Read The Transcript

Connect with Monique
https://dragon-digital-marketing.com/
https://twitter.com/DragonDigitalM1
https://fb.me/DragonDigitalMarketingOfficial
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8YcwKAYqqQdEWNQttmiUBw
https://www.linkedin.com/in/moniqueidemudia/

Connect with Russ
https://russjohns.com/
https://thepiratesyndicate.com/
https://nextstepnext.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nextstepnext/

Audio digitally transcribed by Otter.ai

Introduction 0:01
Welcome to the #PirateBroadcast™, where we interview #interestingpeople doing #interestingthings. Where you can expand your connections, your community, #kindnessiscool and #smilesarefree. Let’s get this party started.

Russ Johns 0:18
Welcome to the pirate broadcast where #kindnessiscool and #smilesarefree . And welcome to 2021. We're broadcasting again, lots of episodes in 2020. And to look back, you can join and connect to RussJohns.com and check up on all the history in the episodes that were in last year. And today we have Monique. Good morning, Monique, how are you doing?

Monique Idemudia 0:48
Good morning, Russ. I'm doing great. How are you doing?

Russ Johns 0:52
Oh, better than average. So it's a it's a good day. I know we're both couple of marketing nerds. And you know, we like hanging out on LinkedIn and Twitter. And I just wanted to have a conversation today about what we can look forward to, or what people in the community can look forward to as far as growth and maybe managing accounts and you know, kind of just some navigating through the marketing landmines that are out there as we move into 2021. And it's just one of those nerd things that I like to talk about. So what's one of the things that kind of grow your brand and push forward and make a difference make an impact.

Monique Idemudia 1:45
I think that video marketing is gonna be huge in 2021. It's been growing for a while now. And I think that's just a great way to to make an impact and to market your business right now.

Russ Johns 1:57
I think videos, I don't know, maybe this video thing will catch on. I got a few hundred episodes out there, I hope it's gonna catch on. So I know that I'm going to be pushing more to grow my YouTube channel. You know, YouTube has been a really, I think I have over, I don't know, 700 videos out on YouTube. And I've never really spent the time to do the keyword and the titles and the thumbnails and all of the things that are necessary to really grow a channel. And I think this year, I think that's going to change. And I'm following a few people and taking some notes. And so I'm going to be growing. So if you're not following me and you haven't subscribed to the #PirateBroadcast™ on YouTube, just after this episode, after Monique and I are done chatting, just head over there and say, subscribe, as they say on YouTube, smash that like button, hit that bell. So video, are you planning any kind of video marketing efforts in your year?

Monique Idemudia 3:15
Yes, I'm definitely gonna look into focus more in video this year. I started doing video last year during the pandemic, during quarantine. And I've started to make my podcasts and video podcast as well. And also definitely going to focus on my YouTube channel a lot in trying to optimize that and grow that. And it's really such a big thing. You know, YouTube is owned by Google. So it's also a huge SEO factor. And for example, if you look at your brand search, for example, a lot of this video boxes are YouTube videos. They're not just regular videos that are embedded on website. It's a very important platform for video and yeah, definitely worth focusing on.

Russ Johns 4:01
For those that don't know you, Monique, you have, is it dragon digital marketing?

Monique Idemudia 4:09
Yes, that's right, Dragon.

Russ Johns 4:11
Make sure I get that right. So tell people and share with the Pirate community. What was your journey to get to where you are today? Why marketing? Why did you choose marketing.

Monique Idemudia 4:28
I've always been in love with marketing. I'm a creative person. And I've always been into design and just coming up with ideas and working with people and communication. That's always been things that I love and marketing kind of combines all of those things. So it's been yeah, just natural for me to focus on marketing and fall in love with marketing. And I've started my career in the corporate world. And I've always had that entrepreneurial spirit in me as well. So I've always kind of knew I wanted to start my own business one day, and be an entrepreneur and just enjoy that freedom of being your own boss and making an impact that way. And yeah, so that's what I did.

Russ Johns 5:11
Well, fantastic. You know, it's really, I want to just take a moment here and say hi to some of the people that are dropping in Oliver. Good morning from LinkedIn. Paulo, Happy New Year, three days late. But still, it's still a happy new year. I'm just gonna go here and keep going. You know, Oliver says YouTube is outstanding. Yes, I totally agree. And with marketing, I know, Monique, that we have a few choices we have to continue to work on. Okay, which one do we pick? How do we master that? That platform and continue to grow in it? So that's some of the things we'll be talking about today. This is a 2020 bid. No, we're in 2021. So we are actually in 2021, it's Monday. What day is it?Monday, January 4th, 2021. So Jeff young. Hey, Jeff. One of my favorite pirates. Jeff. Happy New Year. Russ. Nice to see you on the first Monday of the year. I have a ton of questions. Jeff. I would love to catch up with you at some point in time. He's a master at LinkedIn. He's always putting out great content. Happy New Year, Russ, Reggie Waterman. He's in marketing as well. He's over in Toronto, in that neck of the woods. You're East Coast time. So you're over that way. Wendy says welcome to the posse. Monique, we're a Wild Bunch of compassionate supportive rebels guided by the best Admiral in the high seas. Love you, Wendy. Thank you so much. Lorrie Scott says Happy New Year pirates. Oliver says hi. And Karen. Karen says good day all Yes, it is a happy new year. And we got tons of comments here. But Monique, I want to talk a little bit about, you know, what people can expect, if they're on LinkedIn, you know, a lot of it is engagement, a lot of it's, you know, stay, you know, engaged and communicate and make comments back. Are there any techniques that you like that you're doing right now that seem to be working? I know video is huge. And I've actually had some people say, hey, quit sending me notifications on your videos. It's like, it's not me, it's like that. But are there some things that you're doing on LinkedIn that are working really well that you can share with the with the community?

Monique Idemudia 7:51
Absolutely. And that's posting pure engagement posts and offering value within your LinkedIn post directly. LinkedIn offers you the opportunity to put a lot of characters in your in your posts, unlike Twitter, so you can really provide a lot of value right there and not always try to drive people away to a different platform or off to your website, or wherever, in every post that you post, so post some posts that don't contain links at all, that are really just text and an image and that engage people.

Russ Johns 8:26
Yeah, I, I love some of the posts that are out there. And I post a lot. And, you know, some people say, Well, you post so much, so frequently, and in here you go. It's like, I just post what I like to post that I look and see which posts really actually resonate. And I noticed a lot of people are they're really deep, almost mini stories, something that I would normally see on medium, you know, more of a writer's platform. And it's just really great content. But it's just text. And it looks like it really does well. And so I think that in 2021 I would like to expand on that. I used to write blog posts every week and, you know, fairly long blog post extensive blog posts, and I'm thinking maybe some more text in between my videos, because I mean, I shoot video every day. So it's kind of, you know, people get used to seeing me and then it becomes noise, I think, I don't know maybe what are your thoughts on that?

Monique Idemudia 9:39
I definitely think that makes sense. And you should tap into that. And you can use a lot of content that you've covered in your videos since you shoot daily videos and turn them into stories. I think this year everything that connects people and it's about you know, building relationships and establishing that deeper connection. That goes deeper than just just surface like buzz words or storytelling and all of that are going to be really big and growing this year for sure. And I don't think that, you know, you have to be concerned about being noise, if you put so much content out there, as long as the quality is good, which it is, in your case, it's not going to be noise, it's just going to be, you know, knowledge bombs all over the place. And yeah, providing value. So, as long as you keep the quality up, you don't have to worry about annoying people or, you know, not serving you or your business.

Russ Johns 10:37
Well, as a content creator, I think we often get a little bit nervous about okay, am I creating too much, and then I realized, you know, the feed goes so quickly. It's almost, LinkedIn isn't like Twitter, where it's just really fast. However, it is, where a lot of people are not seeing your content on regular basis. So if you create a lot, you know, maybe, you know, part of your audience will see it. I mean, it only goes out to a fraction of your audience. So it's really, it's really amazing to watch from the other side, on what you don't see. Yeah, there's a people there people that I've been connected to, for a long time that I barely see any of their posts. It's like, why don't I see this person's post, and then I go in, and I'll, I'll make comments on their posts, and I'll go track him down, and then all of a sudden, they'll show up a little bit more. So if you want to start seeing more content or seeing a more broad base of content, you kind of have to go out and hunt for it, and get engaged in those posts for it to show up. So that's one of the things that I would encourage people to do is look at other people's posts, and go out and find what they're doing. And that way, you can actually get a more diverse collection of posts in your feed. That's when I get when I get that way. It's a great way to kind of shake it up a little bit. What are some other ideas you think that would be really useful to experiment with in 2021?

Monique Idemudia 12:14
Podcasting, for sure, yeah, podcasts are just blowing up. The other one, yes.

Russ Johns 12:23
I've been podcasting since about 2014. So it's, it's one of those things that I and, and I've been teaching this for a long time, Monique, you are the media, you can pick up a phone and get started. It doesn't take a lot. It just takes the initiative to say, I'm going to create something special today, just pick up and start where you are with what you have. And there's plenty of places to produce content out. And I I love just creating random pieces of content, I used to do a lot more of it. And I've been 2020 has been actually pretty busy for me. And it's continuing to grow producing podcasts and producing live streams for other people. You know, I'm working with with stream yard as a remote producer and doing some work there. And it's really amazing to watch it unfold. So are there things that you're doing that you haven't seen other people doing that are working for you?

Monique Idemudia 13:40
I have brainstormed a lot of ideas for content categories that I can do. And I've started to do this or that post again, I don't know if you remember like a couple years ago, they used to be kind of popular and doing really good and getting a lot of engagement. So yes. So it's like this or that what type of person are you are you're an early bird or are you like a night owl a night person? Or are you? Did you like the light mode or the dark mode when it comes to the software's that you're using and the websites that you're browsing and things like that? Just simple things about the person and their personality? And people like that a lot and engage with that.

Russ Johns 14:26
They do engage with that. I just want to shout out to a couple of more people in the community. Oliver says yes, it will be a great Year Happy New Year. And then Karen says 4. I'm not sure what that was from, a question that we asked, I guess. Good morning. Patrick says Good morning. Gabriel is in the house. Do you know Gabriel, Monique?

Monique Idemudia 14:53
No, I don't know him yet.

Russ Johns 14:55
You need to meet Gabriel, he's an awesome individual that podcasts like every night, in the evening, I take the mornings Gabriel takes the evenings and he's an awesome pirate. She's here. Good morning, Angie, how are you doing? She's developing, shared a lot of good ideas that I've been using. So she she gives me some great tips all the time. So it's fantastic. Good morning, fellow pirates. And Happy New Year from Angie. Gabriel says Reggie Waterman. Good morning. So having an active community, building a community is really important. I think it's really fun to to be connected with so many amazing individuals. And Reggie, says Gabriel. Good morning, my brother hope you had a good weekend. Lorrie Scott says Gabe, Happy New Year. All of these people know each other at first, a lot of times, and I've met some amazing people through being on games show and you know, connecting in his community. And it's, it's like all these people. If you didn't know it, you know, you think that we were friends? It's like, yes, we are friends. It's like it's not just social media. It's just, it's really great. Zoom soon, Russ totally agreed, Monique, you can add a lot of value on LinkedIn. I'm not. And that's absolutely correct. I know a lot about LinkedIn, but I'm not focused on being a LinkedIn trainer. So dropping knowledge bombs for LinkedIn are discoveries that I've found along the way. I know that there's a lot of people that are amazing trainers, a lot of talent in LinkedIn. And that's why I have the #PirateBroadcast™ to bring people like yourself to share a few of these bits and nuggets of knowledge, as I call them. So and then about Gabriel's is about to do a roundtable discussion on the LinkedIn women of social media marketing next week, and I'm looking for panelists. Are you asking Monique to be a panelist? Indirectly? So Monique, you like Twitter as well. So how do you balance your time between LinkedIn and Twitter.

Monique Idemudia 17:18
I kind of focus on them equally. So I've picked out social media networks that worked for me where I know my target audience is and they're spending time there. And I can reach them there and some really doubling down on that. And I'm not focusing on anything that's outside of that, like Instagram, or Snapchat or tik tok, which are like trends and for younger audiences that are not really relevant for me. So yeah, and I have a content calendar, I map it out and make a plan. And I plan it in advance. And that's really what I'm focusing on. And you know, Twitter is much more for shorter content. And for sharing news, that's where people get their news, as the slogan says, is what's happening. So also really conscious about the intent. And LinkedIn is like, people want to discover more things. People want to share news about their companies, and search for jobs and just, you know, professional networking and meeting people. And then Facebook, for example, people like to just keep up with their friends and family and share moments out of their lives. So people have a different intent of what they're looking for on each platform. And I'm just really conscious of that, and tailor my content to that. And the message is essentially the same, but I just repurpose it and package it differently and adjust my messaging slightly. So there's a lot of synergies there. So I don't have to necessarily spend more time. But yes, can work very effectively. Yeah. For example, people like to be entertained and have fun. And they like to learn you like how to videos a lot. So that's what I really look at and analyze a lot. And yeah, just approach it strategically.

Russ Johns 19:10
What are your clients asking for versus what do they actually need?

Monique Idemudia 19:15
That's a great question. Yes. So there can be kind of large deviations sometimes. People sometimes are not really clear about what they actually want, like their end goal. And they need a means instead of something that they actually want. For example, when somebody says, Oh, I want more followers and want more subscribers, do you really want more followers or subscribers? No, you want more brand awareness. You want more customers, you want to attract more people that are relevant to you. So whether some ways that may make more sense and they're more worthwhile to invest in to help you reach that goal, and get away from, you know, some trends and buzzwords and stuff that they pick up that are maybe not the best way to think about things or approach things. And I help educate and I'm a content creator, myself, I love to create content, and I'm big on client education, and very big on inbound marketing as well and achieving everything through content marketing, and just attracting people organically, instead of being pushy and salesy, and all those kinds of things.

Russ Johns 20:31
Just you mentioned inbound marketing, is there any, are there any trends that you're seeing that are picking up in 2021? As a result of 2020? on inbound?

Monique Idemudia 20:43
Yeah, I guess that content marketing is even more important, because you can help people learn more about you on their own watch, so to speak. So whenever they're ready in their search results in Google, and then you appear in the search results, for example. You can be there whenever they're ready. So you can help them to get a more personal connection. And yeah build that rapport and build that connection through content marketing, without being very intrusive.

Russ Johns 21:22
Yeah, I really like the idea. I really like the idea that, you know, getting your brand out there and brand awareness is so key. And there's a fine line between personal branding and your brand awareness, right. So sometimes, depending on what your company and your organization does, it's nice to have somebody speak about the brand, in a way that is really productive, versus just having commercials, right. So it's, we're kind of moving into a different arena where that that takes place. So and one of the things that I love to do is build a community around a subject, and then get a lot of people that are interested in that subject. And then build brand awareness around that idea and concept, I think that's going to be increasingly more powerful in 2021. So yeah, I thought about that.

Monique Idemudia 22:22
Yes, building a community, and especially a community that you own, and you can always reach when you want to reach them. That's very important. So don't make yourself too dependent on third party platforms and social media algorithms. So build your own community that is actually your own community, that's super important. And you know, having a more unbiased way of, you know, allowing people to learn more about you, rather than ads, obviously, you're going to tell everybody how great everything is, and in your branded videos, and in your ads and stuff like that. I am having more, more ways in a larger variety of different ways that are also more indirect in a sense, it's definitely going to be beneficial for you.

Russ Johns 23:13
I really love that idea. And one of the things that I think would be really interesting is building when you're talking about having a community online, you know, and having control over, do you have a preference over email or going to, you know, platforms like Slack, or circle are some of those other platforms that you can actually have personalized conversation with them?

Monique Idemudia 23:45
Yes, I personally like email a lot. It's very cost effective. And it brings in comparison to other digital marketing channels, the highest ROI. I don't know, have you seen the statistic that for every dollar is an email marketing, you roughly get $42 back. So I like that a lot and keep the conversation personal. So not just push your products and services out there and every email but you know, also tell stories and ask people questions and directly call them to action to reply to your emails. You can get great conversations there and feedback there. I like slack as well, too. With slack. Sometimes we don't get a notification always. You know, every time there's somebody answers a comment, or whatever, you'd have to tag a person every time you you mentioned them to make sure that they see that. But it's a great platform as well. Or you can use your website and make it a membership site where you allow people to create an account and sign up and login and have your own closed community within that.

Russ Johns 24:50
Yeah, I'm going to be promoting the idea of the #PirateSyndicate™. The #PirateBroadcast™ is essentially the experiment to make sure all the systems work, you know, you get on and you show up and you get notified, and you get, you know, all of these things linked to the show. And I apparently, we received all of that. Tracie, the the producer got that over to you and, and she put that in place. And all these systems allow people, it removes the friction to be able to connect, you know, like putting a calendar invite to have a conversation on your landing page somewhere, it's like, hey, just book a time to schedule a call, you know, and just make it easy for people to actually connect and have those conversations. I think it's really important. And anything that we can do like email, I was experimenting with Dubb videos, where I could actually drop a Dubb video onto a website, and then have the RSS feed trigger an email to where I could shoot a video on my phone, post it on WordPress, and then have it go out on an RSS feed. So I could drop little nuggets of knowledge. And that's like, I'm close, I'm really close. So it's like, I think that would be an incredibly powerful tool to be able to say, hey, I want to share this idea with you. I talked to Monique this morning, and she dropped these knowledge bombs. And I just wanted to share, here's what we learned inbound marketing, ROI on email, and a few things that we wanted to make sure that you knew about in 2021. Join us follow the link, listen to us here and there. And just to be able to drop those things in a regular basis. And just make sure that if people want to hear you, or at least want to be kept up to speed on what's going on in the in the marketing world, it would be really powerful tool. So

Monique Idemudia 26:52
Yes, absolutely. All-in-one.

Russ Johns 26:55
It's like, I'm really close. Well, I love Dubb. So I'm a partner of Dubb. So I'm an advocate for for that video platform, video email, and I do send a lot of video emails. So it's really, it really resonates with a lot of people.

Monique Idemudia 27:14
Just check them. Yeah, I've been using that. But yes, I'm always you know, eager to learn, right? new tools that make it easier, yes. And to be able to automate things.

Russ Johns 27:25
Well, then I'm going to be doing I'm in 2021, I'll be doing more workshops around that subject and how you can connect and stay engaged and build communities. Because I think communities are going to be really important in 2021 as we continue through this process we're going through right now. So absolutely, yes. Any other nuggets of knowledge that you want to share, Monique?

Monique Idemudia 27:50
Yeah, I really think that people need personal connection more than ever, and you know, better you can connect and the more ways that you find to connect with people online, the better you can host roundups and invite experts are really just regular people in your audience that tell you what's going on and what they're dealing with, in reality in their lives, whether their biggest struggles, whether their biggest problems right now and hop on a zoom call with them, and get the insights and really show people that you're there and that you care. And that's really important as well. So also in terms of one on one communication, not just broadcasting yourself out there to the masses, which is great, too. But really do both. And think of a counterpart how you can find a digital way to substitute the old traditional in person way. So nothing gets left out. I think that's really important.

Russ Johns 28:53
And I think communication is key. It's always, it's always good to be able to reach out and connect with people. There's Tracie, good morning pirates. She's an amazing producer. I love all the work that she does and takes care of for the show. Jeff Young says our some show great job you too. Thank you, Jeff. I really appreciate that. Karen said LinkedIn provides an opportunity to tap into depth in one specific content area. But succinct text holds the attention of the relevant audience most effectively, especially when combined with excellent, excellent visuals. That's a great point. You know, another thing that we were talking about before the show started and I haven't really talked about it with you. And before we wrap up. I do want to mention, one of the things that Monique did is she actually gets on other podcasts and I've been on other podcasts as well. And that's another way of building brand awareness is joining podcasts. So what are some of the ways that you you've discovered to get on other podcasts, Monique?

Monique Idemudia 30:05
Yes. So the podcasts that are relevant in your industry, listen to them, first of all, and make sure you're a great fit and how you can add value, be a great guest there. And then reach out to people. Most people have websites of your podcast, though they have an email address, they're just, you know, search for the host name. And you'll find them on LinkedIn or wherever on social media. And then there's matchmaking platforms for podcasters as well, that match podcast guests to podcast hosts that are looking for guests. So you can research that and sign up there and reach out to people that way. There's, lots of ways. There's even agencies that specialize purely on outreach for podcasting, so you can hand it off to them as well, if you like a more hands off approach to that. So there's lots of ways.

Russ Johns 31:01
It's fantastic to get on podcast, and just have a great conversation. Yes. Well, Monique, this has been a great conversation. And I love the fact that you're a pirate now, welcome to the pirate community officially. So I look forward to many more conversations and connections and introductions and if, if you're not connected to Monique, connect with her, say I'm a pirate, I just wanted to connect, reach out, Gabriel, you might have a panelist I don't know, maybe possibly, we'll have to see. And I just think it's really fun to be able to make these introductions and build a community of like minded individuals that are willing to work together and support each other. So thank you so much for being here, Monique. I really appreciate you being here.

Monique Idemudia 31:50
It's my pleasure. Thank you so much for having me.

Russ Johns 31:52
And I look forward to a happy and healthy safe 2021. And as we continue to evolve and go through this whole process. And as you know, #kindnessiscool, #smilesarefree so you #enjoytheday. See you later everyone.

Exit 32:13
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