Latest / The Scene Projects / Jim Fuhs on Digital Marketing, Content Repurposing, and Social Media Strategies

Transcript

Jim Fuhs on Digital Marketing, Content Repurposing, and Social Media Strategies · The Scene Projects

• 0:23
  Welcome in to Real Biz.
• 0:24
  I am your host, Bubba Starts, and with me today from Fusion Marketing, Jim Fuse.
• 0:29
  Jim, welcome to the show.
• 0:31
  Great to be here, Bubba.
• 0:32
  Appreciate you having me on.
• 0:34
  Yeah.
• 0:34
  Well, it's absolutely my pleasure, sir.
• 0:36
  And, we're gonna talk about a a lot of things, how to market a business and and how you can
• 0:42
  help people do that, your new substack.
• 0:44
  A lot to cover in a short amount of time, but, I wanna make sure, we give you a few minutes
• 0:49
  off the top of the show here just to establish a little bit of your background, and then we'll
• 0:53
  pick it up from there.
• 0:55
  Yeah.
• 0:55
  So I guess my background as a marketer is a little bit different.
• 1:00
  Mean, I was a business major in college, but, right out of high school I enlisted in the
• 1:05
  Marine Corps.
• 1:06
  Went to Paris Island back in 1984 and then, went into ROTC, got commissioned in 1989 and,
• 1:16
  did twenty years, retired as a lieutenant colonel in 2009.
• 1:20
  And so post Marine Corps initially, was doing government contract consulting, but then I
• 1:27
  learned about this digital marketing stuff and it really interested me more because I've
• 1:32
  always been somewhat of a a geek, a tech nerd when I was, you know, in the marines.
• 1:37
  People would ask me to replace, people may not know what these are, but they were called modem
• 1:41
  cards where you would, you know, we started out at 14 dot four, kilobytes, I think it was, was
• 1:48
  actually our Internet speed.
• 1:50
  So we've come a long way with that.
• 1:53
  And then, I went to a social media marketing world in 2018.
• 1:57
  I'd started to do a social media marketing for folks and that's when Facebook live started to
• 2:04
  become a thing and I realized, and this has kind of always been my mindset, you know, as a,
• 2:11
  as a leader, as, as an, a teacher in order to be able to help people do something, you need
• 2:17
  to know how to do it yourself.
• 2:19
  So I started going live on Facebook, had started to show with a friend Tim Sohn that we
• 2:25
  ran for about five, six years.
• 2:28
  And, I started to get people asking me to help them produce their shows.
• 2:33
  So especially during the pandemic, my business actually grew substantially cause I was having
• 2:39
  people like, Hey, how do we go live?
• 2:42
  And StreamYard was a big part of that, what we're recording on here now because it really
• 2:47
  was and still is easy to use.
• 2:50
  And then as you know, the video side of things has really become more of my interest as
• 2:57
  opposed to doing a social media marketing for folks because that has its own set of
• 3:02
  challenges and video really helps us to tell a story.
• 3:07
  It really, whether it's alive, it allows us to share things with people in real time.
• 3:13
  We can do audience interaction.
• 3:16
  And so that's what I've been basically doing for the last eight years.
• 3:20
  And over the last couple years, I've gotten into Substack, which is, really it it's it's a
• 3:27
  new category design.
• 3:29
  I'm a big fan of the category pirates, Christopher Lockhead, Nicholas Cole, and it is
• 3:35
  a direct to creator platform.
• 3:37
  You can go live.
• 3:38
  It repurposes your content.
• 3:40
  You can create publications.
• 3:43
  It's got some social feeds and I think the big thing compared to other platforms is it allows
• 3:49
  you to get subscriber emails.
• 3:51
  So now you're building a list, which, even in these days of AI is very important.
• 3:56
  So that's kind of how I got to where we're sitting here today and, real, really has been a
• 4:02
  lot of fun.
• 4:04
  Yeah.
• 4:04
  And Substack's become a a lot larger platform in the last several years here because of the
• 4:10
  things that you just mentioned.
• 4:11
  Right?
• 4:11
  The ability to get directly into email.
• 4:14
  So you're not having to build out your website and your email captures, which has always been
• 4:18
  very important in the social media marketing world.
• 4:21
  So what now has built, you know, Substack has built is the ability to kinda combine all the
• 4:26
  things that you are doing on the different platforms and kinda bringing them under one
• 4:30
  umbrella.
• 4:30
  And it's something that, you know, will be in the future for our business.
• 4:34
  I know I have a Substack account, and I and I subscribed to quite a few.
• 4:39
  But I I mainly saw it and and it was mainly in years past where it was just mainly for
• 4:45
  writing.
• 4:45
  It was for written content in that fashion.
• 4:49
  I wasn't doing a lot of that, so I didn't see the value in it.
• 4:52
  But now knowing that they are venturing more and more into video style and and really
• 4:57
  dipping into that, owning your audience, right, is a big thing, and Substack really provides
• 5:02
  the easiest path of entry for people who are just beginning, into doing so.
• 5:08
  Oh, absolutely.
• 5:09
  And and I think you kinda hit on it, Bubba, how important that is because, you know, even
• 5:14
  recently, right, last year, as an example, when I was speaking at Digital Wichita, one of the
• 5:20
  things that had just happened was the bots on Facebook had taken down all these Facebook
• 5:26
  groups.
• 5:27
  And these people, if it hadn't been, you know, reestablished, which took a little bit of time,
• 5:32
  they had no way to contact those people.
• 5:35
  And so it really goes back to the importance of controlling your audience, controlling your
• 5:41
  content.
• 5:42
  Yes.
• 5:43
  Websites are, I think still have some value, but things have changed because of AI and you
• 5:50
  know, I always like to joke.
• 5:52
  I guess I think of how I do things as a consumer and you may or may not be the same
• 5:57
  way, but I don't go looking for websites usually.
• 6:00
  I'm actually either searching by topic.
• 6:03
  Right?
• 6:04
  And sometimes that takes us to YouTube.
• 6:05
  But AI now is starting to serve up those answers to us at the top of the search engines
• 6:11
  or people are going straight into, you know, ChatGPT or Claude or Gemini, you know, name
• 6:17
  your favorite AI tool of the week.
• 6:19
  And that's how they're getting served up answers.
• 6:23
  And people aren't always questioning it, And even the platforms like YouTube are going to
• 6:29
  start taking some of your, you know, clips from your content and serving it up, but people
• 6:35
  aren't necessarily going to see all your content.
• 6:37
  So we have to figure out how do we stay connected one to one with our audience, with
• 6:44
  our, you know, whether it's, you know, fellow business owners, whether it's fellow, you know,
• 6:50
  you know, for B2C, B2B, How do you do that and how do you keep it real?
• 6:55
  Like, what I love about the fact that we're doing this interview, this is the real Jim and
• 7:00
  the real Bubba.
• 7:00
  It's not AI Jim and AI Bubba.
• 7:03
  I think people like, you know, and I think there's kind of, I don't know if you want to
• 7:07
  call it a backlash.
• 7:09
  But I think some people like, hey, I want to know that the person I'm watching or listening
• 7:14
  to is like the real person and not, some avatar.
• 7:17
  And it's, it's getting harder and harder to detect.
• 7:20
  And that's exactly what real biz has kind of established itself in the last six months.
• 7:26
  I really just started this platform, around the turn of the year and the as the calendar
• 7:32
  flipped over because I'd already established myself in the music industry.
• 7:35
  I I had done over 500 interviews and had really established that.
• 7:40
  And for me, it my podcast and this platform were were really just supposed to be a lead
• 7:46
  generator.
• 7:46
  Right?
• 7:46
  It was a way for me to start talking to business owners so we could find sponsorships
• 7:50
  and support for our other platforms and the events that we're doing and and operation
• 7:55
  combating veteran suicide and just it was supposed to be that.
• 7:58
  And I quickly realized that as we got out here because of all the things that you just spoke
• 8:02
  about that, oh, this actually has a ton of value to these business owners that are just
• 8:07
  out here.
• 8:08
  They don't have time to start their own podcast.
• 8:10
  They don't wanna do any of that, but we can give them a ton of value, not just only in the
• 8:14
  podcast.
• 8:15
  And, no, we're not Joe Rogan.
• 8:16
  You're not gonna come on the podcast and all of a sudden have a 100,000 followers tomorrow.
• 8:20
  Right?
• 8:20
  That's not how it works.
• 8:21
  But what it is providing is an opportunity for folks to get to know you in a very short amount
• 8:27
  of time that you had to spend, but then it lives forever.
• 8:30
  It can be on your website or part of your sub stack or in all of these places because we can
• 8:35
  provide all of that content on the backside, which is what we are.
• 8:39
  We are a content engine.
• 8:40
  Right?
• 8:41
  I'm able to take this single piece of content, turn it into maybe, you know, 10 to 20 short
• 8:47
  form clips, a blog post, and and more quote posts and different things that are out here.
• 8:52
  And, yes, some of it is using AI.
• 8:54
  We use a ton of it on the back end of our production.
• 8:57
  We use a ton of it in our social media content creation as well.
• 9:01
  And we have those skills to be able to deliver that to the you know, our clients and our
• 9:07
  customers and guests of our show that are able to now take that and repurpose that.
• 9:12
  I gotta shout out Melissa Dodson who just shared another post on her LinkedIn today,
• 9:17
  about the episode that she did with us over a month ago.
• 9:20
  And she's repurposing this content, you know, once or twice a month that she's putting out
• 9:25
  about the podcast and using it as a consistent marketing.
• 9:28
  So you do one podcast episode and you're able to use it for maybe an entire year worth of
• 9:33
  content sharing that out into your world.
• 9:36
  And that's what I'm so happy is really starting to catch on now with people who are using our
• 9:41
  platform.
• 9:41
  No.
• 9:42
  It's not about having a million subscribers or all of these people.
• 9:45
  It's about using what you have available to you to build that customer trust, to build your
• 9:51
  brand authority.
• 9:52
  And in turn, that's going to have a much higher higher ROI for you than having 10,000 more
• 9:58
  subscribers or followers on a social media platform.
• 10:02
  If you have no way to capitalize and bring those people into your world, whether it's on a
• 10:06
  sub stack or you're getting their email address on your own website, you really have nothing.
• 10:12
  Right.
• 10:12
  And and I think what you hit on too is so important about the repurposing in the clips
• 10:17
  because what we sometimes forget is that when is that person coming into your, if you want to
• 10:24
  call it your ecosystem or your world, they don't know about that show ten months ago.
• 10:30
  And so by sharing that clip, now they like, oh, I want to go back and watch that because people
• 10:36
  don't always start at, you know, episode one and and then, you know, catch up to current
• 10:42
  day.
• 10:43
  So there's nothing wrong with taking that old stuff and putting it out.
• 10:47
  In fact, I would say sometimes that's a mistake that people make with content, you know, and I
• 10:53
  know obviously Bubba that you don't do this, but they will make the show and then it's like
• 10:59
  it's onto the next show and they've forgotten about all the value that just occurred in this
• 11:05
  one episode and they do nothing with it and it kinda, it's kinda like they put it on the shelf
• 11:10
  and that's, that's a huge mistake because it allows by repurposing and there's so many ways
• 11:17
  to repurpose.
• 11:18
  Right?
• 11:18
  It's not just the video clips.
• 11:19
  Like you said, it can be quote graphics.
• 11:22
  It can be, short articles.
• 11:24
  It could be, you know, a lot of different things.
• 11:28
  You could, you know, tweet out the full episode or, you know, blue stat you know, blue sky,
• 11:32
  whatever platform you want.
• 11:35
  And then those, you know, different areas will drive drive them back to where you want them to
• 11:41
  really connect with you.
• 11:44
  Yeah.
• 11:44
  It's incredible to see it in real time.
• 11:47
  And really, you know, I I'm kinda guilty of what you've talked about.
• 11:50
  I I took those first, you know, 100 episodes that I did because I was only focused on
• 11:55
  building a backlog.
• 11:56
  You know, I did a 100 episodes in nine months and just was like, I need to get good at what
• 12:01
  I'm doing.
• 12:01
  I have no idea what I'm doing in this broadcasting, podcasting world.
• 12:04
  I just need to get reps.
• 12:06
  Then we moved into video, and it was kind of the same thing again, starting out 2025 was
• 12:10
  like, okay.
• 12:11
  We're brand new to YouTube and all of these things.
• 12:13
  We have no idea what we're doing.
• 12:15
  I just need reps.
• 12:16
  And I wasn't necessarily extracting all of that value, but the value is still there.
• 12:22
  And I think that's what's interesting now.
• 12:23
  We have this massive back catalog of content that now people are reaching out to us with
• 12:28
  their Roku channels and other things and going, we would love to use that.
• 12:32
  Right?
• 12:33
  So sometimes there's there's not a, you know, problem with establishing early on and building
• 12:39
  out that shelf of having that content.
• 12:41
  And now we're getting better at, okay.
• 12:43
  How do we really infuse a ton of value to this?
• 12:46
  And now reaching back out to all of the past guests and be like, hey.
• 12:50
  Here's what we can actually do for you now.
• 12:52
  And here's this piece that, yeah, maybe we did it a year ago or sometimes two years ago, but
• 12:57
  here's what that can now be for you.
• 12:59
  And and for me working in, like, the independent artist world, they don't know any
• 13:03
  of this.
• 13:04
  Right?
• 13:04
  So I was spending an exorbitant amount of time educating them.
• 13:07
  They're like, hey.
• 13:07
  This isn't thrown away.
• 13:08
  I got introduced to jelly roll from podcast interviews he did three years prior to me
• 13:14
  meeting him.
• 13:15
  Think of it like this.
• 13:16
  I'm watching a new series on Hulu today or, you know, this week.
• 13:20
  My wife and I just kinda binged the two seasons of it.
• 13:23
  But we got introduced to it when they're already working on season three.
• 13:27
  Right?
• 13:28
  And we went back.
• 13:29
  So thinking about our own content in that way is like, oh, yeah.
• 13:33
  Just because we did it and it's old news to us doesn't mean that it's not brand new to all
• 13:38
  these other people and it works into all of this and can be something that lives and can be
• 13:43
  drawing in new customers and building trust and doing all the things for not just a year, but
• 13:49
  maybe two or three years.
• 13:50
  The shelf life of some of these things are extremely valuable.
• 13:54
  And reposting old content, there's nothing wrong with that even on the short form side as
• 14:00
  well.
• 14:01
  Yeah.
• 14:02
  In fact, that's something I I've been doing more of myself because, you know, I think, as
• 14:07
  an example, with Facebook specifically, you used to feel like, oh, well, one, I I shouldn't
• 14:12
  post more than once a day on Facebook, or I can't put stuff out there again, which was, you
• 14:18
  know, back when, you know well, Twitter, right, is one of those places that you could because
• 14:24
  and Facebook has become the same way as, first of all, the algorithm doesn't show everybody
• 14:29
  your stuff.
• 14:31
  And so from a chronological standpoint, that's how people are seeing things.
• 14:35
  They're seeing it chronologically.
• 14:36
  So if I post, you know, a short video today and then I post it next week, the same audience may
• 14:44
  not see that both times.
• 14:46
  And even if they do, they may think, oh, well, that's the one he posted last week.
• 14:49
  It just happened to show up in my feed.
• 14:52
  And so but I think to your point, taking that older stuff, it's kind of like, you know and
• 14:59
  I've done a couple.
• 14:59
  Right?
• 15:00
  I'll even say a flashback to, you know, two years ago when we did this, and I've gotten
• 15:04
  some really good, you know, reaction from that.
• 15:08
  And some of the stuff that you have that is older truly is evergreen.
• 15:13
  Right?
• 15:13
  Or or maybe you have some fun with it and, you know, it's that that stuff that didn't age
• 15:18
  well.
• 15:19
  Right?
• 15:19
  Like, oh, this is when so and so said this.
• 15:21
  That didn't age well.
• 15:22
  Gonna be a lot of that in my future.
• 15:24
  Don't worry, Jim.
• 15:29
  Especially on the sports network for sure.
• 15:35
  Yeah.
• 15:36
  Yeah.
• 15:36
  It's incredible to talk with someone who's really been, you know, really had your hands in
• 15:42
  this and really an expert in that social media marketing world and now the evolution of all of
• 15:48
  it because I'm playing catch up.
• 15:50
  I've only been podcasting for two a little over two years.
• 15:54
  I I really only started calling myself a podcaster maybe, like, six months ago where I
• 15:58
  was like, okay.
• 15:58
  I think we have a handle on this thing.
• 16:01
  But in that time, we have almost a thousand episodes, probably more than that that we've
• 16:05
  done.
• 16:06
  All of these interviews, these reps that we've built, we're just now really starting to become
• 16:10
  an expert in that field, and we already have some some accolades to go along with it.
• 16:14
  Content creator of the year, best podcast of the year, the experience that we're bringing,
• 16:19
  the authority that we have in the field and the and the production quality that we bring.
• 16:25
  It's really incredible to know that I've probably built up a decade worth of of content
• 16:30
  in a short amount of time that if I stopped now, I would still have all of this.
• 16:35
  But I'm going to keep going.
• 16:36
  And it's always going to find this and find a home.
• 16:39
  And once the company grows enough to where I have you know, I can pay a marketing person to
• 16:45
  do some of the stuff for me that knows better how to utilize it.
• 16:49
  For me, it was all about stacking up and and batching all of this content and having
• 16:54
  something now established and then being able to build off of that.
• 16:58
  But if you never start to build that, you're really setting yourself behind.
• 17:02
  And I feel like, you know, the advice that, you know, I would give people is, like, get started
• 17:08
  creating something consistently.
• 17:11
  And, yes, guesting on podcasting is nice, but even if you do only do one once a month for
• 17:16
  your own and you're able to show up and start building a community around you, no matter what
• 17:21
  your business is, it will serve and pay dividends for you for many, many years to come.
• 17:27
  Yeah.
• 17:27
  And I think that's so important because I I will tell you, you may run into the same thing.
• 17:33
  I mean, this is we're recording this.
• 17:35
  Right?
• 17:35
  This is an actually live, you know, which is got its own, you know, pros and cons.
• 17:42
  But I'm surprised how many businesses have no video at all, and they're missing out on a huge
• 17:49
  opportunity to one, teach people about what's the problem you solve because that's what
• 17:56
  people are looking for.
• 17:57
  They don't, they don't care necessarily who Bubba is, who Jim is.
• 18:01
  It's like, well, what problem are you solving for me?
• 18:04
  And so if you lead with that, lead with that even with videos, I've told some of these
• 18:09
  trades folks, do a before and after video like, Hey, we're out here fixing this person's
• 18:15
  plumbing.
• 18:16
  This is what it looks like right now when you get done.
• 18:19
  Look how great it is.
• 18:20
  That visual is powerful podcast guesting also because you're getting a chance to tell your
• 18:27
  story, you know, which you're allowing me to do right now.
• 18:31
  So it's not always about, oh, I got to have a show.
• 18:34
  No.
• 18:34
  You need to get your message out because, you know, a good host like you are is you're having
• 18:41
  an interview.
• 18:42
  It's not, you know, just a one-sided conversation.
• 18:46
  And I think that's where you really have to think about if you're going to have your own
• 18:49
  show, what is the purpose of having that show?
• 18:53
  And I think that is where there's just still so many businesses, small businesses.
• 18:59
  And the thing is the barrier to entry is really gotten so low.
• 19:04
  I mean, literally you can do it with a phone and a decent mic on your phone to make sure
• 19:11
  you're getting good audio.
• 19:13
  That's how you can get started.
• 19:14
  It's that simple.
• 19:16
  Yeah.
• 19:17
  There's really very, very few excuses that hold any water whatsoever.
• 19:21
  Time is maybe the biggest one.
• 19:23
  A lot of people say that they don't have time.
• 19:26
  But if you have the right equipment, you could do it in your commute.
• 19:29
  Your, you know, your your podcast could be you in your car talking while you're stuck in
• 19:36
  traffic every single morning.
• 19:37
  Right?
• 19:37
  Like and just putting that out there.
• 19:40
  And granted, you know, maybe that's not a great video portion, but and an audio version, right,
• 19:46
  may suit that very well.
• 19:47
  There's just so many directions directions people can go, and I think that so many people
• 19:52
  get paralyzed by thinking that they they don't know how.
• 19:57
  And it's like, look.
• 19:58
  If you've ever FaceTimed your kids or your grandkids, you can do a video podcast.
• 20:03
  Right?
• 20:03
  Like, it's pretty much that simple at this point, finding the distribution points easier
• 20:08
  and more affordable than they ever have been.
• 20:11
  You can upload it directly onto your YouTube channel, and that could be the end of it right
• 20:14
  there.
• 20:15
  But you're building that long term trust with new customers, and you never know who's going
• 20:20
  to find you and especially if you're doing a good job of marketing that show and using it in
• 20:25
  the ways that you should.
• 20:27
  Jim, before I let you go, I'd love to get, you know, you to just share kinda one piece of
• 20:30
  advice you would have for, business owners that just have nothing going for them.
• 20:37
  What what's kind of your entry level?
• 20:39
  What's that first step for them that have no video or or maybe a a lackluster social media
• 20:45
  presence?
• 20:46
  I I would say the the probably the first and most important thing is to start engaging with
• 20:52
  other people's content and following other folks maybe that are either in your area, you
• 20:59
  know, answering questions because I think sometimes people get caught up in like, oh,
• 21:04
  I've got to create all this content.
• 21:06
  Well, if you start providing good engagement, which is more than hitting, you know, the like
• 21:11
  or the love, but actually typing something in the comments, that's going to get people
• 21:16
  interested in you and it's all about building credibility.
• 21:19
  So I think engagement sometimes can be the quickest way for you to start to build
• 21:24
  relationships.
• 21:26
  And what platforms do you recommend that, you know, especially business owners, what do you
• 21:31
  recommend that they join and where they spend their time?
• 21:35
  Well, I think it's partially based on who your ideal client is, whether it's a consumer or
• 21:39
  whether it's a business.
• 21:42
  But, the my three right now, would say LinkedIn, which is probably more b to b,
• 21:48
  YouTube, which but of course, that's very video centric.
• 21:50
  But then Substack is, you know, is really growing.
• 21:54
  And and I think Facebook is not a bad place to be, but I always say to people, I don't tend to
• 22:02
  go to Facebook looking for, business solutions.
• 22:06
  I I more likely to go to those other three platforms.
• 22:09
  So I wouldn't always get so hung up because I think you hit on this earlier in the in the
• 22:15
  show.
• 22:16
  It's not about having thousands and millions of followers.
• 22:19
  It's about having the right followers.
• 22:22
  So I think that's what you got to think about is like, well, where where are the people that
• 22:27
  I'm really going to engage with and that are looking for my business?
• 22:31
  And then of course, make sure you've set your business up on, you know, Google My Business
• 22:36
  and Bing so that when people search for you, they find you and you get reviews as well.
• 22:43
  Awesome, Jim.
• 22:44
  Well, I appreciate your time today.
• 22:45
  I look forward to working with you in the future as we continue to grow, and, I'll be
• 22:50
  jumping on Substack to make sure I have my account set up properly and spending a little
• 22:55
  bit more time over there.
• 22:56
  I haven't necessarily been keeping up with changes and growth on that platform
• 23:02
  necessarily, but I will now.
• 23:04
  So I appreciate the advice there.
• 23:06
  Thank you so much for coming in, sharing some of your expertise, and thank you for being part
• 23:11
  of the scene.
• 23:12
  Thank you, Bubba, and thank you for what you're doing for for veterans and supporting the, the
• 23:17
  cause to try to prevent veteran suicide.
• 23:20
  I appreciate that.
• 23:21
  It's an absolute honor of mine, to be able to serve as director of marketing and PR for
• 23:27
  operation combating veteran suicide and to continue to, raise awareness, out of the, by
• 23:33
  far the biggest problem in our veteran community right now.
• 23:36
  So, Jim, I appreciate your service to our country.
• 23:38
  Twenty years, a long time, and now getting to turn that service around into the business
• 23:44
  world for for so many others, I think, is, commendable at at the least.
• 23:49
  So thank you for that.
• 23:50
  And have a great rest of your day, and we'll chat soon.
• 23:54
  Thanks, Bubba.
• 23:54
  You're worth it.