LinkedIn, AI, And Community w/ Shaniequa Washington of Trio Solutions

The room buzzed at the Mount Pleasant Expo, and that spark set the stage for a focused conversation on building real momentum: turning LinkedIn from a static profile into a pipeline, using AI as a practical tool, and leaning on community to move faster with less friction. We sit down with Trio Solutions’ marketing director to unpack what works now for small and midsize businesses that want measurable growth without losing their human touch.

We start with LinkedIn strategy that goes beyond posting for vanity metrics. Think outcome-driven profiles, thoughtful comment engagement, and targeted searches that surface the exact titles and industries you serve. Then we get tactical: outreach cadences, conversation starters that feel human, and metrics that actually matter—responses, meetings, and revenue. From there, we shift to AI as a workflow booster. It’s not a replacement for taste and judgment; it’s a time-saver for research, summarization, and draft creation. We talk use cases, guardrails, and how to keep voice consistent while letting machines handle the heavy lifting.

Community ties it all together. The Expo becomes a live map of partners and prospects standing steps away. We highlight Creatathon, a 24-hour sprint where marketers deliver free creative to nonprofits, as a model for impact and skill-building under pressure. And we revisit the “Who Not How” mindset: find the specialist, build the team, and stop wrestling alone with problems someone else already solved. Business is an ecosystem, not a silo—and collaboration beats isolation every time.

If you’re ready to turn conversations into clients, align AI with your team’s strengths, and grow through partnerships, this one will meet you where you are. Subscribe, leave a quick review, and share this with someone who needs a nudge to find their “who” today.

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Presenting Sponsor: Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce

Studio Sponsor: Charleston Media Solutions

Episode Sponsor: Viking Mergers & Acquisitions

Expo Podcast Sponsor: ‪Pollen Social‬

Production Sponsor: RMBO.co

Design Sponsor: DK Design

Interested in Sponsorship? Click here.

Committee:
Kathleen Herrmann | Host | MPCC Past President | Mount Pleasant Towne Centre
Mike Compton | Co-host | Marketing Committee | RMBO.co
Rebecca Imholz | Co-host | MPCC Executive Director 
Amanda Bunting Comen | Co-host | Social ABCs
Benjamin Nesvold | Co-host | MPCC President | Edward Jones

Transcript

Expo Energy And Intros

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Hello folks, welcome to the Building Business Podcast, powered by the Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce. My name is Mike Kopf and I'm here with Stephanie Barrow.

SPEAKER_02 1:11

Coming live from the Mount Pleasant Expo today, friends.

SPEAKER_00 1:15

We're having a lot of fun. We're having a lot of fun with the energy that's going on, and you can see the energy that we have going on here. Isn't she beautiful?

SPEAKER_03 1:22

I love the being with you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Can you introduce yourself, please?

SPEAKER_03 1:25

Yes, I am Shanika Washington, and I am the director of marketing here with Trio Solutions.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Nice. Director of Marketing.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Love that.

SPEAKER_02 1:36

Yes. I used to be at Trio for many years.

AI As A Practical Tool

SPEAKER_00 1:39

So friends with Jenny and Jessica.

SPEAKER_02 1:41

We've been walking around.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Trio alumni.

SPEAKER_02 1:43

Trio. I was a trio alum. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Good place to be.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

Good place to be. You guys are I wasn't the old school building off Long Point, and now you're the Harbor Entrepreneur Center. Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

Love that building. Just there this morning for the coffee and connect. It was a great space.

SPEAKER_03 1:58

It was great space. Yes. Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

And it's growing. Grady showed me this new corridor, this new wing that we're going to be in the new wing. Very cool. Congratulations.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

So what's been going on with Trio? I know all the things. I'm going to let everybody else hear about the things.

SPEAKER_03 2:15

So with Trio, we are expanding into a couple of different areas. A1, LinkedIn. A lot of people have not truly tapped in on LinkedIn. They're on LinkedIn, but they're not utilizing LinkedIn to be able to funnel business to them.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 2:30

And that's where professionals are hanging out. So we have a certified LinkedIn strategist that works on our team that will help you to be able to understand where you stand in your business and how do you connect with the right people to gain business. Wonderful. Also, AI. The big word. I know.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

What do you mean?

SPEAKER_02 2:50

As just work. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 2:54

Yeah, yeah. But AI is huge, and we're helping people to understand how to integrate that into your business. Sorry about that. Helping people how to integrate that into your business, recognizing that it is just what it is. It's a tool. It's not the end all and be all, and people should still be the center of your business. Yes. But teaching you how do you use the different platforms because there's so many. So many. And how do you navigate through all of them to know what's best for your business? It's hard.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

Do you feel like it's a service that you just have to include now, right?

Creatathon And Community Impact

SPEAKER_03 3:28

I mean, I think if you're not in the AI metasphere, you're kind of gonna be like when the computer came out, if everybody was like we're not gonna use a computer because the world's gonna crash.

SPEAKER_02 3:41

Everyone is terrified of AI, and I'm like, it makes my life so much easier. Yes, as a tool. I use it as a tool, not as a replacement. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

Well for sure, for sure. What brings you to the expo, Shanefa?

SPEAKER_03 3:53

Um, people, the people aspect of our business, people will always be the center of what we do. And finding out who's in our community, what new businesses are in our area, who are our neighbors, how do we connect with them, how do we work with them, how do we support them?

SPEAKER_00 4:09

Love it. Do you suggest other businesses join the Expo next year?

SPEAKER_03 4:14

Of course. Yeah. Um, you want to be, you never know if the neighbor across the street from you is your customer. Right.

SPEAKER_00 4:21

And by the across the street, you mean this these aisles, right? Right? You're literally like feet from people.

SPEAKER_02 4:26

Yeah, it's been a member of the chamber for a long time because they used to send me to events here. So they've been a bit advocate for the Mount Pleasant Chamber as long as I can remember. Yes, yeah. That's basically.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

That's awesome. Well, thank you for your support here at the chamber.

SPEAKER_02 4:38

So tell me a little bit, is Creatathon still happening?

SPEAKER_00 4:41

Of course.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

That is a Creatathon was my love without the trio.

Collaboration Over Silos

SPEAKER_03 4:47

Yeah, so Creatathon is coming up shortly. Um, and we have partnered with the South Carolina Game Talks this year. Oh, good! Okay. Um, and we will be operating with them doing creative. Are you doing it in Columbia or are you here? Oh, yeah. Going to Columbia and doing it there. So doing things a little bit differently, creative, uh, and again, connecting with um community and people. Right. And that's what it's all about.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

For people who aren't familiar with Creatathon, it's like a 24-hour marketing blitz where you have to be a nonprofit and you have to apply, and then you're selected, and then the trio team, and sometimes they'll bring in consultants, like people like me, would come and help donate their time to create all this marketing for those nonprofit, they can use it. It's really cool. I was part of it, it was some of my best years of marketing.

SPEAKER_00 5:33

Yeah, nice, nice. That's that's great because you're giving back.

SPEAKER_02 5:36

Yes, they're giving back.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

It's all about the people.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:39

We uh we are a nonprofit. Are a nonprofit, right? The Mount Plaza Chamber is a nonprofit.

SPEAKER_02 5:45

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

Uh we do a lot of donations and give it a lot of uh grants out, too. So we totally get that, right? Um the energy here is crazy, right? Like it's just kind of like you kind of see a lot of the people coming up with ideas on the spot. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:01

That's one of my favorite things about living in Mount Plaza. You walk in and you see all these familiar friends, but you're like, nope, but I mean a lot of people also meeting for the first time, which is a great myth. Yeah, it's been fun.

Closing Thanks And Invite

SPEAKER_03 6:10

And then also thinking if you're a creative, you have to be in business, you have to be creative, you're solving a problem. Right. Right. So sometimes you're stuck in ideation. And connecting with other creative people will help you to kind of streamline where you're going. Yeah. Um, so that's where the energy is coming from. Somebody could be stuck on an idea or not knowing how to get it to the next level, and connecting with everybody helps you just to take it a little bit further.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

100%. You have to talk about it though.

SPEAKER_03 6:38

Yeah, absolutely. That's the hard part.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

You have to say something and put it out there in the universe. Yes. For it to kind of get embraced and to find those other things. I'm a big who not how.

SPEAKER_01 6:47

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

Big Who Not How guy. So tell me how.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

So the book by uh Sherman is about uh finding the person to help figure out the problem instead of finding out how. How to figure it out.

SPEAKER_02 7:01

To be collaborative, to work together as a team.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

You really should be getting like a problem. I should be getting affiliate money for your business. You should. You should put it on your link. And getting affiliate money for your business. He loves this book.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

Right. Well it's good, it's just a good practice, right? Finding the pro that knows how to help you. And now you're part of their ecosystem too. Yeah. And so in a way, you grew with it.

SPEAKER_03 7:22

Yeah. Well, I I believe in a silo and how I think of just like your who not your who, who not how, the who not how. I think of it like no single thing is meant to be alone. So you have a coffee cup, you need coffee. You need coffee, you need coffee grinds. You want a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, you need the bread. Like there's nothing in a single silo, it was never meant to be. And if we can understand that in business, we will be a lot a lot more successful.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

I love that. Yeah, collaborative.

SPEAKER_02 7:51

I'm they're so lucky to have you on board. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 7:53

We can talk for a lot of it. It's nice to meet you. Yes. And maybe we'll have you on the other podcast too.

SPEAKER_02 7:58

Yeah, we would love to have you. So we are also podcast hosts for the Travis Marketing Podcast. Okay. So yeah. We've had Jessica on talk about AI. Okay. I saw my girl Abby last week. She sang about who me and Bowl and Mount Pleasant here, May. Yeah. Yeah. Went to go support her. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:13

Well, thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

Hey, would you suggest coming to the expo next year?

SPEAKER_03 8:19

I would absolutely suggest coming to the expo next year. Um, I would just say nobody knows who you are unless you tell them who you are. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:27

Says the marketer.

SPEAKER_02 8:29

I love that. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 8:31

Love that. Uh at that note, thank you for listening. We're the uh Building Business Podcast, powered by the Mount Pleasant Chamber.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

Thank you to PolySocial for being our sponsor.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

Live at the Expo.

SPEAKER_01 8:42

And thank you for Trio for being here today. And thank you for having us.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

It was great, it was a pleasure. My pleasure. All right, folks, we'll uh see you in a minute.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

Bye.