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Episode 32: Kirsten Jordan, Perfectly Imperfect Social
191 Plays1 year ago
Nicky and I chat with Kirsten Jordan of Perfectly Imperfect Social about our social media profiles; what to do, what not to do, and where to do it.
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Transcript
Introduction to Fibercraft Design Podcast
00:00:13
Speaker
Welcome to Craft, Design, Edit, Sleep, Repeat with hosts Lisa Conway and Nikki Jensen. Listen as we take a deep dive into the business of fibercraft design.
00:00:37
Speaker
Please check out the show notes at ArcticEdits.com for lots of links that we just didn't get a chance to talk about.
Social Media Strategies with Kirsten Jordan
00:00:46
Speaker
Hey Nikki, how are you today? I'm great, thank you Lisa, how are you? I'm good. You have a special guest with us today. You want to introduce us?
00:00:57
Speaker
Yes, we're here with Kirsten Jordan, who is a social media marketing wizard. She works with small businesses and helps them strategize social media. And she has an awesome Instagram profile with lots and lots of tips. Welcome, Kirsten. Oh, thanks so much, Nikki. It's a pleasure to be here. I'm thrilled to meet you, Kirsten. Nice to meet you, too. It's Kirsten or Kirsten.
00:01:25
Speaker
It's Kirsten, but I probably get a lot of Christens and Kierstens. And sometimes I even get called by my last name. And usually I'm pretty lenient with like mistakes around my name. But if somebody calls me Jordan, I'm like, yeah, that's not my first name. Well, welcome. Could you please explain to me your background? Tell me about yourself and what you do.
00:01:56
Speaker
So, as Nikki mentioned, for the last number of years I think since 2018 when Nikki and I first crossed paths I've been working with smaller businesses, predominantly in my local community which is Toronto, and helping them with their social media presences.
00:02:15
Speaker
Usually I work with businesses in a couple of ways. One is more on figuring out, you know, what is a good social media strategy. And then I do now I'm entering the world of coaching, because I do believe that from a small business perspective, when you learn to do things yourself,
00:02:33
Speaker
it becomes a lot less confusing. And you're like, actually, this isn't too hard. I see you nodding, Lisa, maybe it's the same in your world. When you actually take the time to learn, you're like, Oh, it's not really that magical. What happens behind the scenes in the social media world, I just need to hit some buttons and figure out how to do some things myself. So I work with businesses in that way as well.
00:02:59
Speaker
I can definitely relate to the idea of wanting to learn it myself so I understand it.
00:03:10
Speaker
understanding where you can hand off those pieces to other people. And, you know, as businesses grow, sometimes it's beneficial to know how to do something if you have to. But it's also beneficial to know this isn't something I need to be putting my time into. This is something I can actually hire someone out for.
00:03:35
Speaker
That point where you don't have to be hands-on for a very small business that's usually just yourself.
00:03:47
Speaker
It's interesting what you just mentioned.
Outsourcing vs Learning Social Media
00:03:50
Speaker
In the beginning, I think that for a lot of small businesses, they would love to outsource social media. It is a bit of a headache for most people who probably are tuning into this. You probably would rather be doing other things than figuring out what to post and what to post when, and figuring out that nasty algorithm that all of us hate so much, and I know we'll get into a little bit.
00:04:12
Speaker
But I do truly believe, even if eventually you do see yourself outsourcing different aspects of your social media, you should learn still a little bit about how to do it yourself. And one of the reasons I believe this is that, usually behind a small business is somebody who's really passionate about what they do and why they created their business. And one of the things that I say to my clients who
00:04:39
Speaker
You know, I still have a couple that I work with and I do their content, but I always say, I can't be you.
00:04:45
Speaker
And in today's world with video is becoming increasingly important. I really cannot be you on video. I cannot be Nikki. I cannot be Lisa. So we need to work together differently. And even if you're able to outsource, you're still going to have to play a role in your social. And maybe that's good news. Maybe it's bad news for some listeners. But you are your business.
00:05:13
Speaker
And that's who people want to see and hear from. Yeah, I was going to say that.
00:05:20
Speaker
The thing, what I get a sense of when I look at social media and what people are doing is that the thing that makes you different or that makes me different from every other technical editor is me. And people want to know about me and what I bring specifically to working together. And I think that there is a lot of pressure for that to really come through in your social media.
00:05:48
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, all of you probably know the expression people buy from people they know, like and trust. And I do think from a small business perspective, that is something you can work to your advantage. And you know, I've followed Mickey your social media journey for quite a while now.
00:06:05
Speaker
I can tell you, you know, a full disclosure, I am not a knitter, not a crocheter.
Creating Connections Through Personal Content
00:06:10
Speaker
I am not a technical editor. But what stands out to me from your content is when you post pictures of your daughter modeling what you've created or just even behind the scenes footage of you actually doing the work that you do and talking a little bit about why you do it.
00:06:16
Speaker
And
00:06:30
Speaker
It's not necessarily what you're selling. It's kind of the other surrounding pieces of content that have intrigued me and wanted to connect with you more. And I feel that if we look at who you're, I probably am not your ideal customer, but people that are your ideal customer, those are the things that they're building a connection and a relationship with you because you're sharing other aspects of what it is that you do. Well, thank you for following me.
00:07:00
Speaker
Well, I like you. It's always great when our business partners in a way because Nikki and I are partners, even though we're individuals and our social media.
00:07:19
Speaker
marketer is a partner because we're separate businesses. But it's great when we can be friends too. Isn't that why we went into business for ourselves in the first place? Yeah, no, absolutely. I think behind every small business is somebody who wants to build community, wants to build the relationships. And obviously, at the end of the day, the money does matter. You are selling something as well.
00:07:48
Speaker
you know, at least in my experience, the businesses that I've worked with, it's not just about the sales, it's about building the community. And, you know, actually I just talked about this on my own social media last week, but the small businesses I see, they're probably some of the most generous business owners out there. And especially during the pandemic, when, you know, times are pretty tough and they're still tough right now in terms of the economic climate.
Social Media Support in Tough Times
00:08:15
Speaker
you know, they do use their social platforms to bring a voice to others in the community and to support one another. Big businesses don't really do that as much. And I think that's pretty awesome. Yeah, we had a really good example of that recently. One of the companies that does a lot of yarn shows, Stitches, you heard about this rightly said Stitches West and all of those went bankrupt.
00:08:43
Speaker
And so all of these small business yarn vendors lost their booth fees for the shows that are coming up. And that's a big investment for them. And the teachers that lost the income from those classes because Stitches was collecting it on their behalf.
00:09:03
Speaker
Right. So I know some of them are still going ahead with the classes via, you know, like zoom and those kinds of things, but they're not being paid now because the fees went somewhere else.
00:09:16
Speaker
But what I've seen happening, which is really great, is magazines, online knitting magazines like Knitty are offering free ad space to these businesses to help them to promote themselves and recoup some of their costs. Yes. Yeah. The communities really come together trying to support those people who did lose in that because it's important. We've got to work together.
00:09:47
Speaker
Yeah, no, absolutely. And if we don't work together as a community, we're going to be missing so many things that we love. Right. I can speak to, you know, my area in the Toronto. There's a lot of bricks and mortar businesses that, you know, will be struggling soon in Canada. There are some repayments coming up that were handed out during the pandemic to keep businesses afloat. And I'm starting to see more and more on social.
00:10:16
Speaker
you know, can people support us? Can people come visit? And, you know, really champion what we're doing, because these businesses are at risk of probably disappearing from our communities, which is a real shame. Well, and here in the US, we've got some very large businesses that are going under for basically the same reasons. brick and mortar just has become a
00:10:43
Speaker
secondary way to shop in in many ways thanks to the pandemic and they're really seriously struggling and you know we've lost some of our biggest chains in the last year or so it's it's weird how this economy is affecting everyone absolutely everyone so anyway to get back to
00:11:10
Speaker
Yeah, there was something that I wanted to circle back to when we were talking about, you know, small businesses or even single person businesses with limited time to devote to social media.
Choosing the Right Social Media Platform
00:11:23
Speaker
What would be if you had to pick one, what would be your number one platform to focus on? Hmm, I saw this was in your questions and I would say it really comes down to your audience, right? Like I can't tell you what platform is best for your business.
00:11:41
Speaker
and we work together, I could, but it's more, you've got to be where your community hangs out and, you know, where you can connect with them and build those relationships. I would imagine that, you know, for the communities that both of you are in, you know, Instagram could be a great place. But that said, you know, Pinterest,
00:12:04
Speaker
You know, it isn't a traditional social media platform. It is a search engine. Some people confuse social for Pinterest, but it has aspects of that community building, but not as much as like Instagram or Facebook and LinkedIn. But Pinterest is probably a great way to get the word out because people are searching. And one of the things that I always like to think about is
00:12:32
Speaker
You know, where are people trying to find the information that you provide? And I can see people going to Pinterest and typing in knitting patterns, right? And then they can pin the visuals that they see and hopefully then bring themselves over from the platform to your website if you have one. And that's something that I'm a really big believer in.
00:12:53
Speaker
you're on borrowed ground with social media and you're at the mercy of platform changes, right? You don't control what they do. And, you know, obviously they're in the business of us using their platforms and wanting people to stay within the platform. But one of the things that I work with businesses on is how do you convert over to your website or get people on your email list?
00:13:18
Speaker
Because if social media was to disappear overnight, you know, would you still have access to your database, your clients, your customers? And for some businesses, unfortunately, they put all their eggs in the social media basket because it's shiny. And, you know, maybe it's fun to do, but, you know, you need people's emails, you know, websites still. Yeah, certainly. We've seen, you know, people get hacked.
00:13:45
Speaker
And they have access to their account and they don't have any way to communicate that to their followers. They're just gone. So I was taught very early on to try to build up an email list as well, because that's a direct connection to the people who are interested in what you're doing.
00:14:03
Speaker
Yeah, I know for sure. I think I struggle the most on that platform from the fact that I don't know what to write about. On what platform? On email lists. It's like, how do you come up with regular topics that aren't the same thing over and over again? Well, Lisa, now you know the answer to that because now we know how to use AI and chat.
00:14:32
Speaker
Don't go there too much, I'm going to say. It's a great tool. I think we're in the infancy of AI content related tools and there's ways to use it.
00:14:43
Speaker
responsibly. But I would say to what you just described, nobody knows your content like you know your content. And I think that we forget that one, say you say you posted on social media, only 10% of your audience is at most going to see that piece of content. So there is no harm. And actually, you transferring that over to an email newsletter. And it's something that I actually do every week is
00:15:14
Speaker
I have a weekly newsletter and I pull over content that I've written on my social platforms. Nobody's complained. Maybe they notice. I don't know. But it's an easy way to sort of to build that out. And I think one of the things that you could do from an email perspective is really just do a rinse and repeat. Like how do you want to structure it?
00:15:35
Speaker
where each week you can kind of just plug and play. So maybe it's a tip a week. Maybe it's a resource that you want to share. Maybe it's a community member that you know that you want to give a shout out to. Keep it simple. And you can just grow from there. You've given me three great ideas right there.
00:15:56
Speaker
So I wanted to delve a little bit into, since you're not part of the knitting community, what type of businesses do you tend to work with the most? What is their subject area or their sales area? Do you have product-related businesses, service-related businesses? What arena do you work with the most often?
00:16:23
Speaker
It's a spectrum. So since I've done this, I've worked with cooking schools, I've worked with restaurants, I've worked with interior designers, with travel advisors, baby sleep coaches, I've worked with photographers, it's all kind of
00:16:45
Speaker
There's nuances to every industry. But I think when you're in the creative industry, which is what I would say both of you are in, there's similarities that can kind of be transferred over in terms of how people like to find information and things that you should be doing. You know, social media is great because it's free user research. Like you could be on your stories on Instagram asking polling questions, engagement questions and taking that data.
00:17:14
Speaker
to actually build out better content. And it's free, which is great. Right?
Aligning Social Media with Business Goals
00:17:22
Speaker
When you start with a business, how much effort do you have to put into learning what the business is before you can figure out what best social media strategy works for that industry? Yeah. So if we're working, say, on a comprehensive strategy, what I start with is a really
00:17:43
Speaker
what I think is a fulsome discovery session. And I'll guide you through some questions around goals and your audience and what are some things that would mean success for you in the coming year when it comes to social.
00:17:59
Speaker
And I think one of the things that doesn't happen a lot in my industry is, you know, there's a lot of social media strategists out there. And I know what I do, who I am isn't for everyone. I don't believe in hacks or growth, you know, quick fixes or follow for follow those kind of games. That's not my my thing. Some do believe in that still.
00:18:23
Speaker
I think you really do need to look at your business goals, right? And marry them with your marketing goals. And so that is something that we spend a lot of time on is we actually look at what is it like, where are you at in your business? And what are some goals over the next six to 12 months? And then your social media goals and your other marketing platform goals should be actually integrated into that.
00:18:49
Speaker
And I do steer here. One of the things I always hear of like, what's your goal? 10,000 followers. It always comes up. I want to hit 10,000 followers. And I think still people feel like this magical floodgate is going to open up when you reach that 10,000 to 10,000 follower amount. But really, that's not a smart goal. What are you going to do with those 10,000 followers? Are they even going to be buying from you?
00:19:16
Speaker
And it goes back to like, yes, you care about community, but you're also in the business of making money too. So we need to figure out what that looks like.
00:19:25
Speaker
I really like what you just said there because I actually have a spinner and weaver that I follow and have I've had contact with this person through my spinning life in the past and she a while back had a video go viral and people that would normally never follow her
00:19:51
Speaker
saw this video and it just went crazy well it affected her algorithm so badly she had to literally stop posting until the algorithm got back to normal because it was hiding her posts because they weren't reaching that same level yeah
00:20:13
Speaker
Yeah, it's, there's a double edged sword with the going viral, right? Like, I don't think that's really the goal for most people now, like to go viral. I'll talk a little bit about TikTok here, like there, there's some businesses that I'm connected with who say they have a couple thousand followers on Instagram, but on TikTok, some of their video views are in the millions, right? That's amazing. But
00:20:39
Speaker
their other video views are like at 100 or 200 views. So kind of what you just described these of like, what, what is the value? What is the conversion? Um, you know, and I think a lot from a Tik TOK perspective, when people are using that app, they're just scrolling up and down, right? Like you're looking at video after video.
00:21:01
Speaker
So a video might get views, but what action are people actually taking next, right? So are those 2.1 million people actually going to go and follow you elsewhere? Are they going to check out your website? Probably not. So what does it really mean at the end of the day that you got 2 million views? It's probably a good dopamine hit, but not much else.
00:21:22
Speaker
Right, exactly. So it's kind of a double-edged sword, like you said. I have never tried it. I heard that it's not necessarily secure. So I wasn't willing to put it on my phone. I don't know if this is a myth that you want to dispel, Kirsten. I mean,
00:21:49
Speaker
I mean, TikTok has been in the news a lot.
Data Privacy Concerns on TikTok
00:21:55
Speaker
What I'll say is like, I'm not a privacy lawyer. I'm not a data privacy person, but we do hand over data every day because we want access to things. We want access to our bank accounts. We want access to apps. Probably all of us have apps on our phone that we wanted to sign up for and just click, yeah, accept all.
00:22:19
Speaker
Do you actually really know where your data is going? TikTok is in the news a lot because of who owns TikTok and where it comes from. And actually it is quite interesting if you do a bit of research into what the version is that they provide in mainland China versus here. It's quite different from what I understand. Like here, it's very much about keeping
00:22:44
Speaker
you know, a younger audience on the app versus over there, it's more educational. So, you know, I think they are up to probably some games. But at the end of the day, where do any of us really know where our data goes fully, I would
00:23:01
Speaker
say probably not. My husband is actually a network administrator and security is a big part of that and so social media is
00:23:16
Speaker
It gives him the creeps. Let's just choose those words. It's the easiest way to describe it. And as a result, because of his feelings about it, I have certain limitations about posting pictures of the kids. And I've never, ever, ever shared his or the kids' names.
00:23:43
Speaker
That sort of thing because he also works in a field that if his data is Released which it has been unfortunately by the federal government Believe it or not. It could affect his work life. Yeah
00:24:03
Speaker
And so it's a real balancing act to post the, like you said, that personal side, right? And protecting the other part of that personal side.
00:24:21
Speaker
Yeah, it's a very tricky thing. As a parent, I have two kids, one who's just turned nine and one other one that's turning five. Actually, when I first met Nikki, I'd created a website for women in the Toronto area to connect them with things to do when they were on maternity leave.
00:24:42
Speaker
And I was much more open with sharing of my kids' lives at that time. And now, over the years, I've really pulled back around what it is that I share for a couple of reasons. One, privacy, which you just described. And there's people out there, unfortunately, that do bad things. But the other reason, especially for my daughter,
Risks of Posting Children's Content Online
00:25:07
Speaker
you know, her age group is starting to use technology. And unfortunately, kids are mean. And I don't want something that I've posted of her to come up when she's a teenager. Like it's crazy to even think about this, but I could see it happening. You know, the cyberbullying has already started at the age of eight, I would say.
00:25:31
Speaker
Oh, my daughter and it wasn't even cyber bullying. It was in person bullying. And it was by an adult. And it happened when she was around 10 or 11. And it has affected her. It changed her personality. It literally she she did a complete 180. And so yeah, to add cyber bullying to that would just absolutely
00:26:01
Speaker
Yeah, it's a horrible thing to think about. But you know, it's funny, like the more I get out of the baby stage and the kind of that new mommy stage that happens like the mom influencer, I wonder where it's all going to go because you cannot keep posting your kids in that way. You know, maybe it's making you money right now. But what's going to happen to them when they enter middle school?
00:26:30
Speaker
Right. Yeah. And that was something that we thought about from the very beginning. Like you said, I do have some pictures of my daughter modeling designs that I've created, but that's it. I haven't really shared anything of her life, other than just her as a model. Yes. And I don't think I've ever seen her name on social media either. I don't think so. And, you know, I mean,
00:26:58
Speaker
I think people connect the dots. It's obvious that it's my daughter because she looks like me. But other than that, I really try not to share too much without her permission while she's not old enough to give in. Yeah, no, it's important. I mean, there's somebody I know, you know, through social and
00:27:24
Speaker
I know what street she lives on. I know where her kids go to school. I know they were out looking at the ice cream truck last night. I can tell exactly where they live. And she has a public account. If I was her, I would reconsider some of that content. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. You've got to think safety. We have gone everywhere.
00:27:54
Speaker
But you know, that's the best part. That's the best part of doing this is the fact that we get to have these conversations.
00:28:04
Speaker
We talked about the newsletter. I find this format right here, podcasting and talking to people and sharing ideas so much easier and so much more complete because I get to let my mind go where the conversation has gone.
00:28:24
Speaker
Yeah. And I'm not doing it alone. I'm not talking to myself. That our idea for you, Lisa, you could summarize what we talk about in the podcast and send that out. And that would bring people in to listen.
00:28:41
Speaker
Actually, the show notes are always shared via email. So the day the podcast is released, anyone on the email list will get a copy of the show notes, which includes links that the interviewee has shared with us so that if they have more questions, they can email direct to that person, or they can contact the podcast through the podcast email, Nikki or I,
00:29:09
Speaker
and share ideas. And so yes, I do do a newsletter in that manner. So I do a newsletter twice a month alongside the podcast. Awesome. So yeah, I do do that. No, you do a lot. I think that, you know, and this might sound strange. Like I've, I've built up, I think, more of a name for myself on social media, because that's what I offer.
00:29:36
Speaker
smaller businesses that I work with, but I do have a day job and I work fully in digital marketing. The one businesses I won't work with are healthcare because I do that in my day job life. So I don't touch that. But you shouldn't force content or to be on something that you that you aren't comfortable with, right? Because then it's going to feel like a chore. And you know, the right marketing mix for you might look very different
00:30:05
Speaker
than for somebody else, right? And we haven't even talked about YouTube. So similar to Pinterest, you know, that's probably where a lot of people are going and typing in knitting patterns or crochet tips or something like that. And, you know, simple tutorial videos.
00:30:26
Speaker
are probably a great thing for this community as well as what I was thinking before we hit record today. So I think it's just it's about figuring out how to be smart with your time and where you want to put your energy and where is the most value.
00:30:40
Speaker
for the people that you're connected with. And it's kind of interesting because I do post this podcast on YouTube. There are those people who would rather listen to it there, even though it's not a visual. We don't record any of the video.
00:31:00
Speaker
Mostly because mostly because if you looked at my background, it's a mess. Okay, it's it's it's a disaster. My crafting life is all over this house.
00:31:17
Speaker
I, my husband does complain just a little bit, but that, and when I started the podcast, the last thing I needed was an additional editing process that had to be gone through and video editing is a big deal.
00:31:35
Speaker
That said, since I started the YouTube for the podcast, I've added some things from my weaving life and my knitting life. And it's been really interesting to watch what's happened to my YouTube account.
00:31:55
Speaker
Or I should say our YouTube account because Nicki it's technically partly yours So if you want to share videos that there is a platform there Throw that out there It's been interesting to watch how that's changed the dynamic of that account
00:32:14
Speaker
But that is a great point, I would say, Kirsten, for our audience is the short YouTube tutorials. I see them in just about every pattern that I edit. They're very, very popular for learning new techniques, new knitting techniques. So that would be a great way to
00:32:37
Speaker
just a great idea for content that's relatively simple. A lot of the videos are quite short, not a lot of production required. Yeah. I know you also had a question about LinkedIn. Yes.
00:32:57
Speaker
So it does go back to your audience, right? Is your audience there? I would say for me, LinkedIn is a more professional community. Um, so they might not be looking to consume knitting tutorials on the platform. Um, but I actually was speaking to somebody last week and she has a business and she's used it to create collaborations through direct message.
00:33:25
Speaker
So maybe there is an opportunity. I think it was Nikki, you had a question about how to use LinkedIn. Maybe it's thinking about it a little bit differently. It's not about posting in the feed content, but are there any, you know, distributors or companies that you would love to be collaborating or networking with? Maybe it's a conference and, you know, this person said she's had a lot of success with just even reaching out via direct message.
00:33:54
Speaker
Oh, that's really interesting. Yeah, I did want to ask about LinkedIn because I have
00:33:59
Speaker
I have a day job like you, although I don't do it during the daytime, I take x-rays at a hospital.
Using LinkedIn for Creative Content
00:34:07
Speaker
So I have a LinkedIn that's related to my career as an x-ray technologist. And I always wondered, like, should I have one for my freelance business too? As a freelance editor, would that be a good place to network? And I, and then I, I kind of,
00:34:28
Speaker
got stalled because I thought, well, do I put that together with my other completely different resume? Or is this like, should I have a separate account for that? On LinkedIn, I think you would have to integrate it. I don't think there's any harm in putting in your profile, like freelance editor and describing what it is that you do. But I wouldn't necessarily start
00:34:56
Speaker
You know, you want to be smart with your time. Like you're busy. You're a mom. You've got an important day job. You're doing this as well. You know, where do you want to put your effort in terms of the content that you produce and where are people going to interact, engage and share it with their own networks? I wouldn't, you know, obviously can't say for sure. I would say that LinkedIn is probably not the place where I would think about.
00:35:22
Speaker
looking for that type of content or where people would be looking for that type of content. Yeah. And I, well, I can't really even imagine like what kind of content people are creating on LinkedIn other than, you know, a resume and, and looking for people to add connections with. Yeah. It's LinkedIn's opened up, I would say a lot in the last few years. It's, you know,
00:35:51
Speaker
It's changed its own culture and some people are a lot more open with, you know, mental health struggles, what it's like to be a working parent. Like I see a lot of content with that from people I wouldn't have seen that from three, four years ago. People are a lot more vulnerable and authentic, but it's still a lot of, you know, sharing of articles
00:36:18
Speaker
you know, Wired, Harvard Business Review, McKinsey, like anything that's going to make people sound important. They share it there because, you know, the goal for most people using that platform will be to further their career. Yeah. And do you think that prospective employers are receptive to that increased vulnerability on, you know, what I think of a
00:36:47
Speaker
LinkedIn profile, I think of a resume. I think it depends. I know some people who love it. And I know some people who hate it, who really don't think there's a place for that type of content on LinkedIn. I would say that you always need to be careful what what do you basically all of us are creating our own personal brand.
00:37:12
Speaker
online, you know, whether you're on social media, whether you're building out a newsletter, whether you've got a website. So how do you want your personal brand to come across? And let's face it, people are nosy, people are going to Google you are going to look you up. And so at the end of the day, you have to ask yourself, what content do I want associated with my name? Because, you know, five years from now, both of you might be doing something different, not saying that you are, but like,
00:37:42
Speaker
What do you want your digital footprint to look like when someone types in your name? Well, what's really interesting in my case is when people type in my name, they don't necessarily find me because my name is so common. Is it an author? I'm sorry? I feel like there's an author named Lisa Conway. I could be wrong.
00:38:06
Speaker
It's not impossible. Believe it or not, when I moved back to Alaska in 2009, there was a second Lisa Conway in Anchorage.
00:38:21
Speaker
Wow. And then there was another woman who was Leslie Conway. So the crossover, I mean, I would go to the doctor's office or the hospital or anything like that and they would have difficulty separating me from the other Lisa Conway. And at one point, our medical records actually got crossed over. Oh, wow. And it was a mess.
00:38:52
Speaker
Now I never met her in person and she has since moved but and I don't know to where but oh my gosh what a nightmare. So if you type my name in you're not going to find me. So I have to push the business name because it's more unique. My name is not unique enough to
00:39:17
Speaker
especially in my age range. Yeah, I just googled you and I got Lisa Conway, Canadian musician, vocalist and composer. There you go. Yeah, it's really tough because my name is not unique enough to find me via my name.
00:39:41
Speaker
When I Google myself, I get myself, but I don't know if that's just because it knows that it's something that I'd be interested in based on other things that I've searched for,
Unique Business Names and Common Name Challenges
00:39:52
Speaker
right? The only browser I have open is the one we're using, so I'm not going to risk it. Google is smart.
00:40:04
Speaker
And depending on where you're searching from, it will try to match. One of the things that tries to do is match local results. So I imagine if Lisa was to type in her name, it might be a different like top 10 research results page.
00:40:19
Speaker
Yeah, she might not get a Canadian singer-songwriter, because she's not in Canada. OK, I'm going to pull up my phone, guys. You're going to Google yourself. I am going to Google myself. Because you should. You should check. Nope, I got Canadian musician. Oh, look at that. It's because I got ceramics professor.
00:40:42
Speaker
I was going to say, it's because your phone was listening to us talking about the Canadian musician. Well, you know, I swear to God, that happens on social media all the time. But no, the second one that came up was a ceramics professor at the University of Alaska. Oh, there you go. That must have been the Lisa Conway that I got confused with at the medical office because, yeah.
00:41:12
Speaker
And meanwhile, I got somebody who works in equity at a business development office in Toronto. I got Lisa Conway, psychologist in Illinois, occupational therapist.
00:41:30
Speaker
Hey, Lisa, go back to your other browser tab. We've got to get back on topic here. Anyway, isn't that interesting? So like I said, my name is just one of those that
00:41:47
Speaker
I don't necessarily come to the forefront. So I have to, I have to think in terms of that and make sure people are aware of the business name so that they're Googling the business name instead of me. Right? That's, it's, it's, you have to think of those things. Yeah. No, there's a lot to think about these days. Although I will say years and years ago,
00:42:14
Speaker
Hmm, what year would that have been? It was back in the 90s, actually, 1990s. Yeah, clear back then. I did have an old school friend find me through the internet. And we hadn't been in contact in over 20 years. So at one point or another, there was a way. Yeah, I would say most people are
00:42:45
Speaker
I consider myself a master Google searcher. And so like I always put parameters in if I'm like trying to do some detective work. Right. Right. Well, and he and he would have definitely been a Google master because he worked in the industry. So, you know, knows the keywords to plug in.
00:43:07
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Going back to LinkedIn, I didn't even realize that it was a social media platform. Yeah, probably was I always saw I saw always saw LinkedIn more as a job search kind of platform. Now I've been made aware that it's not over the last year or so. And I have
00:43:35
Speaker
Oh, just hold on a second. Sorry. My, my sorry about that. That's quite all right. We have families. And here in the US, it's actually a holiday. So oh, my entire big holiday. My entire family is in the house. Thankfully, they know when I'm recording and it's
00:44:00
Speaker
Be quiet for mom. Keep the dogs out of the room. Yeah, our holiday was a week ago, Victoria Day, and there was no way I was going to get a quiet house on Victoria Day, so that's why we picked today. No, this was perfectly fine. But when did LinkedIn become viewed more as a social media platform than just like a job search platform, or has it always been?
00:44:30
Speaker
I think it's always been considered a social media platform. My theory with LinkedIn is that the pandemic has been the best thing that's happened to that platform going because it's made people open up more. And if you think about it, it mirrors, you know, in Canada, at least all of us were sent home, you know, third week of March. And we began working remotely for quite a number of years. I mean, I'm still remote at this point in time.
00:45:01
Speaker
And the day after we went remote, my house wasn't set up. I had my kids home. All of a sudden, I'm on conference calls, and I've had to let people into my life, into my bedroom literally, because that was the only quiet place in the house that we had at the time. And that sort of made people more human in the corporate world, I feel. And then that's transferred over to LinkedIn.
00:45:31
Speaker
And I think that's what we're seeing. And so what will happen when people go back to the office for, I don't know, because all of a sudden it's like, oh, I'm not going to share that about myself again.
00:45:42
Speaker
Well, I love the idea of thinking about who's on LinkedIn who might want to work with me. Are bigger yarn companies on LinkedIn that might want to work with me? Are book publishers on LinkedIn that might want to work with me? And obviously, the audience is probably different from who I'm connecting with on Instagram.
00:46:07
Speaker
But that could open up a whole new range of opportunities for a business like mine that I hadn't really considered. So I'm glad we talked about this. Yeah, it's an idea. I would if you want to take a look at it as a like a platform to focus on, I would probably recommend doing some research first and seeing if those companies are on there. You mentioned books.
00:46:36
Speaker
I will say that, you know, you know, Bookstagram and like Booktalk, like that seems to be where a lot of the, I would say more niche publishers are hanging out more and more because in a way, TikTok has been one of the best things that's happened to the book industry because people are talking a lot about the books that they read and, you know, smaller authors are using it as a platform to get their word out about their books. Oh, that's really interesting.
00:47:05
Speaker
I mean, if you go to our main bookstore, Indigo, which Nikki will know, you know, there's a book table that will be like book talk recommendations. They're not the best books in the world, I will say, but it's, it's done quite well, I'd say for the book industry. That's interesting. I've been been inside an Indigo in a while because I mostly shop online now.
00:47:36
Speaker
Yeah, our nearest bookstore is an hour away. There's a very small bookstore that's in a town over on the other side of the valley from me that is a really lovely bookstore. I love their stuff and I love the fact that they have a very inclusive
00:48:01
Speaker
idea of who they're marketing to. They carry a wide range of the LGBTQ books that you don't see in the bigger bookstore, per se.
00:48:18
Speaker
have a mix of new and used that is a really good balance. It's a really, really lovely little store, but it's little. It's very, very tiny. So their stock has to be very limited. And then there's a used bookstore that's about 45 minutes away. But they kind of are the
00:48:44
Speaker
mass-produced paperbacks is it's really limited for
00:48:53
Speaker
different genres and that sort of thing. So that I don't shop in there very often. And then of course, you know, like I said, the one actual chain bookstore is is an hour away. So bookstores, bookstores are not a common stop, necessarily, except for twice a year. Does your local yarn shop have books? No, no.
00:49:26
Speaker
Actually, there's now three. There's one in my town, there's one that's in Eagle River 45 minutes away, and there's one in Anchorage. And all three of them have, the two that used to
00:49:41
Speaker
They don't carry much of any in-store anymore. They're they strictly I Don't know if they both do the Ravelry pattern sales because you know your local yarn stores can sell Ravelry patterns and they get a portion of the the fees so
00:50:08
Speaker
I know one of them does, I'm not sure if they both do. But the one local to me here in town is just not tech savvy enough even for that. I spoke to a small independent book publisher about a year ago about doing a book of knitting patterns and I was told that
00:50:29
Speaker
they're tough to, it's tough to sell a book of knitting patterns right now. But I have seen some recently coming out like La Bien-Aime, neons and neutrals that are really, really popular. And so I think people do want to buy
00:50:48
Speaker
books of patterns as well as just individual patterns. I think it really is maybe slowly coming back, but you have to offer more than just a pattern in it. It's got to be a technique tutorial as well.
00:51:07
Speaker
It's going to be something really unique that we haven't necessarily seen. Or there has to be a story along with it, like the Kate Davies. She has patterns, but they're all related to her Scottish surroundings. And there's stories about each, you know, connected to each pattern idea. So it's got to be more than just patterns for it to really do well, I think.
00:51:38
Speaker
So, TikTok, hey, if I get on TikTok, I'll be able to publish a book. Maybe. Okay, ladies, I have room for one last question, but I got to get back to the day job, unfortunately. I hear you. I hear you. What would you say are some of the biggest social media mistakes? I know we've touched a little bit on that, but I'd like to go just a little bit deeper if we could.
00:52:05
Speaker
Yeah, I think one of the biggest mistakes that I see people make still is they think everything needs to be perfect. Where, you know, I actually imagine probably members of your community can relate to this is that, you know, they wouldn't necessarily want to publish a tutorial if it wasn't exactly how it was supposed to be, right. So I think where you can is to
00:52:31
Speaker
to give yourself a little bit of grace and kindness and not everything needs to be perfect. So, you know, don't be scared to press share on something if it's not 100% perfect. The other piece that a mistake that I see people still making is
00:52:50
Speaker
They get wrapped up in thinking they need to be somebody else online. You know, that dreaded imposter syndrome where you see, you know, somebody else doing it this way. And if I was to do it this way, you know, maybe things would be different. Maybe I would get closer to my goals. And for me, you know, let's go back to the people buy from people. So don't be scared to be yourself. There's, there's, there's a community for you and that,
00:53:19
Speaker
that will, the content that you put out is unique to you. And that's going to connect and relate to an audience. There's more than, there's more than enough room at the table for everybody. So it's okay to post a picture of myself, no makeup. Oh, yeah. Because this girl does not wear makeup. Yeah, totally fine. All right. Nikki, did you have any last quick
00:53:45
Speaker
No, I just wanted to thank Kirsten, you've given us so much to think about here. And I'm really going to be looking at ways that I can look at some of these platforms a little bit differently and see how I can leverage them in my business. Thank you again. Well, thank you for having me. It's been great talking to you both. Thank you. And Kirsten, would you please share where our listeners can find you?
00:54:10
Speaker
Mm hmm. So if you're on Instagram, I'm at perfectly imperfect social. So you can see I'm not a big believer in keeping things 100% perfect. It's in my handle. And then my website is perfectly imperfect social.ca. Great. Well, thank you so much for your time this morning and taking time away from your day job was a nice way to spend my lunch. All right.
00:54:38
Speaker
You have a great day. Me too. On the next episode, Nikki and I will be chatting about grading myths. To get show notes directly to your inbox, sign up for the newsletter at the newsletter link on arcticedits.com.
00:55:02
Speaker
Don't forget to like and subscribe wherever you listen and join the conversation in our Ravelry or Facebook groups.