111 – “Morganize” Instagram and Your Biz with Morgan Sutton
Morgan Sutton is the Director of Operations at Susan B. Zimmerman Enterprise. With a Master’s in Engineering Management, she directs all business operations, logistics, and online automation systems for social media educator, Sue B. Zimmerman. Since the company’s start almost 5 years ago, she has been a core driver of the development of Sue B.’s popular brand and online education courses.
As a certified Ontraport consultant, Morgan is responsible for the back-end operations of SBZ Enterprise. She is passionate about making the lives of small business owners easier through efficient & effective systems. As the company’s go-to problem-solver, her love of automation and a well-organized spreadsheet allows SBZ to run like a well-oiled machine. Morgan shared her excitement for social media analytics and marketing systemization on the CreativeLive Stage in November 2014 in the course “Sell More with Instagram” and in 2015 with “Get Social: Connecting Your Business Channel’s”.
What does “Morganize” Mean?
Morgan’s backstory and her pivot from engineering to her life today [3:18]
The “One Sitting Rule” for tackling projects [13:48]
A Roadblock warning [15:26]
The basic steps to create a blogging plan [17:59]
The biggest step after a blog is posted [20:05]
Using dropbox for managing images [21:07]
Details on the SBZ graphics/posting strategy [21:43]
More graphic advice [24:49]
A chat about communication automation. [25:56]
Instagram Ads
Why you should be looking at Instagram Ads [7:06]
The first thing to do if you’re just starting with Instagram Ads [7:32]
Are you new to Instagram overall? [8:30]
Instagram Ads vs. Facebook Ads [9:15]
Message and image advice [10:08]
Instagram Story Ads [12:08]
All the details on Instagram Stories
Success Trait
Execution is everything [29:01]
Productivity/Lifestyle Tool
Dropbox – Cloud based file storage
Canva – Design program for all your online graphics
Google Drive – Cloud storage and file backup
MailChimp – Email and marketing platform
Zapier – Connect your apps and automate workflows
Recommended Reading and Listening
The Twelve Week Year by Brian P. Moran
Contact Links
If you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you. Thanks! Sue
Transcript
Hi there.
Speaker:You're listening to gift biz on rapt episode 111.
Speaker:For me,
Speaker:it's all about having a process,
Speaker:having a system and breaking things down into manageable pieces.
Speaker:Hi, this is John Lee Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,
Speaker:and you're listening to the gift to biz unwrap.
Speaker:And now is time.
Speaker:Welcome Nick gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped your source for industry specific insights and advice to develop
Speaker:and grow your business.
Speaker:And now here's your host Sue Mona height.
Speaker:Hi there.
Speaker:It's Sue and welcome to the gift is on rap podcast.
Speaker:Whether you own a brick and mortar shop sell online or
Speaker:are just getting started,
Speaker:you'll discover new insight to gain traction and to grow your
Speaker:business. And today I want to introduce you to Morgan.
Speaker:Morgan directs all business operations,
Speaker:logistics, and online automation systems.
Speaker:First social media educator,
Speaker:Cindy Zimmerman,
Speaker:since the company has started almost five years ago,
Speaker:she has been a core driver of the development of CPA's
Speaker:popular brand and educational courses.
Speaker:As a certified Ontraport consultant.
Speaker:Morgan is responsible for the backend operations of SPC and is
Speaker:passionate about making the lives of small business owners,
Speaker:efficient and effective system for love automation and a well organized
Speaker:spreadsheet allows the team to run like a well oiled machine.
Speaker:Morgan has also shared her excitement for social media analytics and
Speaker:marketing. Systemization on the creative live stage in courses called sell
Speaker:more with Instagram and get social connecting your business channels.
Speaker:She is here today to share all of her expertise with
Speaker:us, and I cannot wait to dive in Morgan.
Speaker:Welcome to the show.
Speaker:Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker:You are so welcome and I've already told you,
Speaker:we are a bunch of creatives here,
Speaker:listening and excited to hear everything about you,
Speaker:but first give us a little insight into you as a
Speaker:person through describing your motivational candle.
Speaker:If you were to help us envision what that would look
Speaker:like for you,
Speaker:what color would the candle be and what would be the
Speaker:quote? So my candle color is blush pink,
Speaker:a little softer pink color,
Speaker:and my quote is whatever you are be a good one
Speaker:by Abraham Lincoln and Abraham Lincoln.
Speaker:I'm a fan girl of,
Speaker:I love learning about presidents and history.
Speaker:So little nerd fact for you.
Speaker:And I think that this quote,
Speaker:whatever you are be a good one just means we're not
Speaker:judging who you are or what you do or what you
Speaker:love, but just make sure that you put your whole heart
Speaker:into it when you do dive into something.
Speaker:So that's my favorite quote.
Speaker:And I put it in my office.
Speaker:You that you can be with whatever you're doing.
Speaker:Exactly wonderful.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:I know you have so much information,
Speaker:so we are just going to get right to it now.
Speaker:And I have some specific questions as you and I were
Speaker:about, Oh my gosh.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:what do you talk about?
Speaker:Because you have so much,
Speaker:we've decided to dive into a couple specifically that gift biz
Speaker:listeners. I know you're going to be really interested in,
Speaker:but before we do share with us a little bit of
Speaker:how you've gotten to where you are and how you connected
Speaker:up with Sue B Zimmerman in the first place.
Speaker:Sure. So Sue has actually known me since I was a
Speaker:kid fun fact there,
Speaker:she met me when I was about nine or 10 years
Speaker:old. So you were kind Of interviewing back then.
Speaker:You just didn't know it.
Speaker:Exactly. I had no idea that I was qualifying myself after
Speaker:sleepovers over breakfast,
Speaker:right? Because you were friends with one of her daughters,
Speaker:right? Exactly.
Speaker:Yeah. I'm very good friends with one of her oldest daughters.
Speaker:And I went to camp with her.
Speaker:So I spent a lot of time in her house growing
Speaker:up. And after I started college,
Speaker:I went to school for engineering and I took a internship
Speaker:that was a little predictable and I was kind of bored.
Speaker:It was my second or third summer in the job.
Speaker:And I was stuck in a cubicle and really concerned that
Speaker:that was going to be my future.
Speaker:And so I told the Sue's daughter,
Speaker:Amanda, over dinner in Boston when summer,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I'm already two,
Speaker:three weeks into this internship and I'm bored and is this
Speaker:what work is going to be like?
Speaker:And she said,
Speaker:you're kidding me.
Speaker:You're bored.
Speaker:Call my mom.
Speaker:My mom always needs someone go work for my mom.
Speaker:So at the time Sue actually owned Scooby-Doo,
Speaker:which was our store on Cape Cod.
Speaker:And she was in her third or fourth summer there and
Speaker:was looking for a manager.
Speaker:So I quit my internship,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:gave them the notice and moved down to the Cape and
Speaker:spent time with Sue and ran the store for her.
Speaker:And at that time,
Speaker:Sue had just kind of been diving into social media.
Speaker:So this is like five years ago and was starting to
Speaker:teach workshops in her house.
Speaker:And so I helped her run those workshops and returned back
Speaker:to college.
Speaker:Like I had had a better summer than I ever thought
Speaker:that I could have,
Speaker:but not really knowing that I was expecting something bigger to
Speaker:come out of it.
Speaker:And Sue called me in October after I had settled into
Speaker:school and said,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I'm really enjoying teaching his workshops,
Speaker:but there's this thing called teaching online.
Speaker:And I want to start doing that,
Speaker:but I need help to figure out all the technical stuff,
Speaker:will you figure it out?
Speaker:And so we kind of went from there.
Speaker:So I was a junior in college and we started CPC
Speaker:Zimmerman enterprise where we teach social media online through webinars,
Speaker:through workshops who travels and speaks.
Speaker:And they have online courses and that's five years ago.
Speaker:So I went through,
Speaker:finished my college degree,
Speaker:went through grad school in engineering management.
Speaker:And I'm like you said,
Speaker:in charge of operations for our business and all of our
Speaker:project management.
Speaker:I also deal with all the technical side of what it
Speaker:is to have our business and brand online.
Speaker:So that's why we're going to kind of dive into ads
Speaker:because that's one of my major responsibilities for us And with
Speaker:her from the start.
Speaker:But you've also been with online courses because a lot of
Speaker:this has just gotten big over the last five years too.
Speaker:You were right in there in the beginning and learning with
Speaker:everybody as the whole online course scene kind of came to
Speaker:the forefront.
Speaker:Totally. And I'm completely self-taught in this space.
Speaker:So, I mean,
Speaker:it takes a lot of research and a lot of work
Speaker:in that.
Speaker:And we were able to jump onto Instagram before Instagram really
Speaker:was a thing.
Speaker:Our original sales pitch in Instagram was people saying that,
Speaker:well, it's only for my teenagers.
Speaker:How is it going to actually work for my business?
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:that was a main question that we were consistently answering.
Speaker:So we've gone from Instagram being something that we had to
Speaker:convince people of to now people finally understanding that it's a
Speaker:really, really powerful platform,
Speaker:which is cool to have gone through that whole thing over
Speaker:five years.
Speaker:Sure. All right.
Speaker:So I know that a lot of our listeners are very
Speaker:familiar with Facebook,
Speaker:clearly Facebook in a way started that way too.
Speaker:It was for the younger generation of people kind of took
Speaker:over. And I also know that a lot of our listeners
Speaker:have also had experience with Facebook ads,
Speaker:but Instagram still for a lot of us is,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:we're out there,
Speaker:we're on the platform,
Speaker:but should you use it for advertising?
Speaker:Should you not?
Speaker:Can you give us a little insight of the comparison between
Speaker:the two and when you should be using one versus another?
Speaker:Sure. So if you're already running Facebook ads and you have
Speaker:a Instagram account,
Speaker:it's a no brainer to be sharing ads on Instagram.
Speaker:And that's because Instagram is owned by Facebook.
Speaker:So it's very,
Speaker:very easy to get ads running on Instagram.
Speaker:If you're already doing it on Facebook,
Speaker:I recommend running ads on Instagram when you have a Instagram
Speaker:account, because it's one more hyperlink that you can have on
Speaker:there. So the first thing that you should really consider is
Speaker:do I have an active Instagram account?
Speaker:Am I going to decide to grow it?
Speaker:Because fun fact,
Speaker:you actually don't need an Instagram account to run an Instagram
Speaker:ad. You can run them from your Facebook business page and
Speaker:just have the account,
Speaker:not hyperlinked.
Speaker:I didn't know that yes.
Speaker:With the fact of Facebook business page,
Speaker:you can be sharing your ads on Instagram and be attracting
Speaker:people with the ad being hyperlinked.
Speaker:But you're obviously missing the opportunity to grow an Instagram account
Speaker:as well,
Speaker:where that account would be hyperlinked to.
Speaker:I suggest to take that extra step and have that Instagram
Speaker:account, because you never know when you're going to start getting
Speaker:really active on that.
Speaker:But yeah,
Speaker:you can run ads with just a business profile.
Speaker:So let's just lay the groundwork that you're thinking of running
Speaker:ads on Instagram.
Speaker:You probably ought to start an Instagram account.
Speaker:Yeah. And if you don't know anything about Instagram Morgan,
Speaker:where shall I go Head over to Sue B zimmerman.com?
Speaker:That's what we do all day long,
Speaker:teach Instagram for small business owners for creators,
Speaker:just like all of you.
Speaker:So start there.
Speaker:If you're looking,
Speaker:we have a strategy,
Speaker:a free Instagram strategy guide,
Speaker:right on super zimmerman.com.
Speaker:If you're looking to just get started on Instagram,
Speaker:but once you've laid that groundwork and started your profile,
Speaker:you can start your ads right from there.
Speaker:Okay, perfect.
Speaker:So like said,
Speaker:let's just say,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:if you haven't done it already,
Speaker:you're looking at Instagram in any way,
Speaker:get over,
Speaker:get acquainted with it.
Speaker:And I would suggest,
Speaker:and this is what I'm experiencing from my accounts.
Speaker:Morgan is I'm attracting different audiences in Facebook versus Instagram.
Speaker:And that's what I believe is the reason to run ads
Speaker:to, to both.
Speaker:Would you agree?
Speaker:Definitely. I mean,
Speaker:there's big opportunity in both places and because the ads feature
Speaker:is something that's integrated.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:you can set up an ads manager or power editor at
Speaker:the same time.
Speaker:To me,
Speaker:it's a no brainer.
Speaker:It's a,
Speaker:why not.
Speaker:I also am finding that my cost per conversion,
Speaker:I run,
Speaker:most of my ads are for conversion.
Speaker:I'm finding that my cost for conversion on Instagram is much
Speaker:lower than that of Facebook.
Speaker:When I let everything do its thing and look at the
Speaker:data afterwards that Instagram is beating Facebook with cost per leave.
Speaker:It actually happened in 14,
Speaker:out of 17 audiences in a test Iran.
Speaker:And for eight of the audience,
Speaker:the cost per lead were half of that,
Speaker:of the Facebook costs.
Speaker:Wow. So definitely something to test if you haven't done it
Speaker:already. Yeah,
Speaker:exactly. Okay.
Speaker:What about the graphics and the messaging?
Speaker:Is there something different that you should put in on each
Speaker:platform? Well,
Speaker:I would say that you just want to make sure that
Speaker:what you're putting on either place,
Speaker:Facebook or Instagram feel really native to the platform.
Speaker:So for me,
Speaker:that means using a lot of high quality images on Instagram,
Speaker:the same way that you would use it to regularly post.
Speaker:I think what's cool about Instagram is that it's not as
Speaker:busy as Facebook is.
Speaker:So, I mean,
Speaker:there are so,
Speaker:so many people on Facebook's.
Speaker:If I was starting a business tomorrow,
Speaker:I would start on Facebook,
Speaker:just point blank.
Speaker:But the cool thing about Instagram is that when you're serving
Speaker:ads there,
Speaker:it's really integrated in the newsfeed and you're not having a
Speaker:lot of busy stuff all over on the sides and the
Speaker:right side ads and stuff like that.
Speaker:So I love that ads are less noticeable and more native
Speaker:on Instagram.
Speaker:And so if you pick an image that feels natural and
Speaker:native to Instagram,
Speaker:something that's high quality and visually appealing and interesting,
Speaker:and ad just gets clicked.
Speaker:Cause people are excited to be able to click into something.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:there aren't a lot of live hyperlinks on Instagram.
Speaker:You only have one live link which is in your bio.
Speaker:So that's another reason why investing in Instagram ads make sense
Speaker:because you can have more live hyperlinks out to your website.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:Would you say that on Facebook,
Speaker:if you have an image you might be putting text over
Speaker:the image,
Speaker:that type of thing on Instagram,
Speaker:would you rely solely on the image versus putting any texts
Speaker:so that people can really see that it's a promotion?
Speaker:I'd say it's all about testing.
Speaker:I do use text overlay on Instagram and still find success
Speaker:with ads.
Speaker:I do use really graphic images on Instagram and still have
Speaker:success with them.
Speaker:When they're promoted with ads,
Speaker:you have the opportunity to try all the types of things
Speaker:that you can do with images.
Speaker:And you can also promote images that are not only square,
Speaker:but landscape.
Speaker:You can run video ads on Instagram,
Speaker:carousel ads,
Speaker:the same way as Facebook work on Instagram.
Speaker:So there's a lot of different visual interests going on.
Speaker:They also launched IgG stories,
Speaker:ads, which are ads that pop up between people's stories.
Speaker:So kind of like what they had on Snapchat.
Speaker:And that's something that a regular user can put in as
Speaker:long as the video is of the proper dimensions that it
Speaker:feels fluid with the stories.
Speaker:So there's a lot of different opportunities and putting a little
Speaker:bit of money behind things on Instagram and having great results.
Speaker:Perfect. Okay.
Speaker:And if any of you Instagram stories,
Speaker:what is that?
Speaker:I don't know what she's talking about.
Speaker:Jump back to episodes.
Speaker:Two number 109,
Speaker:where I talked directly with Suby and we covered everything about
Speaker:Instagram stories.
Speaker:So the targeting in terms of the audience targeting is pulling
Speaker:from Facebook data.
Speaker:So is it exactly the same type of thing in terms
Speaker:of the way you would set up your ads on the
Speaker:backend with the targeting?
Speaker:Exactly. All right.
Speaker:So give biz listeners what Morgan is suggesting is number one,
Speaker:although you can do it,
Speaker:it makes sense to start your Instagram account,
Speaker:if you haven't done so already.
Speaker:And then secondly,
Speaker:start testing,
Speaker:there's an audience right there available maybe new people that you
Speaker:haven't been exposed to yet,
Speaker:even if you are running Facebook ads.
Speaker:So it's not a big leap to add Instagram into the
Speaker:mix test and try it out.
Speaker:It might be a goldmine for you that you didn't know
Speaker:existed until now,
Speaker:check it out and let me know how that works for
Speaker:you. Let's talk now also because you are the one to
Speaker:do everything the best that you possibly can back to your
Speaker:quote, what do you do?
Speaker:And what is your advice for really being as productive and
Speaker:as efficient as you can when you start building your content?
Speaker:Sure. So for me,
Speaker:it's all about having a process,
Speaker:having a system and breaking things down into manageable pieces.
Speaker:So first thing that I do when I'm looking at a
Speaker:project and I really consider a content creation,
Speaker:a project or social media marketing,
Speaker:a project,
Speaker:all those different facets of your business are things that aren't
Speaker:just one task,
Speaker:but have many different steps.
Speaker:And so I think it's important to acknowledge that when you're
Speaker:working on something,
Speaker:whether or not it's an ad campaign or getting a blog
Speaker:up, that there are probably seven steps to that and breaking
Speaker:it down in that way.
Speaker:So the pieces are more manageable.
Speaker:So the first thing that I do is take the project,
Speaker:break it down into steps,
Speaker:and the steps are things that I can accomplish in one
Speaker:sitting. So first you ask yourself,
Speaker:what is one sitting for you?
Speaker:Are you someone that needs to get up and walk around
Speaker:every 15 minutes,
Speaker:then a task should really be broken down into that kind
Speaker:of size?
Speaker:Or are you someone that can plow through an hour and
Speaker:not notice that the time has passed,
Speaker:then maybe a step is a little bit of a larger
Speaker:chunk, but I like to make sure that a project gets
Speaker:broken down into tasks.
Speaker:That's my first thing.
Speaker:Okay. And when you say seven steps,
Speaker:that's what you have your system based on the way you
Speaker:do material and post everything.
Speaker:You have seven steps,
Speaker:but someone else based on the time that you would put
Speaker:it to a task,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:to your point,
Speaker:whether it's smaller time,
Speaker:longer time and the different steps based on how you post,
Speaker:are you doing video or are you doing a blog that
Speaker:goes to an image,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:all those different variables.
Speaker:So the first thing to do is figure out what your
Speaker:individual structure is.
Speaker:Is that right?
Speaker:Morgan? Yeah,
Speaker:I'd agree.
Speaker:I think it's about understanding all the pieces that are going
Speaker:to go into something before you get started.
Speaker:So roadblock doesn't come up and you don't end up putting
Speaker:up that blog post,
Speaker:because what can happen is that you forget that your blog
Speaker:needs to include a header image that you need to make
Speaker:on Canva and you get there.
Speaker:And you're like,
Speaker:well, I didn't want to go into canvas today or I,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:that's really overwhelming to me.
Speaker:And so then you don't end up putting up the content.
Speaker:So I think it's important to break it down so that
Speaker:there are as few roadblocks as possible.
Speaker:Totally agree.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:to your point about processes and systems,
Speaker:as I've started doing that more,
Speaker:just a tip I'll want your enhancement on this.
Speaker:Morgan is even if you don't know everything right at the
Speaker:beginning, start documenting what your steps are,
Speaker:because then the next article that you put up,
Speaker:you'll be all the more efficient,
Speaker:because let's talk about the header image.
Speaker:If you forgot that that's what you needed to do.
Speaker:It took more time.
Speaker:You had to edit it in the backend.
Speaker:The next time you go to put a blog post up,
Speaker:you'll know all your steps,
Speaker:and then you can follow all those steps.
Speaker:And later as you grow,
Speaker:or if you have help,
Speaker:you have a system already established.
Speaker:So it's much easier to be able to pass that project
Speaker:onto somebody else down the road,
Speaker:Completely a hundred percent.
Speaker:And it also helps you protect from having to redo things.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:for instance,
Speaker:doing this podcast,
Speaker:just recording it and getting us to live probably had four
Speaker:to five steps.
Speaker:Things like grabbing a water,
Speaker:getting your notes from today,
Speaker:pulling up the recording tool,
Speaker:making sure that your microphone was connected properly.
Speaker:Those are things that we could get to the end of
Speaker:this recording.
Speaker:So, and you could be like,
Speaker:my mic wasn't set up properly.
Speaker:I started muffly,
Speaker:wait a second.
Speaker:Do I rerecord?
Speaker:Do I have to call Morgan back?
Speaker:Am I going to preface that it's muffly is no one
Speaker:going to notice?
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:So because you put out a lot of content,
Speaker:we put out a lot of content and we always want
Speaker:to make sure that it as quality as possible.
Speaker:And so if Sue doesn't remember to plug in per Mike,
Speaker:but we do two different save,
Speaker:take one and take to a video,
Speaker:but one is Mike plugged in and one doesn't then the
Speaker:audio is inconsistent.
Speaker:So if she has a little sticky note there that reminds
Speaker:her to check that audio,
Speaker:then you're protected from wasting time down the road,
Speaker:trying to fix things.
Speaker:So quick question for you.
Speaker:So this is valuable to everybody and actionable,
Speaker:right when we're done.
Speaker:Now, if someone was doing a very basic blog,
Speaker:okay, they're just starting out.
Speaker:Can you give them three or four steps that should be
Speaker:included in their process?
Speaker:Sure. So if you're going to do a basic blog,
Speaker:the first thing that I would be deciding is how many
Speaker:blogs are you putting out per month or per quarter?
Speaker:And what are the topics going to be?
Speaker:So we do a planning phase of our blog and our
Speaker:topics are normally scheduled out 10 to 12 weeks in advance.
Speaker:But even if you're two or three topics ahead that lets
Speaker:you know what you should be mulling over.
Speaker:So once you've done that kind of calendar stage,
Speaker:then I would say your next step is writing the draft
Speaker:of the bullets that you're going to be covering,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:an outline of that blog.
Speaker:Then the next step could be actually writing the rest of
Speaker:the copy.
Speaker:Then the next step could be doing the graphics for the
Speaker:blog. And then finally I believe a step is putting the
Speaker:blog into your website and dealing with the SEO and hitting
Speaker:that publish button,
Speaker:setting up the blog physically in your site is a task
Speaker:in itself too,
Speaker:that you can end up getting bogged down in.
Speaker:So I'm not sure how many steps was that It was
Speaker:five steps.
Speaker:The steps were calendar,
Speaker:getting yourself onto some type of a posting calendar with the
Speaker:topics and whatever frequency it's going to be.
Speaker:Then doing a rough draft,
Speaker:kind of like a bullet point of what you're going to
Speaker:be talking about.
Speaker:Then go back in and fill it in.
Speaker:As you're getting closer to your posting date,
Speaker:add your graphics in and then uploading it into your,
Speaker:whether it's a WordPress site,
Speaker:whatever your platform is for publishing,
Speaker:checking all the SEO,
Speaker:all of that.
Speaker:And then I'd add another step on top of that.
Speaker:We were just getting to the point of publishing and getting
Speaker:it live.
Speaker:But you guys remember not everyone is going to see that
Speaker:blog just because you've published it.
Speaker:So this is where hosts will come in.
Speaker:Facebook posts,
Speaker:Instagram posts,
Speaker:newsletters to your customer list because you want everybody to know
Speaker:that there's a new article,
Speaker:new information that because you've done your research,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:your customers want to see that it's available for them to
Speaker:look at and to improve their business with or whatever your
Speaker:topic is.
Speaker:Totally. I feel silly that I forgot the biggest step is
Speaker:campaign for it.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:we spend probably half a day,
Speaker:a week campaigning about a blog,
Speaker:like you said,
Speaker:through writing a newsletter,
Speaker:shipping it,
Speaker:livestream Instagram,
Speaker:Facebook. Sometimes I run ads directly to that blog.
Speaker:So that's a whole other checklist.
Speaker:I completely agree with you.
Speaker:You would put that as a whole nother step.
Speaker:Yeah. Promotion.
Speaker:Perfect. And I had only asked you to get to the
Speaker:point of live.
Speaker:So, but I see so many people like why don't I
Speaker:have engagement when I'm in the comments?
Speaker:Well, nobody's seen it,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:and you kind of forget that sometimes.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Another thing that I really wanted to get to with you,
Speaker:Morgan, is I know you guys,
Speaker:you have a team,
Speaker:so you have multiple people looking at everything and producing and
Speaker:people jumping in and out based on their different tasks.
Speaker:Not all of us are like this,
Speaker:but you're super structured.
Speaker:And you have a system for handling all of the images
Speaker:because I think Sue takes a lot of the images then
Speaker:you and Rachel both have to access them.
Speaker:How has that all set up so that it's an easy
Speaker:and smooth enough system for you all three to work.
Speaker:We're really dependent on Dropbox so much as a cloud storage
Speaker:system. And that's something that we all have on our computers
Speaker:and our phones.
Speaker:So we have a specific Dropbox file that is for all
Speaker:of our brand photos.
Speaker:So any kind of professional photo shoots that we've had.
Speaker:So they're like probably eight or so photo shoots over the
Speaker:last, however many years where we have professional photos in there
Speaker:and those are the clean images.
Speaker:Nothing has been put on them,
Speaker:or there's no text,
Speaker:there's no graphic additional on it.
Speaker:It's just a place for us to be able to grab
Speaker:images. We actually use a graphic designer for our blog images.
Speaker:So what happens is,
Speaker:is once Rachel has dictated what the title of a log
Speaker:is going to be.
Speaker:I reach out to our graphic designer with our title and
Speaker:she creates a couple of different types of images.
Speaker:And this is something that you could again,
Speaker:add to your list and have be one task is not
Speaker:just the header image,
Speaker:but promotion images.
Speaker:So what I have Christina make for us is the header
Speaker:for the blog,
Speaker:the thumbnail for the YouTube.
Speaker:Cause we put out videos with our blog content and then
Speaker:I have her make a couple other things for Sue to
Speaker:use for promotion of a specific blog.
Speaker:And that would be a gift.
Speaker:So a video that she can use on Instagram that flashes
Speaker:the title that attracts attention,
Speaker:a Facebook ad sized graphic,
Speaker:which is something that has 20% text or less.
Speaker:So it's gets shared the most,
Speaker:a little bit different than the thumbnail because our thumbnail images
Speaker:have really big text and wouldn't clear that ads rule.
Speaker:And then I also have her make an Instagram square that
Speaker:someone AK SU can use on Instagram to promote the blog
Speaker:a couple of different times.
Speaker:So Sue would have a gift and a graphic and I
Speaker:would have a Facebook ad and Rachel can share the link.
Speaker:And so we have a lot of different graphics coming out
Speaker:of each additional blog.
Speaker:Those graphics are all put in Dropbox by Christina as well.
Speaker:So there are easily able to be found by everyone on
Speaker:the team.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:we have the folder of the brand images,
Speaker:so everyone could find the clean images of SU if you're
Speaker:looking for something to use on a passing day,
Speaker:or if you're looking to promote some things specific,
Speaker:we have an additional folder that's for blogging YouTubes and goes
Speaker:on each of those platforms.
Speaker:Perfect. And the one thing I want to underline for those
Speaker:of us who are still working alone,
Speaker:which is absolutely fine,
Speaker:efficiency is so important Canva that Morgan has referenced as a
Speaker:great place because it'll take one image and resize it for
Speaker:different platforms,
Speaker:but it's really smart.
Speaker:Again, Morgan,
Speaker:to your whole idea of having the steps in the processes
Speaker:so that you can follow them time.
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:if you do everything you need to do with that one
Speaker:image at the same time,
Speaker:you are saving yourself so much time.
Speaker:Even if you don't know for sure if you're going to
Speaker:use it,
Speaker:it's so much faster just to quickly get them all taken
Speaker:care of,
Speaker:put them in your own folder.
Speaker:And your system is so smooth and clean Morgan because it
Speaker:to you,
Speaker:by the way you guys there is terminology for Morgan,
Speaker:it's called more organized so that when she is with her
Speaker:processes and just making sure that everything stays nice and smooth
Speaker:and clean in terms of processes.
Speaker:So, but just again,
Speaker:back to that point is once you're working with an image,
Speaker:just take care of every single size that you need with
Speaker:that image.
Speaker:I think the other thing that maybe I don't even have
Speaker:to point out,
Speaker:but I will is you always keep that initial image clean.
Speaker:You don't affect that image.
Speaker:I'm sure Christina pulls it out,
Speaker:makes a copy and uses it.
Speaker:So those original images are always there ready and accessible for
Speaker:another time.
Speaker:And haven't been distorted in any way.
Speaker:Exactly. And to go back to making all of the different
Speaker:versions, you may not use it right then,
Speaker:but you may use them in the future.
Speaker:So we make the gift graphics every week,
Speaker:but sometimes Sue may use a standalone image or a video
Speaker:or something to promote it instead of this graphic.
Speaker:But then if I go and make an ad to promote
Speaker:that blog down the road,
Speaker:which I just did last week,
Speaker:I put together a video ad that is promoting a couple
Speaker:of different blogs and those images were already done.
Speaker:So when I finally decided,
Speaker:Hmm, maybe we should nurture our list with a few different
Speaker:blogs and share that via Facebook ads and those images were
Speaker:already done because such a large part of producing ads is
Speaker:deciding what your image your video is going to be,
Speaker:but those were already created.
Speaker:So I didn't really have to talk to anyone else on
Speaker:the team in order to run those ads.
Speaker:Wonderful. Okay.
Speaker:I think we're going to have to cut this part off
Speaker:here. We're not really going to have time to do a
Speaker:deep dive into automating your marketing,
Speaker:but can you give just a little overview and some advice
Speaker:for our listeners on why that's valuable first,
Speaker:explain what,
Speaker:what I'm talking about,
Speaker:what that means,
Speaker:and then why it makes sense to do Sure.
Speaker:So automation,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:small business automation or marketing automation,
Speaker:or being able to use tools that can make a specific
Speaker:process run by itself,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:run automatically.
Speaker:And the reason why that's helpful,
Speaker:especially with a small business is because there are certain actions
Speaker:that can be done without you touching them.
Speaker:So for instance,
Speaker:something like an email follow-up or a delivery of a ebook
Speaker:or sending a membership course access,
Speaker:those things could be done manually and you could get an
Speaker:order, have to manually type in what they are going to
Speaker:receive and manually send them an email,
Speaker:or it could all happen automatically.
Speaker:There's major power in that because you're getting time back from
Speaker:dealing with that kind of delivery.
Speaker:Perfect. And I think a lot of you,
Speaker:I know are on email lists,
Speaker:such as constant contact,
Speaker:some of the others that are out there,
Speaker:but I think constant contact is a big one and they
Speaker:have also recognized how important automation is that particular platform has
Speaker:some limitations as you go up,
Speaker:different platforms have different availabilities,
Speaker:but if you are on something like constant contact,
Speaker:not some of the more advanced ones like you're using a
Speaker:Morgan or that I'm using,
Speaker:but what are a couple of the others?
Speaker:I send our clients to MailChimp a lot to get started.
Speaker:You can have a free account with under 2000 contacts or
Speaker:you can pay $10 a month to have automated emails,
Speaker:automated workflows set up.
Speaker:So I always start clients in MailChimp.
Speaker:And then I end up heading over to Ontraport after there,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:a couple of years in business and really looking for that
Speaker:extra info,
Speaker:but another tool that's really cool that can have some automation
Speaker:is Zapier Z a P I E R.
Speaker:I hope I always say it,
Speaker:right. I always say Zapier.
Speaker:And it's a tool that allows you to connect different platforms
Speaker:online. So for instance,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:receive a email from Google,
Speaker:add the person's contact to a Google doc.
Speaker:So you're able to automate tasks between different tools.
Speaker:So I use it for someone signs up for a webinar,
Speaker:add them to my email list in Ontraport or someone decides
Speaker:to do a free 15 minute call with Sue,
Speaker:add them into my email marketing system.
Speaker:So that's a really cool tool.
Speaker:That's pretty inexpensive that allows you to connect certain things and
Speaker:automate what you're doing.
Speaker:And there are hundreds of different combinations I recommend checking out.
Speaker:That's perfect.
Speaker:Another option for those people who are selling products,
Speaker:when you have a new customer come in,
Speaker:it's a great way to connect either through email or through
Speaker:Zapier. Thank you for your business.
Speaker:A little bit more about us as a company,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:whatever, maybe some of that onboarding.
Speaker:So another use for this type of thing as well.
Speaker:Exactly. All right.
Speaker:You are the productivity genius.
Speaker:So I am so excited to move into the reflection section
Speaker:with you because we're going to grab some other goodies.
Speaker:I know,
Speaker:but you,
Speaker:as a person,
Speaker:what do you think it is that has made you so
Speaker:successful in terms of being able to just one-on-one connect with
Speaker:the automation processes and creating systems and all of that?
Speaker:Sure. So I really think that execution is everything and being
Speaker:able to problem solve and be resourceful has really affected how
Speaker:I've been able to go through building this business,
Speaker:mainly because there's so many different roadblocks and often people are
Speaker:scared of tools or scared to research.
Speaker:And I Google everything.
Speaker:And I know that people,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you Google,
Speaker:if you're looking to read a restaurant review or something,
Speaker:but I Google very,
Speaker:very specific technical questions or what I'm looking for solutions for
Speaker:the business,
Speaker:and always end up finding something,
Speaker:Rachel, always jokes that,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:Morgan's the one that to go to the second page of
Speaker:Google, but being that resourceful and I'm not scared to solve
Speaker:a problem,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:helps us get through more confusing situations,
Speaker:Executing and being resourceful and not letting it stop you.
Speaker:Right, right.
Speaker:As you're moving forward.
Speaker:Okay. So we've talked about a lot of tools,
Speaker:Dropbox, Canva,
Speaker:Zapier MailChimp.
Speaker:Is there another tool that we haven't hit on that you
Speaker:think would be valuable to talk about right now?
Speaker:Another tool that I use every single day is Google drive.
Speaker:So if you have a Gmail email,
Speaker:which many of us do drive as something that's free,
Speaker:that comes with your email.
Speaker:And basically the reason why I love Google drive is because
Speaker:multiple people can work on documents at the same time and
Speaker:documents auto-save.
Speaker:So there are many different types of documents and drives things
Speaker:that are as simple as a word document,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:just something that you're writing in or a form or a
Speaker:slide decks,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:like presentations are all in Google drive.
Speaker:So they're all in cloud storage.
Speaker:So you can access them on your phone,
Speaker:which it's amazing.
Speaker:The amount of things that I can do just in my
Speaker:car, on the phone.
Speaker:And you can have many people edit them and it auto
Speaker:saves and shows those versions.
Speaker:If you're working with a VA or you have a team,
Speaker:or you want your husband to read the email that you've
Speaker:been working on,
Speaker:it's really easy to share and have someone edit and be
Speaker:able to revert back their issues.
Speaker:So I love Google drive and we use it every single
Speaker:day. Perfect.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I've just put the podcast production schedule,
Speaker:like, you know,
Speaker:here's who we've invited,
Speaker:here's, who's scheduled,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:then do we have their photo,
Speaker:like all of that in a drive document.
Speaker:And I'm embarrassed to say it's the first time I'm really
Speaker:in a real big business way using Google drive and I'm
Speaker:loving it.
Speaker:Yeah. I love to manage spreadsheets like that or financial goals,
Speaker:or we communicate with our graphic designer through documents on drive.
Speaker:So it's really,
Speaker:really powerful to be able to go share it and edit
Speaker:it on the go and access it from your phone and
Speaker:from an app.
Speaker:Perfect. In a book lately that you think we should direct
Speaker:our listeners to.
Speaker:Yeah. So I'm just starting to read the 12 week year
Speaker:and I was already blown away just from the first few
Speaker:chapters. It's about to produce what you can in a quarter
Speaker:that you would in a year,
Speaker:but it's really has to do with the mentality behind the
Speaker:end of the year and the drive that the actual,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:month of November and December gives you.
Speaker:So having that same drive at the end of 12 weeks
Speaker:instead. So I highly recommend checking it out.
Speaker:And when I read in the first section,
Speaker:they said,
Speaker:knowledge is in power.
Speaker:Execution is power and fully what I believe that,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:there's a lot of information out here.
Speaker:There's a lot of stuff for you to be exposed to,
Speaker:but a small business is a person it's an emotional thing,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:with needs and strengths and weaknesses.
Speaker:And what will really drive you forward is when you actually
Speaker:execute on what you're learning.
Speaker:So when I saw that in the first chapter,
Speaker:I was like,
Speaker:that's the quote that I've been looking for forever execution is
Speaker:Power, either.
Speaker:So many courses that are available that are great courses,
Speaker:right? And just the nature of purchasing and going through a
Speaker:course is an activity,
Speaker:which is great.
Speaker:But so many people get stuck there.
Speaker:Then they'll go and buy another course.
Speaker:And then they'll go to a conference,
Speaker:but they're never actually taking it back and taking action and
Speaker:applying it to their business.
Speaker:So really valuable information there with that who wrote the 12
Speaker:week year,
Speaker:Brian Moran,
Speaker:wonderful And give his listeners just as you're listening to the
Speaker:podcast today,
Speaker:you can also listen to audio books with ease.
Speaker:I'm not sure if this book is available on audible,
Speaker:but many books are,
Speaker:and I've teamed up with audible for you to be able
Speaker:to get an audio book for free on me.
Speaker:All you need to do is go to gift biz,
Speaker:book.com and make your selection.
Speaker:Okay. I now Morgan invite you to dare to dream.
Speaker:I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.
Speaker:It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.
Speaker:So this is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable
Speaker:Heights that you would wish to obtain.
Speaker:Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What is inside your box?
Speaker:It was really hard for me to do.
Speaker:I love this question.
Speaker:I hope that I can continue to have the freedom that
Speaker:I have right now.
Speaker:So there's a lot of fear around entrepreneurship and being able
Speaker:to maintain the freedom that it gives you.
Speaker:And so I hope that I have this kind of flexibility
Speaker:and freedom to work wherever I am with whoever can connect
Speaker:with me online.
Speaker:I hope I have that for as long as I can.
Speaker:So for me,
Speaker:it's working from anywhere and being able to travel and see
Speaker:the world while I do it.
Speaker:That's the dream for me.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:it's so nice that you found fulfillment already at such a
Speaker:young age,
Speaker:and you're such an expert also at such a young age
Speaker:and recognizing it already so often,
Speaker:we're always wanting well,
Speaker:what's next move forward,
Speaker:move forward.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you are sitting in time and recognizing,
Speaker:and really appreciating what you already have today.
Speaker:And it's only going to get better from here,
Speaker:Morgan, you know?
Speaker:Yay. I can't wait to see As a reminder,
Speaker:those of you who might be new to the show,
Speaker:I have a show notes page that gives all of Morgan's
Speaker:links, additional information,
Speaker:as well as a rundown of all of the different things
Speaker:that we've talked about here.
Speaker:And it's all times.
Speaker:So if you need to go to a certain section because
Speaker:you need to know a little bit more again about those
Speaker:images, don't necessarily need to hear the whole show.
Speaker:Again, all of that is sitting for you over on the
Speaker:show notes page at gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com. All right,
Speaker:I think we are all set,
Speaker:Morgan. You have not disappointed.
Speaker:I knew you were going to deliver excellent here and you
Speaker:absolutely have.
Speaker:I really appreciate your taking the time this morning.
Speaker:And I love your whole concept about freedom and happiness.
Speaker:You have a lot going on for you this year,
Speaker:gift biz listeners.
Speaker:I'm going to share that Morgan's getting a little bit later
Speaker:this year.
Speaker:So, so excited and happy for you that that is happening.
Speaker:And I wish you all the best in the future.
Speaker:I know I'll be talking to you.
Speaker:I'm not like signing off,
Speaker:like I'm never going to talk to you again,
Speaker:but all of our wish for you is that you continue
Speaker:on the path that you're already on and may your candle
Speaker:always burn bright.
Speaker:Thanks for having me.
Speaker:Today's show is sponsored by the ribbon print company,
Speaker:looking for a new income source for your gift business.
Speaker:Customization is more popular now than ever brand your product of
Speaker:your logo or print a happy birthday.
Speaker:Jessica forbid to add to a gift,
Speaker:right? A checkout it's almost done right in your shop or
Speaker:cross studio in seconds.
Speaker:Check out the ribbon print company.com
Speaker:for more information.
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