If You Don’t Have Time to Post on Social, Try These Three Tips (From Wingnut Social)
Welcome to the first edition of Dakota Design Company’s Guest Expert Interview series here on the blog. We’re so thrilled to share expertise from female business owners and leaders that run the gamut of the interior design industry – from interior photographers to social media moguls, financial advisors, and branding experts.
Each of our upcoming contributors was selected because they can share their unique insights and perspective on a range of topics that will help any interior designer take their trade and business to the next level. These experts are Dakota Design Company insiders, and many of them have worked directly with us and our clients in the past. We hope you enjoy this new series and that it brings you new insights, tips, and tricks to add to your interior design toolbox!
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Without further ado, I’m thrilled to introduce our first guest blog contributor, Darla Powell of Wingnut Social.
Darla is more than just an award-winning interior designer, podcast host, social media speaker, and former police detective. She’s also an adept unraveler of marketing secrets. Her down-to-earth style delivers smart, actionable information that’s relevant to real business owners—because she is one. Darla shares her expertise on Wingnut Social, a digital marketing and social media agency, with topics ranging from social media mastery (what really engages followers?—it’s probably not what you think), to how to build your brand from the ground up (how did she go from retired cop to one of the top five interior designers in Miami in less than sixteen months?—secrets will be revealed).
Darla shares her advice for making posting on social media less time-consuming, and for how to develop a social strategy when you have no time.
What are your top three tips for making social media strategy and posting on social media less time-consuming?
“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” - Sun Tzu
01 | BEGIN WITH A STRATEGY.
We hear time and time again that designers don't know what they should be posting, or that what they're posting isn't working (ie. not getting engagement, not getting followers, not getting clients, etc.). The solution is to take a step (or four) back and begin by establishing a strategy. As Sun Tzu said, “Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” Posting to social media without a strategy is like building a house without a solid foundation. Everything will come crumbling down without it, and your efforts will be all for naught. While there's so much that goes into building an effective strategy, here are some things to start with:
Define your goals. Do you want more followers? More leads? To manage your brand’s reputation? Cultivate a community? Write out specifically on paper what you want to achieve through social media so you know what types of content you should be posting to achieve those goals.
Research other designers in your area of service. See what they're doing on social media. What social media platforms are they using? What types of content are they getting the most/least engagement from? What types of hashtags/CTAs are they using in their captions? And, arguably most importantly, what differentiates their business from yours? You want to take into consideration the best of what they're doing and fill in the gaps on what they're not doing.
Define your value proposition. Your value proposition tells your audience why they should follow you. What sets you apart from your competitors? What do people love about your personality? What do you offer your ideal client that's unique? What is your personality like (are you casual, friendly, silly, professional, stoic)? Your value proposition should inform every piece of content you create. When you're not sure how to write a caption or how to engage with people online, your value proposition is your guiding light.
Establish your content mix. A content mix is essentially a list of approximately 3-6 topics or types of content that you want to be posting. These topics are called "content pillars." Each pillar should tie back to your value proposition and business goals. Examples of content pillars might be original designs, in-process projects, industry events, design inspiration, testimonials, tips & tricks, family, travel, lifestyle, etc.
Writing a solid strategy takes a lot of time and research, but it will save you so much time when you actually create content and post to social media. Your strategy is your playbook, your instruction manual that tells you exactly what and when you need to be posting so don’t waste any more time throwing content at the wall to see what sticks.
The strategy is everything!
02 | SCHEDULE YOUR POSTS AHEAD OF TIME.
Scheduling multiple posts ahead of time rather than posting manually each day will save you tons of time and stress in the long run. It's basically a set-it-and-forget-it strategy, so you don't need to worry about remembering to post every day! At Wingnut Social, we batch out content two weeks at a time for our clients, but if you prefer, you can create a month's worth of content at once. Two weeks is the sweet spot we've found to make sure content remains on-trend and doesn't become outdated by the time it's published.
Most social media platforms today have a native scheduling feature in their apps, but we recommend using a scheduling or publishing software, such as Later, Sprout Social, or Eclincher that gives you more resources and analytics to inform the types of content you're posting.
Note: At Dakota Design Company, we use Tailwind (and previously used Later) and like them both.
03 | HIRE A SOCIAL MEDIA AGENCY TO HANDLE IT FOR YOU!
Social media agencies and managers exist because effectively running your social media is a full-time job. (Darla, can you please say this louder for the people in the back!?!)
When you have your own interior design business to run, it's extremely difficult to post on social media effectively and get results. You're a pro at what you do (designing), so you should be dedicating your time to running your business! A social media professional will know both how to publish effective content as well as how to analyze post reports so they're putting out content that works. They’ll also continually iterate your strategy so it stays up to date with the ever-changing trends in the world of social media.
If a designer isn't quite ready to hire you or invest in your services, what are two things they should do to start on the right foot with social media marketing?
01 | MAKE TIME TO PUT IN THE ELBOW GREASE!
Be prepared to learn how to DIY because having a strong social media presence is non-negotiable for businesses today. If you're not showing up online, you basically don't exist. BrightLocal’s 2023 Customer Review Survey found that 98% of consumers used the Internet to find information about local businesses in 2022, up from 90% in 2019.
If your target audience is searching for your services and you don't come up, they're going to end up giving business to your competitors.
02 | CHECK OUT WINGNUT ACADEMY’S NEW FLAGSHIP ONLINE COURSE
Check out Wingnut Academy's new flagship online course, Instagram for Interior Designers. Or, sign up for our free webinar, The 6 Keys to Success on Instagram.
This course was designed specifically for interior designers to give you the tools and resources to create a strategy to optimize your profile, broaden your reach, and get the most out of every facet of Instagram. It delves into how to turn online engagement into real-life leads—from video posts to data tracking—it’s all about optimizing and growth.
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Thanks to Darla for the incredible insights. All in all, social media can be intimidating and time-consuming starting out, but it doesn’t have to be. With a proper strategy in place and the help from social media scheduling technology, and maybe even a team of experts, your social strategy can provide a solid ROI for your firm and help your business to flourish.
To learn more or sign up for Wingnut Academy’s webinars or online courses, visit https://wingnutsocial.com/ or reach out at info@wingnutsocial.com.
Wingnut Academy's Instagram for Interior Designers Online Course
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