In this episode, audience whisperer and social media strategist Jaclyn Uloth shares insights on how nonprofits can up their social media game. Whether you’re looking to boost donations, engage volunteers, or grow awareness, Jaclyn breaks down essential tips that every nonprofit leader needs to hear.
What’s the #1 thing you need to know about your audience before creating content?
Spoiler: It’s all about speaking their language, but Jaclyn explains how to do that effectively.
What’s one surprising tool you’re probably not using enough on social media?
Hint: It’s already at your fingertips, and it could change the way you measure success.
Why does obsessing over analytics hurt more than it helps?
Jaclyn shares why checking your data too often can backfire — and how often you should be looking at it.
Handling negative feedback — should you respond or stay silent?
Jaclyn’s approach might surprise you! Hear why embracing criticism could be your best strategy.
What’s the most important step when starting a new social media campaign?
If you’re tempted to skip this, don’t! Jaclyn explains why this first step sets the tone for everything that follows.
Want to grow your audience? Here’s why you can’t rely on organic posts alone.
Jaclyn reveals the truth about building your following — and the investment that really pays off.
All this and more in this episode of That’s What C! Said.
Lee Wochner:
LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, X, plus Instagram, threads, TikTok, and others. Social media can be complicated. In her role as content strategist here at Counterintuity, Jaclyn Uloth keeps her finger on the pulse of these platforms and others, helping to set strategies and provide content to help nonprofits, government agencies, and other organizations doing important work.
Social media is essential for building awareness about what you do and calling people to take action. But what has changed in social media that you need to know about? How do you build your audience? How do you get started? What’s the best way to get your message across? And how do you deal with pesky trolls? Jaclyn answers these questions and many more in this episode of That’s What C Said.
Jaclyn Uloth:
Welcome to the podcast that lightens the tension when things sort of get hard…
That’s What C! Said, the Counterintuity podcast, featuring interviews with leaders and doers who have helped to make our world a better place through their actions — and especially through marketing, communications, and embracing change. Here’s host Lee Wochner.
Lee Wochner:
Jaclyn, thanks for joining us today.
Jaclyn Uloth:
Thank you. Excited to be here.
Lee Wochner:
Well, it’s always nice to see you and to work with you. For a long time now, how long have we been working together?
Jaclyn Uloth:
Since 2011, so 13 going on 14 years.
Lee Wochner:
Truly the best years of your life, though, right?
Jaclyn Uloth:
Of course!
Lee Wochner:
Well, certainly of mine. And so let’s just dive in and help people understand something, because sometimes we don’t understand the jargon in different industries. What the heck is a content strategist, which I know you are? What is a content strategist?
Jaclyn Uloth:
So content strategists basically are the people who plan and develop and sometimes manage the content output of our clients or the brands that we work with. So I mean, any piece of content, whether it’s social media, blogs, ads, design pieces, anything else you’re putting out there, if it’s words or visuals going out, it’s overseen or planned by us. And just so that we can make sure we can effectively communicate correctly with the audience and make sure everything’s on brand.
Lee Wochner:
OK, cool. That sounds all-encompassing, which I know it can be. So let’s drill down a little bit. In all of that, what does a content strategist do? Like, how do you help develop content, work with content, what is content, and so forth?
Jaclyn Uloth:
Yeah, so basically we, in the example of like working at Counterintuity, when we get a new client and they want content strategy, basically what we do is we just research the heck out of the client and all their competitors. We just kind of dive in and get to know them really well. The key really is learning about the audience because this is who you’re going to be speaking to. You need to be able to speak their language. So talking to doctors is very different from talking to stay-at-home moms or the CEO is very different from talking to the marketing manager. So you need to know the language you’re speaking. You need to know where to find these people, where they get their news, where they gather. Doing all that research enables us to put out content that makes sense for them and resonates with them. That’s kind of the backbone of what content strategists do — getting to know the audience. Then we work with the creative team, whether it’s working with a copywriter, graphic designer, or whoever, to come up with these pieces that will align with the research findings.[ML1] [LP2]
Lee Wochner:
So it’s managing and coordinating the strategy behind all of the content to make sure that you’re achieving the intended goals, right?
Jaclyn Uloth:
Exactly. Yeah.
Lee Wochner:
So it’s like, you know, a lot of my background is the writing world and it’s always like, “Well, who is the audience for this? Who’s going to read this or act on this?” And so therefore, how do you address them?
Jaclyn Uloth:
Yeah, exactly. So that’s really the initial part of everything that we do that we spend the most time on, getting to know the audience.
Lee Wochner:
When I was a kid, I went to a bunch of different schools. We moved, the school district changed, and so forth. My parents kept trying different schools. At the beginning of every semester, I’d think, “This time I’m going to fit right in. It’ll be super easy. They won’t know who I really am. It’ll be awesome.” And right away, they were onto me, “That’s the smart kid.” And I’m like, how’d they figure that out? It wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized it was the vocabulary.
Jaclyn Uloth:
Yeah, you can’t hide it.
Lee Wochner:
So, you know, I know in politics, candidates try to keep it at like a fifth-grade level or something because they want to include everybody. So you have to speak differently. And then interestingly, Kamala Harris has gotten some grief because she’s been doing what we call code-switching, right? There’s the natural dialect she speaks in, and then there’s what used to be called the Queen’s English, right? Which is a little more elevated.
And so a content strategist probably, as you were saying, has to talk to mommy bloggers differently than to attorneys.
Jaclyn Uloth:
Yeah, I mean, for example, like you said, boiling things down to something that a child can understand is really important for every company. They need to have their one-sentence elevator pitch that they can quickly share when someone asks, “What do you do?” You need to be able to explain it to grandma, right? But in some cases, that doesn’t always resonate. With one of our clients at Counterintuity, we need to speak a bit more technically. We need to show that we understand and have a certain expertise in that space. So we wouldn’t want to talk like we’re speaking to a fifth grader. It really depends.
Lee Wochner:
Yeah, and that client particularly is doing life-saving, life-changing work. That’s a good example. So how did you become a content strategist, Jaclyn?
Jaclyn Uloth:
Well, I got my start at Counterintuity. I actually love this story. It’s exciting for me to be on the podcast today because I started as an assistant, answering the phone at Counterintuity 13 years ago. It’s cool because I really got to learn a lot. I got my building blocks at Counterintuity. I call Counterintuity my college. I really learned everything, my background. I did leave the company for a little while. I came crawling back, but I worked in-house for various brands. Through working in-house, I was really able to execute my own ideas and try new things that maybe I couldn’t do in an agency setting, where there’s limited time due to contract periods or other constraints. I was able to bring my own ideas to life using what I knew from Counterintuity.
Lee Wochner:
So you’ve worked on a wide range of projects. It was interesting to me to look back at your CV and see the variety. I’ll just share a few examples. You’ve spent time explaining and promoting development projects for nonprofits — and by that, I mean real estate development, building projects, and fundraising initiatives.
You’ve worked to increase awareness and engagement for neighborhoods where a government project or some other development was coming, to ensure neighbors understood what was involved, what the benefits would be, and also the challenges. And then, there are consumer products, like pet products for one of our much-loved clients, a quick-serve food business that was on Shark Tank. I met those guys through you. And there was also a baby and children’s project. That’s a wide range of things. What’s similar about those sorts of projects?
Jaclyn Uloth:
These projects are all about spreading the word. Whether it’s brand awareness or initiatives, it’s about getting the word out. In many cases, these projects require immediate action. Whether it’s making a purchase, donating, or signing up, there’s always an action that we want someone to take right away.
That’s the common thread: the goal at the end of the day.
Lee Wochner:
So the approach you take is interesting. You’re very goal-focused, which is great because that’s an agency goal as well — to serve the client and their intentions. But I’m not hearing a lot of difference between promoting food trucks, which I know you’ve done, and trying to raise awareness for a nonprofit to get people involved, volunteer, or donate. It seems like the same approach.
Jaclyn Uloth:
Yeah, I guess the goal would be to show the value for the user. Whether it’s “this food is delicious, this product is amazing,” or “your money is going to make a difference,” it’s about showing the value of whatever we’re promoting.
Lee Wochner:
When you start on a new project, for example, marketing an environmental project that helps make schools healthier for kids, how do you get started on a new project? What’s the first thing that you do?
Jaclyn Uloth:
Alright, so starting out with a brand new client, what I want to do is just talk to the client and learn as much as I can about what they’re doing. I want to know their competitors and list companies like them so I can do research. I want to know all of their social media, and everywhere they’re putting out content, so I can see how all of that is doing. A lot of times we get clients who are doing something that works in some areas, so we want to maintain that while changing and improving on what needs attention. So I dive into research and demographics. Basically, a lot of what a content strategist does is research. I spend a lot of time with the client, talking to them, asking questions, and getting to know them as well as I can. From there, I build the audience profile. Something we do as a practice, which I know you’re familiar with, is creating an actual person to talk to. We use that person to steer how we speak. For example, we might develop a key person who is a 40-year-old man, an attorney, who likes to hang out at certain places, does specific things on the weekend, and gets his news from particular sources. Then we follow that throughout the content strategy development.
Lee Wochner:
Yeah, you’re talking about personas, or as the literary among us might say, “personae,” but we’ll say personas because we’re just average folks here. Last night, I went to see a really fun movie. I saw the new Aliens movie. It was loads of fun. I don’t know what the reviews said, and I don’t care. I went with my buddy, Mark, and we just laughed and screamed our heads off at the new Aliens movie. And that movie is for certain people, of course, and not for others. My fiancée certainly didn’t want to see the Aliens movie, even though I begged her to go with me. She didn’t want to see that. Then I came home, and we have a client I write for. Their persona is highly educated, doing important work but fun, right? And I’m writing in the voice of the CEO to her client base. I enjoy writing for her and get to take on that character. So, what are some of the other personas you’ve worked with? Let’s talk about the food truck guys, for example. Was there a persona you were writing for there?
Jaclyn Uloth:
Yeah, we were talking to young people, young professionals on their lunch break, who have disposable income and like to go to things like breweries or events. They maybe don’t have kids and live in a place where they’re close to these things. The area demographic was important there. Also, the food truck company I worked for had food on the pricier side, so the target was people who could afford this on a Tuesday lunch, for example.
Lee Wochner:
And then a different example, you and I worked on a park project, reclaiming and restoring a park to make it more environmentally friendly and offer new amenities. We also worked on a project near that, which was about improvements to the LA River. What different voices did you use for those? They had different personas, right?
Jaclyn Uloth:
Yeah, for that project, we really needed to speak the local neighborhood’s language. Without being too specific, we had to understand the streets, why people were coming to the park, and the demographics of their families, since it was a wealthier area. So the persona was the neighborhood itself.
Lee Wochner:
So there’s a lot of research that goes into making sure you’re understanding who the target audience is and how to communicate with them.
Jaclyn Uloth:
Yeah, for sure.
Lee Wochner:
Cool. By the way, let me go back to this for a moment. You said competitors, right? And certainly in business, there are competitors, and I understand why you chose this word. Do you think there are competitors in nonprofits?
Jaclyn Uloth:
Well, I mean, I say the word competitors because there are people we are just kind of looking at. So it’s like when you’re in a race or something, you look at the person next to you, like, how are they doing? What are they doing? How could I do that? And so, you look at the brands or the nonprofits that are like you and say, okay, what are they doing that’s working? How can we translate that into our persona? What are they doing that’s not working so we know what not to do? So, in some cases, people have already done the work for you, and you can follow that.
Lee Wochner:
Yeah, I agree with that. When I was running the theater league here in Los Angeles, people were always concerned that if someone went to another theater, they wouldn’t come to theirs, viewing it as competition. I said, the real competition is people staying home and watching TV. You have to get them out, and we should be talking about sharing audience, actually. It’s a very different approach, and I know people who are involved with nonprofits frequently support more than one cause. But the way you’re defining it — looking at the audience profile — you could figure out overlap and build from there. That’s interesting.
Jaclyn Uloth:
Yeah, people sometimes think their audience is everyone. They say, “Well, I want everyone to donate to me.” And I’m like, there’s no such thing as a target audience that’s everyone. These people are not going to donate to you, so you want to be specific. Some people are more likely than others to want to work with you.
Lee Wochner:
Thank you for saying that. That is the number one thing I address with clients. When I was running the Performing Arts League in Los Angeles, everyone would say, “I want a new audience, I want a new audience.” When we were marketing performing arts, I would say, “If you’re aiming for a new audience, 98% of your marketing budget is going to be wasted.” And they were horrified because, in any major metropolitan area in the US, performing arts attendance is 1 to 3% of the population. If you’re marketing to everyone, you’re throwing away 97 to 99% of your marketing dollars. Instead, our approach was to get the people we should be getting — performing arts attendees — and then incentivize them to bring someone new with them to try to build the audience that way. So, yeah, focusing on the experience and targeting a specific audience is key. That’s why you’re a content strategist. See how smart that is?
Jaclyn Uloth:
Exactly.
Lee Wochner:
So let me ask you this — you said 13 years, holy cow! In the 13 years you’ve been doing this… I was quick at the math, wasn’t I? I had to stop and subtract that. In the 13 years you’ve been doing this, is there an overarching philosophy you’ve learned or developed in your approach?
Jaclyn Uloth:
Yes. So basically, when I am working with clients or brands, and I’m just starting to work with them, I[ML7] [LP8] always say it’s important to step out of your comfort zone because I might suggest things that, based on my research, I believe will work. I can prove they will work, but the client might say, “We don’t normally do that” or “We’ve never done that.” I would say, be ready to step out of your comfort zone. I feel like things are always clearer from the outside looking in, and I am an outsider coming in. I can clearly see what needs to happen, whereas when you’re on the inside, it might not be as clear. That applies to many situations in life but especially when it comes to content strategy. If you are working with a marketing agency, find someone you trust and try to let go of the reins, or you won’t find as much success.I We’ve done the research, and we can prove to you that certain things can work. Just let us try and trust the process. Find someone you’re comfortable with because, in content strategy, the target audience steers the wheel, and we just need to listen and follow along. Some things we try will work, some things might not, but it’s all based on the research we’ve done. So, again, try your best to step out of your comfort zone and be ready to hear some different ideas.
Lee Wochner:
This is going to sound crazy, but what you’re saying is when you hire experts, trust their expertise. Is that what you’re saying?
Jaclyn Uloth:
Exactly. Yes, it’s hard for a lot of people, as you know.
Lee Wochner:
I myself have learned, especially in recent years, to stop being a bottleneck and a micromanager as I’ve become more aware that my skill set is rather limited. But the things I do know, I do know. Jaclyn, in my experience working with you, the things you know, you really know, and I trust your expertise. So, yeah, if you’re gonna hire experts, trust them to be experts.
Jaclyn Uloth:
Yeah, don’t take that the wrong way.
Lee Wochner:
Would you say, one of the things I’ve increasingly found is that in the social media realm, which can be fraught and dangerous, it’s better to be communicating than to stay silent. When you stay silent, other people own the ground. They control the whole playground and chase you and your friends off. Do you agree with that?
Jaclyn Uloth:
Yeah, I definitely think it’s better to be communicating than to be silent. It’s better to be out there than not to be. So, absolutely.
Lee Wochner:
Yeah, even in the face of people who might rebut you, though we don’t see that often. Occasionally with clients, we develop a strategy to deal with naysayers or just scoundrels. But generally, if you go silent, they own everything. We’re going to take a short break here, but when we come back Jaclyn is going to dig into the how-tos of building your social audience and ways to spread awareness about what you do. Stick around.
Lee Wochner:
Surprise, next year is almost here already. I know it seems hard to believe, but it’s right around the corner, which also means making the most of your opportunities for 2025 means starting right now. Take the time to prepare now before time slips away. So think about reviewing your overall marketing and branding, your donor engagement, your content and social media, everything that goes into building awareness about your nonprofit.d elivering on your mission and getting more donations. If you need help preparing for success, contact us through our website at counterintuity .com or shoot me an email at lee at counterintuity .com. We’re always ready to help and to share any information and ideas we might have. Thanks a lot.
Lee Wochner:
And we’re back with Jaclyn Uloth, Counterintuity’s ace content strategist. So let’s talk about tips and tricks, right? Ways that people can make their social media campaigns more effective. Jaclyn, how can people make their social media campaigns more effective?
Jaclyn Uloth:
I mean, everything depends, but I will say by and large, take advantage of your analytics and all the tools that are given to you on these platforms. Look at them, use them, and track them. Take advantage of Instagram stories and all the platform features. What’s important is to see what’s working and what’s not. Don’t obsess over your analytics — check them maybe once a month. If you check every week, you won’t see growth or improvement, just nitpicking. Look once a month or once every two months. Reels are popular, so pay attention to what your analytics are telling you. The people will tell you what they like.
Lee Wochner:
Are there specific analytics you look at to judge success?
Jaclyn Uloth:
It depends on the goals. For example, with one client, we’re focused on building followers. So, we look at things like unique visitors and new followers. Depending on your goal, you’ll find the relevant analytics to pay attention to.
Lee Wochner:
How big of a role does advertising play in building your audience? I’m talking not just about paid social ads, but boosting posts, paid likes, things like that. What’s the impact?
Jaclyn Uloth:
If your goal is building your audience, ads are essential. You can’t build your audience much without throwing some money at it. You need to have a budget for it if audience building is your goal.
Lee Wochner:
It used to be about building followers on those platforms. But more recently, my understanding is that you need a paid component, and just being incredibly clever and witty won’t build your audience. Is that right?
Jaclyn Uloth:
No, they figured out they can get your money. It’s very difficult to build your audience organically, and that’s by design. Social media companies need to make money, and they’ll put you in front of people if you pay.
Lee Wochner:
Does it have to be an enormous amount? What would make a difference?
Jaclyn Uloth:
If you’re just starting and don’t have much of a budget, even a couple hundred bucks will help. Once you see it performing well and start seeing the ROI, you’ll want to invest more.
Lee Wochner:
How about, let’s talk about LinkedIn for a moment. How about if you’re trying to save trees as an example, and there’s a group of tree lovers, what’s the value of going to and finding groups of them, either on LinkedIn or Facebook or wherever, and trying to comment there and be part of a conversation?
Jaclyn Uloth:
So with groups, that used to be part of the strategy where we would find groups and join the group and share expertise in the group. However, social media has kind of figured out a way to weed that out because that just has come off as spammy. And so you have to be like an individual person now to join a group. So it made that a little tough. But if you work for the company and you want to promote your brand on there, you can certainly go on there and do that, but there’s no way to do that anymore, sadly.
Lee Wochner:
So, so if you are running a nonprofit that helps people deal with addiction, let’s say, which is something we work with a little bit and it keeps coming up on this podcast, particularly recently. You have to do that as an individual. You can’t say your organization, your organization can’t go there and comment.
Jaclyn Uloth:
No, you can start your own group and promote that group. But no, you wouldn’t be able to join the larger groups and take part in those discussions unless you are an individual.
Lee Wochner:
OK. One of the things I’ve noticed recently that we’re including in our work for, well, not recently. I don’t know. It might be 10 years. I don’t know. But that we talk to clients about is the role of design in social media. What role does design play in getting your content seen?
Jaclyn Uloth:
On social media, it’s everything because social media is highly visual. So you want to make sure that your designs look great, that they resonate with your audience. You know, AI is like really big right now with AI photos and AI videos, but people are starting to notice when things are AI. So you know, don’t go too crazy with the AI. You know, you want to make sure you get a graphic designer or work with a company who’s making you original pieces so that, you know, it doesn’t get flagged with your, know, because that AI can also in some ways damage your social media and your SEO. So, yeah, I mean, design’s huge. You want to make sure that it’s done well and correctly and is original.
Lee Wochner:
Speaking of which, in that Aliens movie that I saw, a dead actor is there, somebody from the Aliens franchise has reappeared, and he’s dead. And that was the scariest thing to me, because this person is dead and he’s in the movie in a big role. I don’t know if they’ve AI animated him, but it was like, no, he’s dead and here he is in the movie. That was an odd moment.
Jaclyn Uloth:
Yeah, they do that with songs now too. I mean, it’s getting crazy. Yeah.
Lee Wochner:
What are the three most important things a nonprofit can do to increase their success with social and with their content overall?
Jaclyn Uloth:
Yeah, so going back to everything being visual, step one is make what you do visual. So this is why it’s important to work with a graphic designer or a marketing company so that we can translate into visuals what you do. So graphs, infographics, stats, mean little just cartoons that kind of just spell out what you do, why it’s helpful, making it as visual as possible because if, know, while quotes and words in a box work in some ways, you want pictures, people want to be able to see very plainly what you do and what the value is. Channel integration is really important. So you want to make sure that you have a good website with working forms. You want to make sure if you’re, you know, outputting a lot of blogs that you can link to those, that you have landing pages for particular things that you’re talking about. So if you have a post talking about, you know, we need donations. And then another post talking about like a new initiative you have, you want to make sure you have separate landing pages for those so people can go to your website and follow through. Again, working forms, you want to be able to capture information. Just integrating all those channels and automations in with your social media is really important. And then going back to providing everyone value. So, you know, for example, what will happen with my donations? What problem is being solved, how will I make a difference, why do I care? Answering all those questions and providing value. You want to be able to be kind of a step ahead of people when they go on your page, let’s say on your Instagram page or your LinkedIn page, and they’re just kind of checking you out, you want to be able to have the answers to their questions already there so that they’re not waiting for you to provide that value.
Lee Wochner:
OK, so what I heard was design, although you went after words in boxes, which is what I do for a living. So thanks a lot. That’s what I do, words in boxes. And you’re just trying to cut me right out of there.
Jaclyn Uloth:
I said it is important. It is important because they’re very shareable. So words in boxes are definitely important, but again, obviously making it visual too.
Lee Wochner:
I’m an award-winning headline writer. Don’t take away my headlines and captions. So that was number one. You said design. Number two, you said a system, essentially. Integrate everything into a system. And you used the fancy pants term channel integration, which is good. Thank you. I’m swiping that now. But making sure it all works together. And I think that is important. In the cosmology of this, the planets in your solar system are connected in ways that reinforce each other. That’s certainly a good takeaway. And then when you talked about communicate your values and communicate the value and prepare in advance for questions, really smart. Because if you’ve developed all that in advance, you’re ready for the sorts of questions and feedback you’re going to get. So pretty good.
What are the three things to avoid doing with social? Are there pitfalls that we, I mean, we all hear how hideous social media is. First of all, is social media hideous?
Jaclyn Uloth:
I mean, in some ways, yes, but social media can be a tool. So we’re talking about it in the context of it being a tool for our businesses. And some things to avoid with that, I would say number one is don’t share the exact same message over and over and over again. You know, I like to use the example of magazines in the 90s and early 2000s, somehow every issue, every month we’re able or every week, we’re able to put out articles about how to get abs, how to, you know, get your summer body. But it’s like every month, every week, they’re putting out the same message, but like in a different way. So even though we are talking about the same thing over and over again, you want to make sure that it’s changed up, that it’s different, that it’s able to capture attention in a different way because if someone’s following you and they’re constantly getting the same message, which is like, we need donations, we need, or whatever your goal is, they’re just gonna get sick of it. So you need to find different ways to talk about what you do and what you need from people. Another thing would be, we kind of touched on it earlier, is don’t just delete bad comments or bad feedback. Look, you know, it can be very off putting to be getting, you know, a bad message or a bad comment. It’s going to happen. Just look at it as an opportunity to address the concern and to answer the question. In a lot of cases, you know, you and I clients we’ve worked with, we’ve gotten bad feedback and we’ve actually used that as like posts or things to use for the future. Like, dang, we’re getting this question a lot. Like, let’s just answer it. You know, let’s just face it. So don’t just delete and hide the bad comments. Use them as an opportunity. And something I mentioned earlier, the third thing I would say is don’t obsess over each post, over all your analytics so much. Some things will stick, some things won’t. It’s about the bigger picture. Posting is better than not posting. Growth is better. A little growth is better than no growth, even if you’re seeing red in your reports. If you’re looking at your analytics and you’re seeing things are down, you know, don’t freak out, just say, OK, what did, what can we do better next month? You know, what did I do that didn’t stick? What did I do that didn’t work this time? So, you know, don’t obsess or get upset over your analytics. Just use them as data for moving forward.
Lee Wochner:
Good advice all around, I think. The other thing, I want to go back to the second one, which was you were saying essentially, just don’t delete naysaying. One of the strategies that we’ve pursued, you and I and other people here at Counterintuity is when you reply to that, you’re essentially arming your supporters to come to your defense. And we’ve had great success with that. We work with organizations trying to do important things and make positive impacts. But you know, it’s funny, not everybody wants anything to change anywhere, right? But when you reply to a criticism in a mild, in a somewhat friendly but forthright way, and you’re arming all of the other people who agree with you with facts. So they can carry your message forward. So I think your idea of don’t just immediately delete is a good one.
Jaclyn Uloth:
It can be tempting, especially when you start getting your first couple, you’re like, gosh, I gotta hide this. Like, I don’t want anything negative on my page. But especially those early ones are the most important because people wanna see how are you gonna respond to this? And now on social media, we can actually see when comments are hidden or deleted. And so when you do that, you’re kind of actually putting it out there that you don’t want to answer the question. So it’s very important to, before you start, put, know, with your content strategy and you touched on this earlier is to come up with maybe like a FAQ of like, what’s the most likely thing we’re going to be getting negative feedback about and just kind of be ready with those answers and how to approach them.
Lee Wochner:
Also, when you let the criticism stand, you let it stay there, but you’re replying to it, it communicates strength and it builds credibility because if it’s all rah rah all the time, people will doubt it. But if they see, here are some people had some negative comments or had questions and they replied, I agree with them, I feel better and now I trust them because they were strong enough to leave the negativity there.
Jaclyn Uloth:
Yeah, exactly. And they really believe in what they’re doing and they are prepared to stand up for what they believe in.
Lee Wochner:
If an organization isn’t doing this sort of work, isn’t really focused on their content, and I would define as I know you do, content as blogs, emails, social media, search engine optimization, all of that writing, designing stuff that puts your brand out there. If they aren’t already doing that, how should they start?
Jaclyn Uloth:
So you want to start with your goals, which people are like, well, what’s my goal? My goal is, know, cause there are, there’s an actual list of, you know, five or six specific goals, all like on social media that you would want to reach such as like brand awareness, driving traffic, generating leads, or, know, in the case of nonprofits, you know, getting X amount of donations in X amount of time or Y amount of time. Boosting engagement, using it as customer service. There’s a list of different goals. So it’s like, how do I pick a goal? You kind of have to just, and remember goals can change. You can change them quarterly. You can change them monthly. You can change your goals, but pick a goal, stick with it, and let your strategy kind of go around that. So your strategy is going to be like your steering wheel. So you won’t really have to guess what you’re gonna say, what you’re gonna talk about. You know, you’re not sitting there like, when am gonna post today? When am I gonna talk about today? You already know because you’ve come up with your list of topic buckets and things that you wanna discuss. You’ll know how to speak to your audience and you’ll know how to stay on track to reach those goals. So really kind of picking your goal is sort of the first step in which can be difficult for a lot of people because all those things that I listed are, they’re all important, right? So you might hear that list and go, yeah, I want all of those things. But if you’re not sure, know, again, we want to look at your analytics, at your data and see kind of, okay, what’s performing really well? Okay, that doesn’t have to be the goal right now. Let’s focus on this, which is, you know, we need to build that up a little more and then we can go back to that. So just doing the research.
Lee Wochner:
On our website, on the show notes for this episode, we’re going to put Jacqueline’s list of sample goals that you can look at when you’re developing your strategy. If you were going to advise a nonprofit on the one thing they should do right now that’s going to grow their audience and increase awareness and spur people to donate or support them in some other way, what would it be? What would you advise them to do?
Jaclyn Uloth:
So I guess it would just go back to, know, this seems to be like what I keep going back to throughout this conversation is just doing your research is looking at your own analytics, at your own data, seeing what it’s saying to you. So look at your audience, do a deep dive into specifically who is, you know, if you’re, if you’re looking to get more donations, who’s donating, who by and large seems to be the persona of people that donate to you where. Where are they? What are their demographics? Where do they go for information? How do they typically find you? Developing that person that we talked about, that would be step one. And then around that, you can build how you’re going to speak, how you’re going to move forward with your strategy.
Lee Wochner:
Which also, of course, helps ensure that you’re making the best allocation of your time and money. Because if you’re off chasing things and aren’t getting any results, you’re misusing your time and money as opposed to looking at your analytics and seeing these are the people who are responding. Let me focus on them, and therefore we can grow. Jacqueline, this has been a lot of fun and I’m hopeful you and I get to do this for years and years to come. And we should have lunch or drinks again sometime soon. Is there anything else you’d like to leave people with? Any other great advice that they can act upon?
Jaclyn Uloth:
Yeah, think something that’s really important that we kind of just sort of started touching on is looking at your goals, defining your goals, picking your goal. I would leave people with, if you’re not sure what your goal is or what to focus on, is to just look at your… It can be hard as business owners to not look at the big picture. It can be hard to look at your current… What is your current need? What do I need right now? So just remember goals can change quarterly or whatever, but look at what you need right now. Make sure it’s realistic. That’s a big one is set a goal that’s realistic because you want to start small and then build from there because if you’re just like, I want to get 100,000 new followers this month, you’re going to set yourself up for failure. Set a realistic goal. Look at your data, see what’s following short, and if you’re still not sure, call Lee Wochner.
Lee Wochner:
Well, that’s nice of you. So much for joining us. It’s always a pleasure and I have not seen you in person in months and months, so we need to make this happen.
Jaclyn Uloth:
Yes, we do from assistant to podcast guest. I’m like in a full circle moment. I love it.
Lee Wochner:
All right, well, Jaclyn, thanks again for joining us and have a terrific rest of your day.
Jaclyn Uloth:
Thank you, Lee.
Jaclyn Uloth:
Thanks for listening! We’re glad you came. That’s What C! is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. Please like and follow the show. Visit Counterintuity.com to sign up and learn more.