BONUS: The Power of Positivity & Building Social Engagement
BONUS: The Power of Positivity & Building Social Engagement with Ingrid Deon
Today I get to share this intimate, motivation, and educational chat with Ingrid Deon, your social media expert...
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00:45] Welcome Ingrid! Ingrid started her career as a journalist and worked at CBC Radio as well as several newspapers. In 2015, she made the jump to social media and was Manager of Social Engagement at a digital marketing agency in Halifax and Toronto.
She started her own business in October 2019 and has worked with clients such as Nestlé Canada, Manulife Bank and Cove Kombucha.
Ingrid! Welcome to the Women’s Empowerment Podcast! Thank you for joining us on the show today. I’m so excited for us to discuss positive mindset and building social engagement!
Before we get into today’s questions. Tell us more about your very empowering story: from single mother living under the poverty line, to financial and occupational freedom as an entrepreneur!
Back in 2009 Ingrid had her son. When he was three years old, Ingrid's husband of 10 years, up and left. It sounds sad, but Ingrid turned it into a positive. At the time that he left, Ingrid was working a seasonal job at a museum and wasn't making a lot of money. She knew she had to start doing something to keep a roof over her and her son's head. So she hustled.
She got a year round job and also started side projects to make more money. Ingrid is a knitter and she would sell her knitting patterns and also some of her knitting creations. Because she lives in rural Nova Scotia, Canada it was hard to come by journalism jobs so she had to work at the museum and side hustle a bit.
Eventually she got an interview in Halifax at a digital agency, about a three hour drive from where she was. At the interview she told them, “in an ideal world, I would work from home and drive in 1 day a week.” This was so that she could be at home with her son. The job was for copywriting and social media coordinator when she first started, and they agreed!
She took the job and learned tons about digital marketing, became the manager of Social Media of Halifax and Toronto and climbed the ranks of the company. After a while she was seeing how much the company was charging the clients, verses how much she was actually making form all her work, she thought that she could do this on her own.
One of her best clients, Nestle Canada, really like her and followed her when she went off on her own. Her business grew, and she has now reached a point where she is turning away people so she wants to scale her business so that she can hire people out to help her.
[5:49] It is clear that seeing the positive in everything is a strength/super power of yours. For the times that everything feels really tough, and for when we’re struggling with a negative mindset, what are your best tips for overcoming this struggle?
When her ex-husband left, Ingrid felt totally blindsided. It was really, really hard. A few days after he left, her best friend came over and she said, “we're going to make a list of all the good things that could come from this.” So they did and making this list cheered Ingrid up so much! From tiny things like ripping up an ugly carpet, to bigger things!
Ingrid loves making lists, and found that this was so helpful to her. Ever since then, whenever something tough is happening or she's feeling down, she spins it into a positive. It's similar to a gratitude list or a gratitude journal. Even if it's a mental list of what you're grateful for and what good can come out of the situation.
[9:50] How can we avoid falling into or getting caught up in negative mindset traps?
Putting a positive spin on whatever low moment you're in. Sometimes presenting it to someone else can help you see the positive that maybe you're having a hard time recognizing in the moment.
Ingrid doesn't worry any more because it's a complete waste of energy, but when her son worries, she asks him, “okay what's the worst thing that could happen? And what are you going to do if that happens?” Then you've addressed the worst case scenario and you also know what you're going to do about it, and that's her way of dealing with avoiding getting caught in the mindset trap.
[11:58] Do you have any daily routines or healthy habits that you do every day? Can you share behind the scenes of what they are?
Ingrid finds that making stuff puts her in the right kind of mindset. She can knit while on a call and there's a satisfying sense of accomplishment with knitting. She gets the same sense of accomplishment with cooking and baking and it cheers her up. Her big self care routine is making stuff.
[14:04] For someone who is feeling like they’re at rock bottom, but ready to make a powerful mindset shift, what words of wisdom would you give them for turning things around?
Write lists of small things to feel better about yourself. Small things that will make you feel better that you can do could really help you turn things around. Keep the list somewhere you can see it and take action on the list to make you feel better.
Business & Social Media
You give excellent business advice as well. Let’s switch gears here and chat about business and social media. The business you’ve built for yourself today helps other businesses.
[17:02] First of all, tell us about your business and it’s name! How do you help businesses and why did you choose the name “Word Craft”?
Like she mentioned, Ingrid is crafty. Her business doesn't have to do with crafting, but it's a huge part of who she is. Also, writing is also kind of like a craft. Word, is because she's crazy about words and grammar. So she put the two together!
Word Craft helps businesses, of all sizes, that are struggling with their social media create a plan based on their goals.
[18:56] Let’s talk about social media engagement! What does that mean? Why is it important for our businesses?
On a basic level, engagement is: likes, comments, shares, clicks, etc.
The various algorithms on social media platforms all really prioritize engagement. If Facebook, instagram, or linked in or whatever it is sees that your post is getting a lot of engagement, the algorithm will send it out and show it to more people. Ultimately if you want more people to see you, your goal should be to build your engagement.
[20:20] What are some best practices for building engagement on social media? Walk us through the steps.
#1. Having a Call to Action on your posts.
You're telling your audience what to do. You can put this into the actual copy of the post.
Examples: double tap if you agree, send this to a friend who would find this helpful, send me a dm with your thoughts.
And every time they take this action, the algorithm notes that this post is “engage-worthy” so we should make more people see it.
#2. Proactive Engagement
Social media is a two way street, you want to engage on peoples posts, not JUST have people engage on your own. It could be five or ten pages where you write a meaningful comment on their post. Whatever you can manage, because every little bit helps.
[22:34] How can we convert an instagram follower into a new customer or client?
Make sure you're always thinking about your ideal customer and putting yourself in their shoes when you're creating content. Have a clear plan, post consistently, post with purpose. Use content pillars, themes or buckets to help you map out your content and map them up with your goals.
[24:22] In terms of our Call to Action on our posts, are we doing this on every posts?
You could put it on every post, you want to use them often, but you don't always have to use them. There isn't a rule, but they can get old if you have too many. Make the call to action meaningful to you, your business, and also for your ideal customer.
HOT TIP:For Contests, ask a meaningful question for your contest and the comment is the answer to your question. It's easy and it's free market research and it build engagement.
[30:53] Hashtags: Do you have any tips, tricks, or hacks to simplify the hashtag strategy?
You can use up to 30 hashtags per post, and you can use them all if you want, but there has been some research that says you can use 9-12 to get the most engagement. Have a mix between relevant to industry and to your ideal customer, as well as “niche” hundreds to thousands of times, and “high performance” hashtags that have been used millions of times.
Different hashtags for each type of post. Experiment with groups/sets of hashtags based on your content pillars. Use those a few times and check your insights to see how many people are coming to your post via your hashtags. The sets that are performing the best, those sets are good! The ones that don't have a lot of impressions via hashtags aren't doing well and you can change those and experiment with them.
[35:27] Is there anything else we need to know before we start putting these actions into practice?
Have a plan. Decide what your goals are for your social media and have a plan for those goals. Figure out your call to action and how often you're going to use them. Be intentional, Be mindful. Post consistently and post with purpose. Once you have a plan you can start to implement your proactive engagement and your hashtags and engagement strategy. Build relationships. Social media is about being social.
Listener Questions
[37:45] Candice asks: How to make social media a positive tool for business and self?
They key is to not let it make you crazy. Create boundaries for your social media.
For your business have a plan and know why you're even on social media. Leverage social media rather than just being on social media.
[40:34] Josh asks: If you would invent a new social media platform, what would it be like?
Ingrid loves the visual aspect of Instagram and used to use Flickr all the time it was more popular. She also likes the connections on LinkedIn and it seems like people are more excited to engage on LinkedIn.
[43:53] Where can we find you, where can we follow you, how can we support your business?
INSTAGRAM | @wordcraftingrid
FACEBOOK | wordcraftingrid
LINKEDIN | Ingrid Deon
WEBSITE | www.word-craft.ca
Rapid Fire Round
[45:45] What are you currently reading, or what’s your favourite book?
BOOK: The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
BOOK: Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller
[46:45] What are you currently working toward?
Ingrid is working toward hiring someone to help her with her growing business and workload!
[47:56] What do you love most about being a woman?
Pretty dresses! There's nothing like wearing a cute dress! It makes Ingrid feel good, it's fun, and it looks nice!
[48:38] What does empowerment mean to you?
It's doing things for myself. Ingrid comes from a long line of empowered women and shares this beautiful story of her grandmother's leadership and empowerment.
Podcast Host
Valerie LaVigne
Valerie is the creator and founder of Valerie LaVigne Life and the Women's Empowerment Show. She helps busy and empowered women create healthy habits so that they can become the best version of themselves and transform their lives. Learn more about Valerie here!
