The Josh Bolton Show
The Josh Bolton Show
Ashley Mason's Guide to Digital Strategy
Ashley Mason is the founder of Dash of Social, a content marketing agency specializing in social media management, blog content, and email marketing. Working closely with their clients, Ashley and her team help small businesses and tech startups craft and execute value-driven marketing strategies designed to establish thought leadership, grow online communities, and drive brand awareness. Additionally, Ashley founded Massachusetts Business Network in 2022, which is the only statewide publication that provides free to low cost resources that support organizations with increasing their visibility and establishing thought leadership through its podcast, blog, and directory. Ashley is a graduate of Stonehill College, where she received her Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing. She is a TEDx speaker, has been named a 40 Under 40 Honoree by Cape & Plymouth Business Media, and was recognized as Best Social Media Specialist by Boston Business Women. Ashley currently serves as a Board Member for the Brockton Visiting Nurse Association (BVNA) and Middleboro Public Library. When she isn't working, you can find her running on her Peloton or curled up on the couch with a book.
https://dashofsocial.com/
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Welcome to the Josh Bolton Show, where we dive into interesting and inspiring conversations. And now your host, josh Bolton.
Speaker 2:Sure. So thank you, josh. Firstly for having me on your podcast. I'm very honored to be here because I love chatting with other podcast hosts. But for those who I have not met yet, my name is Ashley Mason and I am the owner of the marketing agency Dash of Social, which is based in Massachusetts, and we specialize in content marketing for small to medium sized businesses and tech startups. So we primarily support them with their social media, email marketing and blogging strategies and really consider ourselves to be their integrated marketing partners.
Speaker 1:And, honestly, as I've looked at your website and, like the stuff you've done, you truly are a Titan within your own field too.
Speaker 2:Thank you, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1:You're welcome. So we were talking earlier and so I mentioned to her that blogging, I believe, is kind of like a dying trend, but I also, like I was mentioning, I kind of have dyslexia and words jump everywhere so I don't know what to do. But she was telling me that she actually believes it's much stronger. Can you also tell them why?
Speaker 2:Absolutely so.
Speaker 2:I view blogging as a few different benefits, so one being it drives website traffic.
Speaker 2:So if you publish a blog post on your website about any topic that relates to your zone of genius and then you promote that blog post through social media, through your email list, through just sending it out to friends and family, whatever it might be, when people click on that link it obviously brings them back to your website.
Speaker 2:And once people are on your website, the whole goal is that after they read that blog post, they'll then kind of click around and see who you are, what you do, what services you offer, so on and so forth, kind of reeling them in. I guess that's the way to describe it. I also think, along with that, blogging helps with thought leadership. So when you're posting or writing a blog post on a certain topic, you're hopefully an authority, have an authoritative voice in that expertise or whatever it might be or that topic, and so you're kind of able to position yourself as an expert when you're writing about a certain subject or anything like that. And so when you're just able to write and publish this long form content, it helps to therefore demonstrate the experience that you have and also help to prove your credibility to anyone who's reading it.
Speaker 1:That's a good point. Yeah, I'm going to say there's a few times I've listened to audio books. I didn't know anything about the person. I'm like, well, they wrote an audio. Well, they wrote a book slash, read a book Like there must be an authority in it and then I guess halfway through I'm like they have no idea what they're talking about. I know right. But so for the blogging specifically, so is there a certain writing style or theme or structuring of the actual blog that you've noticed converts well, or like it's more desirable, like the two paragraphs max, or is it like a long, detailed but spaced out kind of thing?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a good question. So I would say I like to aim for a minimum of 500 words, but I think length can really vary depending on what it is you're writing about. I mean, you don't want to force yourself to try to write a bunch of words if you don't really have much to say on the topic, but you also want to make sure that you're giving enough information that someone's actually learning something. You don't want to kind of cut it too short. So I would say focus on at least 500 words per length.
Speaker 2:But then, in terms of like the actual format of the blog, I always like to veer more towards like the tutorials or how to's or like step by step type of content that kind of educates or explain something to someone or explains it to the reader.
Speaker 2:And then I always like to make sure that there's readability incorporated within that. So by that meaning, like you're using the headers and having different sections to break it up really nicely and organize it. You're using bullet points when it makes sense if you have lists, so that way it's easier to read. Also, making sure that you're hyperlinking within the blog posts to other pages on your website that might be relevant or other resources that aren't on your website but that might be a trusted source that people can click through, and always including some type of call to action at the end where people can reach out to you directly if they want to learn more. So the whole point of a blog post is you want to give someone a bunch of information that's helpful and then at the end you can say something like if you're looking for support with this, reach out to me and kind of link to your contact page or whatever it is that you'd like to drive people to.
Speaker 1:Okay, it's kind of what I was thinking, but I'm not the expert in writing blog posts. That's where my what do you think?
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I think it's great, and I think with blogging too, you don't have to go overboard. So if you want to do just one blog post per month, that's sufficient. I don't think you need to try to stretch yourself too thin, producing too many blogs at once.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Like, if you listen to someone like the millionaire blogger, he's like buy his AI automation thing and just like pump out like three to five blog posts a day and see which one works and I'm like sounds like a lot of work.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and so that brings me to something that you had mentioned earlier, Josh. But you want to meet your target audience where they are. So if your target audience isn't reading blog posts to consume content, that you don't want to spend all this time and energy and effort writing and publishing blog posts if they're not even going to read it. So it's important for you to do the research to see where your target market is hanging out and then be able to make sure that you're building a presence in those different channels and platforms to reach them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, definitely For me. A lot of it. I get it through. It's funny, I'm a podcaster but I don't really listen to podcasts. I more listen to audiobooks, I think. For me. I get annoyed with the tangents where they just like, oh, they start talking and they go about the grandma and then their kids and then this terrible trip and it's like where the hell are you going with that, with?
Speaker 1:an audiobook it's very concise, it's very organized. I could just play a chapter and I'm good for the day and I think that's very, that's very relevant. Yeah, cause, like I, if I was to try to categorize myself, I would. I would say you need to create audio books or like really good YouTube videos. I like that, thank you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, of course.
Speaker 1:So for you were mentioning earlier too. Um, I, I don't really use social media cause my fear of missing out kicks in hard and I can do scroll for hours. Then I sit here and I'm like man, I had a whole plan for the day. I watched this YouTube shorts. But how does someone approach social media? Should they? Wouldn't they have something like me? Where should they get, like maybe a third party scheduler, or just learn to suck it up and download the app and do it themselves, kind of thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I mean, I guess it depends I will always recommend batch producing and batch creating.
Speaker 2:So meaning, if you're managing your own social media, I would recommend being able to dedicate one hour per day or maybe a few hours each week to actually just plan your social media content in advance being able to write your posts, being able to pull together the visual that you want to go with that and then scheduling it all out through, like you said, a social media scheduler.
Speaker 2:So that way everything's kind of on autopilot from there and it's ultimately out of sight, out of mind. I think it's easier to be able to plan things in advance or kind of do like a few weeks of content at once, compared to trying to do it in the moment, Because what I see oftentimes with any type of creator or a business owner is that when they try to post day by day, it very quickly and very easily leads to them not posting at all for several weeks or several months because they understandably just get busy with life and what's going on in their careers and business, whatever it might be. So being able to kind of dedicate some time to doing that will ensure that you're able to maintain your consistency.
Speaker 1:Okay. Is there any scheduling apps or platforms you recommend?
Speaker 2:I usually refer people to using something like Hootsuite or Buffer is good. Those are typically meant for what I'd say. Maybe, like an individual person, I use a different social media schedule because since I own an agency, it's more so meant for agencies multiple accounts that they're managing but later is another one that people tend to use a lot. Planoly is also pretty popular. So I would say, a lot of these, or at least most of them, have a free option or at least a free trial. So it's kind of nice to be able to just sign up for maybe a handful of them and test them out and see which one you like the best and which one suits the needs that you're looking for.
Speaker 1:Okay, sounds good and there's a few apps. I've been watching on AppSumo for scheduling and I think their big agency plan, though they're wanting like 200 upfront. I'm like, hmm, you're so new though I don't know.
Speaker 2:Exactly, yeah, you don't want to kind of spend the money if it's not something that will support you in the long run.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there was one I signed up for called get marqueeai, and I was. I noticed the owner in his own comments is like yeah, I don't know if I can sustain paying for uh, I'm gonna I'm gonna get my refund yeah, that's concerning that's if you're openly saying on a form, I don't know if I can afford this bill yeah so, yeah, that's where I've just been sitting here.
Speaker 1:I'm like, who, um, what do I do? The the biggest one for me, however. He did his uh instagram for scheduling. I am now completely locked out of my account. That's a real, and Meta thinks I'm some Lithuanian hacker.
Speaker 2:So they're not giving it.
Speaker 1:I'll go through the process, reset everything, and then they're like yeah, no, sorry, wrong person, do it again. It's just a loop.
Speaker 2:That's frustrating.
Speaker 1:So I'm like did I just lose my account? That sucks.
Speaker 2:Yeah right, I know. Unfortunately, it's too common these days.
Speaker 1:I feel like yeah, so do you do also a type of PR for your customers? Um, or is that a little too out of your?
Speaker 2:I'd say I was of my wheelhouse, so typically for that I have a few different, uh great referral partners that I will typically send clients to if they come to us looking for those services. I have a handful of people that I can trust to offer that that I know will deliver quality work and follow through on what they promise. So I like to typically just have people that I recommend for that, as well as other marketing services too. I mean, we don't do any type of graphic design or web design and development. Paid ads we don't do. There's like a bunch of services that aren't what we offer, and so it's really nice to have other people in the industry that you know you can send business to and who will be able to support your clients and really prioritize them the way that they should be prioritized.
Speaker 1:Did you try to do that before, and that's why you decided not to. It's funny that you mentioned that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because I feel like so. I started Dash Social in 2016. So we just celebrated our eight year anniversary two months ago.
Speaker 2:Thank you, and I feel like when I first started, I tried to offer every service under the sun, because I'd have clients coming to me looking for services that we weren't offering at that time and I was referring business out and I was like, well, one day I was like, well, this is kind of silly, instead of sending business elsewhere, why don't I try to offer it?
Speaker 2:And so I tried to become more of like a full service agency. But I realized that it's really difficult to successfully manage an agency that offers a dozen or so different services, and there was also so many services within that that I just genuinely didn't enjoy. So I realized, through probably at least the past five years, if not longer than that the services that we really are really, really are good at and that I really enjoy are the social media, blog content and email marketing. And I kind of realized that being able to focus on what you enjoy and what you're good at will help you to be successful, rather than trying to offer everything. Know what you're good at, know what you can deliver and then kind of forget about the rest, and so that's been really helpful to just kind of. I guess niche down is really what I'm talking about here being able to niche down and focus on what I know I can do really well.
Speaker 1:No, that's very important. There's a few of my friends who have tried to build their own business and like, oh, we'll just do everything and I'll check in a couple months later. I'm like, how are you doing? They're like terrible, why.
Speaker 2:I can't do this. Yeah, it's hard.
Speaker 1:I'm like, you're really good at X, Y and Z. Just do that. They're like, but it doesn't pay that well, Mike. But if you become like a well-known person, it doesn't matter, Everyone will just come to you.
Speaker 2:Yep, exactly. So yeah, it's nice to just kind of know what you're good at and not try to do everything.
Speaker 1:Exactly. So I am curious for your email marketing, what specifically are, I guess, some of the call to actions on the blog, but is there a certain sequence you do to filter them and stuff like that? I hope you get the question.
Speaker 2:Do you mean so, getting people onto your email list? Is that what you're referring?
Speaker 1:to yes, yes.
Speaker 2:Perfect. So there's a few different ways. I would say the biggest and easiest way to do so is to offer what's called a lead magnet. So for anyone who's not familiar with that, a lead magnet is a free resource that you'll typically put on your website and you'll have some type of call to action on your website that says you're interested in getting access to this free ebook on how to do email marketing. Enter your name and email address and you'll get it sent to you.
Speaker 2:And so pretty much every website I feel like has some type of call to action in that sense where they offer free resource. Or, if you're a product company, a lot of those will offer like a coupon code in exchange for joining their email list. But you'll see that typically as like a pop up on your website or embedded in like what's called the hero of your homepage, kind of like in that top fold. And so by being able to offer that, it's a win win situation. You're providing any of your website visitors with free and valuable information, because you're creating this resource on a specific topic, but in exchange you're getting their email address, and so when they're automatically added to your email list now, you're able to continue to market to them through newsletters or whatever. It might be that you're using your email list for.
Speaker 1:Okay, so what's a good lead magnet that you've noticed that has good conversion rate? Is it like a free pamphlet, a free book, like stuff like that?
Speaker 2:I would say it depends. I've seen a few that have done well, have been kind of like a video series, so maybe like a three day video series that will kind of get dripped out throughout the course of three days. I personally have some type of like playbook it's called, so it's basically like a really long white paper, ultimately that talks about how to build your marketing strategy. A lot of people will do like a free webinar that can do it. So I guess it really just depends kind of going back to our conversation earlier, thinking about who your ideal client or ideal customer is, thinking about how they like to consume content and what type of content they like to consume, and then being able to create something that aligns with that.
Speaker 1:I mean that in alone, right there, I've had multiple people come on just specifically from avatar creation and how to reach them. Is there a method for you, though, for your email marketing and blogging, that when you convey to your customers like, hey, if you're wanting to reach X client, we need to talk this way. I know you want this way, but this one's better. Is there a formula you have for that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so for email marketing specifically, I will always recommend that you segment your email list. So for anyone who's listening, who isn't familiar with what that is, segmenting your email list basically means if you have this whole group of subscribers, you actually want to be able to narrow them down into different subcategories ultimately. So if you have a whole group of subscribers, you could have one subcategory of those people who say that they're clients. You could have one subcategory of those people who are maybe referral partners. You just want to get more specific. So that way you can actually get more targeted with the types of newsletters that you send and you can send custom and more personalized ones to those specific groups of people.
Speaker 1:Um, so let's say, within the one you gave, like client referral and a lead magnet kind of buckets, just for simplicity, what would be the difference in the lead bucket email versus the referral versus the client email? Is there? Like the sorry you go.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, I was going to say so. The difference is that client versus referral partner, we're talking about those. So a client is someone who is actually a client of your business, so they've given you their money, you're performing some type of service for them or they purchase some type of product from you. A referral partner would be identified as someone who isn't a client or customer, but they send you business. So, for example, my types of referral partners would be PR firms, because they typically send clients to me. Or they might be web designers who send clients to me, so they're not hiring me directly, but they are sending me business.
Speaker 2:So if I have these two subcategories within my email list, I can craft emails that are specifically meant to my clients. That's talking about maybe a new service that I'm offering. But then I can also send in a separate email just to my referral partners. That maybe say to them hey, thank you for being a valued referral partner of Dash of Social. We're actively accepting new clients. Like would love to hear if you have anyone in mind for us to work with, so you can just be able to tell your content a little bit more.
Speaker 1:Okay, so for, like, the referral partner, it's still professional, but more laid back and easygoing compared to a customer. You got to be a little more polished. And okay, yeah, that makes sense Because it's more for the referral partner. It's just like talking to acquaintance, like hey, I'm taking clients again, if you want to send some to me.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:Is there anything since 2016,. The trends you've noticed that have changed throughout time, but also, I guess, also some of the old ones coming back too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I would say things that have changed throughout time. I feel like when I first started it was, the expectations were that you'd keep, like your business and your personal content completely separate. So people would always say, like you can't talk about anything personal on your business social media profiles, and it was very, very distinct and separate from one another. But I feel like over the past probably four or so years, I feel like those lines have become blurred. So people on their business profiles are talking about exciting life milestones of, like getting married or having a baby or anything like that, and I feel like content has become a lot more humanized is what I call it.
Speaker 2:So basically like human centric content, and that's important because you're giving an inside look into the people that you're going to be working with from that business, and that's important because you're giving an inside look into the people that you're going to be working with from that business and, ultimately, people do business with people. So once you start to learn more about who someone is as a person and you get a feel for their personality, that's when you start to like them. Once you start to like them, you start to trust them. And once you start to trust them. Then you are able to basically want to purchase from them or give them your money. So it's really important to kind of build that rapport ultimately, and I only see that continuing to grow, moving forward as focusing on the human people behind it.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely Like earlier today with my job. I do like I clean pools is my main job, then I do podcasting on the side and I bumped into one of my one of the employees. I was talking to him and he's like, yeah, I noticed your truck was out in front of the customer's house a long time. I'm like, yeah, he's a lonely client. I'm like the only person that talks to him in the whole week. And I told him like the thing about service business that no one talks about is you kind of become an indirect therapist, friend and confidant and I'm like like you don't realize how much of a responsibility it is. And he's like that sucks, I don't want to do it.
Speaker 2:I'm like, whoa, okay, I feel like you get the most successful. As you said, like business relationships, you actually take the time to know someone and know who they are as a person, and that's how you build that trust with them and that's when they feel like they can really want to maintain that relationship, which is good for you in the long run.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely the same employee. He was telling me. He's like yeah, you know your route. There's always things going wrong. He's like and all the customers talk to you. You know your route. There's always things going wrong. He's like, and all the customers talk to you. He's like I don't have time for that. I'm like that's why I do my route the way I do. And I said that's also why everyone gives the boss man like Josh is a man, I take the time to get to know them.
Speaker 1:I said there's one client. She always tells me about her grandson who does hockey. I don't know anything about hockey when she was first telling me, so I actually started watching youtube videos like oh, that's that, okay, okay, okay now I get it, but then when I but, then, when I talked to the next, we should go.
Speaker 1:Oh, you actually know, I'm like I like binge watch youtube. So let's, let's ignore that part. But that's where I told him I said, um, because I always read audiobooks when I'm working. I told him. I said there's a reason why I listen to self-help to. I said it sounds silly, but a lot of therapy books or ways to talk to people. Because I said I don't know what they went through or how they experienced it, but I can learn to understand it, to be a better listener. So I maybe and that's where I'm like threw him off. I'm like have you noticed? I actually haven't really talked to him this much and he's like wait a minute, how did you do that? I'm like, cause I'm a good listener.
Speaker 2:I love that.
Speaker 1:And that's where I told him. I said that's the thing with service. Like you, any service business, even if it's online, you gotta make time to understand your customer too. Do you have like an onboarding process and then like this is more just on the side, not the actual email or social media? Do you have like an onboarding process and on your own? Do you have like a CRM or whatever that like keeps track of everything for your customers?
Speaker 2:Yes, so when a client begins working with us, we go through a really robust onboarding process where it typically starts with sending them an intake questionnaire to understand their business, who their target market is, who their competitors are, what their goals are for social media all the really important information we kind of need to know to have that background on them and then, using that information, plus our additional research and ideas, will then build up their marketing strategy. So being able to identify their content pillars, their growth strategies, do an audit of what they've done up to date, conduct a competitor analysis, really be able to kind of outline the blueprint or plan for what we can do moving forward, and that really kind of helps to ensure that we stay on track and are strategic with what we do and intentional with what we do. So that's really what we follow from there, with what we do and intentional with what we do. So that's really what we follow from there. In terms of a CRM, I would say it's more of like a project management system, but I really love Asana and have used that for most of the time that I've had my business. I've switched between a few, but Asana has been the one that I really, really loved and it's really helpful for being able to keep track of client projects, tasks that need to be done, due dates, since I have a team being able to kind of get a feel for, like what their progress on work is and really being able to ensure that everything's in line.
Speaker 1:How do you spell that one again?
Speaker 2:Asana, so it's A-S-A-N-A.
Speaker 1:I just want to look that up while we're doing this. Yeah, but that's interesting. So, like I heard, monday is a really good like project management one too. Is that one you would recommend too?
Speaker 2:yeah, I think it's a little bit more. I don't know if complex is the right word. I think sometimes it has a little bit more features than like just one person might need. I think monday is more so meant for teams, people who might have like multiple people kind of involved. But Asana is a good one for maybe like a solo person who needs something, or Trello is pretty popular as well.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's really good. Thank you, of course. Is there anything else in particular that I may have not asked that you want to talk about?
Speaker 2:I would say, to review your analytics. That is something that's really important when it comes to marketing. I think a lot of times people throw spaghetti at the wall and hope that it sticks, or they're more so just kind of doing something and not even really understanding why they're doing it or how what's performing really well. On the opposite end, what might not really be performing so well, so that we can use that information and that data moving forward to plan your content and ensure that you're really only producing work that is actually going to align with your target audience. So definitely review your numbers and kind of make some decisions from there, rather than kind of going at it blindly, almost, and just doing it just to do it, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. Is there a guideline though, cause, like I could post a blog, but if I mean we check it in like two minutes, it's not gonna, it's not gonna reflect. Is there a timeline you also recommend for your clients, like, hey, check it every three weeks, sorry, every three days to a week, kind of thing?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I will always recommend a minimum of 30 days you want to give yourself at least a 30 day window because it does take some time for things to play out.
Speaker 2:And I explain it like this I previously had clients were kind of looking at like a one week window and that's truly not enough data. It's kind of like the same analogy where if someone's trying to lose weight and maybe one week they act, they gain a few pounds well, instead of them saying, oh that's it, it's clearly not working, I'm giving up. If they were to look at the whole 30 days but see that they actually did lose weight, it's kind of like that net loss. Well, now you have more data to work with. So, looking at just that, one week is too short of a timeline to kind of make any I don't want to say rash decisions, but make any decisions and kind of view that to be the absolute truth. I think you need to give yourself a much bigger timeline and then see how it really plays out throughout time and not just kind of call it quits or think that you have the right answer when there's only not been that much time going by.
Speaker 1:Fair enough, I was actually impressed. A lot of people have always told me like, oh, three days to a week max on anything you do. I'm like seems a little short, but okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, especially because different times of year also have different, they also kind of affect how content performs. Like, for example, when the election happened two weeks ago. I mean, a lot of content didn't get as much engagement or reach during that time because, of course, everyone's posting about the election. And then also to during the holiday season, when businesses are spending so much money on ads they're the organic posts aren't really getting much reach because meta or whatever platform is prioritizing the advertisers and the people who are spending money. And also to, like during the summer, when people are typically on vacation or not on their computer, not working. They're not looking at social media. So content isn't going to perform as well then either. So it's important to know that it's seasonal and that's why it's important to give yourself more of a timeframe to make the right call.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely that's the one thing. After doing this almost three years I was, my father got into podcasting because me. I told him I do. I don't know what it is, especially being like more business fall, but not winter. In the beginning of the year I get a ton of engagement and I'm like and it's just gone exactly so.
Speaker 2:It's because you're looking at your analytics, you've picked up on that and now you know moving forward.
Speaker 1:Right and that's where I told him like, yeah, if we're doing it based off that, I'm like that's going to be hard to sustain it for a full-time gig. But honestly, this has been truly insightful and refreshing. Thank you for your insights.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me, josh, I appreciate it. Is there anywhere they can reach you at that. You um other than the dash social? Yeah, so you can go to my website, dash of social. I'm also active on LinkedIn so you can search my name, ashley Mason. You can find me from there. And then, of course, once you go to the dash of social website, I have links to all my social media profiles in the footer, I believe, of my site so you can click through and follow and say hi perfect, thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you again thank you, josh.