Lee: Well, hello, Keegan. Welcome to the Coach with Clarity Podcast. I'm so excited to have you here.

Keegan: Thank you, Lee. I'm excited to be on the podcast. I'm a frequent listener, and it's pretty cool to now be a guest.

Lee: Well you are just making my day by being here today, so thank you. Before we get into it, why don't we start by hearing more about who you are and the work that you do for the world?

Keegan: Awesome. Well, I am Keegan Jennings, owner, and lead strategist of Collab House Digital Marketing. Collab House Digital Marketing specializes in social media strategy and management for female solo entrepreneurs. So that is, I will say, my day-slash-night job. I'm also a mom, a wife, and full of hobbies and multi-passionate as well. 

Lee: I love that. So many hats, wearing many hats, as I think many of us do. And of course, one of the hats you wear is being my social media manager. I have so enjoyed working with you over the last, gosh, how long has it been? Six months? Nine months?

Keegan: Six months. 

Lee: Feels like we've known each other much longer than that.

Keegan: It does.

Lee: So that's particularly why I was so excited to bring you on the show because I know firsthand what knowledge and expertise you bring to the world of social media, social media management. And so I knew you were exactly the person I had to have on the podcast to talk more about this.

Keegan: Thank you. I appreciate that.

Lee: So let's dive right into it. You know, social media itself is something that I am assuming most of our listeners are very familiar with. Social media really has become part of our day-to-day operations, but when it comes to our businesses, and how we use social media versus in our personal life, connecting with friends in the like, it's a little different, isn't it? And sometimes we need to take a more strategic approach to our social media for our businesses. So we hear social media strategy, and that phrase used a lot and I'm curious, like, what are we even talking about? When we say social media strategy? What does that mean? 

Keegan: Well, you made a great point that we're used to using social media to catch up with our aunts and uncles and old classmates. But it's a different way to use social media, when you're leveraging it to grow your business. So when we say social media strategy, that's with a goal in mind when you plan your content, and when you plan your marketing on social media platforms. So it can also be phrased as a social media marketing strategy, a social media content strategy, but while those two are different, they are often used to describe when you use social media for your business and your business goals.

Lee: So it's really being intentional about who we're speaking to on social media and the type of content we're posting, and how we're marketing our business. So bringing the strategy to it just ensures that whenever we're posting for our business, there's a reason behind it.

Keegan: Absolutely, and while we'll still use social media for the point of being social, you do have your business goals in mind when you plan your social media strategy.

Lee: I'm so glad you said that, because I think sometimes when we think about using social media for business, we forget that first and foremost, it is a social component. And so we do need to be creating relationships with the people that we are serving and connecting with on social media. So just because it's for business doesn't mean that we lose sight of that social piece.

Keegan: Absolutely and that's one of my favorite things about social media and especially when you use social media for your business. Prior to starting Collab House Digital, I had a marketing background, corporate marketing background, and director, and I primarily focused on a lot of the relationship-building through different avenues. Whether it be events, media marketing, the focus was how are we going to make those client relationships sticky? You can apply that same thing to social media, because one of the primary focus is to be social. You connect with others on social media, they may be a client, they may be a collaboration, they may be a business partner, or business supporter, and cheerleader. But those are all the cool ways we can use social media for marketing, and I know sometimes it gets scary but if we keep in mind that let's get here to build relationships, then things start to come a little bit more naturally, when on the marketing side.

Lee: Yeah, so when we lead with the relationship, we know that we're using the platform and the way in which it's intended. And also, we are building our own businesses in a way that feels good because we're centering the relationship or centering the people that we're connecting with. And it's not just all, “Buy my stuff”, “Work with me”, like we're keeping the focus where it belongs, which is on the client. So excellent. We've been talking about social media and you and I both know, it seems like every week, there's a new social media platform that is coming out. It can feel a little overwhelming like the temptation is to be everywhere on all the platforms doing all the things, and I'm curious to know your take? And do we need to be on all of the platforms? How do we know where we should be showing up? Where do we begin when it comes to prioritizing our social media location, if you will?

Keegan: I love that you asked that, because if you go on my Instagram profile, or my website, it says, “we're going to take the overwhelm out of social media”, especially if my clients are solo entrepreneurs, your focus is put in a lot of different directions, being on every single social media platform would just be a poor waste or use of your time, I would say. So I always advise my clients to focus on one to two platforms. And the one to two platforms that you focus on are where your ideal client is, where they are hanging out. So if your ideal client is not hanging out on TikTok, you don't have to post regularly on TikTok, and you just hang out over there, get a laugh, and have fun. But for your social media strategy, if you see that a lot of your clients are hanging out on Instagram, they're hanging out on Facebook, if they're hanging out on LinkedIn, that's where you want to primarily focus your IG strategy or Facebook strategy, your LinkedIn strategy or content strategy, your marketing strategy. That's where you want to focus one to two platforms.

Lee: Thank you for that, like on behalf of everyone listening, thank you for giving us permission to just show up in the one maybe two places where our people are so that we can show up there. We don't have to worry about how am I going to get them to come to my website or come to my place? It's like no, we're going to them because that's where we begin. And that's where we cultivate those relationships. But the fact that we don't have to be in all of the places that we can choose one or two, who it kind of takes a weight off my shoulders. So I'm curious, how do we know though where our clients are like, how do we know which platform would be the best fit for our business?

Keegan: That's where I love to nerd out a little bit, and you dig into the data. So I would say someone who is managing their own social media accounts, maybe take the path thirty to sixty days. And if you have been regularly talking and speaking about your business on a few different platforms, track where you have received most of your leads. So if you're, if you have a lead magnet, if you have a lead form, and they say, “Oh, I found you on YouTube”, “I found you on Instagram”, “I found you on Facebook”, track those, and then you will begin to see, “Okay, I had a few leads from Instagram, and a few leads from word of mouth”. That's one way. Another way is to track demographics. You know the demographics of your past clients, you can use those same demographics, to test against Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. So for LinkedIn, we know that that tends to be more of a corporate professional crowd, some solo entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs, and business owners. But that's really great, you are going to find your corporate client. So it would be wise to focus your content and marketing strategy on LinkedIn. They know that Facebook and Instagram, both are two platforms where there are a lot of, how can I say this? The range is wider on those two platforms, but people are actively social on both platforms as well. So I always say, test out, you know, look back on your data, see where your leads have come from for the past thirty to sixty days. And then another way is really to think about your ideal client, and where do you see them hanging out and test it out, test everything out. If you dedicate some efforts to Instagram for a strong thirty to sixty days, you're seeing good leads or good engagement on those platforms, you know that you can continue to market there. This is what we're talking about social media, as I always say, use social media for what it is, and it is a free platform. So it's basically like a free networking conference, that you get to show up and talk about yourself and talk about your business to a captive audience, really. Everyone's on social media, we have about one billion on Instagram, over two billion on Facebook, right, so use those platforms. And then you can also get into things like paid ads, email marketing, and word of mouth and referrals. Those are all excellent ways to also market yourself. But why I think social media marketing is just so cool is that these are platforms that are free, you can start marketing your business, your brand new business today.

Lee: So much wisdom in what you just shared, and I think what really stood out to me from your two recommendations – number one is make sure you're really clear on your clients demographics, because that will help you determine which platform is going to be a best fit. But then the second piece too, about connecting your involvement on social media with leads, I think is so important because when we talk about metrics, when we talk about measuring the things that move the needle in our business, on social media, in particular, it's really easy to focus on the number of likes, or the number of follows, even the number of shares. All of that is great, but on some level, it might be more of a vanity metric, as opposed to how many people are contacting me and wanting to learn more about my services, because of how I'm showing up on social media. That is a metric that is a little more complicated to track, and yet is probably the most important data point that we can get from our social media strategy. So I'm so glad that you pointed that out.

Keegan: Absolutely, and I know that, again, I speak a lot to solo entrepreneurs regarding their Instagram strategy. If we're using Instagram as an example, again, one billion users, what percentage of those users do you need for your business to be successful? So I understand wanting the vanity numbers and the likes and the shares and the follower count, depending on your goal. I'm sure some of those are mix of those may be important, but if we are going to talk about your marketing strategy, and your goals as far as paying customers, grant opportunities, partnership opportunities, collaborations, I believe it's more about consistency, connecting authentically and having visibility as far as, you're showing up, right and you're showing up in those connections.

Lee: Okay, so that's perfect. Let's talk about, how do we show up? How do we make those connections? And a logical place to start would be with posting, what kinds of material should we be posting on our social media platforms?

Keegan: So this is where a plan really comes into play. I recommend, if you can take a simple Google Doc, and list every day of the upcoming month, I recommend, again, if you're running your own social media for yourself, three times a week in your feed will allow you to show up consistently to your audience, right? And that could be used through either a static post, video, you know, Reels or all the things and the rave right now. So you can throw in a Reel, and your content really should focus on if you're promoting your business, at least one of those pieces of content really points to where you want to drive your audience. So whether that is if you have an upcoming workshop, if you have a podcast, if you have a digital product that you would like for them to check out, make sure at least one post a week is about your business and your service offerings, because they won't know what your business is and what you're selling unless you talk about it, it's okay to talk about it. I like for a couple of those other posts to be more about you. Just to increase that like, trust factor, you don't have to talk about what you ate every day. You don't have to talk about..well, I will say, I talk about what I eat every day but that's because I'm a foodie. So that's a little different but make it something unique about you! That gives your audience a little bit more insight about who you are, and maybe what it's like to even work with you and get to know you. If they know more about you, they feel more comfortable following you and getting to know more about your services and your products. And they may convert to clients and customers. And also just remember to have fun, right? There may be something relevant and pop culture, Netflix, the latest book you're reading, make sure that you're tying that in, especially if you're a personal brand, it's important to also, you know, put a percentage of yourself in there. But never be afraid to talk about your business and service because that's what you're also here for and marketing your business online.

Lee: So I love that, in terms of what we should be posting, it really does need to be a mix. So some of it's going to be about us giving people kind of a sneak peek into behind the scenes what's really going on in life, I find that I use stories for that quite a bit. Stories are just a fun and easy way to literally share a snapshot or a quick video of whatever's going on in your world today. And then combining that with content that is related to your business, that's going to serve your people. So even just a quick post or quick video that they can then turn around and implement. They're going to associate that with you and they're going to want to learn more from you and then maybe even like, work with you in some capacity. And so that they know how to do that you do need to talk about the services you offer. And one of the things I appreciate about your work, Keegan, is that you know how to describe those offers without it feeling really salesy or icky. I think sometimes people get concerned, you know, if I'm too salesy in social media, people will unfollow, they're not going to be interested, when in fact, it's quite the opposite. What I've noticed is that people are like, you know, “I'd love to work with you, but like, there's no link. How do I learn more?”, and so we really do need to be upfront about what it looks like to work with us.

Keegan: Absolutely, and thank you for that. Also, what I like to advise to my clients is if you lead with helping, so don't be afraid to give tips, don't be afraid to give a little behind the scenes of what it's like to work with you, that really helps not only engage our audience, but again, we're online. We're not in a physical store where you can pick it up, take a look at it, you know, flip through the brochure – help them flip through the brochure. You do that online by providing value, don't be afraid to provide too much value. A lot of people think, “Oh, if I give too much, if I give too much..”, people need help, assistance, there won't be too much to give. If you are focused on creating a great client experience you're focused on creating great products or great services for your clients and ideal clients. You will actually position yourself as the end expert in your field, the more value that you're providing. So that's a big part of your social media strategy, when you are showing them your services and how to work with you. That's the way to make it not feel icky, you're not just slapping it up, they're like, “Hey, I got something else for you to buy. That's something else for you to buy”. No, you're already with the consistency, with showing up, with engaging, providing tips with them to resources, you're already establishing yourself as the expert. So when you do have a digital product, that podcast to promote, you already have these in place, so they’re ready to buy. 

Lee: That makes a lot of sense, and I think what I really appreciate about what you just said, is that when it comes to sharing knowledge, we don't need to be stingy. It's okay, actually, to be generous with what we know. Because people are not working with us out of a knowledge deficit. I mean, truly, when I think about the clients that I've worked with, it's not that they don't know what to do. In fact, they are practically like encyclopedias, they know so much about what to do. The block is, why am I not doing it. So when we share our knowledge, when we share about how to do something that is helpful, it's informative, it positions us as the expert, like you said, and it doesn't cut us off from working with our ideal clients, they're still going to want to work with us, because it's not the knowledge that's driving that desire, it's wanting the support, and wanting someone to help implement, and to create that change faster. And as coaches, that's what we specialize in. So it's okay to be really generous with your knowledge, you're not going to undercut yourself, that's just not possible.

Keegan: Absolutely, 100% agree, and I've been fortunate enough to work with and be around and collaborate with so many awesome people, that they're so smart, you're not going to run out of knowledge. And especially if that's your field, as you mentioned, you're going to help people get there faster, and smoother. So go ahead and help and share and share a little bit about you also, you know, whether it's your like hobbies, for instance, I love food, I'm always posting food. You know, Lee, you rock your stories, right? So I know I'm going to see some bomb earrings, I’m going to see the Peloton, I'm going to see your family, I'm glad to see you out on the boat. So give people a little bit more insight, I mean you're going to see my kid, right? Give people a little bit of insight into your world, the stories is a great place to do that, and pack your feed out with value and fun and how they can work with you.

Lee: I love it. I love it. Alright, so we have done a deep dive into what social media strategy is, where we should be showing up, the kind of content we should be posting, how often we should be posting, I think I heard you mentioned like three times a week, that's a good place to start, especially on a platform like Instagram. So we've got the posting side of the equation done but there's another component to being involved on social media as well that complements posting, and that's engagement. Can we talk a little bit about what that is? And actually, let's start with the definition. What are we talking about when we talk about social media engagement?

Keegan: Alright, so that's going back to like the 101, why they wanted to create platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, to connect people. So your content strategy and your marketing strategy, that could be you know, your editorial calendar, let's say, right? But for it to really melt together, and to have a successful strategy, you also need that engagement piece. So as you know, we have, there's likes, comments, shares on your Facebook and Instagram and even LinkedIn. You don't want your ideal client talking to a brick wall. So when we say engagement, to help with the overwhelm, I always advise my clients to first look to see who's commenting on your posts, make sure that you're engaging with those who are commenting on your post. Another thing if we're talking Instagram strategy is hashtags. So to increase your visibility for engagement, I will always recommend people to include hashtags no more than 30 about 10 to 15 is the sweet spot on your post. Put that in your comments, you can put that actually in your captions, and make sure that those hashtags are relevant to your topic and to your business, right? And that will get your post in front of more people in front of more eyes. Those who need to see that, whether it is a post marketing your business or services, or if it's a pose, you know, that's a little bit more fun. And the third part of it is to engage with those hashtags as well. So I like to use this analogy. You get to pick what party you go to, right? So you put a hashtag, if you want to see all things Peloton, you put #Peloton, click on that, you're going to see all the top and recent posts of anyone that put peloton as their hashtag. So how about you put your ideal client as a hashtag? How about you put what you're marketing, and what services or products that you provide as a hashtag, click on that, see who's posting, you may find your ideal client that way as well, and you begin engaging. And again, you know, I do the “not overwhelm” thing, so if you have about fifteen minutes a day, to just check on your profile, see who's commenting, engage with folks, engage with those hashtags, and also just start to see what's trending on your own profile? Do you see someone who's engaging more and more? Are they a potential client? Make sure that you're also coming, you know, liking their posts and their stories, and you're already creating that client relationship before they're even a client.

Lee: That's exactly right. I love that, and so when we think about social media engagement, this is really where we further the relationship. So the posting, that's content, that's like what we are putting out there. The engagement oftentimes is how we are responding to people who are either liking, commenting on our posts, or we're following that hashtag train, and we're finding other people that we want to connect with, and then we're responding to their posts as well. So it goes both ways, and that's really how we can strengthen those relationships, and then ultimately, maybe find areas for collaboration for connection, maybe becoming clients. It's really just the beginning. So excellent. Anything else we need to know about creating a social media strategy that we haven't covered yet?

Keegan: I would say again, when you approach your social media marketing strategy, go into it with the thought that, unless you are a social media manager or strategist, you do not have to become one. What you use your social media strategy to do is connect people to your services and offerings, especially if you have things like one on one coaching group coaching products related to your business, your focus is your business. So allow social media strategy, to be a vehicle to get your business and your services to more people. Try not to get too caught up on the vanity metrics, and really go after authentic connections. And if you do come to a point in your business, where, okay, I don't have as much time freedom to dedicate to planning or social media, leverage scheduling tools, I would say. So if you have a quiet time, where you can dedicate two to four hours a week to this plan out, three posts for you to plan out when you're going to show up in stories or live or plan out that Reel, and then give yourself a timer about fifteen minutes a day to engage on your posts, then if you still find it, you don't have that time. Connect with a social media manager or strategist to help you with your content planning, and so I work with a lot of solo entrepreneurs who are able to plan their own social media content, but we do sit together every month for about 60 to 90 minutes to plan out. What am I promoting in my business this month? What other content can I provide to my audience that's really value packed and keep them engaged and to keep their relationships sticky. And so that way, you're not posting random posts, and not posting, you know, in the car in the car pickup line, you know, you have a plan and that takes some of the overwhelm out of it as well.

Lee: That's so true. If you can devote even just an hour or two a week to getting that content calendar set, working on those posts, and then scheduling them using a tool, whether it's like Facebook's native scheduler or Hootsuite or Buffer or Planoly. There's tons out there, but they really can help you maximize your time and be really efficient with your posting as well. Keegan, I feel like we have covered so much today, I am so grateful to have had you on the show. And I suspect that people are gonna want to connect with you. So what is the best way to do so? Where can we find you?

Keegan: Well I myself focus on primarily one platform, and that is Instagram. They can find me at Collab House Digital, on Instagram, or also my website, www.collabhousedigital.com and thank you for having me, you know that I could talk about social media strategy and client relationship management all day long, and I look forward to doing so inside the membership.

Lee: Yes, in fact, Keegan is going to be one of our upcoming guest expert trainers in the Coach with Clarity Membership, and she will be providing an in-depth training exclusively for our members. So if you would like to learn more about your social media strategy, and you are not already in the membership, you're definitely gonna want to join. So head on over to CoachwithClarity.com/membership to learn more, and we will see you there. Keegan, thank you again for coming on the show today. It's just been a pleasure.

Keegan: Thank you, Lee. This is great.

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Thank you again to Keegan for coming on the Coach with Clarity Podcast and I will make sure that we have links to her website and to her Instagram page in the show notes for today's episode. So if you would like to connect with Keegan just check out the show notes and tell her I said hi. You can also connect with Keegan in the April Guest Expert Training for the Coach with Clarity Membership. So head on over to CoachwithClarity.com/Membership to learn more, to join and to be a part of this special training with Keegan. All right, my friend. That's it for me this week but I will be right back in your podcast feed next week with a brand new episode of the Coach with Clarity Podcast so if you haven't already subscribed, be sure to do so now. That way the next episode will appear in your feed automatically. I would also love to hear your thoughts about today's interview with Keegan Jennings. You can come find me on Instagram @CoachwithClarity and feel free to leave me a DM with your thoughts about the show. You're also welcome to come find me over in the Coach with Clarity Community, the free Facebook group for coaches of all backgrounds who want to build stronger coaching businesses and become more powerful, more masterful coaches. So if you are not already a member, head to CoachwithClarity.com/Community and join our free Facebook group today. So I am looking forward to connecting with you in the community or over on Instagram. And until next week, my name is Lee Chaix McDonough, encouraging you to get out there and show the world what it means to be a Coach with Clarity.