Jessica Ann, Author and Founder of Jessica Ann Media
By Cheval John
February 14, 2018
Today’s episode of What’s The Word? features Jessica Ann, who is the founder of Jessica Ann Media.
She is the author of the book, “Humanizing Your Brand” which she self-published in 2016.
Jessica spent years working as a producer for national media outlets including Sirius XM in Washington, D.C. before striking out on her own with her company.
She is the host of the podcast, “The Art of Humanity,” where she interviews leaders about being your true authentic self in business.
Jessica has been featured in media outlets including The Huffington Post.
In this episode, you will hear:
-What Inspired Jessica To Become An Entrepreneur
-Why She Started Her Podcast
-Why Businesses Should Be On Social Media
-Should Businesses Be On Live Video
This episode was recorded on Facebook Live via Blue Jeans Network.
Snippet on Vallano Media TV
Full Episode on BlogTalkRadio
You can subscribe to the show either in Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Google Play Music.
Website: www.jessicaannmedia.com
Twitter: @itsjessicann
Quotes from Jessica Ann on:
STARTING A PODCAST
I always love podcasts.
I love the fact that I can just be who I am and I can show up on audio and talk to my guests.
I love video too, don’t get me wrong.
But sometimes, it can take away from the experience of the intimate setting of the podcast.
We’re finding growth like through the roof across the board in terms of podcasting.
I didn’t even know it would become such a trend that it is today.
When I first started, I just kind of got this calling and I wanted to talk with people around the globe about what they are working on in a way that would not only help me personally and professionally, but also help my listeners and my potential clients and anyone really who’s listening learn something from the interviews in my podcast.
LIVE VIDEO
You got to figure out what works for you.
In today’s day and age, you have to be on video.
You really need to be on any platform that conveys your message in the most human and real way.
Video gives you that option.
I’m going to be doing more video in the coming months.
I’m excited.
I am evolving.
We are all kind of going through this huge shift in communications and how we talk to each other today.
It’s exciting.
I just need to get out of my comfort zone and I’m sure other people out there might relate to that as well in terms of how we get out in the world.
There are so many different ways we can talk to people and we want to do what number one feels right and true to ourselves.
Also, the way that can make the most impact and video is definitely an expression to do that.
UPCOMING FACEBOOK ALGORITHM CHANGE
As a person in business, I really don’t want to get freaked out over any of these changes.
Algorithms changes all the time.
Business has changed all the time.
We just have to attribute it to an ongoing evolution of the web.
We’ll see what happens over time.
I’m personally not freaking out.
I know some of my dear colleagues and friends are not freaking out either.
I also see some people not happy with it.
Looking back at how google changed their algorithm like penguin and all those silly names a few years ago.
We figure it out as we go.
You can’t freak out.
You just have to grow with what’s happening in the technology world.
They are multiple ways outside of facebook to get in front of your customers today.
Facebook is not the be-all, end-all of marketing granted it is very huge platform.
They are many other options and you don’t necessarily have to be there if it’s not working for you.
I’m a big believer in business and making an impact.
I’m also a big believer in listening and exploring and figuring out what’s working and what’s not and then moving on from there.
WRITING THE BOOK “HUMANIZING YOUR BRAND”
What led me to create this book was people in the business world aren’t accessible.
They write dry jargon language that is incomprehensible and it’s so much more simple than that.
I got tired.
There was a book that was written in 1999 called “The Clue Train Manifesto”
It really just about the evolution of communications.
That was the first point in history where people started writing about this concept.
I quoted it in my book too.
That inspired me to realize we’re shifted so much since 1999 and we need to continue to communicate with our customers in an accessible human way.
So I needed to figure out how to convey this information to the world in a way that was accessible.
The book poured through me.
I had to write it and I had to self-publish it.
I always want to peel back the layers.
It’s like an onion.
How do we really get to the core of who we are.
Not just as a business, but as a human being.
So that’s what I hope to convey in my book.
THE DIGITAL MEDIA WORLD
We can all leave a digital crumb so easy today.
Before going into any type of media or message, ask yourself, “Is This Valuable?”
Can people really get value out of what I’m about to say or broadcast to the world.
We all do that in our own unique way.
That’s a thread I like to ask myself personally and I help my clients as well and all of their communication.
How do we make ourselves a value to the world.
Be out there as much as you possibly can.
Chelsea Peitz, Snapchat Expert and Author of “Talking In Pictures”
By Cheval John
January 31st, 2018
Today’s episode of What’s The Word? features Chelsea Peitz, who is a snapchat influencer and author.
Chelsea works in the real estate industry and has built her brand using snapchat.
Many have thought that a business can’t see the return on investment (roi) with using snapchat because of the content disappearing in 24 hours.
Chelsea basically saw different as she formed a deep friendship with people who are now business partners via the snapchat app.
This has inspired Chelsea to write her book, “Talking In Pictures.”
She also hosts, “Chelschat,” a show about the latest third party apps and softwares to better improve your social media experience.
Chelsea has taken that same concept and launched her YouTube channel by the same name earlier this year.
In this episode, you will hear:
-what led her to join snapchat
-if snapchat will make it through this year
-the process of writing her book
-taking the leap into entrepreneurship
The show was recorded on Facebook Live via Blue Jeans Network
Snippet on Vallano Media TV
Full Episode on BlogTalkRadio
Chelsea’s LinkedIn Account
Snapchat: Chelsea.Peitz
Quotes from Chelsea Peitz on:
JOINING SNAPCHAT
My personality is kind of an all in personality.
So I committed to using it every single day for an entire year.
And I found some people that were in my industry.
Those four people turned out to be my closest friends in life and business partners now.
We have done so many things together.
We have created a community online.
We have created conferences.
If I would have told my mom two years ago that I was getting on a plane to meet strangers that I had never actually met in person, she would have said, “What are you doing, that’s unsafe. What are you thinking?”
There is something to communicating and building relationship with the camera that made me really think about how the landscape of social media and marketing was really changing and how we were creating these very close intimate relationships with people through the cameras in our smartphones that always had with us.
I started using snapchat and I didn’t know what to do.
So I said, “I’ll just make a show and I’ll share marketing tips everyday.”
As I kind of got into that, I kind of became known as the marketing person, the social media person.
Then I started doing a little bit more of my personal life and kind of my hilarious sense of humor.
I started to see an exponential change in the relationships that I had with people and I realized that you can’t do business all the time on snapchat, instagram stories and facebook stories because people really want relatability and relatability is the most underutilized marketing tactic today.
Going into this new adventure, I almost unknowingly built this global virtual board of directors and I can now reach out and collaborate with them and say, “I need somebody to teach me how to do YouTube.”
I have a great snapchat friend who is a YouTube expert.
Or I need somebody to teach me how to do SEO.
I have a great snapchat friend who’s an SEO expert.
The cool thing is that we’ll help each other and it’s like nothing I’ve never experienced before.
For me, snapchat is gonna have a very special place in my heart forever.
I’ll be very sad one day if they don’t exist.
There is something about holding someone in your hand everyday and watching their life.
You can’t fake who you are every single day all day forever.
So people really get to know who you are.
WRITING THE BOOK “TALKING IN PICTURES”
When I sat down with those people, “those strangers” if you will that I had never met before, we went to Salt Lake City and spent the weekend there and I brought my closest friend.
We were sitting in a Starbucks and my closest friend said to me “It’s really weird that it seems like you’ve known each other for years and I’m watching y’all talk and it’s just like you just saw each other yesterday.”
So that made me start to really think “What is different about snapchat” at the time because this was right when facebook live starte coming out before instagram stories.
It wasn’t specifically the platform itself.
It was the key elements that app brought to people which now other apps have.
It was really about the intimacy of the camera and showing your face because neuroscience we can’t help but connect with somebody when we see them eye-to-eye.
It was the psychological triggers of us going in there and getting feedback and wanting more.
It really changed from something that had happened in the past where we post something on facebook or twitter that had already happened to being this real-time visual communication which was a really fundamental shift in how we were creating communities and communication.
I didn’t rally know that when I started writing the book but I knew there was something that I wanted to do.
I documented that entire experience (writing the book) through snapchat and I will tell you that people sent me snaps of them holding my book and said, “I’m so excited. I watched you for a year writing this book on snapchat.”
That was really cool and that’s something very different about what you can do with these camera first platforms.
You can bring people into your story and become part of your journey.
You can document what you are doing and you never have to sell or give a sales pitch.
You don’t have any sales objections to overcome.
People will come to you and ask you to buy your product or sign up for whatever.
It’s the greatest experience ever and everything I do from here on out is camera first.
I also interviewed people for the book because I wanted to share the community and those people were really part of that journey with me because they saw the different pieces that were happening.
TRADEMARKING CHELSCHAT
You see all these big names and what-have-you and people say, “How did you come up with the name?”
Nine times out of ten, it’s completely accidental.
I was trying to rebrand a couple of months ago and I called my snapchat people that I talk to everyday.
I said, “I just need to come up with a brand name. I’m gonna do a YouTube channel.”
All of them were like, “When I think of you, I think of Chelschat”
It just came out.
It wasn’t anything that I had specifically planned.
People on the street call me that.
Mike McGuff, Blogger and Social Media Power Influencer
By Cheval John
December 13th, 2017
Today’s episode of What’s The Word? features Mike McGuff.
Mr. McGuff is a blogger who covers breaking news in the Texas media.
He was named a Houston Social Media Power Influencer in 2014, 2016 and 2017.
Mr. McGuff’s work has been featured in media outlets like the Chicago Tribune, Houston Chronicle, NBC News, The U.K. Daily Mail and CNN International.
He also been interviewed on media like ABC 13 Houston, The Roula and Ryan Show and Fox 26 Houston.
Mr. McGuff also served as a correspondent for ITV’s Good Morning Britain
In this episode, you will hear:
-How he started blogging
-Why Texas media outlets sends him press releases of changes happening within their organizations
-The importance of being patient in building a business
Snippet on Vallano Media TV
Full episode on BlogTalkRadio
Website: www.mikemcguff.com
Twitter: @mikemcguff
Quotes from Mike McGuff On
FACEBOOK LIVE
I think it’s important to remember that even if you do not have the audience immediately during the live broadcast, you will get more of an audience after the live broadcast in the replays in people’s feeds.
I think what businesses can do is show a more personal human side to the business and get the information out there that they want.
You do not want to sell or market to someone.
Video is a great opportunity to get in front of someone.
It seems one-on-one though it’s not.
But you kind of feel like you know the person when you are watching them on video and actually seeing them and hearing them talk.
I think that makes a stronger connection from the client or customer than just reading words.
So really you’re going to humanize yourself and get the person to like you or your brand more and you can be selling indirectly at that point.
BUSINESSES LEARNING FROM THE HOUSTON ASTROS
When the Astros were sold, they lost a lot of the heart and soul of the team.
What they smartly did was used analytics to look at what they needed and they drafted the players that could help them.
I think any business should say, “Nothing Is Immediate.”
You’ve got to take time to grow your business.
You got to use analytics and measurements to kind of figure out what works and what does not work.
You look for people with specific skills and have the smarts and talent that you can help nurture.
You want to eventually achieve your business goal.
So I think any business can learn a lesson from the Astros definitely in that sense.
Work hard and do it smartly though.
You really got to have an ultimate strategy.
Clearly they had a strategy laid out to win the World Series.
SOCIAL MEDIA
I think social media is a daily struggle.
You always have to have new content out there that’s relevant and interesting to your audience.
What can I do today that will get me more followers tomorrow.
It’s something you always have to be thinking about.
If I miss a day, it’s probably because I’m sick or extremely busy.
Even on vacation, I sometimes put out stuff on social media.
I learned that from working in television because you are putting content out there and I think having that training is perfect for social media.
TWITTER BEING AN UNDERUSED RESOURCE FOR ENTREPRENEURS
A large percentage of my audience are members of the media because that is where they are.
The reason they are on there is because Twitter is immediate.
It really is perfect for delivering news.
Twitter is a headline service.
Though Facebook is fun and has news too, it has a lot of extra distractions.
You can sort through twitter and make your own lists.
For journalists, that extremely important.
So it is a great way to get out in front of them because a lot of times, while going on assignment and their photographers driving, they are scanning their phones looking at twitter and facebook, largely twitter though to search for stories.
HOUSTON MEDIA PERSONALITIES WHO STAND OUT ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Some of the most popular, Dominique Sachse and Jennifer Reyna, those are two of the top people I think of.
Dominique has a YouTube channel where she is offering make up tips because as a television anchor, she has done make up for 20 years on herself and has learned a lot about makeup techniques.
The last time I looked, she had around 50,000 to 60,000 YouTube subscribers.
This is not just the channel to viewers in Houston, this is all over the world apparently.
She gotten this massive following by doing this.
That’s pretty smart to be able to have one successful career in television and then having a totally separate career in YouTube.
John McClain of the Houston Chronicle and Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston are excellent at using twitter to breaking news on the social platform.
You can leave a comment below if you agree or disagree with this post.
Forward Thinking Companies Look “Backwards”
By Cheval John
We are told to not dwell on the past.
That is very sound advice because we might be missing out on the possibilities of improving ourselves and our business.
It is the same thing with old social media advice regarding certain tactics to grow our audience.
These tactics which worked in the past will not work right now because social media changes all the time.
Sometimes, it might be good to look at the past because you can appreciate the journey to being where you are right now in your business and life.
Have you notice why users of WordPress see their blog posts archived from most recent to the oldest?
Or your podcast archive from the newest to the very first episode?
You might also see on Twitter and Facebook the posts going “backwards” too.
Mel Robbins‘ message on the Video Advice YouTube channel, gives a deeper explanation indirectly on why it is important to look backwards in order to move forward.
Hope you enjoy.
YouTube Are The Kings Of Live Streaming
By Cheval John
I have written before about how major media organizations are using live streaming to broadcast events.
Today have proven what we are going to be seeing for decades to come.
We have witness probably for the first time ever the bringing in of the new year from major cities around the world.
Previously, we would have seen reports of cities from around the world bringing in the new year after the event has occurred.
For us here in the United States, it brings a long yearning to see the celebrations of the new year especially from the new year’s eve celebrations in New York City on major television networks.
Many major networks brought us the live streaming from their location like the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
However, I have to give a lot of credit to The Telegraph, a british daily newspaper, who somehow managed to live stream the New Year’s Eve celebrations from around the world.
The good thing about this was there was not any commentary at all and no commercials.
We only saw from the party goer’s point of view the anticipation of the New Year.
For those of us who watch the New York City’s celebrations on a regular basis, we actually saw in real time from the participants point of view.
The live streaming of the New Year’s Eve celebration was broadcast from the YouTube account of The Telegraph.
Facebook Live is my favorite platform to live stream events because it is for my own community.
However, they are only allowed to live stream for up to four hours unless they have recently made changes.
I will admit YouTube are the kings of live streaming because their platform is video based from the beginning.
Plus, you can live stream you event as long as you want without any limitations.
I can say this year will be very epic and hope everyone will take stake in what we are about to see in the continuous evolution of social media.
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