Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Betty Galvan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Betty, appreciate you joining us today. One of the toughest parts of scaling a business is maintaining quality as you grow. How have you managed to maintain quality? Any stories or advice?

I realized right away that I was going to need help in the areas that I am not an expert. I looked at my team, assessed their strengths, and promoted some of them to a management role. For example, we needed to start putting systems in place that required testing team management platforms, so I promoted a team member to Director of Business Development. I also needed an extra set of eyes and ears so I created a Director of Operations role. My advice is to delegate as soon as you start working more hours than you can handle. The faster you can build a team, do it!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a former middle school teacher. Growing up, I loved school, I loved reading, and majored in English even though English was my second language! My husband is also very ambitious and knew he needed to take a risk to advance his career, so I agreed to drop everything and move to Tokyo, Japan, with him in 2006. I taught at an international school there and started to blog about our experiences (blogging was something very few were doing at the time). When our first-born came into the world in 2007, my online/freelance work took off. I became a contributor to educational and parenting websites while building my own blog following. I learned quickly that brands wanted to work with Latina bloggers and were actually compensating us to write about their products in our blog posts. We were using Twitter and Facebook back then to help promote our blogs, and I experienced the actual birth of influencer marketing.

After a move to Singapore and back to NYC, I was then asked to join the sales team of an influencer marketing agency. I quickly understood that social media marketing was the start of something huge. After years of working with influencer marketing, I was hooked. I understood that there were a lot of small businesses that could benefit from understanding the power of social media (especially hyperlocal social media marketing), and I knew I wanted to level the playing field for them. My first client owned a beautiful special occasion dress shop in Millburn, New Jersey, and when others started to see the importance of a relevant and consistent social media presence with substance, storytelling through digital marketing became my obsession.

When I officially launched MFBS Digital Marketing Studios in 2017, we offered Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn content creation and management, plus blog post and newsletter writing services. We have now added social media audits, one-to-one consultations, workshops, and team trainings to our list of services. We take away the frustration many small business owners have with social media — it changes constantly and most don’t have the time to create an effective strategy. We also help bigger teams who create content in-house by working together to maximize their social media marketing efforts.

What sets us apart? We show up! My team and I know the importance of capturing real-time pictures and videos for content. Our clients appreciate us showing up to their conferences, team meetings, real estate listings, their client events, and more. My teacher training and experience in the classroom helps me help others in a clear way.

We are now a team of 11 creative, smart, and hard-working women managing over 45 clients’ digital marketing with a summer internship program that is in its third year. We believe in collaboration and learning from each other too!

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

My educational background and my early adoption of sharing content on social media platforms (over 16 years now!) have helped MFBS build a solid reputation. We also have clients who have been with us for over 5 years and they don’t hesitate to tell others about our team. Referrals are the lifeline of our business, and we are grateful to continue to receive inquiries based on someone’s recommendation. We turn 6 years old this summer! Our team has had very little turnover, and I strongly believe people notice that.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Networking is pretty powerful. When I am in the room with current clients at a networking event, most likely I am introduced to a stranger by someone saying, “This is Betty. Her team runs our social media accounts.” And, of course, our own digital marketing strategy has helped us generate leads.

Putting yourself in front of others consistently (in person or online) is super important. I challenge business owners to say yes to most networking invitations and to be “the face” of their business on social. No matter how uncomfortable we feel some days, if we are not out there talking about our business and our team, it will be hard to stay top of mind in this fast-paced world.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.myfriendbettysays.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mfbsdigitalmarketing/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MyFriendBettySays
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/betty-galv%C3%A1n/

Image Credits
Charissa H Wong Photography (Betty in White Jacket and phone pic) and Serving Up Social, Photography by Rebecca Ryan (team pics)