Episode #6: Getting Social with Erika (my personal social media expert)

Figuring out social media can be daunting, and it's easy to feel like you're already behind if you haven't started.  

It can feel like you need to be on every platform, but that's not the case. You just need to find the ones that are a good fit for your business. 

In this episode of the podcast, we cover how to figure out which platforms are a good fit for your business, and how to start using them effectively. 

Welcome to episode 6 of The Chair-apist Podcast! In this episode, I interview my personal social media expert, Erika Christensen. We are talking about all things social media and the importance of having a solid foundation to connect with your ideal audience. Erika is full of useful tips and tricks that any business owner or entrepreneur can use to improve their social media presence. If you are looking to take your business to the next level, this episode is a must-listen! Thank you for tuning in! 

Transcript

Cameron 
Welcome back to another episode of the Chair-apist. And today we are talking about social media and why is social media important? Well, it's your advertisement. Today I have my lovely friend, Erika Christensen, all the way from Canada. On Zoom, of course. 

But she owns Creatively Social and she's a wonderful person to talk to about social media because I know that anybody that's listening is probably either working on it or maybe hasn't started. Or they feel like they're pretty deep and they don't know where to go, so this is going to be a really great episode to work out those kinks and decide where you need to go with your social media. 

So welcome, Erika. 

Erika 
Thank you very much for having me. I'm excited to be here. 

Cameron 
We're excited to have you, too. You've changed my life and my social media  

You make my life so easy. I don't know if people are noticing a trend that I bring on people who make my life just so easy. My shear sharpener. Social media, my education friends. It's so nice to have such a good little community of people far and wide so. 

Erika 
I'm happy to help. 

Cameron 
You, yeah, you've done a really great job, and for those of you who might want to get ahold of her, her Instagram is at Creatively Social. 

Erika 
@creativelysocialco 

Cameron 
Oh sorry, I just click and go. Awesome, so why is it in so important to have social media these days? 

Erika 
Because it's pretty much a non-negotiable if you are a business or a brand. Everybody is online and customers and clients expect businesses and brands that they love and want to support to have. 

A social media presence so they can connect with them. It also offers a level of customer service that you can interact with your customers and your clients. And it's free. So, why not? 

Cameron 
It's totally free advertisement and it's nice too 'cause when you do the stories that are on your Instagram, they can follow what you do or how you do it. And for any business really, but especially for hair stylists, I love when I see those little stories because I can click and almost get to know them. 

Erika 
Yes, that's a great tool to actually get to know and personalize and humanize your brands. 

Cameron 
Like your daily stories. I'm talking about those the little stories just for listeners because I know that it's nice to have those permanent stories that are there where you can get to know the people. 

So, if somebody is just getting started, what would you suggest? 

Erika 
You definitely need to have a few foundation pieces in place. And what I mean by that is to just be really clear with whatever your personal or your brand values are, because that's where you're passionate about, and that passion is going to come through when you're connecting with your audience, it's going to come through in your writing, and it'll come through in the visual aspect of the content you're sharing. You really want to focus on understanding your why or your purpose in showing up online. 

Cameron 
It's really good information. We can talk about me trying to figure out my why for many months. But, you know, really writing it down and figuring out where your specialty is, where you want to make an impact on either guests, or if you're in education. 

Erika 
Absolutely, and sometimes it's a process and it takes some time, and that's ok. 

Cameron 
Yes, and don't beat yourself up in the process either, right? 

So, someone who's deep into their social media and maybe feels lost or for instance, has a personal page and they want to turn it into a business page. Would you suggest them just doing a whole new professional page, starting fresh and being consistent? What would your suggestion be for that type of person? 

Erika 
Yeah, well, absolutely you can take your existing account. Maybe you just need to update your name and then you need to get some of these foundational pieces, which I'll explain in a little bit of detail and go from there.  

You can also take your existing Instagram account and archive your old posts if you don't want them to show up on your account but continue to keep your follower base. 

So that's a super helpful tip actually, if somebody is looking to transition from a personal account to a business account. But essentially, you want to know who you're going to reach on social media, who are you trying to connect with? 

Are you trying to connect with potential or existing guests? Are you trying to connect with other stylists or industry professionals? Brands within the industry for potential influencer collaborations? 

And then understand that different platforms have different demographics so different people show up on different places. So, understanding where you should show up is important to that. 

Instagram is a great place for anybody in the beauty and hair industry to show up because it's so visually based. And that is... I mean, you want to showcase your work and so I absolutely recommend that if you are in the beauty and hair industry, you absolutely should be on Instagram. 

And then we can talk about I guess, what types of content to share? 

Cameron 
Well, before we get into content, my question then is, is Facebook and LinkedIn? Are those still pretty popular for the hair industry or our industry 'cause I know LinkedIn was for a moment kind of gaining some speed, but then I haven't heard as much about it lately. 

I try to keep up on these things, but I know that you are the expert, so I definitely feel bad 'cause I don't post as much on Facebook, and I know maybe I should be doing that or Meta as it is now. 

Erika 
Right, yes, the metaverse. Because things are always shifting and changing. Facebook is still good. Because basically if you were a business, people expect you to have a Facebook page, which as kind of a base touchpoint to go to on social media. 

And because Meta owns Facebook and Instagram. Anything you share on either platform you can kind of interchange and then you might be serving a slightly different audience on each platform. But it will allow you to reach more people.  

LinkedIn is really great for networking and connecting with other people in your industry as well as other brands. So that's good for building community and making connections for future projects or endeavors or passions that you want to pursue. 

Cameron 
Awesome that actually... how you just described LinkedIn is perfect. I couldn't have worded it any better because it is about connecting with your community. So, if you are interested in education or maybe you're looking for a new salon or a new career path within the same industry, that is a wonderful way to connect with your community. So thank you for that. 

And then so go back to let's go back to our Instagram. Sorry I didn't mean to veer off... 

Erika 
That’s totally fine. 

Cameron 
But I just wanted everybody to understand where. Hey where do we need to be? Because these are really important questions. Yeah, and I know people ask me sometimes you know how did you get your Instagram so on point? Like, I didn't do that. Erica did that because I was doing ok. I thought. 

But now people do see it. I have more followers I and definitely now you're doing the Chair-apist one for me as well and hopefully we'll get some good momentum on that as well. 

Erika 
Start starting to get. 

Cameron 
We're talking about how you want to start with your foundation when you're on Instagram and what how. What's the best way to go about doing that? 

Erika 
Ok, so you might hear people talk about in the social media world, content pillars or content buckets. So, this is basically just different categories of content that you'll be sharing, and you should have three to five. 

And I typically start with educational content, community and connection, as well as some promotional but also keep in mind that your promotional content should really only make up 20 to 30%. 

So, for every 10 posts 2 to three of them are promotionally based and everything else would fall under your other categories. Because your audience doesn't want to be spammed with buy this, buy this, buy this, buy this. Right? You are trying to connect with people. 

There's a reason it's called social media. It's to be social. 

Cameron 
And to connect with your audience 

So, I just taught a class down in Oakland and I did have one person at that class say that they had known me from social media, and it was because of another connection. But it was off of my Instagram, and I don't know if they knew that I was coming to the class so they kind of did a little bit more research? Or if it was from the person, but that's just one little connecting spot for you. 

Yeah, I to have it's so nice and you can message people. 

And in fact, a lot of educators will message each other within the Instagram platform and connect that way. That's really the way that I've been getting people to come on the podcast as well is just by reaching out in either Facebook or Instagram, but mostly Instagram. And that's been a really lovely way for me to connect.  So yeah, people are looking for more connection. Instagram is wonderful. 

You see it leaving? Do you see it going away anytime soon? 

Erika 
No, not at all. It's still so popular even with younger age demographics. I mean, maybe not so much really younger. 

That's still Tik Tok and Snapchat that those kinds of platforms. But Instagram has been around for a decent amount of time, and it has gained such good popularity as a visual based platform. 

I know they said like we're not a photo sharing platform anymore, but you still can share single image posts, but you also have a wide variety of content types within the platform that will give you traction and it will give you, uh, other ways to connect with people, but still keeping it in one central planet place. 

So, I definitely think it'll be around for quite a while. But utilize different types of content within the platform. 

Cameron 
So, can we just quickly talk about Tik Tock? Do you think? Tik Tock is a good spot to be advertising. 

Erika 
It can be. It's hugely popular and because it's short form video and very visually focused it I know there's a lot of people in the beauty industry and hair industry that use it and they're very successful in the amount of people that they can reach, but then again, just like any platform, just be clear about who you're trying to connect with and what your purpose is in showing up. 

Cameron 
For sure, and you can take Tik Toks and put them on your Instagram from last can see 'cause I do see a lot of people using the Instagram reels. 

Erika 
Yeah, like that. 

Cameron 
But I also see people using Tik Tok and posting it on Instagram. So that being I'm sure if it's my question, there probably are more people who have that question is, is Tik Tok a legit like, it's obviously legit, but is it a good platform for us to go on and use as an advertising avenue? 

Erika 
Absolutely yes, yes, it absolutely can be, and that's the one nice thing actually about if you are on multiple platforms, repurposing your content is key so that you don't get burned out with content creation. So, if you are making tik toks, take the same short form video and upload it as a real to Instagram or segment it into a story slide for Facebook and Instagram. Like don't reinvent the wheel. 

Just repurpose and reuse 'cause there's still just a small fraction of people who are going to end up seeing your content anyways, so it's OK to repeat across different platforms. 

Cameron 
Well, and nobody is really going to go super deep into your feed to see, oh, you reuse that picture. And that was always something I was very concerned about, but you can reuse a picture. You can do a different filter. You can do a different angle. You can zoom in; you can zoom out. 

There's many ways to use the same picture and make it look different as well, and you've been wonderful with helping me recreate because we definitely need some more content. 

That's my secret that I don't have a lot of content at the moment and I'm working on it. We all have our flow. 

All right, so thank you so much. 

I have two more questions for you. 

These are always how we wrap up the episodes and one is the craziest thing that's ever happened to you. 

Erika 
Ok. Uhm, Ok, well it's not super crazy. 

But I am going to say that the online business world is different than anything I've ever experienced before.  So, when I started this almost two years ago, I didn't really know what to expect. 

And so, I was busy trying to network and connect with people and I would hop on calls with people to get to know them and practice my, you know, sales, pitch and also listen to other people. 

So, I did get on a call with a business coach who was clearly looking to I guess recruit me as a client of hers. 

And I just had honestly the worst experience with her. She was so pushy and wouldn't take no for an answer and that just completely turned me off. 

Like when I tried to explain to her, you know, like it wasn't within my budget or my price range right now I was brand new just starting out. And she just kept pushing. She's like, oh, you can just put it on credit card, and it doesn't matter if you go into debt. 

And I was like, this is the worst thing ever heard, yeah, I'm into investing in yourself and your business, but maybe don't push people to do that. 

Anyways, so I am very much not that way and I do try and work within people budgets, so yeah that that that was a very interesting experience. But helped me to identify that I do not want to do that. 

Cameron 
You are so wonderful and just so everybody knows, Erica does have many different packages, so if you do want to do social media and you don't think you're ready for it, you'd be surprised you can do it. And even if it's just with a little coaching, all right. 

So last question, little known fact about you. 

Erika 
Little known fact. Ok, so I told you before we started that this would be my jeopardy story if I ever got to be a contestant. 

So, when a very long time ago when I went backpacking through Europe with a friend of mine, we it was very, very late and we were very, very lost and we were in Italy, and we couldn't speak Italian and we felt lost trying to find our bed and breakfast and walking along the road there was no streetlights. 

We literally didn't know where we were, and this car slows down. And we're like, Oh no. And these two very handsome Italian boys rolled down the window, and they started talking to us in Italian, we're like... I don't know what you're saying and then they were like, en Francais? I was like nope. 

Finally, we settled on English. They asked us where we're going, so we show them the address on because it was before smartphones show them the address on our printed-out paper from Google Maps. 

And they're, they're like, Oh yeah, that's actually just around the corner up the road. 

Do you want a ride and we were like. We probably shouldn't, but we totally are going to. My friend actually said you're not going to kill us and steal our clothes, are you? 'cause we have no money? 

So, we sort of you know hitchhiked with very attractive Italian boys in Italy to get to our bed and breakfast at midnight. 

Cameron 
So, your little-known fact is that you're a secret hitchhiker. 

Erika 
I am. Yeah, but if my kids ever did it, they that would not go over well with me. 

Cameron 
Oh my gosh, I love it. Well, thank you so much for being on this episode of the Chair-apist. 

Social media is super important so I'm sure that we'll have you back on. And maybe we'll have to do, you know, a few parts of an episode just to talk about strengthening your social media skills. 

Erika 
Yeah, that would be great. I would be very happy to come back. 

Cameron 
We'll see what people ask for. 

Erika 
Absolutely yeah. If they have any comments or questions. I mean they can always reach out to me on social media. I'm on Facebook and Instagram @creativelysocialco. 

Or you can send all your questions to Cameron, and she can pass my info along too. 

Cameron 
Third party I'm happy to do it. Mediation. 

Alright, thank you so much Erika. 

Erika 
Ok, thanks.