 Hello and welcome another episode of the nonprofit show today we have with us Nicole Porter and Nicole's here from Montemoy social media we're going to learn where that name came from. And she's here to talk to us about engagement the secret to social media so before we start this conversation with you Nicole, we want to remind our viewers and our listeners across the globe who we are. Welcome again to Julia C Patrick CEO of the American nonprofit Academy. Thanks to you, we are marching towards our fourth year march will be our fourth year of the nonprofit show. I am honored to sit alongside you nerd out with you every single day. I'm Jared R ransom nonprofit nerd and CEO of the Raven group. I have had so many fantastic guests so many amazing conversations. Thanks to our sponsors that keep us going and growing. So a huge verbal shout out of love to our best friends over at blooming American nonprofit Academy, your part time and controller be generous fundraising Academy at National University, staffing boutique nonprofit thought leader and the nonprofit nerd. These companies are with us day in day out I also like to say weekend week out, because so many people and they say wait, you do this every day. Yes, every single day. So again, thank you so much gratitude to our sponsors for allowing us this opportunity to be of service. And if you missed any of these every single day episodes, you can find us on all of the fantastic streaming platforms YouTube, Bimeo Fire TV as well as podcast. So excited to be on these channels. Q us up wherever you stream your entertainment Julia just outed herself and said yesterday she did a little bit of a Netflix but I think what she meant was the nonprofit show She did. I started well you know I do I believe it or not I do watch the episodes pretty much every day. Because you know Jared when you're on and you're doing your thing. It's different than seeing yourself and trying to learn and we're not professional broadcasters I mean, we've had to learn to be effective right. It's been a lot of fun. Yeah, and listening to myself. I'm listening to the podcast of the show and that's that's a lot of fun so. So Kate, we are excited to have you on Nicole and excited to jump into this conversation with you again Nicole Porter CEO mon amoy social media. Welcome. Thank you so much for having me this is so exciting. Oh, it's going to be a blast we pride ourselves on being a casual conversation we're not a webinar we're not a lecture series. We are, you know, three of us having coffee water whatever just having a great conversation, but let's start off with your name let's start off with mon amoy. We know where it's from and the origin story but for our viewers and listeners share with us a little bit about yourself and the company. All right, so I'm mon amoy social media mon amoy comes from my local area so it's a local area and live in there is a mon amoy wildlife refuge. Everything around here is named mon amoy. And so that's in Massachusetts on Cape Cod where I live with my husband and my three sons, I am my rescue dogs and my six ducks that live in my backyard. Right that there's a we'll go into this later but there's an authenticity piece for you. We handle it so we do full service social media we take it over for folks and do it for them so they don't have to worry about it. We do ads and we also have a membership where we give people content that they are in charge of doing it themselves and we give them some support with them so that's what we're reaching so it's a little bit about me and mon amoy. I love it. I think it's really cool and I love this conversation in terms of full transparent transparency and authenticity. I am on the same page for many things but in this area we are we are often at loggerheads, not because of the concept, but because of the bandwidth, right, and it is just such an interesting amount of pressure. I'll witness to me. Jared is so good at this, I am not. And it's just one of those things that I really, I can't wait to hear what you have to say. And the first thing is that was like radical it gave me a little permission to breathe it got a man up. Don't do it all focuses the key. Okay, give us some grace. What does it mean. Yeah. So my take on this particular topic is starts at the very beginning on where are you going to focus on your platform so what that means is, you don't have to be everywhere all the time right and I think that a lot of people think that when they think I gotta be on Facebook and I have to be on Instagram and now tick tock something and, and you don't write just because tick tock is the new thing that doesn't necessarily mean that that's where your audience is hanging out right and clubhouse was the new thing in 2021. So you have the bandwidth to be on there because you have to be there for you know it's an audio thing so you have to converse with people over there. So really you have to look at, where is your audience hanging out. What do what do I have the bandwidth to create content for and where do I have the bandwidth to interact and just focus on one or two places where your audience is hanging out, and really put your on there, and you're going to see your social media efforts go a lot further by doing that as well, because chances are, when you think you have to be everywhere you're not going to be anywhere. So that focus is so important. And with nonprofits in particular I think generally they have to pick two. Generally because you're looking at dual audiences and I think that's something that a nonprofit is unique with as opposed to just a small business because you're often looking at okay well we have donors and fundraisers, but we also have the people that we're servicing right and we need to reach both of those audiences so maybe you pick one place for each of those things, and then show up there. But it's definitely don't feel overwhelmed by it right think what what's manageable for me where where can I show up to make the most impact and focus there. I have to say, I love this answer. I have, you know, subscribed to this as well, Julia so just as a tip like I am not everywhere I'm not on tiktok I'm not on Pinterest, I'm not on, you know, some of these platforms because I simply don't have the bandwidth. And I say that also to my clients and I'm curious, where you've seen you know truly Nicole some of the the nonprofit seeing their success because I waive the flag for LinkedIn, number one, and then you know the social channels like pick a social Instagram, Instagram and Facebook are connected, you know, like if you're doing tiktok, maybe that's a thing to. So I'm curious if you've started to see some platforms that are really rising to the top that maybe you would recommend what to that they should be on. It's kind of hard because it really is dependent on your audience right. If you have a very local nonprofit. I actually recommend Facebook because Facebook community groups are very underutilized, and they are a great place to get the word out, especially for nonprofits. I do agree with you on LinkedIn it is a great place to connect with donors and companies that might want to be involved and really take advantage of their purpose driven marketing. So, LinkedIn is great for that. If you have something that's very visual right maybe you're doing art for people like kids or people with disabilities or whatever it might be. Instagram might be the place for you. I have actually really seen a lot of success on Twitter. I know Twitter currently as we're talking is a little bit up in the air, a lot of people unfortunately have left that platform which really kind of makes me sad. So, right now we're kind of watching Twitter, but a lot of my nonprofit clients have done fabulously over on Twitter so that's definitely one to watch. But I would definitely take a look take a look at your audience. Excuse me and see where they're, see where they're hanging out right what are your demographics who you're trying to reach and then that's where you that's where you put your effort. Yeah, I, how does that sit with you Julie I'm curious. You know, first of all, I got to say, and there's a 20 year difference between the two of us. I'll let you guess who's older. You're older in spirit, my friend. But listen, I, I, I find it fascinating that you would say that you're not everywhere because I feel like you're omnipresent. And so I'm, I think that's an interesting observation to kind of piggyback to Nicole's comment and it almost seems like my experience with your work. If you're doing it well, even if it's only in one area, it seems like it's you're doing more and Nicole would you say that that's accurate. I mean, absolutely. No, because I think I feel like Jerry you're just like the master of this. No, well, I mean, I, I hire people like our guests today to help with that because you can't be all all places to all and I know the next topic we want to talk about is really that authenticity and, and I'm curious what you say to that Nicole because I, again, I just, you know, outed myself I have a team that helps me with this and then I, I jump in with my own authentic post, my own kind of like, you know, comments there but I'm curious from you how you have guided so many organizations with their own social media platforms to really show up in this authentic space authenticity in this authentic space. So, I honestly I start them with baby steps because a lot of times they're not comfortable doing the behind the scenes less curated content. So if I can start by posting their headshot and then showing them the difference between that and just a static graphic. And then we kind of work up to it. So that's really how we start okay now send me one picture week now let's work up to video right and or we can you know start doing video slideshow style what you know and start using their video so that that's how we start. Because you have you really do have to build up to it and I had to build up to it I was not comfortable taking a duck and getting on camera, when I first started my my social media business but now I am. You did. Oh, I did. Okay, yeah. Okay, I want to know more of this because I'm also curious if this has come through, you know, since March of 2020 like during our coven years, if we're seeing an increased level of authenticity. For sure, I think it's been building for a while. And I think people really let the guard down when they were home a lot more. And I think we're going to really see a big jump in 2023 I think people are creating that type of content. People are voyeuristic they want to see behind the curtain. But I do want to say one of the things that you caught me Julie in the in the very beginning is you said you thought it seemed really overwhelming to to have that authentic content. And I want to make the distinction that just because you're authentic doesn't mean you're not planning and it doesn't mean that you're not scheduling. Right. So, just because you come up with something off the cuff doesn't mean you have to post it right then you can schedule it ahead. And then you it's like a gift to your future self when you're scheduling out your content. You can have your you have it it's already there right or do you have a team right like Garrett does. You can give them a few videos you can give them a few behind the scenes photos and then they can post that for you so that you're not just like oh what am I going to post it I know I have to post a behind the scenes photo what's it going to be. It can really help your audience connect with you by posting that type of stuff but it doesn't necessarily mean that you're not planning to get out and that you have to do it. Write them when it comes to you. So, I gotta, I gotta ask, let me jump in. I want to know about this duck I'm just just make sure you put a bookmark for that. So this is the thing you know for me and for the nonprofit sector and believe it or not as much as I get accused of being flashy. I am very private there are many things that I do not talk about I don't want to share I don't think it's appropriate. I think it's old school right it's an old school thing and that's that's my own baggage about how the marketplace has shifted. But you know for a lot of nonprofits we have HIPAA laws we have privacy issues. I mean we can't in the domestic violence space we can't even disclose where our facilities are right. How do you navigate that authenticity and still protect what you have to do, not only with your clients but also with your donors I mean how does that work. So I think maybe there is a bit of a misconception that authenticity means you're showing everything and you certainly don't have to do that you can hold stuff back absolutely. You can show behind the scenes and not show everything. You know for instance I have three kids. And if you look at my business social media if you will not see them very often I'm very careful about posting that and that's my own personal preference. I really keep that on my private accounts it's very important to me to protect them. But I can still be authentic by you know showing okay this is what I'm doing at my desk today right this is what we're working on hey we're working on our next fundraiser. This is what we're doing to do it right so it doesn't have to be this is where the places this is the you know people we're serving. You can even say you know we helped this person today, but it doesn't have to be, you know, detailed enough to give away who that person is where they are. You can say we you know we were able to get this person out of this situation or we were you know something like that. Authenticity doesn't mean necessarily showing people things that you can't show them or don't want to show them. It's just letting them in a little bit to get to know you better. So I think that that is a really important distinction in those two things. To give Jarrett ransom her do. How would you bring in one of your docs. I mean really like how would you do that in relationship to your work. How would you do that to. Well she has done it so how did you do it. Yeah. Yeah, I'll send you guys the link after to the video. Um, so actually I just ended I didn't got this idea in September so I was talking to somebody that was doing coffee chats with their child. And they went really well and so they were in their car and their kid was in the back and they had both gotten like a donut and they did this weekly right this is their weekly thing. And so what I have done instead of doing coffee chat I did that chat. And so I have six x they're all girls. They're on an egg lane strike which is like. So ironic right now I can't even right when you come on. Let's get going ladies but they're not so they have to be on social media instead and so I put one on my lap and I gave social media tips and we just talked that way but it's it's a little different it's a it's a lot different okay. And it was very much, you know, it was still on brand for me but it also let people know like this was my life I work from home, I have my ducks my dogs. Um, you know I'm still a professional I still have a lot to say so it let people know me connect with me while still getting value from my content. I love it so much and then we've also had a guest on. I cannot recall their name but it was about ethical storytelling and so we can share our authentic stories. We can, you know, do a video we can do some narratives as you had said you know also Nicole we could do a static photo or something. It can be authentic, and it can be scheduled so it's not this or that it's a yes and kind of an opportunity. So, what about those real time interactions because I imagine you know we we create something that we want to share from this authentic, authentic space. That's clearly a very hard word for me sorry bridge Brown I'm failing at this word today. That's my vulnerability I'm sharing here. And then we have you know that real time interaction so the post has been made on whatever platform we choose. How do we best leverage this real time time. So there's a couple of things you can do. One is definitely responding to your comments if somebody is commenting or if somebody is tagging you please respond to them. It's really important because people want to have a conversation with you. And that's why they're commenting. Now that doesn't mean the second they comment, you have to go in there and respond to them right you can check once a day you can check once every other day and make sure that you're responding to them and just making them feel heard making them feel validated and having that conversation. So, I will say, if, if you do it sooner it does help a little bit. But honestly, we're also busy. It's really not realistic to do that so I think putting it in your calendar to do it means you will, whereas if you think you're going to go and respond to every comment as soon as it comes in. Other things are going to take over you're going to get fragmented and again it's not going to happen. So, it's, you know if you can put it into your schedule it's a lot easier to do that. I have a quick question because yeah, manage people's social media. So, for Monomoi social media, you and your team, right. Like, yes, how do you respond for these real time interactions, talk us through how you as, you know a manager of these platforms how you've managed that. Do you mean specifically as far as content or as far as time or both. As far as the content I'm thinking of like okay you're responding to people that have tagged your client or they've tagged, you know someone within your clients, kind of, you know, sphere. So how do you as a social media managing company. How do you interact with that real time. So what we do similarly we will put it into our calendar so we're checking our clients everybody in my team has certain clients they work with. And we will make sure that we have it scheduled into our day so okay every day we're going to check these and then from that perspective if we have a comment that's about the content it's usually pretty easy for us to correspond with that because we created the content so we know what it's about and we're able to have a conversation. If it's somebody personally that knows the business owner, then we're probably going to say, you know, hey, do you know this person if they're saying like hey I'm looking forward to our cup of coffee this weekend. We might check with the, with the owner or that whoever it is, you know, and say, can we, you know, are you getting a cup of coffee with them. And then we'll say yeah us too or something but we wouldn't just go ahead and off the cuff say that if we didn't know we check. Yeah. So, yeah, another great way is actually to go out and comment on other people's posts. And that's a huge thing that a lot of people miss. And also might find overwhelming. So, again, I'm going to put this on a mug someday but it's I always tell people do what's manageable for you. If it's three people a day, if it's one person a day that you can go out and comment on someone else's posts. It's going to make your content go a lot further, and people are going to start to see you when you're going to stay top of mind. So if you can say I'm going to do five people every Monday, and that's all you can do for the week. That's great. It's better to be consistent with it. And your final point is really about this it's having that true connection, you know, with your audience but I think also the audience is like your peer audience unless I'm I miss reading this so how to truly connect with your audience. I could see you know it's connecting with someone else's post or you know if they tagged you you're engaging in that so so what do you advise for some best practice on that true connection. I think really it's a lot of what we've talked about all of it coming together right so it's having that authentic content. It's going out and talking to other people, and not just talking to other people and saying hey, hey nice post because that's not really going to get you anywhere, but actually giving genuine feedback to their poster, thoughtfully responding to a comment. That's what's going to make that connection, not just saying, thanks. That's not going to do it. But if you really think about how you can have the people offline, and then bring it to your social media platforms. And that's what's going to connect you with people because they're going to see that you're a real person that actually you're a real person and not just a bot because we know when a bot showing up in our comments section we can tell. That really is what I think is going to make the biggest difference is to just how would you converse with somebody in real time right and if you're in the grocery store and somebody said that to you. You respond right as opposed to somebody commenting on social media. And I think that's kind of a good filter to put it through, and that's going to help that's really going to help that connection. So my question is, you know, for businesses, I like myself, I am a lot of my brand right for organizations, there's the board, there's the executive team there's the program staff the fundraising staff the volunteers, like there's so many different stakeholders. So how do you manage that you know as you mentioned, you know, we're all a little voyeuristic in our ways of like wanting to know what's behind the scenes we want to know who has a duck, who has the swothering snake right like we want to know these things. So how do you balance the internal stakeholders, but I'm also curious if you can touch on it as well about the organizational tone and voice that's been branded for that organization. Very good question. Yeah, so I think part of that is you're able to really with an organization like that. If you can show those people. That is what really helps connect right so you can show the board of directors if you can show and obviously it's to what people are right some people are much more comfortable being in a public being in the public eye than others but when you can show the volunteers when you can show you know the president and the, you know, all of the folks that are working in the organization. That really helps set the tone for that organization's voice. Another way to do that is kind of looking at what else is out there so if I was going to go in and craft a social media strategy for a nonprofit organization. The first thing I would do is start taking a look at their website taking a look at their emails and seeing what kind of tone they have already going and then we would capitalize on that because you really want all of that to match. You can read your email to when somebody is looking at your social media post you need the same branding you need the same tone. It's very very important. So that's really a great place to start is even taking snippets of those emails and putting them on your social platforms. And then you can kind of build a brand voice from there. You definitely can still show the people behind the organization, even if it's a broader organization. I mean I have one nonprofit it's just two ladies, and they just started it so it's very easy to show just two ladies but when you have the bigger ones. We might do a feature every week of this is our team this is who's helping us this week this is what they're doing. And, you know, that, again, it, depending on who's comfortable and who's not can, they can really help people connect to the audience to their organization, and it actually can help make a content go further because hey look I got featured today like they're going to share it with their folks so. You share it expands kind of that you know the the circle of touches and how many people see it I know those algorithms change constantly. Okay, our time is coming short but I am, I still have tons of questions I'm sure many of our viewers and listeners do as well. So tell us a little bit Nicole about what's in store for you and your team this year, how we might be able to lean into you your services kind of you know that educational depth and Brett that you offer is there anything that we can, you know we should know about that's coming up from you and your team. So, a great place to stay in touch is on LinkedIn. We have some great stuff coming up we're looking at some quarterly webinars which are very similar their conversational style just like this. So we don't do a lot of like static slides will do a lot of interviews file conversation about branding and social media so if you connect with me on LinkedIn that is a great place to find out about the upcoming events. One thing I do want to mention is that we do have an upcoming brand refresh for a new team that I'm on and I'm so excited about this because I think this is really going to help a lot of organizations. And so what people are going to be getting with this is they're going to get a new logo, a new website, and a social media plan with content. And so this is a new service that we're offering for everybody but we're actually going to be giving one away for free in February. So, an organization that's really in need of a facelift if they or if they're new and they really haven't started. It's going to be a great opportunity for an organization to to get some of the services that they need. And so we're going to be opening the application process for that in February so I'm really excited about that so if you stay tuned to my social channels you'll you'll hear about that when that's available. Yeah, and I know we've connected on LinkedIn so excited to have that connection there for those of you watching and listening Nicole Porter CEO monomoi social media. You jumped in late and you're not quite sure what the heck monomoi. You need to go back and watch in our archives it's going to be available in just a few hours later, but monomoi social media.com and again for those of you audible m o n o m o why is monomoi. You've been fantastic Nicole and just so grateful for your time your expertise, all the nuggets of wisdom that you've shared with us so thank you for being a fantastic guest. Oh thank you so much for having me this is so much fun and I really hope that folks got a lot of value out of it. Absolutely. I know I did. Again if we haven't met I'm Julia Patrick CEO of the American nonprofit Academy. I've been joined today by the nonprofit nerd herself, Jared ransom. Again we want to thank all of our presenting sponsors who joined us day in and day out for more than 700 episodes now. Bloomerang American nonprofit Academy your part time controller be generous fundraising Academy at National University, staffing boutique nonprofit thought leader and the nonprofit nerd. Again they help us to get these amazing talents from across the globe on including one intrepid social manager from far in the east with her ducks. Right here right here right here the elbow part elbow of Massachusetts elbow of Massachusetts will forever stay in my brain. I love that. Nicole Porter you have been a delight to work with today we hope to get you back on. And as we like to end every episode of the nonprofit show. We want to remind everyone to stay well. So you can do well we'll see you back here tomorrow.