Designed by Wingnut Social | Interior Design Business

How IGTV Can Help You Build Your Interior Design Biz with Claire Jefford

There are lots of options when it comes to promoting or building a community around your Interior Design Consulting Business. But one of the newest and best ways is through broadcasting short videos via IGTV (InstagramTV). One designer who is doing amazing things on IGTV is Claire Jefford.
Claire owns and runs her own award-winning Interior Decorating firm and is also an Interior Design Business Coach. She is passionate about marketing, creating videos, and having organized processes to fuel her business success. One of the greatest things about her is her authenticity: she openly shares decorating tips, design advice, and proven strategies for running a business on her IGTV and YouTube channels for anyone to learn from.
In this conversation, Claire shares her IGTV story, explains why anyone can get started (and why nobody has an excuse not to), and walks through IGTV best-practices and a whole lot more.
What You’ll Hear On This Episode of Wingnut Social
[0:45] Who is Claire Jefford, and why does she record video with no pants?
[5:01] What IS IGTV and why does Claire know so much about it?
[5:59] Creating an IGTV channel is not all that hard
[8:28] BEWARE the difference in aspect ratio: you’re going vertical
[9:30] How the geniuses at Instagram made us post fresh content
[14:37] The differences in Claire’s strategy for IGTV vs YouTube
[20:35} Are Instagram Stories and IGTV redundant?
[23:40] Do lighting and audio matter on IGTV?
[26:20] Mistakes Claire has made that have taught her how to do it right!
Connect with Claire Jefford
www.ClaireJefford.com
Claire on Instagram: @ClaireJefford
The Interior Design Business Strategies Facebook group (ask to join)
Claire on Facebook
Claire on Pinterest
YouTube: Claire Jefford - Colour/Decorating Tips (link here)
YouTube: Claire Jefford Coaching - for Business Advice (link here)
Resources & People Mentioned
IGTV
Instagram
Instagram Stories
YouTube
The “Swipe Up” feature on Instagram to add links to your posts
Madalyn Sklar
Canva - for creating cover art, etc. - FREE
Creating engaging video content has never been easier
IGTV is changing the way creators are able to share their expertise and engage with those who are interested in the topics they speak about. Claire Jefford knows it to be true from her own experience. Before IGTV, her primary experience with video has been on YouTube, but she’s found that IGTV enables her to provide content and interact with her audience in ways she has never been able to do on YouTube.
As an interior design consultant, Claire shares more than just her expertise relating to color and design, she also teaches other designers how to run their Interior Design Consultation businesses more efficiently, find and engage with clients, and make the most of every opportunity. One way she’s doing it these days (with great results) is through IGTV. You can hear what she’s doing and how she’s doing it on this episode of Wingnut Social.
You don’t need expensive equipment or a professional appearance for IGTV
The Interior Design Consulting industry does have a professional look to it - absolutely. We specialize in making things beautiful. But don’t let that mindset convince you that you’ve got to invest lots of money into starting an IGTV channel.
You don’t.
In this conversation with Darla, Claire explains how easy it is to set up your own IGTV account, the kind of equipment you need to do it well (it can cost less than $25), and why she sometimes broadcasts without putting on makeup first, and even on one occasion - without her pants. Claire is an engaging and funny lady, so be sure you take the time to listen.
Connect With Darla & Wingnut Social
www.WingnutSocial.com
On Facebook
On Twitter: @WingnutSocial
On Instagram: @WingnutSocial
Darla’s Interior Design Website
MOVIE: The Breakfast Club
MOVIE: The Bridges of Madison County
Subscribe to The Wingnut Social Podcast on iTunes, Google Play, or Spotify

Busting the Biggest Social Media Myths with Scott Ayres

There are a lot of theories out there about what works and what flops on social media. And there are even a few theories that have been tested and then put out as fact, only to have them turn out to be wrong. On today’s episode, we talk about myth busting in social media with the guy who does some serious testing (you can tell by his lab coat).
On today’s show with Natalie and Darla is Scott Ayres, a self-described “Scott-of-all-trades” who has done everything from sell cars to rent bouncy houses. But we know and love him as the host of the Social Media Lab podcast, where he runs rigorous tests to determine what practices actually work on social media. Scott has been an avid blogger in the social media niche for more than six years, taking two different blogs to the top 10 most influential social media blogs on the globe. He’s also the co-author of Facebook All-in-One for Dummies. Scott has a knack for forecasting and seeing trends in social media, and communicating that for small business owners to leverage.
What You’ll Hear On This Episode of Wingnut Social
[03:38] How did Scott Ayres become a Scott of all trades?
[5:15] How Scott’s social media began with LinkedIn
[7:45] The niche filled by the Social Media Lab Podcast
[10:27] The biggest myth in social media
[16:28] The mind-blowing stats on LinkedIn
[20:49] How long should you run a social media test?
[25:08] What is Agorapulse?
[27:58] What up, wingnut?
[31:57] Darla and Natalie’s takeaways
Connect with Scott Ayres
Agorapulse
Agorapulse on Twitter
Agorapulse on Instagram
Agorapulse on Facebook
Resources & People Mentioned
Agorapulse
Social Media Lab Podcast
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Jumper
The biggest social media myth out there
Since he’s the guy in the lab coat, we had to ask Scott what social media myths he sees out there that need to be debunked. And the #1 myth he cited? Social media platforms punish you for using third-party apps. It’s just not true. In fact, he found that on Facebook, engagement was 22% higher using third-party apps.
Now part of the reason for this is that past tests did not filter out what Scott calls “garbage posts,” like cross-posting the same message on all platforms, etc. It’s really fascinating stuff.
LinkedIn Insanity
While everyone is told to post photos or videos or Facebook and Twitter to really up your engagement, Scott discovered something mind-blowing about LinkedIn: Test posts had 1069% higher engagement than photos and other types of posts. It’s crazy, and you have to hear him talk about how he conducted his experiment to believe it.
LinkedIn is having another moment now, with concerns over Facebook’s privacy still lingering. As Scott says on this week’s podcast, you need to run consistent experiments as part of your social media strategy.
Connect With Darla & Wingnut Social
www.WingnutSocial.com
On Facebook
On Twitter: @WingnutSocial
On Instagram: @WingnutSocial
Darla’s Interior Design Website
Subscribe to The Wingnut Social Podcast on iTunes, Google Podcasts, or TuneIn

Why Consumption on Twitter is the New ROI with Madalyn Sklar

Interior designers love to use Facebook and Instagram to highlight their work and connect with potential clients. But for some reason, they view Twitter as the third rail of social media. Today, we’re going to try to change your mind about that with a look at what the new ROI for Twitter is.
Talking with Natalie and Darla today is Madalyn Sklar, a serial entrepreneur, community builder and a Twitter black belt with more than two decades of digital marketing experience and 13 years (since Twitter was a baby) of social media marketing under her belt. She’s been ranked the #1 Twitter influencer in Houston year after year and she runs the #TwitterSmarter chat every week that has raked in more than 6 billion impressions (McDonald’s has nothing on her) and she hosts the #TwitterSmarter podcast. By the way, that is her pared-down bio. We could have gone on and on.
What You’ll Hear On This Episode of Wingnut Social
[03:00] Why even bother with Twitter?
[4:45] Are Twitter chats something interior designs should be doing?
[7:15] Why your follower count is really just a vanity metric
[8:45] Consumption is the new ROI
[10:15] If you’re not looking at your Twitter analytics, you’re behind the curve
[12:30] How Madalyn uses video on Twitter
[16:45} Don’t like how you look on video? Too bad!
[19:10] Different strategies for different platforms
[22:00] Why Twitter is not the red-headed stepchild of social media for interior designers
[29:05] Is it better to just post text or images and videos?
[30:10] Are Twitter ads worth it?
[34:30] What up, wingnut?
Connect with Madalyn Sklar
Madalyn Sklar
Madalyn on Twitter
Madalyn on Instagram
Madalyn on Facebook
Resources & People Mentioned
Miri Rodriguez, Microsoft Storyteller
#TwitterSmarter chat
#SocialROI chat
Twitter analytics
What you’re missing about Twitter
Everyone loves Instagram for the visuals, but as Madalyn says on this week’s show, Twitter can be very visual as well. You can post photos, videos, you can share other people’s visuals very easily. It’s easy to think of Twitter as just a text medium, but it’s really used for much more than that.
Madalyn is also an expert in convening Twitter chats and putting hashtags on steroids to work for her. There’s a lot of really valuable insight here into how you can use Twitter to help with your marketing.
Consumption is the new ROI
One of the things that makes Twitter so difficult to crack is that we’re looking at it the wrong way, says Madalyn. In fact, she told us a story about Miri Rodriguez, a storyteller for Microsoft, who says that instead of looking at follower counts or engagements or ROI, we should think about consumption. How much of our social presence is being consumed by others?
In other words, they don’t have to follow you or like something that you post to consume what you post. It’s really a new way of looking at
Connect With Darla & Wingnut Social
www.WingnutSocial.com
On Facebook
On Twitter: @WingnutSocial
On Instagram: @WingnutSocial
Darla’s Interior Design Website

How to Make Your Brand Voice More than “Meh,” with Nicole Heymer

Quick: Think of your favorite brand Twitter account, or Instagram, or Super Bowl commercial. What do they have in common? A distinct and memorable brand voice (hello, Old Spice guy). But brand voice is often hard to define, and even more difficult to pin down for your interior design firm. If you find yourself struggling with how to make your voice attractive to clients and consistent across your platforms, then this episode is for you.
Joining Natalie and Darla on today’s show is Nicole Heymer, the founder of Curio Electro, a company whose experts work with business owners to create websites that merge beauty with function in order to help them sell services. Curio Electro will help your business establish a web presence that makes a difference. Darla has worked with Nicole to get amazing results, and just 30 minutes of this chat contains so many nuggets that you can take and apply to your brand. If your website needs a facelift or you really want your brand to have a web presence, you will find today’s conversation about brand voice most helpful.
What You’ll Hear On This Episode of Wingnut Social
[0:42] Why knowing Nicole Heymer gets me compliments
[2:20] What is brand voice and how the heck do you get it?
[4:45] Yeah, but why does it matter?
[7:33] Where do you use your brand voice?
[10:10] How to make your Instagram fit your brand voice (and how not to)
[12:45] How do you speak to your favorite clients?
[15:30} How do you attract top-tier clients if you’re a wingnut?
[18:30] Keep your voice consistent across platforms by defining the nitty-gritty
[22:00] Moon Pie vs. Little Debbie
[25:10] What up, Wingnut?
Connect with Nicole Heymer
Curio Electro
Nicole’s branding masterclass
Curio Electro’s Twitter
Curio Electro’s Instagram
Resources & People Mentioned
Blueprint Magazine
Kelly Wearstler’s Instagram
House Beautiful’s Instagram
Old Spice commercial
Moon Pie Twitter
Little Debbie Twitter
It’s not what you say, but how you say it
If you Googled “brand voice” you would probably find a thousand different definitions, many of them long-winded and lacking, well, voice. But Nicole says it best: What you say is your messaging, how you say it is your voice. So it’s your tone, the words you choose, and the personality you put into what you’re saying that define your brand’s voice. But why is that important? Because the people you’re talking to have to trust you. And your brand has to sound like someone they trust.
The same thing goes for attracting new clients. As Nicole says, if your voice is just kind of “meh,” then no one’s going to remember you, no one’s going to seek you out. If you don’t have any color or flavor in your voice, then no one is going to be drawn to you.
If you’re talking to everybody you’re talking to nobody
So where do you use this flavorful new brand voice you have? Well, as Nicole says, just about everywhere. You want it in your web copy and in your ad copy, but also if you have products than you might think about your product names reflecting that voice. And one of the genius suggestions Nicole dishes out: Make your call to action reflect your voice. In other words, if you have a button on your site, rather than the boring “submit,” make it something that fits your brand.
And you don’t have to do this alone. As Nicole says, if you’re looking to attract high-end clients, you should go to the brands those clients like and see what voice they use. And remember: Every client is a person, too, so you don’t need some magic formula.
Connect With Darla & Wingnut Social
www.WingnutSocial.com
On Facebook
On Twitter: @WingnutSocial
On Instagram: @WingnutSocial
Darla’s Interior Design Website
Subscribe to The Wingnut Social Podcast on iTunes, Google Podcasts, or TuneIn

The Rise of the Machines: How Robots Are Killing Your Brand on Social Media

On today’s episode of Wingnut Social, hosts Darla and Natalie discuss how the dreaded robots may be killing your brand. What are the robots? Have you ever opened your social media and been excited that you have 20 or 30 likes on your post, only to check the post the next day, and they’re gone! They may trick you into following them, and then they’re gone.
How does it make you feel? Darla is one of perhaps thousands of followers who have fallen prey to the robots. So buckle up, Wingnuts, because we are going to take on the robots on today’s show.
Show highlights:
Can robots damage my brand?
Can Instagram identify these robots? What are the red flags?
Robots may have multiple levels of “evil”.
Robots may like thousands of posts, which may not seem so bad, right? Hear more!
Can robots comment on behalf of your brand? Darla and Natalie explain.
Do you know the number one robot crime?
Is there a limit to how many posts the robots can like? 350 an hour is the current understanding.
Darla and Natalie explain how can you can grow your social media with all of these evil robots.
Darla shares advice regarding the types of posts you should leave.
Advice for those who need help with posting on social media
Darla discusses Vanity Metrics and refers to Episode 1.
The Gary Vaynerchuck $1.80 Instagram Strategy
If you are too busy to do your own social media marketing, reach out to Darla, Natalie, and the expert team at Wingnut Social.
Contact information for Wingnut Social:
Wingnut Social -  Website
Instagram - @wingnutsocial
Facebook - @wingnutsocial
Pinterest - @wingnutsocial
Twitter - @wingnutsocial
Questions? info@wingnutsocial or 1-877-WINGNUT

Making the Most of Your Pinterest Strategy with Michelle Wintersteen

Joining Darla and Natalie on today’s show is Michelle Wintersteen, founder of MKW Graphics in San Diego, Ca. Michelle created the company in 2014 while attending The University of San Diego, where she earned two degrees, Visual Arts and Art History.
One thing that makes Michelle the envy of many entrepreneurs is that she often runs her company remotely, as she is passionate about traveling. Because of Michelle’s creative eye, she’s often inspired to use items in her design she discovered while traveling in nearly 40 countries...with many more to come! MKW has helped hundreds of small business owners (in San Diego and beyond) create visually compelling yet marketing-minded brands.
You will want to savor every second of this conversation that focuses on how business owners can benefit by using Pinterest.
Show highlights:
Michelle’s digital nomad-ing
How can you utilize Pinterest as an interior designer?
Should I get a Pinterest business account, or use my private account?
Pinterest is a search engine that can be used as a marketing platform.
Make sure you know optimize your wording on Pinterest so that you become noticed.
Pinterest loves evergreen content, so how can I use that to my advantage?
Think about putting yourself on Pinterest as a creator rather commenting on others’ content.
Using vertical formatted images, ie. 9x16 ratio on Pinterest
Create thumbnails for the cover board on Pinterest with consistency to your brand.
Creativity of titles on pins to get people to go to your blog or website
Effectively using hashtags on Pinterest, which is a relatively new feature
Using keywords and hashtags simultaneously
How many pins should I create for my blog?
Colors, graphics, photos, and designs should be used in a savvy way.
Effective pinning to so that users are directed to where you want them
Using color strategy in branding
Using Tailwind pinning scheduler
Monitor analytics and use them effectively for your marketing strategy.
If you are too busy to do your own social media marketing, reach out to Darla, Natalie, and the expert team at Wingnut Social.
 
Contact information for Michelle and Wingnut Social:
 
Michelle’s Website
Michelle’s E-mail
Instagram
Facebook
Twitter
Small Biz Start Up Guide, Michelle’s new e-book
Tailwind Pinning Scheduler
Get in Touch with Wingnut Social
Wingnut Social -  Website
Instagram -@wingnutsocial
Facebook - @wingnutsocial
Pinterest - @wingnutsocial
Twitter - @wingnutsocial
Questions? info@wingnutsocial or 1-877-WINGNUT

Getting Strategic on Social Media with Stefanie Scalish

On today’s show, Darla speaks to the Chief Wingnut Specialist at Wingnut Social, Stefanie Scalish. Stefanie is super-passionate about social media and dives into it every day. She loves helping designers figure out what their goals are and then helping them hone in on them by using social media. Stefanie has seen first-hand how social media has really helped Darla Powell Interiors skyrocket and knows how to use social media to its fullest.
Natalie Grafe, CFO at Wingnut, also joins the show today to weigh in on the importance of using social media as a business tool. Listen in to today’s episode to find out more about how using social media can help your business.
 
Show Highlights:
The effectiveness of social media marketing for social media designers
Using vanity metrics, the likes you receive on a post
Frustration with growth on social media
Fear of showing your true self on social media
Obtaining clients from social media
Targeting the correct audience who may ultimately become clients
Using correct strategies to increase brand awareness
Should you boost your Facebook ads?
Is paid advertising on social media necessary?
Listen to the Quick-Fire round to discover more about Stefanie.
Don’t get discouraged. Keep targeting ideal clients by effectively using social media.
If you are too busy to do your own social media marketing, reach out to Darla, Natalie, and the expert team at Wingnut Social.
 
Get in touch with Wingnut Social:
Wingnut Social -  Website
Instagram - @wingnutsocial
Facebook - @wingnutsocial
The Design Blog and Social Media Lab 
Pinterest -  @wingnutsocial
Twitter   -    @wingnutsocial
Questions? info@wingnutsocial.com or 1-877-WINGNUT
 

Who and What is Wingnut Social

 
The mission of Wingnut Social is to provide you, the interior designers, the decorators, the stagers, and architects with the knowledge and techniques needed to step up your digital marketing game, and to help you fasten your brand in this ever-competitive, digital age.
Darla Powell, an interior designer from Miami, Florida, along with Natalie Grafe, the Chief Financial officer for Wingnut Social, introduce the first episode of their brand new podcast. You may know Darla from Darla Powell Interiors on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, The Design Blog and the Social Media Laboratory Facebook Group. Darla is now the head wingnut for Wingnut Social, Social Media Marketing Agency. 
Natalie Grafe, the CFO of Wingnut Social, is a native of Miami and got her business start in the family business from the time she was old enough to count money. In addition to being the CFO for Wingnut Social and Darla Powell Interiors, Natalie is a firefighter in South Florida and has been there 14 years. 
  
Show highlights:
 
Darla attributes the success of Darla Powell Interiors during the past year and a half to her successful social media marketing.
Darla Powell Interiors has 13,000 followers on Instagram,12,000 followers on LinkedIn, 1600 followers on Twitter, and 1600 members in its Facebook group.
Wingnut Social just launched in June of this year, and it already has 1200 followers.
The Design Blog and Social Media Laboratory private group on Facebook has nearly 1,000 followers.
Darla has been featured on LuAnn Nigara’s A Well-Designed Business Podcast, episodes 203 and 330.
Darla was on Design and Style Podcast with Rachel Moriarity and Dixie Willard.
Ivy’s Behind the Design Podcast featured Darla on its show.
Darla is an upcoming guest on Kimberley Seldon’s podcast.
The CJ Evolution Podcast had Darla as a guest.
Darla Powell Interiors has been named one of the 5 interior designers to follow on Instagram by PureWOW. 
HGTV producers have interviewed Darla.
Darla and Natalie are excited about answering your questions about social media marketing or blogging.
The Wingnut Social Podcast will feature experts to help give advice and answer your questions.
  
Get in touch with Wingnut Social:
Wingnut Social -  Website
Instagram - @wingnutsocial
Facebook - @wingnutsocial
Pinterest - @wingnutsocial
Twitter - @wingnutsocial
Questions? info@wingnutsocial