t have said it better. Perfect. That was great! So let’s give our audience an action step that they can take in the next 24 hours, we don’t want to overload them but something that’s very simple to the point of what we’ve talked about.
Take your smartphone, take a picture. It can be something in your office, it can be a customer, it can be something outside your front door. As long as it reflects you. Go to your last blog post, poetic quote, pop it on the photo, that’s your next social status update. You can do that in 5 minutes.
That sounds really easy. I bet you that everybody could do something like that. It’s an easy task.
Yes it is.
Absolutely. well, go ahead Kimmy and let’s wrap this up.
I just want to tell everybody we really appreciate you coming on the show today. There’s a lot of information. Now you don’t happen to have your boyfriend standing by, do you? He could pop in and say hi.
Sure, hey boyfriend!
That’s alright.
Well while we’re waiting make sure that we talk about what your website is, where we can find you and your new show podcast. Go ahead and tell us about that.
Sure, well our website is websearchsocial.com and that is where you can also find our blogs, information about our services and our podcast on the same.
There it is.
Oh, somebody making an appearance. Say hi.
Hi Kimmy!
Nice to see you.
Kimmy your boyfriend was trying to kiss me before.
Now you’re blusing. Awesome. Well thanks for coiming on the show. And your podcast, you have a podcast, how to we find that out?
If you visit websearchsocial.com there’s a button right on there that says podcast and it has all the subscription options — Stitcher, iTunes, Libsyn, it’s everywhere.
And I will vouch I have listened to a few of those podcast and they’re very good content and you learn a lot and even expands more on what we’ve just discussed but a lot deeper. And so I would definitely vouch to download that podcast, listen to it and give them a review, too. So where can we find you? Where’s the best place to connect with you specifically Carol Lynn?
Oh I’m everywhere. I’m on Twitter, Facebook, Google, Instagram, you name it and you can find me by my name — Carol Lynn Rivera; Carol C-A-R-O-L Lynn L-Y-N-N Rivera R-I-V-E-R-A. So if you attach that to anything you’ll find me.
And Triberr.
And Triberr.
Oh and Triberr, yes. And we love Triberr, too. Perfect, well thank you very much for your time and we appreciate it. Thanks, bye Ralph the puppet, bye Carol Lynn.
Thank you.