Behind the Biz: Jarrah Brailey
This week in our Behind the Biz series, we were lucky enough to chat to the lovely Jarrah of Socials by Jarrah.
If you’re looking for advice on Facebook ads or Instagram for business then Jarrah is the girl and social media strategist for you.
She truly went above and beyond with all of the value and advice she provided in this interview — and we hope you love it as much as we do.
Who’s That Girl?
Firstly, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I’m Jarrah, a 20 year old accountant turned social media strategist. I love all things food, fitness & social media [duh!]
How has 2018 been for you so far?
Amazing. Fast. Full of surprises. It’s been the best year of my life, but definitely the most challenging.
I launched my “side hustle” in June, and since then? It’s been all go-go-go. I secretly love it though. I honestly didn’t expect my business to pick up so quickly, so trying to keep up with it this year has been challenging, but also a whole lotta’ fun.
What was it like living in the Blue Mountains?
I love it here. I’m lucky I live right on top of the Kanimbla Valley, so the views are amaaazing.
It’s a really secluded area, which has it’s pros and cons. I love how peaceful it is, but if I want to go anywhere outside of the Mountains? It takes 2+ hours – ha!
What is home to you?
Wherever I can be unapologetically myself.
Biz Stuff
What was your professional background prior to launching Socials by Jarrah?
I was an accountant for a firm right next to Sydney’s Harbour Bridge!
I have always hated maths, tax and anything numbers. I actually dropped out of maths in high school the first chance I got. It still baffles me to this day how I managed to land a career in *exactly* that – ha!
Did you complete any formal studies or are you self taught?
Mostly self taught. But I’m committed to learning every day. In this fast-paced industry, it’s so important to constantly be looking to learn and up skill if we want to succeed.
I’ve done a few small courses, The Digital Picnic workshops, and general 1:1 training with fellow experts; but the majority of my expertise comes from my vast experience with social media marketing for businesses of all shapes and sizes.
What inspired you to choose a path in social media strategy and marketing?
As an avid user of social media since I was just 10 years old, it’s no surprise that social media strategy is my specialty / life purpose!
With what started as a hobby; strategising + scaling the social media of local small businesses, I began to attract a lot of attention from fellow startups, and larger brands seeking my expertise & services to help their business see the same results [i.e. sales, leads, conversions brand awareness + all the other good stuff!]
It was from here that I founded Socials By Jarrah, and I have since continued to educate, train, manage and strategise within the digital marketing space. #livingtheDREAM.
What’s your top three tips for businesses wanting to up their game on Instagram?
Oooh. Ok here are the three I consider the most crucial if you want to stand out amongst all the digital-noise:
Quality Imagery. This might seem obvious but I can’t stress enough how important it is to invest in professional branding photography of both yourself and your work/services/products.
Create content/copy that allows your audience to get to KNOW you. Share information about you & your business that isn’t related to work, but rather gives an insight into who you are and what you represent.
Similarly to no.2, you should also be creating content/copy that allows your audience to get to TRUST you. This is where you get to show off all that expertise / skill / passion. Share stories about your business, your expertise within your industry and your customers. What did your offerings do for them? What problem did you solve? Who’s day did you make? Building a sense of trust around your services & products is essential and will make you the obvious choice over your competitors.
What’s a common mistake that you see a lot of brands make online?
Trying to be someone else. I actually made this mistake when I started, so I know EXACTLY how easy it is to look at others within your industry and feel like you need to be more like them if you want to succeed. I quickly learnt this is probably the fastest road to startup death. While it’s absolutely fine to be inspired by other brands and leaders within your industry, do not think you have to be/talk/act like them. Be unapologetically yourself and build a brand that represents you and your values / ethos.
Okay, give us the goss on Facebook Ads Manager! Is it really as scary as it looks?
Yes – avoid at all costs!
KIDDING! FB Ads Manager is one of my favourite things in the whole-wide-world, so much in fact? It’ll be hard to keep this response short – ha!
As we know, Organic reach is continuing to decline (especially on Facebook). ⠀⠀Gone are the days when you could post on Facebook and get *loads* of engagement & easily increase your page likes.
These days we’re lucky to reach 10% of our audience organically.
Which is why it’s so important we start educating ourselves on FB Ads Manager and paid social media ads if we intend to stand out on social media. But guys, please note I am NOT talking about “boosting” content. Facebook Ads Manager is a whole different ball game (and it’s much easier to win). ⠀⠀Why? Because….
You can target an audience right down to things like their income, whether they have an anniversary coming up, their relationship status, whether they have a friend with a birthday in the next 30 days, the list goes ON.
It allows you to RETARGET people who have already visited your website/made a purchase/added to cart/subscribed to your newsletter etc. ⠀Ever gone browsing through an online store, checked out a certain product, abandoned it, checked FB and BAM… the exact same product is right there at the top of your news feed screaming “BUY ME”? Yep, that’s an optimised FB Ad right there.
⠀Yes – it’s a lil’ bit creepy lol. But from a marketing perspective? GOLD.⠀
Do you have a favourite/most memorable project?
Absolutely! Quite a few in fact. But in particular, I worked with the amazing BondiBoost Team as their social media strategist. I worked closely with their director and social media team to develop a comprehensive 12 month, fully customised social media strategy – which subsequently helped them gain 40K+ followers since implementing my strategy over the past month. These guys were such a dream to work for; extremely humble and all round beautiful people!
What was it like launching your own business?
Scary and completely overwhelming! I was just 19 and had no idea what I was doing, but I think that made it all-the-more exciting!
Even though I was a complete rookie and would probably do things slightly differently if I was ever to launch another business, I wouldn’t change my journey so far for the world!
What is your point of difference from other social media experts in the biz?
If I’m being honest, it’s my genuine expertise and solid skill set in both Instagram and Facebook. I’m in an extremely saturated market, and while there’s some incredible social media managers / strategists out there, there’s also a lot of crap in this industry that ultimately gives us social media “experts” a bad name.
I also have a proven track record of social media marketing success — i.e. working with brands with hundreds of thousands of social media followers, to working with brands with a few hundred [and subsequently scaling them to thousands more within a matter of months]!
Do you have any advice for those just starting out in social media?
Honestly? It all comes down to valuable content.
Valuable / quality content is the fuel that will drive the growth of your online tribe.In order to become a go-to person/brand and a thought leader within your industry, you need to consistently create valuable content. It can be in the form of a blog post, an Instagram caption, a YouTube video, etc.Basically? This content needs to help your potential customers with their struggles when it comes to your industry.Ask yourself:1. How can you help your ideal customers/clients?
2. How can your business/expertise help solve these struggles?And THEN…3. What advice/tips can you provide your potential customers with that will help them solve these issues and/or educate them on this topic?These answers? They will generate *loads* of content ideas that will not only attract your target demographic, but will also dramatically increase the growth & engagement of your social media content.
What is the best part about running your own biz?
I’ve found the freedom it gives me to design the exact life I want live has been super empowering. And people tell you how amazing you are ALL the time (even when you seriously don’t feel amazing) so that’s a plus. 😉
And the worst/most challenging?
Personally, the most challenging thing for me is the amount of pressure I put on myself. When you run your own business, you go through something I call the “entrepreneurial roller coaster” — because as entrepreneurs, we literally go through 50+ emotions / mood swings per DAY… but at the same time we love every second. Ha!
How do you use/interact with copywriting in your day to day business life? Do you use it at all?
YES! I’m not a copywriter per say, but it plays a huge role in what I do for both myself and my clients. Whether it’s for blog posts, social media captions, Instagram bios, Facebook Ads and anything in between… copywriting is an integral part of what I do every day.
What’s something that people don’t see/realise that you do (the nitty gritty, behind the scenes stuff)?
I feel like I put literally everything I do on social media (because, #instagramstoryobsessed) so there’s actually not a lot that my current followers don’t know.
I guess one thing would be collaborating with others behind the scenes to organise secret projects; like influencers and influencer managers for my clients, other marketing agencies, content creators, etc.
And of course: what inspires you?
SO MUCH! My parents. My clients. My best friend. My Instagram followers/tribe. Basically anything on Pinterest. Oh, and Cherie Clonan from The Digital Picnic is a huge inspiration to me on both a social media and personal level, her courses are what inspired me to take the leap into freelance social media management in the first place.
Quick Questions
How do you take your tea (or coffee)?
Large Almond Latte. Always.
Fave coffee shops/cafes at home
Anonymous Cafe. I actually used to work there when I was 18 (and got fired) but I’m not about to miss out of the best coffee in my suburb out of shame!
Go to outfit
Anything activewear. But also, I’ve developed a bit of a fetish for turtle necks lately!
Proudest Moment
Being nominated as a Finalist in the 2018 Business Awards!
Ideal Sunday
Anything that involves at least 2 of the following: friends, sunshine, food, Netflix, coffee, naps.
Fave podcasts/books
Podcasts: The Real Her Podcast. The Good Social Podcast.Books: How Women Rise, The Book Thief.
Ultimate travel destination
Anywhere in Europe! I spent 3 months solo travelling in Europe last year and it was incredible.
Where can we find you online?
You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or my website.
