Project done by Malorie Johnson
Project Purpose
The past few months, I have had the opportunity to work for a social media company called Smith and Crawford Company. Their focus is specifically helping Med Spas all over the United States run their social media, email marketing, and websites. I count myself lucky, as I was able to be mentored by Taleesa Crawford, one of the owners of this business. She had a lot of great hands-on projects for me that helped me increase my skills in the areas of email marketing, content creation, and gaining relationships with clients.
The purpose of working with Smith and Crawford Co was to see another perspective of running a social media agency, as I plan to open my own in less then a month! I learned so much from focusing on the following two things during my time with them:
- Creating two months worth of content for 2 different clients. (Beauty Sleep Aesthetics and ZI Bloom Aesthetics) Each month, this included 31 stories, 12 posts, copywriting for those 12 posts, and 2 marketing emails.
- Planning and inviting Med Spas all over the United States to a webinar Smith and Crawford Co hosted this month.
Details on each of these projects can be found below!
Samples of the Work
Beauty Sleep Aesthetics:
ZI Bloom Aesthetics:
Example of a PDF I send to client with links to all their content:
Challenges Encountered
Of course, it wasn’t always a smooth sailing process. It wouldn’t be social media management and content creation if it was! One of the biggest challenges I encountered was the clients not getting their info to me by the time we asked them to. Each month, I had a google form the client would have to fill out in order to make their content the most correct, such as what brands of Medical Grade Skincare they use, what specials were happening in at their clinic, or before and after pictures. When they didn’t turn it in by the day I asked, it messed with the work hours I had set aside or made me hurry quicker through their content. When that happens, I sometimes felt like I was rushed and could’ve done it better. This has helped me think about ways to make this process better for both me and the clients when I start my own company.
Another common challenge I had was not knowing the Med Spa world enough. I had to do a LOT of research while making content, because I have never worked with Med Spas and don’t get these services done myself. When I started, I didn’t even know the difference between Botox and filler, let alone the benefits they wanted me to make posts about. Creating this kind of content was more time consuming than any other content I have made before, just because I had to constantly fact check what I was creating. While this can be a challenge, I also love it, because I love learning and expanding my knowledge in new areas! This makes me more valuable to local Med Spas that could be potential clients because I now have this knowledge and they wouldn’t have to have them teach me if they wanted to hire a Social Media Manager.
When it comes to the webinar, the main challenge was getting people to respond to our invites. We tried engaging with them before messaging, because if they follow us, our message won’t get sent to their requests. It would show up right in their inbox. The issue was, a lot of people didn’t see their invite in time and responded after the webinar. Offering a free webinar was a first time for Smith and Crawford Co, so a lot of it was simply trial and error!
Project Process
Here I will give you a little step-by-step of how I was able to accomplish both the monthly content and the webinar!
Monthly Content Process:
- Create monthly google form with questions for information I might need from clients such as their monthly deals, before and after pictures, employee spotlight info, available dates, etc…
- Wait for client to fill out
- Once Google Form is received, I use Canva to create 2 marketing emails, 12 posts, and 31 stories. Each client has their own branding pack, so I am sure to use their fonts, colors, brand photos, and logo. You can see examples of this up above. After I create the posts, I do the copywriting for each one on a Google Doc, so they can edit if needed.
- When all content is done, I make a customized PDF on Canva and include links to each of the deliverables. I email it them, and if there’s big changes they want made, I fix those. They are able to make quick changes as I give them edit access.
Free Webinar Process:
- Created a Google Sheet to keep track of the accounts I reached out to. Created a column to link each account, as well as a column to keep track of when I engaged with them, and another to track when I messaged them. I set it up so I could see the response rate and the conversion rate as they signed up for the Webinar.
- Engaged with 500 accounts by commenting and replying to their stories.
- 5 days after I commented on an accounts post, I would send them a DM inviting them to the Webinar. The message would look like this: “Hey [PROSPECT NAME]! This is Malorie from Smith and Crawford Company. We stumbled across your account and we’re loving what you posted about [mention a post you commented on]. I can truly tell how dedicated you are to your account and I think we have something that will be of interest to you! ✨ We’re hosting a FREE upcoming live workshop on May 23rd that shows MedSpas how to get out of the “on sale” cycle and into the high paying clients life – since this is the main struggle we see MedSpas go through. We have a big focus on luxury positioning, and want to share some insight on how to truly create a brand of your dreams 😍 Would you be interested? 🥰 Let me know and I’ll send a link.”
- Once they responded, I would send the link!
Experiences I’ve Had
A couple of experiences stand out to me when I look back on my time with Smith and Crawford Co. I kind of touched on one of them earlier, but it was the realization that the more types of businesses I work with, the more valuable of a social media manager I will be. When I started working here, I knew absolutely nothing about the Med Spa world. I second guessed myself all the time while making content. But as this opportunity comes to an end, I realized that I know a ton about aesthetic practices! As I start my own agency, I feel more than confident that I could manage a Med Spa’s social media all on my own. This sets me ahead of someone who doesn’t know anything about aesthetics.
I have done lots of content creation over the past few years, so helping in the Webinar process was an amazing process to be a part of. I learned how to be genuine in my approach to land new clients. Other agencies I’ve worked with just cold pitch emails to people (not saying that’s wrong, I just loved this experience of learning a new approach). This process of reaching out individually with engaging and DMing may have been more time consuming, but I believe it will pay off in the long run as we have already built solid relationships with these new clients. There are multiple ways to pitch, and offering a free Webinar is just one of many ways to put your services out there!
One other experience that I wanted to share showed me just how important networking is. I wouldn’t have found this opportunity had I not been vocal about my goals with social media and including my major in every day conversations I have. I have learned not to shy away from talking about the work I do. I met Taleesa, the owner of Smith and Crawford, by running into an old friend and instead of answering, “I’ve been good, how about you?” when she asked how I’ve been, I said, “I’ve been pretty good, just working on some branding for a new client I am doing some social media work for! What about you?”. This lead to a conversation of what I am going to school for and 3 months later, she reached out to me about her cousin in Pennsylvania who was in need of some help for her social media agency. That’s when she got me in contact with Taleesa and we have done lots of work together since! Network, network, network.
Takeaways
I’m grateful for the time I have had with Smith and Crawford. Here is a short list of things I have learned:
– Every client is different. One size does not fit all.
– Offering something of value for free to your target audience can develop trust and helps leads turn into clients.
– Be genuine in all conversation online. No mass messaging !!! Quality over quantity.
– Allow yourself to be creative. Trust your work.❤️
I think my biggest takeaway overall is that I am ready for the next step. I’m loving this period of life where I am able to learn from lots of different agencies and gain tons of hands on experience with all sorts of clients. My time with Smith and Crawford was much needed, but I am ready to spread my wings and venture off on my own. I have had multiple opportunities to further my knowledge and experience in the social media world, and it makes me excited for the future!