We were lucky to catch up with Stefani M.C. Janelli recently and have shared our conversation below.

Stefani M.C., looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Innovation comes in all shapes, sizes and across all industries, so we’d love to hear about something you’ve done that you feel was particularly innovative.

Starting The MIC was one of the most innovative things I’ve done thus far in my career; taking a canceled internship due to COVID and turning it into an opportunity to grow something myself. Beginning as just a music blog, I honed my writing skills and taught myself new and marketable skills. A traditional internship would have given me a great experience, but building something myself came with its own set of challenges. I was forced to wear many hats while being my own manager. I taught myself everything from social media, marketing, video editing, and tracking analytics. Everything I’ve learned allowed the blog to grow, and every new skill was a new resume builder. Waiting for opportunities is not good enough; you must forge your own.

Stefani M.C., love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Stefani M.C. Janelli. I studied at Ramapo College of New Jersey with a double-concentration in Music Industry and Music Studies. After my internship was canceled in the Spring of 2020, I decided to create my own opportunity and build upon a project I had started in my senior year. I created a music blog called The Music Insight Column, also known as The MIC, writing about music at any capacity. As the blog began to grow, I was able to find the niche I was most passionate about, Independent Artists. Since then, a blog about anything music, progressed into a platform to celebrate artists, a community, and a business!

The MIC continues to write about what drives us the most, music. We write album, song, EP and concert reviews. We also write other music-related articles, conduct interviews and curate playlists. Just last year, to celebrate our two-year anniversary, we launched a YouTube Series called “On The MIC” where we highlight independent and emerging artists with exclusive live performances only found on our channel! We also now offer artists services including EPK building and release strategy planning to help artists stay independent.

The MIC is very passionate about the independent artist community and strives to celebrate them in any way.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Building your social media presence is crucial in today’s economy. Once I created The MIC’s social media pages, specifically Instagram, I immediately had few followers. It was very exciting! Only when realizing that is not always the case, sometimes they even unfollow. One of the most important things to keep in mind is quality content. It is so easy to scroll past a post on social media, but you must ensure your content is as engaging as possible to make followers want to look at it. Posting consistently is also incredibly important and helps with the algorithm. Hashtags are not utilized enough in my opinion. Broader terms work better and help your profile/posts appear on the Discover page, lending you more visibility and, hopefully, followers. Reels have been essential to the algorithm lately, so creating captivating Reels would be great content. Another great way to grow your audience and keep your current audience engaged is your Instagram Story! Stories can be posted more frequently than a feed post and will constantly keep you at the top of their feed. Remember to use the stickers! Including polls, links, and questions give your followers a call to action.

While I do think it is important to find what social media platform you’re best at, and hone into that audience I think it also helps to diversify. You may not be the best at TikTok, but you can take a simple Reel you’re posting on Instagram and repost it on TikTok and even YouTube Shorts! Repurposing content gets you the biggest bang for your buck. You should have a presence on all social medias. You never know when you can find another fan or customer!

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Funding your business is hard as a recent college graduate, especially when your business revolves around independent artists, a market notorious for little to no disposable income. I invested myself in the initial startup costs, although that was not sustainable in the long run. That’s when you have to get crafty. It is possible to monetize a blog, but adding ads on a new blog isn’t the most profitable. I learned to do a lot of research, read a lot of articles, and watched many hours of YouTube. Knowing what skills you have and what you can offer is key. In a unique business model like a blog or content creation, you must know your skills and what you can offer to create multiple revenue streams to support your business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.themicnj.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themicnj/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theMICnj
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefani-janelli/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/themicnj
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@themicnj
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/user/22ybeltj7aoza7bzdechmmxga?si=62b10e55bcf64b75&nd=1
  https://www.tiktok.com/@themicnj
  https://www.linkedin.com/company/themicnj/

Image Credits
First Personal Photo: Corry Fields | The Reel Artful Eye All other images: Stefani M.C. Janelli