Gain the advantage with social media

RCS Influencer Randy Chaffee says if people can't find you on social media, you don't exist.

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with RCS Influencer Randy Chaffee. You can read the interview below, listen to the podcast or watch the recording.

Intro: Hello. I'm Alex Tolle with RoofersCoffeeShop.com and MetalCoffeeShop.com and I am back for our June influencer question. Randy Chaffee, how are you? 

Randy Chaffee: I'm good. How are you, Alex? 

Alex Tolle: Good. 

Randy Chaffee: Easy for you to say. 

Alex Tolle: I know. Okay. So Randy Chaffee, our June question is how can you effectively use social media marketing to grow your brand, reach new clients and then also engage with your community? 

Randy Chaffee: Man, I'll tell you what, I love that question because you know I sort of semi kind of like the whole social media virtual world. And so my first thing I'm going to say before I get rolling is if you're not, you're missing a big boat, period, end of discussion. That's the hill I'm willing to die on. I just fully believe in it. And I take that, Alex, as an old school road warrior, right? I believe in being with people face-to-face building relationships. But in today's world, if you're not building that relationship online as well, it's like the old websites used to be. They couldn't find you on a website, you didn't exist. 

So many people, they don't find you on social media, you don't exist, even though you may be better than the alternative. But if Billy Bob's out there telling everybody how good he is, showing all these happy customers and doing all these testimonials behind the scenes, the truck rolling into the sunset, people are going, "Man, I want to deal with that guy." He might not be half as good as you are, but he's telling people that he's out there, he's engaged and he's active. 

So I think the first thing that comes into play, Alex, is he's got to develop a mindset that you believe in it. And if you don't believe in it, you got to find a way to believe in it because it's not going away with all the other things that's going on with... We've talked before I think about AI and all the things that technology just continues to grow. Social media is here to stay, not going away. Don't need to love it. Don't need to like it. You can hate it if you want, but you better be involved. 

And so I think in today's world, now, I was just thinking about that earlier today as a matter of fact that it used to be if you build a better mousetrap, they'll buy it. That's all you had to do. That's an old adage, which goes way back. Quit nodding like you know that. You're too young. Anyways, that was one that was a big deal, but it used to be that way. You just build a better building and people just buy it or you just put on a better roof, whether it's metal, shingles, it doesn't matter. Nowadays, it does matter a lot because the airwaves, the social media is flooded with people talking about what they do. So I think you got to engage in it, engage in your community. 

And there's an old adage, "Always be closing," which is an old adage, which I think is a little worn slightly, but always build community. And I think that's a key that we need to operate under, is always be building community. And you do that with social media by using multiple platforms. I don't think it's one does all. In the B2B world that I operate in, LinkedIn is my go-to probably. I mean, if I had to choose one and never do anything else, I'm not sure why that would happen, but if I did, it would be LinkedIn because I'm a B2B guy. But with that said, you augment with the other ones in my case. You augment with Facebook. You augment with Reels and with TikTok and all these others because I think a key to remember and this is probably the most important point I think, is people buy from who they know, like, trust and feel safe with. That's a Ben Gay III-ism, who wrote The Closers series. 

And with social media, you can so easily let people know who you are, you put on a quality roof or build a quality building, whatever it is you're doing. You're real. They want to see the real person behind the scenes, not just a bunch of shingles in a pile or a bunch of metal in a pile and, "Isn't that a beautiful roof?" Everybody can show a beautiful roof with drones and photography, right? So I think it's important that you develop that community and you do that by being where they live. And that's probably the most important thing. 

Four years ago... No. Not long ago ago. Two years ago, I just said, "TikTok's the dumbest thing ever existence. I don't even want to touch it." And I said that without ever having watched a TikTok. I just made a determination that it was stupid and I'm not going to have anything to do with it. Then I started looking at it and there was the goofy stuff. You got to sort through the stuff in every social media platform, but you got to go where your potential customers live. And the folks in that younger demographics really live in the TikTok world, right? 

They like that. They like all that stuff. So in my case, just to give an example, I want people to see me as a older guy that's been around forever, that brings some credibility and knows what he's talking about, but I could also be kind of fun and friendly and witty at times or  at least I think I am. But I want you to know me when it's time for you to make a decision for a product or service that I'm involved with. I want you to already know me. And then you go to the opposite end of that scale, which... And you got to be careful to know what platform you're dealing with and who the demographics are. 

Alex Tolle: Absolutely. 

Randy Chaffee: And you don't want to do TikTok stuff on LinkedIn because most people are going to go, "This is not the place for you. Get off of here." They will not like you immediately and you'll never get them back. Equally, if you take the more professional, buttoned up business suit, stoic way of LinkedIn and you take that to TikTok, nobody's going to watch it. 

Alex Tolle: Scroll right past it. 

Randy Chaffee: Oh, past it. "This is a boring guy. Who's this guy with the suit on talking all like with the flowers and the desk and all... I don't want to talk to this guy. This is boring." Done, right? So you got to pick your platforms, pick your message and be consistent. That's probably the biggest key. Just throwing out, "Hey. I just built this really..." Or, "Just put on this really beautiful roof last week and boy, they really love it." And that's it for the next month and a half. I'm not saying it's not worth it, but it's almost not worth it because they're going to see 457 different people if they're looking for roofing, because you know how all the analytics work. Once you plug in anything about roofing, you're going to get inundated with every guy and gal out there that's doing anything to do with roofing. So you better be one of them. 

Alex Tolle: Yeah. Absolutely. 

Randy Chaffee: And if you're not, you get lost. I don't know if that helped or answered anything. 

Alex Tolle: No. I think it's great. And I think another thing to point out is you can post to social media for free. So take those pictures and those videos. It's free marketing. I mean, yeah, you can do the sponsored posts and the paid posts and get more views on it, but you can also just start by just doing it for free. 

Randy Chaffee: You can. And the beautiful thing with that, Alex and it's a great point, is the nature of today's social media, I guess as a genre, is people don't want that Hollywood production. They want to grab your cell phone and shoot a quick video. That's what they want. They want raw or ganic and authentic. There's places if you're doing a certain YouTube stuff, probably, which is more of a search engine driven to some degree. I can make some argument for some of that being a little more professional maybe at times. But you can do a Reel or a TikTok or even a Facebook post. Just grab your phone, jump on. If you stutter or you say something wrong, you fix it because that means you're normal. That means they like you. That means they trust you. That means they know you. And what was the last one? Oh, they feel safe with you. Right? That's the key. 

Alex Tolle: Don't overthink it. Just post. 

Randy Chaffee: Exactly. I post a lot of stuff I don't think about. Occasionally, I go back and go, "What are you doing, Randy Chaffee?" But the key with that too is we're in such a scroll happy society that even if you put one out that's you look at it and go, "Man, that kind of sucked," guess what? They're already gone past it and they're never going to go back. 

Alex Tolle: And you can make another. 

Randy Chaffee: And you make another tomorrow. And if it's a great one, that's the one they'll remember. 

Alex Tolle: Yeah. Exactly. 

Randy Chaffee: Because how many have they looked at between now and tomorrow besides yours and everybody else's? Believe me. You're wrong, in my opinion, if you put one out there that you think kind of sucked and then you worry about it. Just go on. Do the next one. 

Alex Tolle: Yeah. Totally agree. 

Randy Chaffee: And do it often and do it consistent. 

Alex Tolle: I love it. 

Randy Chaffee: Yep. I do too. 

Alex Tolle: Randy Chaffee, thank you so much as always for answering our influencer question. 

Randy Chaffee: Absolutely. Great to be here. Thank you. 

Outro: We'll see you next month.