Digital Marketing insights from Lorcan Kinsella, speaking at upcoming Dublin Social Media Summit

By @SimonCocking Delighted to bring you a fascinating and in-depth interview with Lorcan Kinsella. Digital Marketing Strategist. Founder & CEO of @Brand_Nova. Lorcan will be speaking at Ireland’s Social Media Summit, March 1st/2nd.  

Lorcan has had a long, interesting and successful career in a few industries. He has also been able to then apply those insights to his current work, with invaluable real world insights from the restaurant, telecoms, social media and digital marketing. Lorcan was a member of the Launchmen, who are responsible for some of the biggest information launches in history. Current clients include the Digital Marketing Institute, Dublin Business School and Griffith College. To read more about Lorcan’s background see here.

What inspired you to speak at this event?

I work closely with clients. I met Samantha Kelly at a conference, we got on well and kept in contact. We did some gigs on blab as well. When you’re in the same circle it makes sense to collaborate. This was a great idea, and timely, especially with web summit moving out. There is a void in the market place. Everyone is talking about social media, but it is important how to use it effectively, and how to convert it to a business.

Why it will be helpful for people to attend. What will you talk about?

Two words. Traffic and conversion. Lots of people provide traffic reports, how much is coming to your website. I’m more interested in your conversion. You need to look at what is important to you, and which is the optimal platform for you to be on. You need to identify which is relevant for your business. You need to know what is your end game. Don’t just build websites because your competitors are. What’s your objective? What are you trying to get out if it all? You need to pay the mortgage, eat, live etc. We look to reverse engineer the strategy from this point backwards to ensure that your business will succeed.

Your tips for people looking to do well on social media?

Pick which platform you are going to be active on. If you’re a small business, identify one to three platforms and nail them. Crush them, dominate these few outlets. Don’t be everything to everyone. Be strategic. Take at least 2 to 3 hours per week to plan what you’re going to do, and then execute this plan each week.

Without naming names what avoidable mistakes have you seen companies make with their social media strategy?

The biggest mistake is trying to be everywhere. Gary Vaynerchuk is a great influence, especially when he was building the daily wine video. He was very influential to me, and really cut the bullshit. He said become the master of one platform. If you can do this, Facebook or whatever is right for you, as long as you know where your audience is. Master that, and then build. Periscope and blab might require more resources than you have, manage your time carefully. You need to have your brand online, with credibility, trust, and authority, this CTA is vital. Wherever your platform is, you must have CTA!

Who has inspired you?

Gary Vaynerchuk would be my main guy. Then there is Jeff Walker, Dan Kennedy top marketing leaders in the US,/ is a big influence, on how to turn an idea into something extraordinary.

Other keys influences would be Neil Patel and Michael Stelzner of social media examiner, Guy Kawasaki, and Erik Qualman.

Running your own business is also tough, how do you manage the work /life, online / offline balance?

Anyone involved in this area will find this is a challenge. I had to look at process and mechanics – to see what could be outsourced. It’s all linked to a calendar, to look spending more time on the things that I want to get involved in. This was a real challenge, before I just reacting to things. Once I put processes onto it all, I then could allocate the webinar aspects to a wider team. With processes you can allocate tasks to people.

Business needs discipline, it’s not easy. You need to do it everyday, this is a challenge, to stay focussed on the real strategic planning needed.

Consistency is needed too, hard work and discipline. Put those together and you will be on the road to success.

Best ways to contact you?

If you would like to have your company featured in the Irish Tech News Business Showcase, get in contact with us at Simon@IrishTechNews.net or on Twitter: @SimonCocking