We were lucky to catch up with KATHY PICOS recently and have shared our conversation below.
KATHY, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s talk about social media – do you manage your own or do you have someone or a company that handles it for you? Why did you make the choice you did?
Even though I do have an assistant to help with my administrative duties, I still am very active in the management of my account and it’s interaction with brands and establishments, and in particular when it comes time to execute a campaign. I am in contact personally with the companies that I work with. I’m on the phone all the time.
KATHY, 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?
First and foremost, I’m a mom and a wife in my 30’s. My life was different when I started out my influencing journey in my 20’s. Back then I would post a lot of the activities I was doing at the time, which included a lot of travel, beach time, and fitness-oriented videos. Although I still do actively post about those things, my life, and my account, has evolved to include being a mother, attending to my family, and building my nest. It was a natural progression for my content to evolve also. Today that includes a lot of home design aspects which has become a passion for me, my family life, home cooking! I was concerned at first that my audience would be switched off because by the new content or my evolution, but just the opposite has occurred. My account thankfully has continued to grow and my interactions with my audience has actually increased. I think the greatest thing an influencer can do with their account is to be themselves. Be authentic, trust yourself, and what you are doing. Today’s audience gravitates towards authenticity. To that end, companies will also gravitate towards authenticity, and in particular when they are looking for an ambassador for their baby, namely their brand. Whether it be apparel, fitness related products, home related products, restaurants, hotels, you name it. Authenticity demands attention and creates followers.
How did you build your audience on social media?
My social media journey began like everyone else’s, with the first picture and the first caption. There is a saying that a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, and social media is no different. My advice is to be disciplined in your approach and to not worry about what others are thinking, or even saying for that matter. I got a lot of resistance from my own circles about what I was posting or what my content was. Nobody understood it and everyone had an opinion about it, but I stayed true to myself and remained on task.
Have you ever had to pivot?
Life is a long line of pivots and adjustments. Every plan I ever created, once implemented, needed a pivot. Embrace change and you will find pivots to be part of the process and once you do that, they will be less intimidating and dejecting.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kathypicos