The Imperfect Podcast
Welcome to the Imperfect Podcast! I'm your host, Wendy Lloyd Curley, and I am thrilled to have you join me on this journey. In this podcast, we delve into four major topics that are close to my heart: professional speaking, BNI networking, networking strategically, and of course, music. Whether I'm sharing insights through interviews or flying solo, you can expect a short, sharp conversation that will leave you inspired and informed. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the unique perspective and discussions that Imperfect Podcast has to offer.
The Imperfect Podcast
13. Social Media Management Tips for BNI Chapters
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Guest: Stella Gianotto https://www.linkedin.com/in/stellagianotto
If you're the brave soul in charge of your BNI chapter's social media (or you just got voluntold), this episode is your survival kit. Branding expert Stella Gianotto joins us to answer the 8 essential questions every BNI chapter should be asking about social media... from what to post and where, to how to turn one weekly meeting into a week’s worth of engaging content.
We unpack how to keep it simple, make it meaningful, and actually attract visitors (not just your mum liking every post). Stella also shares why it’s better to keep your chapter’s socials in-house and how tagging isn’t just polite... it’s powerful referral marketing.
Fun, practical, and packed with wisdom you can use this week.
Warning: the social media tips shared in this podcast may improve your social media skills and results for your business.
LinkedIn: BNI Presidential: Posts | LinkedInFacebook: FacebookInstagram: Instagram
Ladies and gentlemen, I am here with the amazing Stella Giannata. And Stella and I have known each other for about 15 years now. We met before I even started in my BI journey.
SPEAKER_00Long time. Yeah. A long time. Wow. Has it been that long, honestly?
SPEAKER_03It has because I met you, I met you as Wendy the Candlelady before I was even known as Wendy the Candlelady.
SPEAKER_01Yes, I remember.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Pretty it is. I even remember the first day you walked into a BI meeting. I remember that. I do. Tell me more.
SPEAKER_02Well, I remember you walked in and you were quite friendly, but some people engaged with you and some didn't. And you know, naturally gravitated towards you, and we started chatting. And then I uh remember getting to know you, and I remember having conversations with people, and they were like, What does a candle lady know about networking? And I'm like, Hello, she does parties in people's homes, she knows everything about networking. Are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_03It's called network marketing for a reason, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02Network marketing for a reason. And I said, Don't don't underestimate the six degrees of separation. Who knows who knows who knows who. And you have no idea sometimes where where referrals come from, really.
SPEAKER_03I I have a little I have a little story about that. Uh Rebecca Tucker actually um told me this. We had a one-to-one, finally, eventually, we had a one-to-one with each other. And I asked her what had taken so long, and she she was really honest with me, and I'm happy to share this. She said, I remember exactly what you said the first time that you got up to introduce yourself. You said, I want you to remember candles, rainbows, and music, and that made no sense to me at all. And I basically turned off whenever you were speaking after you gave that introduction, and it was super powerful. Like what powerful feedback. Interesting, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02What stuck for her?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and I remember I remember distinctly, candles was about candle business, rainbows was about growing my team, and bit music was music. So I remember saying it, but I didn't realize the impact it would have negatively to a business person who really wanted to grow their, you know, she was with Sandler then and Sandler now, and yeah. Yes, yes, interesting, amazing. Well, listen, uh, everybody, the reason that I've invited Stella to be here with us is because she has taken on the role of, and I'm going to give her a promotion here because she deserves it, social media manager for the BI Presidential chapter. And in that role, she has been a dynamo. And if you haven't already seen the results of this, I suspect that you you are going to start to follow BI Presidential and you will see that on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook, this chapter is making a dent. And what Stella's bringing to the table is content, of course, consistency, of course, and a structure that I believe we we want to share some essential tips with you on the strategy, the visibility, and the execution of social media for a B I chapter. But you know what? When we say it's for a B I chapter, it can actually be for a business. And um, I I I truly believe that all of the principles that I'm about to ask Stella about uh are gonna help you in your business. Absolutely. Good introduction.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's it's threefold. If you have a business brand, a personal brand, or you just want to raise the profile of your B I chapter, it is all applicable.
SPEAKER_03Excellent, excellent. And one of the reasons to do this is too because people have started reaching out to Stella uh for her advice. And this is of course related to her career. Her career choices marketing and and helping people with their brands and their and their presence in the community. And I could I could talk for a long time about what she's done for me and my branding and my my business. But what I really want you to know is we're we're gonna focus on social media today. We may have Stella back. Um we may what I would really like to do is is enable you to listen to this. And when when Stella gets calls from people saying, Can you help me? I I'm hoping that you are now here and on the Imperfect podcast, listening to Stella and me, and that we will help answer those questions that you might have.
SPEAKER_02Yes, in fact, the questions that we will answer that Wendy will ask me, um, are questions that other chapters have reached out and actually asked me. So I've had reach from as far as uh Queensland, as well as throughout Greater New South Wales on other BI chapters, and they've collectively asked these questions. So we're not going to use jargon, we're not gonna use high-level terminology, we're gonna keep it very simple, very straightforward, and extremely applicable. So, my objective at the end of this podcast is that you listen to it and you will have something that you can take away and implement immediately.
SPEAKER_03I absolutely love it. Here we go. Let's start with number one. What's the real purpose of a B and I chapter's social media account? And is it different at all to a business or a personal account?
SPEAKER_02No. So the rules for a business or a personal account are almost the same. And let me start by saying that it is your chapter's front door. And just like your home, you want to make it presentable. You want to sweep the front doorstep, you want to put the doormat out, and you want to make it welcoming and inviting so that any visitor that comes through remembers the experience. And essentially that's what your social media account is for is giving other people, either within or outside the BI network, uh an opportunity for them to see and feel, even if it's just a taste, what your energy and your culture is like within your own chapter. The other thing that's important to know is that it's a magnet for the right people. And it also highlights collectively what your chapter has achieved as businesses, as entrepreneurs, as business owners. Um, and whether it's a personal or a business page, essentially it's showcasing that. It's showcasing partnerships, it's showcasing your success, it's educating people, um, and essentially it's showing people that you're working together to get stronger results. And results in BI are referrals.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's right. So the goal of the chapter profile is that that visibility and the the creation of that brand. What is the brand of the chapter, really?
SPEAKER_02Exactly. So at B and I Presidential, one of the things that uh I say to the group is that we're using our social media profile to amplify what we already demonstrate in practice every week within the meeting. Nice, but we're doing it to a broader community. So networking is all about word of mouth. Social media is all about world of mouth. World of mouth. That's how far reaching social can go. I love it. I love it.
SPEAKER_03Oh, I could keep going. Let's keep going.
SPEAKER_02We're dropping the nuggets straight away.
SPEAKER_01We're no mucking around here.
SPEAKER_03So, what type of content and and what frequency do you think will attract the right visitors?
SPEAKER_02All right. Well, we'll come back to frequency because that is a bit of a loaded question. But content. So it's pretty straightforward. Share your results, not just numbers. Um, you know, an experience from a guest. Ask them their feedback. What did you find about how did you find today's meeting? Practical examples of how you actually generate business, take segments from your education piece, um, shine a light on success factors, you know, what was a traffic lighting system, you know, how many referrals did you generate? How many visitors were there? All of these demonstrate KPIs and success markers to people who are not within BI. You know, and another thing too is use content that shows people, it gives you a genuine look. It's a little bit like your car where you open the hood of the car to check out the engine. That's what you're saying. You're just giving it a really nice display for people. You know, feature, pre-promote your are featured speakers every week. Ask for complimentary industries to come and attend outside visitors. Um, you know, when you do things, outsiders are drawn to positive um energetic communities. They want in, you know, they want to be aligned with success because success breeds success. And they want to be aligned with people who win or who are achieving something, not just for themselves, but also for the greater community. So that kind of content is what actually trends really well. Posting a photo of a video of, hey, these members renewed tells me nothing as a potential business owner. Why did they renew? Is there something special? What kept them coming back? So really delve right into the nitty-gritty. I like to say pillow talk, be very intimate with your content. You know, things that you think, oh my gosh, I can't share that with someone else. Absolutely share it with the greater community, the greater community, because that's what we're looking for. That's what non-BI people, business owners, people who are successful or want to be successful or want to grow, these are the markers they're looking for. And your content needs to show that.
SPEAKER_03I love it. Hey, listen, uh something I thought about while you were speaking, then is you you probably just listed about 12 things that people could write about, 12 different content ideas straight away. Maybe even more. What I want to equate this to is that's 12 different presentations, 12 different posts. You don't try and put all of them into one post or even bullet point them in one, because it just like your, I'm gonna call it a minute, just like your weekly minute that you get to do your weekly presentation. Yes, if you have too much content and you you explain too many things, then it gets cluttered. You want to have a simple message each time.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. And so that principle in BI um that we're taught when we become new members is the same approach or the same principle you want to take when you create content. So 60 seconds a minute is quite luxurious because in B and I Presidential, we have so many members, we only get 40 seconds. And if you win the golden mark or the sharpshooter award, we get an extra 10. So it's the competition is high, it's coveted. Um, and you do. And the one of the biggest mistakes that most um chapters will make is they get so excited about their social media that I'm literally going to act this out with the voice. This is what they do in their posts. They go, Oh my god, I'm so excited. Here, I'm gonna vote everything out to you right now. When what they should be doing is saying, okay, I'm gonna give you one sentence now, and then in a few more days, I'm gonna give you another sentence, and then I'm gonna come back and remind you of another sentence before. Break it down. Imagine your content is like a block of gold, and you're filing a shaving off and giving it away, and then filing another shaving off and giving it away, and doing it like that so that you're really stretching out your content for a number of reasons. One, you don't give everything away straight away, and two, it makes the job of a social media manager or coordinator easier, so it's not such a burden.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. You know what? That leads into, you know, how do you turn a single weekly meeting into multiple posts? And that might do with your frequency answer too.
SPEAKER_02Yes. So a meeting is loaded with opportunities to use for content, of course. So let's tackle frequency. So um, you want to stay visible, but you don't want to burn yourself out. And when I say yourself, I mean both the social media manager as well as the chapter itself. You also want to lean into people who are already in your group. Is there a copywriter in your group? Lean on them to help. Is there a video production person or videographer or animator? Lean on them. Is there someone in marketing or public relations? Lean on them to also help. Posting about three to five times a week is ideal. And the reason we say that is because what you really want is you want consistency. Consistency will far outgrow you doing what we call a uh a saturation approach where you do everything twice a day for several weeks and then you do nothing. The algorithms are attuned to average it out. So if you look at the way the traffic lighting system works for our own personal, um our own personal point scoring system, social media algorithms work the same way. So let's go to your second part of the question. How do we turn a simple meeting into a whole lot of posts? Okay, let's look at the structure of the meeting. You've got the initial uh part of the meeting where we get the coffee or orders and we meet and greet all of our visitors. That's one social media post in itself.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02The table where you have all the brochures and business cards on display, that's a post in itself. During the meeting, the education segment that can be broken down into multiple posts, depending on what it is, because generally the education is not just applicable to BI, it's applicable to all business owners because it's a transferable, uh, it's transferable content and transferable skills. If someone does their one minute or 40-second presentation and it's funny, that's also a social media post. The winner of the sharpshooter and what they spoke about and why they won it, that's a post. The judging criteria, that's a post. The featured speakers introducing them, they're also posts. What they spoke about, they're also posts. If a member has won an award, or they've become a notable networker, or they've renewed for an extended period of time, or they're brand new, they're all posts. My personal favorite, a team that plays together, stays together, all of the social addings, they're also all posts. That's before, before we tap into the gold mine of Wendy Lloyd Curly's Imperfect Podcasts and Ivan Miser's content and all of his images. You can just go to one of his feeds and you've got content rich there for years. So there's plenty of opportunities. It's just that most BI members don't see that within their meeting because they have the blinders on and think, oh, the board, the meeting's not boring. The meeting's not interesting to someone external. Someone external doesn't see what you see. Make them see it. I love that. Tell them about it, show them.
SPEAKER_03For those of you who are listening, there's content galore, and and it's repeatable content, but it's different each time. So it's correct.
SPEAKER_02That's right. So that is what we call a social media content strategy. The strategy, here's the type of posts that you will do. It's just that the type of post uh is the same every week, but the information within it changes.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And most people won't know the difference, but they'll get used to the repetition, hence why we go every week to BI. Same principle applies.
SPEAKER_03So I know one of the things that you've been doing as the social media manager and has made my life as a um I'm busy just like everybody else's. I've got WhatsApp ding ding ding ding ding ding ding, just like everybody else does.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_03Um, I I I've got a lot of emails, I've got a lot of activities and a lot of meetings. Uh, so I've been very grateful for one of the practices that you do, which is when you post on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook, which you consistently do. Yes. Uh, you always give us the links there. And you you say, listen, here are the links for the single post on the three platforms. Please go do something. So yes, let's um uh engaging the team, the B and I, the people who are already engaged in the post is one thing. Yes. But what what makes us expand beyond our current audience? Like, how does that really help us if we're just liking the posts of our own chapter?
SPEAKER_02Okay. So one of the reasons that I do that is uh behavioral, because one of the biggest complaints is I'm time poor, I don't have time to even go onto my own profile or my own page and find the post. So I negate that, I take that away straight away by putting it into the WhatsApp group. So it's there. So all you have to do is click on it, like it, comment, and what have you. The reason that you want to do that is because it is uh multiple things happen. And this is where people underestimate the power of social media. You can use social media not only to inform and educate people outside of the BI network, but you can also use many of the principles for how we build a BI network and make them applicable for business owners. For example, business owners often seek coaches and mentors. We have a mentoring program when you're a new uh new recruit, a new member of BI through the passporting system, right? Same thing in business. We have the traffic like system that's essentially a KPI scoreboard if you're a sales manager or a BDM. Yeah, we have a membership committee, almost like a council or a board of directors that actually monitors and manages the meeting. Same thing in business. So everything we learn is a transferable skill. So we want to use that to communicate and amplify to people outside. And the other thing, too, is let's not underestimate the visibility that the chapter will get in the local community, the credibility that it gives the members within the BI chapter in the local community, right? Because it's a it's a membership process where there requires an application and an interview and then an acceptance. So that already suggests that we just don't take anybody. We want people of caliber, people who have experience and expertise in their industry. And the biggest hidden gem is most B and I chapters don't realize is that it is fundamentally a recruitment strategy. You are finding new people who think like you, who like what you like, who are interested in the same things that you are interested in, to recruit them to fill the seats that are empty in your chapter. And if you don't know where to start, look at all the contact spheres, all the power groups that you want to increase and start by filling those. Because I can guarantee you, if you start doing social media posts where you're targeting those specific seats, you will start to attract non-BI people who will follow, who will be interestingly want to start to uh learn a little bit more about this B and I thing or this networking thing, or how did you get your business growth so much?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Now I've been um mentioning this a couple of times. You currently are posting on all three platforms, but there are thousands of platforms, I'm sure. But the three that you've been focused on are Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Why did you choose those? Do you think we need all three? Do you think that there are others that different chapters would consider? What are your thoughts on this?
SPEAKER_02Okay, so there's a couple of answers to each one of those questions. Um, how many you post on comes down to capacity. Does the person or persons that will be managing your social media account have the time to do it and the knowledge? Do they understand at least fundamentally how social media works? And the other reason that we use uh three different uh platform social media channels is because we know that we have a different age bracket within our own BI chapter, and a different generational bracket uses a very different social media platform. So we know if you only ever want to use one platform, that we will always find business owners on a professional business platform, which is LinkedIn. We also know that a younger generation of business owners leans towards Instagram, and a mid-T generation, like an X and Y genera, are almost always on Facebook. So that's why we use all three. But if you're starting out and you're wanting to dip your toe, then I would say let's just start with LinkedIn because that's where working professionals are. Even trades that are there. Um, you'll find a mix of people. And interestingly, you can start to lean in people's contact spheres on LinkedIn in a very uh virtual and non-creepy way.
SPEAKER_03Non-creepy, non-cree. Tell me a little bit about that that Smarmy sales or non-creepy. Like what you've already mentioned it. We we're not selling to the room.
SPEAKER_02No, we're selling through the room, and in order to sell through the room, we need to find a mechanism to amplify that. And social media is a free, free platform available for you to do it, and you have a gold mine, I will repeat, a gold mine of content in every meeting.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um so to come back to your question, uh, non-cree ways. So because everything is virtual in social media, it allows you to do uh homework, to understand uh who it is that you want to target, or to look up people's profiles and learn a little bit more about them without necessarily having to met them. It's the equivalent of um walking into someone's office and just picking up their old school business card box and just rifling through it and going, Oh, can you give me an introduction to this person, that person, that person, that person? You know, the business owner would be like, Who are you? and what are you doing, rifling through my thing. So essentially that's what you're doing in a virtual context, yeah, except that it's perfectly acceptable because no one can see you doing it. What it does. Does inadvertently is it arms you with intelligence, data, information for you to use to approach people? That's what it does.
SPEAKER_03I love it. How do you know if your social media is actually working? Like I mean, you've been putting uh structure around this and strategy around it for at least, I'd like to say five, six months now.
SPEAKER_02Uh, we're coming into a six-month period. So we've done we did a month of testing and setting things up because in our case it was such a mess. We had six different people owning three different channels, and we had to claw all of that back. And because of the procedures now with social media, it was challenging. Then we spent a good three months testing, working out what content trends, what had engagement and what didn't. And now we're in sort of a set formula. So the way that we did it was we looked at the statistics. So every platform will give you analysis and statistics that tells you simple things. So just like the traffic lighting system, broken down into four areas: your attendance, how many referrals you've given, how many one-to-ones you've done, and how many CEU or education points you have accumulated. Statistics for social media are how many new followers do you have, how many posts got engagement, what level of engagement did it get, and where did these people actually come from? I.e., are they BI members or are they non-BI members? This is critical information for you to be able to work out whether you need to make your strategy or your posting more aggressive, so more frequent, or a little bit more passive. You back it off a little bit. That's what we do. We use the BI system yet again of traffic lining, looking at stats, analyzing it, and then adjusting our performance based on what it was telling us. Now we've got a very nice set of metrics that we have started to create quite a beast that I've just mentioned to our president, Mr. Nick Bendel, that I'm going to need an assistant right now. That's a good sign, right?
SPEAKER_03It is a good sign. And and I just in in thinking, I'm going to talk about how to train the next the next wave of social media manager at the end. So let me let me ask this last question about you and your strategy. And and really, I think this is a question a lot of people will have, because it sounds like a big job. So why is it better for a chapter to manage this than to outsource this, you know, to to someone else? Because uh it would cost money, of course, to outsource it.
SPEAKER_01Of course, yes.
SPEAKER_03Uh but what why is it better or is it better for a chapter to manage this themselves?
SPEAKER_02Well, for me to answer that question in a way that everybody can understand, I'm going to use it in, I'm going to use an analogy in business. When you go to hire a new person, you just don't run out onto the street and pick up the first person and sit them in the job and go, here, now you do this. What you would do is you sit down and you would analyze this individual that I want to hire, this is their roles and responsibilities. This is what I would like them to do. And these are the the procedures and systems in the business internally that we would like them to do. So before you can even advertise for that job or go to a recruiter essentially, you need to know what the job involves. A social media manager for a BI chapter needs to know that. So, unless you know what it is that you're looking for and you can brief someone externally, you want to keep it internal for the reasons of you need to know what content does and doesn't work. You need to also break down a lot of the acronyms like subs, um, etc., all those types of uh, you know, MC, all of the acronyms that we use to a non-BI person so that they understand. And you also need to break down the correlations, i.e., what are the segments of your meeting that you're going to choose to post as content? And what does that mean to a non-BI person? Until you've got a really good understanding of how you can communicate and interpret that to someone out external outside of the B and I network, you're always better to do it. And besides that, you also want to lean on the people that are in communications and you're in marketing that are already in your chapter that have a little bit more of an understanding to help you with this as well. So you've got far more resources internally than you do externally.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. You know, one of the things, thank you. It first of all, thank you. I I the the area of leadership comes up a couple of times a year. We we have leadership changeovers. And you know, some of you are not even involved in BI, but I hope those of you that are listening that aren't, uh there's a great list of actions for you out of this already. But for those of us who are in BI, one of the features of BI is that each chapter is run by the chapter itself. Correct. There's leadership team training provided to all of the different roles.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_03Our visitor hosts, our social media managers, our presidents, treasurers, vice presidents, the social media. I'm sorry, I already said that. Social coordinators, the education, all of these different roles are trained. And this this social media coordinator or social media manager role is one that has not been codified until very recently. It's been done for years by somebody in the chapter, usually without a strategy structure or training. And uh I guess what I'm what I want to float with you and get your thoughts on as we begin to codify it more and make it part of the leadership team in a BNI is how incredible would it be to get the leadership team training to be the social media coordinator. I cannot imagine the value that a business owner would get out of the training on probably those three platforms, probably the scheduling software to ensure that it can be done, and the content strategies that could be used. Yes, because those three things, the platforms themselves, the scheduling and the scheduling programs and the content, is all completely and 100% transferable to your business.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. It would all of a sudden make your uh membership fee extremely valuable. And quite frankly, it is a free marketing resource available to any BI chapter and any business person. Um, it would be ludicrous to pass up an opportunity of training like that. Where are you going to get training that you don't have to pay for? Um, where they're going to show you content strategy, the platform to use, and basically how to's. You pay thousands, tens of thousands of dollars for the top-notch um influencers and social media gurus to teach you that one-on-one. So if you're getting it in a small consolidated um group, my gosh, Wendy, if you start promoting that as part of the leadership role training, I would envisage that uh sign up to that particular training should be booked out for months.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02It's gold, it's pure gold.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that one uh for me and visitor host, where where you really do it properly and you get to meet every visitor that walks through the room. I think both of those are incredible roles. And um I write.
SPEAKER_02And what this is one of the things, too, that we haven't, and it's a bit of a secret, really. But if you're managing your BI chapters social media channel and you're in charge of it, by default, your visibility increases by osmosis. My following has increased. I have increased at least another in the six months I've had, another three to five hundred followers by default, not even posting extra on my own personal or business profiles for brand for brands, just by being active and being seen on BI Presidential's feed. That's huge. Most people don't have that many followers.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. No, just by default. It's just by default. It's absolutely huge. Uh we could talk for hours on this. Um we could, we could. I do want to say thank you for your leadership in this, and thank you for sharing so much of your strategy with us right now. You're welcome. I I know that uh that this is just the tip of the iceberg, and that we do need to get this role uh more codified, more trained with with with the content, so that when we do leadership changeovers, we can help people to become very strong at this and help the businesses grow. It's been a delight. Do you have any questions for me? Or is there anything else you want to say to the to the people who might be listening to this?
SPEAKER_02An invitation, if you've been inspired by this podcast, or you've got more burning questions for Wendy, please let her know. And I would be more than happy to come back and answer them, particularly if you found this of value.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Oh, wonderful. And if you found it of value, I'd recommend writing a testimonial for Stella on her LinkedIn page so that she can continue to grow her um her following there. That's fantastic.
SPEAKER_02Thank you. And let's be cheeky. If you did like it, you can use this to post this podcast when it's released. You can post it on your own personal BI social media page, and you can tag Wendy and you can tag myself, and you will increase your visibility. Look at that! Fantastic.
SPEAKER_03Ladies and gentlemen, you've listened to another Imperfect podcast. Thank you so much to my guest, Stella Giannato. Thank you so much to Brand for Brands for giving us you for this uh this half an hour. And I want to let everybody know that the music you are about to hear is the fantastic band Concord Joe, which I used to be a member of. Yay! My friend Ben Little wrote the song. So um it's called Twenty Hours of Texas, inspired by my father. Have a great day, everybody. See you soon.