0:00:00 - Eric
Has your marketing gone bitter sour? Sit back and enjoy top shelf strategies from the search bar. Now in season two, where we're serving up fresh perspectives to help your digital marketing thrive.

0:00:09 - Eric
I'm your host, Eric Ritter, the SEO sommelier and CEO of Digital Neighbor.
Your friendly neighborhood marketing agency based right here in sunny Tampa, Florida. Today we're exploring the dynamic world of social media marketing.
A crucial ingredient in any successful marketing strategy.

0:00:26 - Eric
I'm thrilled to welcome our guest, Hannah Pearson, a sales and marketing strategist at Grow Getters. Hannah brings a wealth of expertise and insights, and I can't wait for her to share her perspective with everyone.

0:00:37 - Eric
And don't worry if you miss anything, we've got you covered here.
I'll post a downloadable social media marketing checklist on my site and you'll find the link in the show notes.

0:00:46 - Eric
So let's dive in. Welcome, Hanna. Thank you so much for joining us today.

0:00:50 - Hannah
Thank you so much for having me.

0:00:51 - Eric
So I'm excited.
We work together on a professional level in social media and just really enjoy your insights that you share with the clients, your attention to detail, the care and the strategy and everything.
And so I think all our listeners are going to get to learn all that and take so much with them from this episode.

0:01:12 - Hannah
Awesome. Yeah, I really hope so.

0:01:14 - Eric
I know it. Don't worry.
So starting off, let's kind of set the foundation here by talking about, you know, what really is the definition of social media marketing and why does it matter.

0:01:25 - Hannah
Yeah. So I really think that social media, it's become more of a place of entertainment and more of a place of community. So I really think that social media marketing is just, um, really all in all, a community.
And it's a way for brands to build more awareness, build more trust and credibility. Um, Just an established, stronger relationships.

0:01:48 - Eric
Couldn't agree more, right? It's it's the democratization of media, right? Instead of one on one, you can talk one to many, but also with that comes the danger is that you are not creating connections with people.

0:02:00 - Eric
And we'll get into that a little bit from a strategy standpoint, because like you said, social media really puts your brand in front of customers where they're already spending their time, right?

0:02:12 - Eric
Um, From what I've seen professionally, it's cost effective way to build awareness, get that trust and even drive whatever your business goals are conversion, sales, etc. by having those conversations with people.

0:02:24 - Hannah
Yeah, I think that's the amazing part of it, is that social media is a free tool that anybody can use.
It's a way to really get your voice out, and for people to show themselves and be more authentic and just kind of have a voice.

0:02:38 - Eric
Yeah, I mean, I couldn't agree more. So any business should be doing social media, right? Because it's not two brands or two logos doing business.It's two humans, right? And they're not sitting across from each other. 
They're looking at one screen. I'm looking at a screen, you're looking at a screen. And we're still able to connect and see, hey, our values align.
You know we have a lot in common. I want to do business with them.

0:02:59 - Hannah
I definitely think that. I mean, you would probably say you would probably know this better than I would, but I think that social media has almost become the new form of a website.
You know, people look at the website, but then they also look at the social media.
What are they doing?  Are they active? Um, Just so they can get a better idea of who the business is.
Like how you know what their values are, how they operate, how they work with clients or the products that they sell. Um, And it's.

0:03:25 - Eric
Almost like looking behind the scenes. Right? So for me, kind of as a website guy, you know, when I talk to clients is, you know, you have the social icons on your website, people are going to click those as social proof.
That's in the in the phrasing. Right. People want social validation, social proof.
And they get that by going to your social profiles.

0:03:45 - Eric
And it's also a way for you as a business, as an individual, as a brand, to kind of let someone peek behind the curtain and kind of let your, um, your everyday guard down a little bit and kind of let loose.
You know, we're on your website a lot of times it's all business.
And on social media you have the opportunity to kind of show your personality.

0:04:04 - Hannah
Yeah, yeah.
And I think that's kind of the power too, of the different social media platforms that there are is like they all kind of serve a different purpose.
They all have different styles and different formats where the content is different.

0:04:17 - Hannah
So for example, like TikTok, it's a little bit more authentic and you can be a little bit less polished and just kind of come off more fun and inviting.
Whereas maybe Instagram, it's a little bit more, you know, polished and professional and more of a visual place.
So I think that's also kind of the power of the different platforms.

0:04:36 - Eric
That's you brought up so many good things there, and I think we'll go down that a little bit later, especially in the checklist.

0:04:42 - Eric
Right, is, you know, it's almost like, um, you know, I'm dating myself here, but like when you would have to pick what publication or what channel your ad was on, like, am I going to be in the Wall Street Journal or Am I going to be in the New York Times because they're very different, or USA today or whatever it might be, you know.

0:04:58 - Eric
And so to your point, that's different. Different audiences and also different ways of engaging.
You know, if someone's reading one newspaper, they're expecting an article, an ad like this, if they're reading a different newspaper, if they want to see maybe more visuals, less visuals, same thing, like you said, TikTok versus Instagram, or dare we even say like whatever Twitter X is calling themselves this day, right?

0:05:19 - Eric
Where it's just basically text, you know, where you get the updates like that.
Well, I want to talk about paid social media ads, right.
So I get that question a lot. I'm sure you do as well.
Should a business invest in paid social media ads?

0:05:32 - Hannah
I would say yes, but I think it's very important to be intentional about what the business does, who their ideal client is.
I mean, of course that's with any marketing strategy, but I think specifically with paid ads, um, depending on what their goals are, I think sometimes it makes sense and sometimes it doesn't.

0:05:50 - Eric
Um, No, I couldn't agree more.
And I think that it depends really to your point on your goals.
But also one big thing to keep in mind is organic reach continues to decrease, right?

0:06:02 - Eric
So I don't know what the statistics are, but you know, it's a single digit percentage of your followers on Facebook actually see your posts.
So if you want people to see your posts on Facebook, you're going to have to put money behind it for it to show up. Right?

0:06:16 - Eric
And for me, when I work with clients, let's say on SEO, a lot of times we also say we can't just do SEO, we need to do PPC.
It needs to go hand in hand, kind of that blended search. Right?
We have the ads, you have the organic.

0:06:30 - Eric
Different people want to see it different ways.
People are going to interact with you in different in different capacities, or expect different things from you depending on their search.
And I think on social media, it's very similar that in order to make sure that your message is getting seen, um, you need to put money behind it.

0:06:48 - Eric
And also it allows more precise targeting.
I feel like because I'm a big fan of LinkedIn ads, you know, just to kind of name one of the paid social media channels is because LinkedIn allows you to target those decision makers you're looking for, because that's what really marketing is.
0:07:05 - Eric
At the end of the day, it's finding that decision maker and showing them your message at the right time with, you know, showing them the right message at the right time.

0:07:14 - Hannah
Yeah, absolutely.
I definitely think that's, you know, also part of like just the platforms and how they operate, that's how they make money.
So obviously, you know there's kind of that.

0:07:23 - Hannah
But I have seen even just in the past couple months like doing organic versus doing paid.
I think that the organic is as you said, it's starting to decrease.
I think there's a lot of people that are trying to, um, you know, be creators, trying to start posting more consistently.
So there's a lot of noise.

0:07:42 - Hannah
Um, I still think there's a lot of benefit in doing organic social, but I think now it's more so a matter of what kind of value are we bringing to people versus just kind of posting, you know, random content 100%, you know.

0:07:55 - Eric
So a great example I like to give people is coming back to LinkedIn.
As you can tell, it's probably my favorite social media right now is if you're doing things like sending email messages or showing people ads, that's great, but they're going to check out your personal profile and they're going to want to see, is Eric actually really a subject matter expert? Like he said in his message to me that he can help me with my business.

0:08:16 - Eric
Oh, look, he has all this organic content, all these videos, they're getting engagement, they're getting comments, they're getting likes.
So you automatically have that authority and that credibility because you're doing such a great job on organic.

0:08:26 - Eric
And I think that's a great way.
Organic and paid can really work together in the social media world.

0:08:31 - Hannah
Absolutely.
And I think, too, that sometimes businesses and people that are trying to build their personal brands, they just need a starting point.
And a lot of times it's very low budget at first.

0:08:41 - Hannah
So doing organic a lot of times just makes sense.
But I think once you're at that point where you do have a little bit extra to invest, I do think paid makes sense.

0:08:49 - Eric
Couldn't agree more.
So the long answer short should you invest in paid social media?
Yes, with an asterisk.

0:08:57 - Eric
Okay, so let's talk about trends to watch in social media marketing.
You know they're always shifting rapidly.
And I think staying ahead of the curve really can set your brand apart. Right.

0:09:06 - Eric
So as some listeners might know, I'm an instructor adjunct professor at USF.
And so one of the things I talk about is kind of the the, the technology marketing construct, how technology evolves and marketing follows, right? And those innovative marketers lead the path. Right.

0:09:24 - Eric
So, for example, when Snapchat started, probably everybody remembers that they didn't have ads, but they were really popular because they were really good at one thing.
And that was making photos look great, right?
That was the one thing that they did. They had the filters, they had augmented reality and everything else.

0:09:40 - Eric
And so, you know, innovative marketers like Taco Bell, Starbucks, Red bull got on there, and they didn't even need to run ads because their organic content was so popular, people would just follow them. Right?

0:09:52 - Eric
So I think it's important to really stay on top of the new platform, kind of what those trends are.
So are there any trends that you're seeing right now, Hannah, or that get you excited?

0:10:01 - Hannah
I think the biggest thing, the biggest trend that I see right now is maybe it's not more so a trend, but just kind of like a key factor is just authenticity.

0:10:11 - Hannah
I think that we're seeing a lot of, um, emphasis on people being truthful in their content, people really showing up as they truly are.
Um, So yeah, I would say that's kind of a trend that we're starting to see is more appreciated.

0:10:25 - Eric
Yeah. No, 100%.
You know, I'm not going to out who I had coffee with yesterday. I had coffee with someone yesterday.
And we were talking about social media and a little bit kind of that social media fatigue.

0:10:34 - Eric
Like you see people you know, that are posting like their great vacations, their great houses, great cars.
And he's a financial advisor, right. And so his response was, you know what? I've worked with plenty of people, people that are posting that they really don't have any money. It's just all a facade, you know.

0:10:50 - Eric
And so that goes into your point of just be authentic, who you are.
You know, you don't need to create this persona because if it gets found out, it's just going to hurt you in the long run.

0:11:00 - Hannah
I unfortunately, I have also seen that as well in, you know, people that I've been connected with in the social media world, creators that are kind of emphasizing and placing a focus on this.

0:11:10 -Hannah
You know, I think it's a lot of the get rich quick and the overnight success.
And, you know, you can do it if you just do it like me.
And I think that it's not very authentic and it's just not showing the whole picture.

0:11:22 - Eric
No, not at all.
And it really is key because, you know, you see especially the younger generations like Gen Z, the millennials are really valuing that authenticity over that polished perfection. Right.
Because a lot of times you see how fake that is.

0:11:38 - Eric
Um, One Trend that has me excited also is social commerce.
It's been around, but I think I want to just talk about that address that a little bit because that's great for businesses is, you know, Instagram, TikTok, our mini e-commerce hubs you addressed earlier that like social is becoming the new website. Right.

0:11:54 - Eric
People are just going to social on your website now.
They don't even have to because they can just buy your thing directly on Instagram. I've done that myself.

0:12:01 - Eric
I think again, it's a marketing is finding that decision maker, whoever it is, with the right message at the right time.
It's happened to me plenty of times on Instagram.
I think my sunglasses had just broken or something like that, and I got an ad for sunglasses and I looked at it.

0:12:15 - Eric
The social proof was there, didn't leave Instagram, purchased it.
It knew my information from my meta Instagram account, just pulled my credit card boom and bought it.
And it was from seeing the ad to check out five minutes, right?

0:12:28 - Eric
And it was just so fast.
And that's I find that so fascinating on social that you have those capabilities.

0:12:33 - Hannah
Absolutely.
And I think it takes out the decision making out of it.
So it's like you want these glasse here. You do. 
Here's the yes you do. Here's the option. Go ahead and buy it.

0:12:42 - Hannah 
It just kind of removes that decision making factor and makes it easier to buy. So it totally makes sense. I think it's very effective.

0:12:49 - Eric
It's so true. You want to eliminate as many barriers as possible, right?
So when you're doing coming back to LinkedIn, you know, I promise I'm getting paid by LinkedIn.

0:12:59 - Eric
But another plug here, it's I think meta as well also has lead gen ads where you run an ad and you say, hey, I'm interested.
And it pulls your information, your name, your email address, everything else, and it submits that form for you directly in the platform so you don't have to leave to go to a landing page or a website.

0:13:15 - Eric
And that's key because you're keeping someone in that platform, right?
Because it's so annoying.
You know, it's like as if I'm watching TV and all of a sudden, hey, sign up for this, you know, log in now, right?
That's an extra step.

0:13:27 - Eric
I have to go from the TV having to scan a QR code to make it easier, but then I still have to do it on a separate device. Where?
Here it's not even on the same device.
It's on the same platform, and I don't have to leave it, you know?

0:13:38 - Eric
So it's a great, great thing you mentioned Hannah is just eliminating as many barriers to purchase, to conversion, whatever that is as possible.

0:13:47 - Eric
But what do you think of the the rise of AI and social media? What are you seeing there?

0:13:51 - Hannah
Well, I have met quite a few people that have said that they've replaced their whole marketing with AI, and I think that's very, very scary.

0:13:59 - Eric
Yes it is.

0:14:00 - Hannah
Um, I think that it kind of leaves that entire thing that we were talking about with authenticity is there's no actual human connection there. And I do think that it's important to have that human perspective.

0:14:13 - Hannah
But I in terms of social media, I think that I think with caption writing it can be very useful. 

0:14:21 - Hannah
Um, But I do think that in terms of like photos and videos, um, the actual content that's going out there, I don't know that I've fully seen it work to its full potential.
Um, And I don't think it's really a great replacement yet for what we do. Content creators. 

0:14:37 - Eric
Is a big yet in there, right?
So we're seeing it constantly involved.
It's still a tool. It's a tool that's very helpful.

0:14:44 - Eric
You know, when I started out and I was at a creative agency, you know, the creatives would get together and they'd brainstorm, right?
And they're like, hey, what do you think of this tagline?
What do you think of that?
And you're just throwing taglines back and forth.

0:14:55 - Eric
You can do that with ChatGPT now.
It's almost like having a junior creative there.
It's like, hey, this is the direction I'm thinking, give me five more options. Boom!
You get five more options.

0:15:03 - Eric
And it just kind of, I think helps you, um, um, get things done more effective.
And I don't know about effective, but definitely more efficiently. Right.

0:15:12 - Eric
But one thing I want to add is I was recently in a strategy session with a client
A construction client. Okay.
And, um, their social media agency, um, had the idea, hey, we should do all these how to blogs, right?
Of, like, how to build this thing.

0:15:27 - Eric
And we're like, hey, that's a great idea.
We've we've tried that, but we're recommending construction here.
There's a lot of liability. There's a lot of very technical knowledge you need to have. So we really haven't been able to do that.

0:15:39 - Eric
And they're like, oh, just use ChatGPT.
I'm like, okay, that's a great idea.
But what happens if ChatGPT gives the wrong directions and we put that there and God forbid someone gets injured or dies or whatever, we're liable for that. Right?

0:15:52 - Eric
So that's where ChatGPT again, is a great tool.
But you need to have that human element, especially if you're giving recommendations. Right. Any kind of recommendations.

0:16:02 - Eric
You know, I work with a lot of attorneys or lawyers and they say ChatGPT is great for research, right.
But you need to be careful because it could it doesn't know how to connect the dots. 
It could be a case that's not related, or it could be giving legal advice that doesn't apply. It could be a different state, different statute. Right.


0:16:20 - Eric
So again it's a great tool.
But you still need to have kind of that that decision, that final decision made by a human to make sure that you know, you're not giving wrong false advice or even, um, advice can get you in trouble

0:16:33 - Hannah
Yeah, that's a little scary. Honestly.
I've always used it.
You know, for somebody that does social media for a living, I think that it's a great way to jumpstart the creative process.
Just kind of like what you were mentioning earlier.

0:16:46 - Eric
It kind of helps us as we already have that kind of creative mindset.
But when we throw in an extra tool like, you know, ChatGPT, then we're able to kind of even go further with those creative ideas.

0:16:59 - Eric
Yeah.
And what do you think of basically in the last year and a half, two years, every single app I open has added an AI feature, right?

0:17:07 - Eric
It's just everywhere and it can be super helpful.
Like I use asana for project management.
It's like and I can say, hey, summarize this task, boom.
It's great for summaries, but you can also get in trouble.

0:17:16 - Eric
Like, I don't know if you saw this, like Apple was getting in trouble because it uses the AI summaries for your notifications and specifically the news ones were giving like bad summaries.

0:17:26 - Eric
And so there's actually I don't know if it's a lawsuit or what it was, but they're changing it now because the BBC specifically was showing screenshots where the summary of the like the push notifications said that I forget his last name and I apologize the the man who assassinated the UnitedHealthCare CEO, Luigi Something. Right.

0:17:48 - Eric
And so basically the notification, you can look this up and the screenshot says Luigi killed himself in prison, which is not true at all. Right.
But that's somehow it got a couple notifications, combine them together like that.

0:18:01 - Eric
So it's still to your point, we're not there.
Is it going to get smarter? Absolutely. But it's just like you know I'm a certain age.
So I remember in school the teacher saying you can't trust everything you see on the internet.
I'm sure your teacher said that as well. Right? And that's so true.
 
0:18:16 - Eric
And we can just extend that.
Don't trust everything you get from AI.

0:18:19 - Hannah
Yeah, absolutely.
And not to kind of, you know, get off on a tangent, but I do think that is, you know, maybe one of the cons of social media is people are really taking it and seeing content and taking it as fact, but they're not really looking Going into more information.

0:18:34 - Hannah
They're just kind of taking it as, oh, yep, this is this is true.
This is exactly you know, what this person says I believe it, but then they don't understand it.

0:18:42 - Eric
Do we even. Want to get into Meta and Facebook taking away the safeguards.
And now it's going to be a community notes to you know what I'm talking about. Right.

0:18:50 - Eric
So for the listeners that don't know. So meta Facebook has fact checkers. Right.
And so if there's a post made and it's factually incorrect or something very wrong, they'll take it down.

0:19:02 - Eric
So they're getting rid of that safeguard and saying now people can sell for self-report and put community notes on posts to say, hey, this isn't correct. Right.

0:19:13 - Eric
And I don't know if we want I don't think we want to get into this podcast, and I just want to make the listeners aware, right, that that's something to pay attention to. Right?

0:19:21 - Eric
Is, um, that there are shifting trends and shifting tides in social media. Um, TikTok was shut down for 14 hours, and I was listening to a news podcast the next day, and they were talking to influencers that, like, had 30 million followers.
And, you know, this person literally said, I thought my life was over.
I thought, you know, I had to that I thought that was it because that was their entire income, their entire flow. Right.

0:19:45 - Eric
And so I think that's maybe something that kind of goes along with the trends is to, um, the good old to follow a good old mantra, don't put all your eggs in one basket. Right.
And so the really successful content creators I see, like MrBeast, right, is you leverage your social media power into something other where you can make money, you start selling products, you start selling swag, right?
Um, Of course, MrBeast now got a show on Amazon Prime. So good for him, right? So that's like the ultimate that you actually then make the crossover.

0:20:17 - Eric
But kind of, you know, what do you do.
You can maybe sell courses, you know, or like I said, you can sell something tangible, some product or something, do a subscription service or something like that.
But don't rely just on one thing, one platform. Don't be a one trick pony.

0:20:33 - Hannah
Yeah, I think it was such a such a shock. The whole TikTok thing.
And I think it really did put into perspective for all the creators that are making, you know, their income and their living off of the platform.

0:20:44 - Hannah
Like, wait a second, if this goes down, which nobody has control over the social media platforms at the end of the day. So, right.
It is good to have, you know, not your eggs all in one basket and kind of diversify.


0:20:56 - Eric
Yeah, and I'm going to hijack just for a second and sidestep here is when it comes to websites very similar is you know there's different platforms.
You have Squarespace, you have Wix, you have Webflow, you have WordPress.

0:21:10 - Eric
And um, I really, um, want to emphasize for people that not on all the platforms you own your content.
So like if you have a WordPress website, you're own, you host it.
You have to figure all that out. So you own all of that.

0:21:26 - Eric
But if you're paying someone else like a Squarespace or a Wix.
You read the small print. You don't own all that content. They do because it's on their service, right?

0:21:34 - Eric
Same thing with social media.
As great as it is having 30 million followers or on Facebook even. Right.
If Mark Zuckerberg says today to tomorrow, hey, all this is gone. There's nothing we can do.

0:21:47 - Eric
And that's why it's so important to plan around that of like, what do I actually own or not? Right.
And so that's why I think a holistic strategy is so important of like, we can't just do TikTok, we can't just do Instagram.

0:22:00 - Eric
You know, that's why their websites are maybe still a good thing because you own that, right? It's not something that anybody can take away from you.
And email list is great, right? That's someone can take that away from you. Cell phone numbers. Right. Kind of building up your own databases I think are so important in in conjunction with social media.

0:22:18 - Hannah
I definitely agree, I think email is an incredible tool.
I think a lot of people think that it's out, think that it's not as effective, but it's still one of the most effective tools that there are.

0:22:29 - Eric
Absolutely. And I've been doing this for a long time, Hannah.
And I can tell you, um, the death of email has been proclaimed many times, and yet it still comes back.
I still remember the first time I was declared dead because Facebook is here, and apparently colleges and universities were not.

0:22:45 - Eric
There was one university, I think at least that wasn't giving out emails anymore to students.
They just used Facebook for everything, right?
But that was probably like 15 years ago, let's say.
And then all of a sudden, what happened?  You started getting email notifications from Facebook.
Hey, you missed these notifications. Hey, you got these direct messages.
Why does Facebook do that? Because they know you're always checking your email. And that's one way to bring you back, you know.

0:23:09 - Eric
And so that was like the first time that happened like oh email is dead.
But then Facebook started using and Twitter same thing now X right.
Sending you emails to come back to the platform because they know you're checking that.
So that's a great point. You know email is still so powerful.

0:23:22 - Hannah
I think too that there's so many generations that are used to using email marketing.
And then it's like when you throw a new platform into the mix, for example, like TikTok. It's like, well, not everybody knows how to use TikTok.

0:23:35 - Eric
You know, there's a lot of people from different generations that aren't really wanting to use the platform.
So I think that email is still going to be around for that as well.

0:23:44 - Eric
So you brought. Up a good thing, like with the different platforms.
I want to dig into that a little bit more. Right.

0:23:49 - Eric
So it used to be, you know, the mantra is I can create one post and post it everywhere, right?
I got a picture, I got a caption. Let me put that on Instagram. Let me put it on Facebook. Let me put it on LinkedIn. Let me put it on Twitter
But I can't do that anymore with TikTok. Right.

0:24:03 - Eric
So what are what's kind of your advice to businesses that are that want to kind of keep it as simple as possible, but want to make an impact with their target audience might be on different platforms?

0:24:14 - Hannah
Sure. I think that it's good to obviously structure the content for the platform.
Usually, like when we start working with a new client, we will do the same posts for every platform and then kind of figure out from there what's working and what's not working, and kind of looking at your analytics and understanding your data and your audience and what they're liking.
 
0:24:36 - Hannah
For some, TikTok actually has a feature now where you can do carousels, so you can do just photos, but obviously video is usually more effective.
But I think it's a matter of just kind of understanding what kind of content is performing best on each platform and kind of pivoting from there.
I think it's good to kind of keep a general theme to the posts.

0:24:58 - Hannah
Obviously you don't want to be posting about something entirely different, but just for example, I had a client one time that I was working with, she had a consignment boutique, um, and basically on Facebook we noticed that her audience really loved promotional content, and they wanted to see what deals she had going on.
They wanted to see what type of clothing she had on sale.

0:25:18 - Hannah
But then Instagram, she noticed that her audience really loved behind the scenes and seeing kind of the visual of like what her day to day looked like.
So I think that that's a perfect example of, you know, different audiences will like different things. So it's just kind of a matter of.

0:25:35 - Eric
So I want to talk about reaching the next generation.
So I learned that January 1st new generation started January 1st, 2025.
I don't know if you're aware of it's generation beta.

0:25:44 - Eric
Okay, so the betas are now getting born. If you're born after January 1st, congratulations, you're part of Generation Beta. Okay. Um, Who knows how we're going to reach Generation Beta, right?
I don't think we can even guess for the next 10 to 15 years. Have any idea what the heck they're going to be doing to consume content? Right.

0:26:01 - Eric
But I think we can talk about how to reach Gen Z, which is the next up and coming generation. Right? And so I know it's a little bit of a different approach.

0:26:10 - Eric
We already talked about authenticity, right.
Their expectations for brands are probably being transparent, really being socially conscious and engaging, which is the direction a lot of brands are going.

0:26:22 - Eric
But just curious kind of what your recommendations are maybe and thoughts on understanding and reaching generation Z.

0:26:29 - Hannah
Well, I think that generation Z, I think that and I'm generation Z.
So I think that kind of we have.

0:26:37 - Eric
A subject matter expert in the House.

0:26:39 - Hannah
Um, Well, from that perspective, I'm a little bit of like the later, I guess the later side. Older side.
Um, But for me, I use Instagram and I think there's a good percentage of Gen Z that is still like, that's the platform that they love and that they use.
I think everyone's different. 

0:26:56 - Hannah
Um, But I do think Instagram and TikTok, I think both of those platforms are still very effective.
I think that just going back to authenticity, I think that we're a generation where we like to research everything.
And I think that, you know, going back to some of the older generations, like we didn't have as much resources available. I mean. You know.

0:27:18  - Eric
Yeah, that’s a great point. 

0:27:19 - Hannah
Resources, but we have so much access to so much information.

0:27:23 - Eric
So let me ask you a side sidebar. Side question.
Just because I saw this on Reddit the other day from like the subreddit.
Do you know what Encarta is? Microsoft Encarta?

0:27:31 - Hannah
No.

0:27:32 - Eric 
So Microsoft Encarta was in the late 90s, which was a CD-ROM that came with your computer, and it was basically like Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia Britannica for your computer.
And because the internet wasn't there, right, the computer was not connected to the internet. If people can believe that. Right.
Just sat in your house and you put a CD into it and have programs on there.

0:27:51 - Eric
And so it's just reminiscing of the days to your point is, like my research was on a CD-ROM that was maybe burned a year or two ago, so it wasn't up to date.
It was very limited. So that was how much research I could do.  Where now everything's at your fingertips, right?
And you are always connected. So sorry. I just wanted. To share. That little tidbit there.

0:28:10 - Hannah
Yeah. Um, But I definitely think that that is just something to keep in mind, as you know, a brand, as a business that, you know, when you're putting content out there that you are being very intentional, that you're being honest.

0:28:23 - Hannah
Um, And that, you know, you fact check everything, right?

0:28:26  - Eric
I mean, so and people do that, right?
I forget exactly who it was, what office he was running for. But it was someone in new Jersey, right.
And I forget if he's running for senator or governor.
And he put up his Spotify Wrapped and his Spotify Wrapped had all Bruce Springsteen, right? New Jersey's favorite son. And he was running for office in new Jersey.

0:28:47 - Eric
But people it was a story. People looked at the story, downloaded it whatever, and analyzed it and saw that the margins and the fonts were a little off.
And they're like, wait a minute, this is photoshopped. This wasn't actually Spotify wrapped.
So he got caught and it was funny. And he's like, okay, yeah, I'm sorry. Sorry.
I had my staff edit it because my kids use my Spotify account, so all their music was on there.

0:29:09 - Eric
But to your point, if he had just owned that up front, like, hey, this is what my Spotify Wrapped should look like, right?
It's very simple versus trying to give somebody something fake because they're going to figure that out, right?

0:29:21 - Eric
It's perfect as you try to like fake it. They're still going to figure that out right. And they're going to do their research.
You know, if you really are a socially conscious organization right. If you say you give back to the community, you really give back to the community.

0:29:38 - Eric
So that's such a great point. You know, that people can figure everything out.
So just don't even risk it, right? Just be authentic there.

0:29:47 - Eric
You also mentioned at the very beginning, um, social media really is the crossroads of education and entertainment.
So edutainment, I think, is a term that I've heard, and I think that works really well with Gen Z, you know, and I think that's why like TikTok etc. does so well is, you know, for me, I'm not afraid to sit down with a newspaper, The New York Times, on a Sunday and kind of work through the articles.

0:30:09 - Eric
But for Gen Z, that's intimidating, right?
They want to see a 30 minute clip of someone, you know, make some funny jokes about it, but then tie it together at the end and you learn something, you know, and that's I think is an opportunity for brands.

0:30:22 - Eric
If you know your stuff, if you're a subject matter expert. Right.
Coming back to attorneys again, you know, if you're an intellectual property attorney, that's not such a fun topic.
It seems super boring, but I'm sure you could combine that with some trends.
You could combine it with whatever the latest dance is and just say, hey, you know, this dance I just did, you could patent that or just kind of like make it educational with the entertainment. And I think that's a huge opportunity.

0:30:48 - Hannah
That's a very creative way to look at it.
I mean, I have met a couple attorneys that have done very well from social media and been able to generate more clients from it.
I think it's good to be, as we said earlier, intentional and making sure that, okay, does this TikTok dance really make me look like a professional attorney?
 
0:31:06 - Hannah
You know, but, um, you know, just to be intentional with does this trend align with this brand and the business and our mission and our goals, because I think sometimes brands and businesses can get a little bit ahead of themselves with the trends and not be it just won't always make sense for the brand.
So I think, you know, that's something to note as well.

0:31:28 - Eric
Yeah, it's like almost a double edged sword right.
So you might have short term gain of like oh look I got a bunch of gain a bunch of likes.
But then when someone later looks at that and it's time to make a business decision, they're like, man, Eric did that weird karaoke thing that was on trend, but he can't sing. I'm not going to work with him. Right.

0:31:46 - Eric
So really being careful there that you're not just chasing a trend to chase a trend as a business, as a brand. Right.
Especially if you're a professional, I think.I couldn't agree more.

0:31:56 - Eric
There's a very fine line that you need to walk, and that's why you want to work with, you know, a strategist or someone like yourself who understands what that line is and how to meet your goals.

0:32:07 - Hannah
Yeah, absolutely.
And something to kind of piggyback off what we were talking about earlier with the short form content.
I do think that, you know, we're at an age where we can order something on our phone with a click of a button, and it'll be there tomorrow.
And that's kind of the same mentality that people are getting with social media content.

0:32:25 - Hannah
It's like, well, I don't want to read this super long post. I just want to see a video that's, you know, 10s 30s long and, you know, get get to the point already.

0:32:35 - Eric
Yeah, because. We're all busy, right?
And we all want to, um, you know, kind of do something on our phone that or on our. That's where most people consume social media, right?
It's on our phone. Right. On our phones. That's not going to bore us, right.
Because life is boring enough. Probably.

0:32:53 - Eric
And people are are used to having continuous inputs. Right.
And kind of standing out in that clutter in a way that is professional and that connects with people, I think is really the end all, be all.

0:33:05 - Hannah
And something to that I'm curious to hear. Your input is what do you think about social media and the consumption of social media.
I do think that, you know, that's something that we might see a little bit later on, is people getting to the point of consuming too much social media.

0:33:20 - Hannah
And, you know, I know now there's timers that you can put on the apps.
Yes, you can put on 30 minute however long you want to. Um, But I think that it's not really something that's talked about that much.

0:33:31  - Eric
It's not. And I mean, like I mentioned earlier, when I had breakfast yesterday with a friend who's a financial advisor, we kind of got into that a little bit.
And that's where I shared, like, look at all these people and all the money they have from this.
And he's like, well, it's not really like that, right? It's just for show.

0:33:45 - Eric
And I think, um, that's kind of in parallel to what you talked about, just the time consumption, but also how it makes us feel about ourselves, right, on social media.
So I think what you need to do as an individual is really draw hard lines. Right?
And really, you know, if someone is, you know, you're following and they're, you know, making you upset, anxious, envious, right. Envy is a good word. There is. Just unfollow them. There's no reason to follow them.

0:34:13 - Eric
Follow people that add to your life that make it more positive, that help you grow. That's who you want to follow, right?
And that's full circle is your social media strategy should enrich people's lives. Yeah, it. Should make it better, right?

0:34:27 - Eric
So like I mentioned earlier with the construction brand, right.
You want to make their lives better when they're in that situation, they need to do construction.
How do you make it easier for them? How do you make it more fun for them. Right.

0:34:40 - Eric
But the time we spend on social media, I think I'm not so much worried about how much time it is.
But what you're doing in that time, if you're just like everybody knows the term now, doomscrolling, and you're just going and going, that's not that can be okay.

0:34:54 - Eric
If you, you know, let's say you worked for a ten hour day and I just need a break. I need no nutritional value in this. I just need to doomscroll I think that can be okay.

0:35:03 - Eric
But if that takes over, you know, your lunch break and you're doomscrolling for an hour, and then all of a sudden, boom, it's 2:00 and you were supposed to work.Then you have a problem, right? Then there's something wrong.
Um, So I think it's more about the quality of the time you spent versus just the quantity of it there.
So it's a really good question, Hannah.

0:35:22 - Eric
And I think the, the apps are realizing that and kind of putting in the timers, especially for kids, you want to train them, you know, because like I said, I had to put a CD in my computer to see anything, right?
So it's very intentional project.
And my parents could just unplug it, take the cord away and I would have no computer. You can't do that nowadays, right? Nowadays you're connected 24 over seven.
So I think that education and that, um, instilling that responsibility early on in kids is so important.

0:35:50 - Hannah
Absolutely. And I think it goes even beyond social media.
Like what content are you consuming? What podcasts are you listening to? Are you listening to true crime? And then you're always, you know, having. Anxiety, right. 

0:36:01 - Eric 
Or paranoid?

0:36:03 - Hannah
Exactly. So I think that, you know, it's always important to be intentional about what you're consuming.

0:36:08 - Eric 
Absolutely. Couldn't agree more.
Well, let's talk about what people are consuming on social media.

0:36:13 - Eric 
We put together a checklist and we have nine things that can help people with their social media strategy.
And this is really important for people to pay attention.
If you hadn't, you guys missed a great conversation if you hadn't been listening till now. But now is the really important time to pay attention.

0:36:30 - Eric 
We have nine different actionable strategies for you to implement, but don't worry, we'll put them on the show notes for you to download afterwards as well, but we're going to walk you through them here.

0:36:41 - Eric 
We're starting off with any strategy. If it's social media, SEO, PPC, whatever that tactic is, you want to set Smart goals, right?
0:36:50 - Eric 
And what a what a Smart goals. Smart goals, that stands for that. There are specific goals. They're measurable goals. They're achievable, they're relevant and they're time bound.

0:36:59 - Eric 
What does that mean. They need to be clear measurable objectives, right?
So you don't want to just say hey I want to increase followers. right? That's great. 
But how and what time? How many followers do you want to gain? To what goal? Right.

0:37:13 - Eric 
So I think that's probably what you start off with as well, probably with a new client kind of wanting to understand what they want to achieve. Right?

0:37:18 - Hannah
Sure. Yeah.
I think it's very important to understand, are we trying to generate leads from our campaigns, or are we trying to build more awareness, more trust, or are we just trying to get more engagement?
Because I think all of those different elements can kind of affect the content that you put out in your strategy.

0:37:37 - Eric 
100%.
And so what type of content you put out goes right into number two.
And we talked about it already today is identifying your platforms. Right.

0:37:47 - Eric 
So once you have the goals you need to understand who your audience is and understand what platforms will be most effective for you.
So I mentioned LinkedIn a lot of times today. Why do I do that? Because I work with a lot of B2B business providers.

0:38:01 - Eric 
Their audience is on LinkedIn and so that's why you want to identify that right platform that will help you reach the right audience at the right time and tailor the format to the content so that way it performs there.

0:38:13 - Eric
Like you mentioned, you could maybe start out, you know, with similar content on different platforms, but eventually you want to really understand what are people consuming on TikTok versus Instagram versus, um, Snapchat.

0:38:26 - Eric 
I don't know, there's so many platforms out there. Instagram. Right.
I think setting those goals and then identifying the platforms, you know, what content you need to create.

0:38:35 - Hannah
Right, right. Absolutely. And just knowing where your audience is spending their time. And then you'll be able to craft and structure the content better.

0:38:44 - Eric 
All right. Number three is leveraging video content. So that's a separate bullet point because I can't emphasize that enough.
You are not active on social media if you're not posting video. Period.

0:38:54 - Eric 
Video remains the king of all social media. If it's short form short videos, TikToks and Instagram Reels, I think are so important.

0:39:04 - Hannah
There's so much more that you can get in a video, even in a ten second video, than you can get writing multiple paragraphs.
I think that video is so visual, and it's a way to really, um, you know, send clear messaging.
It's a way to just showcase so many different things. There's so many opportunities you can take with video.

0:39:25 - Eric 
And it's sometimes, you know, we've both probably had heard these apprehensions.
When you're working with a client, you know, like let's say a professional service, like an attorney, right. Like, oh, I don't want to record videos for this. And then my response is, would you want to generate business?
Do you want to get potential new clients?
Do you want people contacting you? You do.
Then you have to do video. It's really non-optional and there's separate strategies to do that.

0:39:48 - Eric 
Maybe that'll be a follow up podcast where we talk about how to do videos in specific niches because, you know, it's so easy to do a video as an attorney, you just need to know kind of what people want to get out of that video and then record it.

0:40:03 - Hannah
Yeah, absolutely.

0:40:05 - Eric 
All right. So we're at number four here where now we're in measurement. About measuring it. And so you want to use analytics to guide your strategy.

0:40:13 - Eric 
You mentioned that Hannah when you start working off with a working with a new client, you're tracking that performance and then you're adjusting the strategy based on that data. Insights like some messaging might work better on you mentioned meta versus somewhere else.
And you do that through analytics, right?

0:40:28 - Hannah
Yeah, absolutely. So I can kind of share with you a perfect example of this.
So I've been working on my personal brand content, and I noticed at first I was kind of just posting what I enjoy because it's my personal brand.

0:40:41 - Hannah
Um, And I was getting a lot more reach because I was posting videos and I was being consistent, but I wasn't actually providing much value even from a personal brand standpoint.
So I had to hone into, okay, what kind of value can I bring to the table with this personal brand? And then from there I started seeing better results.

0:41:00 - Hannah
So I do think that, um, you know, analyzing your analytics, seeing how much reach you're getting, seeing, um, how much engagement you're getting, if you're getting a lot of reach, but you're not really seeing followers, then that's a good, um, indication that there's a disconnect there, that you're missing something, that maybe you're not putting out the right content your audience wants to see.
Or maybe there's no value. There's no, um, really anything for them to hold on to, right?

0:41:27 - Eric 
That's that's so true.
And all that is tied again with analytics. Right. And it's not just on social media. It's everywhere else.
No matter what you're doing, you need to make sure you're measuring because you need to have that data integrity.
So that way you can then make data based decisions.

0:41:42 - Eric 
So number five here is don't be afraid to experiment and then adapt. Right.
So it's always evolving. So what worked last year might not work today.
Um, You know I remember on Instagram it was just one photo.
Then all of a sudden, hey, it needs to be a carousel.
Then all of a sudden it needs to be a reel, and now it needs to be a story.
So who knows what's going to be next, kind of what's going to work on the platforms?

0:42:04 - Hannah
Absolutely.
I think it's really just kind of staying in tune with the trends that are going on.
And unfortunately, this is a part of my job that I would say is maybe one of my least favorite.
But you have to kind of be involved in the platforms.

0:42:18 - Hannah
You got to see what other people are doing, not in a sense to copy them, but to understand what people are interested in right now, what's working for other businesses that are in your industry? How can you do it better?

0:42:31 - Eric 
Yeah, no, I love it. So that's so important is being part of that and experiment yourself and then adapting based on that.

0:42:38 - Eric 
So let's get to number six. Number six very straightforward.Build a content calendar right.
on't just figure out oh today is Monday I need to post right.

0:42:47 - Eric
Think about it ahead of time. Stay organized, be consistent with a content calendar, and keep yourself accountable that way. So that way you are being consistent.
And not only does that keep you organized also on the platforms, you need to be consistently posting in order to get any engagement right?

0:43:03 - Hannah
Absolutely.
I would say at the very least three posts a week and I have.

0:43:09 - Eric 
And that's for all platforms? 

0:43:11 - Hannah
Yeah. Um, TikTok, there's a lot of people that say three times a day and if you do three times a day, in my opinion, I don't think.

0:43:18 - Eric 
Feels like a lot.

0:43:19 - Hannah
Well, it is a lot.
Um, But I just think that you're going to end up putting out content that is not good.

0:43:27 - Eric 
And subpar.

0:43:28 - Hannah
Yeah, exactly. So why why do that? Why waste all of that time?
I think better to do a little bit less posts a week.
You know, maybe if it's for whatever time you have available. Yeah. Um, But focus on quality and focus on, you know, providing the value.

0:43:44 - Eric
Agreed. No. Absolutely. Quality over quantity. Right.
Because your people, your followers or people are going to see that.And like, oh, Hannah's quality isn't as great as it used to be.
Let me unfollow and let me see if there's someone else better out there. Make sense? Yeah.

0:44:00 - Hannah
Yeah. And I always tell clients to. Or like DIY clients, people that are trying to do it themselves.
Set a day for scheduling and creating your content, because if you don't schedule it, then you're just going to get sidetracked and you're going to forget, and then it's going to be pushed off and you won't be as consistent.

0:44:17 - Hannah
But if you set a day that that's going to be your day, where you create the content and schedule it out, you'll be you'll have much better success.

0:44:25 - Eric
Let's get to number eight here. Invest in paid ads strategically. So we talked about it earlier.
You know we're seeing declines in organic reach. That's nothing new.
So paid ads really can give you more visibility as needed.

0:44:38 - Eric
But again I said strategically don't just boost random posts. Don't just do ads to do them, but go through what are those Smart goals? What are you trying to do and how can paid ads help you achieve those goals?

0:44:51 - Hannah
Absolutely. And you would probably maybe know this better than I would, but I have heard that, you know, specifically when it comes to paid ads that utilizing some of your organic content, like if you have a post that goes, you know, that performs really well and you get a lot of engagement, a lot of reach, you can utilize that content for those paid ads.
 
0:45:13 - Eric
100 % Right? So the advertiser in me says, well, listen, every ad needs to have a call to action. Every ad needs to tell someone to do something.
But maybe you don't. You know, if it's it's reaching people organically already.
You know, people are going to engage with it. You know, it's the right message for the right people.

0:45:33 - Eric
Now you just need to hit them at the right time by boosting, by not necessarily boosting it, but putting money behind it and then getting it in front of people.
So absolutely, I wholeheartedly agree with that. It's almost like like testing it, right?
Like we said, experiment. See what works organically. Boom. This one got a lot more reach and a lot more likes.
Let's put some money behind it to show it to my target audience even more.

0:45:53 - Hannah
Yeah, absolutely.

0:45:55 - Eric
And last but not least, number nine, stay ahead of trends. We talked about it some of our favorite trends here. Because social media is always changing.
So stay updated on what's working now beyond being in the platforms and kind of figuring out for yourself, is there any other tips you have on how people at home can stay ahead of trends?

0:46:13 - Hannah
I would say just kind of. And I'm not saying focus on controversial topics, but focusing on topics that are current, that are happening in our day to day life.
You know, for example, AI as a whole thing, that's a whole trend, right? Yeah.
Um, But, you know, you can lean into content about AI, things like that, just kind of staying up to date on what's going on in the day to day world.

0:46:36 - Eric
Absolutely. Couldn't agree more. Maybe we can even ask ChatGPT what trends are happening, right? Used to AI to learn more.

0:46:44 - Eric
Well, that brings us to the end of the episode, Hannah. I had such a blast today. I learned so much. I hope the listeners at home learned a lot as well.
Thank you so much for being my guest today. Couldn't have had a better guest to talk about social media, so thank you.

0:46:57 - Hannah
Of course. Thank you for having me.

0:46:58 - Eric
And to the listeners watchers here on the podcast, thank you so much for joining us at the Search Bar.

0:47:03 - Eric
If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to connect with me and Hannah on LinkedIn to follow our journeys and all things digital media.
You'll find both our profiles linked in the episode description, and if you have any questions about SEO or how to turn your website into a revenue generating machine, don't hesitate to reach out.

0:47:20 - Eric
As the CEO of Digital Neighbor, I'm always excited to chat about digital strategies and help businesses grow.
And before you go, I'd love if you could leave a review for the podcast.
Your feedback not only helps me improve, but also keeps the conversation going.

0:47:35 - Eric
Plus, I promise to read your reviews in an upcoming episode and give a shout out to our amazing listeners.
So I hope we filled your class with digital wisdom today, and I can't wait to have you join us on the next episode of The Search Bar. Cheers!