Social Media Marketing

2017: No revenue, no social presence. 2024: $440k+ in revenue, 875K+ social media followers. 💸 How did I achieve this transformation? 🤔 It wasn’t just about random sleepless nights and hard work. Here are the key strategies that made a difference: 1. Expanding My Skill Set 💻 What I Did: → Started as a content writer and then transitioned into marketing and copywriting. Why It Worked: → Diversifying my skills opened up new opportunities and helped me stand out in a competitive market. Tip: Continuously develop new skills and find the ones that align with your goals. 2. Building a Strong Social Presence 📸 What I Did: → Created a personal brand, studied social media algorithms, produced valuable content, and leveraged trends. Why It Worked: → A strong social presence attracted more followers and clients, ensuring steady business growth. Advice: Focus on growing one platform at a time. 3. Creating Value-Added Content What I Did: → Focused on producing content that provides real value to my audience, such as how-tos, tips, and insights relevant to their interests. Why It Worked: → Value-added content builds trust and positions you as an authority in your field. Strategy: Always aim to solve problems or provide insights that your audience can benefit from. 4. Effective Networking 👏🏼 What I Did: → Connected with like-minded professionals, attended industry events, and engaged in meaningful conversations. Why It Worked: → Networking opened doors to unexpected opportunities and provided valuable referrals. Pro Tip: Share book snippets or insightful articles to start meaningful conversations and build strong connections. 5. Mastering Sales 🛒 What I Did: → Improved my sales skills, including pitching, negotiation, and closing deals. Why It Worked: → Good sales skills are essential for converting prospects into clients, and helping people naturally leads to sales. Hope this helps 😁 Question - What are the top 3 skills you think one must have to grow their business?

"Instagrammable Effect": packaging as a social media Status Symbol. You will become a commodity if your product only sells performance. Beauty brands are about identity and experience, so better understand the shareability. The "Instagrammable effect" has transformed the way brands design and market their beauty products, prioritizing packaging that is not only functional but also visually striking and photogenic. +Aesthetic boost, trough bold differentiation. +Unboxing experience, material and tactile wise. +Brand Storytelling, concept crafted for virality. +Exclusivity & customization, limited and flanquers promo. +Bundles, unique offers and merchandising. +Gift with purchase strategies, gifting ceremony. +AR/VR, hybrid communication and promos. >>The psychology behind the "Instagrammable Effect"<< The urge to share beauty packaging online stems from psychological needs like social validation, identity expression, and aspirational living. Social media rewards aesthetically pleasing posts with likes and comments, reinforcing the habit. Luxurious or unique packaging becomes a status symbol, signaling trend awareness and exclusivity. +Social Proof. Herd Mentality, people tend to follow the behaviors of the majority, assuming that if others are doing something, it must be correct or desirable. Engaging in trends, especially those validated by likes, comments, and shares, triggers dopamine release, the brain’s “feel-good” chemical. +62% purchase products based on recommendations from influencers. +Mimetic theory. Philosopher René Girard’s states that people don’t desire things independently but imitate the desires of others. So seeing someone admired using a product makes it more desirable. +22% e-shoppers are "very likely" to make a purchase after seeing an influencer's. +The role of influencers & ambassadors, Influencer marketing has amplified the Instagrammable effect, with beauty brands collaborating with influencers to showcase packaging through unboxing, tutorials, and storytelling. +42% consumers are more likely to share a product image on social media. +Educational content. also shapes consumer perception, when influencers highlight both benefits and aesthetics, they create an emotional connection. Consumers buy not just the product but the experience, lifestyle, and status, driving demand for visually striking packaging. +Instagram and YouTube are primary sources of information for cosmetic and hair products. Concluding By understanding the psychology behind the Instagrammable effect and strategically designing packaging to meet social media expectations, beauty brands can turn their products into cultural statements, and viral status symbols. Find my curated search of examples and get inspired for you next Hero. Featured Brands: AOX Chanel CHIOTURE Diiia Erly Facades Glowery Hermes Hovia Kylie Cosmics Mayet Noera Sadie Skin #beautyprofessionals #beautybusiness #beautypackaging #beautyinfluencer #beautycommunication

Everytime anyone asks "How did you grow to 250k followers on LinkedIn", these are the 11 tips I give them that will remain evergreen: 1) Quality = Revenue, Quantity = Growth When starting out, post 5-6 times a week. Once you build an audience, switch to 3-4 high-quality posts. 2) 2) Trust me on this: Stop overthinking Most posts that did well were written in 15 minutes. The ones I spent hours on? Got average traction. 3) Stop making these content excuses: "I have nothing unique to say" "Everything's been said before" "I'm not an expert yet" Just document your journey. That's enough. 4) Content batching saves your sanity I batch create content for my profiles both Instagram and LinkedIn. Takes 2-4 hours but saves me from daily stress. 5) Find your unique voice, not just your niche Your unique style is your strongest differentiator. 6) DMs > Comments > Likes Prioritize meaningful conversations over vanity metrics. 7) The 24-hour rule If a post idea excites you for more than 24 hours, it's worth writing about. 8) Be consistent or be invisible The algorithm rewards regular posters. Pick a schedule you can maintain. 9) Focus on one platform I see people trying to be everywhere. Master one platform first. 10) Lead with value, not promotion Give 90% value, sell 10% of the time. 11) The best growth hack? Show up every single day for 365 days. That's it. I went from 0 to 240k+ followers using these principles. Which one resonates with you the most?

AI is creating new challenges for marketers but IMHO the biggest opportunity in years to differentiate. AI overviews are intercepting clicks. LLMs are answering questions before customers ever reach your site. And Google’s AI mode is just getting started. This is the biggest shift we've seen in marketing in 20 years. So, how should marketers respond? Here are 3 things to know about marketing beyond search: High-quality content matters more than ever. Traffic is down — but your customers are still around. They’re just somewhere else. And you still need high-quality content to pull them in – the more specific, the better. It will help you show up in AI Overviews but also LLM chats, social and communities. You need to scale across every channel. Your audience is on YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, podcasts. (Sometimes all at once if my kids are anything to go by 🙃) Before, you needed big teams and budgets to be everywhere. Now? AI lets you repurpose your best ideas into video, audio, and social — fast. Fewer clicks. Way more reach. AI can match content to intent to drive up conversion. AI doesn’t just create content — it reads the intent signal. It knows what your buyer needs right now, and serves the most relevant message, in the right channel, at the perfect time. That’s personal. And it drives results. For 20 years, traffic volume was the north star. Now that it's declining, it's tempting to think AI makes marketing harder. But what AI really does is create new opportunities for marketers. New places to be found. New ways to reach more people. New opportunities to connect with customers. Honestly? I’ve never been more excited to help our customers navigate what’s next. #Marketing #AI #LLM #Search #HubSpot #DigitalMarketing

ZARA reportedly analyzes more than 3 million social media images every day using AI to identify emerging trends and inform product decisions. While many brands are still relying on historical sales data, intuition, seasonal buys, and trend forecasts, Zara is ingesting millions of real-time signals directly from consumers. The company is effectively turning social media into a global focus group that never sleeps. This is not just about faster trend identification. It is about reducing guesswork, improving product-market fit, shortening development cycles, and allocating inventory with greater precision. The implication for the fashion industry is significant. The competitive advantage is no longer just design, sourcing, or distribution. Increasingly, it is the ability to capture, interpret, and act on consumer data faster than everyone else. The brands that win over the next decade may not be the ones with the best forecasts. They may be the ones with the best algorithms.

How to Start Posting on LinkedIn (Even if You Feel Like You Have Nothing to Say) A lot of people tell me they want to start posting but feel nervous. They worry they only have a few ideas, or that they won’t be able to keep up a regular rhythm. They wonder if posting even matters for their career (spoiler: it definitely can). The truth is, you already have plenty to say, and LinkedIn is one of the easiest places to share it. Here are some practical ways to begin: 1. Share what you’re learning Talk about a course you’re taking, a podcast that gave you an “aha” moment, or a new tool you just tried. People like hearing about things they can use themselves. 2. Reflect on your work Did your team hit a small win? Did you face a challenge and learn from it? Even the behind-the-scenes of your day can be interesting. 3. Offer practical advice Post a tip that makes your job easier, or a mistake you made that others can avoid. Quick, actionable insights resonate. 4. Highlight people and relationships Celebrate a colleague, thank a mentor, or share wisdom you picked up from a recent conversation. Recognition posts build goodwill. 5. Comment on your industry React to a news story, event, or trend in your field. Share your perspective on why it matters. 6. Share your personal story How did you get into your career? What pivot shaped you? Lessons from your first job are often more relatable than you think. 7. Ask questions Invite discussion with prompts like: “What’s the tool you can’t live without at work?” or “What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone starting out?” 8. Reuse and remix Turn a slide deck into a few posts, pull takeaways from a talk, or repost an old note with an update. You don’t always need something brand new. 9. Just have fun Tell a story about your kids, share a game you love, post about a hobby outside of work, or even something zany that made you smile. People connect with the human side of you just as much as the professional side. A lot of people say, “Posting on LinkedIn won’t get me a job.” I understand the skepticism, but here’s what I’ve seen: posting helps you get visible. Visibility leads to connections. Connections lead to opportunities. The majority of jobs are filled through networks, not cold applications, which are deadweight in this environment. Posting is not the only step, but it is a proven way to stay top of mind, alongside commenting, calls, events, and more. You don’t need to post daily. Even starting with once a week is enough. Collect ideas in a notes app as they come to you, then pick one to share. It doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to be real. It helps me to imagine every post is just for a single close friend or loved one rather than hundreds of thousands reading it. If you post weekly, that’s 52 chances a year for people to see your voice, your ideas, and your story. That is worth it. So here’s my question: What’s one idea from this list you could turn into a post this week?

In retail, many chase the next big thing—a new style, a new way to reach consumers—triggering a frantic race to adopt. But most trends fade as fast as they appear. The real game-changers are curated habits that prove they can stand the test of time. I’ve championed social commerce as the future of retail for over a decade. In hindsight, that barely scratches the surface. It’s now a deeply ingrained consumer behavior. The imperative isn’t just to adopt it, but to evolve with it—constantly and intentionally. At HSN, social commerce was core to our strategy. We pioneered the blend of shopping and entertainment. That’s the essence: finding the sweet spot where entertainment, connection, and commerce converge. Soon after, platforms like Twitch began enabling users to both game and shop in real time, blending entertainment with commerce. Fanatics has successfully leaned into this model as well, immersing fans in live experiences while showcasing gear in action, often worn by their favorite athletes and community, turning fandom into a powerful trust signal. More recently, TikTok Shop collapsed the purchase funnel into a single scroll. It's no longer discover, then buy. Now, it’s see it, want it, buy it—seamlessly, in-platform. So, as we look ahead, how do I see this "social commerce habit" evolving? Here's what I expect: 🔹 Creator Integration is Non-Negotiable. For Gen Z, in particular, TikTok Shop has become a primary discovery engine. They trust their favorite creators to genuinely try products and offer honest feedback. The more brands lean into authentic partnerships with creators, the more trust they build in this integrated shopping experience. It’s about relationship-driven commerce. 🔹 Embrace a Zero-Click World. Speed and simplicity are paramount. Consumers need to be able to see, buy, and receive as fast as humanly possible. This means minimal clicks, minimal friction, and no moments for reconsideration. It's about instant gratification and removing all barriers between desire and ownership. 🔹 Elevate Live Shopping. This is a powerful return to the personal connection and real-time interaction that defined the best of traditional retail. Shoppable videos and live sessions transform social media into a personalized shopping aisle. Imagine experts demonstrating products, showing how they fit or can be styled, all in real-time, tailored to your interests. It brings humanity back to digital retail. 🔹 Unlock the Power of Virtual Try-Ons. A longstanding hurdle in e-commerce is "try before you buy." AI-enabled virtual try-on features solves that, making online shopping more immersive and convenient. This translates directly into higher conversion rates, deeper engagement, and customers spending more valuable time interacting with your brand digitally. It’s time to stop treating social commerce like a trend. This is commerce, full stop. It’s a fundamental consumer behavior that belongs at the center of every modern retail strategy.

73% of people admit their online presence doesn’t represent who they truly are. Honestly? Yea! We live in a world where social media pushes us to be “marketable,” “polished,” and “always-on.” But guys—being seen ≠ being understood. My job? To fix that gap. Without losing the real “you.” Here’s how most business owners get it wrong. 👉 They think ‘professional’ means ‘boring.’ You don’t have to sound like a corporate robot to build authority. Your quirks? Your humor? They’re your superpowers. 👉 They focus too much on aesthetics. A great profile pic and sleek visuals are nice, but your words and stories are what build trust and connection. 👉 They struggle with consistency. Posting once in a blue moon won't make you memorable. Building an authentic online presence is like going to the gym—you’ve got to show up regularly. 👉 They copy trends instead of owning their voice. Trends fade. Your unique experiences? Timeless. Stop being a knockoff; start being the original. So, how do you fix it? Think of personal branding like a first date: 📍Be yourself (but the best version). 📍Show, don’t just tell. 📍Stay consistent but not repetitive. And most importantly—speak to people, not at them. Why do we need all of this effort? 86% of consumers prefer an authentic brand personality over a polished one. In short: Authenticity wins. Always. If your LinkedIn, Instagram, or website doesn’t feel “you,” it’s time for a change. Let’s fix it—without the fluff, without the fake. What do you think? Does your online presence truly reflect YOU? Or just a version you think people want to see? 🤔 DM me or book a call if you're ready to build a REAL personal brand. #PersonalBrandingExpert

You spent $30,000 to speak on stage at a major conference. Or $100,000 to for a sponsored article in Fortune. And no ROI to show for it. Why? These efforts are the bricks of your process, but they represent two things: The hope that someone will read it A one-and-done piece that may be repurposed or used for credibility, but that dies quickly in the name of tomorrow's news So, what's the mortar around those bricks? 🚀It's layering in executive voices on LinkedIn. 🚀 YoY there's been a 23% surge in CEOs posting on LinkedIn. Why? Brand visibility for startups To become less of a faceless brand for Fortune500s And? It builds authenticity in the brand, with Social Media Today citing that 92% of professionals are more likely to trust a brand whose execs post. And? It creates a drip campaign of content to your prospects, to the masses, but even more importantly: to your customers whose networks are filled wiiiith...people who look just like them that they'd love to sell to. Want an example of what great looks like? Just peek @ Jon Gray's content - COO of Blackstone, shakily shot running videos for the win, and from a company you'd expect to be buttoned up, they're instead just very real and authentic. In Q1, our LI Exec Branding offering made up more than 50% of our revenue - there's a reason for that, and it's that companies are seeking a competitive edge here that isn't just content, but is a full blown approach to profile management, sales rep enablement, employing customer advocates, and weaving in cross-functional support with events, content marketing, product...you name it. This isn't ghostwriting, it's a expansive strategy. Your competition is either on LinkedIn, and you need to catch up, or they're not, and you have a competitive advantage. #samsales #LIEB

Amazon has recently unveiled a partnership with TikTok (TikTok for Business) which will allow users of the social platform to purchase products from the ecommerce titan directly within the TikTok app, without having to click through to Amazon’s app or website. The integration will allow user to buy products recommendations from Amazon straight from their For You feed on TikTok. It’s a savvy move from Amazon, and one that will allow the online marketplace to assert its ecommerce prowess as shoppers’ habits around product discovery and buying evolve. And a win for TikTok which is turning out to be a powerful engine fueling the discovery of new products and brands. As outlined in our 'Power of Social Commerce report' Retail Economics produced in partnership with TikTok, we know that shoppers are increasingly relying on social platforms to inform and drive their purchasing decisions. Our research shows that social and entertainment platforms are the most popular method for consumers to discover brands and products, outperforming search engines, marketplaces, and brand websites. Here’s a few stats from our report, produced in partnership with TikTok: ➡ Social commerce contributes £7.3 billion to UK retail sales, around 6% of total online sales – and is set to rise to £15.7bn, or 11% of total online sales, by 2028. ➡ Over half (54%) of online shoppers now find browsing for products on social and entertainment platforms more satisfying than shopping retail websites or physical stores. ➡ 88% of social users have discovered products they are interested in purchasing from on TikTok – higher than any other social platform TikTok also leads in social commerce penetration, with 44% of users having made a purchase directly through the platform, and 29% within the last 12 months. Have a look at the below chart to see how other social platforms compare: Amazon has long since established itself as a behemoth of online retail, so this partnership with TikTok is demonstrative of the shifting dynamics influencing how and where people are buying. To find out more about how social platforms are impacting how your customers are finding and purchasing products, as well as case studies of how other retailers are using platforms like TikTok to drive online growth, click here to download our report in full. https://lnkd.in/eaVyzq_R #SocialCommerce #TikTokShop #RetailEconomics #Consumer #eCommerce