Bridget Willard | SaaS Marketing Agency

Author: Bridget Willard

  • Why It’s Important to Be Part of Your Local Community – Even the Press

    So I’ve lived here in San Antonio for just over a year now and have been featured in two articles by San Antonio Magazines. Why? I’m convinced it is because of my active and local presence in the online and offline community. And when I say “presence,” I mean this: I interact with the local community online. This means I comment on posts from businesses on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and, of course, Twitter. 

    I’m also a member of quite a few local community groups on Facebook. This is all very helpful when the press wants to reach out for a story. They have deadlines, too.

    So why should you be part of your local community and take advantage of seemingly fluff pieces and press opportunities?

    San Antonio Report’s Where I Live Series

    Shortly before Fiesta happened here in 2021 (scheduled for June last year), I was contacted through Instagram by the San Antonio Report. They have a series called “Where I Live” that talks about the different neighborhoods here in Alamo City. Of course, since I live in Lavaca, that wasn’t covered yet. Right place. Right time.

    That article was published on May 1, 2021, and I love that I had just put up my Fiesta banner for the balcony photo!

    “The Where I Live series aims to showcase our diverse city and region by spotlighting its many vibrant neighborhoods. Each week a local resident invites us over and lets us in on what makes their neighborhood special. Have we been to your neighborhood yet? Get in touch to share your story.” San Antonio Report 

    Voyage’s Inspiring Stories Series

    Back in April of 2021, I was contacted by ​​Stephanie Rodriguez of Voyage LA to be part of their Inspiring Stories features. I mentioned that I moved to San Antonio and then was contacted Camila Sanchez in December. That article was published on January 5, 2022.  

    Is it an in-depth piece from a local news station? No. And by the way, most of those news interviews are paid promotions. Personal branding and brand awareness for your company don’t come cheaply, so take advantage of these types of media opportunities when you can. 

    Below are five tips on how to be a good subject for a press or podcast interview.

    Tip 1 – Try Not to Copy/Paste Your Same Boring Story

    Each press interview is different. Some will call and interview over the phone like the San Antonio Report did. Voyage sent me a link to answer questions. Sure, I’ve answered “my story” questions before like for Cloudways, WPFounders, and a ton of video podcasts. It would be easy to copy and paste from a Google Doc. But we evolve, our story evolves, and the questions are different. Cutting and pasting answers will be really boring. That’s the opposite of interesting.

    When you have an opportunity for an interview by the press – especially in your local community – localize your answers as much as possible. 

    For example, The San Antonio Report asked me why I chose my neighborhood. This is an opportunity for me to name-drop my favorite Mexican Restaurant.

    “I chose to live in Lavaca because of its walkability and proximity to Rosario’s. While on vacation, I went to Rosario’s after a suggestion from Google maps based on a restaurant I liked in California, and it did not disappoint. The Griselda’s tacos are amazing – so good I knew I had to live nearby so I could visit often. I like that I can go sit at the bar and have lunch and some drinks, chat with the bartenders, and watch some football.“

    The Voyage chose to ask me about my struggle as a business owner – which I am always happy to talk about. That’s always an opportunity for an interesting answer.

    “There have been tears. Many tears. And I have a therapist to work through these things as well as a few close friends in the business. You can’t control what happens within a client’s internal structure. You can’t convince them to believe in Twitter. What you can do, is understand yourself.” Bridget Willard

    Tip 2 – Be Helpful, Be Available, and Be Interesting 

    Back in the day when I worked in construction, I signed up on HARO (Help a Reporter Out) to be a source. I may do that again. I should do that again. The point is that being a helpful, available, and interesting source in your local community will only increase press inquiries. It also doesn’t hurt your brand awareness to be listed in the “news” section of a Google Search. I’m personally working on that as well. (Twitter won’t verify your account unless you’re “noteworthy.” Apparently, I’m not “noteworthy” enough.)

    Making friends with the press isn’t a bad thing. Join your local Chamber, attend volunteer and ribbon-cutting events. Have distinct opinions that make you a good interview – and this can also go for podcasting. But that would be another topic. If you don’t have an opinion, there’s nothing to talk about. I used to joke with my friend Jen Miller about how our show was a bit boring since we agree too often – except for the Oxford Comma. (Don’t even get me started. Or her. HA!)

    Tip 3 – Recommend Other Sources for Local Interviews

    It could be said that this is a side tip for Tip 2. Be helpful by recommending other people the press can interview. For Voyage, I recommended Fat Dog Creatives and Zen, Sweat and Cheers. For San Antonio Report, I’ve made suggestions for “Where I Work” and introductions through email. I’ve also done with this when I see podcasters looking for guests. Suggest other people, they’ll always be happy to invite you as well. Whichever order it comes, be helpful. 

    Tip 4 – Ensure You Have Background Info At the Ready

    Whether it’s an official Press Kit or an up-to-date bio in the third person on your website, be sure to have background info at the ready. Most press interviews – and podcasts – will want your official headshot, additional interesting photos, as well as short or long bios. It’s much easier and reads more consistently across the internet if you’re using the same language and style. This is where copy/paste works well for you.

    Tip 5 – Good Interviewees Share Their Interviews On Social Media

    If you want to be a good interviewee (or a good podcast guest) then you’ll want to share those interviews online. And not just once, either. Keep sharing those links. Do it in different ways. Mix up the share with quotes, not just headlines. Write a blog post linking to that show (or those like I’m doing now). As altruistic as we all want to believe we are, reaching out to guests is a way of extending our brand. Why wouldn’t it be the same with the local community press? 

    How Will You Be Part of Your Local Community and Press in 2022?

    How much you want to be found online depends upon you. Twitter, interviews, organic backlinks, name dropping is all part of your long-term goals of brand recognition. I started my first Twitter account in 2007. All of this didn’t happen overnight. So how will you start the ball rolling?

  • How Many People Use The X Platform (Twitter) in San Antonio?

    Since I’ve moved to San Antonio in 2020, I’ve been following and talking to businesses here. Actually, I’ve been managing Rhonda Negard’s Twitter account since before I moved. I’m always building Twitter Lists for local businesses, so my heart has been in Alamo City for quite a while. But I digress.

    As I talk to business owners and local folks, I’ve been quite surprised at how few businesses use Twitter here in San Antonio or believe it to be useful in their marketing stack.

    So I thought I would do a bit of digging to see what the potential audience is for those in San Antonio on Twitter. I used Census data and information from Pew Research.

    So, How Many People Use Twitter in San Antonio?

    According to the Census, 1,547,253 people live in San Antonio, Texas, 25% of which are under the age of 18. That leaves 1,160,439 adults.

    Pew Research shows that 22% of American adults use Twitter.

    It’s reasonable, then, to project that 255,296 adults in San Antonio use Twitter.

    Why Should I Care About Twitter Users?

    Twitter users are a different demographic. People who choose Twitter are slightly different than other social media users, according to Pew Research. They spend time on Twitter to read and engage. They’re learning, researching. They are looking to make connections. I have had the same experience managing client Twitter accounts since 2009.

    You don’t have to care about Twitter. But you should ask yourself if you care about that demographic. Can your business afford to not reach 250,000 people who are highly educated with a higher income than the US population at large? Can your San Antonio business afford to ignore the social media users who believe in true diversity and inclusion?

    “The analysis indicates that the 22% of American adults who use Twitter are representative of the broader population in certain ways, but not others. Twitter users are younger, more likely to identify as Democrats, more highly educated and have higher incomes than U.S. adults overall. Twitter users also differ from the broader population on some key social issues. For instance, Twitter users are somewhat more likely to say that immigrants strengthen rather than weaken the country and to see evidence of racial and gender-based inequalities in society. But on other subjects, the views of Twitter users are not dramatically different from those expressed by all U.S. adults.” Pew Research

    Do You Think 250k People are Tweeting in San Antonio?

    Of course not. That’s only an estimate based upon the Census data available to us and Pew Research’s 22%. Thanks to privacy laws, it’s not entirely possible to know how many people in San Antonio have Twitter accounts, or how many are duplicated (I have three accounts myself). 

    About 10% of people (users) create most (80%) of the tweets. However, that doesn’t mean that people aren’t looking at Twitter.

    People see screenshots of tweets in text messages, on Facebook, and on Instagram. It’s also possible to view tweets in a Google search, as well as hear and see tweets read aloud on talk radio, sports radio, network, and cable TV, and so on.

    According to this site that reports real-time data, San Antonio is Number 10 in cities that tweet at the time of this writing (December 15, 2021, at 1:57 PM Central Time). There are more tweets here right now than in Austin or San Diego. Houston and Dallas are a bit ahead of us. 

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    How Many People Tweet in Austin, Houston, or Dallas?

    If we keep the 22% of adults number who tweet, we can easily compare these numbers to other cities in Texas by their census data. San Antonio is only second to Houston. 

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    How Many People Tweet in the Greater San Antonio Area?

    The Greater San Antonio area comprised of Bexar, Comal, and Guadalupe County has a population of about 2.3 million people. Of those, 1.7 million are adults, and likey there are 383,538 people in the Greater San Antonio Area who tweet. That’s a lot of eyeballs not seeing your business on Twitter.

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    Who Tweets in San Antonio?

    Almost every part of the government, including utilities, museums, universities, big companies, and news stations and anchors use Twitter. Other people who tweet are small businesses, social media & marketing folks, podcasters & gamers, as well as politicians & realtors. 

    Do a few hashtag searches and you’re bound to find some folks to follow and engage with. With this SparkToro audience, the top three accounts people are engaged with include Keep SA Real, SA Tomorrow, and Liberty Bar.

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    It’s interesting that the most engaging podcast is Making it Up as I Go, City of San Antonio YouTube Channel, and My SA as far as news goes.

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    SparkToro’s Listing of Top Twitter Accounts that Talk about San Antonio 

    Top 20 Accounts to Follow in San Antonio, TX

    1. https://twitter.com/mySA
    2. https://twitter.com/COSAGOV
    3. https://twitter.com/SAcurrent
    4. https://twitter.com/ksatnews
    5. https://twitter.com/News4SA
    6. https://twitter.com/SanAntonioMag
    7. https://twitter.com/VisitSanAntonio
    8. https://twitter.com/KENS5
    9. https://twitter.com/PuroSanAntonio
    10. https://twitter.com/FiestaSA
    11. https://twitter.com/centrosa
    12. https://twitter.com/sachamber
    13. https://twitter.com/HistoricPearl
    14. https://twitter.com/SABizJournal
    15. https://twitter.com/SA2020
    16. https://twitter.com/HEB
    17. https://twitter.com/BexarCounty
    18. https://twitter.com/KABBFOX29
    19. https://twitter.com/SAReport
    20. https://twitter.com/JulianCastro

    Is there a Hashtag for San Antonio?

    Yes of course there are local hashtags for San Antonio. The hashtag I most commonly use for San Antonio is #SATX. Though, I use #SomosSATX sometimes. People also use #SanAntonio, #GoSpursGo, #Spurs, #UTSA, and #KSATNews.

    According to SparkToro’s database, 1,293 people in the Greater San Antonio Area use the #SATX hashtag. That shows plenty of opportunities since 380,000 adults are estimated to use Twitter here. 

    What does that mean for you or your business? 

    It means you have a huge potential to grow your audience on social and help your SEO efforts.

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    Are You Ready to Learn Twitter?

    The numbers speak for themselves and your San Antonio-based business should be using Twitter in its marketing efforts. So the only question is: are you ready to learn Twitter?

    Along with my book on Amazon, I have a free Twitter course for small businesses. So there’s no reason not to start learning to use Twitter for your small business today.

    What do you have to lose?

    More Links

  • Bridget’s 10 Commandments of Marketing for Success in 2022 and Beyond

    Well, the new year is approaching and you’re probably already thinking of ways you can optimize your business for 2022 and beyond. Much of optimizing your business comes down to not neglecting marketing. Double negatives, I know. But if there are business sins, then maybe there are some commandments as well. Let’s reinforce the positive.

    *No actual clients are shamed or targeted in this article. All data in my brain comes from years of marketing consulting, teaching, and managing client accounts.  

    Without Further Ado, Bridget’s Ten Commandments of Marketing

    • You shall have a business plan.
    • You shall choose a niche.
    • You shall have marketing goals.
    • You shall not compare your goals to a competitor.
    • You shall stay focused.
    • You shall have a website.
    • You shall send email marketing campaigns.
    • You shall choose at least one social media platform.
    • You shall provide context for metrics.
    • You shall trust your marketing team.

    Marketing Commandment 1 – You shall have a business plan.

    Having a business plan isn’t a “nice-to-have,” as Warren Laine-Naida would put it. It’s a must-have. Your business plan doesn’t have to be in a gold-embellished, leather binder. But it needs to exist. The plan will be used as your decision-making guide. 

    Should you start a TikTok account?

    Answer: how does it support your business plan?

    Should you hire another developer?

    Answer: how does it support your business plan?

    Do you need a business plan as a solopreneur? 

    As solopreneurs, we probably should have a formal business plan. It depends upon how focused you are and how much you remember. Another consideration is how you want your business to live on should something happen to you. The business plan allows another person to keep your business going.

    Honestly, at the time of the writing, I don’t have a formal business plan. With that said, the SBA has several templates available as Word Docs (which I just uploaded to my Google Drive) so we can all get our paperwork-act together.

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    “A good business plan guides you through each stage of starting and managing your business. You’ll use your business plan as a roadmap for how to structure, run, and grow your new business. It’s a way to think through the key elements of your business.” SBA.gov

    Marketing Commandment 2 – You shall choose a niche.

    If everyone is your customer, no one is your customer. It’s not good enough to want “more sales,” or “more clients,” or “more money.” If you don’t have a niche or a specialization, your marketing will be unfocused – at best. It’ll be way too easy to run after any opportunity instead of the right one for you.

    I was just talking to a friend about my hair stylist’s Instagram Account: Hair By Frank. He’s fantastic, local, gives great cuts, styles, and – of course, color. You won’t see photos of my hair anytime soon on his account, though. Why? Because though he takes clients like me who need to color their gray hair, he specializes in balayage.

    Market for the customer you want; not the ones you may have.

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    In my case, I have a client who is a real estate professional. The messaging on my website isn’t necessarily directed toward that client. It doesn’t mean that I don’t take the client – we can all make our own decisions. It means we write the copy on our website, blogs, and social profiles, to attract the industry we want. All tech? Maybe just FinTech. All small businesses? Maybe just WordPress Plugins.

    “By aligning your products or services perfectly with a small group of current and potential customers, you encourage word of mouth and positive reviews which can carry your business into a larger, potentially more profitable market.” HubSpot

    Marketing Commandment 3 – You shall have marketing goals.

    Marketing goals are so important. Why are you posting on Twitter? What do you want out of that TikTok video? If you don’t have a goal, you won’t know the best way to achieve it. Duh, Bridget.

    Seriously, though. It’s easy to listen to experts who say you should focus on a certain age group (that’s not a persona) and, therefore, [insert trending platform here]. Your marketing goals should be tied to your business goals. 

    That marketing flywheel is more efficient in the long run than your funnels. Attract. Engage. Delight. When done right, the marketing flywheel becomes self-perpetuating. Wonderful. You still need marketing goals. I prefer to have quarterly goals. Most marketing efforts need at least three months to start showing a lift.

    • Q1 Business Goal 2022: Increase signups by 40%.
    • Q1 2022 Marketing Goal: Increase Twitter Profile Visits by 10%
    • Supporting Tactic: Increase Tweets to 3x a day from 1x a day.

    Marketing Commandment 4 – You shall not compare your goals to a competitor.

    This is the biggest sin in all of business marketing. You have no idea what their business goals are. You don’t know their marketing budget. You don’t understand their office politics. It’s possible that the CEO isn’t taking the CMO’s advice. It’s possible that the company is throwing money at growth marketing to please their VC firms. 

    One of the biggest marketing sins is presuming that your competitor is a) your competitor, b) is on equal footing as you, and c) is profitable. 

    Many businesses purposely run low-profit margins to avoid tax liability.

    Compare your marketing efforts to a) your marketing goals which should support b) your business goals. 

    Marketing Commandment 5 – You shall stay focused.

    Lemmings – all following one another jumping off the TikTok cliff. I’m not against TikTok by any means. If you have the time to produce videos, go live, and engage with your audience do it – if it supports your business goals. 

    I know for a fact that small business owners can get away with spending 10 minutes a day on Twitter. Can you produce a video in ten minutes and upload it to TikTok? No? How much time? How often do you have to post? Can you hire an intern? How will you compare success? Did you optimize your TikTok bio so that your profile link goes to your website or store?

    It’s okay to have a few marketing goals. It’s fun to experiment. But getting sidetracked instead of sticking with your marketing goals is where I see business owners die on the road of the distracted squirrel, chasing the newest shiny object. Marketing isn’t ideas. Marketing is consistent, focused work, over time.

    Marketing Commandment 6 – You shall have a website.

    A website is a valuable piece of marketing collateral. You want it to be clean, easy-to-read – especially on mobile devices, and easy to navigate. Facebook is not a website. Instagram is not a website. You need to own your website and keep it up-to-date.

    From WordPress.com to WIX to Squarespace, your business has options. My own website is built in WordPress, hosted on SiteDistrict, and uses * theme, which Rhonda Negard used for a child theme. It’s achievable. 

    You need a home page, about page, and contact page. Bonus points for blogging once a month. If you need some free blogging prompts, consider downloading and installing the free Starter Pack for Launch With Words. I talk more about what you need for your website build in this blog post.

    *Affiliate link. , I get a small fee. Thanks.

    Marketing Commandment 7 – You shall send email marketing campaigns.

    Email marketing campaigns are so important. I know. Everything is important. But these people on your segmented lists actually want to hear from you. It’s almost reassuring. It’s true that I sometimes delete the emails without reading them. But 9/10 I read the email. Why? Because it speaks to my needs as a business owner. Because I know he’s not full of crap. Because I trust him as a business owner.

    I struggle to send email marketing campaigns regularly. That has more to do with my internal doubt than the value I provide. So, do it anyway.  

    Marketing Commandment 8 – You shall choose at least one social media platform.

    Claim all of your profiles. Seriously. I’m looking at you San Antonio, TX. Get that Twitter account. I know many businesses in Alamo City are resistant to Twitter. Don’t be. (Also, I have a free course.) But I digress.

    Go claim all of your accounts: LinkedIn Company Page, Facebook Company Page, Instagram, Twitter, Google’s Business Profile, TikTok, Snapchat, and even Reddit if you must. Sidenote: Reddit is great for Cannabiz. 

    With that said, Marketing Commandment number 8 is to choose at least one social media platform and be active. If you want to add platforms, then add one per quarter. It takes time to find your voice and, as the small business owner, you have to put the time in yourself if you don’t have the budget to go full bore with a vendor or employee.

    Marketing Commandment 9 – You shall provide context for metrics.

    Metrics by themselves are misleading at best. Metrics are a snapshot of a period of time – in the past. They only give clues to your marketing behavior in the past. If you schedule your tweets to be sent every day at 9:00 AM, the best time to send a tweet will be daily at 9:00 AM. If you only use Yelp as a digital marketing platform, then your best source of leads will be Yelp.

    This sounds so obvious and, perhaps, a bit demeaning, but I don’t mean it to sound this way. This dependency on Google Analytics as an oracle from God is amazing to me. 

    A past client didn’t think the website was working because people called her.

    The question we asked was this:

    “How did they find your phone number.”

    All data needs context. All metrics need a story. And none of them work independently of one another. Email Marketing helps Twitter engagement. LinkedIn helps website views. Billboards help Facebook Ads work.  

    Marketing Commandment 10 – You shall trust your marketing team.

    Once you settle on an expert that you partner with or hire, it’s vital that you trust them. Clear communication, setting expectations, and benchmarking goals are important factors in a successful relationship with your marketing professional. 

    Going from consultant to consulting and rapidly switching tactics and strategy as fast as Tina Turner changes costumes at a concert (dating myself big time) is going to steal your momentum, confuse your audience, and deplete your marketing budget.

    What’s the Call to Action, Bridget?

    The call to action is to act. Start the business plan. Map out your quarterly goals. Keep a journal of your thoughts and record your results. Email me. I’m happy to hear your thoughts. 

    I need a Marketing Consultation. Are you available?

    Yes, I make time available Tuesday through Thursday for paid marketing consultations. You can

  • How I Work — My Twitter Management Process

    I decided to write a bit more about my processes here at Bridget Willard, LLC. I started as a freelancer back in 2017, and now that I have vendors and an LLC, I’m a marketing agency. But I still do the work — one of my mottos. In the last article of this series, I talked about my SEO copywriting services.

    Maybe you heard through the grapevine that Bridget Willard manages Twitter accounts for brands. It’s true. I shed light on my process in this article.

    With all of my being, I believe Twitter to be the best social media platform for driving traffic to your website. I wrote The Definitive Guide to Twitter Marketing which is available as a blog post or a book. I also offer a free course if you want to learn to do it better yourself.

    Do You Discount Your Twitter Packages?

    Aside from businesses in San Antonio, TX getting 20% off automatically, I do not discount my Twitter packages. They’re already competitively priced. 

    Do You Have a Pitch Deck for your Twitter Management?

    The answer, for now, is no. I do have a video though — made a while back while I was blonde and heavier and a Californian.

    Do You Promise Results from Twitter Management?

    Since each client has different marketing budgets and business goals, it’s a challenge to promise results. With that said, my hope is that after three months of the Twitter Pro Plan, there is a 10% lift to website traffic. Together, we can work to promote the right things to the right audience to support your business goals. 

    How Do You Feel About Emjoi?

    It’s controversial but I don’t believe in using emoji as a replacement for a word. Emoji present accessibility issues for low-vision folks as well as aged eyes since they don’t enlarge. Sadly, there are too many tweets with emoji as bullet points. Emoji are great for decoration. GIFs are better for many reasons — one of which is that it adds to the length of the tweet. 

    How Do You Feel About Hashtags?

    Most people think hashtags are more powerful than they are. What they’re good for is discovery. So you’ll want to use keyword-like words. Think about general categories. They’re also good for threading conversations like for a Twitter chat.

    Do You Take Competing Products?

    While I manage your Twitter marketing, I don’t take on competing products.

    What Is the Turnaround Time for Curation?

    I’d rather underpromise and over-deliver. Let’s say seven working days.

    How Is the Client Twitter Calendar Built?

    Both Pro and Basic Plans include the editorial calendar on Google Sheets. Every third tweet goes to your website, so I defer to the copy written on the blog, landing page, or YouTube descriptions and reviews.

    The other two tweets are curated based upon topics adjacent to your business. For example, if your customer base is in Insurance, that will be one of the topics. The third topic across all of my clients is the professional development category. This includes tweets from accounts like Harvard Business Review on leadership, technology, and remote work.

    Do You Write All of the Tweets?

    Yes. I write all of the tweets. The two tweets that come from other accounts are generally RT-style retweets. When writing tweets that lead to your website, I defer to the copy there. Meaning, I find a quote from the words on your website and copy/passte with a link and hashtags. I may slightly edit to create a call to action.

    It’s important that my clients understand they have me personally working on their accounts. When you hire me you get me; you don’t get an intern and you don’t get automation. 

    I use Hootsuite to schedule your tweets and Twitter’s iOS app for monitoring. So I will need access to your account.

    How Many Hours Do You Work On My Twitter Account?

    I don’t charge by the hour because that would be cost-prohibitive. Since I am managing many accounts, I curate at the same time. In my job costing efforts, I know that I spend about two hours a day on each account. Social media isn’t a 9-5 job so I check notifications during my waking hours of 7:00 AM – 10:00 PM Central (Texas) Time. 

    What About Twitter Management Reporting?

    All Twitter clients get basic reporting. It’s a Google Sheet with basic stats that come from Twitter’s internal analytics. I share insights in real-time in Slack/Email/WhatsApp/Discord (however we communicate). This style works best since I’m brought on as another member of the marketing team. Your Marketing Manager will likely put together better-looking reports. 

    What Does Client Onboarding Look Like?

    Once we’ve agreed to bring you on as a Twitter Management client for the Twitter Pro or Basic Package, I’ll send you an invoice. Once the invoice is paid, I’ll begin building the Twitter Editorial Calendar. Twitter Lite clients don’t have an editorial calendar. It’s entirely organic.

    This editorial calendar is in a Google Sheet and each month will be a new tab. One of the benefits of this process is that the Google Sheet provides a history of social posts (aside from organic, in-the-moment Tweets) should you need them for your compliance department.

    The editorial calendar is built in two parts. The first is the first 15 days of the month and the second half is for the balance of the month. As soon as the editorial calendar is finished, and email it to you for review and /or approval. This is generally turned into the client a few days before they should be scheduled. 

    My Twitter Management Onboarding Process

    • Sales Call
    • Invoice
    • First Half of the Editorial Calendar
    • Approval of Tweets
    • Scheduling
    • Monitoring
    • Second Half of the Editorial Calendar
    • Approval of Tweets
    • Scheduling
    • Monitoring
    • Invoice 7 days before the end of the month for the next month.

    Are You Accepting Twitter Management Clients?

    I will always chat with a prospective client to see if we’re a match. In my free 20 min sales call we can talk about your goals and budget. I have time to work on your business, do you?

    “I’ve learned so much having Bridget manage my Twitter account. I was kicking and screaming about hating Twitter for years. Why was I so resistant? I wish I had paid more attention earlier in our working relationship so I could have be so much further ahead. There’s real value in her work, and the greatest value is what she teaches you and me to do with our accounts while she’s doing all the real ‘work’ in them.” Rhonda Negard

  • Moving Marketing Budget From Facebook to Twitter — A Case Study

    Are you frustrated with Instagram? How’s your Facebook Page working out for you? Did you get distracted from blogging by making TikTok videos? It happens to the best of us. 

    In marketing, it’s important to not only know who your audience is but where they spend time. Frankly, I’ve never believed that anyone spends time on Facebook. Facebook has always had a post-and-go culture. This is why commenting as a business is super important. 

    Sometimes, however, that’s not a good enough reason to stay with a channel that is underperforming for your business goals. This was the case with my long-time client, Team Clayton out of Glendale, Arizona.

    Who is the Business?

    Team Clayton is a RE/MAX Professional and has been serving the greater Phoenix area for quite some time. It’s a family business that prides itself on relationships. Their website says, 

    “Each member of Team Clayton brings their own perspective in serving different generations of clients, with 45 years of combined experience. As Tom puts it, ‘You get three for the price of one.’”

    What Was Team Clayton Doing Before?

    I’ve known Kyle Clayton — thanks to Amy Donohue and Twitter — for over ten years. I was lucky enough to have finally met him in person in 2016! Kyle himself is a naturally gifted marketer and entrepreneur. 

    So when Team Clayton got busy in the fall of 2019 and needed to outsource Facebook Page Management with a custom plan, they came to me first.

    We set up a plan to post to their Facebook Page six times a week including native video posts, Facebook Live, virtual home tours, as well as photos and links to listings. We also included sharing other people’s posts that are helpful and relevant including local events and restaurants in Phoenix. 

    Of course, I also commented and liked other local business pages and commented as appropriate.

    We also experimented with $20 boosted posts. This is tricky for real estate because it is a special ad category.

    What Was the Problem?

    Everything was going well with Facebook Page management and strategy until it wasn’t. Our average monthly research (impressions) for Q42019 was 1,919. Q12020-Q42020 was 5,030. (Q42019-Q42020 was 5,968) There’s nothing wrong with those numbers.

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    Then the pandemic hit. It changed how people interacted online. We had an election. We had Zoom fatigue. Facebook Exodus. New Privacy Laws affecting Apple and Facebook. 

    It was a perfect storm that brought our average reach from almost 6,000 to 624. (Six hundred twenty-four. That’s not a typo.) It dropped to 277 in May. What the what??? Not okay.

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    They all came to a point where Kyle and I had a meeting and were like, “hmmm do you like these results? I don’t.” Twinning of course — as marketers do. 

    Across all of my clients, I became very cynical about Facebook results. We looked at the numbers and I said, 

    “What if we shifted some budget to Twitter as an experiment for one month?”

    We tried adding Twitter in March and immediately had 10,300 impressions. March’s reach for our Facebook Page was 389. That was a compelling difference. 

    What Was the Solution?

    We stumbled on something that even I doubted would work for a local realtor. Of course, Team Clayton has an Instagram account and Facebook Page. But I had no idea that the first month would be so dramatic. Of course, it leveled out — numbers always go up when there was such little activity before.

    We reduced the Facebook plan to my Lite plan and added Twitter Lite. We kept Facebook in the mix until June when we realized it wasn’t the best use of our marketing budget.

    Kyle added the native videos from Facebook to YouTube, I had them transcribed, and we started tweeting those out along with more of the same type of content that we used on Twitter. 

    We shifted that Facebook Page budget to creating blog posts from YouTube videos.

    What Were the Results?

    Who doesn’t love almost 593.44% growth?

    Going from 600 to almost 4000? Yes, please!

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    The average impressions for Q12021 is 3,581, Q22021 is 5,298, and Q32021 is 4,107. For this year through September of 2021, the average number of impressions on Twitter is 4,329. Nine months of stability, basically.

    That amount of impressions is a number we can live with and only build upon as we continue a cohesive marketing strategy.

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    What Does Team Clayton’s Marketing Look Like Now?

    Team Clayton hired a great agency for a redesign of their website and advertising. So the Facebook Page and Instagram accounts are completely in their capable hands. And they continue their in-house newsletter and local events as well as the Month of Miracles drive!

    Partnering with Bridget Willard, LLC, Team Clayton and I are using the YouTube library we built over the last year or so for blog posts. Of course, we’re sharing them on Twitter!

    I’m honored to partner with a great client like Team Clayton. Seriously, my heart is full.

    Background Notes for the Team Clayton Case Study

    What are Impressions?

    When you pay for a billboard, you’re paying by the potential number of eyeballs. For the San Antonio Designated Marketing Area (DMA), ClearChannel Outdoor reports that their billboard, “Reaches 87% of the DMA A18+ population weekly (567.2 MM impressions).” In Advertising speak, that’s 567.2 million impressions.

    It’s the same on social media. If you don’t count the other reasons why you should engage with your audience online, impressions is what you’re paying for on social media.

    So, where is your audience? If they’re driving on I-35 daily and you’re a roofing company, maybe the billboard is the best use. If they’re scrolling on Twitter while watching Comedy Central, then Twitter is the best use of your marketing budget. 

    Ideally, you’ll want to use a combination of channels with the primary goal being driving traffic to your website. What happens after that depends upon your sales goals and lead intake process.

    Why is Twitter Important for Business Marketing?

    There are essentially five reasons why Twitter is important for any business.

    • Distributing Content & SEO 
    • Building Relationships
    • Content Curation 
    • Customer Service 
    • Market Insights 

    Are You Ready to Learn Twitter?

    I have a free Twitter course that takes less than ten hours over two days. By watching each video and implementing the steps, you will see a rise in your traffic.

    Are You Ready to Outsource Twitter?

    Awesome, I have three plans that are detailed on my pricing page. Take a look, set aside some budget, and let’s chat. I only take a handful of clients since I personally manage your account.