What you’ll learn in this interview:
- 3 tools she uses to make social grids cohesive (without needing a designer)
- Her can’t-live-without organization tools
- 1 podcast that consistently inspires and educates her
- 2 best ways to promote your product and drive more sales
How This Award Winning Digital Media Specialist Runs Her Business Behind The Scenes
1. What do you do? Who do you help?
I’m an award-winning digital media specialist who jumped into launching her own business, Viking Social Agency, at the beginning of the year. Since then I’ve worked with a variety of clients and companies on all different parts of their digital campaigns.
Although I have other clients, I love being able to partner with fellow boss babes and helping them maximize their social footprint. I’ve worked with all levels of women ran businesses and those have been some of my favorites as we share a similar entrepreneur spirit.
2. List your favorite business tools.
SOCIAL MEDIA
- Later – I absolutely love Later to help manage our grids. With their easy and visually appealing tool, we can make sure your brand always looks it’s best. They work with so many social platforms now, that it’s a nice one-stop shop for all of our planning. They allow you to tag other people in the photo before auto-posting, they give you hashtag suggestions, and their analytics are robust.
- Preview – We use preview to plan our grid before putting it into Later. We don’t always have the captions yet or know when we want to post, but we can easily move things around to see what our Instagram feed will look like. If you upgrade your account, you can even share this with a team.
- Unfold – Allows us to create on the go Instagram stories that feel custom to the brand we’re working on. Every now and then we have our own templates we design but Unfold allows us to be more turnkey with our story posting.
EMAIL MARKETING
- MailChimp – I’m sure this platform isn’t new to most of you, but it still is the easiest templated mail platform for consistent consumer outreach. We help brands design various templates and write copy that speaks to their audience in a more engaging way.
PRODUCT SALES
- Shopify – We use Shopify to tag all our brand’s products on each post across Facebook and Instagram. There are at times glitches, but overall we’ve seen a significant increase in sales from these tags.
- Instagram Stories – Who doesn’t love an Instagram story? We like to use these to direct sales, as well as showcase content that may not completely fit into our grid. We leverage
ORGANIZATION
- Trello – We use Trello to manage all of our social management campaigns. It is an easy way to track feedback and approvals as well as move content around based on daily activity. Their labels also allow us to do a quick glance at the board to see what’s needed to be done or what has recently been approved, keeping us extra efficient.
3. What is a good course, website or book you would recommend and why?
COURSES
- DeanStreetSociety – They’re great at walking you through a lot of the basics to get your social moving. Since we work with a lot of small brands too, we understand that not everyone can afford help, but Hilary is a great teacher to give you a few steps and things to do to keep your Instagram on the right track.
PODCASTS
- GoalDigger – It’s inspiring and educational. I don’t listen to every podcast, but rather skim through the information that’s being discussed or the interviewees that are being brought on to help curate my time (especially since I don’t have a lot of it). I always step away with at least one thing to think about or try.
BOOK
- Work Party – It’s a great Girl Boss book. A lot of the challenges brought up you as a reader has faced, but it’s taken from a different perspective to help shed light on ways to make things turn positive or continue to empower you forward.
4. What is the best piece of advice you have received?
Know your value and don’t let anyone tell you differently.
5. What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs?
It’s ok to take a leap of faith, I did and it’s paid off. I’d rather know that I tried than a constant what if or only if I could. It’s ok to not know everything surrounding running a business, but make sure you have those who support you around you.
6. What is your beauty and/or fitness routine?
FITNESS ROUTINE
Spinning – I love to spin. It’s my form of meditation, when I’m in class I can let the stress of the day disappear for an hour. I also leave with a different perspective on any challenges I may be facing.
7. List the products or items that are indispensable in your life.
- Tea – My tea is like most people’s coffee. I’m always drinking it and I definitely couldn’t wake up without it!
- Planner – I have three of them that float around, but I have so many meetings with so many people that it can get overwhelming. When I write meetings or to-dos down, I’m able to focus and really make sure I’m tackling the most important or urgent thing first allowing me to organize my day a tad better.
8. Which female entrepreneur(s) do you look up to and why?
- Jenna Kutcher – Obviously I mentioned her podcast earlier, but I love following her as a person. She’s genuine and relatable and has built an empire on her own hard work.
- Eleanor Lee & Rae Michalik – I’m a little biased because we partner to make social magic, but both of these women left their career paths to take a leap of faith and start Meraki Narrative. They’re amazing souls and creatives who know what they’re doing.
9. List your social media platforms.
- Instagram @bestofnicolemarie, @vikingsocialagency
- Facebook @vikingsocialagency
- LinkedIn Nicole Woods – Viking Social Agency
- Website www.vikingsocialagency.com
- Email nicole@vikingsocialagency.com
- Hashtags #girlboss #womensupportingwomen #socialmedia #vikings #socialmediawarriors