When Luan Wise decided she wanted to go into marketing, social media didn’t exist, and now working for LinkedIn and Facebook, she can’t believe how much she’s achieved.
Luan has been recognised as one of the top five female marketers in the UK by LinkedIn. She was also selected by Enterprise Nation to be an accredited Facebook trainer and will be a part of the #shemeansbusiness campaign in 2019.
“LinkedIn first contacted me in February 2015. They were running a campaign for International Women’s Day, and they had recognised me for being best engaged and best connected and wanted my approval of the campaign - I of course said yes!
That was really great to be recognised because I wasn’t paying to use the platform. I was running my own business, I was working from home, the people they chose weren’t the people from the big brands – it was a genuine recognition.”
Luan’s book, Relax! It’s Only Social Media: A No-Nonsense Guide to SocialNetworking was published in 2016. It gives advice on how you can get great results online and how you can use social media better:
“I knew I wanted to write a book, but it wasn’t until I met Kim Fleet, a writing coach, that I committed to doing it. I had a stack of presentations and blogs written but they needed to be structured into the book. I found the title a couple of months into writing, and then changed everything to fit the tone of the title so it could run through the book.”
Luckily for Luan, before setting up her own business, her visual identity and brand was already there with her style of ‘always playing’ with her now short, bright, pink hair. As her hair reflects her personality, she says it is important to be consistent in the way you present yourself, so your image is recognised and relatable to the audience:
“You don’t need to go as far as dying your hair – but it certainly helps when it comes to meeting up with people and attending networking events.
I’ve always played around with my hair. For a while I had very long blonde hair, and I decided to cut it all off. It’s never planned, it’s just sitting in the hairdresser’s chair and thinking “right, what shall we have today?” I’m just not scared of it either. That’s probably because I’m my own boss now and I don’t have to think about what my boss would think.”
Luan reflects, and says that no job she’s had has ever been the same. She shapes and grows each opportunity in her own way. Now that she’s invested in the world of social media, she believes it’s always important to go back to basics, and like any industry, you get to speak to many people. For the marketing author, she continuously looks out for questions being asked, so she can identify the opportunities and where her expertise could come into play:
“You have to know what market you’re in, what product or service you’re selling, and understand your customer. Everything I do changes and the people I work with. All of their own set of challenges; I love using my knowledge and experience to help them.”
A year after she was noticed by networking giant LinkedIn, she was contacted by their Content team, inviting her to audition as a course instructor. She had a conversation with the Content Manager about her background, what she’s done and the key topics she would potentially be teaching.
“From then on, she asked me to do some online auditions which were actually voiceovers. I also had to demonstrate that I could talk while moving a mouse. Once you have your course signed off, you’re assigned a producer. Glamourous I know! For 6 months I had a weekly Skype call to practice the script, talk about the recording process and what I wanted my audience to learn. It took me 9 months to write my first course, now it takes between 3-6 months.”
Working from home and being invited to the frequent networking dinners with clients and directors in the field, she enjoys the flexibility that comes with her role: “I enjoy the tense time of workshops where I have to think, talk and focus for 7 hours, but I love going out, meeting new people and giving training workshops as well.”
Her top three tips are:
· Don’t get distracted by the latest ‘new and shiny’ feature; it’s overwhelming and can put you off getting involved.
· Focus on your audience – what do they need to know about you and your business. It’s about them, it’s not about you.
· Look for conversation triggers. Don’t just broadcast information and hope for a response.
You can buy Relax! It’s Only Social Media: A No-Nonsense Guide to Social Networking here: https://www.amazon.com/Relax-Its-Only-Social-Media/dp/153555729X
Follow Luan Wise on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/luanwise