Tara Clark is the founder and CEO of Social T., a “one-stop shop” company that specializes in building a comprehensive and effective social media strategy for business, especially newer startups whose founders are occupied by other responsibilities. Tara graduated university just as the 2008 financial crisis was beginning, forcing her to adapt and break into the then-emerging field of digital marketing.
In this episode, Tara Clark discusses the vital financial and professional lessons the financial crisis taught her, breaks down exactly how Social T. optimizes social media for its clients, and explains the importance of forging personal connections through both social media and professional collaboration.
Download the transcript here
Podcast highlights:
- Though Tara went to school in the United States and planned on working there when she graduated, the 2008 financial crisis compelled her to return to Canada, starting her career in Vancouver.
- Around this time, she saw the potential in the emerging field of digital marketing and embraced that field despite it being new territory for her.
- Due to changes in immigration policy post-9/11, Tara wasn’t able to get the dual citizenship that would have made it much easier to work in the United States, forcing her to rely on her green card—however, this did teach her resilience, sparked her entrepreneurial spirit, and allowed her to adapt to big shifts in business and social media.
- Social T.’s primary role is assisting companies—especially newer ones—in setting up social media and training employees on these platforms to make the most of them.
- One of the larger challenges Social T. faces when recruiting clients is the stigma that social media is loud, overwhelming, and difficult to stand out in; Social T. combats this stigma by developing a trusting rapport with their clients and explaining how social media will provide them with a return on their investment.
- A company can really stand out using social media by highlighting the people who work at or patronize a company, sharing their stories, and providing free educated to interested followers.
- If you want your company’s social media to be resonant, it needs to tell stories and be personalized.
- Social media helps you to aggregate more value-added information about your business; utilize Google My Business to see how your company is faring in terms of Google reviews.
- In advising younger entrepreneurs, Tara says they should nurture their professional relationships and remain curious; working face to face as often as possible is key to developing those relationships.
- Tara uses a financial planner to keep on top of her spending and save so that she can retire early; Tara also learned the importance of insurance early on.
- For her key piece of financial advice, Tara stresses not to overspend or rely on credit.
Quotes:
“I always felt a little uncomfortable working for someone else and not having my creativity be flourishing as much as it could be.”
“I knew that I was going to always be a person that can adapt to change, and I think that’s why my business has been operating for now almost 10 years.”
“If you want a strategy from us, we can likely deliver that entire strategy to you within four weeks.”
“When you align with an experienced company that really understands and gets into the nitty gritty of your business and what you stand for, then that will be a better partnership for you overall.”
“People love to see other people.”
“You want the whole package to be designed and ready to go before you hit the ground running on social media.”
“You need to get into the hearts and souls of people through your content.”
“I created a business with a team so that I could provide an opportunity to people that do amazing work, and that is something I stand for and I love.”
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source https://richarddri.ca/forging-personal-connections-through-social-media-with-tara-clark/
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