Marketing Happy Hour - BONUS! Where Are They Now?: Karly Thompson and Kyrsten Schlyer of Millennial Social Media Marketing

Starting point is 00:00:00 Carly and Kirsten, we're so excited to have you guys on the show again. My goodness, you've been on the podcast and I think you were on Clubhouse as well. So you guys are three timers for Marketing Happy Hour. Welcome back. How are you guys? Good. We're happy to be back. Good, good. Well, of course it's Marketing Happy Hour. So we have to know what your go-to happy hour drink is. Did it change since the last time we talked? What are you guys sipping on recently? Oh, definitely an espresso martini. Like anywhere that I can get one, that is my drink of choice. I don't really drink as often now anymore because of like having a baby makes you lightweight. I think I would just say maybe like a glass of white wine, like a Chardonnay. Oh, always love a good glass of white. That's like one of my go-tos too. Like Cassie said, we're super excited to have you back on the show. We know

Starting point is 00:00:52 that you've been up to a lot since we last spoke. So we're excited to share that with our audience. But tell us just a little bit about what you've been up to since we last talked to you. Did you guys, you know, launch anything new? What inspired those decisions? Let us in on the nitty gritty of where you are now. Wow. I mean, one, lots of ups and downs like every, you know, business does, but we are so grateful to be where we are today. Millennial has essentially kind of grown to working with nationwide brands now, like very large brands, which we're super excited about. We started our business really specializing in small businesses. And here we are. And now we're working with nationwide brands. And then we also have

Starting point is 00:01:40 launched a new kind of section of our business where we can essentially help people a la carte, whether that's a one-on-one like consulting session or whether that's down, getting a downloadable or anything to help you. If you can't obviously afford monthly social media management, we've really realized that our passion is helping everyone, not just people who can afford us. So we launched that and it's been going so well. And we have actually just surpassed 30,000 followers on Instagram. And we're beyond, beyond thankful for our community who supports us and the people who just drive our passion to keep doing what we're doing. And I guess upcoming is what we are going to start shifting our focus on is kind of creating a social media course, a something that people can really apply and essentially become experts like us for their own business.

Starting point is 00:02:37 So we will be working on that hopefully later in the year. That's awesome. Yeah. We've loved watching you guys just grow and evolve over the years and super excited to continue to see what you guys have coming up and you're working on, but would love to hear you kind of teased a couple things already, but do you have a favorite project that you've had the chance to work on recently, whether for yourselves or for one of your clients? Ooh. Okay. So that's kind of tough. Um, I feel like we have so much fun when we go to shoot with any of our clients. Like we usually leave and look at each other and we're like, how is this our job? How is this what we're doing? Um, I also think something really

Starting point is 00:03:18 big that's changed in the last three years is in the beginning, we were essentially taking on clients that wanted to work with us and whether necessarily we thought like we aligned with them. If we thought that we could, you know, meet our goals and deliver product for them, i.e. content, we were so happy to work with them. Whereas now I think we're really searching for clients that we truly align with. And I think that has been a big change for us. So we do find so much joy with that. We do have a larger product-based client though, that we started working with pretty recently. And I think that has been super fun for us because working, you know, a lot of our

Starting point is 00:04:01 clients are service-based and it's amazing, But actually getting to like sit and just create the content ourselves and in a studio and with a videographer and stuff, it's just like a whole different experience for us with our business. Yeah, I think Kirsten and I have really enjoyed taking the backseat on the actual doing the photography and videography and being more of the creative direction and letting our good friend Cam kind of, he does commercial photography and videography. He is so talented. And like, we've really enjoyed that. We're like, oh, wow, this is great. So we've had so much fun with this project. That is so cool to hear. And you guys have just been killing it. And Cassie and I are always like, wow, look at these new graphics and look at these new photos that they're coming out with all the time. So kudos to you guys on

Starting point is 00:04:49 that. You've talked a little bit about helping other people continue to develop their skill sets and social media and become experts like yourselves. But I'm curious to hear how you guys both continue to develop your skill set in those areas as well. What's something that you'd like kind of recommend to listeners to continue developing those sets? Definitely don't think, you know, at all, because I feel like we learn something new every single day. I mean, there's times that like our assistant or intern will come in and be like, Oh my gosh, I just saw this on social media last night. And and will tell us about something and we'll sit there and learn so much. I think it's really important to keep an open mind and make sure that you don't kind of put yourself in this bubble of being like, I figured it out.

Starting point is 00:05:36 I know what I'm doing. I think us growing so much on social media has definitely given us some confidence in what we're doing. And it's given us the ability to show our clients and potential clients, like if we stick to this plan and if we can execute these things, like your chances of growth are much higher. But I do think a lot of people get in a bubble and they just get really stagnant. Even with like our downloadables and our PDFs, I feel like we're constantly talking about

Starting point is 00:06:04 how can we update them? What new things can we add to our storefront? Because social media is constantly changing. I mean, in the past three weeks, we've had a new platform come out that so many people joined. And now we're already seeing people on Instagram saying like, are you still on threads?

Starting point is 00:06:22 Do you think threads is going to last? So there's a lot of navigating like the new things still on threads? Do you think threads is going to last? So there's a lot of navigating like the new things happening on social media and kind of picking and choosing what you see value in and what you don't. Yeah, I definitely think in terms of growth, I definitely think there's a lot of misinformation out there. And Kirsten and I have done our best to try to provide the most accurate information. But the biggest learning curve that we've ever discovered is it's not a one size fits all. So like growth strategy is going to be so different depending on what your platform is, what your business is, like whatever it may be. And it's like exactly what Kirsten said,

Starting point is 00:07:02 there's so many things that are constantly changing and evolving. And it's like exactly what Kirsten said, there's so many things that are constantly changing and evolving. And it's important to test all of it. So like Kirsten and I, I think we were so busy in the beginning of our business, we were like, so busy with so many clients, we weren't delegating much of our work, we didn't have the time to really sit down and search trends and things like that. And you know, we all have learning moments. And that was one of ours. So when I was actually on maternity leave, we actually had some downtime to actually and in the beginning of this year, we had some downtime to actually step back and the number one source I would say is TikTok. TikTok has the most incredible like hacks, tips,

Starting point is 00:07:42 tricks for growth for Instagram and for TikTok, but mainly Instagram, a lot of the like algorithm knowledge I get from there. Also, it's important to follow the CEO of Instagram because every time there is a new update or a new algorithm change, he's the very first one to speak about it and explain the information behind it. And then the third thing to back all that up is try it, test it. So Kirsten and I used our business page as kind of like our little hamster or like test hamster. And we try it, we try out any new things that we learn for about a month to three months to see how it does. And that's when we find out what works. And then we use that on our clients and then it works for

Starting point is 00:08:21 our clients. And I think that's the best way to go to about, go about it. It's not just ignore the things that you see. For example, when I started seeing keywords, I ignored it for a little while because it, some people were saying it's not true. Some people were saying that, Oh, this is just like word of mouth. No one knows that this is actually the new algorithm, like update, whatever. So I didn't want to try it because I didn't trust it. I didn't believe it. But then we finally got the courage. Well, let's try it on our account because it's safe to do it on us instead of a client. And so I think just really testing things out and seeing what works best for you. Yeah, that's such great advice. We've had a couple guests who have said similar things to where they say, whether it's your personal account or a business account, if

Starting point is 00:09:05 you're running client accounts as well, just testing first and seeing kind of what makes sense so that you can go to this client and say, Hey, we have data to back this up, or here's kind of an example of how this has worked. So that's great advice. You both already shared kind of some of your learnings for clients and some things that you're testing out for the agency, but would love to hear how you guys have kind of grown or what you've learned individually, whether it's in the world of marketing and running your business or a career wise, what, what have you been learning recently? So much. Um, I think something Carly probably agrees with me on this is there is so much that is out

Starting point is 00:09:47 of your control. So like we're in control of when we do things and when we turn things in and how we create things, but also like you're creating content for someone else's business. So they have the ultimate yes or no. And I think there's times where we maybe don't necessarily fight hard enough to say, we think we should do something a specific way because we see that it worked on our page or on other client pages. So I think learning to just realize that things are out of your control and there's only so much you can do. There's only so many hours in a day. Not everything is going to be the most viral worthy piece of content. And then I think something else that's really big. And we, I feel like we have said this from the beginning, Carly's actually been really good at saying this, but one door closes and another

Starting point is 00:10:41 door opens that is so much bigger. You know, sometimes you feel like you're holding on to something because it seems like it's the best thing for you and your business at the moment. And then like months down the line, something changes and you're like, oh my gosh, if this hadn't happened, we wouldn't be where we are. So I think it's like accepting that there are highs and lows of business and take advantage of those lows. And when you're less busy, because we did it and it helped us blow up our business. I couldn't literally wish what you just said is exactly what I was going to say is yeah, take advantage of quiet times or dead times in your business. I hate the word failure. So, but I'm just going to use it in this instance because I don't believe in failure. I think there's just lows and highs, but take

Starting point is 00:11:29 advantage of those failure moments or those low moments and really work, take advantage of that time to whether it's deep dive into your business or, you know, improve upon something, learn something new, and it really will take you to the next level and a lot quicker than you could ever imagine. The other thing too, I feel like that I have learned is I feel like the business of marketing and the business of social media, it is, you know, it's always going to be ups and downs in the sense of clientele. So whether you're a social media manager yourself, or you're an an agency owner or you do SEO website, whatever it is that you do, you obviously, you're kind of,

Starting point is 00:12:09 I feel like always gonna fight the fight of you're gonna have your long-term clients, clients that come and go. It is what it is. And that you shouldn't let your passion of what you do ride on those relationships because you can't control that. Like Kirsten said, it's out of your control

Starting point is 00:12:25 and we're in a, we're in an industry where it's going to happen forever. Like you can be an agency owner for 20, 30 years and you are going to lose lots of clients. You're going to find lots of new clients. It's something you literally cannot control about the business. If you ultimately do not want, don't like it or can't handle it. You know, I've always told myself, I guess I'll just go be a barista because it's more comfortable. Like, I don't know, do I want to choose the safest route? No, but you know, I kind of always joke about that in my mind, like, oh, that's safe. But I think just coming to terms in my own mind that it's the industry, it's always going to be this way. You can't take it personally and just have fun with it while you

Starting point is 00:13:03 can. And every time you get a new client, just have fun and be creative and be passionate and not worry about, you know, oh, how long am I going to have them? Am I going to lose them? Am I going to mess up? I think our biggest learning curve this year is you can't focus on the what ifs or the negatives or anything like that. Just focus on one day at a time. And we're so lucky to do what we do for a living, truly.

Starting point is 00:13:25 That's awesome. And to hear how grateful you guys are to just be doing what you're doing is really awesome too. Like, I think a lot of people struggle to get there in their lives or struggle to have that mindset. Maybe they have, you know, maybe they're thinking every day, Oh, I hate my job. I hate it, whatever. But there's a flip that you can do to have this attitude of gratitude. It's so cheesy, but it's true. And I love that you guys have. So kudos on that for sure. So at the end of the day, even, you know, we're business owners, we're working in marketing, but we're a lot more than that personally. So I just love to hear from our past guests and guests in general. How have you grown

Starting point is 00:14:06 personally since the last time we spoke, Carly? We know that you became a mother in that time. So what's that journey been like for you? Yeah, I feel like I've grown wiser. I definitely think when people say, you know, kid makes you grow up so quickly, having a baby makes you grow up so quickly having a baby makes you grow up overnight and that's exactly true that's what happened to me it made me look at life so differently so I definitely just feel like I'm a lot wiser not with my like decision making that's one of them but mainly with my thought processes the way I let things get to me the way I think about things and internalize things for my business. I definitely think prior to having a baby, I feel like, you know, I was more focused on success or, you know, the, the

Starting point is 00:14:52 money in my business was making. And like, when you have a baby, it's like the opposite. Now I'm like, wow. Like the fact that I can have the freedom to be with my baby, that's incredible. So how can I continue this journey and keep it this way? And, you know, how can I, you know, now I'm more focused on enjoying the process and making my clients happy versus even caring about how many clients I have or whatever it may be. It's just really made me look at life completely differently. And I feel like it's made me more of a laid back, you know, found co-founder. I feel like, I hope Kirsten feels that because I feel it. I'm like, I just feel a little bit more laid back on, you know, found co founder, I feel like, I hope Kirsten feels that because I feel it. I'm like, I just feel a little bit more laid back on, you know, you know, what the way I think

Starting point is 00:15:31 about our clients and our contracts and things like that, and the work that we deliver. Because I feel like before having a baby, I don't know if I was just like micromanaging or obsessing over it. But having a baby makes you kind of take a backseat and everything and know, and you realize that everything's out of your control. Truly. That's awesome. No great advice for sure. There's a lot of just unknowns as we've already discussed in this episode in the world of marketing. And so having that thick skin, but also the intention of it's okay when things happen and just making the most out of it and being resilient and flexible too, I think is so important. Well, guys, this has been awesome

Starting point is 00:16:18 having you back on and just hearing about your current experiences and everything you have going on in your business recently, but where can everyone follow along with you on social media, both individually, but also with millennial itself too. So we have our business page. Our handle is millennial SM and the M is for marketing. Um, I feel like we're sometimes hard to find because people usually say that we spelled millennial incorrectly um but we didn't and then honestly that's really where we do everything from um I am a really bad social media manager because I don't use Instagram personally but Carly does and Carly has a page that you can definitely follow. Yes. You can find me at Carly Ann Thompson, Carly with a K.

Starting point is 00:17:17 And we do have a TikTok, just not the active on it, but we would love to grow it. So, and it's the same handle as our Instagram, which is millennial SM and then Marketing. That is our TikTok handle as well, where we also share Instagram growth tips and content tips and things for small business owners. Amazing. Okay. And tell us about your downloadable. What is it and where can we get that as well? Yeah. So we actually have more than one downloadable and we're working on a really big one. It's kind of like our weekend evening projects whenever we have the time to do it. But there is a link in our bio to our stand store and you can download some of our like favorite Canva templates that we've created. We have some like process downloadables. I think that's definitely been our most popular one. It kind of walks you through a client inquiry

Starting point is 00:18:06 to like onboarding them, like from their initial point of reaching out to you to like signing a contract. And we're working on one that will be like from the contract and beyond. And then also on there, we have a spot to book calls just to chat with us. So you essentially get a certain amount of time to ask us anything that you want. We will give out all of our secrets. And then we even have a bigger call that you can book with us where we'll help you build out a strategy. Essentially, we'll do everything that we would do if you were a management client. We just give you all the tools to do it yourself. So I think that's something that would be super helpful to someone who just doesn't have the budget to hire a social media team or who maybe

Starting point is 00:18:50 has the time, but just doesn't have the knowledge to do it themselves. Awesome. Amazing. Thank you for that. Yeah, definitely follow Carly and Kirsten's business. If you are thinking of starting a social media brand, if you currently currently do or even if you just run social for a corporate company there's a lot of amazing insights I learned so much from your guys's social so definitely go follow along but thank you both for coming on today and just updating us on all things millennial and we'll definitely have you on again down the road to update us even further so thanks for joining us today thank you thank you guys

Marketing Happy Hour - BONUS! Where Are They Now?: Karly Thompson and Kyrsten Schlyer of Millennial Social Media Marketing

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