We recently connected with Makenna Cook and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Makenna , thanks for joining us today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

As it becomes more and more clear how important social media marketing is more and more companies are investing their money and time into learning algorithms or hiring out help. Through growing up and working in the tight-knit community of White Bear Lake, Minnesota I noticed that many small business owners and boutiques were falling behind on this while bigger corporations were taking huge strides in marketing their products or services on social media.

The aim of my company is to help find a way to put small business owners on the social media map. Just because we refer to them as “small” businesses does not mean their marketing plan needs to be small too. With COVID-19 a lot of businesses had to find other ways to bring in money. For some of my clients, that meant widening their target audience nationally or internationally. In this day and age, social media is the best way to do that.

What I do differently than other social media managers and copywriters is that I seek out the underdogs or the smaller businesses that I think have great potential to grow their audience. Instead of seeking out the highest price to make the most money, I sit down and figure out what services I can offer in their price range. At the end of the day, I do have to make a living, but making social media accessible to incredible small businesses that have just as great of potential as large viral corporations is what I’m passionate about and I make sure that is known to every client I work with.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Makenna Cook and I am a 20-year-old Social Media Manager and Copywriter. I grew up in the very tight-knit community of White Bear Lake, Minnesota. In high school, I worked for multiple small businesses in my town and at every place I worked, I ran into the same situation. These businesses wanted to have a social media presence, they knew the importance of it, but they just didn’t have the resources to make it happen. For them, social media seemed like a luxury marketing strategy that they just couldn’t reach. I started college at 16 years old through a Minnesota program called PSEO (Post Secondary Education Options). I graduated with my Bachelors in Journalism at 19 years old in the Winter of 2021. With my experience in journalistic writing, I started brainstorming ways I could work with incredible people, do what I love, and help people along the way. That brainstorming brought me back to my hometown of White Bear Lake. I started offering my services to local business owners in my area and it took off very quickly.

I think I’m most proud of how far I’ve come in such a short time. I started copywriting in January of 2022 but didn’t take social media management seriously until June 2022. From June to September I’ve signed on enough clients to make social media managing and copywriting my full-time job.

Something about my brand is that I aim to make working with me feel like a breath of fresh air. So many of my clients have told me that they were so lost and so stressed about social media and about their brand voice. Business owners have a lot going on just about all of the time, so my job is to take a good portion of that off their backs by giving them social media marketing solutions that are in sync with their brand voice. I also do this with my brand design. I adore plants and greenhouses and honestly everything that’s green. When people see my social media page or my website I want it to feel like walking through a serene greenhouse garden.

I’ve spent a lot of my life trying to fit in. I was always the odd one out. I was labeled an overachiever in school and after-school activities. But in all honesty, it was because I was trying to be someone I wasn’t. I was trying so hard to fit-in that I stood out. I also dealt with a lot of people thinking poor of me or not believing in me because I was so young. This created toxic habits of overworking myself and not being true to myself. Starting this business, I made a point to be the opposite of these toxic habits I created. I aim to be authentic and intentional with my time. So far this has drastically changed my mindset as well as helped my business succeed.

Speaking of authenticity, I also think authenticity is very important in the social media industry. I aim to be authentic in everything that I do. That means being my weird self. Throughout my 20 years of life, I’ve done a lot of crazy things. I have a lot of weird hobbies. I grew up performing in a youth performing circus in Saint Paul (Circus Juventas), I spend my free time juggling and teaching my cats how to communicate with me via talking buttons (kind of like Bunny the talking dog). I’m a huge Alice in Wonderland fanatic and read just about every Alice in Wonderland spin-off novel I can find. And I also do a lot of my work out of local coffee shops… I’m in the process of trying to locate the best latte in the Twin Cities.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I went into this a little bit on the last slide, but the biggest lesson I’ve learned is that if you’re not real on social media, you’re not going to make it. While platforms like Instagram and Facebook are a little bit more curated, platforms like Tik Tok value realness and authenticity over any sort of aesthetic.

As someone who never really fit-in and spent a majority of my life studying social patterns, communication patterns, and trend patterns, that threw me off. Yes, there are algorithms that you can study. But studying algorithms will only take you so far. Following patterns can only get you so far. Without having a face to the brand and showing your audience who you are, what you believe, and what your goals are they will not be emotionally invested in your journey.

This becomes even harder when you’re working with clients who don’t have a particular face for their brand. Sometimes it means being really creative and thinking out of the box. My favorite examples of that are corporate Tik Tok accounts like Duolingo and Ryan Air. They use trending sounds, humor, and what we deemed as “unprofessional” or wild concepts to hook their audience.

Sometimes it just means asking the client what their goal is with social media. Not every company has a goal of having fantastic analytics. Some just want the content to be out there.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish I knew how many networking resources were out there and how important that is to doing well. Everyone always says it’s not what you know but who you know and it’s so true. Through my local connections, I’ve been able to find most of my clients. I’ve also been utilizing networking groups in my area that have taught me so much about social media, finances, and just the ins and outs of running a business.

Do not underestimate the importance of networking. It has been a game changer for me as I’m sure it has for many other business owners.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.makennacook.com
• Instagram: @mkcookwriting
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mkcookwriting/
• Other: Tik Tok: @mkcookwriting