Impressions - January/February 2024 - 34

JW: You know, the worst sentence-and a sentence
that is also epidemic-is, " Th at won't
work for me, because, well, that just won't
work. " Every time you hear yourself saying
this or thinking this, I want you to stop dead
in your tracks and say, " Is that really true? " And
if you're fi ghting for a reason why it's true, ask
yourself, why am I fi ghting for this? Why am I
fi ghting for this to be hard? I've worked with
small business owners for I don't know how
many years. I understand we have roadblocks.
We have tiny little things that get in our way.
We have big, juicy things that get in our way.
But the worst thing you can do is just write
something off as something that won't work
for you because you don't know how to do it,
or because there's some sort of small barrier.
It will work for you. You may think, " I can't be
the face of my business, because... " But why
can't you? Or is there somebody else on-site
who can? Or can you hire someone who can?
Can you hire infl uencers? Or let's go back to
you. Why can't you? What's really the problem
here?
AC: I think that's a super powerful tool you
have there. Just stop, take a deep breath, as
it were. Like you were saying earlier, the big
guys, they also have their disadvantages. You
wouldn't think it, right? But they have their
challenges as well. Everyone does.
JW: If you go to Apple's Instagram or Nike's
Instagram, you know what they have there?
iPhone photos! I know because I can spot portrait
mode from a mile away. Th ey're iPhone
photos that they're posting. It's not all expensive
professional photography. And why are they
doing that? Because they want to look more
like the little people. And why do they want
to look more like the little people? Because
that's what the audience wants.
AC: Right, they can aff ord the most expensive
studio photos that money can buy, and they
don't. So yeah, that's super powerful. I'm really
glad you brought that up... meanwhile, changing
gears a little and getting a little deeper into
the nuts and bolts of social media marketing,
I know part of your approach as you describe
it involves breaking the process down into
constituent parts. I've also heard you use the
metaphor of a " funnel. " I wonder if you could
explain how that works.
JW: Yeah. So, you've got fi rst and foremost the
very top of the funnel...think the big, wide
opening at the top. I want [you] to shove as
much into that funnel as possible for your ideal
clients or people who might be interested
in your stuff ...this is where " growth " content
goes. Its purpose is not to have a sale. It's not
to get someone to click the link in your bio
or shop. It's just to get new eyeballs. If you
think about it, if you...go to a website, and
you've never been there before, you've got all
these apprehensions in your mind, right? Like,
is this real? Is this just drop shipped? Is this
going to be a quality experience? Where's my
money going? Is this coming from the other
side of the planet? Is it going to take a million
years? We're distrusting. We're unsure, so it's
important that [your company] have multiple
touch points with its audience to soothe
those worries so that they feel more comfortable
making a purchase.
So, we have this growth content. Th at's the
funny stuff . It's lighthearted. It doesn't have
a sales pitch in it. Th en, as people follow you,
that's where they start to see " nurture " content.
Th is is where you go, " Hey? You're safe with
me. You can trust me. Now look how nice these
products are. Look at all these other people
who like these products. We start weaving in
" social proof " [evidence that other people have
purchased and found value in a product or
service off ered by your business]. Now we're
creating an actual community. We're creating
an actual relationship with our followers. We're
not just posting product shots. We're not just
being silly and fun all the time.
Finally, we have " sales. " And remember, people
are more likely to make a purchase if they
have a deadline. Th ere's sales psychology there.
Th at's why we have Black Friday sales. Th at's
why we have coupons that expire. If a coupon
never expired, the coupon wouldn't do its job as
well...Th is is where we actually push to make
a sale with the people we've been nurturing.
So, you've got these three diff erent types of
content. Ideally, you're putting up content in
all these little buckets throughout the week,
so you're always growing, nurturing and selling
all the time. Once you get good at it, yeah,
there's going to be some crossover. But I fi nd
for small business owners when they're learning
how to do this at fi rst, if you can keep them
segregated in your mind, you can check that
box a lot easier.
AC: I suppose it varies dramatically. But what
kind of frequency do you think is best for this
sort of thing? I'm thinking if you have a specifi
c number, it's a lot easier to meet your goals
than to wonder, " Oh, have I done enough this
week or not? "
Jenna takes a moment from
her day to create some quick
content of her own. Don't
feel like you have to spend
huge amounts of time or be
overly polished when staying in
touch with your customers. Photo
courtesy of Alyssa Dawson
P.34
ImpressionsMagazine.com Jan./Feb. 2024
JW: I'm a big fan of measurable goals. I totally
agree. If you can turn out one post a week,
and that's your max capacity, do one post a
week, though I would also get some systems
going in your business so that you can go faster.
Whatever you do, stay consistent. Don't not
do it because it's not enough. It's still going to
be worth it. [Th at said] strategically speaking,
more is more. We used to go for quality over
quantity when it came to content. Now it's
quantity rules. So, we need to fi gure out ways
to make content quickly. When assessing a
content strategy, I always make sure there are
at least one or two buckets of content in there
that are really quick and easy to make. When
you're a small business owner doing it all by
yourself or someone on your team is doing it,
you need to build in stuff like that. You need to
make sure some of it is really easy to make. So,
in answer to your question, start with whatever
you can start with, then move to three, then
move to fi ve and see how fi ve feels. Th en start
tracking how your content is doing and what's
working the best. At my agency, a social media
management agency, we give all our clients fi ve
to seven posts a week . 
To learn more about Jenna and her company Parkdale
Republic or to check out Jenna's " Shiny New Clients "
podcast, go to parkdalerepublic.com. To hear the
rest of Adam Cort's conversation with Jenna, go
to impressionsmagazine.com.
http://www.parkdalerepublic.com http://www.impressionsmagazine.com http://www.ImpressionsMagazine.com
Impressions - January/February 2024

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