Coming up with your unique selling proposition is going to be step one. So what is the differentiating factor that differentiates your business from me going to say target and getting something there? Right? Because we got to target they have everything Why would I shop with you instead of them. This is the show for creative entrepreneurs who have a message to share and want to live a life of freedom. Learn how to grow your network, and net worth. Hear from exciting guests and more. My name is Dylan Schmidt and Welcome to Digital Podcaster. My guest today on Digital Podcaster is Megan Gersh, who is a Los Angeles based web design expert Megan helps creative businesses drive sales with unique and marketing driven digital solutions. Megan is also a branding expert, and she's a great content creator. That's how I found her on tick tock, where we talk about what does someone need to know when it comes to branding, specifically on social media? What's the simplest way to start building a brand that stands out? And we also talked about what Megan wishes she saw more of on people's websites? And her answer to this last one and all of them was not what I was thinking it was a little different and it's big time saver. Please enjoy my conversation with Meghan Gersh. Welcome to Digital Podcaster. Meghan, thank you so much for joining me today. Of course, yeah, thanks for having me on the simplest way, how do you explain what you do? So I do branding and marketing and web design for creatives and entrepreneurs, and I help them boost their sales become more visible online and grow their audience in that way Spoken like a true expert. concise, straight to the point and clear first question for you. What does one need to know when it comes to branding on social media, the biggest thing is just to get consistent. So figuring out who your target audiences is going to be the key to all of the psychology behind your branding. So like figuring out who that key person is that you want to serve first, is going to help to guide all of your design decisions, how you approach your social media content as well. It'll also help to inform what type of content you want to create. So I'll give an example for myself, I just finished up some coaching with some people. And because of that pillar of my business, I wanted to sprinkle in some inspirational type content into my strategy. So think about that, like what type of personality? Do you want to be online? And how can you portray that in your content? And what type of personality you want to portray? I'm pretty introverted, like online, it's totally different. What are you like, I feel like I'm fairly the same, it might be a little bit amplified online, but I feel like that's the kind of thing where when you're scrolling on Tik Tok, you have to get your energy up in order to catch that attention. And if you're just approaching your video, like, kind of like a robot, people can feel that energy. And so you really have to, like, do something to hype yourself up, whether that be listen to your favorite song, or jump around or get some energy flowing before you go to sit and create that video content because people can feel that. But I would say for the most part, I feel like I'm pretty much the same person. If you've met me in person, I think you would be like, Oh, you're the same. I get that feeling from you. And I guess you helped me clarify, too. I am the same person. But social media does, like you said, amplify those parts. So what seems like in person might be there's not that much of but then on social media is just like, Oh, he's all of this or something. And it's not really the case. Did you find that for your own self when it comes to branding? From a personal brand standpoint, on social media? For example, did it take you a while to find that groove? I think honestly, for me, it was more about just getting comfortable on camera, because that is a skill that you really have to put in the work to learn. If you go back and look at any of my old, old old videos, I'm just shaking in front of the camera, you can tell I'm not really connecting with the camera. I'm just like, so nervous about what I'm going to say and making sure that I deliver it in that exact perfect way. Whereas now I kind of just pick up my phone, talk to the camera and hit post and move on with my day. And it's really about getting in that repetition and building that muscle just because it's it doesn't come natural to a lot of people. And I think it's something that you have to learn over time. That's a great point. And it does seem really easy to then open Tiktok for example, and see all these people that like Wow, they're so great at it. And then when you go try to make it you're like this video took me six hours, and I feel so uncomfortable. I don't know if I want to post it. Sometimes it's crazy to think that Digital Podcaster is already on its way to cross over 15,000 followers on Tiktok and Instagram, I try my best to post engaging short form content there that gives you bite sized tips so that you can incorporate things in your show and provide a better listening experience for your audience. Just go to tick tock or Instagram and search Digital Podcaster and I will see you there. What is the simplest way to start building a brand that stands out? Oh man, I mean, you have to figure out what it let's come at this from kind of a business perspective. Right So coming up with your unique selling prop decision is going to be step one. So what is the differentiating factor that differentiates your business from me going to say target and getting something there, right? Because we're going to target they have everything, why would I shop with you instead of them. So figuring out what that is going to be maybe you stand for something, maybe you are affiliated with a certain cause, or something like that there's a topic or something that you really connect with that you can talk a lot about on your social media, something that you're really passionate about, maybe you know, you donate to rescuing animals or something like that. And you can integrate those types of things into your content strategy. And so when you start to talk about those types of things, the people that also support those types of things will naturally be drawn to you, because they also support those kinds of things. And so standing for something in your business or in your personal brand is such a good thing, it can honestly help to draw the right people to you. So for your own brand, would you say it's less about you're trying to construct a certain image is more of like, you're just sharing your message and attracting that person? How do you? How do you approach that? You know, it's funny that you asked that, because when I first started my business, I like very shortly after I dove into entrepreneurship, a year or so into it, I was like, I want to dye my hair purple. So I went and did that. And at the time, it was just me wanting to dye my hair purple. But like it turned into a part of my brand in a weird way. And I think a lot of people associate me with that. So it was like kind of like this accidental thing that happened. But really I just show up. And I try to give good information that people want and answer people's questions. And it's less for me about the aesthetics of everything. And I know that that is a larger component for other creators, but I try to focus on showing up authentically for my audience, providing great information and trying to help people as much as I can. Nice, and then those people that you're attracting just kind of like vibe with that energy you're putting off, right? I think so. And I think one other thing to talk about here too, is I oftentimes will give my opinions and my content. And a lot of times people will say, Oh my God, yes, like I feel seen, or they connect with those strong opinion points. And so I try to integrate a fair amount of that into my content, and also things that I stand against in my content. And that helps to repel people as well. And so, again, trying to use some of that really polarizing type content can really help you when you're trying to bring the right people to your business, do you find yourself having to balance how much of the polarizing content you do to not come across as that person that's constantly trying to sway? I guess, I don't know what the term would be. But yeah, I mean, it's less about that for me. And honestly, it's, I try to limit it a bit for my own mental health. Because those types of posts can always generate a lot of chatter in the comments, and a lot of people's opinions coming in. And so the more chatter that goes on, the more, you know, opportunity there is for trolls, and all that kind of thing. So I try to every once in a while I'll drop one or one or two of those pieces of content in there. But for my own mental health and safety, I tried to limit those types of things. Totally switching gears here, but what do you wish you saw more of on people's websites? Oh, that's a good question. Honestly, more video, I think video is really underutilized on websites. And we all know the power of social media. If you're listening to this podcast, you probably are on Tik Tok, or on Instagram reels at this point. And so the power of short form video especially is so so powerful. And we've also seen that it's a great tool for boosting search engine optimization as well. So if you have the need, or the want to start showing up on Google organically, that's a great way to get your business more visibility for $0. And so yeah, I feel like that would be my answer, integrating more video into the websites, video. So would you say like vertical video or still horizontal video on a website, I feel like either could work, especially if you're creating a blog post from your content. You could even take like a tick tock posts and use it as a piece within your blog posts and you know, transcribe that tick tock and that's kind of the basis for your blog post right there and maybe go into a bit more depth on the topic and add some more photos, images, just to make it a little bit more rich, just use that video as the jumping off point. But keep in mind that people are still browsing your website from desktop and mobile. So both vertical and horizontal are both still viable. That's helpful. And it's probably a big time saver. If you were to do what you just said is take a tick tock video, write a blog post around it. That sounds like a super superpower at that point. Yeah, exactly. So essentially taking that video, I would upload it to YouTube just because Google and YouTube are same. YouTube. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, YouTube shorts would be fine. And then you could embed that Sure. It's video in the blog post. And essentially, once you do that, if your blog post is optimized, it will essentially start ranking in the Google Video tab. That's an incredible I want to do that right now. How do you work with people? And what type of person that you normally work with? Anyways, I should say. Yeah, so I love to work with creatives, kind of rebel types that aren't afraid to take risks and push the boundaries when it comes to design. And I basically work with these types of people to build their brand from the ground up. So everything when it comes to design, all of the strategy, as well as building out their brand identity package as well as their website design. So yeah, incredible. And make sure to check the episode description for all links. Megan, thank you so much for joining me today. Megan. Absolutely. Thanks so much for having me. This is so fun.