November 28, 2023 • 36 mins
Are you weary of cookie-cutter content and impersonal posts that are plaguing your social media experience? Do you feel like the lighting industry is lagging behind in effectively harnessing social media's full potential? Yeah, I am too. So heading into 2024, let's rethink our approach, identify our end goals, and shake things up a bit to tap into the enormous potential of this digital platform. As an additional challenge : DM me or comment below and tag an account who is doing a great job with their social media content so we can all #beinspired.
Thank you to Lights America for sponsoring this episode of Lighting with Lisa!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello and welcome fellow lighting nerds and
friends to Lighting with Lisa,the lighting industries podcast
sponsored this week by LightsAmerica.
Thank you so much, lightsAmerica, for sponsoring Lighting
with Lisa and supporting thisproject, and I will have more on
Lights America coming up in theepisode.
(00:22):
So housekeeping at the top, asalways.
If you have feedback on anepisode, a comment about an
episode, what is wrong with you,Lisa, about an episode?
If you want to sponsor anepisode, if you want to appear
on an episode, anything havingto do with this podcast, please
email me, lisa, atlightingwithlisacom.
(00:44):
I can't wait to hear from you.
Last week's episode aboutholiday gifting was totally
inspired by a listener email, soplease send your suggestions,
comments my way.
I really appreciate it andthank you.
On Facebook, there's two groupsassociated with the podcast and
the lighting industry.
(01:05):
The one is the fixture findergroup.
Another is the residentiallighting industry job board.
You can find both of thosegroups on Facebook.
The links are in the show notesif you want to go to them
directly, and they're just greattools to have in your pocket as
a member of the lightingindustry.
(01:25):
So please do participate inthose as needed.
So I'm starting this week with acomplaint.
That's right.
This is not complain town.
I'm a moderator in anotherFacebook group, totally
unrelated to the lightingindustry, and the number one
(01:47):
rule violation in that Facebookgroup is we are not the
complaints department.
So I just started to say I'mbreaking our own rules, but it's
not the rules of this podcastparticularly.
But we do try to not complainaround here.
We try to discuss potentialproblems and highlight possible
solutions.
(02:07):
Complaints is not the way to go.
But I did want to start theepisode with a kind of gentle
complaint for all of us in thelighting industry, and I mean
this in the nicest way.
And I would also like to fullydisclose that the complaint I'm
about to lodge I am equally asguilty of as everybody else
(02:31):
listening.
Okay, so you ready.
I'm sure the episode title hasgiven this away, but I cannot
stand the social media in ourindustry by and large.
I think about it all the timeand I look.
I follow many showrooms, Ifollow many manufacturers, I
(02:54):
follow many sales agents.
I follow all of your businessesone way or another across the
various lighting with Lisa orpace lighting or my own personal
life, my own, my, whatever myaccount is.
I follow many of you and thereare like 1% maybe of us that
(03:18):
produce any sort of content thatI personally want to engage
with, and I'm the targetaudience for a lot of this
content, whether it's as ashowroom owner or a homeowner of
a certain age in income, like.
I'm the target for so much ofthis content and most of it I
(03:40):
could care less about.
And I'm again shining thislight, not on just outward into
the industry, I'm shining.
There's a bright spotlighthanging over my head right now.
I am equally as guilty of nothaving a great social media
(04:01):
strategy as anybody else.
Now I'm speaking in very broadstrokes.
Of course it is a podcast and Iwant this to be engaging
content for everyone.
There are definitely people andideas and concepts that are
executed very well.
Not everything is a disaster,of course, but it just has
(04:24):
occurred to me over and overthat we're generally terrible at
this in our industry and Ifollow because I like podcast,
because of all the things I'minterested in creatively.
I follow several just like truecontent creators on the internet
(04:45):
.
They're not all amazing all thetime, but you can kind of see
how they've like honed thisskill in this brand generally
built around like theirpersonalities and who they are
and they're able to leveragethat usually very organically
into businesses.
Now, I'm not saying Iunderstand a brick and mortar
(05:08):
business or a fixturemanufacturer or sales agent.
I understand these things arenot the same, but I definitely
see where their content isengaging and gets a bunch of
comments and whatever and likesand reshares and I can't tell
you how many people I follow nowbecause somebody like shared
(05:30):
their Instagram story on theirown account.
Like it's just kind of amazingto me but I never see anything
in our industry pop up that wayand I'm pretty connected, like I
was just saying, like this issomething I'm very interested in
and engaged in.
You would think I would seeorganically more content related
to the business that I own andam involved in every day, but I
(05:55):
really don't and it's reallyremarkable to me and it makes me
realize that we're all kind ofdoing a terrible job with this.
Again, there are definitehighlights.
I'm not saying that therearen't like great moments.
I've seen really some smartcontent that I thought was
really really well done.
(06:15):
It is absolutely out there.
I just am painting with a bigbrushstroke here and identifying
.
That is a general rule.
We're just not doing great withthis and as far as most of our
audience today, I don't knowthat that's like a horrible
(06:35):
thing.
That said, the boomers and, youknow, the people in their 60s
and 50s and 70s, like thesepeople, are actually far more
engaged in social media than youmight actually give them credit
for.
A lot of the like homeownersthat have purchased or are still
(06:58):
looking to purchase, like theirforever home, where they're
going to retire to, where thegrandkids are going to come
visit, like these people thatare great potential customers of
ours, are actually more engagedon social media than you might
think.
So there's that, and thenthere's also the up and coming
millennials and whatever isbehind Millennial Gen Z.
(07:20):
Anyway, we have all read thenews stories about how these
people are going to be slower tohome ownership for a whole
variety of reasons, and I thinkthat is very true.
That said, this is still thetime in their development and
careers that that we, as peoplethat eventually want to have a
relationship with thesecustomers, we should really be
(07:44):
building our foundations withthem now, because it does seem
apparent to me that these kindsof shoppers in the future are
going to build strong identitywith a brand and want to shop
with that brand when they are atthat point in their lives.
Like, think of all, if youfollow any Instagram or TikTok
(08:11):
influencers at all, think of allthe random merch drops that
these people are doing right nowand all of the people that are
buying this merch and wearing itout.
And it's really amazing andthis isn't something that ever
existed before.
And the only reason people arebuying a $50 sweatshirt with
somebody's logo on it is becausethey feel so connected to that
(08:34):
brand.
And again, a brick and mortarbusiness Like you don't see
anybody running around reallywith like a Best Buy sweatshirt
on, unless they're going to work.
So I'm not saying like this issomething we should be doing,
like, like getting logo apparel.
The point I'm trying to make isthat there is so much
opportunity to create arelationship with your audience
(08:57):
via social media and I don'tthink most of us do a good job
at that.
So when I was making my notesfor this podcast, the very first
question I wrote after seeinglike yet another kind of
uninspiring social media post,was what's your social media
strategy and do you even haveone?
(09:18):
And that's where I think mostof us have really missed the
mark, like I think most of us,by and large, do not have a
social media strategy for awhole variety of reasons.
Right, like it is a fun quirk,I think, of our industry that so
(09:39):
many of us are doing so manydifferent things in our
businesses.
Like I love it.
I feel like I get a wholevariety of experience in a day.
I can go from working in thewarehouse to selling light
fixtures, to doingadministrative work.
Like I love it.
My day is full of variety.
But that variety means I'mprobably not great at developing
(10:01):
a solid social media strategyand, honestly, many of the
companies or firms you couldhire to develop a social media
strategy, I have to tell youmost of them aren't great at it
either.
Our businesses are unique andspecial and lighting showrooms
(10:24):
and everything we provide in alighting showroom is not
something like easilytranscribable to somebody
outside of the industry, andthat's always kind of been a
problem in our industry, like inany number of things.
Like everything that goes on ina lighting showroom is so
(10:47):
distinct, I would say, from whathappens in many other
businesses.
Now, never owned an applianceshowroom, never owned a plumbing
showroom, I've only been like acustomer of those places.
So I'm sure there is likesimilarity there, but there's no
other retailer that I engagewith that has kind of like the
(11:08):
distinct level of like productand decorative and technical and
problem solving that a lightingshowroom does, and that's part
of the reason why I love it andwhy people that get engaged in
the industry love it, because,again, nothing is ever the same
day after day, and that's greatas a job, like it doesn't get
(11:31):
boring, there's always somethingnew going on and I love that.
But that is also somethingthat's really hard to distill
down and communicate to apotential audience and we by and
large in our industry have justdone a really terrible job of
having a great social mediastrategy and using that tool
(11:54):
effectively.
Like we just don't, and it'ssort of disappointing and I
think it's a real to get to thepositive part of this, it's a
real opportunity for us goinginto 2024 to really think about
this.
Like really take a minute inthe last month of the year, the
(12:15):
last weeks of the year, andthink about what you're really
doing on social media and is itreally impactful the way you
want it to be?
Because for many of us it's not.
It's not at all what works fora boutique home and home and
lifestyle kind of business thedecor industry and our lighting
(12:41):
is not going to have, like we'renot going to be able to do the
same things as what works for,say, like fast fashion there's.
Those are like impulsepurchases and unless you're like
specifically marketing, likethe impulse, like buying area of
your business like at my storewe have all these like hostess
(13:04):
gifts and holiday gifts and alittle small pick me up items.
So maybe the tools that someonemight use like for a fast
fashion business, you could alsouse to promote those brands,
but like the core of ourbusiness it's just a different
kind of marketing and I don'tthink any of us are really
thinking about that.
(13:24):
I don't think we're thinkingabout what the end game of
putting posting on social mediais.
Is it, do you want more websitetraffic?
Do you want more feet in thedoor?
What, like?
What is your purpose of postingon social media?
Is it doing it because for somereason you think you have to,
because you own a business, orwhat like that?
(13:48):
Do you know the answer to thatquestion?
I, for a long time, haven'tknown the answer to that
question at all.
Truly, have it, and I'm in asort of a shame to admit it.
I know better.
But what is your end game withyour social media strategy and
are you focusing on that?
Are you focusing on feet in thedoor?
Are you focusing on people resharing your posts and
(14:10):
potentially like having a viralmoment?
Are you focusing on drivingpeople to a website?
Are you focusing on trying toget people to purchase and
engage with a certain productsthat you offer?
Like, what are you doing?
What's your strategy?
A cuss, for most of us thereisn't one and we're just like
(14:31):
throwing things up there andkind of just crossing our
fingers like, well, that didn'ttake too much time, maybe it
works, maybe it doesn't, but itwas a minimum of effort, so
whatever.
But like I'm telling you, itcomes cross is a minimum of
effort and I think even thatminimum of effort is wasted time
(14:51):
and money.
Like at that point I would say,maybe don't do it, let's come
up with something else.
Or spend that 10 minutes youare spending on, you know,
getting that post up andscheduled to doing something
else, or thinking about Reallywhat your big picture of your
social media strategy is, asopposed to just like you know,
(15:13):
this seems okay, let me do itAll right.
So I'm gonna pause right herefor a little sponsor break.
Thanks so much to lightsamerica for sponsoring this
episode of lighting with lisa.
I really appreciate lightsamerica so much.
I'm gonna be.
I don't want to forget.
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(18:30):
All right, so back to my socialmedia media strategy talk, or
lack thereof.
So what I think?
So randomly, the?
This topic came to my mindbecause about I guess by the
time this goes out it will havebeen about two weeks ago we
posted kind of a one-off pictureof our showroom.
I mean, it was a great picturebut I just didn't even think
(18:56):
anything of it with kind of abasic caption and it had a
really great moment of lots ofengagement.
It was amazing and the more Ithought about it, the more I
thought what that photo in thatcaption was conveying was our
brand, and I don't think we doenough of that at my business
(19:20):
and I guarantee you probablydon't do enough of it at yours
at conveying what your brand isand what your particular service
or area of expertise or yourunique value proposition.
Are you communicating with that.
Are you a light fixturemanufacturer that is
communicating appropriately toyour customers and end users
(19:45):
what your unique value is?
Are you a ceiling fanmanufacturer?
Are you a electrical devicemanufacturer?
Are you really solidifying withyour customer base what makes
your product special anddifferent or your sales tools
special and different?
Are you really communicatingwhat is unique about your
(20:07):
business or are you justthrowing some pictures up
Lighting showrooms?
What is special about yourlighting showroom?
There could be any number ofthings, but I bet most of them
revolve around your staff andyou know, what I don't see a lot
of on social media is amazingstaff members of lighting
(20:28):
showrooms sharing theirexpertise or tips or ideas.
That's really where this likelighting with Lisa, consumer
facing program came from.
By the way, there's morecontent on that coming very soon
, but it is that's why I sort ofcreated that.
As a part of you know, I need toexpress to people that might be
(20:51):
interested in my business.
I need to make our business aapproachable to them and be give
them a reason to understand.
You know why they want to comeand experience my store.
What value is?
Are we adding like?
What can?
What additional impact am Igoing to make on their home and
(21:12):
their life and their project bythem coming to work with me and
my business.
So I just think we, by andlarge, do a really poor job of
communicating.
What is truly special about ourbusinesses and the content I
find myself engaging in with themost when it comes to the
lighting and fan industry, isabsolutely the content that
(21:37):
features a person, and itdoesn't always have to feature a
person, but maybe you have somegreat content about a staff
member or project or before andafter, and then you have more of
a here's a showroom picture orwhatever, but there's just a
need to create that connectionwith the people viewing this
(21:58):
content.
Have you, are you show, youknow like?
For me I'm thinking about areyou, am I showcasing my staff
and their accomplishments?
Am I showing the jobs thatwe've completed successfully and
then tagging in the appropriatedesigners, builders, architects
, whomever was involved with theproject that has a social media
(22:19):
presence.
I can tell you what interiordesigners by and large have a
great social media presence withtheir clients and if you have
any way to work with a designerand then cross post your social
media content, that has beensome of the most engaging stuff
(22:39):
we've done and because everyoneloves to see a little before and
after, everyone loves a littlesneak peek into somebody else's
home and the choices they made,and we all like to take
inspiration from those things.
So are you really leveragingthose opportunities or are you
just kind of letting them go by?
And most designers it's notlike they want anything out of
(23:02):
it other than to get be givencredit and for you to be clear
when you're tagging them thatthis was their project and their
design and make sure it'sreally easy for customers to not
only find you and reach you butto reach that designer.
And it's been, it's been greatevery time.
We've been able to do that andsadly we just we don't do it
(23:23):
enough.
Stop using stock photos.
That's it.
I said it.
I know manufacturers spend alot of money on their
photography and some of it isreally great.
Not going to lie, some of it isgreat.
It's not all great people, I'msorry to say.
(23:46):
It just isn't.
It's just not.
And the photos tend to have acatalog quality about them and
that's fine for a catalog.
I don't think it is the thingthat's going to draw people into
(24:07):
your business.
It's just a stock photo of aliving room setup or a dining
room setup and a bathroom setup,and there's nothing
particularly drawing in about it.
There's nothing that makes youwant to share that to your story
on Instagram.
There's just the stock photos,aren't it, people?
(24:29):
I'm sorry to say that.
I know there's a lot ofmanufacturers that are maybe not
happy with me that I just saidthat because of all the time and
resources they spend on thisand I'm not saying there isn't a
place for it.
Here's a great place for that.
Stock photos I love when I'mclicking through my website in
the images of a product you getthe standard, you know, kind of
(24:52):
whatever backed up view of it.
I love it when there's aninteractive 3D model.
I love it when there's an upclose shot on a glass or a metal
arm or whatever other detailand I love it when there's an
application shot of that fixturein a room.
I think that's a very, veryhelpful in selling product.
I really do.
So.
That's where those products andimages work well Great, let's
(25:16):
keep them coming for that.
But they're not.
That just doesn't apply.
It doesn't translate.
I think is what I'm trying tosay to social media.
Everything that is kind oftaken with this catalog.
I just really reads on socialmedia like a catalog and most of
the time the captions aren'tengaging and they're just very
(25:39):
salesy.
And I just scroll right by andthis is like for some businesses
I truly love and adore, but thesocial media is just, you know,
very meh.
So I just really think we needto either find creative uses for
manufacturer photos here's anidea right off the top of my
(26:03):
head.
Here's in a manufacturer photothat's not too bad.
I happen to have that same piecein my store.
I take a picture of that piecein the store on display.
Maybe there's a little secondclip, video clip of a
salesperson talking about thatand there's a whole carousel
where you can see the piece ondisplay, an up close shot and
(26:23):
then an application shot of itinstalled.
Great, that's a perfect use ofa stock photo.
But other than that, I justdon't, or things like that,
ideas like that, just throwingthat up on your social media
with a comment I just it's not,it's not doing it, we're not
doing the thing.
So, and also, as I said at thetop of this episode, that I'm as
(26:46):
guilty of this as everyoneelse's you can scroll back
through all my social media andpoint out all the times where I
have made these exact mistakes.
But it's in that, looking backon what has been successful for
us and what actually generatestraction for us, as opposed to
things that just like die whenwe put them out there into the
(27:10):
world that's where this wholetopic is coming from.
So, yes, I'm just as bad atthis as everyone else has been,
and that's why I'm trying to getthis word out to get us all
thinking a bit more.
So some of them like.
One of the things that hascaught me off guard in the best
possible way is I have a newhire working.
(27:31):
She actually starts full timeyou know when this episode airs,
but she has been instrumentalfor us in revamping and
reenergizing our social mediastrategy.
There's going to be, I think,much more to come in the future
from her, but the whole point ofsocial media, to some degree,
(27:52):
is for us to generate aconnection to our business.
So I had a customer come in theother day who stopped in my
door and said, hey, I saw you onTikTok and I was like, oh well,
do you follow us?
And they said, no, you justpopped up in my TikTok feed and
I, like just wanted to cheer butI was like, oh, that's great,
(28:13):
thanks, you know, just made mevery excited.
Now, that's just one person whostopped to say that, probably
because they saw me in my office, but like that's the idea,
right, that's the reason tospend time creating this content
is so that somebody comes intoyour store, they recognize the
faces of the people workingthere and you just have this
(28:33):
friendly relationship right offthe bat.
And I just thought that was.
I mean, they didn't even followus and they got served our
content on TikTok.
I mean it really just made myday and also again really got me
thinking about how wrong I havedone this off and on over the
years and how kind of wrong ingeneral I think our industry
(28:57):
does it.
And here's a tip If engaging onsocial media is not your thing
as the business owner or managerwhich is fine there's all kinds
of reasons to not be engaged onsocial media.
It is not always the healthiest,most fun, safest space, so
(29:17):
there's not really a good reasonto do it for every person out
there.
But if you know that, if youknow that's not your thing, if
you know you're not going toever want to deal with the
social media engagement.
You need to find somebody whodoes enjoy it and will take
ownership of this strategy, ofthis part of your business.
(29:39):
Somebody who does follow thetrends and can see what gets
positive reactions, somebodythat's going to take a critical
look at what you've done and say, yes, this works.
No, this doesn't, and they'rereally going to put thought and
energy behind what works foryour particular space.
Now, I think, by and largebecause what we do in lighting
(30:01):
showrooms can be so difficult tocommunicate I think, by and
large, this person should be onyour staff.
I don't think it should be ahired hand.
I think it should be,potentially, maybe a younger
person on your staff who hasgrown up with social media and
who is very engaged in itpersonally, I think that's where
(30:22):
you're going to get your bestideas from An advertising
partner.
I'm not saying they're terribleat it, but all the ones I've
ever talked to, all the onesthat I ever see working on this,
everything just comes across asso generic and boilerplate.
And then, where is that gettingyou Like again?
(30:42):
Are you just posting on socialmedia because you feel like you
should post on it, or is thesocial media actually the sales
funnel for you.
That it needs to be, becausethat's why we do it right.
This isn't to just throw thingsagainst the wall and everybody
to have a good time.
We want to use this tool as asales funnel for something Feet
(31:05):
in the door shopping online.
What's the thing that you wantto drive with your social media?
Maybe you're a brick and mortarretailer, but what you want to
use your social media for is foryour online shopping.
Great, that's not a badstrategy.
What are you doing with yoursocial media to actually make
(31:25):
that happen?
Or you're like I really don'tcare about selling online with
dropship fees, with this, withfreight and things that can go
small parcel, things that haveto go freight line.
It's too much of a headache.
I'm never going to make decentamount of money at it.
I'm out of the online sales nothappening.
I want to bring people in mystore.
Throwing up a stock photo frommanufacturer X.
(31:49):
Is that going to bring peopleinto your store?
Or is it going to be great,engaging content with members of
your staff or videos of yourshowroom or taking a picture of
your warehouse Like I don't know?
Whatever is unique about yourbusiness and this is what I
adore about our industry.
(32:11):
We are all unique.
I love that lighting showroomshave so many little quirks,
largely a part of like how thatbusiness came to be.
Did you come to be because ofan electrician?
Did you come to be because ofan electrical supply house?
Did you come to be because ofsome sort of decor background?
Did you come to be just fromlighting or as an offshoot of
(32:37):
working with a builder?
How did you come to be?
Because that really probablyhas a lot to say about the
unique value of your businessand the things that you
understand and can truly helpyour customers with.
And I think that is really likethe magic, the secret sauce of
what we do and if we want to usesocial media tools to grow our
(33:01):
businesses, to benefit ourbusinesses, that secret sauce,
that unique value, is reallywhat we need to focus on in
delivering our social mediacontent.
I you know, again, it's goingto be different from everyone.
I'm always going to suggest amix of different kinds of
content and to some degree, youneed to do that to see what like
(33:23):
peaks, like look at youranalytics and see like what okay
, that popped to the top, whywas there something special
about that?
Or you know we've done a dozenor so of these kinds of posts
and they never get anyengagement and you really want
to be looking for organicengagement.
Is it just your staff membersliking the photos and that's it,
and nobody outside of them Like?
(33:45):
It's great to have your staffgo and like your photos, but if
it's only them, you're reallynot doing anything Right.
Like you're like, I mean, yourstaff already works for you.
You don't need them to go.
Like your content, is itsomething that your staff even
thinks is good enough to shareacross their own social media?
Do they?
(34:05):
Are they so proud of thebusiness they work for and the
brand they represent that theywant to reshare the content
you're putting out there becausethey think it's fun and want to
put it in front of theiraudience?
I do so many questions.
There's just I think what I'mgetting at here as we wrap up
this episode is that I genuinelybelieve there is so much
(34:30):
possibility here.
There's so much potential tocreate brand connection and
awareness and to really showcasewhat you're special at, but I
think for so so many of us, wejust don't even.
We just don't even.
We just throw up a picture of alight fixture or a fan or a
(34:50):
room and call it day, and that'snot it.
That's just not it.
That's not going to besomething that truly benefits
your business and truly helps itgrow, and I think part of the
reason I'm so focused on this isthat the world continues to
revolve around our online livesas much as our in-person lives.
(35:14):
The pandemic really acceleratedthis and it doesn't appear to me
to be changing anytime soon.
Just think about that in yourown life.
Yes, we are definitely moreengaged in person than we used
to be, but we're also still verymuch engaged in our online,
virtual, digital worlds andthat's not going away so fine.
(35:36):
It also indicates to me that wereally need to be focusing more
for our businesses on thatdigital presence, on that social
media personality, and reallytaking time and consideration to
develop it and grow it and makethat social media platform a
reflection of who we are as abusiness and what we are trying
(35:59):
to do for our customers andclients.
All right, thank you so much.
Please send me your feedback,lisa, at lightingwithlisacom, if
you want to sponsor, if youwant to appear on an episode.
And thank you so much to LightsAmerica for sponsoring this
episode.
I appreciate you and Iappreciate all the sponsors of
Lighting with Lisa Until nexttime.
Everyone take care.
Hello and welcome fellow lighting nerds and
friends to Lighting with Lisa,the lighting industries podcast
sponsored this week by LightsAmerica.
Thank you so much, lightsAmerica, for sponsoring Lighting
with Lisa and supporting thisproject, and I will have more on
Lights America coming up in theepisode.
(00:22):
So housekeeping at the top, asalways.
If you have feedback on anepisode, a comment about an
episode, what is wrong with you,Lisa, about an episode?
If you want to sponsor anepisode, if you want to appear
on an episode, anything havingto do with this podcast, please
email me, lisa, atlightingwithlisacom.
(00:44):
I can't wait to hear from you.
Last week's episode aboutholiday gifting was totally
inspired by a listener email, soplease send your suggestions,
comments my way.
I really appreciate it andthank you.
On Facebook, there's two groupsassociated with the podcast and
the lighting industry.
(01:05):
The one is the fixture findergroup.
Another is the residentiallighting industry job board.
You can find both of thosegroups on Facebook.
The links are in the show notesif you want to go to them
directly, and they're just greattools to have in your pocket as
a member of the lightingindustry.
(01:25):
So please do participate inthose as needed.
So I'm starting this week with acomplaint.
That's right.
This is not complain town.
I'm a moderator in anotherFacebook group, totally
unrelated to the lightingindustry, and the number one
(01:47):
rule violation in that Facebookgroup is we are not the
complaints department.
So I just started to say I'mbreaking our own rules, but it's
not the rules of this podcastparticularly.
But we do try to not complainaround here.
We try to discuss potentialproblems and highlight possible
solutions.
(02:07):
Complaints is not the way to go.
But I did want to start theepisode with a kind of gentle
complaint for all of us in thelighting industry, and I mean
this in the nicest way.
And I would also like to fullydisclose that the complaint I'm
about to lodge I am equally asguilty of as everybody else
(02:31):
listening.
Okay, so you ready.
I'm sure the episode title hasgiven this away, but I cannot
stand the social media in ourindustry by and large.
I think about it all the timeand I look.
I follow many showrooms, Ifollow many manufacturers, I
(02:54):
follow many sales agents.
I follow all of your businessesone way or another across the
various lighting with Lisa orpace lighting or my own personal
life, my own, my, whatever myaccount is.
I follow many of you and thereare like 1% maybe of us that
(03:18):
produce any sort of content thatI personally want to engage
with, and I'm the targetaudience for a lot of this
content, whether it's as ashowroom owner or a homeowner of
a certain age in income, like.
I'm the target for so much ofthis content and most of it I
(03:40):
could care less about.
And I'm again shining thislight, not on just outward into
the industry, I'm shining.
There's a bright spotlighthanging over my head right now.
I am equally as guilty of nothaving a great social media
(04:01):
strategy as anybody else.
Now I'm speaking in very broadstrokes.
Of course it is a podcast and Iwant this to be engaging
content for everyone.
There are definitely people andideas and concepts that are
executed very well.
Not everything is a disaster,of course, but it just has
(04:24):
occurred to me over and overthat we're generally terrible at
this in our industry and Ifollow because I like podcast,
because of all the things I'minterested in creatively.
I follow several just like truecontent creators on the internet
(04:45):
.
They're not all amazing all thetime, but you can kind of see
how they've like honed thisskill in this brand generally
built around like theirpersonalities and who they are
and they're able to leveragethat usually very organically
into businesses.
Now, I'm not saying Iunderstand a brick and mortar
(05:08):
business or a fixturemanufacturer or sales agent.
I understand these things arenot the same, but I definitely
see where their content isengaging and gets a bunch of
comments and whatever and likesand reshares and I can't tell
you how many people I follow nowbecause somebody like shared
(05:30):
their Instagram story on theirown account.
Like it's just kind of amazingto me but I never see anything
in our industry pop up that wayand I'm pretty connected, like I
was just saying, like this issomething I'm very interested in
and engaged in.
You would think I would seeorganically more content related
to the business that I own andam involved in every day, but I
(05:55):
really don't and it's reallyremarkable to me and it makes me
realize that we're all kind ofdoing a terrible job with this.
Again, there are definitehighlights.
I'm not saying that therearen't like great moments.
I've seen really some smartcontent that I thought was
really really well done.
(06:15):
It is absolutely out there.
I just am painting with a bigbrushstroke here and identifying
.
That is a general rule.
We're just not doing great withthis and as far as most of our
audience today, I don't knowthat that's like a horrible
(06:35):
thing.
That said, the boomers and, youknow, the people in their 60s
and 50s and 70s, like thesepeople, are actually far more
engaged in social media than youmight actually give them credit
for.
A lot of the like homeownersthat have purchased or are still
(06:58):
looking to purchase, like theirforever home, where they're
going to retire to, where thegrandkids are going to come
visit, like these people thatare great potential customers of
ours, are actually more engagedon social media than you might
think.
So there's that, and thenthere's also the up and coming
millennials and whatever isbehind Millennial Gen Z.
(07:20):
Anyway, we have all read thenews stories about how these
people are going to be slower tohome ownership for a whole
variety of reasons, and I thinkthat is very true.
That said, this is still thetime in their development and
careers that that we, as peoplethat eventually want to have a
relationship with thesecustomers, we should really be
(07:44):
building our foundations withthem now, because it does seem
apparent to me that these kindsof shoppers in the future are
going to build strong identitywith a brand and want to shop
with that brand when they are atthat point in their lives.
Like, think of all, if youfollow any Instagram or TikTok
(08:11):
influencers at all, think of allthe random merch drops that
these people are doing right nowand all of the people that are
buying this merch and wearing itout.
And it's really amazing andthis isn't something that ever
existed before.
And the only reason people arebuying a $50 sweatshirt with
somebody's logo on it is becausethey feel so connected to that
(08:34):
brand.
And again, a brick and mortarbusiness Like you don't see
anybody running around reallywith like a Best Buy sweatshirt
on, unless they're going to work.
So I'm not saying like this issomething we should be doing,
like, like getting logo apparel.
The point I'm trying to make isthat there is so much
opportunity to create arelationship with your audience
(08:57):
via social media and I don'tthink most of us do a good job
at that.
So when I was making my notesfor this podcast, the very first
question I wrote after seeinglike yet another kind of
uninspiring social media post,was what's your social media
strategy and do you even haveone?
(09:18):
And that's where I think mostof us have really missed the
mark, like I think most of us,by and large, do not have a
social media strategy for awhole variety of reasons.
Right, like it is a fun quirk,I think, of our industry that so
(09:39):
many of us are doing so manydifferent things in our
businesses.
Like I love it.
I feel like I get a wholevariety of experience in a day.
I can go from working in thewarehouse to selling light
fixtures, to doingadministrative work.
Like I love it.
My day is full of variety.
But that variety means I'mprobably not great at developing
(10:01):
a solid social media strategyand, honestly, many of the
companies or firms you couldhire to develop a social media
strategy, I have to tell youmost of them aren't great at it
either.
Our businesses are unique andspecial and lighting showrooms
(10:24):
and everything we provide in alighting showroom is not
something like easilytranscribable to somebody
outside of the industry, andthat's always kind of been a
problem in our industry, like inany number of things.
Like everything that goes on ina lighting showroom is so
(10:47):
distinct, I would say, from whathappens in many other
businesses.
Now, never owned an applianceshowroom, never owned a plumbing
showroom, I've only been like acustomer of those places.
So I'm sure there is likesimilarity there, but there's no
other retailer that I engagewith that has kind of like the
(11:08):
distinct level of like productand decorative and technical and
problem solving that a lightingshowroom does, and that's part
of the reason why I love it andwhy people that get engaged in
the industry love it, because,again, nothing is ever the same
day after day, and that's greatas a job, like it doesn't get
(11:31):
boring, there's always somethingnew going on and I love that.
But that is also somethingthat's really hard to distill
down and communicate to apotential audience and we by and
large in our industry have justdone a really terrible job of
having a great social mediastrategy and using that tool
(11:54):
effectively.
Like we just don't, and it'ssort of disappointing and I
think it's a real to get to thepositive part of this, it's a
real opportunity for us goinginto 2024 to really think about
this.
Like really take a minute inthe last month of the year, the
(12:15):
last weeks of the year, andthink about what you're really
doing on social media and is itreally impactful the way you
want it to be?
Because for many of us it's not.
It's not at all what works fora boutique home and home and
lifestyle kind of business thedecor industry and our lighting
(12:41):
is not going to have, like we'renot going to be able to do the
same things as what works for,say, like fast fashion there's.
Those are like impulsepurchases and unless you're like
specifically marketing, likethe impulse, like buying area of
your business like at my storewe have all these like hostess
(13:04):
gifts and holiday gifts and alittle small pick me up items.
So maybe the tools that someonemight use like for a fast
fashion business, you could alsouse to promote those brands,
but like the core of ourbusiness it's just a different
kind of marketing and I don'tthink any of us are really
thinking about that.
(13:24):
I don't think we're thinkingabout what the end game of
putting posting on social mediais.
Is it, do you want more websitetraffic?
Do you want more feet in thedoor?
What, like?
What is your purpose of postingon social media?
Is it doing it because for somereason you think you have to,
because you own a business, orwhat like that?
(13:48):
Do you know the answer to thatquestion?
I, for a long time, haven'tknown the answer to that
question at all.
Truly, have it, and I'm in asort of a shame to admit it.
I know better.
But what is your end game withyour social media strategy and
are you focusing on that?
Are you focusing on feet in thedoor?
Are you focusing on people resharing your posts and
(14:10):
potentially like having a viralmoment?
Are you focusing on drivingpeople to a website?
Are you focusing on trying toget people to purchase and
engage with a certain productsthat you offer?
Like, what are you doing?
What's your strategy?
A cuss, for most of us thereisn't one and we're just like
(14:31):
throwing things up there andkind of just crossing our
fingers like, well, that didn'ttake too much time, maybe it
works, maybe it doesn't, but itwas a minimum of effort, so
whatever.
But like I'm telling you, itcomes cross is a minimum of
effort and I think even thatminimum of effort is wasted time
(14:51):
and money.
Like at that point I would say,maybe don't do it, let's come
up with something else.
Or spend that 10 minutes youare spending on, you know,
getting that post up andscheduled to doing something
else, or thinking about Reallywhat your big picture of your
social media strategy is, asopposed to just like you know,
(15:13):
this seems okay, let me do itAll right.
So I'm gonna pause right herefor a little sponsor break.
Thanks so much to lightsamerica for sponsoring this
episode of lighting with lisa.
I really appreciate lightsamerica so much.
I'm gonna be.
I don't want to forget.
So I want to get the offer outat the top of the ad that lights
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Interactive 3d view in my roomcapability it's an amazing
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(18:30):
All right, so back to my socialmedia media strategy talk, or
lack thereof.
So what I think?
So randomly, the?
This topic came to my mindbecause about I guess by the
time this goes out it will havebeen about two weeks ago we
posted kind of a one-off pictureof our showroom.
I mean, it was a great picturebut I just didn't even think
(18:56):
anything of it with kind of abasic caption and it had a
really great moment of lots ofengagement.
It was amazing and the more Ithought about it, the more I
thought what that photo in thatcaption was conveying was our
brand, and I don't think we doenough of that at my business
(19:20):
and I guarantee you probablydon't do enough of it at yours
at conveying what your brand isand what your particular service
or area of expertise or yourunique value proposition.
Are you communicating with that.
Are you a light fixturemanufacturer that is
communicating appropriately toyour customers and end users
(19:45):
what your unique value is?
Are you a ceiling fanmanufacturer?
Are you a electrical devicemanufacturer?
Are you really solidifying withyour customer base what makes
your product special anddifferent or your sales tools
special and different?
Are you really communicatingwhat is unique about your
(20:07):
business or are you justthrowing some pictures up
Lighting showrooms?
What is special about yourlighting showroom?
There could be any number ofthings, but I bet most of them
revolve around your staff andyou know, what I don't see a lot
of on social media is amazingstaff members of lighting
(20:28):
showrooms sharing theirexpertise or tips or ideas.
That's really where this likelighting with Lisa, consumer
facing program came from.
By the way, there's morecontent on that coming very soon
, but it is that's why I sort ofcreated that.
As a part of you know, I need toexpress to people that might be
(20:51):
interested in my business.
I need to make our business aapproachable to them and be give
them a reason to understand.
You know why they want to comeand experience my store.
What value is?
Are we adding like?
What can?
What additional impact am Igoing to make on their home and
(21:12):
their life and their project bythem coming to work with me and
my business.
So I just think we, by andlarge, do a really poor job of
communicating.
What is truly special about ourbusinesses and the content I
find myself engaging in with themost when it comes to the
lighting and fan industry, isabsolutely the content that
(21:37):
features a person, and itdoesn't always have to feature a
person, but maybe you have somegreat content about a staff
member or project or before andafter, and then you have more of
a here's a showroom picture orwhatever, but there's just a
need to create that connectionwith the people viewing this
(21:58):
content.
Have you, are you show, youknow like?
For me I'm thinking about areyou, am I showcasing my staff
and their accomplishments?
Am I showing the jobs thatwe've completed successfully and
then tagging in the appropriatedesigners, builders, architects
, whomever was involved with theproject that has a social media
(22:19):
presence.
I can tell you what interiordesigners by and large have a
great social media presence withtheir clients and if you have
any way to work with a designerand then cross post your social
media content, that has beensome of the most engaging stuff
(22:39):
we've done and because everyoneloves to see a little before and
after, everyone loves a littlesneak peek into somebody else's
home and the choices they made,and we all like to take
inspiration from those things.
So are you really leveragingthose opportunities or are you
just kind of letting them go by?
And most designers it's notlike they want anything out of
(23:02):
it other than to get be givencredit and for you to be clear
when you're tagging them thatthis was their project and their
design and make sure it'sreally easy for customers to not
only find you and reach you butto reach that designer.
And it's been, it's been greatevery time.
We've been able to do that andsadly we just we don't do it
(23:23):
enough.
Stop using stock photos.
That's it.
I said it.
I know manufacturers spend alot of money on their
photography and some of it isreally great.
Not going to lie, some of it isgreat.
It's not all great people, I'msorry to say.
(23:46):
It just isn't.
It's just not.
And the photos tend to have acatalog quality about them and
that's fine for a catalog.
I don't think it is the thingthat's going to draw people into
(24:07):
your business.
It's just a stock photo of aliving room setup or a dining
room setup and a bathroom setup,and there's nothing
particularly drawing in about it.
There's nothing that makes youwant to share that to your story
on Instagram.
There's just the stock photos,aren't it, people?
(24:29):
I'm sorry to say that.
I know there's a lot ofmanufacturers that are maybe not
happy with me that I just saidthat because of all the time and
resources they spend on thisand I'm not saying there isn't a
place for it.
Here's a great place for that.
Stock photos I love when I'mclicking through my website in
the images of a product you getthe standard, you know, kind of
(24:52):
whatever backed up view of it.
I love it when there's aninteractive 3D model.
I love it when there's an upclose shot on a glass or a metal
arm or whatever other detailand I love it when there's an
application shot of that fixturein a room.
I think that's a very, veryhelpful in selling product.
I really do.
So.
That's where those products andimages work well Great, let's
(25:16):
keep them coming for that.
But they're not.
That just doesn't apply.
It doesn't translate.
I think is what I'm trying tosay to social media.
Everything that is kind oftaken with this catalog.
I just really reads on socialmedia like a catalog and most of
the time the captions aren'tengaging and they're just very
(25:39):
salesy.
And I just scroll right by andthis is like for some businesses
I truly love and adore, but thesocial media is just, you know,
very meh.
So I just really think we needto either find creative uses for
manufacturer photos here's anidea right off the top of my
(26:03):
head.
Here's in a manufacturer photothat's not too bad.
I happen to have that same piecein my store.
I take a picture of that piecein the store on display.
Maybe there's a little secondclip, video clip of a
salesperson talking about thatand there's a whole carousel
where you can see the piece ondisplay, an up close shot and
(26:23):
then an application shot of itinstalled.
Great, that's a perfect use ofa stock photo.
But other than that, I justdon't, or things like that,
ideas like that, just throwingthat up on your social media
with a comment I just it's not,it's not doing it, we're not
doing the thing.
So, and also, as I said at thetop of this episode, that I'm as
(26:46):
guilty of this as everyoneelse's you can scroll back
through all my social media andpoint out all the times where I
have made these exact mistakes.
But it's in that, looking backon what has been successful for
us and what actually generatestraction for us, as opposed to
things that just like die whenwe put them out there into the
(27:10):
world that's where this wholetopic is coming from.
So, yes, I'm just as bad atthis as everyone else has been,
and that's why I'm trying to getthis word out to get us all
thinking a bit more.
So some of them like.
One of the things that hascaught me off guard in the best
possible way is I have a newhire working.
(27:31):
She actually starts full timeyou know when this episode airs,
but she has been instrumentalfor us in revamping and
reenergizing our social mediastrategy.
There's going to be, I think,much more to come in the future
from her, but the whole point ofsocial media, to some degree,
(27:52):
is for us to generate aconnection to our business.
So I had a customer come in theother day who stopped in my
door and said, hey, I saw you onTikTok and I was like, oh well,
do you follow us?
And they said, no, you justpopped up in my TikTok feed and
I, like just wanted to cheer butI was like, oh, that's great,
(28:13):
thanks, you know, just made mevery excited.
Now, that's just one person whostopped to say that, probably
because they saw me in my office, but like that's the idea,
right, that's the reason tospend time creating this content
is so that somebody comes intoyour store, they recognize the
faces of the people workingthere and you just have this
(28:33):
friendly relationship right offthe bat.
And I just thought that was.
I mean, they didn't even followus and they got served our
content on TikTok.
I mean it really just made myday and also again really got me
thinking about how wrong I havedone this off and on over the
years and how kind of wrong ingeneral I think our industry
(28:57):
does it.
And here's a tip If engaging onsocial media is not your thing
as the business owner or managerwhich is fine there's all kinds
of reasons to not be engaged onsocial media.
It is not always the healthiest,most fun, safest space, so
(29:17):
there's not really a good reasonto do it for every person out
there.
But if you know that, if youknow that's not your thing, if
you know you're not going toever want to deal with the
social media engagement.
You need to find somebody whodoes enjoy it and will take
ownership of this strategy, ofthis part of your business.
(29:39):
Somebody who does follow thetrends and can see what gets
positive reactions, somebodythat's going to take a critical
look at what you've done and say, yes, this works.
No, this doesn't, and they'rereally going to put thought and
energy behind what works foryour particular space.
Now, I think, by and largebecause what we do in lighting
(30:01):
showrooms can be so difficult tocommunicate I think, by and
large, this person should be onyour staff.
I don't think it should be ahired hand.
I think it should be,potentially, maybe a younger
person on your staff who hasgrown up with social media and
who is very engaged in itpersonally, I think that's where
(30:22):
you're going to get your bestideas from An advertising
partner.
I'm not saying they're terribleat it, but all the ones I've
ever talked to, all the onesthat I ever see working on this,
everything just comes across asso generic and boilerplate.
And then, where is that gettingyou Like again?
(30:42):
Are you just posting on socialmedia because you feel like you
should post on it, or is thesocial media actually the sales
funnel for you.
That it needs to be, becausethat's why we do it right.
This isn't to just throw thingsagainst the wall and everybody
to have a good time.
We want to use this tool as asales funnel for something Feet
(31:05):
in the door shopping online.
What's the thing that you wantto drive with your social media?
Maybe you're a brick and mortarretailer, but what you want to
use your social media for is foryour online shopping.
Great, that's not a badstrategy.
What are you doing with yoursocial media to actually make
(31:25):
that happen?
Or you're like I really don'tcare about selling online with
dropship fees, with this, withfreight and things that can go
small parcel, things that haveto go freight line.
It's too much of a headache.
I'm never going to make decentamount of money at it.
I'm out of the online sales nothappening.
I want to bring people in mystore.
Throwing up a stock photo frommanufacturer X.
(31:49):
Is that going to bring peopleinto your store?
Or is it going to be great,engaging content with members of
your staff or videos of yourshowroom or taking a picture of
your warehouse Like I don't know?
Whatever is unique about yourbusiness and this is what I
adore about our industry.
(32:11):
We are all unique.
I love that lighting showroomshave so many little quirks,
largely a part of like how thatbusiness came to be.
Did you come to be because ofan electrician?
Did you come to be because ofan electrical supply house?
Did you come to be because ofsome sort of decor background?
Did you come to be just fromlighting or as an offshoot of
(32:37):
working with a builder?
How did you come to be?
Because that really probablyhas a lot to say about the
unique value of your businessand the things that you
understand and can truly helpyour customers with.
And I think that is really likethe magic, the secret sauce of
what we do and if we want to usesocial media tools to grow our
(33:01):
businesses, to benefit ourbusinesses, that secret sauce,
that unique value, is reallywhat we need to focus on in
delivering our social mediacontent.
I you know, again, it's goingto be different from everyone.
I'm always going to suggest amix of different kinds of
content and to some degree, youneed to do that to see what like
(33:23):
peaks, like look at youranalytics and see like what okay
, that popped to the top, whywas there something special
about that?
Or you know we've done a dozenor so of these kinds of posts
and they never get anyengagement and you really want
to be looking for organicengagement.
Is it just your staff membersliking the photos and that's it,
and nobody outside of them Like?
(33:45):
It's great to have your staffgo and like your photos, but if
it's only them, you're reallynot doing anything Right.
Like you're like, I mean, yourstaff already works for you.
You don't need them to go.
Like your content, is itsomething that your staff even
thinks is good enough to shareacross their own social media?
Do they?
(34:05):
Are they so proud of thebusiness they work for and the
brand they represent that theywant to reshare the content
you're putting out there becausethey think it's fun and want to
put it in front of theiraudience?
I do so many questions.
There's just I think what I'mgetting at here as we wrap up
this episode is that I genuinelybelieve there is so much
(34:30):
possibility here.
There's so much potential tocreate brand connection and
awareness and to really showcasewhat you're special at, but I
think for so so many of us, wejust don't even.
We just don't even.
We just throw up a picture of alight fixture or a fan or a
(34:50):
room and call it day, and that'snot it.
That's just not it.
That's not going to besomething that truly benefits
your business and truly helps itgrow, and I think part of the
reason I'm so focused on this isthat the world continues to
revolve around our online livesas much as our in-person lives.
(35:14):
The pandemic really acceleratedthis and it doesn't appear to me
to be changing anytime soon.
Just think about that in yourown life.
Yes, we are definitely moreengaged in person than we used
to be, but we're also still verymuch engaged in our online,
virtual, digital worlds andthat's not going away so fine.
(35:36):
It also indicates to me that wereally need to be focusing more
for our businesses on thatdigital presence, on that social
media personality, and reallytaking time and consideration to
develop it and grow it and makethat social media platform a
reflection of who we are as abusiness and what we are trying
(35:59):
to do for our customers andclients.
All right, thank you so much.
Please send me your feedback,lisa, at lightingwithlisacom, if
you want to sponsor, if youwant to appear on an episode.
And thank you so much to LightsAmerica for sponsoring this
episode.
I appreciate you and Iappreciate all the sponsors of
Lighting with Lisa Until nexttime.
Everyone take care.
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