Does social media marketing feel like your full-time job? In today’s episode, I’m continuing my series all about branding, and diving into social media strategy with Addie and Macey of Glow Marketing Solutions. Addie and Macey share their tips for making social media feel fun again, plus tips for standing out in saturated markets and advice for committing to consistency. 

On Quianna Marie Weekly, we’re chatting about business growing pains, finding genuine connections, and celebrating wins of all sizes through the lens of a photographer at heart. Sprinkled throughout stories and interviews with past clients, photographers and other business owners this podcast is designed to help you step into your purpose and to truly create a life you’re proud of, a life worth photographing and sharing.

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Review The Show Notes:

How Glow Marketing Solutions Was Born (3:33)

Your Left Brain And Right Brain (5:30)

Making Social Media Fun (6:41)

How To Use Content For Business Growth (8:16)

Making Content Feel Like Art (10:20)

Creating Content That Authentically Feels Like You (13:11)

The Experience Of Working With A Social Media Agency (17:19)

The Content That Your Strategist Wants (19:44)

Advice For Defining Your Style And Standing Out (24:06)

Proving Your Value Online (27:00)

Showing Up Consistently Online (35:31)

Key Tip From Addie and Macey (43:08)

Connect With Addie And Macey:

Discovery Call $500 Off

Instagram:  instagram.com/glowmarketingsolutions

Review the Transcript:

Quianna: For many of us today, content creation and social media can feel like a full time job or a headache that we know we need to do to stay relevant. But it’s not always fun to put yourself out there and to find the time to create content, let alone keeping up with trends, market research, and content strategy.

When we started our business, we were passionate about our work, the impact we’re making and already wearing so many hats to keep the business running, let alone taking on social media and content marketing. What if we could make social media fun again? What if we use social media as a tool to find our new business bestie, attract aligned clients, and search for our next coaching opportunity or mentor?

I couldn’t complete this branding series without introducing you to. Two of my favorite local social media managers, as we develop our personal brands, commit to our styles and vibes and refine our messaging. What if we actually looked forward to creating a content plan? Social media can actually be so much fun.

And I am so thankful to have not one, but two experts today to help us reframe our mindset with social media and how we can have it work for us instead of us feeling like we’re on these large platforms. Trying to work for them while keeping our heartbeat of our businesses pulsing with each scroll. I’m honored to introduce you to Glow Marketing Solutions founded by two besties, Addy and Macy.

Together, these two make the perfect duo to develop content strategies, slow some scrolls to create cohesive brand messaging and visuals for you. They advocate the creativity and content strategies for your business online so you can shine and truly glow in real life. Today, we’ll be discussing tips and tricks to make content creation and social media more fun and engaging.

We’ll be colliding the power of art and business marketing to align your online presence and real life personality. So when people meet you in person for the first time, they already love you based on what you’ve been sharing on social media. Grab your notebook to jot down some notes and even more tips about standing out in a saturated market, becoming a local favorite, and more advice for committing to consistency.

Trust me, I understand the struggle is real when it comes to juggling our busy lives, brands, campaigns, launches, and home life. Addy and Macy are going to blow you away with tangible tips and mindset shifts to help you take action today. Plus, let’s be honest, they’re eager to help take the reins and partner with you as well to glow brighter on social media.

Without further ado, please welcome these two bright lights, Addie and Macy with glow marketing solutions. Welcome to Kiana Marie weekly, a podcast for creatives who love to celebrate wins big or small by dancing in the kitchen. Photographers who are excited to celebrate. serve their clients and friends who are ready to chase really, really big dreams.

You can find all of the resources mentioned in this episode at KeanuMarie. com slash podcast. Join me as I share weekly motivation, chat about growing pains, finding genuine connections and celebrating your wins through the lens of a photographer at heart. Come join me for a dance party. Ready? Let’s go.

Hey, hey, hey, welcome to the party ladies. It is. Such an honor to have both of you here with us today to chat all about social media, igniting your organic reach and truly connecting with dream clients. So I would love to know exactly who you are and how your agency was born.

Addie: Our story goes way, way back.

So my name is Addie. I’m the co founder of Glow Marketing Solutions, also here with my business partner, Macey. But long before we were business partners, we were actually best friends. Introduced by the most important men in our lives, our partners. We became friends, hit it right off the bat, kind of just never looked back.

And a few years into us being friends, we kind of threw around the idea of like starting an agency together. I had a lot of experience and strategy and data and analytics and all of that kind of stuff. And Macey has been an incredible content creator for the longest time. So. We combined our strengths and never looked back.

Quianna: I love that so much. So Macey, I would love to hear from you. And can you please let us know exactly what your role is in Glow Marketing Solutions and what do you love most about your job?

Macey: Yes. So, Addie and I, we basically always joke around that we share one brain. So, Addy, she’s the left brain of Glow, and then I’m the right brain of Glow.

Um, and when we first started, we kind of came up with our own C suite titles. So, I am technically the Chief Creative Officer for Glow Marketing Solutions. Um, I handle all things from content creation to content strategy, day to day operations, managing our influencer campaigns, and outreach. And probably the thing that I love most about my job is how rewarding it is to Um, working with other passionate business owners, working with my best friends and, um, to be my own boss.

I think it’s been so fulfilling and so rewarding since starting this business.

The Difference Between Right Brain + Left Brain

Quianna: That’s incredible. And I love that you mentioned the left brain and the right brain. So can you like give us a little definition of what that means for someone that’s not familiar?

Macey: Yes. Yes. So Addie’s style. She Handles a lot of the data and analytics and strategy side of our business and the right brain is for all my creatives out there, too.

I have always been a creative. I love the arts. I love creating content. I have 45, 000 photos in my phone and 25, 000 videos on my phone. So they are able to combine our strengths and be really one brain together. And I feel like that’s helped us be so successful in our business and also like the perfect balance of a friendship because, you know, opposites attract.

Quianna: Yes. I think that’s genius. And I love that you two are collaborating and creating the business of your dreams. And part of that is. Part of that joy and that passion comes from watching other people succeed, right? Like letting their business just ignite and grow in the best possible way. So I would love to dive right into social media.

And if we can please start with Addie and I’d love to know, how can we make social media more fun? Sometimes it feels like a full time job, but how can it be more fun?

Addie: The bottleneck that I see the most with people who are trying to create and manage their own content, it’s really not necessarily a lack of ideas.

It’s not necessarily the fact that they can’t execute it. A lot of times there is like a mental block there, just like you said, where it’s like that fun aspect of things. But what we’ve noticed over the years of doing this is really what helps people the most is putting together a high level strategy and it almost acts is that like North Star so that you know, like what your content pillars are.

What type of content to create videos versus photos and kind of putting together not necessarily like a content calendar, but having that like brand identity, the brand strategy, the personality strategy, what it is that you want to communicate. Having that structure and that wireframe in place really just allows people to use it as like.

A sounding board for all of their content and then it flows a lot easier because they know exactly what it is that they’re supposed to be communicating with their audience.

Quianna: I love that and I feel like that gives us a breath of fresh air to know Hey, once i’m confident with a system and just like you said like kind of organizing these ideas It doesn’t feel like you’re going upstream or it doesn’t feel like you have friction It can be more fun and more creative.

I love that so much So Macey, I would love to know in your opinion, what is content? What really is it? I feel like, you know, before we really get into the strategy here, we really need an understanding of what the heck we’re talking about when we mentioned content. So what does it mean to you? And how can we use it for our business growth?

Macey: Yes, this is a great question. And I love this question, because I feel like with content, it can mean a lot. A whole sorts of things for different people for, but for me particularly content to me is a form of art. It’s a form of expressing yourself. It’s an amazing way to connect with people from all around the world.

It’s exciting. It’s ever changing. It’s always evolving all the time. And it’s, it’s so interesting because it’s like, What may work today may not resonate tomorrow, so it’s really important to be able to adapt to the changings of content creation in this space, and there’s various forms of content. It can be text, visuals, audio, video, all of that is all under the umbrella of content.

For content, the way that businesses can really like use content is to connect and engage and build trust within their community. And it’s, it’s really important for business growth, you know, because it really helps drive that brand awareness. And also depending on the type of content that you’re posting, it can help them stand out in a saturated market, you know, seeing what your competitors are doing and seeing how they can stand out and shine a little more just based on the content strategy alone.

And really, you know, just to summarize it, content is not just a marketing tool, you know, plays a really important role in how businesses communicate and build relationships and have long term successes.

Quianna: I love that so much. And the first thing that resonated and I’m like, hold on, we have to like, We can’t just skip this and like pass on, we have to go back.

I love how you mentioned that content is art and it’s a, it can be a beautiful art form. So for someone, and I love this coming from your right brain, I’m relating to this, um, for someone that does not think when they open up Instagram or they open up a social media platform, that this is art. They feel like this is a job.

Can you please share some of that? Some examples of how you can make content art. How can you, how can you authentically be yourself through art? I’m so curious how we can unpack that.

Macey: Yeah. So that’s a great question because obviously social media is my life. It’s my job. It’s my career and I love it. And I always joke around that.

I like live in the algorithm. Um, and I am definitely one of those. People that scroll mindlessly, but not really. You know, when I’m scrolling, I’m looking for certain things, but when I’m in the mood for almost like I’m seeking out inspiration on social media and I use that as like a tool to find that inspiration and find what people are creating and Really like when it comes to content creation and like making that art, what videos are you constantly seeing on your for you page?

That’s probably going to be the videos that you might feel a little more inclined to make is what the algorithm is showing to you. Really, it took me a long time to figure out what my content style was because I, I have an appreciation for all different types of content styles, but it’s really just, it’s a fun way just to see and explore and get to know what people in this space are creating and seeing how they’re doing it, whether it’s different transitions, different audios that they’re using and seeing how they’re leveraging different fonts and, you know, even like pop culture references in their videos.

It’s, it’s so interesting to see the different dynamics in content creation and how people use that as an expression of themselves. And, you know, their editing styles, people want more of a low exposure video or, you know, something that’s light to the eye. Bright and vibrant. Like it’s, you know, it’s really what’s resonating with you.

What do you consume? Because usually what you consume is what you also want to put out there too.

Quianna: That is such a great reflection. I love that so much. And I feel like sometimes I know even when I’m working with B roll and I’m, you know, capturing things for clients for my own branding sessions, I’m always thinking, okay, what do you love?

And what do you hate? Like what type of resonates with you? What sounds Fun. I do have clients that are like, I will never do a lip syncing video. I’m not going to be shaking my butt and dancing. And I think that’s beautiful. And I love that you are giving us that green light or that permission that that’s perfectly you, whether you do that or not.

Right. So like finding what it is. Oh my gosh. I love this. So Addy, I would love to kind of kick it back to you. Back to you a little bit more of a left brain kind of strategy around this. And I would love you to hear your advice on creating the type of content that authentically feels like you, because we can get artsy, we can get creative, we can share our personalities, but when it truly comes to the social media strategy, I find personally that people struggle creating content and showing up online, but then I meet them in person and I think they’re awesome.

Awesome. And then I, and then I see their social media and I’m like, there’s a disconnect. So how can we create that authenticity connection?

Addie: You know, I, I think you both said it in so many beautiful ways, and it all comes back to the fact that all the algorithms now on Every single platform that we’re seeing are valuing authenticity.

And I think everybody hears that it’s a big buzzword right now. And with authenticity comes honestly, for people that are struggling to create content, there comes, it’s almost like this. Looming like authenticity. Like, what does that look like? What does it feel like? Like it’s. It’s very intimidating in a way, like that authentic self and, you know, showing up as your authentic self and, Oh, just be you.

Oh, just do that. It’s it’s honestly, yes, it’s very important. And it is like a really good way. If it’s easy to do that, then do it. But for a lot of people, it’s not. And so I think for me, what really helps is. Really just lowering that barrier to entry in our own minds, especially. And I’m, I think I’m really talking to like my fellow perfectionists right now.

Macy and I both identify as recovering perfectionists. So one thing that really helps us when we are creating content, whether it be for our personal pages, for our business pages, or for our clients is really just to lower that, like, do I need to show up when I’m driving in my car and picking up my kids?

No, if it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it. Make that curated content if that is what feels better for you, or if it feels better to not show up at all and just have, like, those graphics and, you know, the very informational style posts, then do that. Like, just showing up is the most important piece of it.

And yes, we could talk about strategy forever and ever and ever. But when we’re talking to the people, the business owners and entrepreneurs, especially that are running their own pages, it can be a lot of overwhelming information. And oftentimes you’re hearing these quote unquote experts. And there are lots of experts in the space that talk about, this is their formula.

This is their recipe. This is what you need to be doing. This is the algorithm update. This is this, this is that, Oh my gosh. Like it, it makes me overwhelmed. And I work in this space every single day. I live and breathe marketing strategy. So what you need to know is there’s no right or wrong to creating content.

There is no like perfect formula. There is no exact strategy. There is no perfect way to do anything in life. People find success in doing it so many different ways. So just start doing what you have the least resistance to what feels the easiest and just let it be what it is. It doesn’t have to be perfect.

Let it evolve. Start somewhere. Do something manageable that you can put out consistently and then just see what happens. Let it, let it unfold.

Quianna: You know what I mean? Yes. I love this. And I do. I feel like you’re giving us so much grace to just start, right? We are creating these incredible experiences. We’re showing up to in person events.

We’re connecting, we’re growing, we’re always learning. And I feel like our audience. No matter what industry or what niche you’re in, they want to see that. People are so nosy, like people want to know what’s going on. And I love how you mentioned to just be creative and really lower that barrier of entry.

So it’s okay that you’re not that expert, right? I love that. So, uh, okay, let’s pretend that someone is, you know, they just recently booked a branding session. They have these photos. They’re, they’re trying their hardest to show up online authentically. They’re taking your advice. They’re doing it anyway, but maybe there’s still some hesitation.

Maybe there’s still some, Paralyzing moments thinking, hold on, I need help and I’m ready to invest in this. So this is where your strategy and your agency comes into help. So Macy, I would love for you to almost give us a good game plan. Where would your expertise for your glow marketing come in? As far as the social media strategy, is this something that you would like to work with your clients before a branding session?

Maybe like during after we’re kind of anticipating the photos, making a game plan, or even waiting until after you have those photos? Like, can you walk us through that experience?

Macey: Yes, definitely. So I think it could go in a lot of different ways, but definitely how best we work and with the clients that we already have is it helps to have that established brand already, especially if you know your brand voice and we go into your work.

Great detail on our onboarding strategy kit to about different target avatars, their customer profiles, their competitor analysis, strictly for social media. But it definitely helps to have at least like the foundation of what your business is about, and then we come into it and that is something we’re more than willing to collaborate.

And collaboration is a huge part of what we do here at glow marketing. And it gets us so excited. So if there is a client that. You know, they’re working through their branding right now. That’s something we can work with their branding agency to, to figure out what are the next steps for maybe the first content shoot.

Is there a way we can collaborate here and just double dip on this content? Not only are you going to use it on your website, but we can also double dip on that content and use it on your social media too. We can be as flexible as we can and, you know, we love to work with brands that are super passionate about what they do and have a very clear vision of, you know, who they are, because once they know who they are, that makes our job easier because then we can speak to that on social media for them.

Quianna: Yes, I love that so much. So basically what I’m picking up is we need to hire you last year. We need to invest in a social media marketing agency and, and really have that game plan, right? And I love that you mentioned the double dipping. That’s something that I’ve been loving implementing and even my own photo shoots is capturing those behind the scene moments capturing that B roll and I would just love to know, Addy, I’d love to like kick it back to you for this question is like if you were Onboarding a client, what type of content would just be a dream to kind of like open up that camera roll to find or to get that that link to those gallery images like what makes that next step for you and the strategy?

So much easier.

Addie: I’ll say from like a strategy perspective, it’s probably so much different than like what Macey’s dream link would look like. I would say from my strategy perspective, uh, having a really clear, like problem and solution statement for your business, like what problem are you solving? And then also who are your competitors?

I don’t think surprised is the right word, but I am consistently, I guess a little bit surprised that a lot of our clients come in and they either don’t know who their competitors are, or the competitors that they have in mind aren’t really like their true competitors. So obviously, like Macy said, this is something that We do from like a social media marketing perspective, and we have different, you know, social media glasses on, I guess, when we do this, but truly learning what the landscape looks like and what problem you’re solving and how your brand is different from your competitors and also what your brand personality is, what, um, You know, what, what, what you want to communicate with your audience is incredibly important for us is we’re diving into all of this.

Also, we love our clients that maybe don’t have that, that need help identifying their needs. Their competitors in the space and need help identifying maybe what some of their brand voice aspects are and all of that kind of stuff. So we definitely take whatever we can get, but as much as much of that, like clear business strategy that we have to work with, it’s, it really just helps us create a more targeted social media strategy.

Quianna: Yes, this is such a beautiful reminder for all of us. So even if we are killing it in the content game, right, maybe we are showing up consistently posting a couple of times a week or a couple of times a day, wherever that feels aligned for our businesses. It’s true. We need that strategy. We need to know who we’re speaking to.

And, and I even want to share too, I also get surprised as well when I am working with clients and I get them in front of my camera and I’m asking them. One of my favorite things to ask is what are we calling in today? And I know that could be a little woo woo, right? And that’s a little bit of my style.

But what I mean by that is what’s the reason we’re here today, right? Like, why are we here? What are we calling in? What type of clients are you excited to work with? And I can’t tell you how many of these realtors and mindset coaches and businesses all across the board, look at me kind of confused and think, Well, I don’t, I don’t know.

Right. So this, I’m only sharing this not to make fun of anybody, but just to bring that to light that our content truly is ignited by having that strategy, by having that understanding that, Oh, once I know exactly who I’m speaking to, why I’m talking to them and why I’m the best option for them, that’s where the Macy comes in with the creative posts, like actually delivering either the, the videos, the photos, the graphics.

And it’s just. It’s just all plays together so beautifully.

Addie: That’s definitely something I think that we’ve done from a business perspective, especially recently. It’s like getting super clear. What type of clients do you want? Who do you want to walk in your door? And you know, what is the landscape directly around you look like?

And how can you make it better? What are you adding to the equation? And like the more clear we are on that, like truly, it just, like you said, it ignites it. It catalyzes this clarity, this strategy, and it, it acts, we call it our north star. It’s because we know exactly what you’re looking for, what the landscape is, you know.

Quianna: Yes, I love this so much. So as we are, I love how the conversations kind of have a thread where we’re almost taking, um, the listeners on this journey, right? So now that we are confident with exactly who we’re speaking to, we’re confident in the content we’re creation, we’re creating. I would love to know, um, Macy, when it comes to branding, how do you help clients stand out in that saturated market?

So we maybe have already identified our competitors and, you know, we are trying to kind of glow a little bit brighter. What advice do you have for someone that’s trying to define their style and truly stand out? In terms of, like,

Macey: Content creation, our biggest thing that we do and what I try to also follow is creating authentic and meaningful content, and that’s gonna look different to everyone, because it is hard, like Addy said, to show up and be yourself on social media.

It’s, it’s hard. It’s almost scary because it’s like it’s out there to the whole world, right? That’s what social media has led us to is being able to connect with people all around the world at any point in time. And it is really such a beautiful thing, but it can definitely get overwhelming and scary to put yourself out there.

So maybe it feels good to you. So definitely follow through with that. But say it’s like, Oh, I had a really bad day today and I want to share my story on social media. Then do that if that’s what feels good to you. And that’s why we really focus not only in our business, but I think in our lives too, is creating content that’s That feels good to us.

And we want that to, for our clients is what content feels good to them, because that’s important. That’s their business. Just like our business is our baby, their business is their baby too. They have every right to want to feel good about the content that they are paying someone to do, or maybe it’s you as a business owner running your own social media as well.

And it can be so. easy to get kind of lost in the mix of everything that you’re seeing on social media and comparing yourself. And that’s what you just can’t do. You don’t want to compare yourself on social media because everyone, everyone’s journey is so different on social media. Some people are overnight successes.

Some videos go viral and no one knows why they went viral. They just went viral. Um, and that’s one thing, you know, we as social media experts. You know, still can’t figure out. Some things just happen, happen. And the videos that you love the most will probably be the ones that don’t perform that well. So it’s really just, the key is really creating content that’s going to resonate with you.

Because if it doesn’t feel right to you, it’s probably not going to connect with your audience that you want it to.

Quianna: Yes. I love that. And I love that you’re giving us once again, that green light and that permission to stay true to you. Bringing it back to the beginning of the conversation where it’s like, yes, like you are, the algorithm is going to feed you things that you are just gravitating towards.

And so by able to replicate that, able to kind of add your own magic to that, I just think that is beautiful. And so I would love to continue the conversation about showing up. And I just feel like I have to ask this burning question. And this one is for her, um, Addy. I would love to ask you, babe, with so many people throwing everything online, right?

Like, it can feel like a lot of us are throwing spaghetti on the wall. We are just trying to be the loudest online. What advice would you give to someone that is really trying to prove their value? Really trying to prove, Hey, I’m the expert here. I’m the one that either has the answers, the products, the offers for you.

How can we portray that with our content?

Addie: I think to some degree, social media is always throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what’s next. And also, I think being the expert in the space doesn’t necessarily mean having the biggest platform. It doesn’t necessarily mean talking the loudest or doing the most.

Sometimes it looks like finding your community and sometimes it’s super niche. That’s another thing that niche word is thrown around a lot in just marketing, branding in general. So sometimes you need to un niche to find a niche. And sometimes you find your niche by just being yourself and just showing up and just not really worrying about it.

And I guess this kind of feeds more into business than anything else, like business strategy and like advice and all of that kind of stuff. But truly it’s when you’re getting started and getting started is, I mean, what the first three to five years of business. Incorporating these little pivots or these tweaks and Macy and I have found the most success in allowing those pivots in Entertaining those ideas not chasing rainbows not like saying yes to everything Not to get those two things confused but to truly Like see the people that are showing up to see the doors that are opening for you and maybe this is a little on the wooboo side too, but like truly we are big believers that everything happens for a reason and You Sometimes it’s the doors that open that you least expect that lead you to your next big breakthrough and your next big idea and these things that really start to connect dots for you.

So I would say like truly relax, don’t write anything off, and just kind of let it unfold. Obviously you have to put in like these these These bumper rails, like right, you have to put something along the road to make sure that you’re not going to get so far off track that you’ve lost all sense of self for yourself and your business, but also allow yourself a little bit of flexibility to play around with what it is that you’re offering, who it is you want to talk to.

Okay, who is showing up for you? Who is, who are your followers? Who is watching your videos? Who’s watching your stories? Who’s liking your videos and your stories? Like, Who are the people? What is the demographic of people that you are just finding showing up for you? And what lessons can you learn in business by just observing what is showing up?

And I think that flexibility is really, it’s a difficult balance to find. Like you really have to strike a balance. It’s. It takes time and it takes grace and it takes, you know, just just taking a step backwards and observing and it’s really difficult because us as business owners are our personalities and our egos are so closely tied to our businesses, especially when we’re small and we’re growing.

But as much as you possibly can, getting out of that and just observing and seeing what’s coming up, I think really is the best way to figure it, figure out exactly what it is that you need to be doing and allowing yourself to experiment, to try new things. When you get to that place, at first, it’s going to be like, you’re going to have to figure out just what you can do.

What do you have the time, the capacity, the bandwidth? Is it just throwing stuff in Canva templates and like, Saying whatever or is it like curating those videos and that content and showing up on stories like whatever it looks like it’s It’s truly okay and it’s okay to let it unfold and to see what shows up.

Quianna: I love that so much. And I love that you are bringing to light how important it is to remember that no matter how big your platform is, you can absolutely make a difference, right? I mean, Even just thinking about having 15 followers and having three of those followers book you every month for the service you’re providing would be life changing for a business, right?

Like that to me is just like mind boggling to think that our, our platform doesn’t have to be huge to be successful. And I know we hear this often, but it’s nice to be reminded. I love that. And this is the power of showing up, of trying new things. And I also love to, if you take a peek at all of your viewers on your stories, I love doing this, right?

Like just taking a peek and thinking, Oh, wait a second. I have friends from high school that are viewing my stuff. I have family members that are viewing my things. And I think sometimes we can be discouraged thinking, Oh gosh, like they’re not buying my products for me. I mean, they’re not even commenting on my stuff, but you’ll be surprised because of the content you’re creating.

They’re going to have a reason to share it. If a conversation comes up for a friend of theirs or another network piece that they’re connected to. They may be so much more inclined to share what’s going on in your world that you have an offer or a product that can help them, right? So I think sometimes we get so caught in creating content only for clients and only for dream clients when in reality We really just need to show up.

So like you said before everything happens for a reason the right little Key players are going to kind of play that game in your business and help promote you. I, I love that concept so much.

Addie: Yeah, it’s definitely, it’s definitely like exactly what you said, the balance piece of it and, you know, being observant, seeing who is showing up and never, you never know what is around the corner.

Truly. It’s also too, I mean, there, there are multiple pieces of it, right? Like we could talk through like the nitty gritty strategy. And I think it made me think of when you were talking about, like, not every piece of content has to be like branded. It doesn’t all have to be business. And that’s something that may see.

And I are very mindful about when we’re creating content for our clients, especially is making sure that it’s not all sales, making sure we’re incorporating like fun reels, trending reels, or reels that explain the passion behind the business that are highlighting different staff members, business owners, whatever it looks like for them.

It just incorporating more of that like story aspect into things is really important because it allows people to get a better understanding to build trust and that’s one of the biggest pieces of like your sales funnel is building that trust if your content is not. In a space where you are able to build trust with your people.

You need to just keep in mind that brand awareness is not everything. It is a huge piece of the puzzle. It is your biggest barrier to entry, of course, but after brand awareness, you have this like consideration phase before anybody is willing to convert. They have to learn to trust you. And this is where most of our focus goes into is this nurturing phase for a lot of our clients.

Onboarding, like the first three to six months, it’s definitely really focused on brand awareness. And then we move into that consideration. How can we nurture the people that now we’ve brought in to trust us, to know us as us being the client that we have to really show them what they’re getting. thing when they work with them, when they work with our clients.

And that’s just such a big piece of it. Like, it doesn’t just have to be sales. Social media is not just conversion. And people say that a lot, but again, it’s the strategy. It’s the understanding of the why behind it doesn’t have to be sales all the time. And it’s such a huge piece of it. Like, you have to build that trust.

To get that conversion and sometimes building that trust looks like building trust with like that person you went to high school with or, you know, that person that you are kind of embarrassed that like they’re looking at your story right now because did I really want them to know all the things that I put in there and I send people their way all the time because I’m like, oh, you know, like So and so client is looking for, you know, this type of web developer that we just happen to know somebody who does the exam that you’re asking for, because they showed up on stories like you just never know who and how it’s going to impact your business.

You know what I mean? Yes,

Quianna: yes, I love that. So I would love to ask Macy, what’s the piece? That’s missing with consistency. Like, I feel like that’s like the next best step where you’re showing up online, you’re building that authority, you are connecting, you’re showing up. And then it’s like, Oh wait, but how often do I need to do this?

Right? So when your clients are asking you, how often should I be showing up? What should I be posting? I love to kind of pick your brain on that.

Macey: Yeah, yeah, of course. And this is, this is another part of where a lot of the social media experts online will be like, here’s my formula. Here’s how many times you need to post.

And I just have to, you know, of course, you know, what may work for them is great. What we really specialize in at Glow Marketing Solutions is finding what’s going to work best for that client. We’re not going to copy and paste our same formula for every client because that’s just not how we work. And that’s not how social media works either and definitely not how the algorithm works.

And so my biggest, my biggest, Advice for showing up online and being consistent is starting with a small achievable goal amount deciding on a number of a like of That feels attainable for you realistic for you. And if that means that it’s one video a week Then run with it. Run with it for 30 days. Give yourself 30 days to do one video every week.

And if you can get that and that pace feels good to you, then, you know, add in another post. But don’t start off saying, Oh, next week I’m going to start posting five times a week. Because ultimately that won’t be as successful because you’re going to be jumping in Like really like jumping into the deep end and not knowing where to go with it because you’re like, oh wait I need to make five posts this week.

I don’t have enough content to make five posts this week I don’t have enough time so really starting off small and then allowing yourself to be able to grow with it to go to a point where it is scalable for you, where you could then eventually have five posts a week once you’re in the groove of it.

And one thing is if you’re not able to be posting on your feed, that’s totally okay. You can show up in different ways to still be present online. So that can look like posting on your stories or That means liking and commenting and engaging with your followers, engaging with your community. And that’s something that I need to be better at, honestly, um, with my own personal page is I don’t scroll as much to interact with like my friends and my family on social media.

I’m scrolling to do research, market research. And so those are the things that it’s like when I used to, you know, have a little more time, like. You know, I would love to like always comment and like because you never know how much comment means to someone whether it’s a business or just a person of like just letting them know.

And if you see someone, it’s their birthday, it’s so easy to type happy birthday. And even if you don’t talk to them, you don’t need to think, you know, overthink it. It’s just showing up and engaging with your community. And. You know, being genuine. And I think that is something that a lot of people miss on social media is that genuine connection.

So, you know, just really like putting it out there of like, even if you can’t post on your feed, how can you get back to your community by engaging with them? How can you support? Because ultimately, when you do start posting on your feed, Those people are going to remember that and they are going to show up for you.

Quianna: I love that so much. And I feel like that’s a breath of fresh air. It actually feels so good to know that the magic of social media isn’t always just producing, producing, producing, or even consuming, but sharing, celebrating, commenting, and boosting that. And I even love how you mentioned going, go and comment on your personal Your friends and families post, right?

Like whether it’s a recent baby shower or a new graduation or a birthday or a concert, like we need to get in the habit, especially as business owners to, to share that love, right? Cause you’re going to receive what you give back and kind of going back to the whole, who’s watching your stories and who’s connected.

You never know. You’re always one connection or one friend away from completely changing your life. Right? But that’s what I love to, I call it creating the small world effect. So I love going back and commenting on old high school friends photos, old teachers, you know, posts and, and then I love in the comments, people will respond, Hey, how do you know Kiana?

Hey, wait, what? How did this connect? Right? And then all of a sudden, you’re instantly creating that organic brand awareness. Without feeling like you’re pulling your hair out trying to make a real right like this just can this can happen today without like low entry low barrier of entry like so easy. I love that encouragement.

Macy. Thank you.

Addie: Yes, of course. Yeah. That was like a real truth bomb right there. I think too. One, one thing, one thing I was thinking about when she was saying that, realizing that a lot of like, what we’ve been saying is for the people that are like managing their own accounts right now, and the biggest recommendation we have for people who are at the point where they’re like, I can’t do this anymore or I don’t want to do this anymore.

It’s not working. Um, I don’t have the budget for a full spectrum social media agency because that’s a real thing. It’s we hear it a lot. And I think our biggest recommendation for those people is to look into UGC creators, which is user generated content. You can also look into virtual assistants. And I know people have a lot of luck with that.

Great part, especially for like product based brands or people that have like specific offerings and things like that. User generated content is such an easy way to maximize the amount of content that you’re putting out the consistency and the frequency in which you can post because you don’t have to make the content.

And usually it’s for a really reasonable price. A lot of. What we call micro influencers. So like smaller content creators work for a lot of different trades. Like you’d be surprised. I’ve even done it before where I have like brands that I want to work with. And I say, Hey, you know, like I would love to try out your product or to come in and try out your service and I’ll create a handful of videos for you guys.

And you can use them on your page and it’s no charge really, except for just the charge, the cost of service or the product or whatever it is. And then you get like videos from it. Like it’s, it’s such a easy way to maximize the amount of content and how much you show up. If you’re needing help to fill in those gaps outside of just what you can handle.

Quianna: I love that so much. Those are great tips. And it’s definitely speaking to a lot of our hearts that we’re frustrated with the algorithms. We don’t have the time, we know how important it is. And, you know, it, it may feel like an expensive That is just not needed, not because the money isn’t there. I’m really trying to work hard on my money mindset.

But there’s also a piece of the puzzle that I think a lot of business owners think, well, I can do it. I just don’t have time. Oh, I could do it, but, uh, you know, I’ll get to it eventually. And I love how you can take action. You can hop onto Fiverr. You can hop onto all these great sources. And I don’t know, I just feel like the beaming light is going to hiring you to, to working with you and your agency.

So I would love girls. This has just been such a great conversation and I love how it’s been Perfect the perfect amount of right brain left brain and soul I feel like it’s been like the mindset shifts, but then also like using content and creating content that feels authentic and genuine to us. These are all beautiful reminders.

So I would love to ask one thing. I love to ask every single guest and today’s a special episode because we get two responses. I would love if you could please share a key tip. What is one thing that you wish you knew sooner or something you’d like to share with an entrepreneur?

Macey: Definitely kind of from, it goes back to our intro, me and Addy are both perfectionists and we’re, you know, we’re trying, we’re working on it, you know, it, we are a work in progress.

So definitely something that has been a theme over the last year has been embracing progress over perfection. It is so easy to get caught up in trying to make everything perfect. And the reality is like growth happens when we just. Take action and we’re gonna learn and adapt along the way and it’s, it’s the journey, you know, it’s not the perfection, you know, it’s what’s going to lead us to success is just by taking the simple steps of action and not, not being so consumed with wanting to be perfect all the time.

Quianna: So good. Yes, we all need this reminder. Thank you so much. And what about you, Addy? What’s your key tip? I think the biggest

Addie: thing that I’ve learned to business is to take all advice with a grain of salt. And I, I truly think that’s why we always come from this place of almost like suggesting. And we find that it goes against what a lot of people tell us to do when it comes to like being experts in the space or being this or being that we live in the gray space.

Like, especially in social media, like we live and breathe the gray space and it’s uncomfortable. But we have found that even the best intentioned, like black and white advice has only led us down paths that don’t serve us. And we find that we grow the most authentically we attract our ideal clients, like we attract abundance.

We are feeling our most grounded and best selves when we are. Really acting and making decisions in accordance with our highest selves and with our truest selves and with what feels right, like in our intuition, in our gut. And especially like, I know for at least Macy and I being like women entrepreneurs.

We have learned that that is our guiding light all the time, like people will always offer us advice, they will always tell us what to do, but coming back and saying like, Hey, did that resonate with us? Do we think that’s right for us? Maybe yes, maybe no, maybe some things and maybe we like take it and we adapt it, but at the end of the day, like if anybody is giving you black and white advice to us, that’s a red flag.

We, we say thank you because oftentimes it’s, it’s well intentioned. But you don’t have to take it all to heart and you don’t have to make an action plan out of every little thing that somebody tells you because there’s a million ways to do the right thing.

Quianna: Yes. Oh my gosh. I feel like I wish I had two mics to go boom, boom, like double mic moment, double mic drop for you.

No, I love those responses so much. And I resonate with those so deeply because I do. I feel like I feel like we are bombarded obviously speaking of social media by so many things every day. The gurus have everything to say. And it’s so funny. I always say this. I became an entrepreneur because I want to choose what I do.

Right? Like I’m in charge. And then I also feel like on the same flip side Instagram is not my boss, right? Like TikTok and the algorithm is like, They can give suggestions, they can share what to do, but you hear these gurus on what Instagram wants, and I always have to do a self check in and think, well, what does Kiana want?

Do I want to do that? Like, you said that there’s discernment, like, and I love that you have the two of you to bounce ideas and kind of do some heart checks and do some strategy checks to see if it’s aligned. I just think that’s incredible and a beautiful reminder for all of us listening, especially like I said, we’re giving social media advice, take it with a grain of salt, pick up what you want, pull down what you need.

I love that so much. So please, ladies, can you share a little bit more about your glow marketing solutions and how we can work with you?

Addie: Yes, a hundred percent. We’re always taking new clients. We work with people in all different types of businesses and industries. We work with product service and we even have a few personal brands now too.

And actually, um, because we love you and we love your followers so much, we’ve given you guys an exclusive link to book a discovery call with us. And when you are booked through that discovery. We’re actually going to offer 500 off your first month of services.

Quianna: Amazing. Oh my gosh. That is such a generous gift!!!

Thank you. Thank you!!!

Addie: Oh my gosh. This was so fun. Thank you for having us.

Quianna: Yes, thank you so much. Yes, this was amazing. Thank you girls. I love these conversations and it’s just so fun. It’s a great way to connect. It’s a great way to collaborate and to support each other. So I will always be cheering for you and thank you so much.

Can’t wait to connect again. Oh my goodness, I love that conversation and it’s making me fall back in love with social media. I mean, let’s be honest. I love it. I love creating content, but it really does feel like a full time job. It really makes me want to unleash my inner child and get back to making art.

Every time we add more play and fun into our business, more creativity sparks, and honestly, we make more money. No, seriously. Try it. I’m so grateful for Addie and Macy. They taught me so much today and I’m excited to view social media in a new light. Make sure to follow along with these two at glow marketing solutions on Instagram and absolutely take them up on that generous offer and that deep, deep discount.

Holy smokes. I’m so grateful to share that discount with you. Check out the show notes and blog for all the links, opportunities, and mentions as business owners. We don’t have to do it all. If social media sounds fun, but still it gives you a little headache. This is why we have experts to help. Please share this episode with a friend if you found it helpful.

And we’re always, always grateful for reviews and make sure to check out Addie and Macey today. I’m so grateful. You’re here to tune into the branding series. Make sure to take a peek at even more recent episodes to help you shine online, grow your business with strong roots and make connections that bloom even more opportunities.

You are magical. My love. We need more people to know about you. Keep shining in real life and online to attract even more aligned clients and business opportunities. I’m always cheering for you. Keep on dancing, baby. Okay. Love you. Bye. That’s a wrap on another episode of Quianna Marie Weekly. Thank you so much for your listenership and support.

You can find the resources and show notes for this episode and more at QuiannaMarie.com

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