Marketing with Custard and Bear

Nothing much comes for free these days, so this blog is all about giving a big shout out to the marketing whizz that is Michelle Rose, from Custard and Bear.

I first met Michelle at a meeting of the Inspire Network in March last year, and her marketing talk really struck a chord with me, particularly as she specialises in ‘marketing for mummies’. I don’t wear a suit to work, so the corporate approach usually sends me running for the hills!

I’ve been following her on Facebook and Twitter ever since for advice and tips, so when she launched the Facebook Thirty (FB30) Challenge, I was quick to sign up. I’m a regular poster to my Facebook page, using it more than my personal page, but there’s always room for improvement.

Michelle set up a Facebook group for those taking part and posted one idea per day for 30 days, to inspire us to post something on our business page and share it with the rest of the group.

It was great to see what everyone came up with and how we each interpreted the same idea and tailored it to suit our businesses and individual personalities.

The ideas ranged from cross-promotion of social media accounts and sharing content from other, relevant, business pages, to linking your business to special days and celebrating your own business milestones.

At the time of the challenge, I had around 350 likes on my page and my posts had a good reach, but some went a bit crazy during the challenge – with one reaching 3,847 people – more than 10 times the number of ‘likers’ to my page!

It was a quote from Emily Dickinson that I’d quickly knocked up at calligraphy class that day: “That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet.”

The challenge also pushed me to do my first video – seeing as the quote proved so popular, I filmed myself writing it – and more than 500 people saw that.

The personal touch definitely boosted likes, comments and shares, so it goes to show that social media should indeed be social. People like to get to know the person behind the business.

I posted every day throughout the challenge and as a result, won a one-to-one session with Michelle – not that anyone realised there was a prize at the end!

I headed to her office in Consett for a tea and biscuit-fulled chat and it was nice that Michelle realised my journalism background was telling in my posts and how I approach things. Nice to know the newsroom experience is still coming in handy!

Michelle certainly gave me some food for thought and there were plenty of ideas shared among the others taking part in the challenge – we’re a supportive lot us women in biz!

The group is still going and we continue to support each other – I liked quite a few of the business pages involved, so they still pop up on my news feed, even when there isn’t a particular challenge running.

I took part in the Festive FB30, to make sure I didn’t forget to post amidst the Christmas madness – and I can’t wait to see what Michelle has in store for the next FB30, which starts after Valentine’s Day, so keep an eye on my Facebook page!