What do you do? It's probably the first and most predictable question that you'll be asked in any professional networking environment. Yet, most of us dread it because it is a loaded question. Underneath its simplicity is a rich subtext that says: 

How powerful are you?
Should I give you my time and attention?
What can you do for me?
What is your level of education?
What is your socioeconomic status?

You Are So Much More Than A Job Title

A common reaction is to answer by parroting your job title. This allows the person who asked the question to label you and fill in the blanks for whatever subtext they had in mind. It's not an incorrect way to respond but tells people what they want to hear, and not what you want them to know about the meaning, value, passion, and service in the work that you do.

This is especially true if you do many different things, are in between careers or are undergoing a career evolution. 

Your job title is a one dimensional way to label yourself. A better answer will tell a story about who you are.

What Are You Really Being Asked?

Grammar gives us cues in conversation all the time. Although we rarely think about it, the way a question is asked will inform how it can be answered. It's something I covered frequently as an ESL teacher and have learned to rely on as a lifelong student of foreign languages. Look for clues in questions to determine what you are being asked.
​
In the question: what do you do the verb "to do" is being used twice. The question wants to know what verb or verbs we engage in on a regular basis. Yet in common practice, it has transformed into a way to ask someone about their job title. Instead of answering with a verb, we answer with a noun and miss out on an opportunity to engage with the question on a deeper level.
​
Answer With An Action Verb

Your answer should include an action verb, a target audience and a value statement.  

For example: instead of saying  "I'm a small business coach"

Try: "I teach and motivate entrepreneurs to identify and embrace their strengths so they can grow their businesses through a deep connection with their customers.

In practice, it might be a little awkward to blurt out this answer in one go. So, you'll have to use your social acuity to work these things into conversation naturally. The point is, try to make sure you touch on all three of these areas in any conversations prompted by the question what do you do.

"What do I do" if i'm unemployed or between jobs?
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​If you are between jobs , hoping to change careers or are in the middle of a career transformation you can answer the question by highlighting the kind of work you want to do. Don't be afraid to give aspirational answers. You can do this by saying "I plan to" or "I would like to" followed by your goals and qualifications. Additionally, you can describe what you are passionate about.

For example, If I am copywriter between contracts I can say "I am passionate about creating content that tells a story." A logical follow-up question like "where or who do you work for" gives you the opportunity to weave in your target audience and your value statement.

"I love helping smalls business owners cultivate a brand voice so that they can communicate better with current and prospective clients."

Help Shift Networking Culture By Asking Different Questions

You can help improve networking experiences by normalizing more inventive questions. There will always be plenty of people to ask "what do you do?" You can mix it up by asking more focused questions that get to the heart of someone's work. 

Questions To Ask Instead Of: What Do You Do? 

• What are you most passionate about?
• What are you working on?
• What’s the most interesting thing about your job?
• What excites you about what you do?
• How do you spend your days?
• What problem do you wish you could solve?

Bring A Spirit of Innovation Into Future Networking Experiences

Networking habits are changing and evolving. In the past year we have had to find ways to connect digitally in lieu of coming together in person. This required a shift in the way that we approach networking experiences. While I have no doubt that we will return to in-person networking in the future, I hope that we bring the spirit of innovation that we have cultivated in the last 7 months with us into the future by rethinking the questions and answers that we ask.

I recently streamed a 2018 documentary called Madonna and The Breakfast Club and while it seemed a lackluster devotional to Madonna's early years, it perfectly captured one career-launching aspect of the pop icon's rise to fame that has not been widely discussed: her unrelenting self-promotion. In 1983 Madonna spent hours on the phone with promoters trying to book her band and stalked DJ booths with cassette tapes trying to get her singles played in dance clubs. Some call it hustle, I call it marketing.

If she were just starting up today, Madonna would be using her impeccable personal brand, and her drive to be recognized, to great effect online. She would follow all of the best DJ's, get featured blogs in 'too cool for school' music publications, and she'd be an instagram influencer. 

Digital Marketing encompasses all the aspects of your online presence. Cultivating some combination of the following elements will help you reach a wider audience:
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• Website Design
• Search Engine Optimization
• Social Media Marketing
• Content Creation
• Email Marketing
• Paid Ads

As a performing artist you are an independent contractor - you are the CEO of an eponymous brand. With this is in mind, auditions become less like job interviews and more like contractor bids.

As a contractor you are responsible for:

• Finding your own work
• Developing a strong industry network
• Maintaining a professional reputation

Establishing a professional reputation, making it known in your network, and having digital proof of your credentials can help open doors to being cast in (and hired for) the kind of gigs that most interest you. 

In addition to an active performing career, many artists are starting to nurture other business ventures. Some are related to singing and performing, but many are not - either way, they are using their creativity and artistic instincts to cultivate their marketing skills. As an artist, you should focus on creating content that appeals to a dynamic audience. You should establish clear marketing goals that move you closer to economic freedom, and a flexible lifestyle that allows you to immerse yourself in your work.

I sat down with the marketing experts at Scapi Mag to address some questions submitted by performing artists and small business owners. You can listen to the full podcast episode at Scapi Mag. For a complete summary of the digital marketing questions, check out our answers below. 

Daniel: I say use it! Considering how most people will interact with your site will be the most helpful here, because most singers’ websites don’t often rely on organic reach, most visitors to your site will be linked from other referrals anyway. You could also use this as an opportunity to teach folks about polish pronunciation in your about section!

Maureen: Absolutely use it. This presents you with a fun branding opportunity, actually. I recommend making a fun graphic that offers the phonetics of your last name. Big, bold font in a bright color that says “KREZZ-BIT” or something like that. A friend of mine has her name mispronounced often in her industry, and she had a pronunciation guide on her business cards for a few years when she was first starting. It was  a) cute, b) helpful and c) a conversation starter. Also, most of the time when you’re offering your site, people are going to click a link: the number of times you’re going to be shouting your website URL at someone in a loud bar are few and far between enough that using your actual name is worth it.

Anna: Having a unique name is 100% an advantage and will ensure that when you are buying a domain name for your site, it will be available. If you did decide to go with a url other than your given name you can always consider combinations like Nikkiksings.com or Nickisingsmt.com as an alternative to Nikkikrzebiot.com.

Daniel: I personally don’t think you need a website unless you have a specific need for one. For individual creatives, until you have enough work that you need a place to house a portfolio of some kind just keep up with building your reach. Businesses should definitely have a website if they need somewhere to sell something, publish something, etc.

Dip your toe in with paid advertising slowly. It can change the way platforms interact with you and the way you interact with platforms. Start with a $5 ad to understand how the service functions and how it can work, for the most part that level of advertisement will scale up based on how much of a budget you set for it. Meaning you can expect a similar return on your investment: if your $5 ad returns you a dollar’s worth of sales, $500 is gonna likely net you $100.

Maureen: A website should be an aggregate of what you’re producing. It’s not necessarily a marketing tool, but more of a resource for clients with evergreen information. Basically, if people find your product through your social media, a good method of hook-line-sinker is “take a look at my site” where you share your story, client testimonials, fun videos, information on the program. That said, if you think your social media is doing it for you, it’s optional!

As far as paid advertising, I agree with Daniel: move slowly. Look at what other people in your industry are doing with paid ads, and *copy them* (obviously tailoring it to your branding) using small amounts of money at first, and then if it works, keep going!

Anna: I think it's always nice to secure your domain name so you have the option to set up a website in the future, but obviously there is some overhead involved with that. One option that might work for you would be to create a website for your performing brand and then include an internal page on that site that links to your coaching business. 

I think paid ads could be really successful for you if you invested in some custom video content. Depending on where you plan to run the ad it's important to research the guidelines for the social platform. For example, an ad on Facebook feed will have certain restrictions and best practices that include but are not limited to the amount of text that can appear on the image. For paid video ads make sure you have a closed caption feature set up since most people listen to videos with the sound off. 

Daniel: Scapi has done both and it really comes down to what you need from your site. If your business has simple needs from a website, maybe one store or to house a portfolio, you can absolutely use a DIY builder to make that happen. It can’t hurt to go this route first, as you will still need what you learn when hiring someone else.

Having someone design your site means they design the function, but you still have to use it day in and out. So you really need to know what it is that you need from this advanced infrastructure. You also obviously have to budget for it, implying that the cost of the site should be justifiable by the income you’re hoping to bring in. This doesn’t mean don’t hire someone, but maybe you find someone that’ll charge you hundreds instead of thousands.

I personally had to learn more about site building after having someone build the magazine for us then I did when I tried to do it myself through weebly. It works better, for sure, but there’s a lot at play to make every aspect function.

If you can’t afford to have someone on as a continuous site admin, when you build this giant site with different parts and pieces, one plugin can crash the whole thing and the next thing you know you’re down a spiral of trying to understand cpanel and downloading and uploading files of your website to get sections to play nice. Consider what that means for your schedule and current workload, and maybe you need to pare down your expectations for what you need from a website to fit what you can do with your resources.

Maureen: For me it comes down to how you use it. For a long time I had a website that someone else built for me on a platform that I didn’t understand how to use. And it was a *beautiful* site, that actually got me gigs, and that I got compliments on all the time. But I almost never updated it, because I was overwhelmed with how complicated it was. But I built a site for a non-profit I market for, and know all the nuts and bolts and variations and options for it, and feel much more comfortable updating it and altering it, but.. It’s a website that I built after I got off work. And while it’s pretty nice, it’s not very polished. If you’re looking for a digital portfolio that is beautiful and striking and stands out, go with a professional, and ask that they work with you to make sure you know how to use it. But, if you want something that is a sure thing that you’re going to be able to use easily and consistently, I’d try making it yourself.

Anna: A DIY website is a great place to start when you are on a budget, but it's important to understand that you will need to invest a sizable amount of time learning to use the dashboard of your hosting platform which includes installing apps and plugins. You'll also want to make sure you are up to speed on things like:

• Website best practices
• Basic html
• SEO
• Google analytics tracking code installation 

If you have a good eye for design and are prepared to invest some serious time learning the basics, taking on a DIY website can be a rewarding growth opportunity. This was my experience. In addition to working for a digital marketing agency and design firm in 2012, I invested some serious time and energy in teaching myself the inner workings of Wordpress and learning the fundamentals of SEO and html.

A Website Needs to be Designed with Marketing in Mind
Building a website is just the first step. You'll need to make sure that you are building something that helps you achieve your marketing goals with strategically placed CTAs and quality copy and content.

If you want to DIY a website but want some assistance with branding, design, and marketing, consider hiring a consultant who can help you on a hourly basis. Similar services are also available for developers (website builders). In the Wix vs. Weebly debate I am now solidly team Weebly as I think it is faster, has better templates, and is easier to use than Wix. Wordpress is still the platform that will get you the most cred with marketers, but it requires more chops when it comes to editing and customizing.  

Daniel: Find a popular hashtag in your creative area and comment on posts daily that you both find interesting and have some reach. If another creator replies, genuinely engage with them, throw them a follow, build meaningful relationships and see where that takes you. Spread a wide net, some folks that take this approach shoot to comment on 200 posts a day. You don’t have to do that, but find a comfortable, expansive approach for yourself.

Maureen: I completely agree with everything Daniel has said. It’s what I was going to recommend. BUT, I think varying the content of your feed will be helpful. You have a lot going for you on your feed: beautifully lit and framed photos of your pieces, thoughtful hashtags.. But video content does really well on IG. A time-lapse as you’re finishing a piece (doing a time-lapse for the whole thing seems like it would  be very time-intensive) would be super cool to watch. Have fun, take risks with your content!

Anna: Growing your audience will depend largely on how much time you have to invest in engaging with prospective followers. As Daniel and Maureen have said, having beautiful and creative content is a must, but once you have that you'll need to make sure you are getting it in front of your target audience. I recommend spending 30 minutes a day liking posts and following accounts in your target audience and  industry. Do some hashtag research and look for hashtag opportunities where you have a better chance of being seen. For example, make sure you include some niche hashtags that have fewer than 1M posts on Instagram. Going after a hashtag keyword with a lower post volume will help you find people in your niche but reduce the competition for views. 

Daniel: Email marketing is all about what you put into it and what you need from it. Realize that your email will be one of a sea of many, so if you want to be a part of that tidal wave with frequent posts, go for it, but a thoughtful small-batch approach may make your name stand out to people that really want to hear from you. 

Maureen: You can use email marketing to create a small community of your most devoted clients. Offering exclusive offers, highlighting aspects of your life that matter to them, sharing videos of short workouts.. That being said, if the exercise is frustrating or not delivering, it is totally optional.

Anna: It's great to have lots of tools in your digital marketing toolkit, but it's not necessary to use all of the them all of the time. If you see a lot of ROI with Social Media then it does make sense to continue investing more effort in those activities, with that said, you can always experiment with email marketing as a way to keep in touch with current and former clients. Consider setting up some automated emails to reach out to clients who have been inactive for a few months, or send exclusive content to regular clients all at once. You can keep the messaging personal by avoiding all of the trappings of typical email marketing campaigns. Ditch the fancy headers and lots of images in lieu of a short message that resembles a regular email from a friend (that's you!) but includes strategic call to action links or downloadable content. Always make sure that your "send from" field includes your name rather than your business name so that your subscribers know the email is from you. E.g. Anna Caldwell from The Peppermint Patties

Daniel: Balance is key to any creative. Consider combining where you can, cutting where you can, and streamlining where you can. If it’s just not possible to reduce your workload make distinct compartmentalizations for the different hats you have to wear. Set Tuesdays and Thursdays for performance emails and the rest of the week for teaching or something similar.

Maureen: I’ve found that having recurring content across my multiple channels helps a lot. On Mondays you post an inspirational quote on channel A, and a practice video on channel B. On Tuesday, you post a photo of you in a cute outfit on channel B, and leave channel A alone. On Wednesday blah blah you get the point. If you have north stars for what you’re going to post, and not just days of the week that you post, it’ll help focus you and give you ideas of what to actually do instead of having to reinvent the wheel every single day.

Anna: Creating a content calendar and sticking to it is a great way to juggle multiple brands at the same time. There are a lot of apps for this, like monday.com, but a spreadsheet or white board calendar would work too! You can look at data for your social channels to determine when your audience is most active, and use that to inform your posting schedule. Also, don't be afraid to cross pollinate your audiences and share content from your performing brand on your teaching page and vice versa. Since your brands are related this is a great way to extend your content and share it with both audiences. 

Maureen: Oh my gosh, what a wonderful opportunity to market a good that is TAILOR MADE for Instagram. Colored yarn? Yarnheads on Instagram go nuts for that stuff. Find a spot in your home that has good light, lay out your yarn, and go nuts. Using hashtags, and then liking posts from accounts that you believe would be interested in your product will draw attention to your yarn, and then also build a small community around it. Good luck!!

Daniel: Growing reach is all about taking advantage of how diverse audience segmentation has become. Meaning, you can customize what you share where based on how relevant it will be. Build a platform for your business, then share directly from there into online communities (facebook groups, subreddits, instagram hashtags, etc.) taking advantage of the fact that the only people there are already interested in what you have to say. Take the time to bring a genuine approach to these groups, too, getting to know admins or people involved in the community can help reach within the group and can also just help you enjoy the work a little more.

Anna: Daniel and Maureen's advice is spot on. I would add that it's okay to be proud of the work that you do and share it online. Even though you may feel like your are sharing too much or too often, in reality every post you share has a very short shelf life. Only about 6% of the people who follow you will see any given post. Of course that number goes up if your posts gets a lot of engagement, but not enough to become spammy. In any case, by targeting your content to a niche group you can ensure that your content is reaching an audience that has a vested interest in you and your work. 

For more information on the topics addressed here, check out the Podcast at Scapi Radio. For website design and marketing consultations contact Anna here. 

You've heard it before and you'll hear it again, as a reason to keep any shadow of your personal life, personality, emotions, wants, needs, desires, feelings, and opinions separate from your working life. This phrase is popular and has to be one of the more pervasive myths out there polluting what could otherwise be healthy workplaces.

When you force yourself and your workforce to disavow themselves of all personal feelings and sensibilities, you are stripping from your business the very thing that makes it compelling, and vital to your clients. Your Humanity.

​Businesses are not people, but PEOPLE make businesses run.

As marketers it is our job to tell stories that are authentic and engaging. We are constantly trying to put ourselves not only in the shoes of our clients so that we can speak on their behalf with a genuine voice, but also to speak with that voice to their clients who are thinking, feeling individuals. This is an inherently personal exercise. You must consider the desires, needs, fears and curiosities not only of your clients, but of their customers. In a way you are being asked to create digital scenarios mirroring real human interactions and in order to do that effectively you must consider the people involved on a personal level. When you reframe your job as a conduit between groups of people with unique thoughts feeling and social cues it's easy to see just how personal business really is. 

​As a small business owner you are no doubt motivated by a fiscal need to sell your product or services to your clients in a way that is profitable for your business.  On the other hand, you've probably observed that your best clients are the ones who trust you and with whom you have forged some sort lasting relationship. Why do you think that is? What makes some clients loyal while others fade away? I would wager that it's because at some point in your business relationship with them, you formed a common bond based on a genuine personal connection. 

Imagine a brick and mortar flower shop. A customer enters in need of a bouquet of flowers. This would seem like an ordinary transaction, however the florist notices a few non-verbal clues that provide context that are critical in steering the entire interaction. First, the customer seems flustered like something is wrong. There are 2 other people who came into the store before this customer, but they are calmly browsing. 

What would you do?

A business only approach might guide you to take each customer only in the order in which they entered the store.

A personal approach would tell you to address the customer who is displaying signs of emotional concern and to help to address their needs first.

But what about the other customers? Well firstly, consider that people are intuitive beings. As long as you have already greeted those other customers with a warm hello and they have continued to browse, you are safe to assume they aren't ready for more help just yet. You can also bet on the fact that they took notice when the agitated customer entered the shop. 

Attending to someone who has an urgent need will help neutralize the entire environment for everyone, making the shopping experience in your store better. Chances are the customer who is upset merely needs someone to acknowledge their presence, give them space to express what their frustration is, and guidance on how to resolve their issue before they too will find themselves transformed into a calmer, happier customer. 

A digital example: You receive three emails from clients about updates that need to be made to their websites. The first two are fairly standard requests that need to be done in a timely fashion, the third is a also a standard request but the client is noticeably agitated and feels like the request is an emergency. Who do you follow up with right away?

​Think about some of the best customer service experiences you've ever had. What stands out? Did you feel like someone listened to you? If you were frustrated did you feel like the agent made an effort to understand and empathize with your reaction? I'm guessing the answer is a resounding yes.  Still, it is important to have guidelines about what level of personal interaction is appropriate. 

Having a personal interaction with a client doesn't mean that it's OK for them or for you to share information or ask questions of a personal nature that make either party uncomfortable. 

The agitated customer in the flower shop may say "I'm late for my anniversary lunch with my wife and I need a bouquet of a special type of flower whose name I can't remember"

It would be inappropriate to ask the customer a question like "oh, have you forgotten her anniversary before? Hope it doesn't lead to you sleeping on the couch." Just as it would be inappropriate for the customer to ask for more details from the business representative other than those specifically relating to the product or service.

You should keep your questions business related. You can genuinely express your concern for the client and demonstrate with your actions that you care about their feelings. "I totally understand. Let's help you find something quickly so you can get to lunch as possible. Do you remember the color and shape of the flower?" 

The key to making personal connections not only within your business organization but with your customers is to treat everyone with the empathy that they deserve. You may not always agree with someone's reaction to a particular situation, but you should trust that from their perspective it is genuine and deserves consideration. Sometimes this means demonstrating empathy before you fully understand someone's reaction. 

If you are an entrepreneur, solo-preneur, start-up or small family business it is likely that your level of investment in your work is very high, even personal. Author Annie Dillard famously said, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” For most of us, that means spending nearly 1/3 of our lives or 90,000 hours at work over the course of our lifetimes. That is a huge personal investment. The financial investments and sacrifices that you make as a business owner are also extremely personal. 

It makes sense that we would not want to shut off our personalities in the work place and would crave relationships within our organizations that are more than the transactional goings on of day to day business. If forming these bonds with coworkers helps to improve company culture and productivity it is equally important that company policies thoughtfully consider that company culture in its written policies so they are not in conflict. 

It can be confusing for employees if you have established a certain way of working in the office with verbal policies but have written policies that contradict behaviors that have been widely allowed and encouraged in practice.

Quality of life in the workplace has become one the best ways that smart brands have found to improve company culture and productivity. How would a company work if every employee had access to comforts and policies that treat them like humans who want to feel comfortable, have fun and be relaxed at work?

The Google offices have become something of an Urban legend when it comes to forward thinking corporations. This model isn't scaleable for small business owners but some of the basic principle's can be. Small Businesses can forge strong company cultures in lots of way. Check out these great example from Extensis.

Of course, it's not a free for all, major brands know that creating flexible and inclusive workplaces also means doing so around a solid set of protocols that make sure that business stays on track. Fortunately, happy employees rarely need strict protocols when they are in a work environment where they feel valued, safe, and trusted.

​Some major brands that are doing this really well are, just to name a few:

• Zoom
• Google
• HubSpot
• Microsoft
• LInkedIN

A recent Glassdoor study found that in order to have a stellar company culture you should have these key indicators:

1. Workplace with a clear mission connecting employees' daily work to a broader social purpose and positive change.
2. High-quality senior leaders who are inspiring, empathetic and competent.
3. A set of clearly-defined pathways for career advancement, making job roles feel like a roadway rather than cul-de-sac. 

What ideas are you building your company on? If you are trying to scale your business one of the things that is routinely advised by business consultants is to create a company culture. Office parties and non-work related outings have become fairly common. Why? Because they encourage people to form personal bonds that lead to trust in the workplace.

Now that we find ourselves in the midst of a global health crisis, fostering personal values and genuine interactions from inside and outside your organization are critical to survival. So much so that I am cautiously optimistic that there will be at least some paradigm shifts in corporate culture. 

Like many of you, I spent that first week stumbling through, adjusting, anxious, and trying to figure out where I should place my energy. ⁣
⁣
I took some quiet time to just sit and exhale. Ultimately this is what I concluded: It is imperative that we don't shut down and withdraw. Though we may feel like we are in some alternate timeline where everyday feels like that nebulous time between Christmas and New Years...it is not...this is our new reality and we need to keep doing our work. ⁣

What is appropriate?  If you're unsure, ask yourself "What does my audience need right now?" ⁣
⁣
While it can be tempting to act from a place of fear and focus on what your business needs -- Sales, Audience Growth, Leads -- you are not going to successfully reach your audience in an online forum by leading with what your business needs. ⁣

There are 4 different types of content that you can create to promote your brand on social media. All content including post copy, stories, video, images, and audio will perform a function for your brand based on these strategic categories. 

You may find that you are driven to create one particular type more than the others and that's ok.  However, in order to fully engage your target audience, you'll want to create a variety of content across the 4 types. ​Excluding one of more these content types from your social media strategy could lead to missed opportunities to connect with members of your audience. Additionally, each type can help inspire you to showcase the different aspects of your brand and may even help you develop a new brand that is still under construction. ​

Storytelling content takes your customer on a journey with your brand. It often includes an emotional transformation of some kind either by the customer or by the brand itself. The audience will want to engage with this content because there is a satisfying emotional resolution. 

Examples of Storytelling Content

• Behind the scenes footage
• An emotional customer testimonial
• Before and after images
• The family legacy behind your brand's creation
• Your personal journey as an entrepreneur
• New product release anticipation
• Volunteer activities and community building projects
• Story takeovers by brand partners (Instagram and Facebook)
• User generated content
• ​Custom hashtags

Showing your brand product or service in action is one of the quickest ways to build customer trust. If you are a skilled creator or artist, you can showcase your skills and expertise. If you sell a product you can create your own product tutorials or have them generated for you by influencer partners. Product un-boxings and live tutorials allow users to interact with your brand in an authentic way before making a buying decision. Seeing your product in action will help them feel more confident buying and boost brand trust and loyalty.

​Social media endorsement by customers has taken the place of modern day word of mouth advertising. Encouraging buyers to become ambassadors for your brand by creating their own demos or featured content can spread your brand message. 

Examples of Demonstration Content

• Product tutorials
• Unboxing videos
• Influencer demos
• Before and after photos
• Instructional videos​
• Testimonial hashtag campaigns

Most of the decisions that consumers make about a brand are emotional and rooted in deeply held beliefs and biases. Breaking through these biases to change someone's perspective is a tall order. However, not all belief shifting happens around core or immovable principals. For example, let's say your target audience has never associated their morning routine with their mood throughout the day. You can create content that suggests that the morning routine is an essential opportunity to establish positive thoughts for the day.

​There are many products that can benefit from this type of positioning. For example: tea and coffee, breakfast food, daily affirmation app, skin care routine, essential oils etc. By shifting your audiences belief system about the ritual value of their morning you can show them how your product or service can become a part of that routine in a way that will make it essential to them. This is different, for example, than convincing your audience that chat based customer support system is more effective and efficient than a customer service call center. Different target audiences will require you to address their fear of change in order to shift their belief.

Examples of Belief Shifting Content

• Side by side comparisons of old vs. new solutions
• Challenging the way thing have "always been done"​
• Asking users to place value on something that is new to them​
• Acknowledging a fear of change

​

Different types of media may lend themselves to each of the 4 social media content types described above. Videos will be particularly effective for demonstration while descriptive post copy with scroll stopping image is essential for belief shifting. You may also find that there is overlap, and campaigns may include belief shifting and storytelling or Future Pacing and Demonstration. 

For information about social media marketing and content strategy contact Caldwell Media Arts. 

If your Website is managed through wordpress, you can use an SEO tool like Yoast to updated your meta descriptions. Other platforms like Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace have modules built in.

Optimum Character Counts
Typically, a description should be between 160 characters and 350 characters. Whether or not your description is long or short is not by itself a good performance indicator. The content and context of your description matter. It can helpful to test different descriptions to see which performs better. If your competitors all ah

Let's take a look at an example. When searching for "How to write good meta descriptions" which example would you choose?

Title

• Example A is too long and gets cut off by the preview
• Example B uses the word "perfect" and acronym "SEO" to stand out
• Example C states what the blog is about and the deliverable of "20+ examples"

Content

• All three are relevant to our search
• Examples A and C promise to show examples
• Example B promises to teach us how to write examples but doesn't give us any indication how? Will there be examples? Video? 

URL

• Example A uses a descriptive URL telling you exactly what the page contains
• Example B is more complex and shows parent pages that obscure the descriptive URL in preview
• Example C uses a descriptive URL but it's not for the keyphrase I was looking for. What is a meta description is a very different query than how to write meta descriptions

Up to date Information

• Both Examples B and C appear current.
• B was updated in 2020
• C indicates that it was also updated, despite being dated August 2019. 

Other relevant keyphrases

• Example B tells me that the blog talks about SEO

So which one did you choose?

Google chose A, because it's ranked higher than B, or C.  

I chose C, not because it was the highest ranked result but because both the title and the description promised examples and appear to have been updated recently. Also, the description tells me exactly what the page contains rather than excerpting a random part of the page.

Notice anything wrong with this meta description? Despite ranking #1 for this search query, and humorously promising to teach you how to write great meta descriptions this title, link, and description are in need of some TLC. Now, it is likely that this blog ranked high for this query because it is keyword optimized and Neil Patel's site is well known, has high traffic, lots of links, and great domain authority. It's a great example of how you can rank high but still need to "practice what you preach" to optimize your content.

The Title
This title is more than 60 characters and is getting cut off by the preview. This is common and will happen often if you are going after several different keyphrases. In this case, Neil Patel is aiming to have this blog rank for "How to Write Meta Descriptions" and "Boost Your Rankings." The word "compelling" has been added to make it more descriptive and emotional. 

The URL
This could benefit from a customized descriptive URL that contains the keywords we are targeting. As it stands, this URL doesn't tell me anything about the content on this page.

The Meta Description
This description is interesting but still a bit off base for me. The first sentence provides important context, but the second sentence is poorly excerpted and doesn't describe the things of value on this page.

My Revamped Version! 

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