How To Use Social Media More Strategically In 2026 To Find New Customers with Louise McDonnell

Kathi: Hey Louise, how are you doing today?

Louise: I'm doing great. How are you doing, Kathi?

Kathi: I'm doing great. I'm so happy that you're on, and I love talking about social media. I love talking about AI and all the things that are going on in the world. So why don't you tell the listeners here a little bit about your backstory?

Louise: So my backstory starts a long time ago, actually. One of the most important things in my story, oh God, I'm going to run in circles here now, is that people say to me, "How did you get into social media?" With that kind of tilted head. "How did you get into social media?" And I say, "Well, actually, what I do is digital marketing, and social media is just a channel." So I got into it because I studied marketing in college. I specialized in services marketing. It was just something I loved from day one. And then I had something else very fortunate. One of my first jobs as a graduate, I worked in a company called EDI Factory. Now, EDI stands for electronic data interchange. And I was so naive and green as a young graduate, I thought I was going to be walking into a factory and they were going to be making this product in a box called EDI, and I was going to be helping market it. And guess what? How naive was I? I was disappointed when I realized there wasn't a factory, and in fact it was a software company. Imagine. Because this was nearly before the internet and e-commerce and e-business. So I was working in that area way before it was even a thing. And it wasn't even the thing to be in. It was a very male-oriented industry. As a young graduate, it was the best training I ever had, because I had to learn how to stand on my own two feet, and I had to be respected, and I had to learn how to work in a room full of men and be their equal. So a combination of having the marketing skills with really learning all about what we used to call the paperless office, e-commerce, e-business, gave me that foundation, which is what I use today. And I started my business because I was made redundant on my birthday, right after I had come back from having my twins. I was just back from maternity leave.

What I do is digital marketing, and social media is just a channel.

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Kathi: What? So you had twins on your birthday? Okay. Well, hold on one sec. Let's catch up with that in a minute. But one thing that I have to say is you're one of the very first people that actually went to school for something that she's doing right now. Although I did study communications, and I guess I am in communications. But good for you. You kept on that through path. Okay, so continue on. So you got fired right after you had twins, on your birthday or the day before?

Louise: No. So what happened was I had the twins, I came back from maternity leave, and then it was the morning of my birthday. And that's right back in 2009. I live in Ireland, and at that time Ireland was in the biggest economic recession it had ever known. The place was so bad. And I remember getting invited into the boardroom on the morning of my birthday. And you know that feeling? I was a bit nervous and excited, going, oh, they're going to be singing me happy birthday. It's going to be embarrassing. But I walked in, and there was no cake and there were no candles. It was just, we're really sorry. Their business was falling apart because the economy was falling apart. And they said, "We're really sorry, but your job is gone." So I remember walking down the four flights of stairs out to the pavement, and I remember thinking, "Oh my goodness, it is the biggest economic recession that the country has ever known. Where am I going to get another job?" And I remember thinking at the time that the crèche bill for the twins was more expensive than the mortgage. And I remember thinking, "What am I going to do?" And then it suddenly occurred to me that I had always wanted to start my own business. And if you think about it, back in 2009, I was a marketer who understood digital marketing. So a fire lit within me, and I thought, because I have no choice, I have to do this, and I have to make it work. And then I remember getting excited about it. I started my own business, and I've had various iterations of the business over the years. But in fact, when I look back, being made redundant on my birthday was probably the best gift that I ever received, even though it didn't feel like it at the time.

Kathi: Right, because it's scary. And you have twins. So then you decided that you'd be a work-at-home mom and launch, so you could save and spend time? Did you get an office? How did that work?

Louise: Yeah, so I couldn't do anything with twins at home, because it was too difficult. So I still kept them in the crèche, but I kept them in for, I think it was, three days a week. So I had three days that I could start my own business.

Kathi: Launch three days a week.

Louise: Yeah. So it was actually really good. I was really fortunate. I won contracts early on, so I won a big contract with the Irish tourism board. I worked with all their hotels and adventure centers and destination groups up and down the western seaboard of Ireland. I worked for them solidly for three years under an e-marketing panel. I absolutely loved it. And then after that I started doing a lot of training and coaching in the whole area of social media. And then with COVID we all moved online, and I found that I didn't have to be training or coaching people nearby, that I could train and coach people anywhere in the world. So my coaching business would be, I suppose, 50 percent US and Canada, and then the other 50 would be Ireland and the UK. So there's a really good mix, and I love the mix of the nationalities in my coaching program, because, I'm going to generalize here, but I find the Americans are so open, and they'll always come up with the ideas, and then everybody else will go, yeah, yeah, yeah, and they'll go with it as well. So yeah, I love coaching. I love working with businesses. I love helping businesses. And so now I have an agency, an agency for people who outsource to us, and then I have my academy where we coach, and then I have my new digital marketing platform, Sell on Social, as well. So yeah, it's been a great journey. I've enjoyed every single minute of it.

Kathi: Yeah, and you're really good at coaching, and it shows through, the passion that you have for what you do. And your new platform is pretty amazing. So why don't you talk about that a little bit? There are so many different ways for you listening, so many different ways you can work with Louise, but let's talk about the platform that she has created. It's pretty interesting.

Louise: Yeah, so I love technology, okay? I think you've probably got that from me by now. I just really love technology. I love new things. I love creating. I love coming up with my own ideas. So about two years ago, like everybody else, I got introduced to AI, ChatGPT and Gemini and all the rest of them. And I just absolutely found it phenomenal. I found that we could get through so much more work in the day, and that the work would be of a really high-quality standard. But what I also noticed was that people were using AI, but they were using it in a way that created generic noise. You could go on social media, and you can spot the posts that are created by an AI tool that doesn't have the background information on the business. And at the same time, I have my coaching program. I have an eight-week coaching program where I bring people through a very structured program, and I know that by the end of the program they are able to create a social selling system. They're able to use social media effectively. They're able to find new customers. It works. So what I decided to do was to take the blueprint of my coaching program and turn it into an AI-powered digital marketing platform, which would make it more accessible.

People were using AI, but they were using it in a way that created generic noise.

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Kathi: Yes, it makes it more accessible.

Louise: It means that people, if they still want the coaching, can absolutely come and work with me. But if they just want a tool which is self-led, which works, which uses AI, but uses AI in a way that's going to mirror your voice and mirror your tone, it's going to get you better results. Because what I also found, Kathi, is that I would work with people, and I would help them identify their core messages and how to stand out, and then I'd see their content on social media, and I'd be like, "Eh, what happened to the work we did? What about this, and what about the other?" So my platform never forgets your core messages, never forgets who your ideal customer is. So when you go to write a six-email sequence, or a sales page, or an opt-in page, or a social media post, or a lead generation system, it knows all about you, and it's going to create something which is for you.

Kathi: Beautiful. Everybody needs this. Because what I find with AI is there are so many options, and it's hard to stay linear. And I think your program does keep me focused and on the path of being linear, to keep the messaging accurate. Because I've been off in the ethers so many times with AI. It's like, oh, and here, and here, and here. And you know the squirrel chaser that I used to be. So I'm reformed. I think that it's important that we stay linear, and the program is definitely robust. So you worked for the tourism board in Ireland. I was in the tourism industry myself as a travel writer. Tell me about that gig. What did that entail? That was one of your first big contracts, right?

Louise: Yeah, it was one of my first big contracts. So what did that entail? At the time, and again, we're going back a good few years now, a lot of the businesses were trying to create an online strategy, and they were integrating it with their offline strategy. And do you know, Kathi, it's not a million miles away from what I do now. Because I'm going to go back and say it again: social media marketing is not about social media, it's about marketing. And I say at the beginning of my story that I studied marketing, because marketing is at the foundation of everything that we do. So I would go into a five-star hotel, or it could be a destination marketing group, or it could be an activity center, and I would look at the foundational messaging. What are you saying? What makes you different? What makes you unique? How can you stand out? How's your offering different? What should you be saying across your social media, your website? What should you be saying in your emails? And how can you integrate that with what you're saying offline as well? So I basically looked at their strategies, and I would help them to create an overarching strategy which combined their online and their offline, and it was all on message. And so I think that doesn't change.

Social media marketing is not about social media, it's about marketing.

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Kathi: Right, right. It's the same thing, right?

Louise: Yeah. I would say if you're interested in learning about the newest feature on whatever social media channel you're into, don't come to me, because I'm not interested in this feature and that feature, because it's not going to change the outcome. What will change the outcome is having your traditional marketing foundations in place. That's what will have an impact, and that's what will get you customers and sales and leads.

Kathi: Yeah, absolutely. I'm with you on that. So for someone who's starting out, well, let's do it twofold. I like to give advice to all the listeners, and there are twofold listeners here, I know. Some who are just launching and trying to figure out their brand, and then we have others who have figured out their brand, but maybe they've gone away from their path. What advice would you give? Let's start with the newbie, someone who really is just launching and finding her way.

Louise: Yeah, so actually, the people coming to my coaching program can be just like you've described. You can have people that are at the starting point, and then you can have other people who have been in business for a while. But as you said, I think every 12 to 18 months in your business, you need to reset, because you're changing, your customer is changing, the world is changing, the social media channels are changing, the digital marketing, the way we connect, is changing. So if you had a strategy in place that was working perfectly two years ago, chances are you need to reset it again now anyway. And so I bring people through the same process, whether they're resetting or whether they're starting from the beginning. It's the same process that we go through. And what I say to people is the first thing you need to do is to be super clear on what your offer is. So what's your core offer? What's the main thing that you want to sell? And you need to be able to define what you're selling, not from how you deliver it, but from the benefit that your ideal customer is going to get. So what's that transformation that you can promise your ideal customer? What success can you guarantee them? So if you can say to them, "If you work with me, in three months' time you are going to be more organized, you're going to save yourself a day a week," what transformation can you guarantee? So in order to find that transformation, we go through a number of different steps. And these are the steps, if you see my online platform, which I know you're using. The first thing we do is we go through how you're unique, how you're different. Because if you're going to use social media, or digital, like your website or your email or even a podcast, you have to be able to stand out from everybody else. You as an individual are unique, and you have a unique story and a unique journey to get you here, and you've got to use that to connect with people. That's going to help them connect with you. So step one is we figure all that out, and that's going to help you with your positioning, with your core messages, everything. The second step we do is we then define who your ideal customer is. But we don't just go to ChatGPT or Gemini or Claude and say, "Here, create a persona for me based on this person." We need to go a little bit deeper than that. We need to find out their hopes, dreams, desires, what's keeping them awake at night, what they're worried about, what their triggers are, all of those things. And when we have that information, then we can create our persona. And then once we know how we're different and who our ideal customer is, then we define our core offer. And that then is your foundation. From there, once you know what your core offer is, you build your lead generation systems. You build your social media content, you build your emails, all of that. But if you don't have the foundations in place, if you haven't got that clarity on your core offer, it means that your social media content is always just going to be wishy-washy.

If you haven't got that clarity on your core offer, your social media content is always just going to be wishy-washy.

Kathi: Mhm.

Louise: It's just going to be ticking a box, but it's not going to be actually doing anything for you.

Kathi: Right. And people are like, oh, okay, that's interesting. But they're not saying, oh, that's me. Right?

Louise: Exactly. Yeah, exactly.

Kathi: Oh, she's talking to me. How does she know that about me?

Louise: They need to be nodding their heads going, gosh, yeah, she's watching over my shoulder.

Kathi: How did you know I was thinking that?

Louise: Exactly. So these are the things which help us build a connection with people. And another thing to say, which is very important as well: we market online, but we sell offline. Social media is only ever going to be the place where you find the leads, but you need to move people from social media to a conversation, especially if you're selling high-ticket items.

Kathi: Absolutely. And in order to do that, you have to be compelling, and they have to want to speak with you, right?

Louise: Exactly. And sometimes you've got to think of it like building a relationship with somebody. If you go into the DMs of somebody who doesn't know you and you say, "Hey, do you want to jump on a call?" they're just going to ignore you. So you need to build a relationship. If you go into a networking event in person, you don't rock up to somebody and start trying to sell to them straight away. You rock up and you have a conversation, and you get to know each other. And after you get to know each other, after a while it may turn to a business conversation, and then it may turn to, well, maybe I can help you with that, and then it may turn to a sales call. So I will say, if you wouldn't say it to somebody with a cup of coffee in your hand at a networking event, don't write it on social media.

Kathi: And I think people skip that step all the time, because they just want to get to that.

Louise: Yeah, I think they see social media as a place where they can sell, but really social media is a place where you can connect, build a rapport with someone, build a relationship with someone. And if through that relationship building they understand that you get them and their problems, and that you can help them, and that it's possible, then they're more likely to move forward with you.

Kathi: And that leads to the question of what social media channels. How many should you be on? Should you be on everything? Should you go wide? Should you go deep? What's your take on that, Louise? I know that's what people are thinking right now. Where should I be?

Louise: Yeah, so you should be where your customers are hanging out. If you're a small business owner or a medium-sized business owner, this is what I say to all my clients, and it works perfectly well: the challenge is creating the content. After that, you can put the content anywhere you want. So if you're B2B and you need to be on LinkedIn, then put your content out on LinkedIn and put your efforts into engaging with people on LinkedIn. But I would repurpose that content, 100 percent repurpose that content, and put it on my Facebook professional profile as well. If you have Instagram and you want to, you can put it there, too. So you might have one channel which is your primary channel, where you put a lot of time and effort in, but then you can absolutely repurpose your content in other channels as well. Say, for example, myself: my primary channel is LinkedIn. I absolutely love it. I hang out more there than I do anywhere else. I still put my posts out on my Facebook professional profile and my Facebook business page and my Instagram account. And then if I'm doing videos, I'm going to put them out on my TikTok and on my YouTube as well. One piece of content going multiple places. And then when I'm running a promotion, I will run paid ads on Meta, Facebook and Instagram, being the Meta platform, and it works really well for me in terms of lead generation. I don't run paid ads on LinkedIn, because I find they're too expensive, and I put my money on LinkedIn into having LinkedIn Premium, and that is more effective for me. So when it comes to what channel you should be on, it is really about where your client is and where they're hanging out. Somebody may be hanging out on LinkedIn in their professional capacity. That does not mean that they will not see your content on Facebook or Instagram and respond to it. So let's say you're in nutrition. I have people in my program who are nutritional coaches, and I have other people who are interior designers. There, you need to be more on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, I would say. If you're a life coach, again Instagram, Facebook, but equally LinkedIn. So it just really depends. We worked with a kitchen manufacturer who we did amazing campaigns for on Facebook and Instagram, but we still repurposed some of his content onto LinkedIn, because equally there are people there, and they tend to have higher spending power. So when it comes to the channels, it's all about your ideal customer, and it's all about being clever with your content: creating content which is impactful and which will work across multiple platforms.

The challenge is creating the content. After that, you can put the content anywhere you want.

Kathi: Agreed. Agreed. I just find that it's difficult to follow all of them. So I agree with you: choose one and focus on that, but try to keep your finger on the others. How do you feel about Pinterest? Because I'll tell you what, on my Pinterest channel I have like 6,000 followers with zero effort.

Louise: Yeah, so for some of our clients, Pinterest is hugely important. Anybody who's working with something visual. Let's say, again, the kitchen manufacturer, or it could even be, we work with hotels as well. Anything that's visual, where you can optimize those images so that it helps them get found. Absolutely, Pinterest is another one, and it's a fairly good one as well, because you can work on it and just create lots of content at the one time. So it works really well.

Kathi: Yeah, it's very interesting. There are so many channels and so many ways to be found.

Louise: That's the thing, right?

Kathi: Yeah. But I agree, once you have the messaging, then it's much, much easier. You just repurpose it. So, okay, I have to ask you. You've been in business for a long time. You're very organized. What's your favorite organizing hack? What do you use every day that works for you?

Louise: I actually love writing things down.

Kathi: Ah.

Louise: Yeah. So I have a diary, and I write everything. Even though I have it on an electronic diary as well, I still write everything down in my diary. I have my diary here, and I have them for years. I might have five or six years of diaries behind me. I'll write notes, and I'll write numbers and details. And if you say to me, "Oh, Louise, I need a contact," I'll be like, I can remember back to where it was in that year, and I'll find it. I find that works really well. I've done it for years. And I also have a diary, and then I have a second book beside me for writing even more notes, and I'll just write everything. So even though I'm hugely into online and hugely into digital, I still like having that. And people are like, "How are you still with a diary in 2026?"

Kathi: Well, you know, writing. I mean, you're also an author, as am I. I always have a pen in my hand as well. The tactile effort of writing things down solidifies things in my brain, even though I might not ever look back at them like you might. It just helps me pop it into my brain further. But I find the hybrid between digital and paper right now a challenge for many, many people. And when you say going back in your diary, I won't remember what year like you will, but I will remember where it is on the page. I'm like, oh yeah, the top left is where I wrote that note. But I don't have the date in my brain like you do. It's just useless information, unless I only have a month on a pad or something.

Louise: Yeah, but I know exactly what you're saying, because I can visualize where it is on the page, or how I wrote this.

Kathi: It's pretty interesting. The brain is a funny thing.

Louise: Isn't it, though?

Kathi: I'll tell you what. If you could look back, I mean, you're one of the few, like I said earlier, that actually knew what she wanted to do when she grew up. But if you had to tell your 18-year-old self something, what kind of advice would you give her?

Louise: I think when I went in to study marketing, I don't think I really knew what I wanted to do. I knew what I didn't want to do. What advice would I give to my 18-year-old self? I think in business, the advice that I have always come up with is learn how to say no earlier.

Kathi: That's a good one.

Louise: Yeah. I think sometimes my default is that I do want to help people, so I may sometimes get caught up in stuff that I don't need to be in. So, learning how to say no earlier. When I started out in business, I was starting from a place of fear and excitement, but fear, because I had to pay bills and I had twins and I had responsibilities. And so I probably took projects on that weren't where I should have been focusing, because it made me go in too many different directions. So I've learned that over the years. We used to do much broader digital marketing, whereas now we're much more focused. So learning to say no and learning to prioritize would be what I would say to my 18-year-old self. And maybe I would also say, be a bit more serious at college.

Kathi: Yeah, yeah. Well, college is fun. I'm with you on that. I learned that earlier on. I think that the highest sign of professionalism is knowing when to say no, and saying no. And when we're launching, I agree, half the time you take the job because you really need that job, and then it's just a mess. So follow your instincts. That's really good advice for sure. Now, I know that you have something that you're going to offer the audience here. What is it that you'd like to give them or talk to them about?

Louise: Yes, so I have a free masterclass coming up. We're going to drop the link in the show notes. The masterclass will be all about AI-powered social selling. So if you're in business, and you feel that either you don't have the confidence to show up at all on social media, or you're on social media and your efforts just aren't leading to sales or leads, then this webinar is all about that. It's how you use social media to generate real sales and leads for your business, and how you use AI to get you there faster and with more impact.

Kathi: Fantastic. Everybody needs to jump into this masterclass, because it's really good, and it's loaded with a lot of tips and tricks, and you're going to be amazed at how much content you can put out that's good. That's good content. And impactful, that's my word.

Louise: Impactful. Yeah, impactful content.

Kathi: That will get people to actually say, oh, she knows what I'm thinking right now. That's the important thing right there. So that's fantastic. I can't wait for it, and everybody, definitely check the link in the show notes and sign up for it. Set aside the time right now to make sure that you're free on the day that she's doing it. It'll be very soon. So please check the link and set aside that time, because you will not regret it. We all need to know more AI, and we all need to know how to market better. It's an ongoing process. So please check that link for sure. Now, is there anything, Louise, that we should have talked about that was on your mind, that you wanted to discuss? What have I missed?

Louise: No, I don't think you've missed anything. I loved all your questions. Such a great interview. So thank you, Kathi.

Kathi: Oh yeah, it's fun. It's fun. You're my girlfriend. We just have girlfriend chit-chats, and I respect what you do, and I highly recommend that everyone out there check out Louise, make friends with her, follow her, and watch what she's doing, because, as you know, she's been doing this for quite a long time. She's a pro in her field. So I really appreciate you being on the podcast, Louise. It's just a pleasure. Now, hey, you guys, if you're listening and you love it, please give me a thumbs up. Most importantly, give me a comment. Comments are really, really good for my podcast. I very much appreciate it. And if you have someone that you feel this would benefit, please forward it to them with love, as a little love note from you to them, and say, "Hey, you need to listen to this lady, because she knows what she's talking about with marketing." So please share the love, share the podcast, give me a thumbs up, and until next time, we will see you guys then.