Episode Summary
In this episode, Nick Bennett chats with Kate Bradley Chernis, Co-founder and CEO at Lately, the only social media management platform that creates content FOR you with the power of artificial intelligence.
Kate talks about the good and bad sides of robots and explains why humans are still very important in content creation regardless of AI’s capabilities. She points out that being authentic and focused on one goal is key to success and teaches us how to properly utilize social media while looking for leads.
Kate states that company culture is very important, and every team member must fit in it. She also thinks that running and growing a business can burn people out and strongly recommends employing someone to help.
Guest Profile
- Name: Kate Bradley Chernis
- What she does: Kate is co-founder and CEO of Lately, which is artificial intelligence software that creates and publishes content.
- Company: Lately
- Key Quote: "The brand is made strong by humans. That's us."
Key Insights
- Prioritize your objectives. Kate says the essential thing is to think about what your objective is and don't feel embarrassed about it. "My objective is money. I want to make a sale. I would not do social media if it wasn't for Lately, because I hate it if I'm a slave to it. Let's be honest. I'm constantly thinking, and there's no shame in this, constant thinking about 'Is what I'm writing right now going to, in the end, drive traffic to the thing that'll get demos?' That's everything I think about all the time. Sometimes that means that my visibility and my personality get me more podcasts interviews. But that's all tied to that end goal."
- Be authentic in order to grow your business. According to Kate, adding value means being authentic. ''You have to think about what you're delivering. I think it is the most important thing. Is my objective to make somebody smile, which is fine? Is it to get them to click and watch the rest of this webinar or podcast that we just did? Is it to simply make them share my content so that I get more reach? If that's the deal, usually people share content because you make them look good. They get credit for what you said. It's like when somebody in college gave you a song, you heard it for the first time. They didn't write that song, but they get all the credit for being like the tastemaker."
- Find and engage your target audience. Beginners usually try to imitate 'big dogs.' Kate advises us not to do that. She says it's like when a toddler wears adult clothing. It doesn't fit. So, don't rush things."For anybody just starting out, all you have to do is pick one thing and do it well. That's it, whenever it is. And if it doesn't feel right to you, then get some education and maybe try a different channel. All you need to do is to build that audience. That's all you need to do."
“I hired you because the worst mistake you can make, I know is still going to be awesome.”
Kate Bradley Chernis
Co-Founder & CEO
Lately
Episode Highlights
The Good and Bad Sides of AI Content Writing
“I think the negatives are right there. If you’re going to not put your human effort in and let the robot work, you’re going to get robotic answers. People can feel that, and I can see it all the time. We all have been on a call where the customer service rep is reading, literally reading the guide for you, reading the script. You know what that’s like. We can feel it. One negative is that cold feeling, and then the positives are obviously doing the work that nobody wants to do.”
Company Culture is Everything
“Understand what kind of company you are, and what kind of culture you’ve created, because that plays into it heavy duty. We’re the more, the merrier. It’s not just me on the cover of a magazine; it’s Chris and Lauren and Ankit and Kristen. And when you know that, you can grow exponentially for all the reasons I know you’re already thinking. The brand is made strong by humans. That’s us. If you don’t like where you’re working, then that’s another problem. But hopefully, you love where you’re working.”
Growing Business Without Paid Advertising
“We haven’t met a customer for over a year who hasn’t said to us, ‘I heard about you somewhere.’ ‘Cause, we’re making all this noise with no paid ads. Just with our own humanness. That trust is the reason we get that 90% conversion. It’s because we have a community, and it’s very visible, and people want to be a part of the community.”
Handling Social Media
“On LinkedIn, I almost never scroll. I don’t have time. I’m there. I got so many alerts of stuff that I have to respond to. And that’s my job as the CEO. There are some things that I personally can do because it’s all about driving those demo requests. That’s all I’m thinking about. I’m looking about where we need and what we need to comment on as a team to lift it up. […] I hate when people just tag me ’cause they want me in a long list of other names. It’s so plastic and annoying. It’s needy. I’m totally happy if you sent me a link to something and said, ‘Hey, Kate, would you comment on this and help me lift it up?’ Yes, I will do that.”
Writing Your First Post
Every entrepreneur has to start somewhere, and social media is the right place. Creating your first post doesn’t have to be hard. “If you’re going crazy, you need to sit down and think about what you can do every day. That is not going to exhaust you for a while. For example, I used to do a video. I was trying to make the 60-second video every day, ‘A day in the life of an entrepreneur.’
It was pretty easy. ‘Hey, welcome to another day in the life of an entrepreneur.’, and then I would do one thing. Sometimes the one thing was like, ‘I just had the worst meeting ever. This guy totally embarrassed me.’ Or, ‘I just went to my parents and had a fight with my mom,’ or, ‘Here’s this amazing thing I learned today.’ It was a great exercise for me to put myself in other people’s shoes to get a beat on the audience. And then also to learn that I could publish it on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, everywhere.”
