Don’t Be Annoyed...I’m In Marketing

The Power of a “Like” or “Follow”

By: “Digital Di” February 21, 2016

We’re friends on Facebook or Instagram. You thought you wanted to keep in touch with my life or maybe follow because you that I was cute. After a few days you realized, damn this girl asks me to “like” or “follow” something every day. Annoying? To some, sure, but I’m in marketing people!

I own four businesses. I have dozens of clients and I have tons of friends who own businesses, too. Of course, I’m going to ask you to “like” them! If I’m annoying then delete me. I promise I won’t be offended but let’s look deeper at what I’m really doing and why.

SEEING MY NAME IS POWERFUL

Every time I ask you to “like” a page or attend an event you see my name. Top of mind awareness (TOMA) is huge. It’s the idea that the first person/company you think about when hearing of an industry or topic is yours. That’s what I want for my clients and it’s what I want for me. When people think of social marketing I know they think of “Diane Michael” or sometimes even “Digital Di”. This is very powerful and I am proud to be noticed even if sometimes it’s considered annoying. 

LIKING DOESN’T MEAN YOU WILL SEE POSTS

Because of the amount of friends and businesses on social sites you probably won’t see many posts in your Facebook feed. I “like” 477 pages. I rarely see any business’ posts. This actually pisses me off because if I hit “like” I want to see what’s going on but because of sponsored posts and algorithms it’s not typical. 

I LOVE Instagram because if you go back far enough you will see every single post. According to Forbes.com Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion in cash and Facebook shares so who knows how long the feed will be this way. I only follow 74 people on this platform. 

THE BOTTOM LINE

Marketing pays my mortgage. Asking you to follow one of my client’s pages allows me to travel the world. When I deliver monthly stats to my clients I love seeing the numbers increase and I know I am part of their growth. It’s a powerful thing so please don’t get annoyed just remember I’m “getting shit done”!

If you think Instagram is for "young people" you may be a ‪#‎DigitalDinosaur‬

If you think Instagram is for "young people" you may be a ‪#‎DigitalDinosaur‬! We started this account Sunday night after picking up a new client at a Civil War Show in Charleston and they already have over 400 like-minded REAL followers and people are "tagging" their friends letting them know to check out the merchandise. We are experienced and educated on how to get the RIGHT type of followers...we aren't just going and tapping on people's accounts or buying followers. Strategic marketing creates the clients you want! Let ‪#‎DigitalDi‬ and team get them for your business!

Callan Group Communications (CGC) is a boutique firm specializing in cause marketing, digital media strategies (notice we don't say "social media") and business/non-profit marketing management.
By "connecting the dots" CGC helps "tell your story" to the masses through thoughtful creative campaigns. Keeping your your business/non-profit relevant and sustainable is our number one focus!

EatBreadToday

I don't know what tomorrow holds, so today I'll eat bread!
By Digital Di, Callan Group Communications

What a wonderful #Thanksgiving2014 I had. Two days of spending precious time with friends I consider family. #MarkPullin, executive chef for #31SupperClub cooked for a crew Wednesday and my old Buy Me Love Benefits partner had me spend Turkey Day with his amazingly loud, beautiful family in Tampa. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It was the only holiday our family celebrated other than birthdays which I don't consider a holiday so of course it's my favorite. It's the holiday of thanks, gratitude and good food. I love that!

Today we were discussing the delicious dinner and how eating fresh food with no can openers and made with love made such a difference. Speaking of fresh...the rolls...um, yeah! No Pillsbury rolls up in here..nope! Straight fresh bread made by #therealchefmark. Yummy! He didn't make enough! He mentioned when he caters he usually has a ton of left overs. I can't believe people have bought into this whole "bread is bad for you" thing. Have your bread and eat it, too, I say! Who knows what tomorrow brings, eat bread today! 

Ask and ye shall receive

Ask and ye shall receive
Welcome, Brittny Machel Lowe

It hit me one night while I was talking with Chef. You know, Mark Pullin, the executive Chef of 31 Supper Club. We were talking about our aspirations and it was like a slap in the face. I had to find a way to free up time to start writing my book, The Legacy. I decided right there and then that I was going to find the perfect marketing associate who was motivated, a self-starter and a natural born entrepreneur…no big deal, right? Yeah, not so easy but I put pen to paper, created a job description and let it go into the social universe. No responses. Not one. Although one of the people I was considering “liked” my post. She didn’t PM me but she liked the post. Making progress? Not quite.

A few weeks later, I’m dining at Grind Gastropub with one of my favorite mentors, Debbie Allen, who flat out said I have to offer an internship option before opening up an opportunity for full employment. She said that would show a truly determined candidate who would see true benefit in Callan Group Communications. I agreed although felt frustrated as I couldn’t even get a candidate who I was going to pay let alone one who would donate their time. Then our server, Brittny Machel Lowe came up to take another drink order. She was the one who I had my eye on. We chatted her up and before I knew it Debbie was encouraging her to intern for me. Brittny seemed interested and explained her aspirations of starting a non-profit to help families of incarcerated men and women. She was already an entrepreneur with her own apparel company, Twin Flame. She was perfect. I explained to her what the job would look like and asked that if she was serious that she should reach out to me the following morning. The voicemail is still saved on my phone. Her enthusiasm resonated through the message. She began interning and was promoted to marketing associate as of today, November 10.

With her support, I can not only grow the company helping businesses to grow theirs through marketing initiatives but I can follow my dream of writing a novel. It’s an amazing thing, this universe. It’s a crazy feeling when you realize that if you simply ask for what you want you receive it. I’ve practiced this “secret” for most of my life but more lately. It works. It really works. I feel so blessed to have this opportunity to invite Brittny into our family. As we teach her, she’ll teach us and together we can create amazing work in our community.

Cheers to those who believe in themselves.
Cheers to those who take risks.
Cheers to the ones that see opportunity.
Cheers to the ones that have gratitude.
Cheers to Brittny Machel Lowe.

With gratitude,

Diane Michael