Cincinnati entrepreneur’s advice: Be authentic on social media
Just be yourself.
This is the advice Cincinnati-based YouTuber Feli Hofner would give to an aspiring entrepreneur using social media to build out their business and personal brand.
Authenticity was one way she was able to grow her own YouTube channel, ‘Feli from Germany,’ where she talks about day-to-day life in the United States from a German perspective, as well as the cultural similarities and differences between the two countries.
Hofner will be a featured panelist at Aviatra Accelerators’ “Social Savvy Masterclass,” which is designed to build attendees’ social media marketing skills. Aviatra is a Covington-based entrepreneurship non-profit focused on helping women-owned startups and small businesses. The class will be held on Saturday, May 11, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Aviatra’s office on Pike Street in Covington.
The panel consists of successful entrepreneurs from the Greater Cincinnati area who have experience using social media to market themselves and their businesses. The panelists will provide attendees with insights and strategies on speaking effectively to audiences, creating engaging content, leveraging short-form videos, utilizing AI for content creation, working with influencers, building a YouTube channel and measuring success.
Panelists set to join Hofner are Patrice Adams, owner of The Designery Creative; Candace Gasper, owner of Digital Candy LLC.; Morgan Angelique Owens, CEO and founder of Professional Pretty; Greg Goshorn, owner of Mapping Your Marketing; and Jasmine Hughes, Aviatra’s own marketing strategist and program manager.
Like Hofner, Owens has experience using social media to build her businesses and brand. She told LINK nky that she had always dreamed of becoming a blogger. However, because of her demanding schedule from her previous corporate job, she was never able to consistently write blog posts.
Due to the pandemic, she eventually decided to leave the corporate world and become a full-time entrepreneur. One of the tools she immediately turned to was social media – a cost-effective way to increase brand awareness. Four Owens, authenticity is key.
“Social media has really always been a part of my life, it seems like,” Owens said.
While many entrepreneurs know that social media is an important tool to use, many don’t know where to begin or what to post, Aviatra CEO Jill Morenz told LINK nky. That’s where advice from seasoned veterans such as Hofner and Owens becomes useful.
“The reason we created this masterclass and set it up the way we did with stars like Morgan and Feli, is that they’re there for inspiration and to share their story, like how they did this incredible thing that a lot of people want to do,” Morenz said. “So it’s inspirational, aspirational, but also tactical because it was so generous with the actual steps that they took.”
From Hofner’s perspective, social media, especially video platforms such as YouTube and Instagram, allow entrepreneurs to present their ideas in a structured fashion. Additionally, these platforms can provide viewers with an easily accessible way to consume the creator’s content. Over time, regular viewers of the content could come to form a sense of familiarity and trust with the creator.
“I feel like social media, above just having advertisements scheduled on TV or like in newspapers, I feel like it just gives you this extra layer of becoming people’s friends almost and getting that trust to them,” Hofner said.
Entrepreneur Justin Goff once said, “If you try to appeal to everyone, you’ll appeal to no one.” Owens reiterated this point by stressing the importance of finding an audience within a specific niche rather than trying to appeal to everyone. This way, the influencer can develop a rapport with a core group of people who want to continually hear them speak on a certain topic.
“Social media really taught me how to hone in and find that niche audience, instead of trying to try and impress everyone on social media,” Owens said.
Both creators emphasized the importance of not obsessing over followers and view counts.
“Don’t get caught up with the followers,” Owens warned. “Just keep posting engaging content.”
Whatever the advice, Morenz, Owens and Hofner want entrepreneurs to be able to cast the widest net they possibly can, many just don’t know how to go about it. Aviatra’s Social Savvy Masterclass hopes to change that.
“I think there’s so many like great people out there that you meet in everyday life that are business owners that know so much about what they’re doing, but they’re only reaching the people that are in their direct bubble,” Hofner said.
