Every year, Emerging Prairie works to support and grow our entrepreneurial ecosystem. One way they do this is through their cohorts, which are 16-week programs designed to help companies ensure that they are being built upon a firm foundation.
Just like emerging Prairie, we at Fargo INC! want to celebrate and support the entrepreneurial ecosystem. That’s why we teamed up with them to introduce you to a number of entrepreneurs involved in their cohorts!
Mary Cait McManamon has always been interested in entrepreneurship. Although
she figured she would go into economic development, events/programming or something else along those lines because she knew she loved working with entrepreneurs, she eventually found her own entrepreneurial niche through social media marketing which she uses to help entrepreneurs grow.
What does your organization do?
We offer social media management services for entrepreneurs. We take social media off the entrepreneur’s plate – letting you focus on what’s most important: growing your business. We manage all of your profiles from beginning to end, content creation through comment response.
How did you get into what you are doing/how and why did you form your organization?
I learned firsthand the challenges of starting a business while also trying to market myself when launching my first business. I noticed I was not the only entrepreneur having the same challenge of juggling all of the tasks that go into running a business. I decided to put my first business on hold to support other entrepreneurs by taking social media off their plate, freeing them up to focus on growing their businesses.
What drives you?
I love seeing behind the scenes of businesses and finding creative ways to show who they are and what they do on social media. Increasing their number of followers is great, but what I care about is growing their business. When I look at analytics, I don’t just look at Facebook and Instagram. I look at clients’ business as a whole to make sure we are growing their business, not just their follower count. Seeing that overall growth is what drives me.
What did you learn from the cohort?
It is always good to go back to the basics. Being in business for almost a year now, there are processes and plans I established in the beginning that I have now been able to rethink and rework through the cohort to better serve where my business is at today.
What else should we know about you/your organization?
I haven’t posted a single thing about my business on social media. At first, I thought that was a bad thing. Would you trust a social media marketer who doesn’t post on social media? But what I have realized instead is it shows that it’s not social media I care about, it’s business development and making real connections with a client’s target customer that I care about. I have successfully grown a business without using social media. So when clients work with me, I can give them a great social media strategy and posts to engage their audience. But I can also suggest networking events, speaking engagements, and make other connections to help grow their business because that is how I grow my business.
What advice do you have for other entrepreneurs out there?
Don’t get overwhelmed by what people are doing, or what it looks they are achieving, based on what they post on social media. Focus on what works for you and your business. As entrepreneurs, we are very attached to our businesses. If a marketing tactic doesn’t feel like a good fit for you, the chances of it working for your business are slim.
Even though all of the entrepreneurs in this article were part of the Women’s Cohort and the Social Entrepreneur Cohort, Emerging Prairie also hosts a New American Cohort and will be kicking off a Native American Cohort and Black Founder Cohort soon. Stay tuned to our magazine for future updates on participants in these programs.
