text: Creative Entrepreneurs! Want to Up Your Social Media Game? | The Province
  As a small business owner, overwhelm has reared its ugly head a few times and social media always seemed like just another thing I was supposed to do. I've never had a strategy; I've never set goals and I never took the time to reflect on what I wanted from my social media efforts and clearly my results reflect this non-existing approach. This post is for those, who like me, want to stop limping through our social media efforts and instead harness the power of our social voice!
  Social media is supposed to assist you in what you are already doing and to help you achieve your goals.
  Those were the first words of wisdom spoken by Katt Stearns during a phone interview with her this week. Katt is one of the 7 keynote speakers at the Social Media Mastery conference taking place on June 4th. Wanting to up my social game, I decided to look into this conference to see how it might help me. After reading about it and interviewing a few of the speakers, I came away confident that it will teach me the following how to's: how to work through a social media strategy, how to provide value to my audience, and how to make money using social media. If any of this resonates with you, I have a special promo code below to save $100 on your conference ticket!
  I've meet many creative entrepreneurs who, like me, loiter on a few platforms, post updates of their latest creative pursuit and are left wondering what the hearts, thumbs-ups and shares ever really amount to. It's time to say goodbye to the loitering, and the few dozen hearts; they don't cut it anymore.
  If you want to meet more ideal clients, have more meaningful connections, confidently know you're sharing the content your audience finds inspiring, and make money, read on!
  I went straight to the source and jumped onto a phone conversation with Ricky Shetty, the founder of Social Media Mastery. True to his role as the internationally renowned Daddy Blogger, he was winning at multitasking his daddy duties with his interview with me. Ricky assured me this event is a perfect place for me to achieve previously said goals! Ricky shared that Social Media Mastery is "all about connection". Ricky finds that hosting several events a year compliments and completes the circle of creating rich on and offline connections. He has pulled together local heavy weights such as Shane Gibson and Matt Astifan for a power-packed day of social media education.
  Connection… similar musings flowed from Katt. She said "Social can be used to drive connection, increase brand exposure and build relationships with customers." I feel Katt is speaking my love language. Since I was little, I have enjoyed seeking ways to connect with people.
  I asked Katt about the various platforms and how to choose the ones best for me. Her advice is:
  You want to choose a platform that will help you achieve your goals. Of course, meeting goals while having a good time is ideal so choose the platform that first and foremost inspires you and you enjoy being on. Then consider if your audience is also using that platform. Choose a primary and a secondary platform to focus on. Remember, you don't need to be on all the platforms.
  I also asked Katt to drop a value bomb which I could share with you and it's a good one! She said:
  A great start to sharing content relevant to one's audience is to answer the questions your customers are already asking.
  I thought I'd play devils advocate and ask what if someone is just starting out and don't know what those questions are. Not missing a beat she offered to send over the top 5 questions people want answers to and so here they are:
  Cost Articles: I know that people are going to say I can't include cost because the cost on my services depends. But if you think whenever you are researching a product or service what is the one thing you look for on a website… how much does it cost. And when you can't find it you go somewhere else. I am not saying that you list all of your prices you just want to address the question.
  VS Articles: Everyone compares product A to Product B so why not include those comparisons on your website / social media. It's important to mention that this is not an opportunity for you to bash your competitors but an opportunity to show how your product is different and why someone may want yours compared to another product.
  Problem Articles: What are the typical problems people will have around your product/ services? Write articles that talk about ways to resolve them.
  Best of: What are the best of your products or services? Example Best Interior Design Trends for 2016.
  Review: Provide non-bias reviews of industry leaders, products and other resources within your industry.
  Bam! What great tips for business owners. I look forward to what else Katt and the other Social Media experts have in store for those of us attending the conference.
  I'm so excited about this conference and to finally take my social world and turn it into an awesome extension of my brand! I partnered up with the Social Media Mastery team to offer you guys the opportunity to attend for less! Use the promo code, MNSocialMastery, to get you tickets for $97 instead of the usual $197. I'm thrilled! Ricky has me convinced that this is the perfect opportunity for people who want to master their social media and who have found it difficult to make money from it thus far. I hope to see you at the conference!
  WHERE: Centre for Digital Media, 685 Great Northern Way, Vancouver, BC V5T 0C6
  WHEN: June 4th 9am – 6pm
  Get your ticket for only $97. Go here Social Media Mastery and use promo code MNSocialMastery
  For more about me, Oden Gallery and to stay current on what's happening in craft and design follow us on twitter, Instagram and facebook!