5 Questions with The Social Lights

Martha McCarthy Krueger is the Co-Founder and CEO of The Social Lights, and a recognized leader in driving engagement for brands, products, and events. Drew Gneiser is Training Manager and Social Strategist at The Social Lights, and a storyteller and community builder who believes people are full of potential. 

Martha and Drew will be speaking at AMA Minnesota's event, How to Plan a Social Media Campaign that Delivers ROI, on October 25. They will discuss how to develop and manage integrated marketing campaigns that drive business results.

We asked Martha McCarthy Krueger and Drew Gneiser five questions about social media.

1. Martha, what prompted you and Emily Pritchard to start The Social Lights? Did you know at the time that you would be inspiring other entrepreneurs to start their own woman-owned and operated companies?
   
   Martha McCarthy Krueger (MMK): It was a culmination of factors and ultimately, we found ourselves in the right industry at the right time. We also knew if we didn't take action, we'd regret it. Some backstory:
   
   We both studied Entrepreneurship at the University of St. Thomas. When it came time to pitch three business concepts to our class during our Entrepreneurship capstone course, 'social media agency' was one of them. While it wasn’t our personal favorite of the three concepts, ironically, our class voted that it was the best of the bunch, and we started building the business plan from there.
   
   Before staring The Social Lights in Jan. 2011, we had kicked around dozens of other business concepts, but the majority of them required heavy upfront costs. An agency offering social media services to small businesses proved to be much more actionable. Not only did our experiences and interests align, but it blended our dual-degrees in entrepreneurship and business communications.
   
   Starting out, we took things day by day, plotting our next moves in real-time, without much thought as to what would happen in the future. Of course, we had ambitious dreams (vs. concrete plans) and wanted to create something we could be proud of, all while making a difference for local businesses. We had no clue 6 years in The Social Lights would be an agency of 20+ people with a client roster of global brands. Hopefully, we’re inspiring other entrepreneurs to act on their ideas, too!
    
2. What is the greatest hurdle for businesses when launching social media platforms?
   
   MMK: While the obvious answer would be building an audience (fans/followers) I'd say the biggest hurdle is actually creating a plan and sticking to it. We spend a lot of time in the strategy development phase with new clients in order to develop a plan that supports their business goals and objectives, and is actionable within the time and budget allotment. Spending adequate time outlining this plan and charting out how it comes to life is extremely important. It's tempting to dive in and start creating content and conversing with people right away, but without a strategy in place these efforts likely won't pay off.
    
3. Drew, if you could go back in time and use social media to market a new product launch, what would you choose?
   
   Drew Gneiser (DG): How cool would it have been to do social media for Thomas Edison? Edison had over 1,000 patents for products and variations on products. Social media would've been a great way to tell the story of his work. Edison could've shown his process and progress with livestreaming, blogging, tweeting, and photos on platforms like Instagram and Facebook. Every time Edison finally solved a problem and "launched" a product, his fans would be so invested from all the time they had already followed his work on social. His launches on social could be amazing!
    
4. How did you get involved in Zombie Pub Crawl, and how did your involvement grow it into one of the most recognized events in the Twin Cities?
   
   DG: The Social Lights has worked with the Zombie Pub Crawl since 2011. Each year, social media is a little bit different. We started simple and added more tactics each year. For one, Facebook advertising and targeting has gotten much more powerful. Snapchat has been a great storytelling tool in the past 2 years. Each year we balance doing things we know have worked in the past and trying new things that can push ZPC to be even better. It's not only a one-of-a-kind experience for attendees, but a content creation playground for our team. There's no other event like ZPC.
    
5. How do you keep up with the social media trends to determine which are best for each client to tap into?
   
   MMK: To be honest, keeping up with all the changes and updates that happen every week is hard work! Social media moves really fast, but we make a conscious effort to always keep tabs on the latest changes to social platforms, as well as pull examples of successful content and campaigns. We have internal discussions around “Social News You Need to Know,” where we share ideas, brainstorm upcoming content and campaigns, and determine which updates impact our brands under management. On a quarterly basis, we pull the best and most important updates from across all major social platforms in a Social Media Trends Report. Catch the latest report—covering Q3 2016—here: http://bit.ly/Social-Media-Trends-Report.
   
   DG: Martha is right - keeping up takes work. Along with all the things she mentioned, we also emphasize playing with purpose at The Social Lights. Our Community Managers are encouraged to try new things, measure the results, and bring back their learnings to the group. Learning by doing is so important.