Let's Get Social
Everywhere you look, it seems as though social media is taking over. Every new marketing tactic is intended to go viral. If your brand isn't taking part in social media, you likely won't be successful in the long run.
That's where social media marketing expert, Keaton Nelson, comes in. He join Stacy Jones on this week's podcast to discuss all things social media marketing. In this blog, Hollywood Branded shares why social media marketing is critical for your brand and how to properly utilize it.
A Little More About Keaton
Keaton Nelson is the founder and CEO of Perpetual Motion Marketing, a social media marketing agency that works to help brands turn their socials into sales. They specialize in social media management, Instagram growth, and paid marketing, while always acting with the brand’s best interest in mind.
Interview Transcript Highlights
Question: You have a very interesting story, one that I think many people won't be expecting to hear. How did you get to where you are today?
Answer: I went to school for jazz composition, and I actually ended up dropping out when my now-wife got pregnant with our first child. I was working at Subway at the time, and we were struggling financially. When my daughter was about one, I was waiting tables and wanted to try to figure out a better way to pay our bills and do something that was beyond waiting tables and struggling from paycheck to paycheck. So, I met someone who was in real estate, who started showing me the ropes and shared that it only takes you this specific amount of time to be successful. That's what sold me; I dreamt of how easy it was going to be for me to make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Within a month, I had my real estate license and I was getting that shot. But I was still broke and I couldn't afford to market myself in any way other than to post on social media. That's how I got all of my leads - I would post on social media that I was going to do an open house, even if it wasn't my listing. And people would just keep messaging me, telling me that their aunt is trying to sell her house or that their brother is looking to buy a house, and they wanted me to help them. But I truly didn't like doing this at all; I was working from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to bed and was missing out on the things I wanted to do with my family. So, I decided that I'd actually rather go back to waiting tables, so I started working at Red Robin. I thought I could become a manager; I thought that was going to be my way to provide for my family in a way that was more steady than just tips. I could get two or three weeks of paid vacation, $50k a year, and some benefits by being a manager. I went through the whole training and started applying for jobs when I turned 26. I don't know if it was a quarter-life crisis, or what, but right after my birthday in January 2020, I realized that I didn't see myself doing this for another five years, or even another year; this wasn't what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Even if I could work my way up the ladder and become a regional manager, it wasn't what I really wanted to do. so, I decided that I was going to try social media management again. I prayed for three days in a row for an idea from God, just for an idea that would allow me to pay off my $50k student loan debt and so i could start to provide a life for my family; I wanted to not be stressed out about paying my bills. Then, it dawned on me that the only way I got leads when I was in real estate was by posting on social media, and I realized that businesses would probably pay me to do this.
One day, I had $27 in my bank account and no money in savings. I knew I had to get money somehow, and working at Red Robin was the easiest thing, and I didn't want to do that. So, I designed something on Canva saying that I would manage a brand's social media for $99, and if they called today, I'd give them their first month for free. After perfecting the flyer, I went to about 50 businesses with my flyer and pitch. I didn't get a call for a few days, until a CD store called me to get more information. From there, I was able to make a name for myself; this business owner referred me to his friends, who then referred me to their friends.
Question: Before we started recording, you told me how your focus now is more on business coaches than on retail and more localized businesses. how did you get started doing that?
Answer: As I started running my own business, I realized that I really had no idea what I was doing. I went to hire a business coach, who gave me her pricing that was way out of my budget. So, I talked to her about what I was doing, what I wanted to do, and what my dreams were, and she decided to trade her services for mine. I started managing her social media, and she started coaching me. When I hired my first employee, she helped me manage and train them. She also started seeing results on her socials, so she started referring me to her friends who were also business coaches, and it really snowballed from there. With Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube shorts, my clients are all able to get a massive return on investment, because they typically have a higher-ticket product or service.
Question: What are some of the things that you see people doing wrong? What are the assumptions they have about social media that isn't actually true?
Answer: They really treat social media like it's a magic wand; they give it a try once or twice, and they give up on it when they don't see an immediate return on investment. They were probably sold the idea that they could set up Facebook ads; they could pay $10 to run an ad and would get $20 for every $10 they spent. But that's impossible unless you were printing money. People really need to think about it like they're learning how to play the piano; you don't just sit down at the piano and start playing perfectly. You aren't going to go viral in 30 seconds; it's good to start small and test things with low risk, in the beginning, to see what's working. You're probably going to make a lot of mistakes before really figuring out how to start making money from it. But if you hire a personal instructor, you're going to get where you're looking to be a lot faster than doing it on your own.
Question: What are some of the tricks that you use to help make your clients' social media better?
Answer: Go to a hashtag in your niche. Make a note of what is successful on the hashtag, and model your posts after those ones; this way, you'll be able to get in teh top posts of that hashtag, too. It's really that simple, but no one really does it. When we do a competitive analysis for our clients, we go through everything that pops up on the top pages of the most successful social media platforms to see what's working the best. How long is the caption? How many hashtags are they using? What kind of images are they using? Are they using carousel posts? Are they doing reels or full videos? Where are they directing their audience? What does their bio look like? Look at the people who are winning and try to model that; you're not them, so you won't be entirely copying the brand. You're just emulating what they're doing successfully.
Check Out The Podcast!
Keaton has so much great information from his experience in social media marketing. Check out the podcast below to learn more about creating a strong social media presence!
Every week we have a marketing professional on our show to share their tips, tricks and lessons learned from their professional experience. Check out some of our other podcast blogs from earlier this year:
- How to Approach Experimenting with Growth Marketing
- Utilize Direct Mail Marketing To Catapult Your Brand To Success
- How Business Leaders Should Approach Thought Leadership Marketing
- How To Craft Creative, Strategic, and Authentic Digital Ads
- The Best Ways To Prove Your Marketing Performance Result
