Creating your social media strategy can be stressful.  My advice, don't overcomplicate and do too much.  I chat in today's episode with Kellye Dash about how to make the biggest impact with her strategy – and not do more than she needs to.

Creating your social media strategy can be tricky and frustrating.  I'm joined by Kellye Dash to help her troubleshoot how she can align her podcast and business social media strategies to get new customers in her local Tampa Bay area.

Kellye talks a lot about not doing enough and not getting enough done, but she's doing a LOT!.  Take a listen and hopefully you get some good ideas to implement social media strategies in your business.

Kellye: I have my own technology services business.  I help connect small business owners to technology vendors they need to operate their business.  I also have a podcast.  It's all about the small business journey.  My own experiences and the challenges and struggles that go along with that.  I also have guests on to talk about their journey.  So my audience can learn and understand that they're not by themselves.  Or if they want to create their own business they can learn.  It's not perfect but it's your own.  I really want to use my social media to share that story and experience and create a platform for people.  I'm not sure if I'm doing it effectively.

I have a website for my business and I try and keep it separate.  I have a Facebook, Linked and Instagram.

My podcast has Facebook and Instagram. And then it's own page on my website.

I don't do shownotes – it just links to my Libsyn RSS feed.

Uh oh!

Sami: No uh oh.  I'm a proponent of do what you can.  You're getting content out there on a regular basis so that's a great first step.

Do you have a blog?

Kellye: Yes.  We've talked before and so since then I've taken it from hidden to visible.  It is original content and I post about one time a month.  I just reactivated it so I need to check it.  My goal is to do it once a month even though I know it should be more.

Sami: This is a bit off the topic of social media but would you consider keeping your blog up for posterity and might still be relevant.  But think about doing show notes on your podcast instead.  Then you have something that goes up weekly.

Kellye: And since my podcast is weekly that makes sense!

Sami: So when we talk about social media, you mentioned your podcast has a Facebook and an Instagram.  And your business has Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.  And where you're feeling stuck is where to connect them, where not to, and how to ultimately get customers into your business.

Kellye: Yes, I feel very one-directional on all those platforms.  So I want to know what to do to get more business and make it better.

Sami: Who is your ideal customer?

Kellye: I live in the Tampa Bay Area.  My target audience are the super small businesses that might have 10 employees on average.  They need someone to take over their IT coordination efforts.  Because they're small and don't have someone they can dedicate to the technology and manage it, I want to be that liaison to provide that service to them.  I have those relationships with vendors so I can help find the resources that can do that for you.

I take clients only in the Tampa Bay area at this point.

Sami: There are two areas I like to start with new clients when we're talking social media.

#1 – where do you want to play.  And it seems like you've got that down.

#2 – create the core categories you want to talk about.

Some are more comfortable having their face out there and some aren't.  Sometimes I share photos of my kids, sometimes I don't.  It always has to tie back to my business.  It's important to think about what pieces of your business and you personally you want to talk about.  What about you is going to resonate with your customers.

With your podcast, it seems like you're comfortable being more face forward in your business.

We know people like to buy from companies they feel more connected to.

Kellye: When I first started it was all business.  It was quotes and tips and not showing my face.  Not showing the person behind the business.  But I look at businesses and love seeing people.  So I started doing that, but I don't know if I'm doing it the right way or the smart way.

Sami:  Especially in IT I think people get very intimidated with someone coming in.  They don't know the language, don't know what to ask, don't know what's going to happen.  To me, I see huge opportunities in letting people see your personality and dumbing down the language.  Keep it simple.  Use terms everyday people would use.

Sharing the tips that you were sharing before, share them for people that are not understanding tech.  You don't know what you don't know.  I love to share things that are basic and super foundational.  That's where my audience is so I get alot of feedback where my audience says, “I hadn't thought about it that way,” or “I didn't know that was a thing.”

Where to start.

What I like to do is line out the categories I want to talk about.  Then I can plug it into a calendar.  For example, I know I need to come up with 4 tips, 4 personal stories, etc.

Kellye: And as your saying this, I'm looking at my Instagram which is where I'm most active.  I do less tips there than anywhere else.  That's shame on me.

Sami: Not shame on you!  Everyone is different.  And even within these categories its important to test and see what works and what doesn't with your audience.

As all the platforms change all the time we have to adjust accordingly.  The fact that you're doing stuff puts you ahead of a lot of other people.

Most people don't even get out there because they don't like the images, they're afraid of typos, they stop before they start.  You're doing!  That's good!  Dont' be too hard on yourself.

Let's talk calendar

I use ClickUp for my project management.  We use it to manage everything in our business.  So pick the tool that works for you, even a Google Calendar.

1.  I search for social holidays that month.
2. Then I put in my categories and duplicate them.  Doesn't include the content yet.

Kellye: I post a few times a day on Instagram.  1x a day on Facebook.  LinkedIn 2-4 times a week and try to write articles every week.

Sami: You don't need to post on Instagram multiple times a day.  At most once per day.  Then on stories multiple times per day.

Kellye: I've been learning stories are the way to go.

What do you think of Buffer?

Sami: I don't personally use a scheduling tool.  A lot of people have opinions one way or the other how they affect your reach.  Doing is better than not so if you find a tool that works then use it.  What works in your workflow and how you want to manage it.

Kellye: I haven't used it yet but I have a free account.  I'm thinking of using a combination of both.

I want to be more deliberate.

Sami: What I recommend is finding a holding spot for ideas when they come to you.  Those thoughts should be put somewhere so you don't lose them and schedule them in.

Then you're creating more content for down the road.

So let's get back to your calendar.

Broadcast strategy time.

You know you have your podcast launching on Tuesday.  That's easy promo for you.

I like to create a broadcast strategy and start to map out content.  Here's a quick example.

Tuesday

Podcast out
Email out to my list
Post on social channels

Wednesday

Post on LinkedIn

Thursday

Take a snippet of copy from the post and put it on Instagram with an image.

Spotify link on Insta Stories.

For each piece of content you create, come up with all the ways you're going to repurpose it.  Have that all lined out and then you know what all needs to be created from each piece of content.  You have the whole package and 6-7 posts for just one piece of content.  Then you're also sharing your content on various platforms at different times.

Then fill in your core categories with the rest of the days.

Kellye:  So my categories could be:

• tips
• strategies
• my experiences
• client testimonials/meetings
• favorite products for a problem.

Sami: SUPER IMPORTANT!

We think that if we give away free stuff they'll never buy from us or hire us to provide our services.

Don't be afraid to give information.  If your business owner is 10 or less employees they're strapped.  They're not going to take your free information and do it themselves.  When it comes down to it, hearing and understanding it is one thing, executing is completely different.

The more you can give them free information and empower them.  Share what you do, how you do it and why you are the authority.  The more likely they are to hire you.  I give away all sorts of things for free.  But that's because I want you to understand what you're going into when you enter the process.

Kellye: Ok – so if we go back to the broadcast strategy.  Podcast goes out on Tuesday.

I use Headliner to do the audiograms.  That's been really really positively received.  I just want to make sure I understand.

Let's say on Wednesday, am I also putting something out on Facebook related to the podcast or something else?

Sami: That's totally up to you.  Your general posts and categories are your filler.  The main thing that's driving your content is your Podcast.  So you want to lay out how you're sharing that during the week.  The rest you fill in.

We're working on this ourselves.  We typically share our podcast on every channel on the same day.  I'm starting to play with mixing that up a bit.

Sharing back episodes on Insta Stories during the week – especially if the podcasts are related.

Every time I launch a podcast I need to create x materials and for the next few days I already know that I have it all ready to go.

Kellye: One thing I've learned from myself is #tbt and have been doing it for my podcast.  Even just on the few episodes, I've done.  New eyeballs and ears.

Sami: And the sad part is organic reach is really low.  So by resharing, we feel our audience is seeing the same thing over and over again.  But they're not, they probably didn't see the post the first time around.

I want to touch base again on your multiple pages.

Some of the content is the same and can be shared on both businesses just on different days.  But if your podcast is about empowering women you're going to attract a different audience then you will with the content on the IT page.  I think you'll probably be reaching more women business owners, which is fine if that's who you want to work with.

If not, then make sure your content is gender-neutral.

Kellye: I've been really mindful of that.  Although, I think I might be able to get the most impact by reaching minority women.  Rather than a broader audience.  If I see a women business owner I'm more likely to be excited about their business.

Sami: I know here at the library they can pull stats for us on businesses registered in the city.

I bet the could pull for you women-owned business that are in the size that you want.  Then you can see the categories that they operate in and target them.

Tailor your content, tips and podcast episodes to speak to them.  Topics they care about.

Kellye: That is probably the best tidbit that I didn't think of.  Because here I can get a list of small, locally owned, enterprises and I can look it up online and see who they are.  And maybe start following them on Instagram and engaging with them.

That is fantastic.  I didn't even think about that at all.  Thank you for leading the way.

Sami: That's why it's important to know who you're trying to reach.

For us, we're trying to go out on a national basis.  When you know you've got a target niche and location it's impactful.

That's also really important on Instagram.  With every post you do you want to tag that location.

In stories, you know there are a bunch people that live in one area if it has a different neighborhood name and tag that location they're more likely to see your post.  Play with your location tags.  And use thoughtful hashtags in both location and business type.

Kellye: My latest podcast episode is about business stress.  I did a lot of hashtag research about topics relating to those, but none of them were location hashtags.

Sami: That's going to be really important for you since your locally focused.

You got this!  There are just a couple of things you need to do.  You're already doing a lot.  By adding in a couple of things like adding your location and paying attention to the businesses and following them and using them to drive content ideas.

Kellye: Some things that seem so obvious I'm learning these things as I go along. Instagram wasn't around when I started my business.  What you're sharing is opening my eyes to things I didn't know.

Sami: This happens all the time.  Staying up on these trends is time-consuming.  It's what I do for a living.  Keeping up with tech is the same.  We're trusting you to keep up with trends.  We all have the thing that we do best.  That's why I love podcasts and Facebook communities.  We can support each other and say, “I don't know how to do this, I don't WANT to do this, can someone help me?”

Any other questions?

Kellye: One last thing to mention.  I also have a YouTube channel.  I started after the fact because I wanted people to see me talking not just hear me.  It's leaning more towards my business but I have mentioned my podcast on it.  How can I use that without creating confusion?

It's more of a Vlog style.

Sami: Yes share your podcast.  If you have your description on point then you can have you link to your podcast on every single video and keep it there all the time.

Pay attention to the topics of your video and connect the dots.  If you're talking about networking in the video and you have a podcast that's about networking, then link it up in the description and let people know about it.

If it doesn't make sense to the topic then it doesn't make sense to bring it up.

Kellye: That makes sense.  I can use the YouTube Channel to talk about an experience I've had and then link to the podcast.

Sami: Make sure in your description you talk about what the podcast is about in the description.  YouTube is a search engine.  So you don't want to keyword stuff, but if you can write out about what the video is about and what's in there then you have more of an opportunity to get found in search.

You have a lot going on girl!

 Keep rocking it!

Time Stamps

(4:05) Welcome Kellye
(7:45) Where is she stuck?
(9:53) Where I start with clients on social media.
(11:20) How she started
(11:40) Being face forward
(13:06) Creating the content
(12:25) Line out your calendar
(16:23) Social Media scheduling tools
(17:26) Track your ideas somewhere
(18:00) Broadcast strategy
(20:33) YOU WANT TO HEAR THIS!
(21:53) Creating content
(25:05) Having multiple pages
(26:56) Market research
(32:24) Kellye also has a YouTube channel

 Resources

Website Laboratory Membership
Business Blend Podcast
ClickUp Project Management
Buffer
Headliner