Josh Dirks (@joshdirks) is a serial entrepreneur with a track record of success in digital marketing and sales.
After becoming the highest grossing sales rep for Door To Door in 2006, he went to Entercom, a national digital and radio broadcasting enterprise where he introduced the concept of narrow or slivercasting to better target and reach listeners. He also encouraged a multi-media marketing approach of incorporating the new field of social media marketing, but met serious doubt in the value of it.
Soon after, he left and started Project Bionic in 2009, one of the 1st social media marketing agencies in the US where they created “The PB Way”, a scientific approach to social media marketing that mixed creativity with business intelligence to drive real tangible growth, in fans and ultimately customers, for any business.
11 years later Project Bionic is 38 clients big with 40 employees and major clients who’ve stuck with them for years like Nalgene, Amazon, Taco Time, and local Northwest favorite, Ezell’s Chicken.
This conversation is valuable for anyone who has considered or even doubted the power of social media marketing in driving growth for a startup. Whether you’re an e-commerce startup, a local restaurant, fitness influencer, or a mammoth brand, Josh shows us how to leverage social media marketing, for just a few bucks a day (not kidding).
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Show Notes
- What role does listening play in world-class social media marketing? [1:50]
- How anyone building a personal brand gives up before there is enough “data” (and how to avoid this) [3:48]
- How building a brand through social media marketing, is like building a bonfire [5:23]
- How spending time “being social” (liking, reposting, commenting) is critical to seeing engagement through social media [6:13]
- The have to social media marketing is paying [7:12]
- How posting to your personal social networks is not enough [8:02]
- How do you incorporate putting gasoline into your social media marketing strategy? [9:06]
- For personal brand building, why to create quality content and then poor a little bit of gasoline on it (boosted posts) [13:44]
- Let’s pretend I’m an e-commerce startup selling Tempur-Pedic blankets. What’s the strategy that you should implement, that complements social media marketing with paid marketing? [14:53]
- Erik Qualman’s 60/30/10 rule on content [16:49]
- How to grow using social media marketing: focus on incremental improvement, build awareness 1st, release great content, and have an excellent product [18:21]
- Why some big brands miss their social media footprint [22:14]
- How social, email, and owned apps have become the holy grail in marketing in post-COVID world [22:20]
- Will you do paid marketing with the new client? [25:02]
- How powerful is Facebook’s ad platform? [26:17]
- How Facebook’s ad platform has amazing audience targeting [29:16]
- How having a large email address list is gold for Facebook advertising [30:16]
- Where can we find you? [31:17]
- Any asks from the audience for you, or Project Bionic? [32:29]
Links from Episode
- Connect with Josh: LinkedIn | Twitter | Website
- Project Bionic
- Cheerios Twitter
- GM says Facebook Ads Don’t Work
- Mark Zuckerberg
- Newswire
- How to Boost Posts in Facebook
- How the Facebook Algorithm Works
- How and why to use the Facebook pixel
- Erik Qualman
- What is a Unicorn (startup)
- What is Statistical Significance
- Benjamin Disraeli quote on statistics
- TikTok
- Apptentive (mobile customer feedback)
- Contact Project Bionic
- Contact joshdirks.com
- Josh Dirks Twitter
What did you learn about social media marketing from the episode? Comment below!