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

Linda, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright, so we’d love to hear about how you got your first client or customer. What’s the story?

Every single client is always a celebration! Of course I celebrate for my own business, but also for the ways that I can help every single business that I’ve been privileged to call my client.

My first ever client was running for County Commissioner in her local election. We came across each other in Facebook group. I had made a comment about just getting started with a new business in my middle years – and she was getting started with a new venture in her middle years, too. So she reached out to see if I would manager her Facebook page during election season.

I’ve never had another political candidate as a client since then – and that’s not really my target audience! However, she was an amazing first client; I learned so much working with her and her needs were a perfect match for my abilities at the time.

The lesson I’ve taken away is to really lean into who you are and what you uniquely bring to the table. I think a lot of people might think that starting in something like social media when you’re a millennial is not the best move, but, in fact, it’s helped me to relate to my clients, to understand their struggles, and to be able to provide the kind of service that they truly need.

We all love to feel that “me too” connection when we work with someone, so leaning into who you are, what you’re passionate about, and the experiences that you’ve had might just be your best assets when finding your first ideal client.

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

I’m a teacher turned stay-at-home mom turned social media strategist and manager for small business owners! After a big location move and 3 kids, I decided I wanted to make a career change to something that would be more flexible for my family – and would lean into the strengths and experience that I have.
I now offer a variety of social media services, including coaching/ consulting, strategy services, and full-service social media management. My clients are typically women with service based businesses who have been trying to do it ALL in their businesses and have reached a point where their business has grown and they’re ready to outsource things that they don’t love as much or have as much time to do.
Business owners don’t have time to mess with the algorithm, post every day, or figure out new ways of doing things when platforms make changes. But they still know that social media is important and reaches many of their would-be clients and customers.
Because social media is so much more than just “post a few times a week and get clients”, every individual business needs a customized strategy for their business. Although we often think of social media as getting more followers or getting more likes on a post, those things won’t, in the end, be enough to make a difference for a business. Instead, I work with my clients to align a social media strategy with their actual business goals.
I love working with women who are passionate about what they do, are ready to hand off the daily tasks of social media, and want to be actively participating and showing up as their brand. My full-service clients are coaches, digital course creators, and small business owners who understand the importance of social media for their brand, but lack the time and energy to do it all themselves.
This year, I started a new service offering VIP Sessions where I visit my local clients and, in one afternoon, we film and photograph enough content for 1-2 months. Over the next week or two, I deliver all the content to my clients, so all they need to do is copy, paste, and post! (I’m also able to provide a virtual version of this service.)
We all struggle with being consistent with our social media – and that’s one of the biggest factors in actually getting results for our businesses! So, whether you opt for a Strategy Session, ongoing consulting or coaching, full-service social media management, or VIP Sessions, I help my clients to have a plan, be consistent, and get better results for their businesses.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Being flexible and able to make changes at any moment is just one of the things many of us do on a daily basis!

But changing careers from teaching to social media management was definitely an unexpected life pivot for me. My family moved to Central Florida in 2014 with one child. In the next few years, I had two more children, and realized that I didn’t want to re-enter my teaching career.

I considered a few other education-adjacent careers, but as my children grew a bit, I realized that one of the primary tools that I was using as a mom was social media. I have two neurodivergent children, and, before becoming their mom, I didn’t really understand much about neurodivergence. I began following therapists and educators on Instagram and Facebook, and that became one of the key ways that I educated myself. When schools were closed during Covid, I began homeschooling my oldest, and used many of the resources that I found through social media to help me in his education.

I realized that I already had a lot of the skills I needed to become a social media manager and help businesses like these to reach more people and grow their own businesses. I started taking a few online courses and helped out a friend with her social media management to see if this was really the path I wanted to take.

Once I landed my first client, I was hooked. I love learning about marketing, about social media, and how businesses can reach more of their ideal clients than ever before through social media marketing.

It’s not exactly been a smooth journey, though! I have one kid who will just be entering kindergarten this year, and I’m the primary “on-call” parent in our household. So, when kids are sick, forget their lunch, or need a ride to soccer practice, I’m it! Balancing client work, networking, parenthood, continued learning, and all the other things that come with being a human can definitely feel a bit overwhelming at times. As my business has grown, I’ve had to make tough decisions, continually re-evaluate priorities, and be way more flexible than I’m used to being!

Even though those things are difficult, they are also some of the best parts of being a business owner!

How did you build your audience on social media?

I’m about to burst some bubbles for sure! We all want to know the secret, right?? We see the Reels: “I changed this one thing – and got 10,000 followers in one month!” Listen, if it were that easy, we’d all do the one thing and have 10,000 more followers.

It’s not that easy, and what works for one account or brand isn’t necessarily the right move for the next brand.

I don’t have a very big audience on social media, but my intention has never been to have lots of followers on Instagram. Instead, my goals always are focused on my business goals. I’ve been able to keep my business growing without worrying about follower count – and I think you can, too.

If you’re just starting out, you need to find your people. You don’t want thousands of followers following you that will never, ever be interested in your services or what you offer. A smaller audience with aligned followers will be much better for your actual bottom line.

Once you’re very clear about who you are as a brand, as well as your offers or products, then it’s time to get really clear about who your ideal audience IS. We often list characteristics like: “woman, 30-80, lots of money, likes to shop, lives in North America.” This is way too broad, doesn’t speak to any true defining characteristics, and will keep you from reaching your ideal audience. Instead, get super narrow and don’t be afraid to rule people out. Understand on a deep level what the actual problems your ideal clients are facing and begin to speak to those problems.

Once people begin to feel like you “see” them, that you understand their problems, that you get their struggles, they will want to work with you. They’ll be open to hearing the solutions that you offer, and begin to trust that you can actually help them to solve their problems.

Understand that when you’re just starting out, it takes a lot of work. You’ll need to build in a plan to stay consistent – because it’s easy for social media to slip to the bottom of your to-do list. And you’ll need a lot of content in order to really understand what’s working and resonating with your audience.

Social media isn’t the same as it was even 5 years ago – and that’s both bad and good news for you. The bad news is, you’ll need to put out a lot more content and put in a lot more work then people who started 5 years ago. The good news is, more people than ever are turning to social media to buy products and services, so once you find your people and they begin to build trust in you, you will be able to grow your business with your social media marketing.

I always recommend that if you’ve never had any kind of strategy for your social media, that you start there. A good strategy will cover all of the things that I’ve talked about (and more), so that you can feel confident in what you’re posting and know that you’re making the best decisions to reach your people.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lvsocialcontent.com
• Instagram: ttps://www.instagram.com/lvsocialcontent/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lvsocialcontent
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/linda-vogt-033206247/

Image Credits

Kaley M L Photography