EPISODE 16
Ed Schudel: RGS Title

About This Episode
Ed Schudel with RGS Title returns to the show. As the Director of Social Media, Ed shares his experience in the social media realm. Find out his go-to social media platforms, his must-try Twitter tricks, and some insight into what works and what doesn’t when trying to connect with your audience through social media. Don’t miss this insightful episode.
RGS Title Website
SHOW TRANSCRIPT
[00:00:01] Hey, we just wrapped up a great conversation with Ed Schudel over at RGS title and Long and foster settlement companies, and, you know, this is a perfect time for Ed to come in and talk to us. You know, last week we had Joey Steadman on and he talked about how his experience and his interaction with social media really brought him into a dark place and had some difficult times in his life. And today with Ed, we’re talking about all the great positive aspects of social media. So I hope you enjoy our conversation. Here we are another episode of the Go with John show. I’m sitting down again today for a repeat visit with Ed Schudel with our guest title and long and foster companies. Welcome back, Ed.
[00:00:46] Thank you for having me. John, it’s always a pleasure. And I was looking forward to this again also. Yeah, we had a lot of fun last time and I think I’m glad you’re back and there’s always so much to talk about. So one of the things we were just chatting about was we actually have a really interesting you’re an interesting guest, but we have an interesting guest coming up that we’re going to be talking to next week, who is a professional boxer. And you said, hey, I’ve got a great uncle who’s in the Boxing Hall of Fame. Yeah. So tell us just before we get started talking about social media, tell us about your great uncle and how did he end up in the Boxing Hall of Fame?
[00:01:22] Yes, on my mom’s side, my mom’s Italian American full Italian American, Angelo Planche. And it was my grandfather’s brother. So my mom’s uncles, my great uncle, he dropped out of high school in the 20s and he had a great voice. Seems to run in the family. Right. And he was in the boxing. Yes. And he became one of the most prolific boxing announcers during that era called the Joe Lewis fight, Rocky Marciano. And we were able to pull him up on YouTube recently and hear him. Right. I never got to meet him. He passed away before I was around, came around and. Yeah, so he was called all the big fights. And he’s one of the few people who’s in the Boxing Hall of Fame. And quick story about that. Yeah, because it’s the fiftieth anniversary of Smokin Joe Frazier fighting Ali right there. Showdown on ESPN this week. Yeah, well, Frazier, Smokin Joe Frazier a few years back was at knock knockout abuse, the event and charity. Yeah, and they have fight night. And I wanted to meet the champ. There’s no way you’re going to get near him. So I was able to grab on to his handlers and older gentlemen. I said, hey, my great uncle is in the Boxing Hall of Fame. I mean, a lot to meet the champ. He goes, Hey, kid, who’s who’s your who’s your great uncle today into a plan to get out of here. And he was an older gentleman. Come with me and they move the crowd. And I have a photo of me holding the fist up with Smokin Joe Frazier.
[00:02:44] Oh, that’s amazing. Oh, it’s easy. Yes. I love boxing. I think it would be great that you have a you know, a well-known person living among us who’s a great boxer. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I’m looking forward to chatting with him and we’re going to keep it a secret for now. So. Yeah, because well, because we’re actually you’re this episode is going to drop before he does so we’ll we’ll figure out how to work that in.
[00:03:05] But I got to tell you, this is exactly my motivation for wanting to do this podcast. It is every day of my life. I’m walking around and I meet all these. I’ve known you for years and years and years and you I’ve known you for 15 years, at least maybe more. And I never knew that about you. And when you stopped to talk to the people that are around you and hear their stories, everybody, every single person I meet has some amazing story about something. And they never seem to end. And that’s why I wanted, you know, to share it with my kids, to share it with my sphere, you know, to share it with the Stanley Martin buyers and the and the home buyers and sellers that I work with. There’s all these interesting people out there and it’s really amazing. So thank you for sharing that with us. So so we wanted to get back together again, because at the end of our last episode, we said, wow, we should really spend some time talking about social media because we are a business oriented podcast and we want to bring a lot of great information out to folks who want to grow their businesses and excel in the digital world and the analog world. So one of the things that I think are really important that you’re an expert at is social media marketing. So tell us, how did you get to be interested in that field?
[00:04:23] With me, my background was teaching, which I chaired once before, and it’s all about education and knowledge is power. Social media, to me is about connecting and sharing stories like we just did about my great uncle. Yeah, I like you do all the time with your podcast. So when I saw this and it was back in 08, I mean, I grabbed on the first Twitter handles three letter domain name. I thought this is powerful because I really think it started back from my high school days. It was I was the editor and chief of the newspaper. I played basketball. But I like to write and I like to connect. Right. Social media is about sharing and educating. Who’s right, education about the home buying process. So I thought, this is this is me, it just came really naturally to me, you know.
[00:05:07] Yeah. And you’ve got some really good tips and tricks that that that work really well. And I’m looking forward to hearing some of those. So tell us before we get into that, tell us. So what is your role within the long and foster organization with regard to the social media training?
[00:05:23] So, John, I’m director of social media for a long foster settlement companies, OK, for the whole mid-Atlantic region. My job is to educate realtors on the power of social media, how they can use it so they can sell more houses, find more houses. And that’s what I’ve been doing now for 10 years. This role. OK, so when you get up in front of a group of real estate professionals, what do you tell them they need to do with their social media? Great question. Want you to do it. You got to do it.
[00:05:52] And I found a quote I had on my LinkedIn and I was updating it recently, but it’s one I’ve always felt that is powerful. Don’t make social media at your own personal paparazzi. Right, OK. And then more importantly, you got to get off your island right now. Think about that right now. You you posting to your friends and I only post to my friends. There’s a very small number, like on Facebook is only three percent, up to three percent of your friends. We’ll see that post. So what do you do? I tweeted something out the other day. It was a Chuck Bell on Channel four, and he made some reference to a song Blinded by the Light from the 70s. And the Millennial co-hosts were making fun of him. Right. And I kind of felt sorry for him. They had no idea what the song was. So I went on Twitter, OK, and I grabbed the lyrics from the song Manford, whatever the guy’s name is. And I put the lyrics and I said, hey, don’t worry about the silly millennials.
[00:06:44] He loved it during the commercial break. Yeah. Retweeted it. Yeah. Because I wrote to him. Yeah. And sixty nine thousand people saw it in two days. Yeah. So my so you answer your question, what do people need to do. A social media get off your island. Right. Don’t just post in your world. Right. Right. Got a post in other places. Tag other people ask a question. Yeah. And you got to do it.
[00:07:05] Yeah. So, so it, it is the what. What is it. Right. You got to do.
[00:07:11] And I think, I think that’s, that’s a big thing. So think back five years ago and it’s funny, I was I meant to post something. I don’t know if you saw. I actually said, Ed, remember this one.
[00:07:22] Oh, I miss Facebook. And I mean, there was nothing there.
[00:07:27] So I went back and I looked at it this morning.
[00:07:29] So what that was was, oh, tell them what it was, was five years ago, you and I went to the sea championship basketball game down in D.C., remember that?
[00:07:40] So that was five years ago. And then the thing popped up on Facebook and it says, do you want to share your memory, blah, blah, blah. So I said, yeah, yeah, share write something about it. So I said, Ed, remember this? And then posed and of course, wasn’t paying attention. And the only thing that posted was ad remember this.
[00:07:56] But but anyway, the reason I’m bringing it up is you and I were talking about social media and how to make it work five years ago.
[00:08:05] And we were we were going down to this, to this game and we were talking all the way down about how to do it, how to do it. And then you and I were walking to the Verizon Center at the time and we saw this bus go by.
[00:08:21] That was that was with the mascot. With the mascot. It’s all in the photo. The Decker bus on the second floor was opened and you said, John, watch this.
[00:08:29] And you and there was a huge banner on the side of the bus and you and it was a banner tournament banner. And you said, watch this. And you took a picture of it and you tweeted it and you tagged ask, do remember what else you tagged, you tagged and then ask NCAA hashtag March Madness.
[00:08:47] I read. Yes, yeah. Yeah. So so anyway, so then we go to the game and you’re watching your phone and I can’t remember it blew, I blew up and it was like no one is real. And and but you know what?
[00:09:00] It seems like such a simple, easy thing to do. Right. And we got I mean, I can’t remember, but I thought it was like hundreds of thousands. I totally forgot about it was it was an amazing experience for me to see you do it right before my eyes. And it took 15 seconds. Now, how many times have I done that in the last five years? Zero. Right. And that’s why you say you have to do it. And that’s that’s why I say what is it? Right. And how do you have the discipline and the structure to do it? So do you have any advice for folks on on how do you do it? How do you have the discipline? Because I’ve seen you tweet things to Tysons Corner Mall at Christmas time.
[00:09:37] Right. You’ll take a picture of the Christmas tree that’s there. You’ll you’ll you’ll tag the Tysons Corner management company and then they’ll retreat your toast.
[00:09:47] So toast to tweet. So the it is what I’m hearing from you is the it is not just getting on social media posting things. The it is being creative taking. Photos or messages and pushing those messages from you to some other organization in such a manner where they’re going to retweeted, correct.
[00:10:09] So that’s getting off your island.
[00:10:10] And it is also so these the it is also don’t be afraid, right. If it if it goes flat and it doesn’t get any likes, who cares? Right. Right. I think everyone’s really worried they’re going to be judged by what they put out. I saw that. Yes. I remember vividly with you walking down to the game and seeing that I’m always looking. Yeah, OK. I couldn’t take a picture, John, up until four years ago. I have a brother, Tom, and he would call them Eddie. Photos of Tom, you’d say, oh, another Eddie photo, you’d be like you and then the whole sky. I was really bad at taking fire, but I went on YouTube and I educated myself on how to take photos. Right now I get compliments. My own brother compliments me. So you have to put the fear aside and learn what is it you’re good at in social media? It’s got to be a photo. It’s got to be a video. Yeah, you got to ask a question. OK, that’s what it is. And more importantly, you can’t just put it out there on its own. You got to tag somebody. Asks somebody. I asked Barbara Corcoran, I will tell you this story. No. Barbara Corcoran. So from Shark Tank, right. She’s just a few years ago, she was five, six years ago, she was on an ABC special about Million Dollar Homes. And it was a nationwide thing on 20/20. Yeah. And so they said, tweet Barbara, you know, and I said, Barbara, what? Three, I live in Washington, DC area. I tag its title right now, untagged, you know, other companies. And I said, we’re all in this business. What three things do you like about our real estate market here? Boom. I got another blow up. She responded directly, I like you have the government, you have monuments, you have museums. I mean, she just answered and it just blew up. Same thing, right? Take the chance. Ask. Right. So if you send a question to Barbara and she doesn’t answer, what have you lost? Right. And other people will see it, you might pick up somebody else. Right. Somebody else might see it. And it’s and you learn it’s trial by error. Right. You learn that some things work, some don’t. Yeah.
[00:12:06] So now what do you say to the folks that just go, you know what, I’m not a fan of Twitter. I don’t really want to use Twitter. What what other do you hear that a lot?
[00:12:13] I do. And I mean, I don’t know. I enjoy it because to me, the brevity. Yeah. And what I enjoyed, I was about the other ones. The reason why I like it is because you don’t have to follow me in order to see something I wrote. Right. Right. Facebook a little harder. Others and people have Facebook. They love Instagram, Snapchat. I mean, Twitch, you know, the gaming platforms, Reddit. Come on, look at the whole thing with the stock exchange. I was crazy as crazy. And Reddit is the only one where you can vote up or down. Right. Think about that. It’s only a social media platform as people say they like it or dislike it. Right. So what do I say to them? Fine one. I mean, let’s look at it this way. If you’re looking for a home, you’re looking for a great agent. Realtor, do you want to find John? This is you have this president, you’re educating people. You’re showing people, hey, I’m advanced, I’m evolving, I’m sharing, educating. I’m going to help you. That’s what social media does. Lets you connect.
[00:13:08] So let’s define social media then. Let’s take a break. So when you say social media, what are you in your mind referring to?
[00:13:18] Connecting, entertaining, educating, venting, finding.
[00:13:26] And in my mind, like what’s what platform comes first?
[00:13:31] Any that it really depends what are your top five platform? So I think you probably already mentioned them, obviously, because they’re at the top of your mind. But you’re you’re focused on edge.
[00:13:41] You Dell, you’re focused on Twitter is your number one. I think because I hear you say tweet, tweet all the time and I Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, the other one’s YouTube. Yeah. It’s number two search engine in the world.
[00:13:57] And a lot of folks don’t realize about YouTube is that Google owns YouTube. Correct. And that really helps your SEO for your website is to have material on on YouTube. We get a lot of traffic to our website through our YouTube videos. So it’s awesome. That’s an important one as well. Yeah, the fifth one. Give me some more time. There’s a sure. Not for. All right. Sounds good. All right. We’re going to take a quick break and then we’ll be back with more conversation about social media with Ed Udall.
[00:14:30] I’m John Jorgenson. And if you want to learn more about buying a home or selling your existing home, contact us through the show. We work with an incredible network of professionals who can help you get through the process smoothly. Again, that’s go with John Dotcom.
[00:14:54] All right, so, Ed, that was that was really good information, so I want to push on the ED some more because in my mind, it’s so easy for you to say just do it right.
[00:15:07] And it’s so easy to say take a picture and tweet it to the ACCC and take a picture of the Christmas tree at Tysons and, you know, include these other people.
[00:15:16] And you’ve got all this stuff in your mind. But let’s talk to the folks out there that aren’t as dialed in as you are. Right, because because you are dialed in and you knew right away the NCAA acted, right. I would have never even thought to take a picture of the bus in the first place. Never mind what I know who to tweet it out to.
[00:15:36] So for the folks out there that are probably more naive about this like I am. What would you say to me? Like what kind of tools can they put in their tool box to have success with this type of social media marketing? Let’s just talk about the Twitter and the tweeting and the tagging. Do you have some thoughts on what folks can do to get started? So, for example, if they go to the mall, should they have a list of of hashtags for stores that might be at the particular mall where they might want to see something and tweeted out a storefront or something? Do you have any thoughts like that?
[00:16:15] I think it’s broader. Everyone has a camera on their phone. Right. And that’s what we all use them for. Almost everyone you’ve got you’ve got to have photos. Content is king, right? So you should always be taking photos. That’s the IT factor if you don’t have the photo. Right. Social media, it’s not going to get looked at. Not you don’t have the video. It’s not going to get watch. Yeah. So when you’re out and about, I like to think of it as I’m a movie producer. What’s the scene? What’s the set. Right. And when I go somewhere, I mean, I went to the post office today. Right. Usually I walk down. I didn’t drive. If I see something that captures my attention, give me example. Yesterday, this happened at the post office. Theresa, my sister brought in one of her, Bulldog’s, and he’d gone to the vet early in the morning. So I thought, I’ll help the dog out a little, Frankie out for a walk. We walk out on Beverley Road and the mail carrier, she just stops. She’s new and she goes, hey, she’s I love your dog. I love you, dog. She pulls over in the mail truck, has a dog treat for him. He goes to give the dog and he loved it. And I grabbed a picture of it. Right. I mean, and I tweeted it out, you know, and I’ll share it other places to the Postal Service and said, you know, thank you to all your mail carriers what they do for us. And it was just so kind of nice of her to stop and say hello that that’s your story, right? Yeah, right.
[00:17:35] So how do you get your mind programed to do that? You know, it’s it’s as a as a real estate professional, you’re running from one appointment to the next appointment to the next week. I don’t have time to even see the mail truck. I’m trying not to write. I mean, I’m trying to get to my next meeting. So I think I think part of it for me is how do you as it’s a rhetorical question, right. As a real estate professional or any business owner, if you want to employ your your methods of social media marketing, how do you frame your brain to to be able to do that? Because you do all this stuff real time and it literally takes you that whole thing with the ACCC took you 15 seconds and you knew it was going to be big. And you go watch this. Right. And you knew right away. So for free for you, it’s pretty simple. And I think that it is a really good technique and it is a really cool thing to do, you know, but I think it takes a certain mentality to be successful at it. And you probably get to take a lot of swings at the.
[00:18:37] Yeah, that’s exactly what a lot of attempts. Right. I mean, if you’re batting two fifty three hundred, you’re awesome. You’re an all star, right. Yeah. So I think to dial it down for people who are new to it or haven’t done it, find something you really enjoy. Yeah. I started out with cars. I like cars and motorcycles. So somebody might be in the gardening, right. They might be in the architecture, they might be into travel and start there and get your photos, your video there. Right. And then work outward and look at what other folks on social media are doing. I still am a firm believer and be, you know, just. Of course. Yeah, yeah. There’s only. Yeah, exactly. And put it out there. It’s fun.
[00:19:15] Yeah. So let’s, let’s shift gears, let’s talk about let’s talk about Facebook a little bit because that’s a little bit different. So what kind of advice do you have for folks with regard to Facebook. So if you’re if you’re a business professional or a real estate professional, you have your own personal page. Do you also recommend that you have a separate page for your business or do you recommend just doing it all on on one location?
[00:19:40] I’ve been asked that for over ten years, and it depends for real estate folks do what you’re comfortable with, because I see, John, so many people that have both pages. And one one supersedes the other one reform just passes, but I’d like to answer or start out with this. People are going to do business with people they trust, they trust, and they think to themselves, what can this person do for me? Right. And like you, you help your clients and you’re excellent and doing that. And that’s what you want to convey. So they understand and they get to know you. And this is why they can trust you. And this is why you’re going to help them with finding their home. Right. Right, right.
[00:20:17] So on on Facebook advice, do you have any so I hear you loud and clear. And you know what? You’re exactly right. I think that folks that are really professional business owners and professional real estate professionals, it’s really difficult, especially in real estate, because you really are it is part of your community, your network, your friends, your neighbors, and they’re all hiring you to help them with their real estate transaction, you know, so in that case, it probably makes more sense to have one page that you can maintain really well versus versus to any other tips on Facebook.
[00:20:57] Make it about the people you’re connected with. Do you go on there and look at a lot of people, like people then sometimes are just voyeuristic and look compliment ask a question. It really engage that. That’s the key. Yeah, that’s the key. And see what people write. Stories are really big, you know, across the top. It’s interesting ones I post personally outside of work, the ones that get the quote, attention. You can see people looked at it, the ones animals ring supreme, you know, reign supreme excuse me. And I think with Facebook, it’s photos and video. Do a Facebook live.
[00:21:33] Yeah, yeah, yeah. If we did one right now, I guarantee you it’d be a few hundred people just don’t watch it.
[00:21:39] Yeah, that would have been smart. Yeah. We’re six feet apart. Yeah exactly. Yeah. So we’re ten feet actually. So, so. All right. So what about Instagram. You got any tips on Instagram. I’m just kind of rolling through so Instagram.
[00:21:54] So I started one a long time ago. I was teaching a class and I grabbed Great Falls, Va.. OK, family lives there, bubble, but I did it and it was become the one for the park. And now I was just using it for everything I was interested in. Nobody was following it, right? Yeah. Yeah. I thought, you know, a little epiphany, right. It’s Great Falls. So now everyone at the park. Yeah. Is tagging it for the photos. Right. I’ve done four already today. Yeah. Well you know what I did. I just make it my story. Yeah. There’s people out so you walk there every day. I don’t but I go a fair amount. But you send somebody over there with your phone every day.
[00:22:28] Well they’re people. It’s funny you say that because a lot of agents think I’m there every day. Yeah, well, you post a lot of pictures are great. Those aren’t mine.
[00:22:35] I give them credit. You tag me. They’re people right now, just this morning or this afternoon. But then in the morning, there were three to four for people who were there who took some nice photos and they tagged the locations. I made it the story and then somebody actually said, Ed, don’t you have a job?
[00:22:51] Yes, yes, yes, yeah. Agent in Arlington, she thinks I go there every day. Well, that explains everyone. But that’s really interesting. So it’s not just one person. She goes, don’t you ever do anything else?
[00:23:05] Yeah, I work all the time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But isn’t that funny? It is. Grab a site, think about that. You can grab something and you can share and other people will help you with the content. Right. Right, right. That’s doing the job.
[00:23:19] And you know what, if anybody out there says all the names are taken, they’re not, I guarantee you. Good point here in that for twenty years. And if you sit down and put your brain to work, you’ll come up with a good name. All right. So anything on YouTube?
[00:23:32] Any comment? Yeah, you too, I, I don’t even know why I have Fayose anymore on YouTube every night. Wow. I’m always learning something. Give example. Chris Voss was a lead hostage negotiator for the FBI, retired the Black Swan Group, not a plug, but learned a lot from. He’s the one who says people do business with people. Can they trust you? And what can you do for him? I watch his videos all the time. Yeah, I find things and people I want to learn from and it can educate me and entertain. And I hang out on YouTube. YouTube. Yeah, you can see some things we’re doing coming up on YouTube. So cool.
[00:24:09] Well, I got my start on YouTube. I mean, that’s where I started, you know, back in 2004. Twenty five, twenty six, seven. I was posting videos on YouTube way back when. And you know, they didn’t get a lot of traction back then, but over the years and over the years, it’s awesome. I still have some of my really old videos online. What’s your favorite of all the ones you’ve done? Oh, well, that’s a well, that’s a good question. I mean, I think ninety nine percent of all the videos I put online are educational about the home buying process. And, you know, I did I did one video and I think I just took it down recently. I was trying to purge some of the older stuff, but I really enjoyed making. Videos that that helped people write and one of the things that I want to get back to this video and refresh it and modernize it is I used to own a water damage restoration company. And one of the number one reasons we got called to somebody’s house because they had a flood was because there were leaves that got into an area drain and it rained and it plugged the drain and then the water kind of backed up in this area well, area way well and worked its way through the door into the basement.
[00:25:21] So I came up with this really cool trick to prevent that from ever happening. Now, you can’t just ignore the leaves forever, but if you have a little drain in the bottom of a of an area way, it takes three or four leaves to cover it. One windstorm, one thunderstorm in your basement was flooded. So I came up with this way to take a couple of grills that would go on a barbecue grill and then a big rubber.
[00:25:44] You would put those down on top of the drain. And then I put this big rubber mat over top of it, like for a restaurant floor. They sell them at Lowe’s or Home Depot. It’s like a three foot, three foot square. So now the leaves the water would go through this mat and would the grill would hold the mat off the ground.
[00:26:02] So you would really have to have a lot of leaves to flood your basement. So I made that video back in 2006 ish and had it up online and it just got a tremendous amount of of air time. So it’s awesome. That’s the kind of thing I really enjoy doing. It’s a little simple trick that you won’t hear or see anywhere else. If I’ve seen anybody ever talk about it, I won’t do it. So I look for the things that I can put out there that are unique to my experience. OK, I like it a lot, so. All right. Anything we missed. So YouTube, tell the story, tell the story, solve a problem. And I think I get you traffic.
[00:26:41] Instagram videos. Photos. Yeah, hash hashtags with those twitch. Don’t use it. Yeah. Yeah. I only have so much capacity to focus. Exactly. So and I think that’s a good point.
[00:26:54] You can do anything you want but you can’t do everything. You sound right and I say that to folks every every day. So I think I think you’ve got to pick the platforms that you’re most comfortable with. I think I’m big. I’ll just say I’m really focused on Facebook and YouTube and then, you know, digital marketing, your top two or probably Twitter and Facebook. Right. And I think two is a lot to manage unless you’ve got other people helping you.
[00:27:22] Yes. You know, it’s I think I may have said this last time, but it’s Gordon Ramsay. You know, the chef said a really good restaurant is going to have ten items on the menu. That’s. Yeah. So simple. Keep it simple. Keep it high quality and simple. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:27:38] All right. Let’s take one quick break and then we’ll wrap up when we come back. Thanks, Ed.
[00:27:46] In case you missed it, here is a clip from Episode three with Boomer Foster, president of Long and Foster Real Estate.
[00:27:55] I think that the two things that I took away from being an athlete, whether it’s just through high school and then into college or leadership and hard work, you know, every day when I go into work, you know, my mindset is, you know, I’m not the smartest guy in the building in all likelihood, but nobody’s going to outwork me. And that that, too, came from when I first started practicing law in Charleston. One of the best lawyers down there, he looked at me, said, listen, you’re not always going to be the smartest guy in the courtroom, but you can always outwork the other guy or girl that’s on the other side. And so the way I approach my job and it’s been refined and evolved over the years because it used to be like I was just a big a bull in a china shop. I’m going to work as hard as I can from the time I get up to the time I go to sleep at night and good things are going to happen. And that did happen. But what I found is as I started refining and started thinking about where I want to be and setting goals and having a plan, when you put those things together with a work ethic, then the results are going to be very good if you have any sort of talent.
[00:29:01] Welcome back and add really great conversation so far. It’s always exciting to talk about ways to grow your business. And so in kind of wrapping it up here in our last segment, the question always is rhetorically for the folks that are listening, what is your it what is my it? Right. And you have to do it. And I think each person listening who’s interested in this topic has to figure out what their it is. So, you know, or you were saying, Ed, tell the story, tell the story.
[00:29:32] Tell me what you see. Tell the world what you see. Ask the question. Do you think people want to be it? Yeah, I want to hear asked or you want answered.
[00:29:40] Right. Right. And I think what most people what I never understood when I was really trying to get focused on the social media marketing aspect of business is it is labor intensive.
[00:29:52] It is. It is.
[00:29:53] And now we’re talking about it for my organization. We have a team of people who do it. I mean, you know, still a lot of work. Yeah. Thank you. And but for the individual business owner who needs to do it, I’m putting it in quotation marks. You’ve got to have good habits. You’ve got to go out every day and I think ready to post a tweet or post on Facebook and you got to have some sort of an idea of what you want to try to do. And you got to focus on things that that interest you.
[00:30:24] Here’s here’s a look through your the photos you’ve taken. Scroll through. What story does each one of those photos tell you right now? If they don’t tell you a photo, delete them. Excuse me. Don’t tell your story. Delete the photo and and hone your skills on. You don’t have to be an excellent photographer, even. Good. You just. But it has to be something they’re right. If a picture is worth a thousand words, you want one that’s worth a thousand and one.
[00:30:49] Right. Makes perfect sense. And I and I think getting your your mind set in the right place to make it happen, if you don’t have the right mindset, if you’re not going to push yourself, if you’re not going to hold yourself accountable, then you will not have success in your social media marketing campaign. You cannot do it one day, a month or one day a week. You need to be out there and having a conversation with the folks in your sphere and you’ve got to believe it.
[00:31:20] John, you didn’t ask me this, but I’ll share this. I know a lot of folks who hire people to do it for them, the social media. Right. And as fine, Hairston was great at doing it. But you got to be involved in it, too, because what they’ll do is they’ll set it and forget it. And I have commented thought, oh, why didn’t someone so why didn’t they respond back, right. Oh, I hired someone to do that. And they don’t care and they don’t care about me. That’s just as bad as not doing it. Yeah. In my opinion.
[00:31:47] Yeah. You know, the big thing for me personally is my name is behind everything that is online and I stress about that.
[00:31:57] So I want to make sure that every anybody that contacts us gets an answer.
[00:32:02] So anyone who listens to this podcast, if they want help Ed Shardul I’m the only one in the United States. Just hit me up. I’ll help you out. I enjoy it that much.
[00:32:11] Excellent. Wonderful. All right. Any last words of advice in closing this out? Anything come to mind and kind of wrapping it up or anything you want to add to this conversation?
[00:32:21] Try something you haven’t tried before with social media and see how it goes. Excellent. Excellent.
[00:32:26] Ed, thank you again for coming in. Had a lot of fun. It’s always great having a conversation with you. And and I look forward to our next conversation where we talk take on a new topic. This is awesome. John, thank you so much. Thanks, Ed.
[00:32:44] Once again, Ed, thank you for joining us. We’ve learned a lot from past guests, and our own experience is that social media has its pros and cons. It can grow our business, but it can also consume our life. We have to find that happy medium and use it as a positive tool. It’s given us some great tips, but the conversation isn’t over. Thank you for tuning in to the Go with John Show. And until next time, go build something extraordinary.