Executive Highlight: Megan Trombino and Katy Patao of Suffusion Social, a Social Media Company
Entrepreneurship
Tell me about Suffusion Social, the “story behind the idea.”
Megan Trombino, Founder of Suffusion Social
What does a typical day’s worth of activities for the two of you entail? How do you start off your daily routine?
Megan: Greater than the majority of my time every morning is spent on business development; reaching out to our contacts, following-up, and so on. I would say that we are probably putting out about 2-3 strategies a week to prospective clients. Everything is always customized; it’s not a one-size-fits-all. These activities take up a lot of our time.
The rest of the day is keeping in-tune with the developments in social media. We have to keep tabs on and ahead of the current trends. A lot of my days are spent doing vendor negotiations and trying to find providers that I feel comfortable with and which I may have worked with in the past and trying to formalize those relationships.
Katy Patao of Suffusion Social
If I were a client looking to hire your company to increase general profitability what would be some of the things you would assess?
Megan: First we sit down and outline what you want to accomplish (i.e., increase website traffic, becoming the industry authority, increase fan members, provide content updates, etc.). We really have to understand what your end-goal of social media is and that is assuming that you know what that is. We get a lot of people who know that they need to get something out there but they are not sure how to do it or what routes to take. It has a lot to do with assessing the goals that each potential client wants.
What have you found to be most challenging in this particular business industry?
Megan: People don’t know how much something like this should cost. People have no general idea and no idea what amount of work is entailed on a daily basis. They know that they want to be active on social media platforms and that they need it for their business but then again, they need to be educated on all things social media related.
Do you think that people just do not see the value in it?
Megan: They see the value in it after the strategy has been presented. “We’ve had people respond with such surprise of how much detail and work this actually takes to kick-off and maintain.”We’ve had people respond with such surprise of how much detail and work this actually takes to kick-off and maintain. They never realized that a successful social media campaign takes hours and hours a day sometimes. Just the monitoring aspects, making sure things are updated, etc. Once we present our comprehensive plan we often find that people are at a loss for words in response to how much effort and work goes into it. So to answer the question, it must be communicating to clients that “this is what you are going to get if this is what you are willing to invest…and this is how we are going to measure it, etc.” This opens up another challenging point that people are talking about, “how are we going to measure the value of social media?”
With Linkedin going Public, Facebook partnerships, and emerging news about Myspace, what changes do you foresee in the near future in the Social Media industry?
Megan: In the future I believe that you are going to see the monetization of social platforms. So in the beginning, we were all brought onto these platforms to get hooked, and everything was free. You have to just imagine how so many of these social platforms see that the users are there and are now wondering, “how can we make money from them?”
The second thing I think we are going to see is that the users of social media will be on a quest for more natural roots. They want more organic interactions. “They don’t want the forced business pitch.”They don’t want the forced business pitch. They want to hear from friends, for instance, the new Downey LaundryDetergent is great; they don’t want to hear it from Downey. You are going to see that companies will move to invest more to bring out these ambassadors to cultivate these relationships.
Katy: I also think that there are going to be a lot of new things coming out. I don’t know if you’ve heard about the Google +, but I think that is going to be a really big change over the next few months. I think Google is really going to be in the forefront soon and competing with Facebook.
All the industry experts on social media are really warmly receiving Google +. Traditionally, people are really resistant to change with social media. For example, when Facebook tries to make a change they are often met with user resistance.
In the past (or currently), when things didn’t go the way you expected regarding business, how did you remain motivated; especially when you were first starting out on your own.
Megan: I kind of chalk it up to the learning experience. If we weren’t messing up here and there then we wouldn’t be taking risks to become successful. I’ll give you an example; I called my dad who is also a business owner, and told him that I paid $50 for a domain name and hosting capabilities for Suffusion Social. Then I realized that I spelled it wrong. I put the credit card information on the computer and I didn’t double check the spelling. So my dad just told me to be happy and if that was the biggest mistake I’ve made so far I am lucky. He said that these were just the growing pains. These experiences will ultimately make you who you are. It’s normal.
What strategies have you found work for you to help in “pushing forward” toward your personal and business goals?
Both: Being very consistent and organized. We work so well as a team. She (Katy) brings in the leads, I do the assessments and write-ups, and she is great at presenting. It is more like making things like a well oiled machine.
So Katy, you bring in the leads? What is your strategy for bringing in the leads?
Katy: Well, I feel that I am a very personable person. I’ve attended many conferences and I’m very good at creating relationships in-person, face-to-face. So that is definitely a strong point. When I first came on board with Megan I immediately generated leads, many of which are our current clients.
How do you “plan ahead” for change or unexpected circumstances?
Megan: We try to plan ahead by trying to keep in-tuned with all the updates and what is going on in the news. It’s just really a constant battle keeping ahead of the curve. For example, Facebook used to use HTML programming and now they’ve moved over to i-frames so I had to teach myself that all over again. It is also educating yourself every single day. There seems to be something new every day and that’s why I love it.“There seems to be something new every day and that’s why I love it.”
As entrepreneurs, managers, and leaders, how do you manage the impact of “change” on those you deal with in business and those you manage?
Megan: Something that we have not had the opportunity to do you, but something I have done in previous jobs, is that whenever a platform is about to make a major change and we can expect to make that change months in advance we will put out a one-page news letter, an FYI that is not intended to try to sell anything but instead, inform and keep everybody passionately in-tuned. I think Katy does a great job at doing that on Twitter (@Suffusionsocial).
Dealing with People
When you first meet a potential client, or somebody you must either hire or deal with professionally, is there anything during your initial interactions that is an indication to you (a green light or red light, so to say) that this person may be a great fit for your company?
Megan: I can give you a great example for this question. When I started Suffusion Social I was approached by a man that was developing out his own website that included so many different things that it was almost out of control. It had absolutely no user interface. I couldn’t find what would navigate me to where. So, it is very important for us to work with start-up companies so we can help them become successful. But, we can’t help them much if they do not have a unified focus. They really have to know what their goals are.“They really have to know what their goals are.” This man could not tell me the number one thing he wanted me to support him on. His ideas were just going into so many different directions. As long as there is that idea to get social media we are on the right track. It is very hard to convince somebody of the benefits of a social media presence if they don’t believe in it, and it is very important for them to have a unified business plan to the point where they can tell you exactly what their business goals are. Usually, if that is the case, then we can work very well with this type of client. It works.
Katy: There definitely needs to be a focus, a plan for their business. If not, it will be really hard to communicate that to us and for us to be in-tuned with each other during our work together.
What could you identify as the top two most important qualities in people that you would desire to work with?
Katy: I always love that sense of excitement in people. If they are excited about social media it just makes the job so much more fun because we are going to represent such great brand ambassadors. We are really excited when we do presentations because most of the time, we can “see the light at the end of the tunnel” and we know what the outcome will be for them; and then we move to “show them” the plan. For example, I made a presentation the other day to a new company that hasn’t even launched yet and for the first 45 minutes or so I had to really detail page by page what each component meant and how they all tied together. “It can be very overwhelming for somebody new to business and new to social media.”It can be very overwhelming for somebody new to business and new to social media. We want them to clearly understand all there is for them to know regarding how social media can compliment their business. A lot of our plan is very informative. I would say that the first 4 or 5 pages are dedicated to educating as to the audience of each social platform. For example, it will be an overview of the platform, who the audience is, and how we measure that platform.
What is your definition of “relationship development?”
Megan: I recall reading a book by Gary Vanderchuk, the “Thank You Economy.” Gary says that you are investing in a culture and not in a platform. I think that really just says it all. This relationship development is a cultural movement. It says that you are literally going to build your relationships from the ground up. It is something that you really have to nurture and make sure that you are always reaching out. “This relationship development is a cultural movement.”This is why we spend a lot of our morning hours reaching back to people to let them know that we are still here and available to support them. It is amazing how that personal, human touch can really go a long way. Many people think that just because social media is on-line it cannot have the same effect. But if you learn how to nurture it, it really can work. I often refer back to the example of my great grandfather, who opened an office supply store passed down through each generation to my grandfather and now my Dad. It wasn’t one of those large chain companies, but instead, a local, neighborhood store. He wanted to maintain that personal touch and personal interaction. It wasn’t that you would have to leave a message or call a 1-800 number for an outsourced customer service line but instead, customers might get a call from the store owner or someone else pretty high up on the line to assist them with their needs or concerns.
How do you feel about your role now as a role model to young women (and men) who “want to be just like you?”
Megan: You know, I always thought that my goal was to graduate college and then go into the corporate work-force and that that would define my success. I thought I would be working for some major corporation. Now, after I’ve been there and done that, I realized that there was just something missing. In my experiences so far, as much as social media has been out-of-the box thinking, I felt like I was always kept in-the-box. I felt like I had such great ideas that just couldn’t get out. So my advice to young women would be to not define your success by the 9 to 5 job, working for other people, etc. Go create your own path.
Katy: I’ve decided that myself as well. After graduating in the fall from college I took a summer job working at Pepsi on their Twitter handle and Facebook page and doing some other social media research. That was exactly how I felt. I felt like that was the path that I was going to go for. When Megan came to me and asked me to try this out I was sold. I am totally in love with what we are doing and what we can create now.
Megan: Another thing I’ve had to deal with is that very few times in my life have I had a superior who knew more about social media than I do about it. I didn’t feel like I was getting the learning and mentorship experiences I was hoping for and I was getting questioned by somebody who wasn’t necessarily passionate or in-tuned in the field. This is just such a new industry that it is being coupled with the more traditional marketing or public relations firms and that is not the right fit always.
Katy: I also feel that I took on this position, in part, because Megan knows so much and I am so excited to learn and grow from her experiences and knowledge.
Megan: One of the things that I am doing is tracking all of the things that I do, even those that I do not need to think about when I do it so I can create standard operating procedures. This way, when we hire a new employee we will be confident that they will know exactly when to, for example, tweet, post, etc. and generally cover the basic daily operations. I think that everything has to be standardized and if you start from the beginning then you will never have to be playing catch-up.
Leadership
How would you describe yourself as a leader and what traits do you think are necessary for a leader to possess?
Megan: I think you have to be somewhat fearless. It was somewhat nerve-wracking to go into this transition and to have to worry about paying bills and everything like that without dipping too much into savings. Sometimes you just have to go and really believe in what you are doing and not question it. You need to translate into your passion to make yourself successful.
Katy: You have to be really be organized. You also need to know when to delegate certain things. I think now it is manageable, but once we become really busy we need to focus on knowing how to and when to delegate portions of the workloads that we have. I think one of the things we are really doing well is that we are keeping very organized. We are really big about keeping things as formalized as much as possible.
What has been your most challenging (leadership) decision in the past few years?
Megan: I would probably say that pricing has to have been one of the biggest things we’ve had to deal with. We are new and so is social media and we are still feeling it out. I know from my experience at the firm I formerly worked at how much was being charged at the beginning and how much at the end so I understand that it takes time. Then again, I also know where we can be at with time. We have to make sure that we don’t overprice ourselves out of the market. Another challenge that we are realizing is that there is a big difference in a start-up who needs social media services and a well-oiled corporate giant who needs social media services. With that, we are working on trying to create different price-packages. Up to now, we have just been kind of going case-by-case depending on the needs. But I am really starting to feel that there needs to be three-tiered packages, or maybe we need to pull back on some services that are not appropriate. We know that some of these services some of our clients would love to have, but then, they also have budget concerns. We don’t want to turn those people away though; in fact, we would love to get them started on a great foundation. So I must say that pricing is really a daily struggle to be sure that we are doing this right and also that people are comfortable with what we are providing.
Katy: Another thing that I’ve told Megan and that I learned at a Summit I attended a few months ago is to make sure that what we are offering has a really high value and that the challenging part of that is learning how to say no to certain potential clients who just do not see the value.
Who has been your biggest influence with regards to leadership and wanting to start Suffusion Social? Why?
Megan: Well, I pull from a lot of different people.“Don’t second guess yourself.” The people I look to from day to day, like Pete Scott author of Auditing Social Media who is also a graduate of my alma matter, and Lewis Howes, a LinkedIn guru, look to them and their business model and whether they are keeping up on the trends but I don’t know that I have an agency role-model yet. Also, my fiancé has been very supportive with the launch of Suffusion Social. He has always told me that he knows I can do this so just go and do it. He never questioned it, and it is just really nice to have his support.
Katy: Well for me I can say that it has been Megan that has influenced me to do this. I mean, I trust her and she has also been a great mentor to me. My father has also encouraged me to do this. He always told me that I am really young and that there is nothing that I “have” to be other than what I want to do and enjoy. For me, there was not a better time to branch off and join this up and coming firm.
Operationalization (making it happen)
What strategies do you employ to ensure complete success- at all of your goals or projects?
Megan: We utilize a new client checklist so we know exactly what we need from them so we can make an accurate assessment of their options. It comes back to our belief of standardization. We’ve found that it works better in phases and on a predetermined timeline. This way, we are not overworked with front-loaded projects all at once. Phase one may involve creating a profile page, finding new outreaches, performing a search and respond, etc. Our goal is to move along in a paced fashion and make small wins along the way.
What strategies have you found are not successful for you in your line of work? Why?
Megan: Trying to do everything at once. I am a huge multitasker and I love to work but that might also be a downfall if I do not manage it appropriately. I’ve really learned how to divide my work into the necessary phases that will allow me to focus on the small components and secure small successes along the way.
What advice could you offer to a young entrepreneur that is full of “great ideas,” but has not yet “made it happen?”
Megan: Go into the area of focus you are interested in and get your feet wet. Learn as many of the angles and concepts that you can and then come back and use that knowledge to start your dream. I would have not known what to do if I had not had my previous experiences with large corporations and start-ups to fall back on.
Katy: Keep in mind that it is going to be scary and there is a lot of risk in it but you just have to move forward and do it. Especially if it is something that you love to do and you can see yourself doing this 10 or 15 years down the road. There is no reason why you shouldn’t at least try it.
Final Thoughts
If there is one solid piece of advice you would offer to other leaders and striving entrepreneurs in your community, what would it be?
Pursue your dreams and don’t second guess yourself. Don’t limit yourself. Network as much as you can because opportunities can come from something you may never have suspected.
Suffusion Social specializes in Social Media Marketing & Promotions.
Contact
Office: (954) 399-9674
Website: www.SuffusionSocial.com