Mastering Social Media: Insights from Norel Mancuso on Digital Marketing Success

Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios, it’s time for Women in Motion. Brought to you by WBEC West. Join forces. Succeed together. Now, here’s your host, Scott Brown.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:27] Lee Kantor here. Another episode of Women in Motion. And this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, WEBC West. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Women in Motion, we have Norel Mancuso with Social House, Inc. Welcome.

Norel Mancuso: [00:00:47] Hi. Great to be here. Thank you.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:48] Well, I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about Social House. How are you serving folks?

Norel Mancuso: [00:00:53] Yeah. You know, Social House is a digital growth agency. And really, our whole M.O. is to transform brands via strategy, creative content and media campaigns that really push the needle for the brands that we work with.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:07] So what’s your backstory? How’d you get involved in this line of work?

Norel Mancuso: [00:01:11] Yeah. You know, I, um, I came from L’Oreal in my past life and from the beauty industry. And at the time, which was in 2010, I saw this incredible opportunity to bridge the gap of communication between brands and their audiences via the medium of social media. At the time, Instagram didn’t exist. I mean, there was YouTube. There was Facebook was in its fledgling stages, there was even Myspace. But I do know that I saw the medium as a place to connect with audiences and have that two way dialog, which we hadn’t before as marketers in the corporate space. So that’s kind of how I got started. I left, you know, my my life in New York City and started social House and were based in LA now.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:54] Now, how have you seen kind of marketing and especially digital marketing evolved since that time where when you’re at the beginning of a media like social media and then you see it kind of evolve. How have you seen the marketing aspect of it and the brands embrace of this evolved?

Norel Mancuso: [00:02:13] Yeah, I mean, it’s changed so much. And remember when I started there was no advertising, there was no Instagram. There was certainly not a TikTok. So the way that it’s changed is really just through, you know, hyper personalization through AI and through other like, you know, ad and paid media avenues where it’s become so tailored and specific and so personalized. Whereas before you were reaching a broad audience and if they engaged, it was great. You got a lot more engagement. It was much more open for that kind of opportunity for brands. But it’s gotten much, much, much more competitive. You know, there’s over I believe it’s over like 150. Um, I think it’s like 150 million brands or businesses that are currently. And don’t quote me on that, guys. I’m just kind of throwing it out. But I do know that there are so many different brands across multiple multitude of platforms. So what my point is, is that as a brand, you’re not just competing against other brands, you’re also competing against friends, family, colleagues, everybody that’s vying for share of feed across social. So you have to get creative. So the world has changed, engagement rates have diminished. It’s become an interesting territory for sure.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:19] Now, how do brands kind of lean into this? Like on one side, I’m sure they see it as an opportunity is, oh, I can get, you know, personal and I can talk to my the people that matter most to me in this kind of direct way. But then it becomes in some ways inefficient. Whereas back in the day you used to run one ad somewhere and then you kind of check that box that I’m done there, and now you’ve got to kind of work harder for that same bang for your buck.

Norel Mancuso: [00:03:45] Well, it comes down to segmentation strategy. So there’s different aspects of social and at social house, our belief is that you can’t just think of social as content. It’s always strategy first, content second, and paid media third. So we operate with a methodology called the tri vision approach. And it’s basically our kind of IP and how we work. But essentially what it means is that we look at social through the lens of strategy first, and then we create the content, and then from there we’re creating the content and, you know, putting it out via paid media. But paid media also is involved in strategy. So you can’t have these three thought processes work in a mutually exclusive manner. They must work together to make social media work for you in today’s day and age. For example, as I mentioned, engagement rates, let’s say on Instagram, are at 0.47% versus on TikTok they’re at 0.57 or excuse me, they’re at 5.7%. So there’s still a significant amount of opportunity in TikTok. And versus, you know, I guess you could say Instagram and meta platforms. So there’s a lot of opportunity to still get out there. But what has changed is the platform’s ability to create hyper personalized feeds and also for, you know, consumers to kind of be a part of an algorithm versus having that organic reach that we once did. So that has changed. I think that’s the biggest kind of thing that makes brands scratch their heads is how do I break through? And so I hope that answers the question there.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:12] Well, how you put a strategy kind of at the forefront of this. So what are some kind of do’s and don’ts when it comes to strategy for brands out there?

Norel Mancuso: [00:05:21] I think, you know, there’s so many interesting case studies right now with brands that are succeeding on social. You look at Duolingo, an app that is a it’s a basically a language learning app that just broke the internet on TikTok, specifically by doing things out of the box. Nutter butter is the most recent case study with a very interesting approach to the way that they’re approaching their their content on Instagram. Um, you know, you have to do what feels right for your brand and to break through in today’s clutter, you can’t just worry about bottom line. Social media is not going to carry all of your marketing efforts. Okay. It’s there to really support your marketing efforts. And I think that’s a misconception, is that social media will bring all this revenue and all of that. That’s not always the case. But what it does do is it brings awareness to your brand, it brings recall, and you’re able to kind of address attribution issues that might make you have more data than you would with other traditional media outlets, you know. So I think the bottom line is that you have to look at social as an opportunity to create brand awareness. And to do that strategically, you need to have a clear vision of what you’re trying to create. Now, what that means is things like creating content buckets and understanding what it is that you’re trying to say. What are your core messages that you want audiences to know, and then how do you rinse and repeat that to hit content outputs 24 over seven 365. It doesn’t stop in social. It’s like a the ocean. You don’t want to turn your back on it. You want to keep the funnel fed. So a lot of people find that exhausting. And I understand why, but there’s ways to kind of gamify that and make it not so cumbersome to your business, which I’m happy to talk through as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:02] Now, you mentioned kind of measurable. What how do you help your clients, uh, kind of identify the metrics that matter? Because in digital, a lot of things can be measured, but some things are more important than others.

Norel Mancuso: [00:07:18] Yeah. And see, that’s the thing. There’s not a one size fits all for KPIs. I think when you look at a KPI, let’s say, you know, your KPI is awareness. Okay. Well how do you measure awareness? Um, you drill it down to things like engagement, likes, comments, shares, saves. Um, those are kind of like the golden ticket metrics for engagement, which if people are engaging, they’re becoming aware and they’re sharing it with other people, which is spreading reach and awareness. So I think the main thing is, is to think about what it is that you’re trying to create. Are you trying to create an awareness play for your brands on social? Are you trying to create more of a, you know, bottom of funnel approach to drive people to shop, like through Tick Tock Shop or whatever it may be. You just need to establish what those KPIs are ahead of time. But don’t forget the metrics. How are you measuring it and what are your benchmarks? Set benchmarks before you begin any any social endeavors across the space and revisit them monthly.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:14] Now, earlier you mentioned I, um, what’s your take on AI and how it’s impacting the industry?

Norel Mancuso: [00:08:23] Yeah, I don’t see AI as a threat to our industry. I see AI more of a as a companion tool rather than a threat to businesses in general. And AI has so much potential to really advance the way we work. It helps us streamline the mundane tasks that slow down true innovation. And I think that in some ways, also, it’s important to remember that there’s only so much value we as humans can get from automation. So if we look at it as a tool to streamline the mundane, there’s a couple of things that it does. Number one is like efficiency and productivity. It can streamline operations. It can reduce errors. It can free up employees time to focus on more strategic or creative tasks. You know, it also offers an opportunity as a second kind of benefit in the realm of like personalization, for example. I learned your behavior, and it can enhance customer experiences by analyzing data patterns that really tailor those true recommendations and predict trends for your brand and for your kind of purchasing cycle. Um, and lastly, I think to answer your question about AI is that it truly drives innovation. Um, you know, in some ways it’s created new business models for certain companies, new services, products that people haven’t thought of before. It’s helping companies remain competitive in an evolving market. But as I mentioned, there is only so much value we can get from automation. We need to keep evolving as human Beings. And as we evolve, of course, the software, the AI, you know, kind of capabilities out there will also evolve. But it’s it’s a symbiotic process between us and the machine, so to speak.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:03] Now, who is the ideal client for your firm? Is it B2C, B2B, um, industry agnostic?

Norel Mancuso: [00:10:12] Yeah. You know, we’re really focused on lifestyle brands. We love partnering with clients in the mid to enterprise level that are in love with their brands. We want people who are passionate about their brands and want to achieve greatness. Um, and that is because we put so much of our energy and our heart into becoming an extension of those brands. Um, we work with everybody from, you know, the realm of fashion, beauty all the way to healthcare to even, you know, climate change technology. So we really do kind of span the gamut, but it really is focused more on the lifestyle build of it. We are focused on B2C consumers, primarily In terms of creating audience work. We have done B2B, but I would say it’s probably a 90% split with B2C and a 10% knowledge base of B2B.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:02] Um, is there a story you can share of how you helped a client get to a new level? Obviously don’t name the name of the organization, but maybe share the problem they came to you with and how you helped them get to this new level.

Norel Mancuso: [00:11:15] Yeah, I can, and also I recommend checking out our website as well. There’s many case studies on there that you can peruse, but I think the main thing is that we we did have a beauty company come to us once. This was like one of my most favorite stories, and it always makes me smile every time I think of it. Because we had a 20 year old beauty brand come our way with in an independent owners, and they were the most lovely human beings I’ve ever met. And essentially they wanted to get to acquisition and social House helped them do that. We took their social media from 25,000 cumulatively, cumulatively across meta platforms, which includes Facebook and Instagram to just over 2.6 million in the span of three and a half years. And so for me, that’s an amazing case study, because it wasn’t just about us creating great content and using our tri vision approach, it was about the fact that we were able to collaborate with a team that trusted us and trusted in the experience of social and what we could potentially bring to, you know, their organization. So it was very meaningful. It was very amazing kind of client experience and one that I’ll remember for my, my lifetime.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:21] Now, why was it important for you and your firm to get involved with WebEx West?

Norel Mancuso: [00:12:27] Webex West was an opportunity. First of all, I want to just express this is that it has changed our business in so many ways. You know, social House is a women, minority and LGBTQ owned agency. We are triple certified, but WebEx specifically has put us in front of businesses, corporate businesses who are our target clients that we probably would never have had a chance to be in front of before. And the reason is, is that I don’t know if it’s if it’s, um, you know, I don’t want to just blame it on the fact that, you know, I’m triple diversely certified or whatever you want to call it, you know? But it’s like, I just haven’t had those opportunities to get in the room and shake hands with those people. But Quebec has put us in front of so many amazing clients, so many amazing businesses through our matchmakers, through the conferences, etc., that it’s just been a really tremendous experience and I find the most value from that. In addition to, I’ve met so many amazing small businesses, just like social House who are really smart, amazing women who are. We’re working together. We’re working together to support one another and to give each other advice and to listen because we understand the challenges of being a business owner. Um, not only that is that, you know, we’re also women. So there’s also, you know, that layer to it. There’s a lot of different aspects to it. So I’m very, very honored to be a part of we back. We’ve been a member, I believe our company has been a member for, I believe, ten years certified, and we’re really proud of that. And yeah.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:55] Now, before we wrap, is there any advice you can give brands out there? Maybe they’re smaller than your target that you’re going after, but any kind of low hanging fruit for brands to really get the most out of social. Is there some easy things that people can be doing or or mistakes you see that they’re making that they shouldn’t be?

Norel Mancuso: [00:14:17] I think that smaller brands need to understand the power of content and paid media, and strategically thinking about how they make them work for their business. I call it mailbox money. If you want to make mailbox money, which means you walk outside and your slippers and your robe in the morning, and you open up your mailbox and there’s money, so to speak. Now, we know that all comes through like Squarespace or other things like that, but, um, Shopify, things like that. But, you know, if you want to do that, really think about investing dollars and solidifying your marketing budget to, uh, allocate dollars towards paid media across different platforms. Um, understand what native features are. Understand TikTok shop. Go. They have they have many online resources for TikTok and for agencies, for individual businesses. There’s so many resources out there. You have to invest in your business. You have to learn how to understand the language of social media. If it’s not for you, hire someone that can, um, you know, social house. We do have a small business service which basically places media for, for our clients. It’s called QT society. Um, so we place that media spend for our clients, but I just really recommend just educating yourself, knowing what things are and don’t being averse to it. It’s not going away. You have to throw yourself into it. And if you have already and you’re still not finding results, relook at the way that you are formulating your narrative. Is your narrative story of the content that you have going out? Does it make sense? Is it clarifying who you are? Your brand values, your mission, your personality, your brands products, the efficacy of your products? Make your content problem and solution driven and you’ll win. But it takes time and it takes consistency.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:00] And one more time before we wrap the website and the best way to connect.

Norel Mancuso: [00:16:05] Of course our website is social House inc.com, and that’s Inc.com. You can reach out to us on there through our contact page and we would love to connect with you.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:19] Well, thank you so much for sharing your story. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Norel Mancuso: [00:16:24] It’s my pleasure. Thank you so much for the interview. Have a great.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:27] Day. All right. This is Lee Kantor. We will see you all next time on Women in Motion.

[00:16:32] God help us. Don’t kick me when I’m down. Oh, me. Up!