Q & A: 2024 Social Media Tips Featuring Lauren Litt, CEO of Lil Shameless Plug
Listen to the full interview:
1. Why “Should” You Be on Social Media? What’s the Value for Your Business?
Don’t Do It Because Everyone Else Is
“When we’re in the ‘shoulding’ mindset, we’re just looking out, panicking, seeing what everybody else is doing, and being like, ‘Oh, I’m just going to do that and that and that.’ We’re just borrowing from what we see other people doing without actually understanding why they’re doing it, what their goal is on that platform or in that marketing phase, what their actual return on investment might be. So, when we put that mindset on in our business, you know, when we’re sitting in our business-decision mode—yeah, you should be on social media, but not because you see someone else’s done it, and they’re very effective at it.”
Social Media is Free Advertising
“Facebook and LinkedIn and Instagram are going to spend so much more on their advertising than you ever will as a small business. And they are going to appear on page one of Google when someone looks you up. So, we want to leverage that information, we want to make sure that you are showing up on page one, that you look like a reliable business, and that you’re able to build the community that you want.”
2. What Are Some Challenges That Hold People Back From Utilizing Social Media?
“Visibility is a big one. Feeling scared that you’re going to be othered or attacked for the way you appear on camera is a very real thing for people. There’s also the idea of ‘Who am I?” You know? Who am I to be teaching people that whole experience? And there’s one real way that I helped my clients through this. And it is to center the client in your experience on social media.”
3. How Do You Decide What to Post and Organize Ideas?
“Let’s look at: when do you have time for your marketing? Do you have two hours a week? Do you have two hours a month? Whatever it is, that’s the perfect and right place for you to start. So, on average, you’re going to be starting by making about a post an hour, right? So, if we’re saying, okay, you’ve got two hours a week to be creating content for yourself, think, okay, I can do two posts a week. That is my average to start on LinkedIn because something like 80% of people aren’t even posting once a week. So simply by posting once a week on LinkedIn, you’re already ahead of the game; you’re already one of their top contributors on that platform.”
4. Why is Engagement so Important for a Social Media Strategy?
“I like to think of social media—any platform—it’s like you’ve been invited to a really cool dinner party. You are the guest at a dinner party. And what do we do to be a good guest at a dinner party? We bring something. You bring wine, or you bring a little appetizer. Let’s think of that as your content. And then you mix and mingle, you share good stories, you connect with people, and maybe you exchange phone numbers with someone you know. So now let’s take that analogy and put it on a social media platform. If you are just bringing wine, bringing your content to the platform, and then sitting in the corner and not talking to anybody, I am not inviting you to my next party. And that’s what the algorithm is doing. The algorithm is like, ‘Okay, you brought something nice, but you are a deadweight in this party. You’re not engaging, you’re not building the platform at all.’”
5. How Do You Stay at Your Centre Amidst All the Attention-Grabbing Social Media Elements?
“I do what I call grounding habits, both before and after I get on the platform. And really, what a grounding habit is, is anything that’s going to get you out of your brain and into your body. Making a cup of tea, you know? Like there’s the hot water in my glass, here’s the tea bag, I’m smelling the scent. That brings me back into my physical body.”
6. From Your Experience, How Has AI Impacted Social Media?
“It has the space of actually getting people to know you, and to build community. Gosh, I love live. I cannot tell you how much it’s good for your plot. And it is so much more important now that people are able to access these AI tools. Every platform considers live kind of proprietary content, right? And they do something that not any other piece of content gets you on a platform: They alert everybody. You know, when you go live on Instagram, every single one of your followers is letting like, ‘Hey, Lauren’s going live.’ It sends a message out.”
Interviewer
Finka Jerkovic
Executive Leadership Coach and Performance Advisor at Finka Inc.
With 25+ years in leadership and sales and the financial services industry, she has witnessed the power of recognizing and celebrating people’s unique strengths and differences (a.k.a Brilliant Differences™) within a workplace. When everyone’s unique talents are appreciated and people work together using them, that’s when the real magic of business growth happens. Fast forward 10 years. Finka has established programs that help corporate companies grow their businesses by tapping into the full potential of their teams, so they can clearly define their strengths, value their differences, and perform at their best.
Interviewee
Lauren Litt
CEO and Fractional Chief Marketing Officer at Lil Shameless Plug
Lauren Litt is the owner and lead Social Media Manager at Lil Shameless Plug. Lil Shameless Plug is a social media management company dedicated to the curation and creation of quality content. If you don’t like social media but know you need it for your business Lauren can help you create a masterful social media plan. Since opening, Lil Shameless Plug has had the pleasure of working with a variety of independent entrepreneurs, brick and mortars, coaches, and even an Oscar Qualifying Film Festival! Lauren now lives in Portland, OR with her hubby and 2 fur babies.
