Chatting with a Business Pro: A Moment with Maxine Maxey [CM 270 - Blog Post #6]

 By Marriah Boyd


The world of social media marketing is ever-changing. With so many popular user platforms, from Facebook to Instagram to TikTok, entrepreneurs and influencers have the potential for their brands to be introduced to so many individuals around the world. 

In this week's blog post, I chat with Maxine Maxey, the owner of Earth Grounds Coffee and Earthlings Philippines, two online businesses that rely on the power of social media to fuel engagement and reach with consumers. 

Let's jump into the interview! Hopefully Maxine's tips, strategies, and personal experiences guide you, too, on your quest to online entrepreneurship success!

(P.S. Thank you Maxine for taking the time to answer my questions and share this information!)

Q: Please provide some background information on who you are, your career, current job position(s), educational background, etc.

A: Hello, my name is Maxine Maxey. I am the company owner of both online stores -- Earth Grounds Coffee and Earthlings Philippines. 

I graduated from Enderun Colleges with a BS degree in Hospitality Management with a specialization in culinary arts. While I was finishing my last year in college, I launched my first start-up company with my friends- Mango Street Company- and I decided to stick to Entrepreneurship ever since. Since then, I’ve opened 3 more e-commerce companies.

Q: How do you use social media and new media platforms in your day-to-day operations?

A: It depends on which company I am using, but I generally stick to Instagram and Facebook. It was only recently when I learned that TikTok is also a great way to reach certain markets. I use Instagram to establish my brands- we post inspirational photos related to our brand/cause, announcements, and product photos. For example, if you check @earthlings.com.ph or @earthgrounds.coffee, you’ll see photos of our coffee or eco-friendly products which you can purchase on the site.

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Q: Which social media platform do you find to be the most useful/successful in terms of increasing consumer and business engagement? Why do you think this is?

A: Another reason why I like using Instagram and Facebook is because you can connect it to your e-commerce store, and promote shopping for your products on Instagram. It becomes a whole other
outlet where followers can become immediate customers and purchase your products straight from your Instagram. There is something called a
‘sales funnel’ which is the idea that the flow of bringing the customer from your Instagram/Facebook page, to your website, to putting a product in their cart, and checking out. When you make this funnel smaller/shorter, it is easier to get sales.

To keep customer engagement up, we try to post at least once a day on our platforms.

Q: Have you launched any advertising campaigns on social media platforms recently? Which platforms were used, and what was the overall mission of the campaigns?

A: I have launched a few advertising campaigns on Facebook to build awareness, launch products, or advertise sales. When you use Facebook business manager, it manages your ads across Facebook and Instagram.

Q: Were the advertising campaigns successful? What were the regulations and terms associated with launching such campaigns?

A: The ads were semi-successful. My budget was not so big at the time I was running them, and even with professional guidance, it was not easy to bring sales in immediately. When you run ads, Facebook first needs to learn about your audience through the data it collects from the interactions your ad gets. These ad campaigns could take weeks to run, and your budget per day needs to be preferably higher to bring in a significant amount of sales. Some small businesses are successful when they put down at least $1,000 towards Facebook ads, and their sales end up being $2,000 worth in revenue. At the end of the day, if you are not creating/targeting/budgeting your ads properly, you might be at risk in losing your money.

It is important to know that just because you put out ads, it does not guarantee sales. It does, however, bring different value to your business such as awareness or website visits/clicks. You then help Facebook study possible audiences that may be interested in purchasing your products- and in turn helping you run more effective ads the next time around.

Q: From your experiences, are there any specific social media marketing strategies that you think are most beneficial to use?

A: There is the 10x10 interaction scheme, where you interact with 10 profiles who follow similar profiles to yours. You can interact with them by commenting or liking 10 of their photos. This helps them notice your profile and look into you. 

There is a strategy for ad campaigns that include showing audiences different ad copies to get them to purchase from you. It generally goes like this:
  1. A general ad to a cold audience: A photo that introduces your product (or a couple of them) to a person who has never heard of  your brand before. If they click on your ad, or follow you, you are shown the next ad below. 
  2. Another photo or video of your products in use, with a description explaining why you need it or a sale on first purchases, or a link to a website. If they clicked on this ad, they have usually put something into their cart before checking out. This is a warm audience. 
  3. If they left your page and did not follow through with checking out (which happens ALOT); then the ad they see next will remind them to check out the items in their cart. It may also show a carousel of the products that they put into their cart previously, or products similar to them. It may even have a “buy now” button feature on those products.
  4. After they have actually purchased and checked out, we want to retain the customer. We’ll show them a new set of ads with new products, inviting them to try us out again, or offer more discounts for second purchases. 
Q: Do you have any advice for future entrepreneurs or professionals who wish to utilize social media to further their organization or business's operations?

A:
  1. If you really want to succeed in social media management and advertising, definitely take a few courses. Everyone on the internet says they are a guru, but the real fact is that there is a different strategy for every market. Aside from that, there are so many different routes you can take. You can go through “influencer” or “affiliate” marketing too, which can be pretty effective as well. 
  2. It is also really important to know that you need to be prepared to spend a lot of money on your ads if you plan on doing paid advertising. If you are brand new to advertising on Facebook or Instagram, I definitely suggest either hiring a facebook ads specialist OR working closely with a mentor so that you don’t need to shell out too much of your own money to test different marketing strategies. 
  3. Lastly, although it sounds really hard, if you do it right, you could really set yourself up to making millions. Do not doubt the power of marketing through social media; it is one of the strongest methods of advertising to date. If it were easy, everyone would be a millionaire! Hehe.

Thank you again Maxine for answering these questions! 😄

If you would like to follow Maxine's companies' Instagram profiles, check out @earthgrounds.coffee and @earthlings.com.ph. Also, feel free to visit their websites by clicking on the following hyperlinks: Earth Grounds Coffee and Earthlings PH Saving Our Home

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