Social Media Breakfast of Houston featured an amazing lineup of speakers for Social Media Day 2022 who dropped insight after insight about how to use social media to support and grow every kind of business. Check out the summaries below for a brief taste, then watch the full video replays!
Case Study: Building a Social Media Brand with the Dumpling Dudez
Launched in April 2019, Dumpling Dudez has amassed a loyal following not just because of the deliciousness of its dumplings (homemade family recipes and all-naturally dyed dough), but because of its ability to deeply and authentically connect with its customer base.
Co-founded by Chih Lin and Michael Dorsey, Dumpling Dudez built its entire brand around the goal of making people feel excited, inspired, and included. Lin says that the most important thing for any brand should be how people feel when they think of and engage with it.
He also believes being vulnerable is a strength in business, not a liability as some traditionally argue. Referring to Brené Brown’s work on vulnerability, Lin explains that part of Dumpling Dudez’ brand identity is talking about worries and struggles, being open about failure, and sharing how they’ve overcome challenges. He encourages others not to be afraid to take a stand on important things, noting that Dumpling Dudez supports human rights, LGBTQIA+ rights, LGBTQ homeless youth, Women’s Rights, Voting rights, diversity, and inclusion.
Check out Dumpling Dudez’ website, and connect with them on Facebook and Instagram.
Four Counterintuitive Secrets to Get More Attention and Results with Social Media
Kami Huyse, Founder of Zoetica Media and Social Media Breakfast of Houston, shares the four counterintuitive secrets to crafting a social media strategy that delivers take-it-to-the-bank results. She also mentions specific tools you can use to streamline and more easily complete your work.
Secret #1 – Clarity: You’ll never make everyone happy.
If you try to appeal to everyone, you’ll end up diluting your messaging to the point where you’ll ultimately appeal to very few and possibly even no one. Your goal, therefore, should be to keep your brand voice specific, keeping in mind that you’ll repel some but ultimately attract the right people. When you specifically address your target audience’s needs, you’ll draw in the right people and actually grow your audience.
Secret #2 – Connect: Go small to go big.
While it may initially sound counterintuitive, starting out small will help you go big. All you need is a small but committed and loyal core group that loves your business and will support and champion it. One of the ways you can get people interested and create this core group is by using the foolproof 2 x 2 Plan through which four quick and easy touches a day help make quality connections.
Secret #3 – Create: Relatable content is king.
Social media is ideal for strengthening and increasing your visibility by creating valuable content that resonates with your target audience. An easy way of creating such content without running yourself ragged is to start with long form content (for example a blog post, a podcast, or a livestream) which you then transform into multiple short content snippets to be shared online.
Secret #4 – Calibrate: Numbers aren’t scary
Kami explains that if done right, measurement isn’t complicated or scary. It helps to understand that measurement is simply knowing how you and your business measure things, which can differ from how others do it. She suggests adopting the 5A Metrics Framework, where you need activity to get attention, which brings awareness, which cultivates the right attitudes, which in turn leads to actions on part of your audience.
Check out Zoetica Media’s upcoming events and connect with Kami on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.
Case Study: Connect with Donors With Storytelling
Making an emotional connection with your audience is important, arguably even more so when you’re a non profit organization or mission-driven business. Magda Serrano, Donor & Development Lead of Spay-Neuter Assistance Program (SNAP), shares how effectively using social media to tell stories helps her organization connect with donors and develop important financial leads.
SNAP’s mission is to “prevent the suffering and death of companion animals and to enrich the human-animal bond by providing excellent, accessible and affordable spay/neuter and veterinary care.” To help achieve this, SNAP spent the past five years being very intentional and strategic about its use of social media. For purposes of consistency, it adopted the language already successfully used in grant proposals and then applied it to social media, newsletters, and email.
Regardless of the platform or medium chosen, SNAP always focuses on storytelling and making an emotional connection. Impactful stories showcase the difference SNAP makes in the lives of its companion animals and the families who adopt them. SNAP also uses intentional and purposeful vocabulary. For example, it moved away from using the ill-defined term “low cost” in reference to spay/neuter services, which some might consider synonymous with “cheap,” and replaced it with “affordable spay/neuter and wellness care,” which reflects quality care.
Check out SNAP’s website, and connect with them on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Using Chatbots to Connect on Instagram
J Franco, founder of Franco Innovative Media & Marketing, shares expert advice on how Instagram’s new DM automation capabilities can take businesses to a whole new level. Simply put, using chatbots increases user engagement and easily draws people into a sales funnel that maximizes conversions. Chatbot technology has an amazing 80% conversation rate.
J’s preferred chat marketing platform is ManyChat (a Meta business partner), and in her presentation, she walks you through how to expertly use chatbots in a variety of marketing settings. DM automation capabilities include customized keywords, personalization, capturing of email and phone numbers, and the flexibility inherent in being able to create non-linear, customized workflows.
J says that now is the perfect time for businesses to get in on the front end of a technology that’s differentiating them from their competitors.
Check out J’s website and connect with her on Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and YouTube.
Making a Purpose-Driven Impact with Your Brand on Social Media
If you’re a purpose driven brand or would like to be, Anh Nguyen, founder of Amplified Marketing, has valuable advice you can immediately put to use.
For businesses whose purpose is to solve a specific problem or need in the local or global community, effectively harnessing the power of social media can help them make an even bigger impact with their work. The best way to do this is through impactful storytelling that expands the message about their purpose and brand. This applies to all purpose driven businesses, whether they’re B2C or B2B.
Ahn explains that for businesses wanting to make an impact, talking about the difference they make in people’s lives and how they do that – rather than putting their products or services at the center of their marketing efforts, as most companies tend to do – is the way to gain people’s attention and win their loyalty. Businesses can equally educate, entertain, and inform their audiences as part of this process.
Check out Anh’s website and connect with her on Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.