Christina Talks Podcast

Social media is always changing, but so are we. Habits and behaviours change all the time so we must embrace and adapt with them.

In this episode Christina shares a talk she recently did at the UK Recruiter Tech Event.

It doesn’t matter If you are in recruitment or not, these 5 things still apply and social media will not be successful and work in the ways you want it to without them.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The reality is that social media WORKS. If it didn’t help bring business in then people wouldn’t be using it. Regardless of sector, the way to make social media work is based on using a framework and then personalising this to work for you and your business.

• What perception are you creating and is it right for your audience? Are you being human and is it authentic?

• The five things Christina says you need to do for social media to work for you are:

1. Respect the algorithm.

- Content. Make your content consistent and ensure it is of high quality.

- Be Relevant. Are you using trending topics, key words etc.

- Affinity. Think about the end user. Everything you create is for them and will be served to them by the platforms-they will only serve it to them if they think it’s something they will have an affinity with as user.

- Interest and interaction.

- Currency. When was the last time they were on the platform, what will be most relevant to them when they come online? 

2. Keep the balance, your content should sell but not always in the way you think. We need to ‘seed’ the message rather than just asking people to buy, give people content that is of value.

3. Stay relevant. People care about what is happening right now, not yesterday. Make sure the content you share as unbranded content is 100% ticking the boxes of those you want to work with and is up to date with your industry and sector.

4. Be the example. If you are the example on the platform, are consistent and contribute to others you will be known for creating value. It is also a great way to leverage other people’s audiences.

5. Have you followed up? Have you responded?

BEST MOMENTS

01:34: “If it works for someone else why shouldn’t it work for you?”

02:45 – “There are a few core things these algorithms are based on”

06:34 – “At the end of the day, as a user, these social media platforms want to serve that user with content that they are gonna feel an affinity with”

14:40 – “When people do engage with us we want to be someone that’s part of these communities that we are building not just someone who is standing there with a billboard”

16:42 – “We have all become really good at building human connections through a computer screen”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Christina Talks Podcast

ABOUT THE HOST

Christina has been working with SME’s since 2013 to launch, develop and perfect their online presence. In 2019 Christina made the move from employee to business owner of a successful digital marketing agency focused on educating business owners in the use of

social media. Christina is driven by the fact that in today’s world, it doesn’t

matter how big or small your marketing budget is, you can be a major player.

For small businesses, the tools are just as accessible – you just need to know

how to use them!

LinkedIn

Twitter

Website

Today Christina talks with Thom Luter, who runs the Progressive Podcast Agency. Thom has been working with hosts and producing podcasts for more than 5 years now and there’s nothing he doesn’t know about podcasting!

They discuss all things podcasting and Thom gives his insight into the industry, including current trends, the many benefits of podcasting and tech too! An incredibly informative episode, perfect for those thinking about starting a podcast as well as those seasoned content creators out there!

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• We’re still only in the opening phase of podcasting and audio as a content medium. If you haven’t already, now is the time to get started in the podcasting space.
  
  

BEST MOMENTS

00:30 - “There’s nothing that this guy doesn’t know about podcasting”

07:55 - “Podcasting is actually really anti-social”

12:58 -  “There’s the whole section of time where you’re not staring at a screen and these companies haven’t monetised that time yet”

15:06 – “It’s like it’s been reborn”

26:50 – “It’s the most enjoyable form of content to create”

43:27 – “Most people will come for the content but stay for the host”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Christina Talks Podcast

ABOUT THE HOST

Christina has been working with SME’s since 2013 to launch, develop and perfect their online presence. In 2019 Christina made the move from employee to business owner of a successful digital marketing agency focused on educating business owners in the use of

social media. Christina is driven by the fact that in today’s world, it doesn’t

matter how big or small your marketing budget is, you can be a major player.

For small businesses, the tools are just as accessible – you just need to know

how to use them!

LinkedIn

Twitter

Website

There has been a lot of noise and complaints surrounding LinkedIn and the new limitations they have brought in. Christina wants to turn this on its head, explain why this is actually a positive thing and will create authenticity and also what you can now do instead of your old LinkedIn tactics.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• People use software on linkedin for growth and this is something linkedin do not want you to be doing, this is part of the reason for the limitations coming in. If you want to make connections with people, then you should be putting in the effort and the hard work in and make them at a more human level. You get out what you put in.
  
  

BEST MOMENTS

00:17: “I am kinda tired of listening to people complain”

02:09 “It is gonna happen to you sometime soon so look out for that”

03:10 “Are you really connecting with people or is it just numbers?”

07:36 “We have to think smart”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Christina Talks Podcast

ABOUT THE HOST

Christina has been working with SME’s since 2013 to launch, develop and perfect their online presence. In 2019 Christina made the move from employee to business owner of a successful digital marketing agency focused on educating business owners in the use of

social media. Christina is driven by the fact that in today’s world, it doesn’t

matter how big or small your marketing budget is, you can be a major player.

For small businesses, the tools are just as accessible – you just need to know

how to use them!

LinkedIn

Twitter

Website

Content Warning: Graphic descriptions of severe life changing injuries.

In this episode, Christina speaks in depth with Mark Ormrod. Christina first came across Mark in a Clubhouse room when he was talking about mindset, she found herself believing in and agreeing with a lot of what he was saying. Christina then got into contact with him and asked if he would come onto the Christina Talks podcast to share his story and why he has the attitude and mindset he does.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• When Mark was 15 and coming to the end of compulsory education he realised he needed to make some choices. He had some friends that were older than him who were already in the military, so he decided to sign up to the Royal Marines.
• Mark has no qualms about saying how difficult that first year was, both physically and mentally and whilst Mark recognised he wasn’t the fittest out of his fellow soldiers, he realised he had an incredibly strong mindset. He was resilient in the way others weren’t.
• At 19, Mark was deployed to Iraq. He was trained and prepped for this but it felt quite anti-climactic. He was then given an opportunity to leave the marines and he decided to do so, partly due to the birth of his daughter and his relationship breakdown.
• He moved to South Africa and retrained as a bodyguard but struggled to get work, he believes this was due to his age, he was still only 21. He took work as door security at nightclubs but found that he was in trouble a lot of the time and wasn’t doing well financially, this led him to re-join the marines.
• He started training to be deployed to Afghanistan and he could already tell by the type and intensity of training this was going to be different to his previous tour.
• He had been in Afghanistan for over 3 months securing an area and helping civilians with supplies as well as protecting them. On Christmas eve his section were sent on a foot patrol, they had no intelligence saying it would be more dangerous than any other patrols they had previously been on, it was just routine. Five hours in they were about to finish the patrol when Mark lent on and detonated a hidden explosive device. He had split seconds to make a decision and in his mind he thought he was being attacked, in his mind he knew he needed to turn around, after attempting to move several times he realised that his body wasn’t moving. As the dust cloud disappeared around him he discovered that his legs had separated from the rest of his body. He started assessing his other injuries and just couldn’t comprehend what he was seeing. 
• His unit managed to get him back to camp but he then blacked out. He was put onto a helicopter and they thought he was dead. Incredibly a few moments later a medic realised he was in fact alive and they tried a new technique to get fluids into him. This saved his life.
• Mark has an incredible outlook on life since he became disabled. He believes we should all be grateful for what we do have rather than focusing on what we don’t, there is always someone who has it better than you and there is also always someone who has it worse. But, it's also important to remember that it was a journey for Mark to get to this mindset. He has had some very dark times since he sustained his injuries.

BEST MOMENTS

01:25 - “Everything this guy was saying struck a chord with me and this was a guy I wanted to have a conversation with”

04:37 – “For me, your story is uncomfortable”

13:28 – “It was like a baptism with fire”

42:50 – “We’re trained in this situation not to get emotional”

55:58 – “I’m a big advocate for gratitude and being grateful for everything you’ve got”

57:55 – “These experiences create an outlook, something always comes from it”

01:05 - "Just having a really good cry helped"

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Christina Talks Podcast

ABOUT THE HOST

Christina has been working with SME’s since 2013 to launch, develop and perfect their online presence. In 2019 Christina made the move from employee to business owner of a successful digital marketing agency focused on educating business owners in the use of

social media. Christina is driven by the fact that in today’s world, it doesn’t

matter how big or small your marketing budget is, you can be a major player.

For small businesses, the tools are just as accessible – you just need to know

how to use them!

LinkedIn

Twitter

Website

A while ago Christina had an idea of running an event for recruiters and marketing and as a creative and business owner she finds it incredibly difficult to forget about the many great concepts and ideas she comes up with so had to make it happen!

She wanted to create something a bit quirky that would appeal to event marketers and would take them through everything they need to know in one afternoon, so she created the virtual event Recruitment Marketing Congress on the 22nd of April from 2pm!

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• One of the side effects of Covid is that many mid-size companies have had additional time to spend on recruitment marketing. It now felt like a great time for Christina to ‘test the water’ with her concept with Louise from UK recruiter, an expert in events.
• There are multiple sessions at the event including talks from SEO experts, paid advertising, speakers on content and social media and so much more invaluable knowledge and insight.
• There will also be a fantastic session by James Whitelock on how you can use podcasting as a recruiter and how it fits within your marketing strategy!

BEST MOMENTS

03:32 - “The Kim Kardashian of recruitment”

04:52 – “One of the first things recruiters are gonna do is create some sort of web presence…so this session is about what is SEO, how you need to use it and what’s new with google”

06:56 – “We’ll be talking about how to use social, what your strategy should look like…I love doing sessions like this because they are short and sweet”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Christina Talks Podcast

Recruitment Marketing Congress EVENT LINK

ABOUT THE HOST

Christina has been working with SME’s since 2013 to launch, develop and perfect their online presence. In 2019 Christina made the move from employee to business owner of a successful digital marketing agency focused on educating business owners in the use of

social media. Christina is driven by the fact that in today’s world, it doesn’t

matter how big or small your marketing budget is, you can be a major player.

For small businesses, the tools are just as accessible – you just need to know

how to use them!

LinkedIn

Twitter

Website

It will soon be the two year anniversary of when Christina took over her marketing agency, Green Umbrella. It’s difficult for her not to reflect and think about all that has happened these past two years and so today she opens up about her experiences and what her aims for the future are as well as assessing where they are as a business after this first quarter of the year.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Christina can truly say to her team that they are doing an amazing job. She knows that as a company they haven’t smashed every single target but they have achieved so much in a short space of time as well as thrived in a global pandemic!

• No matter if your business is big or small, or experienced in marketing or not at all, Christina can and wants to work with you.
• After the first quarter of this year, Christina analyses how close she is to long term goals as well as targets she set for the business and herself at the beginning of the year. It’s a great way to assess what is and isn’t working and to aid in making the tough decisions that are often needed.
  
  

BEST MOMENTS

01:09 - “I can stand proud, I can tell my team what a fantastic job we’re doing”

07:05 – “Maybe we’re allowing people to stay doing something their comfortable in rather than pushing them”

07:30 – “I have to have the balls to do it”

11:38 – “I’m really excited about where this business is going, I’m really excited about where my personal growth is going”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Christina Talks Podcast

ABOUT THE HOST

Christina has been working with SME’s since 2013 to launch, develop and perfect their online presence. In 2019 Christina made the move from employee to business owner of a successful digital marketing agency focused on educating business owners in the use of

social media. Christina is driven by the fact that in today’s world, it doesn’t

matter how big or small your marketing budget is, you can be a major player.

For small businesses, the tools are just as accessible – you just need to know

how to use them!

LinkedIn

Twitter

Website

Today roles are reversed and Christina is interviewed by Julia Kermode. Christina talks about some top level social media marketing strategies and tips for new business owners in this shorter but impactful episode.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• In the modern world marketing is about enabling conversations to happen and this is what Christina’s firm focus on
• Many people see social media as an easy win, however, it’s not that simple. Just creating an account and adding a post isn’t enough. This is where marketing firms can help.
• One of the mistakes people make is they focus on the social media platforms they enjoy and are comfortable with personally, rather than the ones that would work best for their business.
• The reality is people buy from people. A personal brand isn’t a new thing it’s just been given a name and more of a platform in recent years due to influencers etc.
• Consider the information and value you give in meetings as content. If you make a very good point on a discussion or subject, you should be then using that for social media content.
• When people read your content they should be able to hear your voice. They should be able to visualise you.

BEST MOMENTS

02:14 - “Advertising seems so last century in a way as we are all bamboozled every day”

03:30 – “The reality is it’s not about us it’s about our customers”

10:25 – “On a hit-list [for a client] there is gonna be people that can introduce you to your ideal clients, there will be people on there that you will consider as influencers”

16:05 – “Connecting to who you are, where you wanna be, what your skills are and making sure you are using people who exist already in the community you are serving”

21:00 – “People look at marketing as a cost to their business but it’s not a cost it’s an investment”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Christina Talks Podcast

ABOUT THE HOST

Christina has been working with SME’s since 2013 to launch, develop and perfect their online presence. In 2019 Christina made the move from employee to business owner of a successful digital marketing agency focused on educating business owners in the use of

social media. Christina is driven by the fact that in today’s world, it doesn’t

matter how big or small your marketing budget is, you can be a major player.

For small businesses, the tools are just as accessible – you just need to know

how to use them!

LinkedIn

Twitter

Website

Today Christina focuses on clubhouse and marketing. Clubhouse is a new social media platform and it has created a lot of fear of missing out as it is invite only and just on ios.

It’s a real time, audio only experience that you can dive in and out of. Listen in to todays episode to find out more about clubhouse and how you can integrate it into your social media and marketing strategies.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Everything that happens in the app is in the moment, it’s real time, it’s unrehearsed and that means so many more people join in the conversation.
• There are quite a few complaints from some people about the app. One of Christina’s frustrations is that people don’t understand that the app was launched in Beta mode and it’s not even a year old.
• Many social media platforms have come and gone over the years, Christina feels like right now, because people are so immersed in clubhouse and there is so much interest, it is probably here to stay.
• If you can leverage new social media apps in the early days, when they come to market as they are building, then you will be many steps ahead of other people and businesses.
• When you approach any social media, including clubhouse, every minute you spend on there in a work capacity needs to be purposeful. Christina tries to be really targeted on all social media apps.
• Christina has engaged and met so many people on clubhouse. She has even found guests for this podcast on there. She is not afraid to give people better answers via a different platform and this has worked really well for her.
• Like anything in marketing, being segmented truly works. If you can try and choose 2 or 3 clubhouse rooms to focus on each week that work for your target market you will start to see results.

BEST MOMENTS

04:26 - “The conversations really are the true meaning of authentic”

08:05 – “Honestly I think that’s a load of crap people just need to wake up a little bit”

12:19 – “And I just think, how much of that time has actually been valuable, been purposeful”

20:02 – “It’s got the opportunity to give us massive reward if we use it in the right way”

23:55 - “To get results out of clubhouse you have to give”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Christina Talks Podcast

ABOUT THE HOST

Christina has been working with SME’s since 2013 to launch, develop and perfect their online presence. In 2019 Christina made the move from employee to business owner of a successful digital marketing agency focused on educating business owners in the use of

social media. Christina is driven by the fact that in today’s world, it doesn’t

matter how big or small your marketing budget is, you can be a major player.

For small businesses, the tools are just as accessible – you just need to know

how to use them!

LinkedIn

Twitter

Website

Today is a slightly different episode, Christina talks to a really good friend of hers, Ray Kobeissi.

When Christina first heard Ray’s story of why she started her business and why she does what she does, it truly shook her to the core. So today she wanted Ray to share that story with you all!  Listen in today to hear Ray’s journey to becoming a men’s mental health advocate and how that also led her to becoming a mental health coach, trainer and creating her own podcast.

Sign Up For Jessens' Webinar Here: https://bit.ly/jessenct

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Ray works with business leaders to work with their anxiety management, stress management and to learn and explore who they are and their true identities. She also highlights awareness around mental health, especially depression in men. She talks about depression, suicide awareness, the distinctions between different mental health issues and more.
• Ray also hosts her own podcast ‘Don’t be a man about it’ where she explores male mental health and to give them confirmation that they are not alone.
• Ray sharing her story meant that people then felt at ease and comfortable with her. They would open up more to her and she had automatic credibility.
• 10 years ago Ray was happily living with her family in Dubai. But then there was a series of issues including her Dad’s business going under. She had to leave her father and move to Beirut, this is when she started to see things that children aren’t supposed to see, including an aggressive and manipulative mother.
• At 18 Ray decided to leave home, she had to grow up extremely quickly. Her Dad supported her long distance by teaching her simple tasks like boiling an egg. Then at 23 she found out her Dad died. She was told it was a heart attack but she then discovered it was actually suicide.
• Ray did not have the tools to help her Dad, she didn’t know how to recognise the signs at all. She didn’t want a man or daughter to have to go through what her Dad or herself had to go through. This is her passion and drive for doing what she does.
• Surround yourself with people who are supportive and understanding. Offer this to those around you too. This what really matters.
• There is still stigma around men’s mental health, especially so in the middle east. In her work, Ray still finds it sad seeing the amount of men suffering in silence. She has received a lot of negative feedback around what she is doing but she believes you have to be disruptive and make people uncomfortable to change things.
• You don’t have to define your happiness. You can just take each day at a time and just figure it out as you go along.
• Don’t Be a Man About It, Ray’s Podcast, now has 12 episodes published and she has lots in the pipeline. She has learnt so much from doing the podcast and has developed strong relationships with the guests she has interviewed as well.
• We all need to give priority to our mental health. If you do not feel good deep down then your life will not be good.

BEST MOMENTS

05:35 - “The minute people heard all the experiences I had to face…everything changed”

13:55 - “Make sure you are surrounded with supportive people and understanding people”

17:06 – “I’m just not into that debate anymore”

18:57 – “If I don’t share my story who will”

29:20 – “It doesn’t matter how positive you are there is always something in the back of your mind you want to solve”

45:00 – “If you aren’t ready to talk about it that’s ok but just know that I am here”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Christina Talks Podcast

ABOUT THE HOST

Christina has been working with SME’s since 2013 to launch, develop and perfect their online presence. In 2019 Christina made the move from employee to business owner of a successful digital marketing agency focused on educating business owners in the use of

social media. Christina is driven by the fact that in today’s world, it doesn’t

matter how big or small your marketing budget is, you can be a major player.

For small businesses, the tools are just as accessible – you just need to know

how to use them!

LinkedIn

Twitter

Website

Someone Christina is connected with businesswise posted on social media around a speaker line-up. The speaker line-up was ‘stale, male and pale’. Christina couldn’t get this situation out of her head so wanted to relay her thoughts to you all on her podcast.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Christina hopes to ask this person she is talking about onto the podcast at a later date to discuss this topic.
• On most panels, line ups and events there is lack of diversity. They are usually white, around a certain age and often male too.
• People do want to create great value when organising events so need to choose the right talent, this is paramount but also, we don’t want to just speak to one part of the audience via the affinity score. You are more likely to listen to and engage with someone who is similar to you that you can relate to.
• It’s not as simple as just telling people that they need to diversify. They might not have a wider network or may be relying on people they know are reliable. But the problem is usually because the diverse speakers aren’t taking the first step.
• We need to find ways to get people to speak up for themselves. To gain confidence and get great at networking. Then event organisers won’t find it so challenging diversifying their panels.
• It varies in different industries, some are worse than others for diversity, but offering things like mentorship programmes can help tremendously.
• Christina is vowing going forward to help those around her and put them forward for these panels and events. This is high on her list for 2021 as she has these opportunities to give.

BEST MOMENTS

01:12 - “You do tend to see quite often that those speakers, panels and line-ups are of a similar demographic”

4:20 – “They just don’t step forward and I think the problem is much bigger than the event organisers”

06:30 - “Just creating more and more opportunity isn’t enough, there is some responsibility with the speakers as well”

04:50 – “That imposter syndrome sticking in”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Christina Talks Podcast

ABOUT THE HOST

Christina has been working with SME’s since 2013 to launch, develop and perfect their online presence. In 2019 Christina made the move from employee to business owner of a successful digital marketing agency focused on educating business owners in the use of

social media. Christina is driven by the fact that in today’s world, it doesn’t

matter how big or small your marketing budget is, you can be a major player.

For small businesses, the tools are just as accessible – you just need to know

how to use them!

LinkedIn

Twitter

Website