Karlyn Ankrom is a Virginia-based social media strategist and content creation expert who helps small businesses secure visibility and dollars from ideal customers and clients.

She’s the creator of Fan Firestarter Framework, a framework dedicated to the social media success of small businesses turning lookie-loos into lifelong raving (and paying) fans. Leveraging 10 years of experience in the social media space and a degree in journalism, she uses the Framework in setting up her small business clients for social media success from restaurants to dental practices, and lawyers and online boutique owners.

You can find her serving up no-nonsense talk and heaps of creativity at ohsnapsocial.com and tap dancing her way through her week teaching dance in the evenings at her hometown studio. She lives in Fairfax, VA with her hubby.

• CEO Hack: Tool for creating quick social media videos
• CEO Nugget: Step from behind the security of your logo and show up consistently
• CEO Defined: Courage to share your message, skills, and passion

Website: https://www.ohsnapsocial.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ohsnapsocialkarlyn/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlynankrom/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ohsnapsocial/

FULL INTERVIEW

Check out one of our favorite CEO Hack’s Audible. Get your free audiobook and check out more of our favorite CEO Hacks HERE

Transcription

The full transcription is only available to CBNation Library Members. Sign up today!

Please Note: Our team is using the AI CEO Hacks: Exemplary AI and Otter.ai to support our podcast transcription. While we know it's improving there may be some inaccuracies, we are updating and improving them. Please contact us if you notice any issues, you can also test out Exemplary AI here.

[00:00:02.20] – Intro

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

[00:00:29.80] – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Carlyn Ankram of Osnap Social. Carlyn, it's awesome to have you on the show.

[00:00:39.10] – Karlyn Ankrom

Thanks for having me. I'm super excited.

[00:00:41.39] – Gresham Harkless

No problem. Super excited to have you on as well. Before I jump in, I wanted to read a little bit more about Carlyn so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Carlyn is a Virginia-based social media strategist and content creation expert who helps small businesses secure visibility and dollars from ideal customers and clients. She's the creator of the Fan Firestarter framework, a framework dedicated to the social media success of small businesses turning look-looky loos into lifelong raving raving, and paying fans. Leveraging ten years of experience in the social media space and a degree in journalism, she uses the framework in setting up her small business clients for social media success from restaurants to dental practices and lawyers and online boutique owners. You can find her services up to no-nonsense talking heaps of creativity at her website and tap dancing her way through her week teaching dance class in the evenings at her hometown studio, and she lives in Fairfax, Virginia with her hubby. Carlyn, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

[restrict paid=”true”]

[00:01:41.00] – Karlyn Ankrom

Let's do this.

[00:01:41.90] – Gresham Harkless

Let's do it. So to kick everything off, I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit and hear a little bit more about what lets you get started. Can you tell us your CEO story?

[00:01:51.09] – Karlyn Ankrom

Of course. So I started my business, as a side hustle in two thousand fifteen. You know, I was transitioning away from my first job right out of college to a larger startup environment. And I actually made my first employer my very first client. So that was like a very interesting transition overall, because I was exposed to the Internet on an everyday basis and seeing all the different people really kind of creating their own thing from virtually nothing and building that fan base and that audience, and I was so intrigued. So, again, I built it on the side. OSNAF Social, I built on the side for five years before taking it full time for myself in July of twenty-eighteen, just a few days before my thirtieth birthday.

I don't know if you would call that, like, the midlife crisis, but it was one of those things where, you know, I knew that I always wanted to run the show. Enough was enough. Quite frankly, I was tired of building someone else's dream when I could be building my own and securing my own freedom and financial future and all of that good stuff. So I finally took the plunge and, you know, leveraged my degree in journalism that, you know, shout out to JMU, and Harrisonburg for giving me a huge diverse skill set, that expands more than just the writing piece. Right? So, that's been it's been a journey, and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon.

[00:03:14.19] – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I love that. You have kinda taken, your dream by the by the hand, so to speak, and and taking control of that. And I think that it's so funny because, I feel like, especially in the digital marketing space, that journalism piece is so huge just because I think as people just try to figure out exactly how to get them, you know, their business and their name out there and what it is that they do, it sometimes comes back to their story of exactly, like, how they got started, what it is that they do. And to be able to craft and tell that in kind of a way in which you can help to achieve whatever result in so many different ways is definitely one of the I think one of the best skills, but I'm a little biased because I was an English major.

[00:03:50.50] – Karlyn Ankrom

Yeah. Right. Like, it's like that framework, and having that foundation is so huge. And, I mean, I even remember going back to my news, my news writing class, everyone was going around the room asking what people wanted to do with their degree. And I actually didn't have an answer and turns out what I wanted to do actually wasn't invented until my senior year of college where, like, web two point o started becoming a thing. And I was like, what's this now about social media people using it to, like, leverage their business or get the message out to, you know, journalists in that time, you know, in a twenty-four-hour news cycle, like, I wanna learn more. And so Yeah. Yeah. Crazy.

[00:04:25.89] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. It's crazy. It's so funny because, you always read those things where it says, you know, a lot of these, top jobs weren't even created five years ago just because of technology, because of social media, and all these things have blossomed and and and bloomed into what we have now. It's kinda crazy to think about that now, but, of course, like, so many other the other things that we might see in the next five to ten years as well. Absolutely. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I know I talked a little bit about your framework. Could you take us through that and as well as that, you know, exactly what you do to kinda help support the clients you work with?

[00:04:59.80] – Karlyn Ankrom

Absolutely. So the fan fire starter framework, try to say that five times fast. I could I just love alliteration as an English major. I think you understand. Right? Like, it's just setting up that consistency. Anyway so really it starts with the pulse check, which is basically an audit of all your social media channels to kinda put a stake in the ground and say, you know what? Like, this is where we're starting from. So we have something to measure against at a later date. That's huge. Next, of course, is building that strategy that aligns with your business goals and objectives and how all those digital dots connect together, because we definitely want your social media efforts to result in some ROI, but we need to be hyper-specific about what that actually is. Then we build it up into the implementation process. So this is where we create all the fun content, that creativity, get those juices flowing, and then trickle it down and push the content out.

Right? And then trickle it down to managing the community questions, messaging, having that engagement back and forth, creating that social conversation right in the name of keeping social. Right, you hear a lot of people out there talking right now about that. And then it goes into the analytics, which I think a lot of people, I think that's where the most of the educating that I do personally with my clients is is that analytics piece. Right? Understanding what works, what doesn't work, how to read the numbers, and then how to take those numbers and implement them back into a strategy. And then it kind of becomes this very cyclical process of just going through. Because if you don't touch those points every single month or every single week, depending on the goals overall, then you've just been posting for the sake of posting and, you know, that's not really helpful for anyone.

[00:06:36.69] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. No. I appreciate you for breaking that down, and I think you're right where I think one of the benefits of this media these mediums, I should say, digital marketing mediums is that you get that analytics piece. And I think I even remember you. We were on, a few, panels together. And I think that I remember you mentioned that as well too about how that is one of the big leg-ups you have because you have that data. But as you said, you know, so eloquently, if you have that data is great, but being able to use and strategize with that data is is is an entirely different level. So being able to kinda implement that with your clients is definitely pretty awesome.

[00:07:12.60] – Karlyn Ankrom

Yeah. Making data-driven decisions. I mean, because I just found working with a client who, you know, was a floral designer, an events designer. You know, she's a big deal in her space, and she was like, oh, my Instagram is, like, where it's at. That's where people are gonna buy from me and relaunch her course. Right? I was like, okay. Great. Running the ads did the thing, but the data showed me the opposite. It showed me that Facebook is where her fans were buying from her more than Instagram. So we had to flip the strategy. So you can't just rely on a feeling. You really have to be strategic with all of your efforts and be okay with pivoting as the data determines, like, what decision you need to be making. Because, again, you can't like, the audience is the audience. The market is the market. And you have to, a lot of the time, swallow pride and go with what they want.

[00:08:05.10] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. Instead of trying to, you know, force down what we think or what we want to believe, I think that's exactly what the data is for us, for us to analyze, look at, to make those, you know, strategic, decisions as well too. And I think that you know, not, paying attention to that, we're just doing ourselves a disservice, and I and I appreciate you for, you know, obviously doing that and reminding us of how important that is as well. So Absolutely. I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce. And it could be for yourself personally or your business. But what do you feel kinda sets you apart and makes you unique?

[00:08:35.79] – Karlyn Ankrom

I think it does go back to data and, you know, and I'm hearing this a lot more now from my industry, which makes me extremely happy, is it's not about the followers. People get so wrapped up in the vanity of, like, can you get me ten thousand followers? To which I reply, sure. How much money do you have? And do you care if they're engaged or not? Because ultimately, if say I mean, this won't happen. At least I pray that it won't happen in the next hundred years. But if Facebook and Instagram or any of these social media platforms decide, you know what? We're done. And they shut the door and they're like, thanks everybody for playing, but we're out. The level of pandemonium that would probably happen would be insane.

But also even more relevant to make sure that, again, all those digital dots in your digital presence are connected. Because if you don't own your fans or followers on these social platforms, they are there to be a captive audience. Yes. Because billions of people literally are hanging out on these platforms. But if you don't have an email address in your CRM for that fan, then you don't really have ten thousand followers. It's just a different way to think about it because I always use social media. I mean, that's my bread and butter. That's what I love as the starting point. It's not the end all be all. You can't get wrapped up in the followers. Like, get that email, get that sale. Because if that follower isn't engaging, isn't taking like, raising their hand and taking that next step, then you need to earn that trust over time.

[00:10:09.70] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. No. I love that, and I feel like I heard from somebody that, a liker or follower never, you know, paid anybody's bills and never, you know, made actual sales. So it's as you talk about that conversion, like, getting that trust factor, you know, to a level where you can get their email address, but it only even step beyond that, be able to have them take action in some type of engagement, whether that be buying, signing up for something, just doing something beyond that because those social media platforms, as you said, you know, on a very hopefully, we say extreme example where they can just shut their doors. It's a reality where that has happened, I think, where a lot of times the organic reach or something has decreased to where you don't reach as many people as you have before. So you have to rely on that actual engagement and those people you're really connecting with.

[00:10:54.39] – Karlyn Ankrom

Yeah. Absolutely. And I think too, like, the same thing from a paid perspective on a social platform. If you're like, I'm only using Facebook ads to market your thing. You might wanna consider other ways to do it as well that are on the digital platform, whether it's Google, you know, pay per click, or have, like, for you creating an amazing optimized website so people can find your content organically just searching for your solution. So, You know? Absolutely.

[00:11:20.60] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. There's more than one way it's gonna cut, so to speak. And I think having all those tools at your disposal for the ebbs and flows and the changes that happen in each of these different platforms is insanely important. So definitely, appreciate that. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

[00:11:44.10] – Karlyn Ankrom

So I have two. Okay. The one is a tool, for creating quick social media videos. I think that perfection often leads to paralysis and you don't do anything. So creating content quickly that's effective and can give you all the tools, InShot is one of my favorite video apps for social media because you literally click a button and it changes the canvas size.

[00:12:13.89] – Gresham Harkless

Nice.

[00:12:14.70] – Karlyn Ankrom

Allows you to brand it with your colors. I don't have the paid version, but I can still, like, add, like, and close captions on my video pretty quickly. That's a great hack. I use it for all of my clients who have social media videos that they wanna get out there into the world.

[00:12:31.89] – Gresham Harkless

Exactly. Exactly. No. I love that, that hack. And so now I wanna ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something you would tell a client, or if you were to hop into a time machine, you might tell your younger business business self.

[00:12:46.50] – Karlyn Ankrom

There were a few. I think to echo what we kinda just talked about in regards to the video is, like, step out from behind the security of your logo. It's very important to have a solid brand, step out from behind your logo, and show up consistently for your off for your audience because especially right now in the current like, well, even this will be literally just our the way that our businesses are operating. It's so important to build that know, like, trust in a very personal way. The best way to do that right now is through video. And maybe I'm alone in that, but, you know, I like interacting with people in real life, and the next best thing right now is video. You know, I think that's my biggest nugget, and I tell that to all of my clients is, like, step out from behind your logo, show up consistently for your audience because you never know who's looking for a solution like yours.

[00:13:43.39] – Gresham Harkless

I love it. So now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO, and we're hoping to have different quotes, and unquote CEOs on this show. So, Carlyn, what does being a CEO mean to you?

[00:13:54.00] – Karlyn Ankrom

So being a CEO to me means having the courage to share your message, to step out from behind your logo, to share your skills and your passion with others around you, whether it be clients, team members, colleagues, other industry pros, despite of that initial fear that might have suited your way in the beginning of your entire journey.

[00:14:21.10] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, Carlin, truly appreciate that perspective. Appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know and, of course, how best they can get a hold of you and find out all awesome things you're working on.

[00:14:35.39] – Karlyn Ankrom

Excellent. You can hang out with me over at o snap social dot com. I'm also on Instagram. All my icons are over there. If you want behind-the-scenes, Instagram is the best place. Oh, social, karlyn, k a r l y n. And, I have a free Facebook group. If you want some free nuggets about social media and the new things that are coming out seemingly every single day. You can find that at the Oh Snap Social Club on Facebook.

[00:15:01.89] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Thank you so much again, Carlin. We will have the links and information in the show notes. And I think definitely one of the best things we can always do is to make sure that we know really, peep people that know their craft and have become experts. So I appreciate you for creating so many different ways we can connect with you and get more information. So, again, we'll have that information in the show notes, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

[00:15:22.60] – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

[/restrict]