YouTube hangout super excited to be here
with my friend Steven Kelly again we’re
back to back weeks we love you that much
we’ve got tons of content to share I am
rocking the blue jays hat because today
is our home opener we got to beat the
Yankees we are talking about social
media marketing tips for entrepreneurs
something that is near and dear to my
heart and Steven as well Stephen of
course CEO of sage our favorite
accounting software company in the world
welcome back Steven glad to be back and
I go Blue Jays today I feel like I
should have sent you a hat I didn’t
realize I didn’t think it and I had
enough to know that today is the home
opener and we’re doing this live hangout
but next time next time I love it well
we’re back in them especially against
the Yankees the big local right well big
rivals New York I love it all right so
we always say with the quotes people
love the Stephen Kelly quote to kick us
off I know you got a few great ones for
us today
what do you got here we go go free to
kick off with from industry leaders and
then I got a cup of my own but you’re
gonna love the third one you can’t wait
forever here we go so the first one from
Seth Seth Godin I’m marketing leader
marketing is no longer about the stuff
you make but it’s about the stories you
tell the second one a great leader is
well sheryl sandberg social media has
created a historic shift from the
powerful to the powerless now everyone
has a voice and that’s so true but the
third one and the best one is from that
legend Evan Carmichael the man the
legend and you’re gonna love it be proud
of everything you post on social media
if you’re not proud of it
don’t post it I love that and then a
couple of my own so I an edge kind of
sort of took the storytelling that we
have to get to so you should always
listen to understand rather than listen
to reply and the key thing really a my
advice on social is build the platform
where your audience is so they are close
to kickoff and I guess the final one
obviously if you’re selling goods and
services or selling something ah kind of
electronically through the web or what
you can’t sell if you can’t tell nice I
like that I like that
alright cool well people are already
jamming the chat full of questions guys
it’s much used for me to see if you
tagged me at Evan Carmichael so keep
those coming in but first even I want to
get your quick thoughts advice
suggestions I know when you when you
join sage you want it to be like the
most social organization you became
super active you’ve been recognized in
in England as one of the top CEOs
posting on social media you got a
YouTube channel you got a vlog you’re
doing videos you got Instagram I saw
some stories popping up yesterday you’re
on Twitter you’re you’re doing
everything in a kind of very uncie EO
like which is awesome so your quick bits
of advice that entrepreneurs need to
know about to succeed on social media
yeah I think obviously you gotta be able
to tell a story
you’ve got a dream you’ve got a passion
you’ve got to be expressed in that
passion through the stories and even
better if you can get your customers to
tell you a story for you and then
obviously I just think it’s just such a
fantastic way where you can build a
business at the speed of light velocity
which was unimaginable 10-15 years ago
where you can get a big following you
can get raving fans you can get
advocates out there and you’ve got a
such brilliant opportunity all the
different channels you know I just did
opposed to him getting 20,000 folks on
LinkedIn but then obviously traditional
channels like Twitter Instagram Facebook
there’s just so many opportunities I
think the other thing I’d say is social
media can not only tell your story but
bring your products and services to life
so videos you know it’s kind of just
such a compelling way you can build
awesome content which is very low cost
and very authentic and really allows you
to tell your story so you can sell and
be successful I love it nice and concise
so guys hit us up with your questions
pop into the chat tag me easier to see
first up is Chris what’s up Evan and
Stephen I started my Instagram
journey a little over a month ago and
recently passed a hundred followers with
tastic with tactics from your videos and
more how can I keep building my audience
that’s a great question and I think um
certainly Instagram you kind of wanna
particularly if you’ve got strong points
of views on things you can post stuff
there’s compelling interest in obviously
authentic and telling story through
pictures so that’s a great way to go and
I think you’ll find with your followers
I obviously then you can kind of get the
community get lots of likes uh and build
the community from a kind of really
strong base so I’d say same around
Facebook and stuff like that other
channels and you probably want to think
of a couple of things one is how do you
actually accelerate followers and make
sure the followers of the audience you
want to have so who what who’s the
audience that you want to appeal were
your product or service to and then how
do you get them and then drive the
Instagram strategies to attract them in
terms of followers and content and it
tends to be almost like how you get
momentum or it’s like rolling rolling
stones gathering Moss because the
followers if they’re influential will
give you likes and they’ll connect to
their communities and it just extends
the laughs now and then the other thing
you might want to do is what are the
other kind of complimentary social media
channels that it could be quite powerful
and when really social media link takes
off and we think of much more now than
we thought three or four years ago is
you’ve got so many different channels
reaching different audiences and what
the real art is is to think holistically
around all these different channels and
how you reach your audience and sit in
their shoes and Instagram can appeal to
a different generation from Twitter but
it can be equally powerful it can be
very complimentary if you get different
generation or different segments of the
audience that you’re seeking to
influence so sounds a done good to get
to 100 followers and kind of the next
stage is how do we get more followers
how do we make sure they’re the right
audience we want to kind of market our
product to and tell our story and then
what you’re kind of what’s next what’s
the other complimentary most
complimentary channel but we want to
pursue I like it we’re getting some
questions what our Instagram handles are
he is s Kelly CEO
pretty much everywhere YouTube Twitter
Instagram Escalade CEO LinkedIn same
thing Escalade oh yeah nice accent as
can see yeah nice and simple I’m having
Carmichael everywhere you guys can find
everywhere and simplicity’s ever they
actually have a simplicity a business
simplicity a message and simplicity and
storytelling and actually social media
you know I know kind of the Twitter 140
characters all that sort of stuff forced
us as entrepreneurs to think about how
do we tell our story really succinctly
and really get our message across and I
think the power of storytelling through
social media is something we’ll probably
cover more yeah so Chris Instagram
strats I love I’m obsessed with
Instagram right now I had I took me like
six years to get the six thousand
followers and in a month to get the nine
thousand and we’re closing in on ten now
I love starting over like YouTube was
easy and YouTube is 1.2 million
you know we post something that does
well Instagram I love it because I’m
it’s nothing right and I’m gonna win
because it’s four years of posting you
know three four things every single day
for four years and we’ll look back and
I’ll be at a million there too right
like I love I love the hustling grind
the benefit of Instagram right now is
it’s actually easier for small people to
stand out using what Steve was talking a
really great content storytelling I’m
sure what touching it more something
you’re really proud of my quote from the
intro I love that
but hashtags hashtag hashtag hashtag so
important on Instagram it’s it’s it’s
where you can stand out because to break
through in a game like YouTube takes a
ton of work and it’s so hard for a new
creator the breakthrough but with
Instagram if you’re targeting the right
hashtags if where you’re at hundred
followers are not or less I would be
looking at targeting hashtags with under
five thousand posts making three posts a
day that you’re really proud of and
targeting 20 to 25 different hashtags
each time you’re posting content do that
and as you start ranking for those
hashtags and you can increase the
competitiveness like you’re not gonna
rank for entrepreneur I’m not gonna rank
for entrepreneur at 9,000 followers
right but I’m slowly increasing where
I’m ranking for my hashtags and so the
increased competitiveness so three to
four posts a day something meaningful
and really pay attention to hashtags
5,000 posts or less I think you’ll win
20 to 25 per post
I love them Desna how you get on Chris
yeah
Zachary as you have advice to help me
expand my podcast following yeah and I
think well you know podcast this is a
area where there’s huge opportunities so
I think obviously go go where your
audience is first of all find out what
is the elements of your story that’s
compelling what are you really
passionate about and then I think with
podcasts as well again kind of what Evan
says is the regularity and the
predictability of social media is very
powerful so if you want to podcast you
get a lot of downloads you get a lot of
people viewing it then you really want
to build on that with kind of so when
you when you do things like podcasts I
kind of think it’s worth thinking about
what’s the whole story and then what
parts of the story do you want to tell
at what times and you kind of want to
you know you want to give people a
taster of the big story the big dream
but you want to kind of introduce them
to compelling content awesome content
ideally very visual and then actually
start evolving them I’m on the story
every time you kind of do a podcast so I
would never think of doing a podcast as
a one-off I just think a podcast is is
just a style of an adventure and you
want to introduce your audience to the
adventure and and literally introduce
them to a new chapter every time it’s
almost like a book that you’re never
going to end because you’re gonna the
other thing about entrepreneurs we all
know this is when you start your
business journey you like learn tons you
make a few mistakes you course-correct
and everytime you can do a podcast you
can bring those into the story to make
it more compelling very authentic tell
people about kind of things they’ve gone
well things that didn’t go well
and I think the more you do that the
more you’ll grow your audience and then
the other thing is if you can um to
Evans point get the community involved
so through hashtags get more people
interested get a broader community
you’re speaking to so I mean I and I
love you know I love podcasts I love
doing broadcasts and I love I think is a
great way to go I actually look at quite
a few podcasts myself
down there stuff and I think it’s
definitely a way to go but my message
would be make them visual make them part
of the whole story and make sure that
storytelling unfolds chapter by chapter
and then broaden the network in the
community of raving fans out there
through just some of the techniques are
even expert they talked about this in
podcasting is blowing up I’m scheduled
to do like two or three today guess some
different people shows and that’s why
you can’t go at the Blue Jays game I
know right it’s it’s it’s actually true
in like four hours and I can’t do it
because I’m doing podcasts but that’s
okay you know I should have I should
have had more foresight
listen podcasting everybody’s getting
the podcasting and so it’s almost like
the YouTube game it’s it’s getting
harder to stand out your consistency is
gonna be super important if you’re
posting a podcast every two weeks it’s
not enough like I would I would look at
how can I try to go daily with my
podcast if not at least it’s uh becomes
a couple times a week with the goal to
go daily and then podcasting is very
much celebrity driven and so the way to
scale up your podcast is you get yes on
board with you and then they help
promote it to your audience either it’s
somebody so high up that having them on
your podcast means you can leverage
their name like people have me come on
and then they say well Evans been on my
podcast and use that to reach out to
other people or you’re getting people
who have some kind of audience and
they’re willing to share it so they’re
gonna share to their newsletter their
Twitter audience they’re like they have
a community somewhere and they’re
willing to help you spread the message
so you’re you’re siphoning their
attention in their equity it’s so much
easier to build a podcast that way then
for you to just get on and start ranting
every day for 20 minutes or 30 minutes
or five minutes whatever it is it’s very
slippery driven personality driven
audience driven and highly encourage you
to look at booking guests who will help
you spread your message for you yes
great and Evan so crazy on this if you
got some great content we talked about
this before how do you become a
disrupter how do you stand out how do
you look radical and we’ve talked about
how you kind of doorstep celebrities or
do stuff with them and if you
actually you’ve just walk into someone
who’s who represents what you’re trying
to do in terms of your brand we’ve done
it before is or just someone who’s got a
big name and a big brand and a big
following typically when you you kind of
doorstep then Evan when he comes off of
stage he’s coming out of a recording
studio if someone walked in turns they
ever could just do a 20 second video you
want to ask you one question about
entrepreneurship everyone say yeah sure
and then you kind of capture that
content so you were build lots of not
only kind of book I think kind of yes so
that you can get them but if you can’t
then people have got really interesting
content and really at your story but
also just be bold and kind of go out
there and when you’re in your city if
there’s people who are kind of have a
big following just go out to and and as
long as they are related to your story
kind of door stop them and say I just
want you to a quick video do it on your
iPhone or whatever and then kind of post
those sort of things as well because
they they add to that the excitement
really and and I will say the illusion
that you’re trying to create where
everybody kind of wants to be listening
to your story everybody’s excited in
your product everybody wants to learn
about your service
dr. Sten is writing in Steven know Evan
and s Kelly good we’re hashtagging into
now how do you find the time to balance
work social media and life time wise is
great questions so dr. Sten and I think
you know I think it’s just such well the
last ten years have just gone through
the roof and new channels new
technologies this we couldn’t have done
this 10 years ago it’s just incredible
and I think you do kind of need some
time out yeah a few things so kind of
when you go to sleep at night you
probably want to put you know this
amazing thing I have by me you probably
want to put it on kind of airplane mode
or whatever and you need to get your
sleep you need rest
I think also I tend up I’ll be honest I
tend to be on social media a lot when
I’m a bit more disciplined
I kind of have periods I kind of trunk
out during the day when I do my social
media things like podcasts obviously
kind of be planned in his schedule but
the key things is gives us often timeout
and the other thing is actually planning
into your schedule so it’s not like you
know if you if you plan a schedule at
tons of meetings and then you know in
social media it’s gonna get out of
control but socially it needs to be part
of your story needs to be part of how
you build your business and therefore it
should have a priority accordingly when
you’re scheduling time to be on social
media be proactive I think the other
thing you can do which is very when and
you’re only reflect afterwards kind of
like anything even twenty years ago on
email the number of times you kind of do
stuff on social media and actually if
you if you let the social media play out
the actual feed flow then you can
intervene at the right times so you want
to be part of a conversation obviously
you want to start the conversation you
want to be in the middle of conversation
you want to be at the end of the
conversation but you can think kind of
strategically what’s the best point to
post particularly if there’s like
topical news stories relevant to your
product or brand then you can be very
smart and incisive around them but I
think what you can’t become because you
know doctors then reality as social
media is pretty addictive and what
you’ve got to do is always think of
going where in my business and social
media is just a way to reach my audience
so you don’t want to become a slave to
social media you want to master social
media and use it to your advantage in
your business advantage and your success
I think time management has always been
one of the biggest issues for
entrepreneurs like forget even before
social media how do I manage my family
in my business and employees and all
this stuff it’s it’s constantly the game
for people who are saying like how do I
have more time for social media how do
you make time for social media I think
people are disrespecting social media I
think what you need to do is realize
that this is where the business world is
going this is this is the easiest way to
build your company up and get attention
before the giant huge companies start
dumping tons of money into it this is
your chance to win as an entrepreneur
and so you have to make the time and
what I would say is pick one pick one
network the one that feels the best for
you like if you love video you can do
some if you
of the written text if you love audio
like pick the thing that matches your
skill set with where your audience is
gonna be and then go hard on that where
I think most entrepreneurs what they do
is they have all their accounts there on
everything it feels like there’s 25
different networks
I don’t time to do anything you’re
posting you know crappy content across
everything and like I’m not getting
results this isn’t worth it and so much
better than that I think is I would say
get the get the handles like get s Kelly
CEO everywhere like get your handles and
nobody else can take it and then just
listen people are mentioning you or
talking about you then you want to just
acknowledge them champion them but you
don’t have to actively be creating tons
of content I’d pick the one where I am
set like this is where I think I can win
and that’s where I go all-in on making
content and make it important you just
have to make it a priority yeah I think
Evan I think it’s really important that
actually I’m just thinking what you said
yeah create the content you’re really
really proud of and and if it’s if
you’re a brilliant writer then obviously
blogs can be awesome and you can get a
big following you know I’m a big fan of
videos because they’re very expressive
their visual but when when you said what
you did actually I and I think we’re at
a point in time where the big companies
in five years time will be pumping
billions into this this area but at the
moment they’re most big companies are
pretty naive or on social media so I
think there’s a window of opportunity
for entrepreneurs to kind of stealer
March and even if I look at the
companies you sort of do it well maybe I
could pick out a few there’s only one or
two things you kind of remember from
these companies and they do everything
on all the channels there’s a lot of
noise but if you pick out you know GoPro
what’s cool about them is they get let
users to build a lot of content if you
you know kind of diapers people like
pampers they they they build a community
so there’s even with these massive
companies to do trying to all things to
all people there’s only one or two
things you actually remember from there
kind of social media impact so I think
it comes back to exactly whatever Evan
said with time management the biggest
challenge is to stay focused
stay true to your course and look go
where your audience is and make sure you
given the audience the content that
really starts a conversation and you
earn the conversation I like it live
love life 365 a live love life through
65 okay I’m 50 how do I prioritize my
two markets of my peers who need to know
financial strategies that could help
them with retirement and Millennials who
should learn entrepreneurial ways to
retire early
so you face this you-you-you saw the
huge enterprise and you saw the start up
brand-new entrepreneurs how do you
manage the messaging to two different
audiences on channels I think yeah a
great question live life love that is
that yeah a lot live love life love life
I like that I love you know phrases we
use is one life is it’s going to be
never enough for Evan of me we need you
no need to be like cats so I think what
we do is think where is our audience so
you know a lot of our audience for the
sort of Millennials would probably be on
Instagram Facebook even the younger
generation we’re trying to connect and
we’re doing loads of training in schools
with kids around artificial intelligence
machine learning to to get them to get
excited about technology because you
know right across the world there’s we
need more people to embrace technology
ah and loads of lots of opportunities to
build companies technology wise so you
know I think one of the things we’re
doing in that community is obviously
through chat box and all those other
things is actually use social media to
reach an audience and that tends to be
kind of the Instagram and Facebook type
channels the more traditional to mains
I’m kind of talking about Twitter is a
traditional channel for your audience if
you have target in those people in the
40 to 60 range probably Twitter’s the
best channel to reach them on LinkedIn
could be a really good Channel I think
also you know I’d advise you there’s a
whole lot of arm potential customers you
could have who is who working now for
big corporates so one of the
we seem particularly in the US Canada
and the UK is a lot of people armed as
their companies kind of restructure take
a retirement check or a redundancy check
when they do a reduction in force and
actually use that check to start their
own business and entrepreneurship and
that’s something we should absolutely
celebrate so you might find your
audience is the guy at retirees and the
traditional channels LinkedIn Twitter
probably the best for those maybe
Facebook but also again I think it’s
about compelling content it’s about
videos for your your business as well
I’d always advocate if you can do get
customers to tell you story because
they’ll tell you story better than
anybody can tell your story and post
really intelligent stuff not only on
what you offer but I think the richness
of the topic you you’re kind of covering
is that whole transition you make in
your life from maybe you work for large
corporate you got to be an entrepreneur
there’s a lot of risk there’s a lot of
uncertainty a lot of insecurities and
then you kind of looking at your
retirement and you know you at that time
in your life you might have Brent you
have all these sort of things so there’s
a whole load of really interesting
content that you could post about
transitioning from different life stages
and also obviously there’s some
brilliant content you could kind of
repost from other folks in terms of a
lifestyle advice in terms of balance
work life balance all that sort of stuff
preparing for a retirement all those
sort of things that could be really
interesting and I think with that sort
of thing you know everyone I sort of
believe in this because we have a sort
of sense of compassion within what we’re
doing and I think where you’re serving
there’s almost a bigger cause there if
you are offering a fantastic product or
service that help people transition
through a different stage of life but
you’re also helping their well-being
you’re probably doing great great job
for the planet and great job for
individuals in terms of some of the
challenges they’re facing in terms of
managing their self-esteem managing
their self-worth and and boosting their
confidence so that’s all goodness you
know I get asked this question a lot I’m
serving two different markets so should
I have two different Twitter accounts in
two different Facebook pages and two
different YouTube channels
and if you have a hard time managing one
how you’re gonna manage to like it’s
it’s crazy and also I think the
authority that you build up in one like
I’d much rather have one big youtube
channel then twenty different YouTube
channels focused on one on retail and
one on software and one on young
entrepreneurs and old entrepreneurs I
would one to Stevens Point understand
the network that you’re dealing with and
who is there
so yes LinkedIn is gonna be an older
audience that might be a more mature
crowd who’s looking at you know
retirement advice and Instagram they may
not be there as much so playing the
content to the audience but then also
whatever you whatever you are creating
you you have belief you have a belief
system around how people should invest
like you have a you have a message that
can apply to both people and so for the
channels that that that cater the both
people like YouTube you’re gonna have
you can’t have a YouTube channel only
for one audience right like both of
those are gonna be there
yes LinkedIn is gonna be more business
oriented here you’re gonna be everybody
and so I would make content that speaks
to your core principles and then how it
can apply to Millennials and how it can
apply to the older generation you’re
trying to reach every video I make not
everybody’s interested in it right like
this video we talk about social media
marketing there’s some entrepreneurs you
know I don’t care about social media
marketing right and so they won’t tune
in that’s okay you don’t need to hit
everybody with your with every single
video but it’s still like everything
falls in their belief for me and helping
entrepreneurs and so if you understand
what the more meta thing the
higher-level thing is and then how that
feeds into every piece of content you
create for the network’s
where you’re trying to serve that dual
audience I just think you make multiple
videos I love that ever ever quote of
the day speaks to cool principles Evan
Carmichael the other eventually you kind
of touch our heaven but it’s worth
dwelling on I think with social media
when you tell your story if it is part
of a meta user what kind of medicals and
there’s a wider cause and you’re
actually certain humanity then that’s
absolutely the story you want to tell
and particularly for in this case if
you’ve got some customers who have kind
of actually used your product service
is to transition their life Wow get them
to tell their stories because that is so
powerful if you got if you’ve got
someone who’s like 49 years old and you
know they hated the job they had it
coming to work and they’ve actually now
transition their life two years later
and they feel they go in the morning
they got the gym they feel better about
themselves I feel fantastic about my
family there you know instead of kicking
the dog when they used to go out in them
in the morning they feel that they’re
sharing love with everybody that is so
compelling so I think the more you
connect it with the kind of meta cause
and the noble cause you’re serving
because I think everybody when they
actually look at their product or
service could put it in a silo but when
you put it in the context of how do you
serve humanity how do you make a world a
better place if you can connect with
some of those themes and your story will
be so compelling and so captivating it
will it will kind of speak for itself
and if you put it through the right
channels with the right content you’re
unstoppable yeah I mean in looking at
sage what you guys are doing you want to
help entrepreneurs you want to help
enterprise but then you also have your
core you want to help veterans through
your foundation you got the veterans you
want to help you if you want to help
women and so it all fits though it all
fits on their stage it all fits under
the mission of making the world a better
place right and so this is this doesn’t
just apply to what you do on social it’s
all your communications is your website
it’s your your your fliers what you do
what trade shows like all your
communications as long as it fits with
within here you know with yourself and
then it’s trying to explain that out so
people get it if I if I go to Invictus
games which is sponsored by Sage it
supports veteran athletes you know does
it mean it’s it’s because sage is
supporting that it means they don’t
support me who is not a veteran now
right like you can have multiple causes
cuz it all fits under the same umbrella
so just being clear on what your
umbrella is then everything makes sense
yeah it’s actually ever kind of sorry
ladies bump it’s almost like kind of a
wedding cake we’re all tea tears and
you’re so right so our mission is to
support entrepreneurship
you know the heroes the economy every
economy created three-quarters of the
jobs they deserve awesome technology
that’s our core ethos but when you
expand the winning cake we love to look
at the
have been disadvantaged like service
people have served their country you
know things like double amputees and
stuff like that who had some adversity
none of us really could have imagined in
our lives and if we can help them get
into the world of entrepreneurship and
support them and mentor them and help
them kind of build their product plans
and their their plans for their business
then that’s a much broader noble cause
and that’s why we ended up as the
partner for the Invictus games because
that’s all about the ethos of a much
greater cause and a calling that we
think we can serve and and I think
you’re I think companies whether you’re
starting up you’ve gotta have a big
mission a big vision it’s your dream but
I think if it fits in the context of
something that you would say you go to
bed at night and you feel really proud
of what you’ve done you’ve made a big
difference the world you know phrase a
week coin is sort of compassionate
capitalism so we want to reach out to
our communities yeah we want to make a
difference in the future we want to help
women who have suffered domestic
violence we want to get them into the
world of entrepreneurship we want to
help kids who are sleeping on the street
at night and if we can give them away
through skills training opportunity to
start businesses well you know they’ll
never ever look back on you know the
adversity they suffered and actually
they’ll be though they’ll be the
grafters and the heroes of the economy
and they’ll be great role models now if
you’ve got some of those on your channel
with awesome content wow they will do a
stellar job of selling your story out
there so I think Emma knew you’re
actually right and I think even when you
start your business if you can think
about winning K curve you know what is
the dream what does it mean is there a
bigger cause and connected to that then
that’s the sort of thing that really
makes you stand out on social media I
feel like I feel like some wedding cake
Instagram content is coming soon and we
got to get your team on that what does
the sage wedding cake look like I like
it it’s a great analogy okay y’all is
writing in evidence Stephen how
important do you think it is to
incorporate stories on Instagram and how
can it be leveraged well to increase
your viewers it
so time-consuming but seems to be
effective yeah well I think it’s
compelling and I think what social media
social media I guess is a multi-channel
platform for just telling your story and
it allows you to do it obviously in real
time immediately but it means that also
you can make your audience and you can
start and leave the conversation so I
would and obviously what we all love I
guess even if you look at the way we’re
programmed in our DNA as humans I don’t
know if you go back millions of years
you’re living in a cave or something
like that
you’d probably sit around afar and be
told stories we’ve all grown up in our
childhood being told stories and we all
love to hear a story so if you’re an
entrepreneur and you believe in your
product so much and it’s the reason why
you know that kind of passion that you
have about your business if you can
express that in the story of what it
means for your customers in the audience
then I think it will judge actually
allow you to stand out the other thing
about your story is your story is always
evolving so the way you told your story
a year ago two years ago or the channels
you put it on you want to kind of really
refresh it all the time and the more
authentic content particular if you can
involve customers in your story and get
them to tell your story for you it’s
very very captivated so on I’d say yeah
it but it makes you think doesn’t it if
you know if I’m challenged by Evan to
say you know what we’ll see essence of
safe why why should people you know run
their business on Sage they makes me
stop think and it really reconnects me
as the reason why we exist so I think
it’s worth putting the time and the
effort in the energy because whether you
do it through traditional marketing most
of all you really want a compelling
story and I would actually say well what
about social media today but if you do
do kind of traditional marketing I think
you’ll get a thousand times more bang
for your buck too in social media but if
you want to do other stuff then it has
to be integrated with your story you
have to bring it all together
holistically yeah and for people
watching you may not be familiar with
the stories function on Instagram
most of the Instagram content and
started off just creating posts and that
lives forever the stories function is
allows you to record 15 seconds of
yourself that then disappears within 24
hours so it’s more lightweight not heavy
editing just kind of what’s happening in
your life what your thoughts are and and
it’s not just Instagram guys like yeah
let’s not just Instagram its snapchat
they started it it’s Facebook personal
facebook business pages now allows you
to do stories and it’s not that it has
to take super long it’s just that you’re
not good at it yet and what takes long
is getting good at that skill because
the story is 10 seconds or 15 seconds
snapchats 10 seconds in circles 15
seconds Facebook I don’t know what the
Facebook limit is I just do 15 seconds
and so how long does it take you to do
four 15-second videos a day right not
long but you’re just not good at making
them yet and so just get into the habit
and put it into your process like I wake
up every morning I record a video like
motivation video for the day like my
thoughts 15 seconds on a topic and I
post it to Twitter LinkedIn snapchat
Instagram and it helps and the more I do
it the better I get at it and so the
skill to be able to get a message out in
a 15-second window you can take forever
whether Instagram blows up and or goes
away like Instagram is gone and snapchat
is gone and in 10 years all these
networks are gone and we’re all in the
VR world in something else the skill
that you learned to be able to tell your
story and get a message out in 15
seconds it will serve you forever
and so the work to get good at it is not
just to get good at telling an Instagram
story for 15 seconds it’s a life skill
that you will take forever with you and
so it’s worth putting the investment
because you being able to communicate
your message a lot of we keep coming
back to us it seems like me and Steven
talking about this the ability to
communicate your message is so important
to be able to build your community to
build your employees build your customer
base and so getting a skill to do it in
a 15-second window I think is super
important and encourage you to practice
now while nobody’s watching like if you
have 10 followers on Instagram that’s a
perfect time to start practicing because
you’re not good yet and you’re not
embarrassing yourself so now is the time
to get started
yeah and on that I think um I think
you’re right it wears 1015 seconds you
probably sometimes think what if I do
that I place four times a day then I’ll
run out of things to say in a week
there’s an entrepreneur you’ve always
got stuff to say so don’t worry about
that just start posting get out of it
the other thing is Evan kind of raised a
really important point we’re talking
about this in the context of your
customers and prospective new customers
but also if you’re hiring people you
want to get your colleagues embrace your
new highs your partners and there’s
wider communities you can through your
friends and family ultimately so so it
is creating a movement you want to
create a movement for your passion and
recruit you know raving fans and an
advocate army out there and the way to
do that is just yeah the nice thing
about 15 seconds I watched Ellen it’s
interesting it’s fun it’s gray I love
the guy wake up in the morning it’s Evan
Carmichael and and actually Evan you’re
right I need to do it I need to do it
gonna crush it I think Darryl needs to
yeah I like it got you to that question
about ideas a lot of people been asking
is Gregory Salim a Latonya a couple
others in the chat around how do you
plan your content and making sure you
you one don’t run out of ideas and two
you’re saying something that your
customers actually care about how do how
do you you might be simple for you or
for me now because we’ve done this you
know for a long time but for people
getting started who aren’t used to
spreading the message and are worried
okay I’ve said my my three things and
now I don’t have anything else to say
what do you recommend so hey um Evan I
kind of think it’s like a journey you’re
sitting there Blue Jays in Toronto today
if I said and we’re gonna do something
crazy you know me and you I’m going to
turn up what is it Leicester Airport on
toe and you and me are going on a road
trip to Vancouver we’re gonna drive
buddy
don’t worry about just
you think number one I’m crazy you think
number two how we gonna get there and
I’m gonna say actually but we gonna do
it the old way we’re not gonna have
sat-nav we’re not gonna have Google Maps
we’re just gonna do we know it’s kind of
Westar here off we go
and it’s kind of a bit like that so you
think okay we’ll do jump in the car and
you do the first 50 miles would know
that and would say we’re we’re hungry
were nice on it we the next thing is
then you see new things you’d learn new
things you’d be out in a band from
Jasper and you see bears and you want to
post about that
so I’d say kind of the thing you’ve got
to do it’s almost like a long long road
trip you’ve got to start it you got a
post what’s on your mind there you
shouldn’t worry about kind of what’s
going to happen 2,000 miles time or six
months time because new stuff will
happen new stories will approach new
topical issues will pop up whether you
know it’s around your product it’s
around innovation it’s around and you
launch you’re doing they’ll always be
new stuff new customers you one and then
the other thing I would do is if you can
do and it’s the second part of the
question is where’s your audience I I’d
say the one of the best things you can
do and actually I’m go through did this
kind of industrial scale is get your
customers to post content for you so
that is incredible because everybody
who’s a prospective customer will be
looking that as a reference point and if
you can do this it’s like like Evan said
this is back to the basics really isn’t
it what’s your value proposition what
pain point you solve in what’s the
benefit to your customer you know does
it save and time does it make their life
does it help their ego does it help them
feel good does it drive revenue for
their most all those basic things that
you look at and you answer the question
but I think the most important thing is
just to start you know Martin Luther
King another little quote we’ve used
before how do you climb that giant
staircase you have to take the first
step now when you’re on the four hundred
and twentieth step you look back what
she’s amazing it’s like doing a road
trip if you ski actually it’s another
analogy you look down that black run and
double black anything oh my god and then
you just take the first step it’s not
too bad and then when you look back you
think
how did I do that that is so scary and
so steep it just blows me away but you
just once you take that first step you
grow in confidence you get more you know
it’s like Evan said about 50 in video at
15 second video stories just start and
then the story will develop and then you
know what happens is then your community
interacts you they give you ideas they
say I love that why don’t you talk about
this ah you start the conversation and
the richness of social media is this a
very dynamic vibrant conversation and
and you really connect with the audience
so the most important thing is start
second most important thing is listen
listen listen to to everybody on your
channel and then you evolve and have no
fear because you’ll always have loads of
content to folks because you know why
did you wake up in the morning with your
business idea is because you wanted to
change the world you have a passion of
you about how you make the world a
better place how you can get your
product to market so you’re never ever
gonna run out of ideas about things to
say and strong points of view so with
all these things just take the first
step so for context driving from Toronto
to Vancouver is probably around 40 hours
I know it’s kind of take about week we
met 40 hours I feel like you know if
Stephen was driving his Aston Martin you
know maybe we’re gonna cut that and we
will shave a quarter of the time off but
it’s still it’s still a good 3,000 miles
all right I looked it up and so for 40
hours it’s it’s 40 300 kilometers I
don’t know what what the conversion of
miles is but it’s a distance well we get
a lot of content made in that time
period bill to that question one don’t
think just because you said it once
people are gonna get it like people need
a daily do you need a daily reminder
like if I just said hey guys believe and
you got it what am i doing right like
every everything I make is around still
that same core message I see the same 10
things in different words every single
day and so just because like whatever
mission you are on it’s it’s a it’s a
it’s like flossing you have to do it
daily for your community they need it
like they’re following you for a reason
they want a little bit of what you’re
giving them and so you have to continue
to give a deal I’m sure this isn’t just
social media like Steven running of the
12,000 person company if you could just
get up in front of everybody once and
say okay guys velocity let’s go and they
just did it like that’s the job as a
leader it’s a constant reinforcement of
the message over even with the best
people it’s still over and over and over
again – I would say if you make a
contextual to what’s happening so like
the Stevens point we’re driving we see a
bear and we talk about that and like
what’s happening in the news what’s
happening around you
what happened with a customer what
happened with somebody that you met what
what upset you in the elevator yesterday
or what made you so happy after watching
this video like think about what’s
happening context of your daily life or
news cycle bigger picture and what’s
your take on it what what’s your message
around it and that could be there’s
there’s always something happening right
if not in your life you say your life’s
too boring there’s nothing there there’s
always something happened in the world
so you can talk about that and then
three just paying attention again like
kind of reader and what Steven said pay
attention to your community
what are they resonating with what do
they like what what is this entire
hangout it’s you guys giving us
questions like Steven I could have a
great chat and talk about things but we
want to be super quick at the top and
then we both love helping you this every
piece of content that we’re making here
you guys are generating for us and so
anytime somebody’s responding to your
your content or giving you a question or
anything you want to always respond and
then that can be future content for you
even the topic for this one came out of
last week’s session because a number
you’re asking about social media so we
said hey why don’t we talk about social
media and so just pay attention to your
customer base your followers your
audience and then making new content
they can help give you a ton of new
ideas yeah I think gums a phrase we use
even is having a point of view on stuff
so you talk about newsfeed there’s so
much news you know it’s just
unbelievable it’s overwhelming but again
don’t try and be all things to all
people pick two or three things where
you have a strong point of view related
to issues based kind of news that might
affect your product and then then you’ll
find the audience will love that they’ll
love that
so and
keep relentlessly kinda hammering the
points of view the only thing I’d advise
is probably steer away from things like
religion but but I think with points of
view yet you should be controversial if
you if you passionately believe in your
product or service and you believe that
it’s going to be a disruptor then you
should be pretty radical out there and
you know evident what he does here in
terms not just these blanks but also in
terms of all the work he does it’s clear
his point of view is all about
supporting the entrepreneur the hustlers
the crafters the heroes and how do they
break free and fulfill their dreams how
do they pursue their passions and that
is very clearly the brand of Everman and
you likewise can develop your brand
especially through social media and
really get to resonate with strong
points of view that you care about on
the matter I love it
well tons of amazing feedback coming in
in the live chat guys we’re testing out
a new 45 minute tighter scheduled see
how it goes so we are at 45 minutes
Stephen I want to give the last word to
you any final thoughts how do you want
to wrap it up your final message for the
entrepreneurs watching this episode hey
great questions great obsession
obviously massive shout out for the Blue
Jays tonight but most important for
everybody out there
we love the conversation started we want
you to really power head we think social
media is so compelling so kind of just
get your story clear start thinking
about how do you want to tell a story
use the content that you find and your
audience would find compelling and
always with these go where your audience
is and be a beacon of light be an
opinion leader be be a person who they
say this is leadership
this is leadership I want to follow this
guy I want to follow this lady because
they are actually speaking for me and
they bring in my issues to life and at
the center that is your mission your
business and your success of that be a
person who people see and say this is
leadership man I’m inspired myself this
is great I love it thank you guys so
much for watching
we
believe in you continue to believe in
yourself and whatever your one word is much love and we will see you soon