Last updated on October 10th, 2017 at 10:48 am
It’s true – the director of a company that helps boost social media messaging is named “Share.”
Zoe Share calls herself the Chief Executive Schmoozer at Schmooz Media. Frustrated by small businesses not getting the attention they deserve, she has built the company around her passions of business, communication and creativity.
Armed with a Masters in Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology, four years ago she launched Schmooz to help make social media meaningful for clients, both in terms of content for the audience, and from a business results standpoint.
Today, she and her team not only craft social media, but also offer content writing, brand reputation management, lead workshops, and social media analysis. Share was at a networking conference this summer as a featured facilitator on best social media practices.
What are some of the best results you get for clients?
When clients see results – whether selling 1,000 e-books or gaining five new clients a month – we know we’re a part of making something great happen.
If a client’s business goals change because they’ve learned something from social media analysis, working together, or the feedback through their social channels or newsletters, that makes me feel like we are successful.
We love hearing that we’ve helped make company marketing plans and social media channels more manageable.
Why is social media important for small business owners?
It can have long term positive outcomes for businesses.
When done right, social media can bring in new business, engage current clients, take part in conversations about your industry, manage reviews of your products or services, or advertise specific deals or events.
Whether your business is online or bricks and mortar, you have a specific and unique way in which you interact with your clients. Social media platforms, while used for marketing, are also ideally an extension of the relationships you have already built.
Social media often works best when partnered with other forms of client interactions.
Like everything in business, it’s essential to have social media goals to work towards and to choose social media platforms strategically, rather than trying to be everywhere at once.
What is the most important social media platform to work with?
All platforms are important in their own way. What’s most important is for people to determine what their goals are and what they are hoping to achieve using social media.
If making another sale to existing clients is your goal, it might not be the right idea to create Facebook ads, but instead to focus on direct email campaigns or newsletters to your existing mailing list.
This sounds obvious, but I see a lot of people trying to do it all, without a specific reason behind it. My best advice here is to start with two or three platforms, and do a good job, strategically, with each of them, before you add more into the mix.
It’s good to come in knowing where you want to start, and also be open to suggestions.
What about your skills/qualifications (or your team) makes you unique in the industry?
My work experience prior to starting Schmooz was varied.
I worked with an education technology company helping teachers use a new technology, and creating an online and in person course about intellectual property and entrepreneurship for the University of Waterloo.
The Schmooz team is made up of professional content marketers, graphic designers, web developers and other creatives, who have varied and interesting experiences. Everyone at Schmooz brings something different to the table, and they are each remarkable and talented people.
What common mistakes do you see by the time a client has come to you, or how have you repaired them?
We have a lot of clients who bring their business to Schmooz after feeling like they have lost control of their social media or website while working with another company.
They are spending, or have spent, a lot of money on “SEO services” or building a new website, only to learn that they don’t understand the results they are getting, or feel unable to edit their website themselves.
We aim to be very flexible – helping people learn to do-it-yourself, and understand the results so that we are truly working in collaboration.
We had a client who was already working with another digital agency. They were in the middle of an important project, but our client felt unsupported by their existing agency and had a lot of money in the project. The client hired us to help manage the other digital company for them, so that he could have peace of mind that it was being dealt with professionally, and that he was going to spend as little money as possible fixing what had already been started.
Another important thing to remember is to make sure you are being realistic about your goals. As people who work with social media day in and day out, we can make a lot happen, but we aren’t magicians. Going viral isn’t necessarily the best way to grow your business.
Can you explain why “going viral isn’t necessarily the best way to grow your business”?
You have to consider how much new business your company can really handle, and what growth and success means for your business. Is it 10,000 new customers who will spend $15 each, or is it 10 new customers who will spend $15,000 each? It might be more worthwhile to target and focus on a smaller market segment to capture the quality, not only quantity, of the clients you want.
Which is more important, SEO or content marketing?
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is extremely important so that people can find you.
When someone says they need SEO work, what we’ve learned is that it’s important to be mindful of what they’re trying to achieve, the scale of what they’re trying to do, and what works best for their product or service.
In our experience the best results come from using tried and true SEO practices, paired with quality content that provides value and interest for the business audience. At the end of the day, good SEO will naturally follow from strong content. Great content marketing and SEO should go hand in hand.
