鈥溌槎勾� Talks鈥� hosts top professionals from different sectors of the lumber and building material industry to share their expertise, with a heavy emphasis on practical, tactical strategies to help you serve your markets and grow your business.
Social Media Coordinator Sally Lacey is joined by Caitlin Stone and Chris Roelandts with Big C Lumber.
Stone and Roelandts work together to create content for and manage Big C Lumber鈥檚 social media accounts. Both have full time jobs with the company, but recognized the opportunity to do more on social media and took on the effort together.
With 16 locations, these two cover a lot of ground when highlighting Big C Lumber online. By focusing on their employees, company culture, and the unique aspects of their business, Caitlin and Chris have increased online engagement within their communities and their company.
Tune into the full conversation to learn what prompted Caitlin and Chris to take on this job, how they work together to create content, tools they use, and how they鈥檝e seen it affect their business.
For any podcast related inquires, contact听sally@lbmjournal.com.
听
Prefer to read about it instead? Take a peek at the transcript below for Episode 17:
(Editor鈥檚 note: Transcript is AI-generated and may include some errors.)听
Sally
Sally, welcome to 麻豆传媒 talk social media. I鈥檓 Sally Lacey, the Social Media Manager for 麻豆传媒 journal, and every other week, I have conversations with lumber dealers from around the country about how they鈥檙e using social media to grow their business. I hope you stick around, because it鈥檚 time to get social.
Caitlin stone and Chris Rowlands, hello and welcome to 麻豆传媒 Talks Social Media. Thank you guys for being here. I would love for you both to just kind of introduce yourselves and big sea lumber a little bit, whoever kind of wants to take that question. Yeah, absolutely.
Caitlin
So. Hi everyone. My name is Caitlin Stone. I鈥檝e been working with big sea lumber for a little over two years now. My official title is finance and communications analyst, which encompasses a lot of different responsibilities, anywhere from financial entries to banking functions, event planning and then, of course, why we鈥檙e here today, social media. Big Sea lumber is a company that鈥檚 been around for a little over 100 years now, and we鈥檝e got 16 retail locations and three manufacturing facilities throughout Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.
Chris
Yeah, and I鈥檓 Chris Roelandts . I鈥檓 actually our corporate credit manager as well. The social media is just kind of the side gig, but I started in 2022 and then Caitlin came a little bit after me. And yeah, I enjoy what I do, but when I first started, and this is kind of where Caitlin and I are on the same page, we noticed there was a need for potential shift in some of that social media. And obviously we both were willing to jump in and throw our hats and, you know, see what we could do. And it鈥檚 been a learning experience, but it鈥檚 been a lot of fun.
Sally
So how did you guys, how did that? How was that placed on both of you guys?
Caitlin
Yeah, so we took social media in house late 2023 so we鈥檝e been doing it for about a year and a half now. We started off by hiring a marketing agency to help us get up and running, establish a presence on social media. And once we felt comfortable with that, we were like, Okay, we feel confident enough to take this in house, set a game plan, and focus more on people and projects, things that make big sea lumber unique and authentic. So Chris and I started off by visiting every single location. We put a lot of miles on our cars, but it was a great experience to get us out there and exposed to a lot of different people, but also different environments that our lumber yards are located in. So we took ton of photos, videos, kind of kept them in the stockpile that now we reference back to all the time. And like Chris mentioned, it鈥檚 had its challenges, but I think so far so good, and it鈥檚 been going really well.
Chris
Yeah, yeah, it鈥檚 been a lot of fun. I know, you know, one of the things I was most excited to do is, like Caitlin said, go to every store. So in my job as credit manager, I talk to everybody all day long, but I don鈥檛 get to meet everyone you know face to face. Lot of conversations over the phone. And so that was one of the first things when we started this, actually getting out to each store and meeting the people that I have daily conversations with is awesome. So as far as our footprint goes, I don鈥檛 know Caitlin correct me, but it鈥檚 like our area is maybe like a two hour radius. As far as where our stores are, everything, Indiana, Michigan, we have one in Ohio. So the one in Ohio, we don鈥檛 get there as often as what we would like. And so when we started, you know, said, Okay, we need content for social media. How are we going to get it? And that鈥檚 where we just kind of put together a schedule. Started hitting the stores every couple weeks, every couple months. And then, like she said, just kind of built our library of pictures, videos. I have a drone, so I pop my drone up in the air.
Sally
So you鈥檙e the drone flyer. I鈥檝e seen several drone shots.
Chris
Yeah, by no means am I a professional. Obviously, I鈥檓 still learning at it, but obviously it鈥檚 fun to see that perspective of of our stores and our lumber yards, as well as some of our customer homes, you know, our the builds as we go. You know, we do some cool stuff around Lake Michigan, like we were talking earlier. Some of those houses are absolutely beautiful, and it gives us kind of a cool. Perspective of the build from start to finish.
Sally听
So you guys had a marketing agency doing your social media before that, huh? Okay, so how would you say their the content that they were sharing, like, what made you kind of want to move on from that? Were they? Was it? It probably was not like personal at all. You know, you guys are sharing your employees. And now, was it just like products, you know, images? What was that kind of like?
Caitlin
It definitely now, looking at it, it felt a little stale. It was a lot of stock photos. Now hiring type of flyers, which are great. I mean, it, it got the word out, and yes, some products and services that we offered, but it just didn鈥檛 feel personal at all. For a long standing family owned business, there was no emphasis on our employees, our locations, kind of what we stand for. So that鈥檚 that鈥檚 really why we were passionate about taking it over. And you can really tell a difference now, when we post pictures of employees, we鈥檒l have family and friends liking and sharing it, and it just feels a lot more like us.
Chris
So the other part of that too is money, I guess, if you want to, you know, obviously marketing budget, when we had the external company working for us, you know, there鈥檚 a monthly bill for that, you know, obviously we have to pay them for their work. And so with Kayla and I, when we kind of looked at it and said, you know, how can we spend our own look on the social media thing, we can also basically cut that, that monthly budget number, whatever it is. We can just eliminate that all together. Obviously, we鈥檙e at work all day, every day anyways, and so it鈥檚 like we鈥檙e always available. Whereas if you have an external company, you you have to schedule something for them to come on site, wherever it is, right, go through their edits, approve them. Now with Kayla and I, we work in the same building, we can just, you know, she can run downstairs, I can run upstairs, and we could just run this by each other, and obviously get things out much quicker too.
Sally
Totally, yeah, that鈥檚 kind of my experience with or not even my experience. I don鈥檛 have experience with these, but what I usually see from those marketing agencies is just kind of, yeah, stale or just just photos of things that are not personal, which, I mean, those don鈥檛 really excel on social media so well.
Caitlin
And I think, yeah, too, when you have an external company trying to promote for you, you know, like, it鈥檚 so much easier when it comes from within and internal. And we know what events are going on. We know we have a customer luncheon at a three oak store. And we know about a lot more than what a separate company would, which makes a lot of sense. But like Chris said earlier, we have full time jobs, and we kind of took social media as a fun gig, and we definitely ran with it, and it鈥檚, it feels like it鈥檚 become part of our full time job.
Chris
Now, we always thought it was, we always thought it was kind of crazy, because, like I said, we see a lot of the employees daily, or visit the stores. You know, at the external company, they would post, like, stock photos, because maybe they don鈥檛 have photos of our employees. And we would just think, well, this is kind of crazy. You know, we鈥檙e trying to highlight, obviously, our company, but we鈥檙e not actually posting our company. And, I mean, you know, if you were to see us, we鈥檙e running around with our cell phones taking pictures, or, you know, our drone, like I said, and it just, it doesn鈥檛 really matter, you know, especially when customers who know us speed those posts, they don鈥檛 really care about the quality that much. They they see their sales guy and say, hey, you know, Mark is great, and we love to have him work for us. And it鈥檚, you know, we鈥檝e had a huge reception from our customers, kind of, when making that switch.
Sally
Interesting, yeah, that鈥檚 like, I feel like there鈥檚 such, there are so many opportunities on social like, you can really do whatever you want. And so to kind of bring that back to you guys, like, now you have the power. And there鈥檚 just so much more opportunity there so but that鈥檚 really cool to hear about your customers following you guys and responding really positively. Let鈥檚 talk a little bit about your guys鈥� content. I would just love for you to explain in your own words, kind of like what you guys like to highlight how you do it also maybe like formats, is it video, photos, all that kind of stuff?
Caitlin
Yeah, we definitely, kind of, I touched on earlier, our employee focused. We noticed that those. Posts do very well. So what are kind of approaches? We鈥檒l reach out to the managers from different stores and say, Hey, could you choose an employee that you think really represents Big C well, that you would like to be featured on social media? And we kind of give them a prompt to go off of, and then we鈥檒l tell them, Okay, we鈥檙e scheduling your store for this month, this month and this month, and we鈥檒l rotate stores to make sure we鈥檙e highlighting employees from all over big C. Not too much focus on just one place employees is a big one as well as the store highlights. And then we do post a lot of now hirings, which will do very well on Facebook because we have a lot of shares and comments on those. But as far as videos go, and Chris is our drone guru there, he will take a bunch of drone videos, we鈥檒l compile them all into a short video clip. Try to find some fun music to go along with it, trending audio. And we normally do post videos across all platforms, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. But as you probably know, and I know Sadie mentioned this in the previous podcast, reels do so much better on Instagram than Facebook, and we have seen that firsthand time and time again. Facebook loves to see a still photo, Instagram loves to see a video.
Chris
But I think in the reels too, that鈥檚 kind of Caitlin, and I鈥檚 opportunity to have fun with it. Obviously, doing posts and highlighting employees is great. But like she said, you know, finding whatever a trending song is, you know, there鈥檚 times where I look out my window to our back lumber yard. And I think, Oh, that鈥檇 be cool to do a video of. We have train tracks that run parallel to our store, and every day we have trains come in and drop off lumber. And I鈥檓 like, Oh, that鈥檚 cool. Let me just go walk outside, throw the drone in the air, pair it with some music and see what it does. But if anything, it鈥檚 fun, it鈥檚 more so just getting that, because a lot of our customers don鈥檛 even know that we have lumber delivered to us almost daily by by train tracks, which is kind of unique.
Sally
I think I saw that and it that is, that was a very cool video opportunity. But I totally agree with you, Caitlin and Sadie, I guess that I鈥檝e also seen reels just not do well on Facebook. And my theory for that would be that Instagram is a much more like entertainment based platform, and so I think that鈥檚 maybe why video like does well there, because a lot of them are we try to make them entertaining. And for Facebook, I鈥檝e seen Facebook so much more community based like so 麻豆传媒 journal does dealer profiles, and we get a lot of photos based off of a dealer that we highlight, and I will only share like a couple of those photos on Instagram and LinkedIn, but when I post them to Facebook, I will post all of them because, because the company will repost it, and then the people that are in that community will be like, Oh, I know this person and like, I know this person driving the thing, which just doesn鈥檛 happen on the other platforms. It鈥檚 those just are not as community oriented. So I鈥檝e kind of, yeah, that鈥檚 just something that I鈥檝e noticed. Have you guys also kind of noticed your content performed differently on the different platforms that you鈥檙e on.
Caitlin
Absolutely, yes, and I know a lot of it has to deal with how many followers we have. On Facebook, we鈥檙e close to almost 4500 followers. In on Instagram, we have about 800 so, I mean, there鈥檚 naturally going to be a difference in like, comments, shares there, but I would say on Facebook, a lot of our posts do very well. I don鈥檛 know if it鈥檚 the algorithm or what, but we鈥檒l post something, and if you get one comment, another personal comment, another person, and it鈥檚 just a snowball ripple effect, which is great because then your post gets exposed to so many more people, whereas on Instagram, it seems like a lot of times, posts can either do really well a reel or kind of fall flat and just get your typical 2030 likes and move on and call it a day.
Chris
And I think LinkedIn, LinkedIn brings a different effect, which personally, LinkedIn feels more professional to me. You know, posting a picture an employee highlight to instagram or facebook always seems to do really well, but when you post it to LinkedIn, you might not have as many contacts that are. Close and know, say the employees individually, it鈥檚 a lot of those professional relationships that you know, Sally, like you and I, we just kind of, I think, stumbled upon each other on LinkedIn. We never really knew each other. And so do you just get different reactions depending on what you post on LinkedIn? We have a lot of our customers also have LinkedIn profiles, and so they鈥檒l tag us in a build or or we鈥檒l post something if we have, like a vendor show, and we鈥檒l tag them as well. Lots of interactions like that. It鈥檚, it鈥檚 a little bit less personal than than Instagram or Facebook. Whereas, like I said, if you post a picture of an employee, those do extremely well, and you get positive comments, all that good stuff.
Sally
So I had kind of a question that I was thinking about earlier today, and we sort of touched on it with you guys mentioning your employee, employee focused social media posts. How do you see your employee base interacting with your company page on the social media platforms? Is that happening? Because you guys, how many employees do you have?
Caitlin
We have a little over 300 employees right now. To answer your question, that鈥檚 interesting. We have, funny enough, a lot of retirees that鈥檒l comment on our Facebook posts. Like very frequently, we have a lot of loyal retirees, but we also do, I mean, I think a lot of people know that Chris and I have really been trying hard on social media to push for it and push for this culture of employee focus. So we鈥檝e gotten really great comments shares from our current employees, but also previous as well. I know our VPs of the east and west will re share our Facebook posts a lot of times. Our president will comment, especially on the employee focus and, you know, say, great job. We鈥檙e lucky to have you. So I think when outside people see that engagement, you know, it gives it that personal touch of, wow, look. They all actually get along. And this isn鈥檛 just fake on social media. It鈥檚 we all do get along.
Chris
I鈥檒l tell you, we posted a picture of our president cooking, cooking. Now I think it was hamburgers or hot dogs, and that post blew up. You know, with current, I love that. Current and prior employees, of course, you know they loved it, you know, seeing him get, you know, as his sleeves rolled up. And so we had a lot of comments, and had a lot of fun with that one, people like to see
Caitlin
Bill face on our Facebook page.
Sally听
Do they Okay? Well, that鈥檚 good to know, right? And that鈥檚 such like, such a Yeah, I鈥檓 sure people love to see him in that state too, like so friendly and so relatable. Share with us, yeah, what kind of tools you guys use to stay organized and also kind of, if you guys get together and just kind of plan two weeks worth of content. Or how does that work?
Caitlin
Yeah, so Chris and I actually meet every week for about an hour or so just to go over brainstorming, scheduling out content, seeing what鈥檚 coming up. And we use a program called HootSuite, which can be linked to Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram all in one. So it鈥檚 a very efficient platform we can schedule content out for as far as what we need. So I would say right now, we aim to post at least one to two times a week, three if it鈥檚 a great week. But there鈥檚 nothing more satisfying than being able to look at your calendar and see what you have scheduled out. It kind of takes that weight off your shoulders, and okay, if we can take a step back, if we have a slow week, it鈥檚 all right, we鈥檝e got the next month scheduled out. So I think it really just allows for us to be in a good head space and think creatively, and we kind of add filler posts whenever we need to.
Chris
Which is why it鈥檚 good to have that, that kind of archive of photos and videos, because you鈥檙e gonna have times where you you don鈥檛 have a company event, or you don鈥檛 have a huge home being built, and you鈥檙e just like, you know, okay, we and we do. So we try to, you know, schedule things out. So we try to do at least one employee highlight a month, at least one store highlight a month. But things slow down, you know, in the construction industry, you know, typically in the colder months, winter and so we鈥檙e, you know, shoot, what do we have to post? And, you know, sometimes we鈥檙e scrambling, but that鈥檚 where, if you schedule it out, you kind of have that bird鈥檚 eye view of. Of what you鈥檙e looking at, and something doesn鈥檛 creep up on you, and next thing you know, you鈥檙e stressed.
Sally听
Yeah, totally it can feel so, yeah, it does feel like when I have my content scheduled out, I feel sometimes like a distance between, like the present and my content. I鈥檒l look at my calendar and be like, What do I have posting today? But, you know, I I made that, I made that piece of content, like three weeks ago, and I鈥檓 like, I just feel some distance, which sometimes I don鈥檛 like, because I think also social media is spontaneous and all this kind of stuff, but it is. It鈥檚 honestly necessary, I think in order to have, like a really well thought out.
Chris
Yeah, content scheduled, sometimes we鈥檒l pop in just like a story here or there, if it is something spontaneous, you know, a vendor stops, and whatever it is that might be interesting for people to see that we deal with on a daily basis. Take a quick picture, video, whatever it might be. You know, maybe the sales guys messing around and just posting a story that way. It鈥檚 just an added piece that gets thrown out there for for people to see. You know, it鈥檚 not, it鈥檚 not anything that鈥檚 groundbreaking by any means. But like we mentioned earlier, having just like those, those personal posts where you actually get to see an employee and who they are goes so far in the eyes of like customers or whoever鈥檚 looking at it.
Sally听
I think you guys do a tremendous job. I think you highlight your company really well, and also talking about creativity and all this kind of stuff. A couple of my favorite ones, which you maybe might know because I鈥檝e maybe commented on them, were, what does the C and Big C stand for that鈥檚 so creative, right? And that was a lot of fun, yeah, I don鈥檛 know. So I鈥檓, like, kind of curious. And another one it was, it鈥檚 driver appreciation day or week. And I just loved that you guys had those photos in there. You鈥檙e highlighting your employees. But it鈥檚 also to this really cool and fun and upbeat song, and like I鈥檓 vibing to it while I鈥檓 watching it. So, yeah, just just to compliment that you guys, I think you鈥檙e doing a really good job.
Chris
Thank you. We appreciate that. The Big C video, I think was a lot of fun for us, because we did get to, I mean, we went and we we talked to employees, customers. I think we even saw some local construction guys at one job site. We didn鈥檛 even know who they were. We just went and asked them, and, you know, they they were, you know, some good fun, as you know, we got a lot of interesting answers as well with that. But so many people don鈥檛, you know, they know. They know Big C we鈥檝e been around forever, but they have no idea what the C stands for, and it鈥檚 just one of those little interesting tidbits that kind of goes unnoticed for so long.
Caitlin
Yeah. And the thing about that video, too, is Chris and I had talked about that video for months, and it kind of kept getting put on the back burner, and we鈥檇 revisit it when we鈥檇 have some downtime, but something like that is a good example of it doesn鈥檛 need to be done right then or there. That was basically a filler post that ended up performing very well, so I am glad we stuck with it.
Sally听
Yeah, totally. And that鈥檚 kind of something I noticed too, is like with 麻豆传媒 as the Social Media Coordinator for 麻豆传媒, like I have my predictable posts, you know, things that I do consistently, like promoting the podcast, or just other things like that that kind of happen consistently, and I鈥檓 posting about them consistently, but then you get, you know, an idea, or a day rolls around, like a holiday or driver appreciation day, where you have an opportunity to, kind of like, think of something new. And I find a lot of those times when you鈥檙e kind of surprising your audience, that they can kind of perform maybe better than usual, depending on the post.
Caitlin
But absolutely, I think sometimes for the holiday post as well. I know, personally, we try to stick away, or stay away from just your basic Merry Christmas, or, you know, Happy Fourth of July. But if you, like, you said, kind of do an unpredictable post and make it a little bit more creative. That鈥檚 when you get that light bulb and a lot more interaction on Facebook and Instagram.
Chris
Yeah, and I think it鈥檚 important, obviously you want to, like we were just talking about, plan out your your posting, schedule whatnot, and plan out some of your posts, just so you are prepared. I would say, don鈥檛 restrict yourself to that. Though. If you. An idea that pops up, you know, maybe go, go out there, like, think about it. Of course, you know, you want it to look good, but you don鈥檛 have to overthink things. One of our best posts, which Kayla and I were talking about this yesterday, was a post from last February. One of our employees just sent us a random video of what was it some of our trusses being dropped off. We have some huge trusses, you know, 80 feet, whatever it is. It was literally just a semi pulling away from trusses as it dropped it off. And I think, I think Caitlin put some music to it, but it, it鈥檚 probably like our best performing post ever. And it took maybe 20 seconds to throw it together. It was, we were just both so shocked. And we鈥檙e like, we spend hours, if not days, sometimes, on these posts. And then here鈥檚 one that just, it鈥檚 just a clip that someone sent us, and it鈥檚 outperformed everything. So you never know how your audience is going to react.
Caitlin
Yes, always just post the video. You never know how it鈥檚 going to do.
Sally听
So so true. You just gotta send it.
Caitlin
I feel like there鈥檚 so many times where I sit here very hesitant on, yeah, why not do well, I don鈥檛 know if we should post that. Yep, just do it.
Sally
Just see how it performs. Do you guys track metrics at all?
Chris
We look at them. I wouldn鈥檛 say that we live and die by it. You know, obviously seeing your likes getting comments are what everybody hopes for. I personally don鈥檛 focus that much on like, impressions and whatnot we do. I would say we keep track of, obviously, how many followers, you know, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, we we obviously, one of our goals when we first started this was to grow the accounts. You know, they鈥檙e very, I guess, stagnant. At the time, they weren鈥檛 gaining many new followers, and so we did see, and we tracked it back then a lot, as we were posting these new, more personalized videos, you know, posts, we would see our followers increase, obviously, and that was good, good for us, because it was meaning it was kind of starting to expand a little bit. You know, our footprint was social media, whereas before it felt very not personalized, not really like who Big C was. So when we start putting that new content out there, and we鈥檝e had customers come up to us, employees will tell us if they see us out, you know, we love this post. You guys are doing a great job. I was in a conference in Vegas recently, and some guy came up to me. He鈥檚 like, You鈥檙e big C, right? He鈥檚 like, I love your social media. And I was like, Oh my gosh. Like, wow. Other people, other people are actually, you know, looking at our stuff and seeing it. So that鈥檚 wonderful.
Sally
Yeah, yeah, my conversation, I was talking to Hamilton Building Supply last week, and they also said that they get some networking opportunity from their social media accounts, like people coming up to them and wanting to talk about it. Okay? So you don鈥檛 track metrics, but you you watch them, and you notice them, and you do let them kind of guide you, in a sense, where you notice that certain posts were doing better. It鈥檚 like, okay, well, I鈥檓 gonna follow that.
Caitlin
And I think it鈥檚 awesome. I know you and Rick had mentioned this on the first podcast, measuring the ROI from social media. It鈥檚 so hard to tell if there鈥檚 a direct correlation between social media and sales. Who knows, but I think Chris and I as a team, our goal is to just remain consistent and as long as we鈥檙e getting our people and products and services exposed. I mean, we just, we hope for the best, and we go for it.
Sally
It speaks for itself. I think you guys are building, you鈥檙e you鈥檙e spreading the big C name in your local communities. You know on Facebook and Instagram, connecting with your builders on LinkedIn like these are not those are important relationships, and it鈥檚 social media. So that鈥檚 what I think you know, is is important about it. Okay, so one more thing I kind of wanted to ask you guys about was a post that I saw you make on Facebook a couple weeks ago, and I was like, Oh my gosh. What happened? This post had like 150 likes, a bunch of shares, and it was just a text of you guys explaining a specific situation that happened to you? Do you kind of want to share what happened, how you guys responded, where things are at right now, this situation?
Caitlin
Yeah, so we got put in somewhat of an unfortunate situation a few weeks ago where a post was made on Facebook, and it was completely wrong information, and our name got drug into it, so we felt the need to address it quickly. But this just shows a little bit of the negative side of social media and how misinformation can spread so rapidly without being fact checked. So that鈥檚 why we felt it was our due diligence to make a post addressing what had happened, and we got it out there. We got great response and feedback from it. The account was shut down that had made the negative post, and it is water under the bridge at this point.
Chris
Yeah, it wasn鈥檛 fun to deal with, but I think we handled it as well as we could have. That was the first time it happened to us. And it happened. Unfortunately, it happened. Started happening on a Friday afternoon, end of the day, Oh, no. So most people had gone home already, and over the weekend we yeah, we addressed it as much as we could. And then I am proud of our company. As far as how we did handle it, we got together first thing Monday, had a meeting with our president, and wrote up the statement that you had seen, which politely addressed kind of a lot of what we were we were seeing, and it as you saw or and mentioned so many likes from our customers, employees, people who know Big C as a company and deal with us every day. It was such positive feedback that it made me feel good, considering how the whole situation had started to where it ended up with having, really, having a lot of people have our backs that that was a good feeling.
Sally听
So was it a person, or was it like a spam account that originally made the post? It was a spam account. It was a spam account. Wow, it鈥檚 like some random ghost that just decided to spread lies about you guys.
Chris
Caitlin said it, it was basically all misinformation, like there was an address for a location. Wasn鈥檛 our address, a picture of ours got somehow attached to it, and it got shared, and just boom, it blew up. And we鈥檙e all like, what is going on? What the heck happened? And it took us a while just to figure out what the issue was, because then once you figure it out, it鈥檚 like, okay, how do we fix this? You know, who do we contact? You know, message that, you know, Facebook, or whoever it is, do we message the account? And so it was definitely a learning experience for us going forward, and I think we will be better. No, I don鈥檛 think we鈥檒l have that issue again.
Sally听
But, yeah, yeah, that that sucks, and it鈥檚 totally unwarranted, and it shows the, I mean, social media. It鈥檚 like this infinite it鈥檚 like this infinite platform where, like, that kind of information can spread so large. But also it shows that your response also had this same effect, where it鈥檚 also spread so large, and there was a really positive response to your guys鈥檚 response, so you guys just hit him right back, which is good, good to hear. I鈥檓 glad that it all is water under the bridge.
Chris
Yeah, yeah. We didn鈥檛 want to draw more attention to it, but it was also a situation that we did feel needed to be addressed, because it wasn鈥檛 totally, you know, it had nothing to do with big sea lumber. So we, we eventually said, All right, you know, there鈥檚 more good that鈥檚 going to come out of this than bad. And like I said, from that post on, it鈥檚 just kind of dissipated, and we鈥檝e moved on.
Sally听
The ghost is gone. Good, yeah. So to kind of just wrap this conversation up, it鈥檚 been lovely to talk to you guys, just about how you make your content, what you like to focus on, what you find does well your analysis of social media, I think, a question that I am asking all of my guests at the end is, what piece of advice would you give to, you know, another 麻豆传媒 dealer who maybe wants to start on social or feels a little stuck, just based off of your experience? You know, what would what kind. Of insight and knowledge would you share about how how to do this?
Caitlin
Yeah, so I鈥檇 say just start small, be consistent post as much as you want or however little you want, and just go for it. Don鈥檛 be afraid that the post won鈥檛 perform well. It鈥檚 okay, not every post is going to another little tidbit would be to look at other lumberyards posts as well, kind of see what they鈥檙e posting and feed off of that.
Chris
Yeah, I agree. I think you you have to have fun with it like anything. You know, even in our normal jobs, you have to like what you do in order to for that to show through on your posts. So Kayla and I, you know, we love getting out and chatting with the employees. It鈥檚 still fun to hear about them, like, because we鈥檙e just kind of in our own bubble the majority of the time. So it鈥檚 great to get out and see see the other stores. But yeah, have fun with it. Don鈥檛 take it too seriously. Sally, you mentioned it earlier. If a post doesn鈥檛 do well, it鈥檚 gone in a couple days. Anyways, you know, down your feed, it鈥檚 it鈥檚 not the end of the world. And honestly, we hit on a little bit with the metrics. You can look at the metrics, I鈥檓 sure they鈥檙e great, and they definitely will help your account grow. But don鈥檛 rely solely on that. Like I said, you can post the simplest video, and next thing you know, that鈥檚 your best performing one, and you鈥檙e just kind of like taken back. So have fun with it. Take a few risks here and there.
Caitlin
I think another thing too would be post things that you would personally share. I think I brainstorm together with Chris and we think, you know, what鈥檚 something that I would want other people to see or that I would want to share on my Facebook page that I would be proud of? Kind of go from there?
Sally听
100% Thank you, Chris and Caitlin, so much. I so appreciate you sharing your knowledge with me, and that鈥檚 it.
Caitlin
Yeah, thanks, Sally, thanks for having us. We鈥檙e honored. Yeah, we had fun. Yeah.
