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As a small business owner, you need to be a lot of things to make your business go—but you don't have to be a marketer alone. Join host Dave Charest, Director of Small Business Success at Constant Contact, and Kelsi Carter, Brand Production Coordinator, as they explore what it really takes to market your business. Even if marketing's not your thing! You'll hear from small business leaders just like you along with industry experts as they share their stories, challenges, and best advice to get real results. This is the Be a Marketer podcast! New episodes every Thursday!
Today in episode 68 of the be a marketer podcast, it's another ask Dave episode, and I'm answering your questions about what to showcase on your social media channels to attract more subscribers and grow your community.
Dave Charest:This is the Be A Marketer podcast.
Dave Charest:My name is Dave Charest, director of small business success at Constant Contact. And I help small business owners like you make sense of online marketing. And on this podcast, we'll explore what it really takes to market your business even if marketing's not your thing. No jargon. No hype.
Dave Charest:Just real stories to inspire you and practical advice you can act on. So remember, friend, you can be a marketer. And at Constant Contact, we're here to help.
Dave Charest:Well, hello, friend, and thanks for joining us for another episode of the Be A Marketer podcast. Guess who's here with me? The one and only Kels9 Carter.
Kelsi Carter:It's me. Hi, Dave. How are you?
Dave Charest:I'm doing fantastic, Kelsi. Thanks for, being here. So I'm not talking to myself again. This is really great. What's been going on with you?
Dave Charest:How you been, Kelsi?
Kelsi Carter:I have been good, Dave. I feel like really not much. I feel like people are gonna get really tired of the duck update. I feel like, okay. This girl and her ducks, is that the only thing she has going for her?
Kelsi Carter:Yes. No. But no. They're doing good. I feel like life has been good so far.
Kelsi Carter:Just moving really quickly, I can't believe it's already almost the middle of July.
Dave Charest:Yeah. And so for those of you who can't see us, thankfully, I'm actually in a room where I'm trying my best not to sweat. That's how hot it is these days. I think we're we're reaching another day in the nineties here in the in the Boston area. So, yeah, good times there.
Dave Charest:Any reflections on marketing that you could potentially share with our listener today?
Kelsi Carter:Reflections on marketing, I feel like the past, well, this month, July, I feel like I've been hearing storytelling a lot. Like, that's a big word that I've been hearing a lot of people incorporating into their marketing and saying that that is the big component is storytelling. You have to have a story to tell to your audience in order to get their attention. So that is something that I have been noticing is a really popular thing right now.
Dave Charest:Yeah. It's an interesting thing that we I think we seem to forget. But, I mean, I think the the story line here, right, in in when thinking about storytelling is that, you know, that's really how we consume information. It's how we communicate with each other. It's the things that we do to, you know, communicate, And we're attracted to that.
Dave Charest:Right? And because often too when you're thinking about a story, a story also typically has drama involved. Right? There's some type of conflict or somebody is overcoming something in there along the way, and I think that's a very interesting thing. And, I mean, I think as we're looking at for our regular listeners out there, we're starting a be a marketer podcast newsletter on LinkedIn that, you know, Kelsey is kinda taking charge of there.
Dave Charest:And part of working through that process, so please do subscribe to that if you're on LinkedIn.
Kelsi Carter:Yes, please.
Dave Charest:But, you know, Kelsey, you know, one of the things that you've been doing is really trying to share more of your personal stories and the lessons that you've kinda learned from some of these episodes as you've been going back and listening. And, you know, I know as as we're looking at those things, I'm always like, start with this personal story. Right? It's usually dug down there, and I'm like, no. This is the interesting part.
Dave Charest:This is the thing I'm actually curious about. And then, you know, you kinda go back and then you relate that to some type of marketing lesson that you've learned. And I think this is a good lesson for everyone is because particularly as we've gotten into this age of where AI now is really helping with a lot of this stuff, it's very easy to kind of be the same. Right? And and the thing that makes everybody unique and every business unique are the people that make up that business.
Dave Charest:Right? And particularly if you're a business owner, your story and the things that, you know, you believe and the reasons why you've, you know, created this business and the expertise that you have and your personal experience are all things that AI can never bring to it. Right? Because that's the human element of it. And I think it's so important today when there's potential for and I hope it doesn't get this way, but there's potential for an even more flood of content and, you know, I'm using the generic term content, right, of things getting pushed out there as marketing that really have no soul for lack of a better way to say it.
Dave Charest:And, again, we've said time and time again, the end of the day, people do business with people they know, like, and trust. And Mhmm. The only way you start to get to know and like and trust people is through those conversations and the stories that we share with each other. So I love that you bring that up. I know we have a question today, though, from, I think, a group that's actually pretty powerful storytellers in their own right.
Dave Charest:What do we got today?
Kelsi Carter:So today, we have a question from Angelica, who is the marketing and artist manager for the Gargangelo Museum, who is a Constant Contact customer since 2,005. And we actually recently spoke with her and the team for the podcast. So Angelica's question is, are there any key highlights or selling points that we can showcase on our social media channels or LinkedIn to attract more subscribers and grow our community? What other benefits or perks can our monthly subscribers enjoy?
Dave Charest:Okay. So there's a lot here, and I wanna kind of talk through about it in a couple of ways. I think when you start thinking about what it is that you can be sharing and when and particularly when you start thinking about the different social channels that you can use, but more importantly, how do you move the people from the social channels to your own channels? Right? When we're starting to talk about email and SMS.
Dave Charest:And then I think, similarly, as we're kinda talking today about this idea of having some uniqueness to it, it's about, you know, know, what are the things that you can do in those channels and, you know, how do you make it your own? Right? And so I think a couple things that we need to think about. One, if you think of the so I don't know if I can even describe the Greg Angelo Museum. I think you need to go check it out.
Dave Charest:But what I can gather from not having experienced it personally and and, you know, having the conversations that we've had with the team over there is that, you know, it's a very unique experience in this house that involves, you know, theatrical components. It's an immersive experience, and there's different types of things that they offer. And so when you start to think about who are the audience that they so they sell tickets for these things, but they also do some other, like, corporate events and things like that. So I'm gonna kinda take it through that lens. Right?
Dave Charest:So audiences. Right? So you've got, I guess, your general audience. Right? So I think this is often where we end up failing sometimes as businesses when we start thinking about marketing because we often think of, like, the general audience.
Dave Charest:And sometimes you have to because, you you know, you have to kinda get people in through the door, and then you can kind of, you know, get tighter into who it is that you're trying to speak to after that. But because you don't have a specific, it's very difficult to kinda tie into the story lines or the things that a specific audience cares about. And so when you think about you may have parents. Right? If you have kids shows, which the museum does, you might be wanting to talk specifically to parents and trying to capture the things that will get their attention and give them something to do with the kids.
Dave Charest:Right? Or give them something they're not gonna get any give them a magical experience they're not gonna get someplace else. Right? Then you've got if you're doing these kind of, like, team building types of activities that you can do with people in this location as well, well, then you're thinking about talking to employers, like HR teams, team leaders, things like that that are looking for team building things to do. Right?
Dave Charest:And then you've got you might be doing events, right, where you're actually going on location to other places. So you're sort of thinking about, like, what are the places and who are the people that are looking for people to come and do these things at at different venues. I mean, there's even you're basically a business in a community of artists. And so you're partly even talking to that group because you're looking to bring new artists into the fold in many cases, right? So as I'm even talking about this, Kelsey, right, like there's a lot of people here, right?
Dave Charest:But you can kind of start to see as even as you're talking through them, there are different ways that you would think about positioning something to someone. Right? Like that example that I always give is that quantum physics example. Right? If you're describing quantum physics to somebody, well, the way you have that conversation with your grandmother, your best friend, and your 10 year old, they're all gonna be different.
Dave Charest:Right? Because they've got a different lens with which to understand what it is that you're talking about. Okay. So, I'm gonna Right? Because they've got a different lens with which to understand what it is that you're talking about.
Dave Charest:I do not know how to explain quantum physics.
Kelsi Carter:I was gonna say, do you wanna give it a go?
Dave Charest:No. Absolutely do not. And so that's one aspect of it. Right? So you've gotta think through that.
Dave Charest:I think the other is the channels. And each of the channels, and we've mentioned this before, but they all really have this different personality to them. And so and this is what a lot of people do, and I think it's to the detriment in sometimes is and what I mean is somebody will take make one thing and then just share it on multiple channels.
Kelsi Carter:Mhmm.
Dave Charest:Couple of things to be aware of, I think, that you should think of, like, if you take, I've heard this from some customers, so this is worth testing for yourself whether or not this is good or bad for you, but I would hazard a guess that it's probably not great. But, like, if you take an Instagram reel, for example, and then you try to take that and share that on Instagram I'm sorry, on TikTok, it's gonna get less because they don't wanna be promoting a reel. Right? Like, versus, like, the same way if you're trying to share a TikTok on even reels, like, they are gonna give that less algorithmically because they don't want to promote the other channel. Right?
Dave Charest:Yeah. And so you're always best off kind of creating things specifically for each of those channels. But I think also, you know, they have different things. So if you look at Instagram, of course, like photos, reels, like those types of things are gonna work really well. On Facebook, you're really thinking about, like, your there's friends and family often involved in those places, and so they're maybe that's where you're focused on, like, unique things to do.
Dave Charest:TikTok, of course, is those quirky videos and and really trend heavy, I would say. I mean, you would know this more than me, Kelsey. Right? Because I don't really spend a lot of time. But from all of the TikToks that my wife sends me that I ignore, they are very trendy type of things.
Dave Charest:Right? And so how do you lean in on those things that are working? YouTube, right? Like I always kind of think like, depending on if you're a YouTuber, right, versus using YouTube for your business, I think you can argue whether or not that's really a social channel or not. But I think it's really more about kind of organizing videos that you may have, and I think creating another space where that's maybe one of the places where I would say you can repurpose videos.
Dave Charest:Right? Because it's more like a again, it depends on the investment you're gonna make. But if you're not gonna put the investment, there's more of a repository for video than it is a true, like, social channel, but I think something worth thinking about. And then there's LinkedIn, right, where I think that's obviously a more professional setting. It's not these people wouldn't, you know, wanna do things, you know, for the family or or that type of things or personally with a group of friends.
Dave Charest:But that's really more along the lines of, you know, again, the employer's HR team, team leader stuff that I think there you would wanna focus the things that you're sharing more about the things that would capture their attention. Right? And so I think the big thing here, though, what I want to point out is as you're thinking through these things and what you're doing, and you may be doing really great things across all of them, or you may be doing a good job and whatever. But I think to that point of focusing to figure out what is the thing that works on a specific channel, I would say that it's okay to focus on 1 channel at a time. Mhmm.
Dave Charest:And it's not that you're you know, maybe you continue to do what you're doing across all of them, but you really say, okay, Where, 1, do we feel most comfortable? And then 2, where are we seeing the best engagement? And then really start to dig in there to start to figure out, okay. So, like, let's just say it's Facebook. Oh, this is the type of stuff that's really happening here.
Dave Charest:I also like to think about, like, pay attention to who's engaging. Right? And if you know who those people are, like, if you just know, like, from a personal perspective. Right? Try to figure out what are the types of things that, oh, I I know this person's going to engage with that, or I know this person's going to comment on that.
Dave Charest:Like, what are some things that would encourage them to do that more? Right? Because then you start to figure out like, oh, something that works, and then that can also, you know, start to work with more people. Right? But I think the big thing here is that you're just focusing in more so you can make the connections to what really works on those channels.
Dave Charest:The other thing that I'll say is that I think the other thing that's good about this, as we mentioned, really having different audiences is that's where actually paid advertising on social channels can be really helpful because it really does allow you to target in a different way than what you can do just organically. And you can also do those things as what they would call, like, dark post. Right? So it's not like it's something going out to everybody. It's something going out to a very specific group of people that you've targeted, and that allows you to be very specific in your messaging.
Dave Charest:So you can talk to those groups that we're talking about here, and you can get very specific about addressing the needs and focusing on the value that you bring to that particular group of people. And so I think that's just something to really think about with this. And so I know the question is, like, you know, what can we do? And I think you can't really say what that is until you start thinking about the audience and then the channel, and then what are the things that are gonna work. Right?
Dave Charest:And I think Mhmm. And then as you get to again, as we always talk about this idea of moving people from social to the channels that you own so you can have that direct connection, Of course, you know, we're thinking of a new email newsletter here, and as you get more subscribers to that, I think that really becomes, one, what can you think about offering in terms of exclusivity? Right? So it's not the same thing they're getting on the social channels. And maybe that means you maybe you if you do an audit, you feel realize, oh, you know what?
Dave Charest:Maybe we're gonna hold this back on social or Mhmm. You know, maybe these are some things we're gonna change at post. We start to see what really works well on those channels. But I'm thinking, like, exclusivity. So maybe it's, like, if you got new shows coming up or new things, like, maybe it's a first look at those types of things.
Dave Charest:But what I like about because there's such a uniqueness here with the Greg Angelo Museum and the art that they create and the events that they create and the experiences that they create, I would encourage to in some instances, I I don't think it has to be every email, but how can you use the email as artistic expression itself? Right? Which Mhmm. Creates a different experience for somebody in terms of, like, what you would think the email is for. Right?
Dave Charest:And so I would say, what if you were to think of that as email? What if that were the museum's only mode of creativity? Right? And so instead of the museum itself being where they create the art, what if the inbox was where they create the art? Right?
Dave Charest:And now you've got something that's really unique and different. And if you can execute on that in an engaging way, something that people could really, you know, 1, maybe even get a sense of, like, what it would be like to go to the museum through experiencing the email engagement piece of it. Right? So those are just some things, yeah, right, like, that I would just start thinking of.
Kelsi Carter:I think too, it just relates back to our earlier conversation about storytelling. Like, I think they have a prime example of a business where they would really thrive off of sharing what they do and, like, how they do it and, like, a little bit of a back story instead of just buy tickets, come to this event. It's like they can talk about, like, the art installation that they have, talk about the artists. So it's like there's so many directions that they could go with it.
Dave Charest:Yeah. I think, you know, again, are are interesting to people. And I think, you know, even with email, you think about, okay. Is there a way for me to even segment, you know, the list of people in the subscribers that I have so that I can also be more specific with the messaging that I have? But, hopefully Angelica, hopefully, that is helpful, and I'll just recap a few things.
Dave Charest:Right? So one, I think it's about matching the content of the audience in the channel. I think you really do need to consider paid advertising for targeting because particularly, you know, you can figure out the math on that just in terms of, like, you know, you gotta sell a ticket. How much is the ticket worth? How many tickets can we and I think I would maybe even recommend people check out our episode with Brad Sundberg who sells events, tickets to events and has a great deal of success with Facebook.
Dave Charest:Maybe we can share that in the resources for this episode as well. And then the other thing I would just say is, you know, think about turning that those emails into artistic vehicles for the message that you're trying to get across. So, again, hopefully, that is helpful to everyone listening, and I will also say that if we have any new customer listening here today, make sure you check out the new customer hub where you can find resources to get you started. You got the ability to connect with other Constant Contact customers, and you can even drop into a live ask a trainer session to get instant help and pro tips. Kelsey, if someone else has a question for me, how do they send that in?
Kelsi Carter:If you're a Constant Contact customer, you can head right on over to the Constant Contact community to post your question for an upcoming Ask Dave episode. You'll find that link in the show notes.
Dave Charest:Alright. Thanks, everybody.
Kelsi Carter:Thank you.
Dave Charest:I hope you enjoyed this episode of the be a marketer podcast. Please take a moment to leave us a review. Just go to rate this podcast.com/bam. Your honest feedback will help other small business marketers like yourself find the show. That's rate this podcast.com slash bam.
Dave Charest:Well, friend, I hope you enjoy the rest of your day and continued success to you and your
Dave Charest:business.