Discussion
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Kelly Ann Collins
@itskac · Social Media Ninja, CMO, Founder
Hi - I’m Kelly Ann Collins, the founder of Vult Lab, where I works with startups, nonprofits, influencers and companies on their social media strategy. I am also the co-founder of Kittr, where we are building social media tools, which people are saying will "revolutionize" the way people use social media. Throughout my career, I’ve worked on projects involving hundreds of awesome companies and orgs, including some you might know—like Jamba Juice, United Nations, Steve Case’s Revolution, Conservation International, Starbucks, HP, Adobe, Peter Gabriel's The Toolbox, Disney and Prince William's Royal Foundation. I also founded a pop-politics blog with 3 million readers a month. I am so excited to be here today. Ask me anything!
**EDIT**
Thank you for all of your questions, everyone! And thank you so much, Product Hunt, for inviting me to do this live chat! If anyone has additional questions, feel free to tweet me via @itskac!
Tiffany Yu
@imtiffanyyu · Founder, Diversability
What do you think are the biggest differences between social media strategy for a company vs. personal brand? Any pro tips for building/managing either?
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Kelly Ann Collins
@itskac · Social Media Ninja, CMO, Founder
@imtiffanyyu Hey there! There are similarities -- but it's all about the tone and voice. But, you still want to make sure you have a strategy for both. For example, if you are just getting started and building a personal brand, you will want to pick a few different topics as theme (say, work life, family life and a hobby, like yoga), then you will work on building out each of these topics by posting on a regular basis. If you are building a company brand, you will want to do the same. Share a few topics (say global dev, nutrition and health) and then work in promos. When you are a company, you will probably have more things to sell. So, you will want to balance that out with non sales-y content. For personal, you will have your own voice -- maybe it's serious, fun, maybe some humor in there. For a company, it's similar, but probably more authoritative. Or, if you are a brand, like, a toy store ... you might also have a fun voice. :)
What social media strategy advice do you give to your startup clients that others might find counter intuitive or at least surprising? 🤔
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Kelly Ann Collins
@itskac · Social Media Ninja, CMO, Founder
@nivo0o0 Usually, when I start advising a startup, they are surprised when I tell them to STOP promoting their product 24/7. Social media isn't about sell, sell, sell in people's faces all day. You have to give your community useful content that helps them. You have to engage. Social media is not one-sided. So, I always get big surprised faces when I tell them that they should only be pushing their products a few times a week versus all day, every day. I always say that walking into a social network is like walking into a party. Nobody would talk to you if you just went around the room being, like, "Hey, I am so great." 😀 They would be, like, "Uh, what's up with that guy?" 😀
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Kelly Ann Collins
@itskac · Social Media Ninja, CMO, Founder
@jollymonatx Haha! Cats or coffee? Can cats take away a caffeine headache? 😀
Seth Williams
@sethbwilliams · Web Designer
How can startups better use social (without spending money) to get early traction for their business / product?
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Kelly Ann Collins
@itskac · Social Media Ninja, CMO, Founder
@sethbwilliams Startups can better use social (without spending money) to get early traction for their business / product by building it before they need it. Before we launched Kittr we started building a community of people that loved social media and, well, cats. :) Build it before you need it. Don't wait. You can start building your community before you launch. Start posting about things that are of interest -- and will pull in -- people that will love your service or product. Read more here! :) https://medium.com/kittr/to-hash...
Ben Tossell
@bentossell · Community Lead, Product Hunt
Hey! If you had to swap lives with a tech CEO for one week, who would it be and why?
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Kelly Ann Collins
@itskac · Social Media Ninja, CMO, Founder
@bentossell If I had to swap lives with one tech CEO? Definitely Mark Zuckerberg. Why? So I could transfer his money into my bank account. Oh, and I would roll back the new Messenger update. 😂
Ben Tossell
@bentossell · Community Lead, Product Hunt
@itskac haha... I ask this question to every LIVE guest and this was a great answer!
Chad Whitaker
@chadwhitaker · Design at Product Hunt
Hey Kelly! How did you achieve 3 million readers to your blog?
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Kelly Ann Collins
@itskac · Social Media Ninja, CMO, Founder
@chadwhitaker Hey! How did I get 3 million readers? Well, it took a village, of course, lots of networking, making connections, etc. Just like building any community, you have to GIVE as much as you GET. I had a solid team, and we were on top of everything happening in pop-politics. A celebrity couldn't walk out of a DC airport without running into one of our photographers who would hand them a card and help set up an interview to chat about their cause. We interviewed 900+ celebs and influencers. We also traveled nonstop. Presidential campaign trail, etc. We also had White House access. So, we gave the insider look at WH events. So, I like to say omnipresence ... being everywhere. If there was something cool happening, we were there. Also, awesome SEO!
Adam Revetta
@arrev · Building something new 🚀
Also - if startup founders had to focus on ~1 social media site/app to get the most bang for their buck, which would you recommend and why? Thanks @itskac !
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Kelly Ann Collins
@itskac · Social Media Ninja, CMO, Founder
@arrev For organic reach and growth, you can't beat Twitter. To get the most bang for your buck, go with Twitter. Instagram is good for organic reach, too, but if you are looking for press and thought leader exposure, Twitter's the spot.
Bradley Jones
@indiaccelerates · COO, the House of M
In the 15 years you have been involved in the dynamic world of digital/social media, how has the landscape changed and do you think it is easier or more difficult for a business to have their message heard?
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Kelly Ann Collins
@itskac · Social Media Ninja, CMO, Founder
@indiaccelerates Hey! Now, thanks to things, like fake news, people just don't trust ads like they used to. In the past, people loved ads, but now it's moving to things like influencer marketing. Why? Because people trust other people. And, these influencers don't have to be huge, like Katy Perry or Guy Kawasaki, they could be local influencers. That is the biggest change I am seeing right now, as far as social media promotion.
Bradley Jones
@indiaccelerates · COO, the House of M
@itskac So true, people like to put a face to an opinion and when they do, they value it much more. Thank you so much Kelly for sharing your valuable time and attention. Go Kittr!!!
Mike Coutermarsh
@mscccc · Code @ Product Hunt
Hi Kelly Ann! What's the one professional risk you've taken that scared you the most? What ended up happening?
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Kelly Ann Collins
@itskac · Social Media Ninja, CMO, Founder
@mscccc The one professional risk that made me scared was taking on investors for the first time, and selling parts of my company. It's hard to give up that control. But, I'd rather own a smaller part of something awesome that can scale versus something great that can't reallllly scale due to bandwidth, etc. And, hey, I have learned it's always better to spend other people's money than your own! :-D