How to Grow Your Brand on Social Media

Larry Roberts [00:00:09]:

What is happening, everybody? I'm Larry Roberts.

Sara Lohse [00:00:12]:

And I'm Sara Lohse, and this is Branded, your comprehensive guide to creative branding.

Larry Roberts [00:00:16]:

And on take 3 of this episode, we're gonna be taking a deep dive into social media.

Sara Lohse [00:00:24]:

You you know how much we both love it when it's taken us 3 attempts to even start talking about it.

Larry Roberts [00:00:31]:

Yeah. Well, let's okay. Let's again. Let's just do it

Sara Lohse [00:00:34]:

again. Oh, you have nothing to say about it either? Yeah. Same.

Larry Roberts [00:00:39]:

No. But seriously, man, social media, it's It it's something that we have to do. And, you know, while I'm sitting here talking about it, I will be the 1st to say that I don't Host nearly as regularly as I should.

Sara Lohse [00:00:55]:

Oh, me neither. And it's funny. Someone has asked me, like, what's. How do you promote your podcast on social media? And I'll be like, do not look at mine, and I will actually, like, point them to other people's To be like, oh, do what they're doing.

Larry Roberts [00:01:10]:

Yeah. They do amazing. Yeah. They do an amazing job.

Sara Lohse [00:01:13]:

Yeah. One of our clients actually, cast hosted by Leah and Joanna. They're one of the examples I give because they do great.

Larry Roberts [00:01:22]:

They do. They build up anticipation for each and every sold with nice quote cards and Yeah. And additional information building up to the episodes that they drop. They do a especially on LinkedIn.

Sara Lohse [00:01:34]:

Yeah. Like like, that's, like, their main platform. So Yeah. They are all over it, and we're just like, oh, that's smart. We should try that. Meanwhile, We're supposed to be the experts.

Larry Roberts [00:01:44]:

It's it's and and you know what? As a testament to our expertness, I'm I'm also a very professional speaker. Our expertness is demonstrated not only with Women's Share, but another one of our clients, DJ Alojo does an amazing job too.

Sara Lohse [00:02:01]:

He really does. Yeah. I'm I'm I'm super impressed with him because he really took his show and with it. We we helped him launch and did the 1st couple episodes and really built it out for him, but then he's just been, like, alright. I got this, guys, and has just gone and ran with it

Larry Roberts [00:02:16]:

and has done such

Sara Lohse [00:02:17]:

Great job. Meanwhile, did either of us promote the last episode that went out?

Larry Roberts [00:02:22]:

For our show?

Sara Lohse [00:02:22]:

Yeah. I don't think so.

Larry Roberts [00:02:24]:

I know I built Some reels for us to use.

Sara Lohse [00:02:27]:

We did post them.

Larry Roberts [00:02:28]:

What is today? This is what are we recording on Thursday? Our show came out Tuesday. Yeah. So we're probably gonna we're probably gonna finish recording this episode. I know, Sharon. Maybe publish a couple of reels that, you know, we spent the time to create. Uh-huh. But, I mean, that's that's kinda where it's headed. It's so hard to sit there and make that commitment to post, each and every day, In in some instances, multiple times a day.

Larry Roberts [00:02:53]:

And it's funny because even before we connected today to do this recording, I was doing Human things like putting out the trash for the trash guys on Thursday morning, and I was out of my garage breaking down boxes. And what was I listening to? I was listening to a Gary Vaynerchuk video on YouTube, and what was he talking about? He was talking about Yeah. He was talking about posting on social media, How he posts over 60 times a day.

Sara Lohse [00:03:19]:

That's too many.

Larry Roberts [00:03:21]:

Well, For the vast majority of the world, yes, that's too many. And we don't take into account so many times that he has a massive team, And he spends tens of 1,000, if not 100 of 1,000 of dollars a month just on social media. But But

Sara Lohse [00:03:37]:

How how many things do you possibly have to say in a day?

Larry Roberts [00:03:42]:

Well and and, you know, one of the things that, a lot of people ask lot of people ask that same question, and a lot of it boils down to the fact that you could say the same thing because there is a massive chance That the same people aren't going to see that same content. You could post it 12 times a day, and odds are different people are going to see it at different points throughout the day. And that's something that and and it's something that we just don't really take into consideration. We go, oh, I've already posted that, or I posted it on this Platform over here. I can't post the same thing on this platform over here. Now at the same time, each platform is designed in a certain way with their own proprietary algorithms, and they're specifically designed for a particular audience. So posting the exact same content on multiple platforms May not give you that return on impact that we talk about so often, but it shouldn't stop you in your tracks from doing it anyways, from posting something to promote your brand or promote your business or promote yourself, and That's kinda what led to this conversation in the 1st place. It wasn't that we wanna get on here and and and embarrass ourselves for not posting as regularly as we should or scold any of our listeners for not posting regularly either, but we were having a discussion about what do we post on social media.

Larry Roberts [00:05:02]:

And I think it was interesting as we got deeper into that conversation, the transformation that at least my social media has seen over the years.

Sara Lohse [00:05:09]:

Yeah. I feel like people when they have their own company, like, it's something that is basically just them. So for me, I have favorite daughter media. You have Red Hat Media. People make the decision to either create social profiles specifically for their brand or not, and I chose to do it. So I So favorite daughter media has basically everything but Twitter, x, whatever you wanna call it. It has its own LinkedIn, its own Instagram, its own Facebook So that I don't have to feel like I'm hitting my friends with just, like, marketing and, like, brand content constantly even though I basically share everything I post anyway.

Larry Roberts [00:05:48]:

Sure.

Sara Lohse [00:05:49]:

But you did it differently. You didn't create social profiles that you really use for Red Hat Media. So your personal, like, page has basically become your brand page.

Larry Roberts [00:06:01]:

Yeah. And now, the only place where you will find a Red Hat Media social media profile or page is on Facebook. I do have a page there, But I don't use it regularly. You know? I I don't post to it regularly. Sometimes I'll dual post. When I post on Facebook or Instagram, I'll dual post on Red Hat Media as well.

Sara Lohse [00:06:19]:

I remember we had a conversation where you're like, I need to start doing that. I'm going to change the handle, make it match, and I'm gonna start really using it, and we did not do that.

Larry Roberts [00:06:28]:

No. No. You know? And I think this goes back to to a previous episode where we're talking about getting that, maybe not so positive feedback from time to time, and this is another instance of where we're exposing ourselves. And if if you look back, I used to do quite a few reels, quite a few TikToks out there. Not quite a few, but I I I started doing the whole TikTok gig too, but I did quite a few reels. And in all honesty, the engagement on those reels was fairly good. Couple Up was really good, but I still stopped.

Sara Lohse [00:07:01]:

Yeah.

Larry Roberts [00:07:02]:

And one of the biggest reasons that I stop is because I do have that stupid voice back here going, bro, don't don't do nobody wants to hear you give that take on that particular subject. No one cares. No one cares what you have to say about that. And a lot of times, that voice is overwhelming, and I do go, well, I'll I'll do it some other time, and it ends up not happening. But that's a different tangent that I'm going on there as compared to what you were talking about and How we use our social media profiles.

Sara Lohse [00:07:30]:

I was gonna say I feel like some people use social media as, like, a sales platform, Which I don't do, and I don't think, in my opinion, it's that effective. I feel like you need to make the connections with prospects and potential clients and your, like, your industry, all of it, you need to make those connections in person whether it's at a conference, a networking event, what have you, your social media should just kind of be where you build that community around your brand, and it should be where you're talking to people who already know you and just sharing more about what's going on, what are you doing now, what are you working on, like, what's going on, within the company, what new projects, how'd you get there, telling stories, but it shouldn't necessarily be, like, people are going to find me Via social media, it should be I found these people. Let me bring them into social media.

Larry Roberts [00:08:28]:

Yeah. I I definitely dig that, and and we're seeing that transition more and more now that we're coming out of, you know, the pandemic and that sort of thing. We're we're starting to see where People are emphasizing getting back into real networking, person to person networking, in person networking. Going back to kind of what we were talking about before where you're using your your social media for your brand or vice versa, if you were to go through, please don't, my Facebook and look at, for instance, my photos. If you go to the photos and you start scrolling way down, You're gonna see there was a time when it was all personal stuff. I mean, there's karate pictures and there's 4 wheeling pictures and there's camping pictures and there's Partying pictures, and there's probably more partying pictures and and all kind there's raptor pictures and all kinds of cool stuff, but you don't see that on my page anymore. And to be honest, I actually went through because I've transitioned from using even my Facebook and all other platforms For more of a branding platform, I've even tried to go through and delete some of those old pictures. But Facebook makes it very difficult and Extremely tedious to go back and delete your old photos.

Larry Roberts [00:09:41]:

And, I mean, you know, it takes literally because you have to do 1 at a time. You can't do mass deletes on Facebook. So, that's why I say if you go and look at photos, you you'll definitely come across some pretty wild stuff out there. Go, man. That dude looked like that back then? Oh, that's crazy. But, it's If you

Sara Lohse [00:09:56]:

go back online, you'll see a lot of photos of my dog in different costumes. You'll also see recent ones of my dog in different costumes. Yeah. Go follow me to interact with my dog. He's adorable.

Larry Roberts [00:10:08]:

He is adorable. So adorable that what? Should we should we tell everybody?

Sara Lohse [00:10:12]:

Tell tell what were you telling them?

Larry Roberts [00:10:14]:

What were you telling them? Your your latest acquisition?

Sara Lohse [00:10:16]:

Oh, I when I was in New Orleans For a conference, I tattooed his portrait on my arm so that he is always with me because he is perfect and the best thing in my life.

Larry Roberts [00:10:30]:

Best stories revolve around tattoos. So is this

Sara Lohse [00:10:33]:

really do.

Larry Roberts [00:10:33]:

Yeah. Yeah.

Sara Lohse [00:10:35]:

I I was scared because anytime I get a travel tattoo now, I'm like, Please don't look like a penis. So

Larry Roberts [00:10:46]:

If you haven't heard that episode

Sara Lohse [00:10:49]:

Go back to Joe Saul Sehy's, brand success stories episode of Brandon.

Larry Roberts [00:10:55]:

There you go. You can hear all about the the world famous penis tattoo. So, anyways, going back to our social media, that's, that's one of the questions you have to ask Is how how do you wanna structure your social media, and do you wanna separate the 2? If if you look at my social media now and really if you go back even, I don't know, a couple 3 years, It's all been either speaking based or podcast based or if you really wanna boil it down, it's all been branding based, and I've changed my focus completely. And, sometimes I would like to post more personal stuff, but then at the same time, I look and go, well, What what personal stuff, bro? I mean, what what do you what do you what do you do? There's nothing that you do that's not I literally do nothing that doesn't revolve around the red hat or or podcasting. I literally, all of my social events, everything. So while it is all branded on my social media, it Really is about personal stuff too.

Sara Lohse [00:11:50]:

Yeah. I I do have both. They have very similar content, but I I feel like it's Still, I can post the more personal stuff on my personal pages without it, like, blurring those lines, but I also, I was, I don't know how to say I have more of a life than you without it being mean.

Larry Roberts [00:12:10]:

I Okay. You know what I mean? Like, I do say I have no idea. No. You don't. No. You don't. I do think. No.

Larry Roberts [00:12:18]:

No. No. You don't. No. You don't.

Sara Lohse [00:12:19]:

Hang out with my dog. That's okay. Okay?

Larry Roberts [00:12:22]:

Alright. You go to the dog park.

Sara Lohse [00:12:23]:

My brand page is brand stuff. My personal page is Brand stuff plus Harvey.

Larry Roberts [00:12:27]:

Dog stuff. Yes. A 100%. Really? But that's the question. You know? That's the question. How do you structure your social media? Do do you structure it from a perspective of You're sharing everything, and you're mixing your brand and you're mixing personal posts as well, because if you listen to some really high profile, we'll call them social media experts or influencers or or big brand influencers. They'll tell you to mix the 2. You know, put some personal stuff out there because and I know I've even you can even quote me as saying this if you listen to some other podcasts that I've done in the past.

Larry Roberts [00:12:59]:

People want to know you. They wanna know who you are. They wanna know who they're connecting with.

Sara Lohse [00:13:05]:

Yeah. People don't wanna interact with the company. They wanna interact with the person, which is why I hate the term business to business. That doesn't make sense to me. I'm like, businesses don't make decisions. Businesses are just, like, the entity, like, the facade. It's the people inside of the business that are doing everything. So no matter who you're talking to, you're talking to a person.

Sara Lohse [00:13:29]:

So you have to, I guess, remember that and still be Positioning everything that you're doing to be a like, super personal so that it, I guess, has an impact on a person.

Larry Roberts [00:13:41]:

So I think what people are gonna or at least what I would say to that is when you look at some of these bigger brands, that's definitely and you you got b to c. They're business to customer. But if you're dealing with the the big brands, you're dealing with a a Nike, you're dealing with, I don't know, Kraft, you're dealing with whatever, these big businesses, They're not really although people are their clients, they're not really dealing with people. You you don't ever meet somebody from Nike when you buy a pair of running shoes. You know what I mean? How do you differentiate that? Where how do you how do you make that b to c, brand without losing sight of establishing the brand itself. Does that make sense?

Sara Lohse [00:14:22]:

Well, you're not meeting them, but they're still communicating with The people. Like, they craft does not get most of its money from the single box of mac and cheese you bought Today, they get their money from You

Larry Roberts [00:14:35]:

have no idea what I grew up.

Sara Lohse [00:14:37]:

Same. But they make their money because the grocery Stores buy in bulk and all of this. So, technically, they're trying to get the different stores to carry all their products, But if you watch their commercials, they're not saying, hey, Walmart. Like, stock our stuff. They're they're showing families around a dinner table.

Larry Roberts [00:14:59]:

And they're doing nowhere. They're doing that on their social media.

Sara Lohse [00:15:02]:

Social media, on TV, on all of their brand messaging.

Larry Roberts [00:15:05]:

Yeah.

Sara Lohse [00:15:05]:

And it's all consistent. I've never seen a company like that talking to another business even though, like, they could. And anything that's business to business, It's going to still have to resonate with a person just in a way that shows the value it'll have for the business, I guess. Like, there is still, like, there is still a difference in the messaging, but You're you have to be talking to the key decision makers at the business if you wanna have an impact.

Larry Roberts [00:15:38]:

Well, see, and that goes back to who are your key decision makers for your brand. If you're leveraging social media in an effort to gain clients, how are you structuring your messaging? Do they want to see a picture of you camping, or or do they wanna see a picture of you on stage, or do they wanna see a picture of you, executing your particular brand or your particular product or service that you offer, and those are the things that you have to take into account when you're doing this, and It can be extremely difficult to find that balance.

Sara Lohse [00:16:11]:

See, that's interesting. That makes me think of, like, my different mix of social media. Because if I'm putting anytime you are filling out, like, a speaker, thing or having to put all of your social media handles Somewhere to be used, I put the professional Instagram, the professional Facebook, but I usually put my personal LinkedIn Because I don't post super personal content to LinkedIn.

Larry Roberts [00:16:40]:

Right. Right.

Sara Lohse [00:16:41]:

I post bit like professional content, So I want people to feel like they're interacting with me rather than my brand. So that's the one I'll post Instead even though I do have a LinkedIn for my company and I share the content back and forth, but I would never put my personal Link like, Instagram, personal Facebook on these forms because so much of that content is irrelevant to my brand. It's just what I'm doing in my life. So that, I never I guess I never even thought of that. Yeah. So I just do it.

Larry Roberts [00:17:13]:

Do these organizations want to have a human on their stage when you're filling those things out? Do they they want a person up there, or do they want a brand?

Sara Lohse [00:17:21]:

Yeah. And that's also I mean, you and I are very similar in some of the content that we put out. It's actually we're similar because You tell me to do it, so I copy you. But your face is on almost all of your content.

Larry Roberts [00:17:36]:

Yeah.

Sara Lohse [00:17:36]:

You have photos of yourself and all of this, like so it still feels like you. So any time like, I don't even really consider, I don't know. Like, red the the red hat, it's just you. Like, you are red hat guy, so, like, Red Hat Media is just another way of saying it. So, like, you feel like you are your brand. Yeah. For me, it's like favorite daughter is not how people recognize me. Right.

Sara Lohse [00:18:00]:

Right. It's your favorite daughter. My friend.

Larry Roberts [00:18:02]:

They're not gonna look around and go, oh, there's there's favorite daughter. I see her

Sara Lohse [00:18:05]:

standing there. But they'll see you, and they'll say, oh, there's the red hat.

Larry Roberts [00:18:08]:

But you didn't see me in California when I got a white hat. He

Sara Lohse [00:18:14]:

Larry was picking me up at the airport before, Outlier Podcast Festival, And, he changed his hat from a red hat to a white hat because he didn't wanna be misconstrued as being, like, a MAGA, hat. So he wears LA. Yeah. We're in LA. He wears a white ball cap, and he's like, I'm at baggage claim. Like, meet me here, and we'll go to the event. I walked right past him.

Larry Roberts [00:18:38]:

Twice.

Sara Lohse [00:18:39]:

I look at this man's face every day, but I did not see the red hat, and I kept walking. It's he saw me. Yeah. He recognizes me.

Larry Roberts [00:18:49]:

I watched. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So and that just goes to that just reinforces what you're saying is how do you how do you structure that brand, and how do you demonstrate that brand across not just social media, but in every aspect of your life? There's literally no place that I go without this hat on. I mean, literally, there's no place. I mean, if I go to lunch here in 30 minutes and I go to a restaurant here in town, I'm just still gonna wear the red hat. It if I go to a business meeting, I'm gonna wear the red hat.

Larry Roberts [00:19:16]:

And I think that's really what it boils down to, as well is That while yeah. I didn't grow up wearing a red hat, and the red hat is a is a

Sara Lohse [00:19:25]:

He came out the womb with that hat. Yeah.

Larry Roberts [00:19:27]:

I was like, what's up y'all? But it's a conscious decision to wear the red hat now, but it's still just part of me. Even if it wasn't the red hat, I would still wear a flatbed ball cap. I'd still have it cocked 15 degrees to the right, And it it's it would be the exact same style and structure of a hat. It might

Sara Lohse [00:19:49]:

use, like, a protractor to, like, make sure Yeah.

Larry Roberts [00:19:51]:

I do. Go okay. Here's my nose and make it go 15 degree. Yeah. Yeah. A 100%. And if it's off, I go, oh, give it just a little little give it a little tweak. I was a little shy there for a second, but now we're You were.

Sara Lohse [00:20:02]:

I was gonna say something. I'm like, I don't barely recognize it.

Larry Roberts [00:20:04]:

That's a little straight on there, Lair, but, but that's just how I wear my hats, and I have forever. I mean, I've always you know, sometimes I wore them backwards. But if it was forward facing, it was always, just a little bit off center. So that's what you. Yeah. That's what makes it branded. That's what makes it authentic. That's what makes it resonate is the fact that I'm not trying to be something that I'm not or reflect an image that's not really who I am.

Larry Roberts [00:20:31]:

Yeah. And I think that's the critical component to your social media.

Sara Lohse [00:20:36]:

Make sure it's you.

Larry Roberts [00:20:37]:

Make sure it's you, and don't try to build a facade around Something that's just not going to resonate because people see through that, and Yeah. It's it's gonna fail miserably.

Sara Lohse [00:20:47]:

I just had that experience too. We've talked about this. I was at The conference in New Orleans, that was a financial conference, and I was I packed the, like, business professional dresses, And they never left my suitcase. Yeah. Because I I was struggling with, should I dress like this and wear the heels and dress the way that I think people expect me to dress and the way that Other people in this space will be dressed, especially I was speaking. And I don't wanna be on stage and just have people not take me seriously because of the way I dress, But I made the conscious decision of, if I'm going to show up, I will show up as myself. Yeah. And I did my presentation in front of a room of advisors and financial coaches in Chuck Taylors and jeans, and I was okay with that.

Sara Lohse [00:21:35]:

And I felt like myself, and I felt comfortable. And people actually pointed it out and said, I had a call with somebody After the fact, and she's like, I am so glad that you showed up the way that you did because it was so refreshing. It was a breath of fresh air. I've never felt like I saw a speaker just be so much of themself.

Larry Roberts [00:21:56]:

Yeah. Yeah.

Sara Lohse [00:21:57]:

And that's why I did it. I wanted to feel like me. So So even if you go on my social media, everything is pink. My headshot that is that I use as a headshot is the only professional looking photo that I use. The rest, I'm I'm, like, leaning against a bump

Larry Roberts [00:22:12]:

on machine. You're still dressed comfortably. You're you're dressed casually. It's just a professional photo.

Sara Lohse [00:22:19]:

Yeah.

Larry Roberts [00:22:20]:

It's not like you're sitting there in a pantsuit. You know?

Sara Lohse [00:22:22]:

No. God, no. But the rest of the photos that I use are like, we went to the Selfie museum and took fun pictures with different backdrops, and I use those as my brand photos because they are just like me completely and authentically. And if that doesn't look like the people at the finance conference and the headshots that they use with their suit jackets and their, like, Like, sit up straight, shoulders back, that's okay because that's not who I am. Yeah. And they were doing free headshots, and I just I didn't even get one because I'm like, they're gonna me to just just look like that. And I'm like, okay. Well, can do we have any fun backdrops, and can I be, like, dancing During the photo shoot, now I have to sit here and just have that smile, and then you tilt my head that no? The JC Penney I didn't want it.

Sara Lohse [00:23:11]:

We have to continue to show up as ourselves no matter whether it's social media, in person. And if you find yourself in a room where you don't feel like you can Show up as yourself? It's time to find a new room.

Larry Roberts [00:23:23]:

There you go.

Sara Lohse [00:23:24]:

That is not the room for you.

Larry Roberts [00:23:26]:

So figure out which room is for you. Figure out how you want to structure that social media, but the bottom line is just come authentically. And whatever fits you, your brand, and your business the best, that's the approach that you need to take. Not saying 1 is better than the other. Authenticity is the key and consistency.

Sara Lohse [00:23:46]:

All of our favorite buzzwords.

Larry Roberts [00:23:48]:

Yep. Yep. Yep. We gotta fill that in there. So well, we consistently ask you each and every week value in this episode. So go ahead and smash that subscribe button so we can continue to bring you these episodes each and every week. And, you know, we're still gonna ask for this week, so do us a favor. Smash that subscribe button.

Larry Roberts [00:24:03]:

We really, really appreciate it. So with that, I am Larry Roberts.

Sara Lohse [00:24:07]:

And I'm Sara Lohse, and we'll talk to you next