Social Media Agency – International
As part of our Social Media Agency series, we will be interviewing Social Media Agency owners from around the world to see how they began and what challenges their clients face.
First off is Gemma Went, a Digital Strategist, Business Mentor and all-around awesome lady from the UK.
T: Do you want to start off by giving me a bit of a background on who Gemma Went is, a little about the business and how you came to be doing what you are?
G: I’ve worked in the digital industry for around 16 years.
I had my first business about a decade ago, actually, which was a Digital Agency in London. It was more of a physical agency rather than a kind of virtual agency, which is what I have now.
I used to work with brands and corporates, and small businesses on their digital strategies, but at that point, mostly as a Social Media Agency because people were interested in that. I was later actually headhunted by one of my clients, a new agency in London. They offered me a role as Social Media Director, and I was there for a while.
A New Mum
When I fell pregnant with my son, four years ago, I decided I needed to set up a business and work for myself. There was no way I was going to go back to agency life as a new mum.
In fact, I was seven months pregnant with my son when I set my current business up. The aim was to continue working from home, with him, after he was born and when he was about six months old, I landed my first client. I’ve been building my agency since then.
As well as the agency, where I work with corporate brands, over the last two years, I’ve added to that and offer Business Mentoring to small business owners.
I’ve taken all of my experience with businesses and created a mastermind where I work with clients on their Digital Marketing strategies and offer training in Social Media and Online Marketing.
There are so many small business owners out there who have a business model that isn’t working, they don’t have an income plan, and the whole stress of running a business is taking its toll. With my background, I’ve found I’m pretty great with these areas so I now also mentor small business owners too and create the right business strategy and foundation to build on.
T: How do you find it different from having a physical agency to a virtual agency?
G: It’s so much more flexible, and I don’t know why anyone would have a physical agency anymore. I feel it wastes money on rent and bills when you don’t need a physical space to work from. In this digital age, unless you’re a big agency and unique clients are coming in, having a virtual agency provides much more flexibility with your team.
T: How big is your Social Media Agency International team?
G: I have a team of about six or seven people that I use, and two people are on retainer, so they do a certain amount of hours every month for me and also my clients and then others I bring in when I need them. The flexibility is amazing, and I can build teams that are a perfect fit for the client and the project rather than having to shoehorn the team that I already have, that might not be ideal.
T: How do the projects you work on differ between large and small businesses?
S: They’re so different. For example; right now I’m working on a Digital Strategy for a very high end design firm in Dubai which has been amazing. I’m also working on a Social Media strategy for a clothing brand, and it’s retail stores. I’ve also recently worked with a University on their Digital Strategy.
On the Mentor side of things, I tend to work with female entrepreneurs and focus on growing their business. My mastermind group is one of my most favourite things I do. I adore it actually, and have a group at the moment of 8 ladies we started in January, and basically, I’m mentoring them, and they are supporting each other to grow each other’s business.
I’m able to learn from the bigger brands which have more budget to play with and can distil that knowledge and use it for the smaller businesses. There’s a lovely knowledge transfer here which is why I’ve always gone against the grain, and I’ve never niched because I get so much out of working with all these different businesses.
T: That’s so funny I’m the same! I like the variation of what’s going to happen each day, and you learn so much more in the process.
G: I’ve had coaching clients that have joined my mastermind or done one to one coaching and have chosen me because of my knowledge.
T: Let’s go back to the UK brands that you working with in your Digital and Social Media Agency – what are their one of the biggest challenges when they’re coming to you, what are they struggling with?
G: Some of them are still struggling to get their head around social media.
They still struggle with that and how to make the most of it. Another thing clients have challenges with is the internal structure of that, so who should be working on it what’s the workflow. What frameworks do they need to follow to make all of that stuff work?
More often than not, they don’t have the right people internally to work on it. I either train someone there or help them employ someone, or they outsource it to me.
In my mind there should be one big digital engine that’s driving people, creating leads and all on auto pilot, but most clients don’t seem to think of it like that. They have social media in a little bucket over here, and then they have other stuff. I think that’s where they fall because the integration is where you can get some amazing results
T: I agree and in my Social Media Agency, we face similar challenges! Let’s talk about your mastermind before we wrap up. The women that you’re working with they’re obviously all over the world, but curious to hear what their main challenges are.
G: It pretty much is always mindset. They’re being bombarded with so many bits of advice from people telling them what to do with their businesses and don’t know what way to turn. I think that makes them doubt their abilities and so they become quite meek and kind of confused.
Once we have done the mindset work, we get down to business strategy and delve deep into their business. It’s serious business strategy and the process I use with my large corporate clients.
Going through that process seems to help them build their confidence and understand a little bit more about their goals their wishes or desires, how they can do it. By the time we’ve got to the end of that, their confidence is pushed up. Then there is a real mindset switch.
T: Lastly, what are your plans for the business over the next few years?
G: I haven’t spent enough time strategizing my agency, and I want to do that. I’m fortunate to have some lovely people in my team and want to work out an easy way of bringing business in. A way that doesn’t take too much of my time.
I am bringing out my signature course later on this year, which all came from a brainwave one Sunday morning! I woke up and had the whole thing mapped out in my head, and I was like whoa, and I had to run downstairs and make a note of my ideas. It’s a group coaching program, over 90 days.
There’s a potential to turn the program into a book as there is so much info in there. That also fuels my passion of creating passive income streams. I’m a huge fan of this and need more automated products!
T: Gemma, thanks so much for your time!
Gemma has kindly shared a host of freebies which you can also use in your business, so check them out here!