#47 Relax! It’s Only Social Media with Luan Wise

Luan Wise is an expert marketer. She is still in her thirties and has just produced her first book: “Relax! It’s Only Social Media”. The book is available from Amazon in UK http://amzn.to/2fWQJIk and in the USA http://amzn.to/2gLg4WX. Luan Wise has been a self-employed marketing consultant for 5 years. Mainly working in Business to Business and Services. A strong background in direct mail, post and traditional marketing. Luan has agency and client-side experience too. Her book Relax! It’s Only Social Media was published on 18th November 2016. Luan got help from a Kim Fleet (http://www.kimfleet.com/) who helps people overcome their procrastination to write their book. Kim advised the detail and what it would take to write her book. Luan started writing at the end of February and finished the text by the end of July (impressively around just 150 days!). Relax! It's Only Social Media - Luan Wise Luan argues the plan for the book and content came from years of speaking at events and conferences from the last 3 or 4 years and using the questions and answers from those events. 150 days to write but a few years to formulate the content! The writing plan included: Luan’s past included spells as an agency planner, so that helped her talk through the plan, in terms of what it would look like, how much writing there was to do… That manifested into a chapter per week She set herself a deadline Kim helped her create milestones – like when she’d completed chapters, shown people content – including rewarding yourself milestones. Such as planning illustrations Relax! It's Only Social Media is self-published, so she had a lot of focus on getting the right permissions from people to use their material in her book. Once she had a plan and a deadline, she had no other option than to make it happen. Relax! It’s Only Social Media Luan Wise gets into the detail but Luan is not a social media ‘luvvie’. Social media is just another channel. Everything we do on social media is what we have always done. Linkedin is our rolodex. It is quicker and faster and greater reaching. Ultimately, Luan advises you should go back to the fundamentals: What’s your business strategy What’s your objectives? Who’s your target audience What’s your key messages And look, social media is a great way to do it… People don’t argue Luan’s point of view; social media isn’t some bigger thing. Luan has found that people are just relieved. They are glad Luan has simplified it. Luan Wise takes social media back to basics. You don’t need to spend hours on this stuff. You just must have a plan. Kevin likes the fact that this book is British! Sometimes we are a bit more conservative. We love Americans, but it is good that we have a fresh approach. From Britain. Luan discovered that to write a book, you must read books. To find out about their perspectives, their examples. Most texts are American. Ultimately, the same information applies equally to all cultures. Mastering the Art of Listening (Chapter 5) – tips? If you are not comfortable posting messages or tweeting, that is fine. Use social media as an information source – find out what people are saying, about your business, what your customers are talking about, what your competitors are talking about. It’s more important to listen than post those ‘me, me, me’ messages. In 2020, it is estimated that 50% of people over 65 will be Facebook users! A lot of people seem not to like it that much but they stick with it. Younger people use Snapchat and Instagram. Should business owners use Facebook? Yes, if you have a consumer audience It is great for peer-to-peer conversations in Facebook Groups, who can be very supportive, such as local business networks, asking for advice etc. It is still a bit chatty and informal, so maybe leads may be hard to drive. Twitter is better for listening.