217 Leaving Corporate to Launch a Social Media Agency | Ingrid Deon

PodcastBusinessMarketing

May 17

Written By Kelsey Reidl

Say hello to this weeks guest, Ingrid Deon.

She is the Founder & CEO of word-craft, a social media marketing agency in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Tune into this weeks episode…

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Today on the show I am sitting down with Ingrid Deon.

Ingrid is a social media expert and founder of word-craft, a digital agency located in Canada. Her company works with national brands such as Nestle, Kraft Dinner and Manulife Bank, as well as smaller sized companies.

We talk about how she got into social media with no prior experience, how she stays on top of social trends and tips for establishing boundaries with time spent on social media.

We also touch on…

Her specialty in organic social media strategy
Content creation tips
How to boost engagement
How she got into social media and eventually started an agency, with no prior experience
How she stays on top of constantly evolving social media trends
The power of word of mouth marketing
Establishing boundaries with time spent on social
Reactive engagement vs. active
& MORE!

Connect with Ingrid and with Word Craft.

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcast, or YouTube

Let’s connect on Instagram or find out more about Private Business & Marketing Coaching on my Website

Click the image below to tune in to this weeks episode 🎙️

You’re going to LOVE this episode with Ingrid Deon if you want to learn about Social Media or Freelancing / Starting an Agency!

Here’s a sneak peak at my prep notes for the show…

Key Questions:

You haven’t always worked as a social media expert - I know Single mom, working in a museum, not making a lot of money - take us back to that time and describe what your life was like at that point, to give us a jumping off point
When did you first dip your toes into the world of social media
How did you learn the ins and outs
In fact, I remember saying, “I never want to run my own business.” But running my own business has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.
How did you find your first client / build out your first packages?

Word-Craft

What is Word Craft
What types of clients do you work with
What makes Word Craft Unique? How did you know what would set you apart from other agencies?
Where are you at today in terms of team, and workload

Social Media Specific

What’s your personal relationship with Social Media like?
Why is social media a vital part of a small business marketing strategy?
How to plan your social media content - for someone who’s just posting sporadically for their business, what goes into planning
Right now it seems like so many posts are crickets - no comments, no likes - what are some tactics for increasing engagement on social media
How to run a winning contest on social media.
Which platforms are you finding a lot of success with right now? Get some specifics as to how to create on that platform.
Is there an underutilized feature on Instagram and if so, what is it

People + Resources Mentioned:

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Episode Transcript:

You're listening to the visionary life podcast. I'm your host, Kelsey. Rydall, we're hanging out here today because one day, while hiking in Peru, after just having been let go from my dream job, it hit me. There's so much more to life and there's no excuse for not embracing uncertain. And trying new things to really explore our full potential in this lifetime.
On this weekly podcast, you'll hear from successful entrepreneurs, creative thinkers, and visionaries, just like you, so that you feel less alone as you pursue everything you want and deserve in this lifetime. This is a space where big sky thinking is welcomed and conversations about daily. Betterment are essential.
So if. Stop living an ordinary life and start living a visionary life than welcome home.
Welcome back to the visionary life podcast. I'm excited because in this episode, I get to sit down with Ingrid Dion. She's a social media expert and the founder of word craft. So. We're going to talk all things social today. We talk about how Ingrid got into social media with no prior experience. This is a bit similar to my story too, because I started my first freelance job doing social media with no formal training, but that's really because there isn't a lot of formal training, just a lot of self-learning.
Uh, we also talk about how Ingrid stays on top of social media trends. She works for a lot of big companies, uh, planning their social media strategies. So you're definitely going to want to learn from her. And we also cover some tips for establishing boundaries with time spent on social media. So if you're that person who feels like you are spending way too much time scrolling, Tik TOK, looking through Instagram stories.
You might appreciate, uh, the feedback and the tips that Ingrid shares. So I'll share a little bit more about the episode shortly, but before we dive in, I thought I would catch up with you guys. It has been a minute, or at least it feels like it has, I mean, there's content coming out at you every week. So I guess we do catch up weekly, but, um, gosh, a lot is happening.
A lot of moving parts here at visionary HQ. So I guess a few things that I'm excited about, I just wrapped up a huge. S E O project. So completely revamping the search engine optimization of my website. This is something I would highly recommend all of you do because, um, for a lot of businesses, search traffic can be a huge source of lead generation.
So if you're completely ignoring it, you're actually missing a huge opportunity. Um, in addition to that, I am recording the final interviews and solo episodes of season nine. Uh, we're in season nine right now, and I'm always planning ahead. But, um, if you know, a Canadian entrepreneur who has an inspiring story or somebody who deserves a platform to share their expertise, their brilliance, Shoot me an Instagram message.
Uh, I'm just at Kelsey Reidel on Instagram. And I would love to hear whether you want to nominate yourself or you have a friend who's an entrepreneur. Uh, we look to chat with Canadian business owners who are willing to open up on the show and to share their journeys. So always looking for guest suggestions.
And finally, uh, where I'm spending most of my time right now is with our visionary method, private clients. So as you guys know, this is what I devote my Monday to Friday to, I work with new entrepreneurs to help them to grow from zero to 50 K in annual revenue. Because a lot of times it is a struggle to build the business into a full-time income, but.
I've done it. I've helped hundreds of people to do it. And if you want to see some success stories, go to Kelsey, rattle.com/results. But that's where I spend most of my time. So if you wonder what the heck does she do? Like does she just work from home and hang out and paddle board and go mountain biking while yes, I do that in my free time, but for.
35 hours a week. I am doing private coaching. So if you are somebody who's tired of hitting the wall, you're not sure how to grow your leads, your clients, your revenue, um, then perhaps it's time for a coach or mentor in your life. Someone who can help you to stay on track to push your business to new levels.
And that's where myself, a private business and marketing coach can come. In, so head to Kelsey reidel.com. You can find all of the details there. So other than that, you can connect with me on the gram. Um, and I'm on Tik TOK. Now at Kelsey, Rydall trying to post more consistently and finding what content lights me up on ticket.
Uh, and I send out a weekly, all things visionary newsletter. So again, you can find that@kelseyreidel.com. All right, enough about me. Let's shift over to Ingrid, our amazing, amazing guest. She's a powerhouse. When it comes to social media, she's got great insights to share. For people just starting out in social media or for people looking to up their game in the social media marketing world.
So Ingrid is going to drop some serious knowledge bombs in this interview. So get ready to take some notes. And if you want to connect with Ingrid. You can simply find the link in the show notes and go say hello to her and learn more about her work at word craft. So that's it for now. I hope you guys love this episode and I will talk to you soon.
All right, Ingrid. Welcome it to the visionary life podcast. We were connected through a LinkedIn posts. Thank you, social media for connecting us. And I know we're going to dive into all things social today, because that is your expertise. Uh, but before we get there, I kind of want to rewind a little bit. I think it was maybe like 10 or 15 years ago.
You certainly were not in the social media world. I think I heard on another show, you were working at a museum. You were a single mom. You were trying to figure out like what to do as your next step. So can you kind of take us back to that time, just to set some context of kind of where this whole journey began for you?
Yeah, for sure. And thank you for having me on the show. I'm super excited to be here and to chat with you. Yeah. So I started my career as a journalist, went to journalism school and worked in newspaper and radio for about five years, and then moved back home to rural Nova Scotia, where there were very few jobs in journalism.
Um, at the time all of the boomers still sort of had the jobs at newspapers and, um, the newspapers were really shifting to online that much. So it was really. There were not a lot of jobs. So I did many different things for a number of years. I managed a farmer's market. I worked in politics. I worked in art gallery.
I was an interpreter at a historical village, like all kinds of things. And then I became a single mum when my son was three. So I really had to hustle and, um, Get a job that could support me and him, um, to keep my house. I live in what was my grandparent's house. I bought it from them. Um, and so yeah, I wanted to keep the house and keep a roof over our heads.
So I got a job. Um, as the assistant director of a museum, it paid peanuts. It, it paid me $26,000 a year. So I was officially a single mom living under the poverty line. And I also worked two other jobs at the same time. So I was working three jobs. I called the cops and the fire stations in the mornings to write little news briefs for the news.
Then I worked my day at the museum and then I wrote knitting patterns and sold those online because I'm a knitter and a spinner as well. So that's what I did for, for a couple of years and all the time I was trying to get a job back in my field of writing. Um, I did some sort of freelance writing at the time.
I was always looking for a job in communications or PR or journalism or something. And I finally got offered a job at a marketing agency as a social media coordinator was really an entry-level position, but I was frankly, just happy to have anything. So I started that job started working with different clients.
Um, And really fell in love with writing for social media and worked my way up to manager of social pretty quickly, um, and was managing a team in Halifax and Toronto. And then about three and a half years after I started there, I, I left, um, to work for Manulife bank and to start their social media channels and started taking on some clients on the side as well.
Um, Nestle Canada was one of our big clients at the agency. And so when I left, they followed me, which was really kind of amazing. Um, so when it came time that I had too many clients on the side, I decided to leave manual. I was about six months into that job. And so I told Manulife bank that I was leaving to start my own business.
And they said, well, if you're starting your own business, could we be our client instead of you working here full time? And I was like, yeah, sure. So started my business in October of 2019 full time with two national clients, which was incredible and a few other like local clients. Um, and now, um, my business is.
Really growing, like I have one full-time employee and three part-time employees and we have so many clients, I can't even count them. And, uh, it's just amazing. That is so incredible. And I love how number one, it seems like you have always been very resourceful. Like you always figure out a way to make it work.
And I think that's a very, um, admirable character trait that a lot of entrepreneurs. Possess. So I definitely see that in you. And I'm curious too, like you didn't have any social media experience per se, but the marketing agency took a chance on you. Like how did you prove yourself that you are going to be good at this role when you really didn't have any formal education or training?
Cause I'm sure there's a lot of people who would love to apply for jobs outside of where they currently are, but they're like. I haven't gone to school for it. I don't have a lot of experience. How did you get that? Entry-level social. Yeah. So I wish I had known that marketing was a job when I was in high school.
I have to say I had no idea. I knew that I wanted to write. Um, and I thought that the only job as a writer was in journalism. Yeah. Had no idea that you could like that there were people who wrote ads and stuff like that because, you know, when I went to high school, there was no, there was no social media, but, you know, Advertising.
So, you know, there were people who wrote those ads and I could do that, but had no clue. So, um, that's why I didn't study marketing if I had known about it. I totally would've. Um, but throughout the many jobs that I had, that I, that I mentioned, you know, managing a farmer's market, doing the knitting patterns and stuff, um, working at the museum, I was responsible for social media, for.
That was like one of my tasks. So with the farmer's market, you know, I posted on social media a lot for them. Um, and then yeah, with my knitting patterns, I, so I, I sold the knitting patterns on Etsy and on revelry. And so I had social media channels for, for my knitting business, I guess it was called darn it all.
Um, and I also sold my hand knits. Um, so hats and mitts and scarves and things like that, um, on Etsy and at different markets and things like that. Um, so I had some experience. With social, but not any like working with big brands or anything. So I guess they saw the fact that I was a former journalist had strong writing skills.
Um, had a little bit of experience with social and, um, there was a test. Um, so I guess I must've passed the test. Um, And it's funny when I, when I ask, um, the people who hired me there, you know, I'm still friends with them. And when I ask them why they even hired me, because sometimes I just have no idea how it happened.
Um, Ashley who hired me said, she just really liked me. And she asked her boss, she was like, I really want to hire her. So. I guess I was just likable. I don't know. I mean, I think that's a huge reminder to anyone who is looking for work like likability and being able to be personable and build relationships is equally as important, especially in this kind of, I don't know, like.
Unregulated world of social media marketing, especially when you know, many years ago it was still on the rise. It's not like there were diplomas that you had to have. You just kind of had to prove that you had a willingness to dive in to always be learning on the fly. Because as we know, social media is always changing and just like a keen eye for.
You know what performs well versus what doesn't and ability to pivot. So I think that's a, just a great reminder for all of us. Like sometimes it is based on your likeability and just that, that attitude of like, I'll just figure it out. Right. This episode is sponsored by the what's your earning potential frequence.
If you've been thinking about starting a business, but aren't sure whether you have the Gusto to exceed your current salary, this quiz was made for you. Find out what your earning potential is at www.kelseyreidel.com/earning potential. Yeah, for sure. And you know, the other person. So, you know, Ashley had hired me, the person that she reported to, uh, one of the questions that he always asked in job interviews, and I did some hiring with him, um, which taught me a lot, um, was asking people when have you seen.
Hmm. Um, and that's not a question that, you know, I had ever asked people before during job interviews or really have had ever been asked. Um, but you know, when he asked me, when have you struggled? Well, holy Crow, I was a single mom under the poverty line, working three jobs. I can tell some stories, let's talk.
And I think he really liked to see someone who. Had overcome something. Um, and he hired people based on that. And he was amazing at hiring. And I've taken that in when I'm hiring people. I'm looking for people who have struggled to, I don't want someone who's just been given everything and it has had an easy life.
I want someone who can show that they can overcome things. And that they can deal with adversity, um, because it, you know, it shows resilience and resourcefulness, um, and all that stuff. So, absolutely. Yeah. That must've been a resident resonated with, uh, with him. Yeah. And so when he started that job and obviously you did quite well at it, because you said you worked your way up to more of a managerial position.
I'm curious. What is it about social media that you were really enjoying? Like what lit you up about showing up to work each day in that. Yeah, it's so funny that you ask that because on my first day I remember and what, what, what I was doing on my first day. Working on, I worked with Nestle from day one and we were going through the inboxes for the different brands and, you know, there's loads of them.
There is all the Gerber baby stuff. There's all the different chocolates. Kit-Kat arrow, Smarties, coffee crisp. There's the Dalessio pizzas. There's the lean cuisine. You know, they have a huge there's Haagen-Dazs and drum state, you know, it's a huge. Number of brands and most of them all have their own social media accounts.
Yeah. So we were going through the inboxes for all the different accounts and answering all the comments and messages. And as we start, we started going through and Ashley was showing me how to do it. I remember looking at her on day one and saying, I love this. I don't know what it is. It's so even, so that was just community management, which is like a tiny, tiny piece of.
Social media, social media is so many different things. Um, but that's how I started. And I found it the most satisfying thing in the world. You see a question, you have an answer, you answer it, and then you complete. And it's gone. It's like crossing things off a, to do list all day long. You get that hit of dopamine over and over again.
And it was just the most fun thing in the world to me, which probably sounds a little crazy to a lot of people because I can see not everyone would love it, but I just loved it. And, um, you know, once I got my feet wet doing that, I started writing content as well. Um, which was super satisfying because you, you write a post and then you see it published like on Facebook or on Instagram or something.
And that's really rewarding. It's sort of like when I worked in newspaper and I would see, you know, I'd open up the newspaper the next day and I'd see my name in there. You know, my name's not on the social media posts, but I know that I created it. Um, so yeah, so there's just, there's a lot about it that I like.
I find find it just the most satisfying industry. And I think it's so important to kind of have the self-awareness of like, when things are bringing you joy, follow that curiosity. And we all have things that kind of make us feel more alive. So it starting to pay attention. If you're somebody listening, who's like, oh, I'm not happy in my current career.
It's like, well, what does bring you joy? Maybe it's in your personal life. You know, Instagraming, what you're making for dinner. Perhaps there's like a little nugget in there that you need to apply into your next career search, maybe social media. Right. Um, so I think that's super valuable. And so I read somewhere that you once said, I never want to run my own business.
So you're like working in the corporate world. You're saying I don't really want to run my own business. What changes? What is the catalyst to you? Starting word craft and starting to go out on your own. Yeah. So, yeah, I did say that. And you know, when I say I worked my way up to manager, that was, that was tough for me because I did not want to be manager.
I wanted to just stay in my little community management bubble, where I answered comments and questions, and I didn't have to worry about anyone else's work. I just had to do my own thing. And it took, took a lot of convincing to get me to take the manager job. Um, but once I did, I loved it. I loved coaching.
Um, the other, my team, I had a team of, I think, up to 12 people at one point into cities and, um, I loved coaching them and answering their questions and giving them direction and all of that stuff. I loved it. Um, but I really feared running my own business just because I'm kind of a perfectionist and I thought I would get too.
I don't know, too, in the weeds. Um, Too many things to try and run too many things to try and make perfect. Um, so that sort of scared me. Um, and, and someone had asked before if I wanted to run my own business and I said, no. And then, so there's two things. One person had said, I've never seen anyone so reluctant to advance their career in my life.
Whoa. That was really,
I kind of liked that though. Yeah. I needed to hear it. And so when I heard that, I thought, yeah, well maybe I do need to advance my career. Maybe I don't need to just stay in my community management bubble. Um, and the other thing was once I became manager, um, I, you know, started hiring people and. I would write their contracts.
And then one of my superiors would sign off on the salary. I didn't really determine salaries, but I just determined tasks and things like that. And I did, I saw some, some of the contracts with the salaries and one person who was reporting to me, maybe several people. Um, they were making $15,000 a year more than me and I was their manager.
What. I know. And so, and I was used to being poor. So the fact that I was above the poverty line just made me happy. You know, I thought, oh, now that I've been above the poverty line, I don't need to struggle as much. This is. But then I started seeing that, you know, people below me were making more money than me.
So I thought, well, maybe I should be making more money. And this is like very naive Ingrid. But, so I talked to my boss and I said, you know, I saw that these people are making $15,000 more a year than me. Um, shouldn't I be making the same or more than them because I'm their boss. And he just said, that's not going to happen.
And so I was just like, okay, apparently it's not going to happen. Um, So that's sort of lit a fire in me. Yeah, I didn't, it was still, probably another year before, before I left or before I started my business. Um, but I was thinking, yeah, I don't need to, to, to be treated this way anymore. Um, I was the most billable person at that agency.
Um, I made my entire salary for, for the company. So like if you start on January 1st and you, you count all the hours that I was working and all of the money that I was making for the agency, I made my entire salary by like, I think the second week of February and the rest of the year, they were just making money off of me.
Yeah. A little bit of a light bulb moment for you. At least it planted the seed, even though it took. Time to start thinking about, okay, what would my business look like? But obviously there was a couple hints of like, maybe I do need to go out on my own. So you didn't just quit abruptly where you, in that year where you kind of writing a business plan where you starting to work with, like you said, clients on the side, like, how did that transition happen?
Yeah, I did start to work with clients on the side. Um, and I guess I. I thought that at some point I needed to be, I would be ready to start my own business. And I think a lot of people who want to become entrepreneurs think, yes, there is one day that I will be ready to do this. The year, never ready, no words, you know that I never, there's no day you wake up and you're like, yeah, feeling good today.
I'm going to give it all up and try this thing on my own. Exactly. Yeah. And I was kind of waiting for that. So I would meet with different women that I knew were entrepreneurs and I would. Be like, can you have coffee with me? And they'd say yes, and then I'd have coffee with them. And I just like, maybe their entrepreneurial spirit will rub off on me.
Maybe I can absorb it, just call we're having coffee. Um, and I guess eventually it just, I, I don't, I wasn't ready, but my boyfriend was super supportive and he was just like, yeah, you should do this. Um, Started my business. I had no idea what I was doing. I mean, I knew how to do social media and you, my craft very well, but running a business, it's been a learning process.
Let me tell you, so what were some of the first things you did when you started your business? Like, is there anything, like, did you put your packages together, get the website up? Like what were some of those first pieces that you had to figure out? Yeah, I so.
Honestly, I don't know. Um, I really just sort of winged it. I did, I created like a little placeholder of a website. I created my, you know, social media channels. Um, and I had, by the time I started full-time, so I had those, you know, two national clients and a couple of other clients that were local. So I had enough, I thought I had enough to survive.
And, you know, I'm gritty. I can, I can get by on very little so, you know, I think I'll be okay. Um, but I didn't anticipate the word of mouth just spread as quickly as it did or the connections. A lot of, a lot of the business that I get is connections that I made through the agent. So other people who left the agency and then started working with different clients.
And then they were like, oh, I really need someone to help me with, with a social strategy or some content creation or some community management. And they would call me. And so that's how I started working with Kraft. Heinz was just someone that I used to work with was working with them and she called me.
And so I started working with them too. And other clients like that, you know, have just sort of happened that way. So. It grew pretty fast and I didn't have to put a whole lot of effort into getting new clients. Um, just because I had really good connections. I really, you can't underestimate some good, a good network.
Absolutely. Really key. And so. You are a solo printer at this point, doing it by herself. Word starts to spread quickly as a service provider. Like there are only so many hours in the day. At what point do you realize I can no longer do this alone? Yeah. I felt in the early days, I always use this captain analogy.
So in the early days, clients would come to me and they'd be like, you know, a lot about social media. Can you do this? I'd be like, yes, I can do that. Um, You know, a lot about social media. Can you do this other thing about social media? Because again, social media is so many different things. Um, and so there were all these little bits and pieces of things, different things around social media that I was doing for all of these clients.
And I felt like I was. Jumping from one ship to the other ship, different client, like all of my clients had ships and I had like a rubber dinghy and I was just jumping on their ship and filling in for a little bit, jumping on another ship. And I had this dream of becoming the captain of my ship, where my clients would come onboard my ship and I would help them.
And then they would leave. And, you know, so I didn't have to be jumping from ship. So I got a coach, um, and she really helped, um, she helped me with the captain mindset and I guess sort of figuring out exactly what the services were that I was going to offer streamlining it a bit more so that. Easily reproduced.
Yeah. You know, like nothing is cookie cutter for me because all of my clients are so different. We're creating different content for everyone, but you know, there are systems that you can put in place to try and streamline things. Um, but it did get to a point last February where I was like a chicken with no head running around, working with way too many clients, way too many.
And at that very moment, my friend Courtney showed up and said, I really want to leave my job. When can you hire me? I had hired her when I worked at the agency. So I'd already worked. She already knew about all of my processes and how I worked and everything. So I said, um, March 1st. And so she said, okay, I'm going to give my two weeks notice and I will start working with you.
So I was like, great, because again, I thought that there would be a point where I would just be like, yes, I am ready to hire someone. Um, but that never. The only reason that I knew I was ready to hire someone, was that someone showed up physically in front of me and said, can you hire all she had to do was ask.
And there was a job waiting for, and it's so funny because that has happened two more times since then people have showed up in front of me and said, I need a job. Will you hire. This is what I do. And I'm not saying this because I want more people to show up at my door and tell me that I got a slew of messages now, Hey, I hear that.
I just have to approach you and say, I'm looking for a job. Yeah, yeah. That's at work all the time, but it has. That's how I hired. Um, most of my employees is they were just the right person at the right time who came to my door.
Well, I want to get into some social media specifics because you know, oftentimes on the podcast we talk about the entrepreneurial journey, but I know so many of our listeners they're starting their business and they want to know the secrets of how to do well on social media and their biggest challenges are like, I don't know what to post or every time I post it's crickets.
You know, do I need a strategy or a plan or can I just post on the fly when I'm feeling inspired? So I think that'd be really fun to actually get into a conversation around some of your specialties, uh, what you and your team do. So, um, first off my question is, is social media a vital part of every business's marketing strategy?
Or if we don't like it, can we just get away with not having it? This episode is sponsored by the visionary method. The visionary method is a seven step system. That's going to help you create and launch your business successfully. We've had 200 people go through it and it's going to help you to generate your first 50,000 in revenue.
Even if you're starting at zero, you can learn more at www.kelseyrydall.com/tv. I mean, I think people can get away with not having it. Um, if, if, you know, especially if you're and most people are on social media, but you know, not everyone is. And if your ideal customer is not always on social media, that's fine.
However, I think the key is. Figuring out which platform, if you're, if your ideal customer is on social media and chances are, they are, but figure out which platform they're on. And you do that through market research, you know, talking to some of your customers and figuring out what their habits are, but figure out what.
Social media platform is on and put your resources into that social media platform instead of trying to post everywhere. Like you don't have to small business owners tire themselves out by thinking they have to post every single day and they have to be on every single platform that is totally false.
You can pick one platform. Um, and you know, Facebook is an older, an older demographic, maybe, um, Instagram. You know, like a millennial platform Tech-Talk is more gen Z and lower some millennials as well. Um, and you know, LinkedIn, if you're a B2B, um, Twitter, if you're a celebrity or in government or politics or.
You know, something like that. Um, that's briefly, um, there are exceptions to all the rules, um, but yeah, figure out where your ideal customer is. Put your eggs in that basket and post consistently. You don't have to post every single day post consistently. If that means once a week, if that's all you can handle fine.
If you can handle twice a week, even better, you can handle three times a week. Great. But you don't have to post every single day. We just have to do it consistently. Figure out what you can do. And I often counsel small businesses to pick a day and afternoon, whatever. Every week that you plan out what you're going to post that week.
Because too often it's something that they forget or they put it as an aside. They put it on the back burner and then suddenly it's the end of the week and you haven't posted anything and you beat yourself up. So instead, maybe it's Sunday afternoon or something, you sit down and you say, okay, what are the two posts that I'm going to put on Instagram this week?
And, you know, it helps if you, if you. Categorized. If you have content pillars, like that's wonderful, and those are little categories or buckets for your, for your posts, it might be, you might have a category for your product or service. You might have a category for user generated content. You might have a category for behind the scenes.
You might have a category for tips. You might have a category for about the people behind the business. Um, you know, there are any number of categories. You know, so then when you're planning your content for that week, you think, okay, I need one post about the product and I need one behind the scenes post.
So this is what I'm going to do. Um, To plan ahead. I love planning. I encourage people to do that, but don't make yourself crazy about it. Like it should be fun. Absolutely. And you're so right. Like I think the worst thing is when a business owner is like, okay, I have to be on all these platforms and then they show up and they have this resistant energy.
So the post they write isn't even. You know, reflective of their brand or their product, because they wrote it in a hurry and they were just like, this is stupid. I just need to post something. People can read that energy through social. So it's like, if you're not having fun with it, if you're not, you know, enjoying the process, uh, whether it's you posting or your social media manager, people can kind of read through that.
And maybe it's time to reevaluate. Like why are you posting these things? And I love that you shared, you should have content pillars. Maybe for somebody listening. Who's saying, what do I post? I just don't know. Instead of like thinking I could talk about anything, narrow it down to three or four content pillars, like, okay, I need to talk about recipes.
I need to talk about fitness and then think, okay, what type of recipe could I post? So it like defines the question. It's not. I don't know what to post today. I'm looking around. I'm not inspired. Exactly, exactly. Yeah. It narrows it down and makes it easier. And, you know, um, content that is particularly like, you know, often people will say, well, I'll, I post it.
And it's crickets, like you mentioned earlier. Um, and that's where you get to. How do you post something that's engaging? Um, so again, thinking about your thinking of how your ideal customer, so you've thought about which platform they're on, but now you have to think about what will they find relevant. So what, and again, through market research, you can do, you can ask some questions, um, to your, your favorite customers and find out, you know, what is it that you want me to talk about?
What, what, you know, when I'm, when I'm, when we're talking. What do you find super fascinating about my business? Um, what, what tips have I given you that have blown your mind? Um, you know, those types of things, and so create content about those things that other people's. Really love about your business or find really surprising or educational or entertaining or useful.
Those are the types of posts that you want to create. Um, also ask a lot of questions, um, because the more answers you get in the comments, you know, more comments, algorithm likes it. Algorithm shows it to more. People helps you get more engagement, um, you know, quizzes, testing people's knowledge. Those are great kinds of.
Um, holes like all of the different engagement tools that Instagram has on stories like the poles and the, the quizzes, the little slidey thing, you know, they exist for a reason because Instagram wants you to use them. And, um, yeah. And also answer all of your comments. So whenever someone posts a comment on, on one of your posts answering.
Each answer is another comment. And then the algorithm sees it as engaged worthy, because people are commenting. So when you answer, not only does it help you in the algorithm, but it also makes people feel special. Like if I comment on one of your posts and you answer that makes me feel good because you've answered me, you've acknowledged me.
So it all helps, you know, continue the conversation, just keep it going in the columns. Um, and also don't just, uh, don't just focus on reactive engagement, which is when people are commenting on your posts and you're replying, but also comment on other people's posts. So do the proactive engagement as well.
Yes. Then send people a message, uh, comment on their posts and not self promotional stuff. Trying to, you know, social media is social. So try to generate, um, conversations with people. I love that such good tips and. I am curious because social media is always evolving. It's always changing consumer attention, and I know that for every business, every product or service it's different in terms of which platform you should be on.
But is there a certain platform right now that you're seeing as a particularly good opportunity or that with your clients, you're having great success with at this moment? So in March, 2020, Uh, huh. Well, one thing that's, um, you know, doing really well is reels on Instagram. Yes. I'm seeing so, so much engagement on whenever we create reels for clients and.
I've found that if we use trending audios. Um, so when you're scrolling through your reels and you see the little up arrow next to the sound at the bottom, um, you'll see a little icon next to the sound. It'll either be a music note or a little arrow, and if it has the up arrow, that means it's a trending.
So if you use yeah. So if you use that audio, you'll get even more reach and more engagement on your real than if you use like your own original audio or an audio that just has the little music note. Um, so I've been doing that with some of my clients and, you know, it's bonkers, like the number of impressions that they're getting, uh, I guess, um, views is just.
Mind blowing and it's the best. The best thing to post on Instagram right now is a real, um, Tik TOK is great too, because you know, their, their algorithm is super smart, um, and will bring the right people. It's amazing. I know a lot of small business owners sort of fear. Um, TechTalk and, and video in general may be a little, can be a little intimidating.
Um, but you just have to try it. You just have to try it. It's, it's hard the first time, especially figuring out editing and figuring out how to use all of the different tools. Um, but the more you use it, the better you get at it. And really you don't have to put a ton of effort in, like I did. This week for a client it's, um, pet food topper.
So it's a little sprinkle thing that you put on top of pet foods and has a nutritional boost. And so it was just a slow motion of sprinkling, the pet food topper onto the cache food with a trending audio. And in, in, within 30 minutes it had more than 4,000 views and almost a hundred likes. And that's it, it took me.
Yeah. 30 seconds to create so easy. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. I think we put up such a wall when there's something new that we have to jump in on, like Instagram reels are ticked off and we think, oh my God, this is going to take me all day. But like, I like to ask the question, like, how could I make this really easy?
Like maybe it's as simple. Find a trending audio, find somebody who used that audio that relates to the type of content you could create and then just use their formula and do the same thing. And one take it, do not, you know, spend hours and hours like trying to make it perfect. It's just like, you know, you got to get in there, get your feet wet and start playing around and yes, it becomes easier.
Practice, right. It's not like we're all going to be social media experts right off the bat. But you know, like those skills over time, they do improve when you spend the time and energy to actually do the work. Absolutely. Yeah. And, and like you say, definitely look at what others are doing and take inspiration from it.
That's the best way to learn. So I want to touch on something that I know a lot of people want to know. Do we need to plan a month in advance? Or like, can we just show up each day and just say, like, I'll just figure out what to post today. Like, what is a good strategy? Do you like to map it out in an Excel document or what is kind of your process?
Yeah, so we plan a month in advance. Um, but I don't expect all small businesses to do that. It takes time. I mean, I've got it down to a science and I can plan out a bunch of different content calendars for a month, you know, in, in a day. Um, is that science, like, are you just, do you have a list of ideas and you just plug, plug, plug them in or any tips there?
I, so, yeah. So my tip is that I look at the calendar and look at what. If there are events that are happening in, you know, so you're looking at April cause right now I'm planning for April, of course. Um, and so I look at the, you know, there's Easter there's earth day, there's, you know, national pet day. Um, and so I plugged those in and if there are any events you plug those into and then you look at what else do you have?
So you have like, If you want to post twice a week, then you have a bunch of weeks where there's only one, one post right now. So what are you going to do on those other, for those, for the, for the other post, for that week. Um, and you think about your content pillars. So I need a post about the product, so I'll do one here.
Um, and that's kind of how I build it out. Um, we have a meeting, uh, with all of our team members and we sort of go through each of the different clients and. And, and, you know, come up, brainstorm a bunch of ideas. We also often will have calls with our clients and find out if there's anything in particular that they want us to highlight.
Um, so that's how it happens for us. But yeah, I think the same formula can be used for. For most anyone. Um, and if you, even if you can plan out like a skeleton of the calendar for the month, and then maybe you don't have the final copy and you don't have the final image right away. But if you have that skeleton, that's a great guide for when you're planning each week, um, you know, ahead of time.
Okay. So this week, yep. I've got, uh, Easter and I also have a post about a recipe here. Um, it makes it much easier to plan on a weekly basis if you've got that skeleton done for the month. Mm. I love that. Yeah. It's just like having a little bit of a blueprint of where you're going and then for some people, maybe it is just showing up on the fly each day, they've scheduled a post, but having kind of that overarching theme, it's like, oh yeah, it's Easter tomorrow.
I'm reminded to put up an Easter recipe today. So it depends on how much structure you, like, I guess in that way. You know, even if there are certain offbeat holidays that are relevant to your industry, like, you know, national pet day or, or national coffee day or whatever it is, um, they don't sort of sneak up on you because you've already looked at the calendar of national days for the month and you've figured out which ones are relevant.
Your business or your audience? Yep. Yep. So I can imagine, like, in addition to running a business, you're also like needing to stay on top of social media trends, like kind of two different, where do you hang out to continue to get smarter, to continue to learn about business growth, to continue to stay on top of how social media is working these days?
Like, how do you stay educated on all this. I do spend quite a bit of time on social media, trying to figure out what other people are doing. I'm looking at my clients, competitors. Um, and I also read a lot of industry blogs. Like most of the social media management tools have really quite good blogs like sprout social.
HootSweet all of those. Um, there's also some other good blogs, like, um, Social media examiner and social media today, I believe. Um, there are some good podcasts as well. Um, not to take anyone away from this wonderful podcast. There, there are some great podcasts that are just focused on social media or on marketing, like, um, Jasmine stairs.
And, um, there used to be a great one. Buffer had a podcast, but they haven't posted recently, but it was called the science of social media and cool, man, I love that podcast. I'll go back and listen to the archive deck episodes, maybe. Yeah. Yeah. It's uh, it's really good. Um, a lot of good advice and they look at social media from a scientific perspective.
So really looking at data and analytics and what that tells us about. You know how to run your social media accounts, which is a whole other, uh, you know, we've only talked about content creation really here, but you know, there's a whole other part of social media that is the data and analytics, like looking at how your posts are performing or when your audience is online or, um, you know, how fast your audience is growing, what your engagement rate is.
Um, I definitely encourage people to have a look at the insight section of their social media accounts and just sort of peruse around and see what you can find out. There's tons of data in there that can help you gain insight on what sorts of posts perform best. And when are your, when are your followers more likely to be online, which day of the week, what time of day?
Um, that can really help you determine when you should be posting. It's almost like we need to be detectives, right? Like you're saying, read the blogs, sift through the podcast, like analyze their competitors, check your own insights. Like don't just post and leave and assume like, oh, it didn't work. Who knows why?
Like you can actually attach some data to a lot of these things and, uh, Yeah, like learn a lot just by studying the success or failure of others. Yeah. And look at your competitors and see which posts are getting lots of likes and lots of comments. And those are the ones that you need to sort of emulate, oh, get some inspiration from them.
Even not competitors that are directly in your industry. You can be looking at people from completely different industries and the type of content that they create can inspire you. Yeah. To create some content for your. Um, absolutely. So do you have to establish boundaries because you live and breathe this and you know, as entrepreneurs, I think we're always thinking about our business, always trying to dive in, but then like the fact that you're a social media entrepreneur, it's this whole other layer because you need to be scrolling in order to fuel the business.
And then you're also thinking about the business. How do you stay sane? How do you balance it all as a mom, as someone running a business, like in social media and managing a team. Any secrets? Um, yeah, I think it's so funny because I was talking to my coach this morning about how I need to set boundaries.
It's very topical. It's something you're working on. It's something I'm working on. Yeah. And my boundaries are more, um, I, I don't really set boundaries with my clients, so my clients can contact me and they say, you know, like, Can you do this? Can you get this post up, even though we plan a month in advance, but you know, nothing's written in stone, things can change.
Um, and, and, you know, I will drop everything and answer that email and post, whatever they're asking for. Um, so that's something that I need to work on, but in terms of, um, You know, like social media use. I have limits on my phone. I don't have the Facebook app. I don't look at Facebook except for, um, posting for my clients.
I don't personally. I'm not on Facebook. Um, I have the create or the business business suite app, but that's it. Yeah. Um, I do have the Instagram app, um, and the TechTalk app. I have a timer on it, so I only get 30 minutes a day. How do you do them? Uh, I set it up and then after 30 minutes, it, it, it just gets grayed out.
It's that through our tech talk, you can do that. Uh, no, just through your phone, like through your iPhone, you can set a time limit. Yeah. So you can set a time limit. So, yeah, I, so I don't like doom scroll on Tik TOK because I totally could. Yeah. I think we all could. That's what it's designed for. Yeah. And I find, I don't, I don't do them scroll on Instagram.
I don't tend to spend a ton of time there. Um, are you mostly just use it for research? I research hashtags a lot. I researched trends and stuff like that, but. Um, those but Tik TOK, I could get lost in. Like I can just stay there forever. Um, yeah, it's really, their algorithm is great. People keep talking about, you know, how it is like the greatest opportunity right now.
They've figured something out that Instagram and Facebook haven't. And I actually heard on a, I think the social media examiner podcast. Tech talks or past Google in amount of searches and watch time or something like people are spending more time on tech talk, then YouTube more time on Tik TOK, then Google, uh, or something of that nature.
So it's like it's showing it's um, yeah, like popularity through data now. Yeah. Yeah. So that's sort of how I manage those things, but I do, I'm very guilty of working evenings and weekends and all of that stuff. And you know, I need to know that pretty much. Does that come with the territory as a social media manager, that you're not going to be working a traditional.
Block of hours midday because it is a 24 7 job, right? Yeah. I find it hard to stay away. And even when I was working for the agency, I worked every weekend. I did a check of the, of the different brands, just to see if, you know, especially with, with Nestle. I was always looking for things called alerts, which are, you know, Choked on something or someone's had an allergic reaction to something, or they found a foreign object in there, chocolate bar or whatever those types of things need to be escalated really fast.
So I don't, I don't have many clients that have those types of issues now, but you know, most people who are working in social media with big. There are those types of alert or threat situations where you have to be on top of it? Like you just got to. Yeah, because very quickly, especially on Twitter, things can snowball.
If it's a dissatisfied customer and they're posting something and they're tagging you in all of their posts, if you're not. The next person will see it. And they'll say, yeah, I had a terrible experience with this brand too. And then it just grows and grows and grows as more people are commenting on it.
And I've seen this. So many times. Um, so I, yeah, I live in fear of that and she, where before you enter this industry or profession, like, it will be your life, but it's a great life. Isn't it? I love it. I do love it. And I love the satisfaction of solving people's problems. Um, the community, community management part, um, you know, when, when someone has a complaint, a customer complaint or something, um, being able to resolve that is.
Rewarding. So great. Well, this has been more of an enjoyable, so insightful, so many tips just on your entrepreneurial journey in social media. So really grateful that you decided to take some time out of your day to share with us. Now, if somebody wants to learn more from you potentially learn about the work that you do at word craft, where should they go to find you and to find out more about what you do?
For sure. I'm so I post on Instagram most more than any other platform. Usually, so I'm word craft, ink, um, on, on Instagram, also on Tik TOK and Facebook, um, and on LinkedIn and you can find me, uh, Ingrid beyond, um, and I have a website, it's just a word, hyphen craft.ca. So that's where you can find me. And, you know, I share a lot of tips and, um, just, uh, insights into.
Um, as someone who's, who's running a social media marketing agency, um, uh, yeah, I'm. A lot of behind the scenes stuff. Um, Instagram, so it's a fun place. Yeah. We'll definitely link all of that in the show notes so that everyone can come connect with you and we wish you all of the best in your future and in establishing social boundaries.
I think it's something we're all working on. Uh, but thank you so much Ingrid for being on the show. Thank you. It's been lovely. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of visionary. I love bringing you these conversations on a weekly basis. So it would mean so much to me. If you could help me out by rating and reviewing the show in your iTunes app, you can also support the show by taking a quick screenshot of the episode and sharing it on your Instagram stories.
Tagging me, ask Kelsey. Rydall I'll catch you in the next episode. PS, whenever you're ready, there's a couple of ways that I can support you. So first thing, if you're ready to make your first or next $50,000 in business, explore how the visionary method business coaching experience can accelerate your growth.
There'll be a link in the show notes. Also, if you're feeling lost, confused, or overwhelmed, when it comes to starting an online business, reach out and book a free revision call with me, I'll offer you customized recommendations on how to get unstuck so you can live a life filled with joy. Happiness and fulfillment.