Rachel Johnston With Sunset Social

Intro: [00:00:10] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio. Brought to you by Onpay. Built in Atlanta, Onpay is the top rated payroll and HR software anywhere. Get one month free at on Paycom. Now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:37] Lee Kantor here another episode of Atlanta Business Radio, and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, Onpay. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Atlanta Business Radio, we have Rachel Johnston with Sunset Social. Welcome.

Rachel Johnston: [00:00:57] Hi Lee, thank you so much for having me. I’m excited to be here. Well, I’m.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:01] Excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about Sunset Social. How are you serving folks?

Rachel Johnston: [00:01:05] Yes, absolutely. So Sunset Social is a social media agency that ignites the social presence of brands, guiding businesses and startups towards digital success. So our journey started in January of 2022. So we actually just hit our two year anniversary, which is really exciting. Um, and since then, we have helped dozens of businesses and startups with their social media marketing. So a couple of things that we help our clients with are social media management is definitely one of our biggest services. We have startups and businesses coming to us like, hey, I don’t have the capacity to handle this, right? And they hand it over to us and we completely handle their social media channels from top to bottom. So that is definitely our most popular service. We also help our clients with social media event coverage. If they do have conferences or other types of events that they host, as well as social media ads. So those are our three main ways that we’re serving our clients. And we actually are also launching a new service next Thursday. So I’m excited to share more about that on LinkedIn in the coming week.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:18] Now, um, what was kind of the evolution of your kind of business journey? Did you start out, um, working in firms and then spun off on your own, or was this something like right from the jump, you were like, I think I can do this.

Rachel Johnston: [00:02:35] Right? Yeah. So I, uh, launched my business. I think I registered the LLC about four months after I graduated from Georgia State. Um, so that I think that was just like a leap of faith type of thing. I was like, I knew I wanted to start a business for a while, but I didn’t know exactly what to name it, what I wanted to do. You know, all of these, um, pieces, and you think you want to make it perfect before you start, right? But I just registered the LLC, chose a name, went with Sunset Social, and here we are. So that’s kind of how we started. And then in January of 2022 is when we started to take on clients and officially launched, uh, before that in college and within my first year of business as well, I was working for a awesome marketing agency also based in Atlanta, and that taught me a lot of what I know, um, before I started my business. So I started off as an intern in college and progressed with that company and then decided to launch my own quite quickly after graduating from state. So it’s been an incredible journey so far. Lots of lessons and learning and difficulties as well as any founder knows, but it’s been incredible.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:52] Now, when you were starting out, um, what made you think like, oh, I know how to do this. I’m really good at this. Um, you know, the social media marketing element of marketing, what kind of what were some of the clues that you had that, hey, I can do this. I don’t need to be part of a bigger firm. I have everything it takes in order to be successful.

Rachel Johnston: [00:04:14] Right? Absolutely. I think that a lot of that came from my experience at my previous agency job as well as in college. Um, and I was also honing in on my skills. This is something when I talked to, um, current students and do any sort of, you know, panels or mentoring with current students is I always encourage them to network on. Linkedin is one of my biggest things that I always say, network, network, network. Your network will take you very far and also hone in on those skills. Whatever you want to do, whether it’s social media, then you need to start working on Canva. You need to start becoming proficient at Canva. Copywriting, um, different, you know, tools for posting. You need to learn more about these social media platforms and the algorithms and all of those things. So that’s something I always say to current students. And that is also what I was doing, um, during my time in school. And then before I started my business, as I was really honing in on those skills. Um, but before we launched, um, and also a lot of help from mentors, I mean, mentorship is incredible. I have a lot of awesome mentors, which really helped.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:23] Now, when you were, um, kind of learning the ropes here, what drew you to the the start up community? What what what about that was something you were like, you know what? I’m going to lean into that niche and really try to serve that group.

Rachel Johnston: [00:05:38] Yeah, absolutely. So a really cool thing about having an agency rather than working in-house at a marketing company, is we really get to work with startups and businesses of all different industries, which is really cool. So we’ve got to learn a lot of things from our clients. And as far as the tech startup space, I think a lot of that had to do with my network. Again on LinkedIn, the network I was building within my years before starting the business, and also, um, Atlanta Tech events. I’ve attended a lot of those over the years, and so it kind of just naturally became, um, an evolution. And that became our what is currently our biggest client base, our tech startups. And so I think through my network and those events, it really just naturally, um, became kind of our home. Um, and we and we love the Atlanta tech community here. We have an incredible ecosystem, I would argue, definitely one of the best in the US. I know that that is a debate. But, um, I think that Atlanta has some incredible startups that come out of it, and we’ve really had the pleasure of working with some of those startups. So, um, it kind of just came to be there. My networking.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:57] Now, when you’re working with a startup, is there any, um, difference in the marketing? Like would a startup’s marketing, especially on social media, be different than like a hair salons marketing on social media?

Rachel Johnston: [00:07:11] Oh for sure, for sure. One thing with tech startups is a lot of them don’t have a physical product or something to show, right? So if you’re at a hair salon or if you’re a restaurant, those are all physical things that you can go and take pictures of. So you’ve got to get a little bit more creative with your content for sure. When it comes to tech startups. Um, and another thing I’ll say to that is two things I’ve really noticed with our startup clients that has proven valuable. One is LinkedIn, which I will speak on LinkedIn forever. I love LinkedIn, LinkedIn is incredible, and it is a platform that a lot of people do overlook, um, for their businesses. But I have seen from my tech clients, as well as other tech startups, that LinkedIn is a valuable platform for any tech startup. I will always say that because on there you have your B2B, you have your B2C, you have your investors and the accelerators that oftentimes startups are involved in. You have all of those things on LinkedIn. And I have seen with all of my clients, LinkedIn is a valuable platform. Um, and then also to when it comes to startups and marketing for startups, especially in the early stages, startups are very interconnected with the founders, right? People want to see the founders journey as well as the startups journey because they are so interconnected. So I do always encourage my clients as well to share about their personal journeys and, you know, connect that with the business because people love to see, um, things progressing.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:52] Now, when you’re working with startups, especially tech startups, how do you help them kind of protect them from themselves when it comes to their ability to communicate, um, elegantly about their technology and, and move outside of kind of a lot of times I’ve worked with a lot of tech startups over the years, and sometimes they’re so enamored with how clever their technical solution is. They have a difficult time expressing that in, in ways of, um, the true value that the consumer will benefit from that technology. So, um, how do you kind of help them with that translation from, you know, maybe tech speak to human speak when it comes to, you know, their what they’re working on?

Rachel Johnston: [00:09:42] Yeah, that’s a really good question. Um, one thing when it comes to social media is it’s all about community. And that’s why a lot of our, our clients come to us is they’re like, we’ve got the tech voice. We’ve got, you know, all the technology. I can build the product, but I don’t know how to market it and speak on it in a way that, like you said, kind of, you know, you still want to talk about the tech, of course, on social media, but you need to add in that community element to it and speak to the people like people, and not just, oh, I have this super cool thing. Um, you need to try it out and be too salesy. You also want to, you know, build a community, right? Um, so community building is huge on social media, and that’s something that we help our clients with is kind of, you know, of course, again, we want to talk about the technology and what you’re building and how it’s going to help folks, but also to we want to add that kind of human voice to it. And that’s what we help our clients with.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:36] So what does that kind of. Initial conversation for you. When you’re trying to prospect for a client and you run across somebody that is maybe super smart, off the charts technology wise, but has a difficult time communicating their value proposition, how do you first open their mind to, hey, maybe you do need help in this area because a lot of times they think they’re the smartest person in the room, that they have everything figured out, not just what their technology is. So how do you kind of become that bridge for them to really open their mind to go, hey, you know what, your technology is great. But if you can’t communicate this to anybody, it’s not going to you’re not going to be able to grow.

Rachel Johnston: [00:11:18] Yeah, totally. That that’s a huge point. If you’re not able to communicate it online or wherever you’re marketing, then it’s not going to grow. So, um, we’ve been lucky and we have incredible clients who are really open to hearing our opinions. And I think a lot of it, too, is just having these candid conversations with our clients and talking with them and saying, okay, what do you see? But here are our suggestions, right? We can do it your way. We can do it our way. We can do it kind of in in between. Um, here are our suggestions though, of what we believe is going to work. How can we bridge this gap and make sure that we are meeting your needs? Um, but also, um, using our expertise to, you know, make sure things are performing as best as possible.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:02] Now, what has been the most rewarding part of the journey thus far?

Rachel Johnston: [00:12:07] Man. That’s a good question. Um, the most rewarding part, I think that when you start to look at even the small wins and celebrating those, it really can become pivotal, because I think, especially as a solopreneur, I have a team now. But, you know, I am the singular founder, right? So it’s a lot of the time it’s just me on the day to day. And so I’m trying to personally, um, do a better job of celebrating the little wins, um, throughout the days and also looking back at how far I’ve come, because you can get so stuck in the day to day hardships and you might have something really hard go on on Monday, and by the next Monday, you, you know, it’s it’s the past, right? So you don’t want to get too stuck on things that in the end, is this going to matter in a week? Is this going to matter in a month? Right. So I’ve tried to have that create that kind of mindset within myself and also celebrate even the small wins on a daily, daily basis. Um, and look at how far I have come in just two years now.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:15] Um, is there any kind of tips you can share for a startup or somebody who’s thinking about, you know, leaning more into the social media marketing? Because at some point you you have to tell people about what you’re working. What you’re working on. So what are some things like that are actionable that you could share with a tech startup or anybody really, when it comes to social media marketing, is there some low hanging fruit that people can do just to to gain some traction?

Rachel Johnston: [00:13:46] Yeah, absolutely. I would say, you know, if you’re at the stage where you’re not ready to hire, you know, a social media team yet to help you, I would go back to what I said about LinkedIn. Just start on LinkedIn again. Linkedin, um, will but what.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:59] Does get start on LinkedIn mean? Like what are some things I could do on LinkedIn today that will help me tomorrow?

Rachel Johnston: [00:14:05] Absolutely. I would say if you’re a brand new company, I would start that business account on LinkedIn first. So again, a lot of your identity is still going to be tied up between the startup and the founder. But you need to create that business page and start building the business separately than just yourself. Of course. Add that on to your experience, your profile, and start pushing people towards that business page and eventually creating content on there and sharing about the business. Um, because what social media platforms work best for you depends very much on each specific startup, right? If your target audience is more on Facebook, then go on Facebook. If your target audience is more on Instagram, go on Instagram. We have clients where one completely works and one completely doesn’t, right? But LinkedIn, um, is the platform that I see works across the board, um, for all of our startup clients. So I would say don’t get too overwhelmed by, you know, should I be here? Should I be on TikTok? I hear a lot of people like, do I need to be on TikTok? And they’re like, scared of it, right. Um, and so I always say, you know, let’s just start with one. If you want to start with one, let’s start on LinkedIn. Um, and I would say create that page, add that to your experience. I actually just had a call with somebody very recently, and, and she had this new company and I was like, I can’t even find it on on LinkedIn. She was like, oh, I have it. Here it is. But it wasn’t connected to her personal page, so there was no way for me to find it, um, and things like that. So I would say, just start off with LinkedIn, um, creating content on there. Um, if you’re not ready to hire a team yet.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:42] Now, when you say creating content, what does content look like for a tech startup? Like what are some of the things they should be posting?

Rachel Johnston: [00:15:50] Yeah for sure. So we usually break up, um, content into different content pillars. So you don’t want to be too salesy. That’s something I always say is you don’t want every single one of your posts to be like, look at this thing. Look at this thing. Right? You also want to educate people. So one thing with a lot of startup companies is their product or service or whatever they have can be confusing for some people to understand. It’s not like, oh, I opened a restaurant, right? It’s like, oh, I created this new technology that does X, so there needs to be an educational piece behind that of this is why this is who we serve, etc.. And so education is a really big piece of content that I would say is important for startups. Um, you obviously do want to add in details about your company, be informative and a little bit promotional, um, as well as different types of content depending on what platforms you’re on. If you’re doing reels, um, if you’re creating graphics, um, the big thing with LinkedIn, though, that is valuable, is a lot of people, again, they get stressed out when it comes to Instagram Reels, TikTok videos. Linkedin is cool because stuff can perform really well if you just post text, you can just post. You know a post about your experience this week as a founder or on the company page about the product or whatever the whatever the case may be, you can post text only posts, you can post links. Hey, we just added this blog on our website. Here you go. Um, and with other platforms like TikTok and Instagram, again, you have to have photos or videos or whatnot. So that’s why LinkedIn is also a good starting point for founders.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:38] Now, how do you manage the expectations of your clients? A lot of people, you know, they they see these, um, things go viral or they see content get, you know, thousands or millions of impressions. How do you kind of explain to your clients that your numbers aren’t going to be millions? You know, they’re going to be hundreds, hopefully, or thousands. And, you know, the it’s it’s a little misleading. A lot of the stories that are written and, uh, success stories when it comes to this are throwing out of whack what a typical especially B to B, um, social media, uh, client would, would be generating. How do you kind of have that kind of, I think hard talk with the client.

Rachel Johnston: [00:18:28] Yeah. That’s another really good question because you do see that a lot. You see these, you know, social media gurus on social media and they’re like, I went I made my client’s stuff go viral or all these things. But, um, especially when it comes to B2B and, and, you know, start up clients, you’re starting from scratch. A lot of the times these people that are going viral are usually starting on accounts that are already at 50 K plus, you know, maybe even millions of followers. Of course, your content went viral, right? So setting those expectations and just saying to them like, hey, you know, our goal is not to go viral, right? Because at the end of the day, our goal is to, uh, well, it depends on each client, but it’s to create conversions, brand awareness, whatever the goal is. But a lot of startups, the goal is brand awareness. People don’t even know that you exist. We don’t care about something going viral right now. We need to make sure people know you exist. Um, because another thing too, with viral posts is sometimes it’s not even in your target audience at all.

Rachel Johnston: [00:19:29] I’ve had a post go viral on my personal account before, and it’s a lot of the times not even people in your target audience at all. So it’s really not helping you in the long run. So instead of looking at the likes and the followers, I tell my clients, let’s look at is it converting? Are we getting reach and impressions? Do we have brand awareness? Are we growing our community? These things are impactful. Um, at the end of the day, I’d rather have one person convert and buy the product or, you know, create an account or whatever the, you know, call to action is in a given week. Then, you know, 50 K people see it and nothing happens, um, from that. So none of them are in your target audience. So I’d rather somebody in your target audience convert and, you know, see and engage with your content than something go viral. So it’s all it’s all just about setting those expectations, like you said, and having that conversation about what’s realistic. Right.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:28] But it’s also it’s kind of counterintuitive because a lot of people have that kind of thinking of the law of large numbers. If if a 10,000 people see my thing, then surely somebody’s going to buy something or they’re going to convert somewhere. And so they always think bigger is better when really more precise is better, you know.

Rachel Johnston: [00:20:50] That’s true. Yeah, absolutely.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:52] You’d rather have 100 people who potentially could buy your stuff than you would a million people who were never going to buy your stuff.

Rachel Johnston: [00:21:00] Exactly, precisely. So yeah, it’s all about just having that conversation with them. And again, my clients are incredible. So, um, a lot of them, you know, take that well and understand that and are excited to see the performance that we gain for them.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:17] So now, um, within the tech startups, is there a niche within that or just anybody that has a tech startup is a good, uh, prospect for you?

Rachel Johnston: [00:21:27] Yes. So it’s interesting. That’s kind of just become our niche and who has come to us the most. But we are open to clients with businesses of really any industry. Um, we’re open to product industries, um, restaurants, things like that. I’m definitely open to that. Um, just because of my network and the events that I go to, a lot of that has, um, resulted in us having a influx of tech startups working with us. So we do not have a specific niche in those tech startups. We’ve worked with fintech, we’ve worked with some consulting tech, we’ve worked with, um, data Femtech healthcare, all of these different, um, things. And what’s really cool about that is, again, we get to learn completely new things, um, because of our clients that I otherwise wouldn’t probably be learning about, which is really exciting, and it constantly keeps you on your toes and challenges you as a founder and as a person. Um, because we’re constantly doing new things every day and learning new things. And at the end of the day, that’s life too. So, um, it’s a really fun experience. So no, we don’t have a specific niche in the tech community. We’re open to any.

Lee Kantor: [00:22:40] So what is the problem that your potential clients are having right now where you’re the the right solution?

Rachel Johnston: [00:22:47] Yeah, absolutely. So a lot of our clients currently are I would say more so in the Seed stage series A or B. So they’re newer. Um, we also have worked with some pre seed. So very new companies and a lot of them again they’re like I people don’t even know we exist. People don’t even know um that our company exists at all. So a lot of them come to me like we need help with brand awareness. Um, and something that we do that is unique to other agencies is when it comes to our engagement. So community management and engagement are huge parts of social media management. Um, so really what that means is community management is managing your current community. So what comments are you getting? What DMs are coming in, you know, what are the likes looking like? All of those things DMs, likes, comments, all that. Mentions. So that’s community management. You obviously want to engage with people who are engaging with you, but something we do that is unique is we do an extra layer of, um, engagement and we go out of our way to find your target audience, which is not always easy. Um, but we get to do that and, um, look for your target audience, engage with them so that they see us. So that’s a really key thing that we do. Um, that helps when it comes to our newer, you know, early stage tech clients who need brand awareness or like, people don’t even know about me. And if somebody is posting on LinkedIn, for example, about how they need this solution, or how about how they are in this specific industry, and we are engaging with that. That’s creating more visibility for them.

Lee Kantor: [00:24:30] Yeah. People don’t like to be a best kept secret.

Rachel Johnston: [00:24:33] Right? No.

Lee Kantor: [00:24:36] So. So if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation about with you or somebody on your team, what’s the coordinate? What’s the website?

Rachel Johnston: [00:24:45] Yeah. So our website is Sunset Social marketing.com and I am on LinkedIn. So definitely connect with me on there. I would love to connect with anyone.

Lee Kantor: [00:24:56] Well Rachel, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Rachel Johnston: [00:25:01] Thank you so much, Lee.

Lee Kantor: [00:25:03] All right. This Lee Kantor we’ll see you all next time on Atlanta Business Radio.

Intro: [00:25:10] Today’s episode of Atlanta Business Radio is brought to you by Onpay. Built in Atlanta on pay is the top rated payroll and HR software anywhere. Get one month free at Onpay comm.