Casa-Cast

It's the KasaCast, created by KasaGo.

It's time for the show, let's go!

Pamela Thanks for jumping on today.

I'm excited to be here.

I've been listening and it's wonderful
to hear the insights of everyone.

\ , . Um, today we're going to be talking
a little bit about something

I saw on Facebook that you're
doing and was highly successful.

Which was a contest you did, but before
we get into that I wanted everybody

to meet you and know a little bit
about you and Pamela, you're in the

lake of the Ozarks with your husband,
Michael, who's a, an avid pilot.

He's very passionate about it.

Love talking, with him on avionics
and airplanes . This isn't your first

business you guys have done together.

You've had a couple of.

You've never had businesses
together before, right?

That's interesting you mention that.

We have had businesses, but we've
never had them before together.

And that is a new dynamic here with
what we're doing in vacation rental

space Because our independent businesses
in the past were very different.

He was technology.

technology products.

And I was always people facing
and relationship facing.

And so bringing those together has
been definitely very interesting.

So you guys have had businesses
before, just not together.

And now you've got somebody who's a
technician and somebody who's front of

the house a dynamic duo going on, huh?

Yes.

Very much very different
personalities, too.

And we've both always been in
charge of our own companies.

And coming together and finding out
how to understand and respect what

each brings to the table and let each
of us I guess thrive in that space

has been an interesting dynamic.

as a marriage not just as a business.

So it's been a good journey.

That's really great.

You guys are such a fun couple
and obviously good partners.

You can really tell that you
guys are partners in life and

business and, there's a good
vibe when you're together.

. So another quick story is that you and
Mike are both divers and Mike has to make

sure you know which direction you're going
because compasses are not your thing.

That is exactly right.

And he has been very diligent in trying to
help me understand how to read a compass.

And he even got me a couple
different styles of compass.

And just the bottom line is when we
leave the boat, it is his responsibility

to make sure I get back to the boat.

And that's the agreement that we
have at this point, then and he's

accepted that responsibility.

You both have made it back to the
boat so far so far so good, right?

We have.

Yes, we have.

Caroline I met her on a dive trip in Cuba.

I was by myself and she was with a friend
and it was a night dive and I said,

Hey, can I partner up with you guys?

I have no, no dive buddy tonight.

And it's pitch black.

And they said, sure.

I jumped in the water with
them and they swam off together

and I'm alone at nighttime.

I give her grief about this all the time.

And I have equipment failure and I'm
flashing my lights at them trying

to get their attention and they're
just swimming off having a good time.

. First time I've ever had an
equipment failure in a scuba

scenario . Mike sounds like he's a
much better dive buddy than Caroline.

Maybe after that experience she has become
a better dive buddy, . Let's just say

that Mike knows from experience that he
needs to make sure I get back to the boat

because he does get a little far away.

And assumes that I'm following and
that's not necessarily the case.

I don't know that I've ever had
an equipment failure situation,

but it has come from experience
that is his responsibility.

so I was so impressed with the contest
you were doing that I reached out

to you and I think that it benefits

.
Our partners to understand what you were
doing and how you did it and, be able

to replicate the success you had there.

Can you tell me a little bit
about the contest you were

doing when I reached out to you?

. Our goal was to gain Facebook interaction,
and then also to gain more of a long

term relationship through our email list.

And so the intent was that they would
like the Facebook page and then the link

for our email list, join the email list.

And accept, as a recipient email
materials was required for them to

be included in the contest drawing.

What a great way to get
that email list going.

And I'm finding our email lists in Rocky
Point are turning in tens of thousands

of dollars of reservations for us
each month and some months are better

than others, but email marketing for
reservations works surprisingly well.

Yeah.

Yeah, it does.

And I know, today we're going to be
talking a lot about social media and

that aspect of the contest, and that
has incredible value as well, because

your presence is really dominant
when people are looking in new

markets, they look to social media.

And so your presence being significant
is important, but the email list, the

dollar return on the email list is huge.

So your contest, not only got people
tied into you on social media, got tied

into you on engagement and referrals.

Also, you got to build an email
list that helps generate revenue.

So what a win.

It was.

And we did actually track the number of
people that withdrew from the subscription

of the email list after the contest, and
there was only 13 in the first two weeks.

We really expected quite a turn there,
but there was only 13 individuals in the

first couple of weeks that pulled out.

That contest was a thousand
dollar giveaway toward a lake

stay at one of our properties.

And we set a timeline for the
contest and we did a Facebook

live announcing the contest.

And then one on the interim Giving it
a little bit more pump up and then we

promoted it and then we had the drawing
live as well And so that was the process

that we went through And the goal was
to get as many people to like and engage

with our page as possible And then
of course have them watching because

they were interested in winning that
thousand dollars You know you mentioned

in the pre show notes how a lot of
people are looking to have followers,

but the real goal is to have fans.

And I think that means people who
are actually engaging with you,

but what does that mean to you?

So a fan is somebody that
talks about you to others.

That's what our hope was.

We wanted to be a part
of the conversation.

Not just a click, not just
to share, but we wanted to be

a part of the conversation.

And by putting our 1, 000 out there
and, instead of saying, Oh, here's

100 or we wanted it to make it so
that you can come during peak season

and have at least half your trip
paid for at one of our properties.

And , so we want to make it big.

And so by doing that, we wanted to be
a conversation outside of Facebook.

at the break room, in
work, at the dinner table.

We want to be the conversation.

That's a fan.

That's somebody that's talking about you.

And that's what our goal is.

And of course, talking
about you positively.

Our intent in the contest was to up
level everybody that already liked

our page and become part of their
conversation, and then draw in new

people that would like our page
and bring us into the conversation.

And you found a lot of
success in that, right?

Can you tell me a little bit
about the results or maybe the

ongoing momentum you've gained

we were right at 1, 400 and , by the end
of the contest we were over 1, 800 we

wanted to gain total likes and that,
that was a big part of what we did.

But the other thing that's really
cool, and it literally just happened

yesterday, is we gained fans.

And so . When somebody asks,
where should we stay at the lake?

I'm coming and I have 13 people,
my grandparents, my kids.

People that were in that contest, even
people that didn't win tag us because

they had a positive, exciting interaction
with us on social media and it got

them involved in what we were doing.

And so that has been really.

More than the numbers,
that has been a huge gain.

And of course, the winner,
she tags us all the time.

And she won't even experience
her stay until I think she's

coming in June, I believe.

But she tags us all the time, both
for vacations and for property

management, vacation rental management.

That interaction has been huge.

20 percent gain in followers,
but the followers were really

the less important part of it,
you got brand name recognition.

You have people you're
part of the conversation.

People are tagging you, recommending
you and just brought a lot

of visibility to you, right?

Yes.

And that part, like I
said, that was the goal.

We had numbers I'm a comparative person.

So I look at other vacation rental
managers here at DeLake and how

many, likes followers do they have?

And there's one that was higher
than us and we definitely want to

continue to grow to their numbers.

They've been around for 19 years.

And so we want to grow to their numbers.

But we also wanted to have the
engagement and that's the piece

that I think had the greatest value
of anything is the engagement.

So Pamela, you gave us five points to talk
through when somebody's doing a contest

on Facebook or social media, and we're
just gonna go through them one by one.

The very first thing you said was, Yes.

And different means to stand out.

And I, what I put in there
is I like the ST approach.

And this is just something that I
strongly believe in, whether it's

marketing or launching a business
or Making it, making an impression.

So you want to be the first, you want
to be the best, or you want to be last.

And I even use that in real estate
transactions as a big part of

what Mike and I have done together
personally for a long time.

And that's, I always tell that to my
realtor when we're making an offer.

If we're not the first,
then we need to be the best.

And if we're not one of those two,
then I want to be the last one

that comes in on their deadline.

And it was the same with the Facebook.

We couldn't be the first
doing a contest necessarily.

And the last is yet to be
seen, but we could be the best.

And the best was in that dollar amount.

And it was a conversation for Mike and I
to hit, are we really going to do 1, 000?

That's a pretty big
number to put out there.

And so being the best contest
as far as reward of what we had

seen here at Lake the Ozarks,
that's really where our mark was.

And That was our goal is to,
how are we going to stand out?

We want to be the best offer in an online
contest that we had seen and deliver that.

And for number two, you
said go live and be bold.

Can you tell me what that means?

So it means that Transparency.

Facebook live is really that ultimate,
I'm going to click go and record.

And you're right there.

And we really had not used
live much here at the lake.

As much as I have in other companies,
because we don't have the comparables.

that we see in other videographers
and other real estate fields.

And the videography work here in marketing
is just beyond anything I've ever seen.

And so I just haven't done the lives
because what I have for equipment

and what I could deliver doesn't.

And so I looked at what can I
deliver that would be unique.

And in all honesty, putting my phone up in
front of my face, in my backyard with the

lake behind me and hitting go was unique.

It didn't have the special lighting.

It didn't have the drone.

It didn't have all the special
stuff, but it was just me.

It was me personally talking to
our audience and that was unique.

And by bold, anything, anytime you're
willing to hit go or hit start when

you're doing a Facebook live, that's
bold because Once you do that, it's live.

It's out there on Facebook.

Granted, you can choose whether to post
it and whether to leave it out there

for future people to see, but for that
three minutes, that 10 minutes, that,

however long you're there facing your
audience on Facebook, there's no edit.

It's right there and it's real and it's
live and you're interacting with people.

So that's really bold
to do the Facebook Live.

Algorithm wise, It also gains the most
traction in perspective of how Facebook

promotes the interaction of people at
the time in which they're engaging.

So it definitely gives
you a push there too.

I think one thing that you
can't buy is authenticity.

When you hit that go live button
if you're an authentic person,

people can't buy that, right?

No camera in the world will make
you quote unquote more authentic,

and so I think playing to your
strength of being authentic can.

And personable obviously is
working on that go live.

So for number three, you
said don't overthink it.

And this is hard when you're,
especially when you're going to

go live or, you can put yourself
out there . How did you do that?

How did you not overthink it?

Or did you overthink it?

So originally we , had talked
about doing this like it's a Black

Friday ended up not doing it then.

It's really what I was
waiting for is I was trying to

create some preemptive posts.

I was trying to create
some additional traction.

I was trying to create something
in in advance of launching.

And time wise, we're property
managers, vacation rental managers,

and it was the holiday season.

. I was just missing it . . I was delaying
it because I didn't do the things

that I thought would make it perfect.

And I think perfect is a huge barrier.

So when we did choose to launch, we were
about 10 days off of our launch date.

And if you think about it, 10
days at a thousand dollar contest,

that's definitely a deterrent.

So lesson forward definitely would
be to start when we say we're going

to start regardless of how prepared
we believe we are and just jump

in and gain from being present.

, it's so hard.

When you're getting ready to do something
and the fear of it not being right, I

think people are much more forgiving
if you'll just go forward and do it.

And I think we're our own
worst critics when it comes to

what we're putting out there.

I don't think other people are
so hypercritical that are, at

least the kind of people that
we want to be part of anyways.

I would agree.

I think no one looks at the end result
the same way that I do, and their

receipt of my intention is always more
positive than The things that I left

out they, they don't know the gaps.

They don't know what it was missing.

They only know what was delivered.

And so , I'm the only one whose mind
is there saying this wasn't there.

It's not anyone else.

That's actually really good advice.

So for number four, you
said plan for your budget.

How do you plan for your budget?

So this was a contest.

Husband wife conversation, like I said,
husband wife business, honey, I think

we should give away a thousand dollars.

And he's the tech person, and the
conservative, might, he's no, I

don't think that's a good idea.

And so we had to look at it
from a budget perspective.

This was a marketing expense.

And so what would we normally spend our
commission here in our market is 20%.

And so our cost in this situation
is 800 so huge and what would

we normally spend that money on?

For us, that's about a
couple months of a billboard.

That's a full page ad, and
when we spend that money.

What do we expect in return?

And so that's how we had to shift
that because in the beginning,

I'm like, let's have a contest.

We're doing a giveaway and a giveaway
sounds like literally a giveaway.

You're not getting anything in return.

But when we had to shift our
mindsets, okay, this is an investment.

This is marketing expense, and
this is a marketing budget item.

How does it compare to
the return that we get?

And is it measurable?

And so we had to look at that.

And make sure, okay, at this dollar
amount, are we going to get back in

return what we believe to be of value?

The same return we get from that
full page ad the same return we get

from two months of the billboard and
I would definitely say yes because

while we get brand recognition from
the billboard we get brand awareness

we get validation we don't get fans
Billboards aren't going to create fans.

And that was our goal was to create
a different type of engagement

with the people who are aware.

Yeah.

So for number five, you had have a plan
for social media posting and engagement

before launching the promotion.

Tell me what that plan looks like.

What should we be thinking
about when we're saying, what is

our social media posting plan?

? So when when the contest caught your
attention and you reached out to me,

this was part of it that I really felt
was important to share because leading

up to the contest and all of the
thought that went into that was great.

But then if we forget to post
or if we don't post or if we

don't share, if we aren't engaged
after we get all of those people.

To our site, then really that
thousand dollars was a poor spent.

And so looking at what type of posts
are we going to make and having

a calendar of what type of posts
you're going to make is always a good

action plan in full transparency.

This is not my strength.

I am a more spontaneous
share person on media.

And it is beneficial for someone like me.

I think you need to know your strengths.

It's beneficial for someone like me
that at those times when I'm feeling

spontaneous to put in five or six posts
and Post date them like you can do on

Facebook Instagram and post bait post
date them so that they launch accordingly

Or to have somebody else that has the
content for you Again, this is speaking

to me and my nature but just knowing
that you're going to have a deliverable

there to validate that their decision
to like and engage with your page

was good, that, that is their intent.

,
so Pamela, you something you said that
you had to be comfortable with posting

About where you were in your journey.

I think that's, that sort of ties
into another part of this, where

you're discussing that a lot of
other companies or, companies in

your market are putting on this.

High production video and, and
media going out and you had to

get real comfortable with that.

Was there something that you may have came
to realize or was there something that

helped you just get past it and get on
with it and produce and put it out there?

I was gaining nothing by waiting
until I had what they had.

There was no gain during
that time frame whatsoever.

And I despise stagnant times.

So that really was the inspiration.

There was not time to
bring in a videographer.

There was not time.

Our resources, we're an incredibly
quickly growing company, our

resources are going elsewhere.

To invest in the budgets, I talked
to them, what's your budget?

How does this work?

And it just, it's not reachable for us.

And so what we delivered
is where we are at.

And once I was comfortable with
that, then the gain was there too.

Be comfortable with where you're at.

I think that's really good advice, not
just in business, but also in life maybe.

Yeah, and those companies that
use all of the fancy videography,

they refer to us all the time..

So apparently we're good enough for them.

. Apparently the authenticity paid off.

, Pamela, what's your favorite line Credo?

. So owning the relationship I will
build a professional relationship

that transcends business that has
been who I am and what I do how I

define myself probably for decades.

And when people say, gosh, how did
You know how did you do this business?

How did you achieve, when they're looking
at the positives and they said, how did

you, that would be the core of it is
that while the business was the fruit,

the relationships were the foundation.

And sometimes I think we think of it
the other way around and the business

is the foundation and the relationships
are the fruit and you gain the

relationships through the business.

But I really feel that the relationships
are the foundation and the business

blooms because of the relationships.

So I really love that.

I'm writing that down.

I'm writing that down as
we're doing this podcast.

Relationships are the foundation
and the business is the fruits.

Did I say that right?

Yes.

Yes.

The business grows.

That's what blossoms.

I think we put so much time into
building the business and then as the

relationships form, we see those as
oh, that's the benefit, that's the

fruit, that's the but I think those
that focus on the relationships first

can build any business they want.

It's so inspirational and I think
I'm going to end with that what a

great way to end a podcast . Thank
you so much for coming on Pamela.

I so appreciate you.

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