Ep. 142 - Social Media Decoded with Karlyn Ankrom, Founder of Oh Snap! Social

Social Media Decoded - Is social media intimidating? Are you confused about how to create content? Would you like to have your business excel on social media? Join us for another episode of The PR Playbook Podcast.  Today we are interviewing Karlyn Ankrom who is the founder of Oh Snap! Social.     

Karlyn Ankrom is the founder and lead strategist of Oh Snap! Social and creator of the Fan Firestarter Framework, a new approach to social media marketing made specifically for businesses “tempted to fake their own death and flee to Tahiti at the mere thought of content creation.” Karlyn developed her user-friendly strategy after working for a decade with a variety of brick-and-mortar businesses who were decidedly social allergic, not because they didn’t want to do social media, but because they were intimidated by it. In response, her new system helps newbies get on the fast track to “unsticking their social media” in just one hour per week.

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Transcript

 Episode 142, Social Media Decoded with Karlyn Ankrom.

Ronjini Joshua: Hello and Welcome to episode 142. Yes, we're up there today. We're gonna talk about social media decoded with Karlyn, Ankrom, the founder and lead strategist of, Snap Social. Hi, Karlyn. How are you?

Karlyn Ankrom: I'm doing well. Thank you for having me. I love that extra little like Snap-a-roni.

Ronjini Joshua: The little snap.

Karlyn Ankrom: You did. That's fun.

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah, it came to me while I was talking.

Karlyn Ankrom: Love it.

Ronjini Joshua: So I would love to do before we get started to talk about social media and kind of all the pitfalls and challenges and exciting opportunities. here a little bit about your background and…

Karlyn Ankrom: Absolutely. I've been in the social media space for,…

Ronjini Joshua: a little bit about. snap, what you guys do over there?

Karlyn Ankrom: My goodness, 12 to 15 years, somewhere around there. And I have a journalism background. So I've always been into telling stories and, really sharing what makes people take some sort of action, whether it's to learn more or to buy from you etc. And what we do it, snap we are a social media agency but we know enough about how all the digital dots connect together to be a little bit dangerous. And we know a lot about the digital landscape and how it's Changing and evolving. So we walk everyone through our signature framework, which is the fan fire starter framework. Don't ask me to see that five times fast. I just say I have a thing for literation. I cannot help it.

Ronjini Joshua: Me too, I love it.

Karlyn Ankrom: it's that geek and me, that's showing I'm like, and we really focus on understanding where are you sitting currently with your social because that ultimately,

Karlyn Ankrom: Leads into the strategy and creating a strategy with goals tailored to not just your social. But you're overarching marketing objectives, Because social media is just a sliver of your overarching marketing objectives. Then we layer it into an advancement strategy. So whether we are implementing it for you working with you, to get the content done and delivered or you want to kind of DIY It. That's a great option for solopreneurs, specifically, or book authors where you are, the face, quite literally of your brand where we can kind of come in, as a consultant for you to help organize the content, Make sure you're consistent just so you don't overthink it because I think we all over think social media. It's supposed to be fun and I think we forget that often.

Ronjini Joshua: I mean I even forget sometimes that I won't post for a very very long time and then I think Why haven't I posted anything? Okay, let me think of something. And then when I start thinking, I go down a rabbit hole of okay, it's gotta be perfect. It's like every word has got to be perfect actually and then the next day rolls around and I never posted. So.

Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah, I mean, and that is everyone myself included. And I think If you have a short video on your phone right now that's seven to 12 seconds.

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah.

Ronjini Joshua: Go for it.

Karlyn Ankrom: Put something valuable over top of it with music and…

Karlyn Ankrom: press post. I mean and when I see something valuable I know that's relative and it depends on your industry…

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: but if there's a tip or a frequently asked question that you're tired of getting and you just want to answer it once and for all put it out there, answer the question get people involved because if some people are coming to you asking that question over and over again, the Mass probably needs to know too.

Ronjini Joshua: So when you say,…

Karlyn Ankrom: So start there.

Ronjini Joshua: put it out there, where exactly is there for you. And I mean, I have a lot of questions, but since we're talking about this now, where is there? What's the go-to?

Karlyn Ankrom: For me, I know that people are on LinkedIn service-based, businesses are on LinkedIn looking for other service based businesses. That being said, There's also a sliver there that is for that business to consumer side of the market that I think is underutilized. And people I'm a product base Why would I hang out on LinkedIn? a few reasons right? venture capital could be there or,…

Ronjini Joshua: Yes.

Karlyn Ankrom: the biggest influencer in the real estate market could be hanging out over there. You just don't know until you really dive into the audiences, Hang on LinkedIn because that's where business is done. And that's where I've actually converted people. The other side is Instagram. I love Instagram just because it's fun I get to be a little bit quirky over there though. I would say LinkedIn is loosening the next time a little bit which I love

Ronjini Joshua: I kind of like the way it is though because if it gets too casual then that ruins the effect of knowing that that's a professional place.

Karlyn Ankrom: What? And it's funny that you mentioned that because I actually just did A poll on LinkedIn. See if I can and…

00:05:00

Ronjini Joshua: 

Karlyn Ankrom: it just closed a few hours before we recorded. And I will share with you the data because why not? We're talking about it. So I said, what's relevant content? with the trends being what they are and people are saying, Linkedin's becoming more the others,…

Ronjini Joshua: What? Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: so to speak and I said, How comfortable are you sharing behind the scenes of your life here on LinkedIn? That was my poll question and the three options where I'm all for it? And this isn't the place for that and then business behind the scenes, content only So people that were all for it, it wasn't a ton of votes 35 votes, it's not bad. you…

Ronjini Joshua: What one? Yeah. …

Karlyn Ankrom: business behind the scenes, content only 39% of the vote was a pretty and even split it was 27% thirty

Ronjini Joshua: you said 39? Yeah. So That's not big everyone.

Karlyn Ankrom: There wasn't a big winner, but some people were saying, I'm open to it, but I don't want it to be the main thing that I'm seeing, or, I'm open to it,…

Ronjini Joshua: Right.

Karlyn Ankrom: but I don't want people's families and kids, and things like that, to be on there. So, there's a balance.

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah I mean I really struggle with that too because sometimes obviously everybody's work life spills into their profession. I mean sorry their home life spills into their professional life and there's that dynamic of You kind of want people knowing what's going on just in case something is off and I don't know. It's like Yeah,…

Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah. We're all expect a level of transparency.

Ronjini Joshua: it's very sensitive topic.

Karlyn Ankrom: Especially when it comes to our personal brand,…

Ronjini Joshua: Too much, maybe. Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: I think to your point too, a little too much of that.

Ronjini Joshua: Too much. And Okay,…

Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah.

Ronjini Joshua: let's transition a little bit because I kind of threw you off. I love doing this. all right,…

Karlyn Ankrom: I love it.

Ronjini Joshua: so we're talking about social media, decoded and I really wanted to kind of first hit on. Let's talk about Why are we doing social media? Especially when it comes to smart startups, Small, businesses, entrepreneurs, we just spoke about budget cuts and marketing, and things and public relations and how those are really the first things always to go when your budget gets tight, but I think there' of course I'm a PR person. I think there's a valid reason and keeping your presence visible during a recession or any kind of downturn.

Ronjini Joshua: I think probably goes with social media. So can you give us just why on the business side social media of why companies or brands should be there? And if they should at all not maybe it's not for everyone.

Karlyn Ankrom: So I think the best way to describe social media as we sit here today could all change tomorrow if it is a free tool where your audience already exists and is already actively on, I think that is a missed opportunity and I want to bring it back to even Google when someone googles your company. The top search results are probably your homepage if you have one of course and…

Ronjini Joshua: Right?

Karlyn Ankrom: then followed by social media channels. And a lot of people are following window shopping. I kind of call it on social to see if you're a human, they are looking, and that's the part where I think As business owners. they miss, the point is a free tool right now that you can leverage.

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: If you think about it, the yellow pages you had to pay to be in the yellow pages. And that was just happenstance of someone flipped to your page 1025, A 5,000 page thing and…

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: now we use them as paperweights or step stools to reach high shelves in our kitchen. That's what mean and I think now it's, an inch thick versus the five inch there.

Ronjini Joshua: yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: No so It is a free place. I mean how I just want to reframe the minds of how cool is it that if you were to post on social media, your people could find you instantly and take an action and that's why people get so wrapped up in. I only have 30 views on real or this tiktok. I'm like, and this was a trending sound for a while but I bring it up all the time. If 30 people walked into my office right now, to look at what I'm doing, I would be one totally freaked out and to overwhelmed in the best. But also maybe the worst way depending,…

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah, yeah, because you have to help them all.

Karlyn Ankrom: so I just think people miss The point is I'm not getting any reach. what does any Compared to what?

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: So if you're comparing yourself and that's another dangerous slippery so that we can cover, but comparison is the worst You can't compare.

00:10:00

Ronjini Joshua: You should be comparing yourself to yourself, I think,…

Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah, if you versus you all day…

Ronjini Joshua: right? If anything. Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: because if you're comparing yourself to another business owners, Chapter 13 and you're on chapter one, that's not a fair comparison because they put in the work longer than you have. so

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah, you were talking about, 30 people walking in your office.

Karlyn Ankrom: yeah.

Ronjini Joshua: So when you're creating a post, does that mean every post should have a call to action

Karlyn Ankrom: Yes, I think so. And it can be two different types of calls to action. I call them external call to action, take you outside of the platform. Now, we have to keep in mind those pieces of content might not get as much, eyeballs on it because let's face it, Facebook, instagram, all the platforms they want you to stay, right? Where you are, they don't want you leaving. They don't want to go.

Ronjini Joshua: You're there to scroll,…

Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah, we're there to scroll,…

Ronjini Joshua: you're just scrolling.

Karlyn Ankrom: and then there to view the ads, which they get paid for you to view, So you just have to keep that in mind, but then there's also opportunities for engagement on the platform itself and having a call to action that leads to social engagement. Can help also from your brand awareness. And eventually people can convert. So it's also understanding. Where is your audience on the buyer's journey? …

Ronjini Joshua: Mm-hmm

Karlyn Ankrom: are they just finding out who you are? Are they looking or seeking? your service or they ready to do something about it and buy their pain point is painful enough. That they're ready to take that.

Ronjini Joshua: If they're on Instagram, let's just use ourselves as an example,…

Karlyn Ankrom: Love it. Yes.

Ronjini Joshua: where I would put you, and I in the same category, Vendor services. If they're on Instagram and they see a post, really They're looking to maybe entertain themselves a little bit,…

Karlyn Ankrom: Yes.

Ronjini Joshua: right, but maybe on That. I don't even think it'll LinkedIn, if they're scrolling through their feed, it's usually just like, okay, what's going on in the industry?

Karlyn Ankrom: and it's funny because I was just on a Google ads training yesterday and they put Google versus social in a very different light and…

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: loved the juxtaposition of Social Media, When you're putting ads, there you're putting content. There you are a pattern disrupter.

Ronjini Joshua: Interesting.

Karlyn Ankrom: So you are there disrupting someone's regularly, scrolling program with your information,…

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah, right.

Karlyn Ankrom: Google? You are active like they are taking an action. They are searching for something specific and you come up as a result and…

Ronjini Joshua: Right.

Karlyn Ankrom: then they have to make a decision whether or not they're gonna click on your link like they're versus social where we're kind of like fishing.

Ronjini Joshua: Forcing it down there.

Karlyn Ankrom: We're throwing the whole out there and waiting for a fish to bite versus really the fish in because the fish is already there, you know what I mean? I don't know is that analogy lands,…

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: but it would really interesting.

Ronjini Joshua: And I know what you mean that. Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: .

Ronjini Joshua: No, but that's a really good point. And that's something people really don't always understand about digital marketing social media versus public relations versus marketing. all of those four fields very different in their approach,…

Karlyn Ankrom: Really.

Ronjini Joshua: Probably have a different role like You're say, I like that. I really like that. We should create a graphic like that mention And I like these conversation for that reason too.

Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah, I know. Yeah.

Ronjini Joshua: So I have a bunch of questions and I think we're gonna have to do a second episode because I just don't think we're gonna cover everything. And now my brain has gone into five different places.

Karlyn Ankrom: Welcome to my brain.

Ronjini Joshua: So, Yeah, so we're gonna decode some stuff and not all stuff. I'm gonna decode. What's top of mine for me and then we'll decode kind of all the basics, maybe in a different conversation. one question that came up for me, is I don't know which one I want to ask first.

Ronjini Joshua: Okay, I'm gonna ask about templates. How do you feel about this thing? Because we were talking about scrolling and you go down and you see and you're saying, Hey don't overthink it put a piece of content out there, put valuable content and I see all these posts that say, Hey, use this template and put valuable content over it. How do you feel about those templates? What kind of role do they play? Are they really useful? should people who are entrepreneurs, and just can't get a post out? Should they use these templates?

Karlyn Ankrom: So I'm a template fan but here's my caveat, you have to rebrand them. you can't just buy a template or you can't just use a canva template as is you have to

Ronjini Joshua: I'm talking about the Instagram Tech, how on Instagram the template comes up and…

Karlyn Ankrom: For the real.

Ronjini Joshua: yeah, and…

00:15:00

Ronjini Joshua: it says Use this template. Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah,…

Karlyn Ankrom: if you want to use it. If it makes your life easier do it.

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: But at the same time don't force, a square peg in a round hole, either, you know what I mean? it takes some editing, it takes some storytelling for a good real, even if you're using a template. So just keep that in mind. I say, Go for it, it's a heck of a lot easier than sitting there racking your brain for two hours.

Ronjini Joshua: Thinking about something.

Karlyn Ankrom: Two hours like getting it, just right to go with the song or whatever. And that's…

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: why I often tell clients just Do a talking just pull your phone up and…

Ronjini Joshua: Right.

Karlyn Ankrom: talk to Give it one tip and put that out there. You don't need to do anything fancy. You can use the caption sticker. That's included inside Instagram. And then you're done. there's nothing extra.

Ronjini Joshua: What are your thoughts about trending audio?

Karlyn Ankrom: Trending audio is tricky from a legal standpoint, I always get questions around that and then I always say I'm not a lawyer, You should ask your lawyer But …

Ronjini Joshua: no. yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: like ocean for my business, should I use all of these, copyrighted things and I'm like If you don't feel comfortable don't, but at the same time, everyone else is doing it. So if that happens and everyone's getting Sued …

Ronjini Joshua: In trouble. Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: and so I always say trending audio is great. If it feels authentic to you That's the biggest piece because I had a client who tried to force herself into doing lip syncs and trends. And it came Terribly. And then when she shifted into doing the talking head where she just was sharing her expertise, it lit up her feed and so you just find…

Ronjini Joshua: Wow.

Karlyn Ankrom: what works for you. And just because someone over there is doing Trending audios or lip syncs or weird dancing or pointing, or whatever doesn't mean that's for you.

Ronjini Joshua: I've always wanted to do the pointing,…

Karlyn Ankrom: Guys, that's…

Ronjini Joshua: I love the pointing I love them.

Karlyn Ankrom: how I started. I was Listen, I don't know what's happening here, but this is doing that little disco move. That seems even for me.

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: And I teach dance part-time, I love dancing and so sometimes dancing is part of my feed. Is it for everybody?

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: No, no it is not.

Ronjini Joshua: Reminds me of it Ralph. So, in the movie Ralph There's the second one,…

Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah.

Ronjini Joshua: he tries all the trending stuff on YouTube and he just does it all. I loved it so well and also I love Bob Ross. So he did like Bob Ross, he did all the funny you'll do a dance and…

Karlyn Ankrom: Amazing.

Ronjini Joshua: then he did it exploding Kitten thing and he just all the trending videos, he copied them to get trending.

Karlyn Ankrom: Amazing. Yeah.

Ronjini Joshua: It is such a testament to the digital landscape.

Karlyn Ankrom: I mean

Ronjini Joshua: I'd like it was so witty and good. How whoever wrote that part of that movie, all these animated films are so much funnier than they used to be, but it was so on point.

Karlyn Ankrom: yes. An adult humor.

Ronjini Joshua: And I actually thought of that one day, I was like maybe I should just find all the trending things and just copy them and do them and put them on my YouTube channel. See what happens.

Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah, I mean, and I think there is something to be said, where you find a trending audio and then adapt it. So it's resonates with your audience because that works really well. But the point that the challenge of that is finding the trending sound and…

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: audio before it gets super trending.

Ronjini Joshua: Sure.

Karlyn Ankrom: If that makes sense. being early doctor,

Ronjini Joshua: Show me the money. I think I did something like with it with, the Jerry Maguire and…

Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah.

Ronjini Joshua: that works. So I think Yeah, you have to find one that is authentic like you were mentioning before authentic to…

Karlyn Ankrom: Yes.

Ronjini Joshua: what you're actually presenting and it was something about the press releases something along those lines. But anyways,

Karlyn Ankrom: Yes.

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah. I mean, it is a lot of trial and error. And I think that's the one thing that entrepreneurs and founders and business owners, they don't have time for that trial and error. And then they're like, is it worth hiring somebody? And so this is conundrum, right? it's like that person's gonna try and trial and error. I just want them to do it. I don't want them to try stuff, and I think that's the problem with social media. It's so experimental. There's no exact formula and it's because it has to do with people's emotions and feelings. And, I'd love for you to Talk about what you mentioned earlier about the biggest challenges people have in, kind of adopting social media and you're mentioning the ROI versus emotional connection and how to kind of build that loyalty. And that following, How do you measure the return on social media? How long does that take to happen?

00:20:00

Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah, I always tell people, social media is a long-term game, and when I work with clients, it's a minimum commitment of six months minimum, It takes consistency, and It does take a little bit of trial and error because re it's not like if you have a client that's I don't know. And in landscaping, doesn't mean That every landscaping company. Operates, same clientele, the same services has the same personality. And resonates with the same people because to your point, there's the emotional piece involved and I think as business owners we want to just get it right the first time.

Karlyn Ankrom: And with my knowledge and my team's knowledge, we have the shorter track to get there because we've,…

Ronjini Joshua: Sure.

Karlyn Ankrom: we've, trial and error aired and failed and all that. Because we've learned, and we are keeping up with the algorithms that are also changing and…

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: evolving and are valuing specific types of content at different weights so that the content gets seen more. So for a while Instagram was like We're going all in on reals until I think the crowd…

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: until I think the kardashians were like, No, you're not, and then they like that's how much power they have is. Charlie, they pulled back and,…

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: started to serve up more photo content, more static content, more carousel, kind of slidy content. So, I think people are just intimidated by the overwhelm that is involved with The mechanics that are constantly changing Which then causes us to overthink and then we start to kind of come up with the excuses of mi too old for this. I don't have time for this, But you have to be at some level as a business owner, especially when you're a small business. People buy from other people. So we have to really hone in on that aspect and you have to be open to partnering with either an agency or a virtual assistant to help you And get it done properly and quickly and also be able to have the expertise to tell you whether or not something's working or not.

Karlyn Ankrom: And just be transparent about that, too. Because that's the biggest thing I talk to clients about is, they're like, we get these reports but I have no idea not my clients but people that are coming into. We get these reports but we have no idea what they mean, or what they say. because the people haven't taken the time to tell them,

Ronjini Joshua: What do you think are maybe the top three? biggest things that people business owners marketing teams or whoever's managing social media, what are the top kind of three things that they should really look at when they're Coming up with their social media strategy.

Karlyn Ankrom: I think it's looking back to go forward. So taking a benchmark of all the numbers, even the vanity ones. What's your followers? how much content are you posting every single week or every single month? And then looking at the performance, Are you creating enough content in the right kind of content? So if you're posting all photos and you maybe posted three videos, either short form or long form depending and all those three videos doubled, their engagement. Then the photos and maybe you want to do more video, right? And so it's looking at that and…

Ronjini Joshua: Right.

Karlyn Ankrom: then balancing the resources. So for example if I'm posting five times a week And I do two videos and three photos and those two videos are crushing the three photos. I might back up to three posts a week and do all videos.

Karlyn Ankrom: So you just have to evolve and change your strategy so I'd say, look at where you're starting from. Look at what content is working and not working. And that's something that you can do month over month. I also tell,…

Ronjini Joshua: Okay.

Karlyn Ankrom: sometimes, if you're starting out, do I weekly seesaws? I learned this from another agency. I used to work at where you say, What is the bottom performers, and why that happened? Because what I've noticed is, when you get to the end of the month, you're like, man that second week of April, really just tanked. Why? there was three holidays on one weekend.

Ronjini Joshua: Right.

Karlyn Ankrom: That's why your content and perform or Why is February always a down month. there's three less days. You…

Ronjini Joshua: Right.

Karlyn Ankrom: what I mean? those things that people just don't think about overarching. So I look at that if engagement is something that you're measuring you want to have more conversation more of that awareness measuring engagement where you're starting from and where you want to go. If you want to drive more traffic, if that's the goal. What is Google Analytics saying Currently right now Your traffic source is predominantly and where do you want it to move? So I think it's just looking at all those things and understanding what your goals are, but having that line in the stand of your starting point is going to be valuable going forward.

00:25:00

Ronjini Joshua: Do you have any tips on converting a lot of times we get people who have a social media converting from a following to that next step. How can you convert these people who are clearly watching you into an action oriented step?

Karlyn Ankrom: I think it's having the calls to action going on stories. if we're thinking about Instagram going on, giving them opportunities to take action, I think I'm good.

Ronjini Joshua: Mmm and different ones. Probably.

Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah, and different ones based on where they are from in their buyers journey, if they're just discovering you, maybe they need to freebie. If they've been hanging around a while, invite them to your webinar for, 47 bucks or whatever it is. It's just having different offers at different steps in order to get them to take that bigger high ticket action.

Ronjini Joshua: Mm-hmm

Karlyn Ankrom: Whatever that is.

Ronjini Joshua: How long do you think it takes to create a comprehensive strategy like this? Sorry about that.

Karlyn Ankrom: it takes me four hours. It could take a more upwards of six depending on how many platforms. two platforms that I

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah, what would you Rebecca recommend for platform numbers, too? it's hard. I mean to be good at all those things.

Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah. Yeah,…

Ronjini Joshua: You can do it,…

Karlyn Ankrom: it's and I always tell clients …

Ronjini Joshua: you can do it.

Karlyn Ankrom: I want to be everywhere.

Ronjini Joshua: But other people,

Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah, I'm cool. Why? So I'm a big like,…

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: I'm everywhere because people expect me to be everywhere…

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah. Sure,…

Karlyn Ankrom: because one time having a call with a client,…

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: they're like, you haven't posted on your Facebook and three months. I'm like, because I'm busy posting on everyone else's, and I was like, Okay, let's learn I'll start being more active but I pay more attention to the ones that I know that I have an audience or…

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: the ones that I know that I can be consistent with because I enjoy being on those platforms and connecting with people. And so for me,…

Ronjini Joshua: Right.

Karlyn Ankrom: LinkedIn hands down where I do business. Instagram is where I have fun and people can see behind this more and…

Ronjini Joshua: Okay,…

Karlyn Ankrom: so it's just understand.

Ronjini Joshua: you have not once mentioned YouTube shorts and I am loving YouTube shorts because I don't know, tiktok. I like watching tiktok, but I'm not a big fan of tiktok.

Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah.

Ronjini Joshua: It makes me feel old and complicated and YouTube is this. I felt like when they started YouTube shorts, I was very not sure, but then I was like, this is way. For me,…

Karlyn Ankrom: Yes.

Ronjini Joshua: way better than tiktok. And so, what is your kind of perspective on YouTube shorts? And it's also better than really long form video but that's,

Karlyn Ankrom: So I am just propping up my YouTube channel. I have one short in there that I think I repurposed from a real and it's doing okay, but what I love about YouTube is the search capability. And so I think people sleep on,…

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: on YouTube just they sleep on LinkedIn. there's significant power and I think I woke up to the realization of Okay, I need to get on YouTube is I was sitting at a live event. And there was 10 of this woman students on the stage, and she asked each of them to say, how did you disc How did you find me and nine out of 10 of them? All said, YouTube. and…

Ronjini Joshua: That's what I'm saying.

Karlyn Ankrom: I was like, then Fire lit under rear will create channel.

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: I just was like,…

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah. …

Karlyn Ankrom: I have to do this, so

Ronjini Joshua: and YouTube doesn't make it complicated. I like also there integrated with Gmail. So it's just so easy because they're Google company but it's not another platform for you to sign up for you and Tiktok, I always think I've posted now on Tiktok but I always felt like it was intimidating because it's like all these people are doing choreographed dances and I'm a dancer and I feel uncomfortable, so if I feel uncomfortable I feel like this is a little bit more difficult than my,…

Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah. …

Ronjini Joshua: Not my speed.

Karlyn Ankrom: and I'm glad what Tiktok has slowly morphed into being like a whatever kind of platform.

Ronjini Joshua: Entertainment more focused? Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah, entertainment. and I always say people should I be on tiktok? I said, who's your audience? If your audience is Gen Z? Then yes, but if it's not you don't need to and…

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: I would say but at the same time I also know people like my 71 year old mother. She'll kill me for saying her age on your mom. If you're listening. I'm so sorry. but, there my friends, older Millennials, they are consuming on the platform. They are not creating

Ronjini Joshua: But I don't even go on the platform. I don't even know how it comes up. I don't even know how I see it sometimes. because you know what they do. You got you you can repurpose it, right? So,…

00:30:00

Karlyn Ankrom: Yes.

Ronjini Joshua: that's only, I'm seeing the repurpose content on Instagram. So, Instagram is a place where I'll go and I feel like I should say my age just for demographic reasons, but I did not want to, I'm 40 plus. How about that? I'm in the 40 category, and…

Karlyn Ankrom: Love it.

Ronjini Joshua: Instagram and YouTube is where I love to consume content and then like you said, business wise LinkedIn, obviously, but I'm over Facebook I really hate Facebook,…

Karlyn Ankrom: Yep, exactly.

Ronjini Joshua: I feel like there's a lot of weird spam now and it's become very Just messy and then tiktok it literally because it's like a different login. I just don't even want to log in. I just

Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah, it's like another platform.

Ronjini Joshua: that was my limit I did snapchat. And then tiktok with my limit I was like, no. No,

Karlyn Ankrom: one other's, what threads with Instagram, but they were smart and you didn't need a separate login for threads, which is like the old school Twitter, It's like the new.

Ronjini Joshua: I don't know what's happening with that. I stopped meeting I don't know when I stopped tweeting a year ago.

Karlyn Ankrom: He adoption. I know. Yeah. Craziness.

Ronjini Joshua: And yeah, so I don't even know. So I think anything new from now, for now fourth, I'm just gonna be that old.

Karlyn Ankrom: unsubscribe and subscribe.

Ronjini Joshua: That person. But yeah I mean I think it's an overwhelming thing and I think you really have to find out said where the audience is, if you want to hit Gen Z then go there. if you want to hit the business people if you want to hit Enterprise you have to go somewhere else. I'm in cannabis as well. And for cannabis there's a LinkedIn for cannabis. So it's like there's a place for everyone. You just have to find the right place. You don't have to be in the place that Everyone else is that? And I think that's something else.

Karlyn Ankrom: And I think you bring up a really good point in saying, there's almost niche specific communities online for…

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: what you want to talk about. And that's been a big trend that I've seen the past year or two, even with the development of discord, right? …

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: there's written niches on there where you can engage Strictly with people that you are interested in talking to, and so,…

Ronjini Joshua: And…

Karlyn Ankrom: I think people asleep

Ronjini Joshua: discord has been around for a long time. So that's a funny thing that I worked in video games so it's expanded beyond that people are realizing.

Karlyn Ankrom: Nice. But it's more to more, right? since

Ronjini Joshua: That's how people did video games chatter back then. Now we're adapting it for other reasons. So it's just very interesting to see a lot of these things,…

Karlyn Ankrom: yes.

Ronjini Joshua: emerging actually a lot of things, I feel like merge from the video game space, too, even like virtual worlds or social platforms like everything's kind of coming full circle.

Karlyn Ankrom: Very true. Very true. I love that parallel.

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah. No. I mean, I used to work for a company called Electric Sheep Company. They made Second Life back in 2007, I think. And that was the first virtual world, where you go in, and It was a world of Sims almost…

Karlyn Ankrom: Cool.

Ronjini Joshua: but it was like people were companies and brands and things like that were buying into it and I think eventually it did not Reach its potential but now you're seeing things like that, come back even with Blockchain and Nfts and there's always these versions of what used to exist. They're becoming transformed into something new It's really. Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah. I mean it's just like the fashion cycle, right? Everything old is like the 90s are back, right?

Ronjini Joshua: It's all coming back. Absolutely. I feel like there's just so much to cover in social media and I diverted you from giving us the basics but I think we covered some really interesting topics today and…

Karlyn Ankrom: Absolutely.

Ronjini Joshua: so I'd love to come back and talk a little bit more about real putting together, strategy mapping out content and really talking about that. But for today, let's kind of Wrap it up and…

Karlyn Ankrom: Absolutely you can find me at snap Social.com/resources.

Ronjini Joshua: let's tell people Where can they find?

Karlyn Ankrom: There's a ton of freebies over there you can hang out with me on Instagram. snap social karlynn karlyn. And come find me on LinkedIn. Karlyn ankrom.

Ronjini Joshua: Okay, we'll put your info in our little show notes here. any last tip valuable tip you'd like to leave everybody off with.

Karlyn Ankrom: There's so many, but my biggest one.

Ronjini Joshua: A gem, give us a gem.

Ronjini Joshua: Give us a social media.

Karlyn Ankrom: The gems. Social media is supposed to be fun. Just remember that.

00:35:00

Karlyn Ankrom: Looking for what you have and…

Ronjini Joshua: Yeah.

Karlyn Ankrom: they're seeking solutions that you offer, but they won't know that you exist until you step out and show them what you have. So share your brilliance everybody.

Ronjini Joshua: All right. Awesome. Thank you so much for your time. You guys hang tight for a follow-up conversation with Karlyn,…

Karlyn Ankrom: Thank you.

Ronjini Joshua: and everyone have an awesome day. Listen, I'll talk to you next time.

Karlyn Ankrom: Thank you.

Meeting ended after 00:35:33 👋