155 – The Queen of Facebook: Tom interviews Mari Smith

Episode 155 – Mari Smith
[00:00:09] Welcome to Screw the Commute. The entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money, with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multimillionaire, Tom Antion.

[00:00:24] Hey everybody it's Tom here with episode 155 of screw the commute podcast we got Mari Smith Oh what a deal we have Mari Smith is here she's loved everywhere she goes either in person or online and she's the top expert the top that I know of anywhere on Facebook and I'm sure she's going to give us some great tips today about that. So I'll introduce her to you in a moment. Now episode 154 I hope you didn't miss that. That's one of my Monday training sessions called more business skills that rock. It's kind of a companion to episode 145 the previous Monday's business skills that rock. And these are important skills that virtually all successful business people have. So check that out. I got a great freebie for you. Thank you for listening to the podcast. It's my twenty seven dollar e-book how to automate your business. I mean I've used this. The tips in this book the handle as many as one hundred and fifty thousand subscribers and 40000 customers in 40 countries around the world with one part time temp person. Think about that. And it's maybe seven and a half million keystrokes. I'm just one of the tips in the book. So make sure you download that at screwthecommute.com/automatefree and I got another little special gift for you over there. Now our podcast app's in the iTunes store you can check that out at screwthecommute.com/app where we have complete instructions to show you how to use all the fancy features so you can take us with you on the road. All right. So you know around the I always say the turn of the century folks which is kind of crazy to have to say that nowadays but that's when I started my mentor program and people at my level were charged in 50 or 100 thousand bucks upfront to teach what we knew to clueless business people who refused to learn it but I'm a small business advocate and I knew many small businesses could never afford that kind of upfront money. So I made all the gurus mad by charging a relatively small entry fee to my program that also got a percentage of profits that was capped. So you're not stuck with me forever. So for me to get my big money you had to make way bigger money and it caught on like wildfire. Seventeen hundred students later it's the longest running most successful ever mentor program in the Internet marketing field. So check it out at greatinternetmarketingtraining.com. I'll tell you more about it later.

[00:03:06] All right. Let's get to the main event. Often referred to as the queen of Facebook, Mari Smith is considered one of the world's foremost experts on Facebook marketing and social media. She is a Forbes top social media power influencer. She's the author of The New Relationship Marketing and co-author of Facebook marketing an hour a day geez I spend that much trying to figure out how to do it. I can't wait to buy that book. Forbes recently described Mari as the pre-eminent Facebook expert. I mean even Facebook asks her for help. She is a recognized Facebook partner. Facebook headhunted her and hired Mari to lead the boost your business series of live events across the U.S. and she also consults with Facebook for their blueprint certification programs. Mari is an in demand Speaker I've had the privilege of being on the stage with her and she is she just fires everybody up and she's just a delight to be around. She travels the world to keynote and train at major events her digital marketing agency provides professional speaking training and consulting services on Facebook and Instagram marketing best practices for Fortune 500 companies. Don't let that hold you back. She's got a lot of stuff for us little people here so can't wait for her to tell us about it. She helps with branding small businesses and direct sales organizations. Mari is also an expert webinar and live video broadcast host and she serves as brand ambassador for numerous leading global companies. Mari, are you ready to screw. The commute. I always wanted to say that to you.

[00:04:57] You're so funny.

[00:05:00] It's been so long. I don't remember last time we spoke together.

[00:05:05] While the while I'm not mean Tom. You know we go back. I'm not kidding. It really is probably to the turn of the century.

[00:05:11] All right cool. Here you go. Here's what's not cool Mari. You didn't age and I did. What's up with that. That's not fair. Yeah yeah. That's your big super secret there everybody thinks you're 12 years old and you must know social media. So tell everybody what you're doing now and then we're going to take you back. Clearly they're beginning to see how you came up through your entrepreneurial journey because people here are fired up to either start a business or improve the one they have. So what are you doing nowadays.

[00:05:46] Oh thanks for asking. So I am indeed the preeminent Facebook marketing expert and I work with businesses of all sizes all over the world and to really master the Facebook family of apps. So that's the main Facebook Platform Messenger Instagram WhatsApp and whatever else they got coming down the line. This new crypto thing right. Right now in 2020 that's going to be awesome.

[00:06:09] How do you keep up with this stuff.

[00:06:11] Well yeah. Every day I just tear my hair out. It is sometimes crazy making to be honest. But I do I have a variety of sources I have people on my team I subscribe to numerous different publications some paid some free and there's always new and springing up but I have things like keyword alerts as well as Facebook groups and there's really no one source is actually impossible to keep up.

[00:06:33] But you know I mean don't you have a direct line to somebody in Facebook being a partner and all.

[00:06:39] I do have a direct them to numerous different departments but it really is not as easy as it sounds and I have so many people ask me almost daily. You know that they've got stock on Facebook their ad accounts frozen or they lost their password or whatever but you know there are some bigger issues I don't mean to play that down but like Facebook tends to be very very siloed as an organization and it's really you might have a contact one department.

[00:07:02] But they don't know what's going on the other departments. It's just so massive. I mean gee whiz. So what do you help people with actually.

[00:07:12] Really to understand the power of Facebook and to bring them into the present day. Because I meet so many people. Businesses of all sizes major corporations down to solopreneurs that are trying to market on Facebook as if it's like 2010 and they're frustrated with start getting into any organic reach they're publishing actually more content than they need to which is counterintuitive because if you actually dial it down and you focus more on great content and less of it you'll get more reach more visibility more engagement. Ultimately what everybody is looking for is conversions. Right.

[00:07:48] But with less content you actually and with whatever engagement you get it's actually a higher percentage of engagement. If you have less content right.

[00:08:01] Precisely precisely. And so and so videos are really one of the key components will probably get into this as we chat here Tom. But video is something that Facebook is favoring massively in an exponential way. And last night I was just doing a critique I called my my Mari makeover. I looked do a little screencast cast for for a client or colleague in L.A.. Literally I can look at I can look at anybody's Facebook page and give you know six 10 12 different pointers for immediate improvement and when I say improvement not just you. So yeah it's important to get that organic reach up. There's also paid reach which you really want to get to even just a couple of dollars can make all the difference to to an individual post performance but then driving it to specific landing pages and having them convert and having the pixel on they're doing some remarketing it sounds like a whole new language. And I think that's what's really a big turnoff for most businesses that they're super busy in the trenches running their business are like holy crap I've got to go and learn this whole new thing that keeps changing while I just won't even bother using Facebook.

[00:09:09] Well that's. I mean I've I've felt that many times and you know I have to teach this stuff and do it not to your level but as part of the whole thing that I teach and it's like Are you kidding me. You know I just learned this super duper I forget what it was called the ad platform they had and they said OK we'll get rid of that after you learn. Now we're just going to go back to Ad Manager.

[00:09:33] Power Editor. Yeah it's really complex. It wasn't easy.

[00:09:36] It took me forever. No we don't want that anymore. All right here's the I'm going to put you on the spot OK tell me the difference between having an event and a watch party. What's the difference.

[00:09:49] Ok. Easy peasy on that one. So anybody can set up an event. It's going to be somewhat kind of like eventbrite like you have a dedicated landing page you can invite people you can post it's almost like having a little mini Facebook page. OK. It's got a wall. You can do content. You can even do a Facebook Live onto the event wall. Where's a watch party. I am so excited about watch parties and I'm not seeing as much uptake as I would like to. Among the marketing.

[00:10:16] You know why. Because we don't know what the heck it means exactly.

[00:10:21] So a watch party is in essence like having a Netflix binge party like you get a bunch of videos you invite some friends around get the popcorn and you sit in there. You're the host. You're the source. You get to decide what videos you are going to watch. So with Facebook you can pick any public video. It could be recorded like it's already exists or it could be live right. The second thing is it's public but it has to be on Facebook. And but the whole thing if you click the little button that says host watch party which you can do anywhere you can do that on your personal profile on your business page inside of a group if it's inside of one of your own groups you can you can host you know a video that is yours. So when I say public doesn't have to be all public but what happens is when you go to pull up that little watch party button it gives you like a suggested play list with different topics. It gives you what's live right now. It gives you your videos if you search for your page. The beauty of it in essence is that let's say you're the let's say you take some of your content you go live I see you using Be Live. And so then you could take some of your content and maybe some pre-recorded edited stuff and now you get to be the host and also do some Q and A. They even have an area where you can you can interject and go live. You can like like pause the watch party videos and then hop it and go live that you're almost like doing a little interactive narration presentation Q&A.

[00:11:49] Now here's the thing. Me and the rest of my crew here have been frantic about this for I don't know six months or so. I had the great privilege of having a Hollywood production company do a documentary about my dad and myself called the American entrepreneur. And so we're supposed to do an online premiere and I'm thinking how am I going to do this. How am I going to make it so they can't stop it and play it and replay it and everybody's at the same place in the documentary when I stop and go live and deal with comments and everything. So would the Watch Party be appropriate for that.

[00:12:28] Perfect absolutely perfect. Yep. In fact if I were you I would even do it in a group like you could put the video on your page. I don't know just that it's just the trailer or the Full documentary.

[00:12:39] No when the time is for the premiere I already have a page with the trailer on it. But when we do the final you know premiere of the whole thing it's an hour long and stop you know when to stop commercial breaks and comment mentioned comments and you know that kind of stuff.

[00:12:56] Yeah watch party be perfect. Yeah. On your page or in a group.

[00:13:00] Mm hmm. All right well we'll look into that deeper than that. But. So anyway let's take you back. I mean the clear back to where you were a little kid. Were you entrepreneurial then was your family entrepreneurial. How did you come up through your journey. Did you ever have a job. How did you transition all that stuff.

[00:13:17] Oh my God. I was painfully shy painfully shy child. I grew up in the absolute boonies of B.C. Canada. Both my parents were Scottish but they met and married and had their family in Canada where I grew up in a tiny little Quaker community.

[00:13:32] How many people.

[00:13:35] Like 200.

[00:13:36] Oh you got me. You got me beat. That was five hundred in my home. Two hundred.

[00:13:43] Tiny tiny little place. My dad was the local baker. He built a log cabin. We had goats. Goats were my that my best friends chickens. You know vegetarian lived off the land flat broke you know wonderful life. I didn't really appreciate as a child right. My parents divorced when I was twelve and my dad decided to emigrate back to Scotland. And he actually got custody of myself and my four sisters. So single dad raising five girls mom stayed in Canada and remarried again. He continued to be an entrepreneur as a baker professional bakery also was a foster parent just love kids. And I worked all my life I left school super young at 16 and a half leave school at 16 in Scotland and I was actually a year ahead of my grade so I could not wait to leave the work for leave and go right into the workforce leave school and but I was. I love typing I love short handed secretarial work administration and evolved into sales.

[00:14:40] For other companies or for your dad.

[00:14:42] Oh no always for other companies. I was an employee. My entire career from leaving school just almost 16 all the way up to 32. And then in 1998 when I was about 30 31 32 I got this I started to finally get that entrepreneurial bug and I really wanted to launch a business and doing public speaking training. Development skills and I was working with a lot of lawyers at the time was working you know offering services to lawyers for speaking skills and whatnot. So it was right at that time late 98 to all these plans together Web site marketing materials I was just going into my bank for small business loans. I'm really launched this business. I really you know get it going and out of the blue I got this invitation to come to San Diego from my long lost friend I hadn't seen it. Just to tell you it was one of those defining moments in my life I just knew I just knew. I didn't even have to think about like Oh my God.

[00:15:43] Yeah. So you're in Scotland thinking about starting a business there and then you got a call to San Diego.

[00:15:48] I sure did. I sure did.

[00:15:50] Was it easy to immigrate at that time.

[00:15:52] Well it was before 9/11 so thank God for the NAFTA. And I literally came now. I have a Canadian passports Canadian passport which really came in handy with NAFTA. And then I have a British passport but I actually came into my British passport I hadn't renewed my Canadian one in a long time. I arrived January 11 1999 I had 50 British pounds to my name is about a hundred bucks two suitcases a 30 day return ticket and I knew this one person and because I had to come in with a return ticket. I had paperwork but I got myself 30 days and I tell you I made it right up to date twenty nine and then I'm like OK this is it. You got to give me a sign Universe Great Spirit Gods.

[00:16:32] You're at San Diego at this time right. Yeah. So stay with friends or what. Yep yep OK.

[00:16:39] I said it was and then you know my father being a baker I was actually one of my loves in my early 20s I went to night school and a decorated I learn how to decorate for three years. Actually I used to make novelty cakes wedding cakes. No my God no got no time to make cakes.

[00:17:00] That's how you stay so thin too.

[00:17:04] I do like my bread and my cakes. This was it was wild it was like this local bakery like you know a day 29 called me like Mari we need some help to decorate some cakes. Can you come in this weekend. I'm like thank you said it's all the sign I needed. So but yeah Fast Forward. You know I met a wonderful lady you end up being my sponsor I bartered my immigration attorney I built my web site in exchange for his legal fees. I'm like I like America. So yeah. But then it was 2007 I got involved with Facebook and I got invited.

[00:17:40] Well what happened there was the seven years there.

[00:17:45] Yeah well that was the time round about when I was when I knew you. I mean I had my kickstart cart account I was doing online marketing email marketing information product. Holding training speaking building e-mail less doing OK you know is doing well is do well and you know nothing super successful that people would say and then come 2007 as I always like to joke that I'm I'm an overnight success.

[00:18:11] When did Facebook start because I don't think we even have. Oh I'm thinking in 90. Yeah I started in 94 but we did have blogs until late 2004. So when did Facebook come along.

[00:18:25] So they initially open began like open their doors in 2004. And those first two years was only for colleges you had to have a .EDU address.

[00:18:36] So wouldn't have made it wouldn't nobody noticed in the regular world.

[00:18:41] No. Exactly it was blowing up in the schools but. Yeah. And so I was like may actually May the fourth Star Wars Day 2007 I joined Facebook. Well that was an ominous day. And as you know it was similar to that time and I got invited to San Diego is another powerful defining moment. Goosebumps you know like angels singing and like there is something profound and powerful about this platform. I just absolutely knew I'm going all and I'm going all in with this platform within three weeks everybody I knew like are you on Facebook or are you on Facebook let me show you how. And it was just I just fell in love with it and it and that was long before he was really using it for business it was right. All right. You know Rolodex you could just network and reach out and friend anybody and what was cool Tom is I had like all these people that who had long admired out their books who went to their seminars like and Deepak Chopra Tony Robbins a lot. And they kind of metaphysical world and I'm always and I'm like chit chatting with him on Facebook how can this be so awesome. Back in the day when people are really excited. That was like Oh my God. Yeah. So powerful so yeah. That's as I say the rest is history.

[00:19:58] Well yeah but it's part of history to us. How did you get really involved with Facebook coming to you for advice.

[00:20:05] Well I just you know. Every year I pick a one word theme for my year and in 2007 into 2008 it was focus which I've always loved the word focus is an acronym for follow one course until successful. And I just was so dedicated to Facebook and there was a lot of others.

[00:20:24] You're lucky it wasn't MySpace.

[00:20:29] MySpace back in the day it was just a mess like my head hurt when I would. So I just. There was something really beautiful about the design of Facebook and I just I just had such enthusiasm and passion for it and I went all in I just was like if you saw my bio because I got on Twitter not long after. But everywhere on my Web site my bio and my Facebook all my social channels were just saying you know I'm sorry I didn't call myself like a top Facebook expert or premier or anything like that. The title evolved over the years but but it was very clear when you saw my bio. That's all I was doing. I saw other folks were kind of trying to jockey for position and calling themselves you know the king of Facebook or the prince of this or whatever what was crazy Tom in their same bio they'd be seeing things like they're also a massage therapist I'm making fun of them I don't mean to but at the same time it's like.

[00:21:31] Oh you're absolutely right. Everybody was good. The thing is they could swing a dead cat and run into a social media expert.

[00:21:39] Right. Exactly. But I think that was really the key right there. But big huge part of my success and that I wasn't even trying to quote fake it to make it kind of thing is already had all those years experience being an Internet marketer and doing business consulting and I always wrote my entire careers whether employee or an entrepreneur. I've always had these two parallel loves and that is with people and technology relationships and the Internet. And I'd even written some information product products around relationships couples singles you know I actually got certified as a relationship coach one time and so then when social media came along and became so prevalent starting '07 '08 '09 and some of my friends would literally say to me Mari It's like social media it was made for you. But then on Facebook reached out. I know a couple times I wrote an article for them I think like in 2012 ot 13 or something and then in 2015 I actually went on tour with them. They recruited me to to be one of their ambassadors and chair these events and speak and moderate me all these local small businesses at their booster business tour. And then just again last year I reached out asked me if I want to be part of this blueprint certification as you mentioned in your intro. So it said you know it's kind of a on off relationship with them like I say they're so siloed and so I you know I love being an independent. People often think I am an employee and I know I'm gonna have gone on the other side and just work for them.

[00:23:18] But you focused. That's probably the bottom line or focus then you became known in that arena and the people noticed that. That's awesome. So with the focused theme what would you say as a small business owner with the vast things that Facebook has to offer. What couple things should they focus on to improve their business. I mean we got paid advertising we got organic reach we got chatbots and Messenger and Instagram. Where would you start somebody to use this platform to improve their business.

[00:23:53] Okay great question. I would go start out. You just mentioned Instagram which is great. So I've been saying for about two years that Instagram is Facebook's next Facebook even when they had like over the last couple of years Facebook was like in a lot of trouble right. They got all that really bad PR because is a congressional testimony election interference all that jazz. They did a survey in the U.S. and clear 50 percent of people did not even know that Instagram is owned by Facebook. So so whereas you know everybody's down on Facebook reputations low trust is low.

[00:24:26] So maybe that's good that they didn't know.

[00:24:28] Yeah but I love Instagram you know right out of the gate. I would just simply say you know if somebody is fairly new to Facebook and Instagram which still happens in today's Western world take a good look and just use it as a user maybe give yourself a week or two to just kind of poke around and see what you like about the interface desktop and mobile for both Instagram and Facebook. And also if you can do some research if I know where your peeps you go definitely in both places your audience your target demographic. Hundred percent is on both platforms.

[00:25:02] I've getting a decent response from stories. You know it's actually not Instagram stories just regular Facebook stories because they're so easy to create. And although you've got to keep after it because they disappear on you. But I got a good response I got one hundred fifty sometimes the other day just on some weird picture I put up that led to my Facebook live that led to people being on it. So but anyway there's so many of these little things here. Like do you have training on this for people.

[00:25:36] I do I do and actually do.

[00:25:40] How do you keep up with the training.

[00:25:42] Well you know like I mean I'm I'm I'm fortunately I am an early adopter so I love poking around and I love noticing new things you know Instagram just rolled out slightly new design recently that got more prominent buttons and you know different features there but you're right with the story. So by the way for your listeners there's actually half a billion five hundred million daily active users on Instagram Stories and the exact same over on Facebook Stories. And so it's a hot hot commodity right now and that's Facebook is going all in see back earlier this year Zuckerberg said that the future is private. He's just keep say the future is private. What he means by that. You definitely you mentioned chat bots so really adopting a messenger chat bot.

[00:26:26] There's more than a billion and something on that every day right.

[00:26:29] Yeah yeah there are. Yeah I agree.

[00:26:31] The last I heard but I don't I don't know if that's even current a lot of people.

[00:26:36] Yeah about 1.2 billion on Messenger and so integrating the story format also with paid because you can place you know really strategic posts in the paid format on both Instagram and Facebook Stories and the conversion comes through them swiping up and Facebook is gone really all in with Instagram. And we just mentioned earlier even about like with their cryptocurrency or their digital coin. So can you imagine like even like a year from now where the whole goal here is to get people to buy without leaving the app. And so if they've got this ability to purchase with one tap the money transfers instantly low fees you know obviously right now they're going after the unbanked as they call it more like you know Africa and India and whatnot but it would become mainstream and in a few years from now we'll all be using these digital coins and yes you still need web sites. Yes you absolutely need to own your own audience and have email less but you do that in conjunction with having your social media audience in your chat bot audience and being able to reach people where they are on how they want to be reached.

[00:27:45] And I always have to emphasize this that's got a plan for mobile people using mobile because we did a promotion not too long ago 420 people responded. Four hundred and nine were on cell phones. So a lot of people sitting home working on stuff on their desktop or it doesn't exactly translate all the way to the to the cell phone you need to check everything on your cell phone and even the interface is a little bit different on the cell phone. So you have to plan for that kind of stuff.

[00:28:18] So what's you speaking about if I could just interject a video because as you mentioned the feature is going all in on video and there is a format that works really well vertical and so obviously story format is called full vertical is 9 by 16 when you shoot vertical on your phone. But there's a great app called Wave.video video creation tool. Full disclosure my brand ambassador for them.

[00:28:42] Okay. Yeah we'll put it in the show notes.

[00:28:44] I would love them and use them every day even if I was not a brand ambassador and because they you can go in there and the click of a button you can take a square video and turn it into whatever format you landscape because Square One by one you got number 16 for stories.

[00:28:58] There's a lot of technology behind that to make that happen.

[00:29:02] So cool. What I want to say is the vertical format is working really well on Facebook. It's actually four by five. Yeah. Do you know Jay Shetty I love following Jay Shetty. And five million viewers he knows a thing or two about facebook he's doing well over there. So that's the size that he use as a dimension he'll use a lot is a four by five.

[00:29:29] Yeah that's I mean it's interesting because the vertical format on Pinterest works great too because it's so wide. But you can make a real tall skyscraper and it really stands out among all the things that were there.

[00:29:42] Yeah. Well like you say for mobile like with a four by five. What's cool about that is it takes up a lot of the phone screen but you can put it like a square video then you've seen it the letterbox format black bars or a colored bar top and bottom and you can put some text overlay in it really stands out. 80 percent of videos are watched with sound off.

[00:30:01] Yeah. So yeah you have to have some type of branding in. Without the sound on because. Boy is this the just stroll by you know if you're not careful you'll get charged for the view if they sit there long enough. So what do you like best about work of yourself and what's the worst part.

[00:30:19] I like being my own boss. I'm a pretty good boss. For the most part sometimes really hard on myself. I'd say probably the worst part is like just structure like. Like not kind of having enough starters as I worked from home of course.

[00:30:35] And you're located where now.

[00:30:37] San Diego. I've been here 20 years. And I live kind of northeast inland close to kind of the animal park place called Escondido. And I love it. From the 15 Freeway and so like as to the name of your podcast occasionally like like if there's an event on a speaking at a local event like all of a sudden find myself in heavy traffic and like what the heck.

[00:31:06] I used to fly I was a charter pilot back in the day and used to fly into Escondido all the time was great. But you had to watch out because people parachute in all over Lake Elsinore and you don't want to snag a few of them on your wing on the way down.

[00:31:25] Oh my God. You know what the funniest thing ever that I remember you talking about when you were back in your comedian days is when you used to drive around with a hearse. Oh on that trailer that said Tom's discount funerals.

[00:31:36] Yeah actually it wasn't a hearse. It was the. It was like a Nissan Sentra with a traveled with a little utility trailer. And I'm dressed like a priest and I got a little flag on the car that says Tom's Discount Funerals.

[00:31:51] Forgot the part about dressed like a preacher. Imagine people absolute freaking out.

[00:31:59] Oh my God. I had to quit doing it because I was on the beltway of D.C. which is like the second busiest highway in the world. People are going to wreck you know because of course I was there to do the last rites. So. So tell people how they can find you and what kind of you are. You told me about a product that you have would be perfect for us right.

[00:32:24] Yeah. Yeah I do. They can go to MariSmith.com/videokit.

[00:32:30] Okay we'll have that in the show notes.

[00:32:31] Yeah. And so I get asked all the time like you I mean I do a lot of Facebook lives and I just have this really really nice simple inexpensive setup for both mobile and in home studio and so it's a whole gear last but they also give you some tips.

[00:32:46] Are you on that system right now.

[00:32:51] Oh yeah yeah.

[00:32:52] Sounds perfect. Beautiful.

[00:32:55] But I'm saying I know that. But me too. Every day is that. But I mean you sound beautifully. I mean it's you know cause I usually cringe. I just did a Facebook Live the other day on how to be a terrible podcast guest. MariSmith.com/videokit. What all is involved in it.

[00:33:19] So they first off they get a series of free gifts and the first one being my whole video gear list for both creating a very simple and inexpensive in-home studio with a DSLR camera people always say to me how do you get that depth of field. Well first of all don't use a cheap webcam.

[00:33:37] DSLR is the way to go but that's a little bit more investment.

[00:33:41] Yeah. So I usually start with a good microphone. People forgive bad lighting they won't forgive bad audio. So a good microphone and you can upgrade and get yourself some good lights and then the fancy camera just fancy a DSLR camera a few hundred bucks you know. And that can be the last thing. But then also have a whole mobile there's you can do so much with your phone so much you know. And then I have a whole free download that helps you to get better reach and engagement both organic and paid on Facebook. So yeah that just walks him through all of that.

[00:34:17] Great. And this is a paid thing or this is a paid product.

[00:34:21] It starts out free. No it's totally free. And at the end they do have a real special offer for them too to check out my fast Facebook results course is very very inexpensive. Got a special deal on that if you want.

[00:34:36] Right. Right. Yeah. That we want to take advantage of you. Like I always have wanted to take advantage of you my whole life. So this is the way to do it. So I started out at the video kit that leads you to the other stuff. Beautiful beautiful beautiful. All right we've got to take a brief sponsor break and when we come back we're going to ask Mari what the typical day looks like for her. Maybe maybe one on the road and how much time you spend then on the road nowadays.

[00:35:05] A lot probably about a third of the year.

[00:35:07] A third of the year now. Yeah. So we'll see what how she is in such great shape because she is and what it's like on a daily basis for her.

[00:35:17] So folks if you'd like to have someone to hold your hand through all the kind of stuff you run into with online marketing while you come to the right place. My retreat center is here broadcasting from there today it's part it's the only facility of its kind in the world which you stay here for an immersion weekend on as part of a yearlong program where we hold your hand and I believe in one on one I don't do anything group because if I have to talk to an advanced person then the beginners are lost. If the beginner is afraid to come because they're lost all the time and if I talk to the beginner the advanced person is wondering why they came in here. So it's one on one everything with all my crew. So you can't get that anywhere else on earth. I double dare you to try getting the unlimited attention like that but you could check it all out at greatinternetmarketingtraining.com and it also comes with a scholarship to my again the only facility of its kind in the world. It's a dedicated licensed internet marketing facility sanctioned by the State Council on Higher Education in Virginia and it's a distance learning school and the tuition is nineteen thousand one hundred dollars and you get it as part of the deal. You can either gift it to somebody or use it yourself so check it out at greatinternetmarketingtraining.com. I'd love to help you.

[00:36:50] All right let's get back to the main event. Superstar Mari Smith is here with us and Mari tell us. Let's say if you're in the office at home what's the typical day look like what time you get up do you work out the eat. Answer e-mail. How does your day flow.

[00:37:06] Okey dokey. So I have to make myself workout. I'm not one of those people that absolutely loves it.

[00:37:12] Because you don't need it that much. I mean naturally you know thin beautiful person.

[00:37:21] I workout several times a week. A week. Yeah. My I do eat very well. I am not a super early morning person I often tend to be up a bit late so I might not go until about 7 or something somewhere between 7 and 8 even if I've been up late and then I just get going. And usually at my desk by 9:00. And there for a lot of the day I try to take a look breaks here and there and go out. I live quite close to a nice lake. So do that. But yeah it's just intense. It's like a whirlwind sometimes nonstop. If as if it's a day where I'm getting camera ready then I'll go ahead and you know take an hour hair makeup wardrobe I'm very blessed to work with a stylist for over seven years. She selects all my outfits my earrings and accessories. Nice got nice neck line for the camera and so that part's nice. And then do my broadcasts. I love doing brand ambassador work.

[00:38:27] So that person would come in on the days that you're gonna be doing live stuff.

[00:38:32] She definitely works with me when I'm doing my travel in my speaking engagements on stage but in terms of going on camera we've already got like a whole rack of outfits.

[00:38:40] She's got them all ready for you.

[00:38:43] I do my own makeup and I love having it done. And that's that's long sometimes I'm still working at six thirty seven stop for dinner break and then I try to have an evening with my partner. He he works from home as well and we just like we work together a lot. He does his own thing but we also work together in my business a lot which is really fun. We call it our Super Brain.

[00:39:14] So are you on Skype or Zoom. I mean I kind of kicked Skype to the curb recently.

[00:39:20] I know what you mean.

[00:39:23] Yeah I mean it never went uphill after I think Microsoft. Yeah yeah. And just do these podcasts and I you know I harp on people to have good audio and then they try their best to then Skype screws it up.

[00:39:39] Yeah Zoom's very very solid reliable and I typically do do a lot of zooms and meet with with my clients through zoom and I do consulting and training and putting contracts together negotiating brand ambassador work is one of my favorite things that I do.

[00:39:56] What's the definition of that. Is that a spokesperson.

[00:40:01] So so for example we're talking about Wave.video. I've been an ambassador for them for two and a half years and I actually about six months ago decided to go exclusive.

[00:40:11] Now what was the link.

[00:40:15] Wave.video. And the cool thing is they actually even have a free forever account. You make up to 15 second videos which is great for doing the Facebook ad breaks. You want them five to 15. So how that works is our own ongoing and we do different initiatives I did like a video challenge I have a video challenge group that I run for them. We started it last fall and we got about 2000 people in a very short period of time 90 percent of which did not yet have a wave account. So bringing them all these you know fresh new leads and then we do engagement and conversion and really a lot of that wave wants to make sure that people are using their product not just signing up. All right I got an account now so that's a big part what I do is I'll bring awareness I drive awareness to a product or company.

[00:41:05] You just did it today. I would have never looked at it if you hadn't said so.

[00:41:11] Yeah well cause I just know the importance of video for Facebook right and there's a lot of choices out there but this is just yeah it's it's the best. So you know I'll do a Facebook Live I always like it to be educational. I'm never going to hop on there and like really push and push up a product without adding value.

[00:41:31] People know that if you are on there or if I'm on there they're gonna get some value out of it whether they buy anything or not. That's the reputation you want.

[00:41:41] Totally. Yeah. Yeah. So then I get paid to do these videos. Facebook lives events run in groups challenges and I love to get creative with the marketing and come up with some really innovative ways that drives awareness but also creates the conversion and then also creates that that stickiness. Right. Because that's the thing with the subscription services attrition. So we want to make sure that the paying customers are still involved engaged.

[00:42:07] Do you have any specific training or any training you like on the watch party stuff. Because I want to get my people to dive into it.

[00:42:15] You know that's a really good point Tom. I need to bring that out myself. I have not seen anyone doing training on it. I think actually it's not been as successful as Facebook would like.

[00:42:32] So you know I think probably on my Facebook page we could find a training that I did for free and one of my lives. I'll send you the link. So what about when you're on the road.

[00:42:49] Ok so. Oh my God. I always travel with checked luggage. I'm not a light Packer. I usually take two cases and it's just a short overnight. I take all my creature comforts. I always like to get a high a high floor away from the elevator just peaceful. I tend to be an introverted extrovert. I score is an extrovert but I get all people though and I need to have some downtime. I'll just have room service and a hot soak in the tub and bring my candle and my bath salts and just chillax try to go to bed early usually travel with my own pillow things like that. Essential oils just the whole works to basically create this real sanctuary in this right away from home and to just have to get up the next morning and be to be able to perform as an absolute top performer and did you really knock it at the park. For my hosts I don't tend to go to anything extracurricular. I don't like late dinners. I don't really drink alcohol. Kind of boring in all that area.

[00:43:47] Me too I'm allergic. I'm really allergic but I used to live in D.C. People thought I was alcoholic. No. I break out in hives one drop even a liquor in a desert you know and I rarely missed desserts you know. But but it's got liquor I can smell it all away. Yeah I'd break out in hives. Well you know if you're gonna be allergic to somebody you can't find a better thing to be allergic to because I had a nightclub for six years and never thought anything good have come out. All right so you pamper yourself I know you knock it out of the park every time but I mean do you go to like you know the some of the obligatory VIP things where the speakers have to be there or do you blow those off.

[00:44:36] Yeah. So for example I'll be speaking for the fifth year in a row at HubSpot's annual INBOUND conference in Boston. It's coming up in September. There's like twenty seven thousand people there. It is frickin overwhelming. But I will go to the opening party what I do is I tend to be one of the first people to arrive I'll network and schmooze and do all the selfies and all the usual stuff and I don't mind. I love all that actually. And. And then I'll leave early. Like if it starts at let's say 7:00 I'm probably out of there by 8:00. And back in my little sanctuary at the hotel.

[00:45:12] I mean are you doing a general session for 27000 people.

[00:45:16] No. You have to be like a Will Smith. Michelle Obama. I do break for about 750.

[00:45:28] All right. So I'll tell you what I thank you so much for visiting with us. And I just want to ask one more favor of you. The people that listen this we call them screwballs. So what parting thoughts would you have for them to get started to use Facebook to really help themselves out.

[00:45:46] Well the bottom line is this. I think that ultimately people don't know what they don't know. And if you have this kind of filter in your head that's saying oh gee Facebook is just for kids or Facebook.

[00:45:57] That's not really true anymore right. The kids who are elsewhere look.

[00:46:02] They're on TicToc. They're over at Snapchat already.

[00:46:08] But just really you know you really owe it to yourself to dig in and see how you can utilize Facebook and Instagram and Messenger and you know if you're outside the US definitely WhatsApp as well because these companies buys one company right Facebook is going to be around for a long long time and it's one of the easiest most affordable ways to reach your audience. But what you have to do is learn. You got to get the training and whether that's just following someone for free or buying a course and you know you just you just got to do that if you want to grow your business.

[00:46:40] Yeah I mean it's lots of courses on because you know soon like I said I learned one thing and it changed on me so but. But you know you have regular stuff like a newsletter. So tell everybody before we leave all the links and stuff again that you want to know about. We'll have them all in the show notes for you.

[00:47:00] Yeah yeah. So MariSmith.com/videokit but also just MariSmith.com and then also on Facebook definitely follow my Facebook page. Facebook.com/MariSmith and on Twitter. Twitter is @MariSmith Instagram I'm at Mari_Smith. But there's so many different ways you can find different free content on my different social channels and that I have some good stuff on my Web site as well.

[00:47:38] Awesome Awesome well thanks so much Mari for taking the time to be with us. And I am going to run over and find your watch party stuff because that's that's looming over my head. How we're going to do this online premiere.

[00:47:51] So I'm excited for you. Sounds amazing.

[00:47:55] The documentary company saw me speak at a memorial service for Dottie Walters. I don't know if you ever heard of her. Yeah she started me in the speaking business in 91 and I spoke. I was kind of her left coast. There's no she called me right coast Son because I would help her whenever she was on the coast doing or speaking grow rich seminars. Then I was speaking at a memorial service in this Hollywood producer saw me speak and I met her for maybe I don't know 30 seconds and then she started following me for the next couple years and then she has done thirty seven. Mine is the 30th documentary and and she approached me about doing it. I said I thought you had to be dead for documentaries she said Nope. And so yeah it's in the can already and it's came out beautifully. So I'm really excited about it. I'll send you the link to the trailer really. But anyway thanks so much and everybody I want you to go over to the show notes as soon as humanly possible and take advantage of everything this woman has because you know I'm a guy that watches the Internet. I watch the good people and the bad people and the never heard even a smattering of bad about this lady. She's the top of the line. She's honest she's brilliant and you must check her out especially with regard to Facebook. So thanks again Mari for coming on.

[00:49:18] Oh my pleasure. This has been a hoot and I can't wait to share with my peeps as well.

[00:49:22] I appreciate it. So everybody we'll catch ya on the next episode.

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