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Blair Broussard, owner of Bee Positively Social, a social media consulting firm, joins Discover Lafayette to discuss effective digital marketing tools for small business owners in today’s market. Blair has also been an active real estate agent with District South by Real Broker in Lafayette since 2017.
A chance to play middle blocker for the UL – Lafayette women’s volleyball team lured Blair to Lafayette. Transferring from Centenary College after her freshman year, Blair recounted her first trip to Lafayette down I-49 with her dad and spotting a dead alligator on the side of the road. As a native of Mesquite TX you would think she would have been scared by this, but Blair thought it was cool and such a different experience from her years growing up in Dallas. The deal was sealed upon arriving at UL, where she was given a tour of the swamp on campus and of course, another chance to see an alligator!
Blair Claypoole Broussard was lured to Lafayette LA to play middle blocker for the Ragin Cajuns’ volleyball team. Noting the vastly different cultural experiences (including the alligators!), Blair says that “Volleyball is how I came to know and love Cajun Country!”
While Blair graduated in Education from UL – Lafayette and also earned an MBA from the university, she was self taught on how to market her real estate services to garner effective social media presence. She is a big fan of organic activity on social media, i.e., posting experiences as they happen rather than relying solely on scheduled posts, so that the social media algorithms don’t pick up your activity and identify it as a ‘robot.’ With that said, she does recommend that you schedule posts to occur daily and consider using paid ads for important messaging.
Blair is driven to help others tell their stories, especially small business owners who don’t know how or where to start in marketing their business. While we may wish we could just print a paper flyer and post it at the local coffee house or restaurant, the days of that being an effective marketing strategy are long over.
Today, people “post” their flyers and other advertising materials on social media. The particular platform you should select for your business is dependent upon your target business clients as every social media platform has its own demographic. Facebook and Instagram are by far the most popular but again, your preferred platform will be tied to the referral network you want to tap into. Millennials and younger people will gravitate more to Tik Tok and YouTube, especially YouTube Shorts. “YouTube shorts (short 20 second video clips) are a great way to expand your reach and grow your business. You can use that link on so many other platforms.”
For clients that are new to social media promotion, Blair will have them just pick one to start and “get their user friendly ability up.” But most businesses today have at least one medium where they post and she will help them expand their repertoire to two. Blair advises that your social media page should answer the most FAQ’s such as, “Where are you located? How can I purchase or sign up? How can I contact you?”
Blair is a proponent of blogging as it establishes your credibility as an expert in your field. Plus, one blog post can provide weeks of content on social media posts. “All you have to do is include images and recycle your content.” It also helps you become someone that people can “know, like and trust” which will entice new clients to give you a shot.
Canva has become an incredibly popular tool for designing websites, creating high-quality graphic designs, edit photos, and much more with its built-in templates, stock images, icons and fonts. This tool, along with others, can help you build your ‘branded library’ which has your company logo, colors, and creative posts which identify your company.
On a personal note, Blair is married to Bennett Broussard and the mother of three very young sons. She is an active member of Asbury United Methodist Church. We thank her for her contributions to our community and encourage you to reach out to her for social media or real estate assistance!
