In this episode, host Jordan Yates interviews Amanda Johnson, a content creator and marketer in the industrial space. Amanda shares her journey from starting in the manufacturing industry to transitioning into a marketing role. She discusses the challenges of talking about technical topics on camera and how she prepares for her videos. Amanda emphasizes the value of video content in today's fast-paced world and the impact it can have on potential customers. She also shares her experiences with implementing video content on social media platforms like LinkedIn. The episode concludes with tips for those starting out in video content creation.
In this episode, host Jordan Yates interviews Amanda Johnson, a content creator and marketer in the industrial space. Amanda shares her journey from starting in the manufacturing industry to transitioning into a marketing role. She discusses the challenges of talking about technical topics on camera and how she prepares for her videos. Amanda emphasizes the value of video content in today's fast-paced world and the impact it can have on potential customers. She also shares her experiences with implementing video content on social media platforms like LinkedIn. The episode concludes with tips for those starting out in video content creation.
Hello everybody, welcome back to another episode of Failing For you. It is me, your host, jordan Yates, and today I'm joined by Amanda Johnson. I'm really excited to have Amanda on because last week I messaged her and I was like, hey girl, like your videos are really cool, I like what you're doing in the industrial space. Like we don't see a lot of other content creators and people who are on video and just putting themselves out there so often, and so her content I've been following for a while. I found it very exciting and she has a cool role in marketing content creation and all that that I'm obsessed with in the industrial space. So I had to get her on but nonetheless say hello, amanda, to everybody.
Speaker 2:
Everyone, I'm Amanda and I want to thank you, Jordan, for inviting me on and welcoming me to your space.
Speaker 3:
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Speaker 4:
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Speaker 1:
Yes, well, I'm happy you said yes. Sometimes I feel nervous when I message people because a lot of times people will ask me to come on. They want to give their pitch of who they are and whatnot. They're trying to grow their personal brand, so I'm not always on the side of asking, and so that was something where I had to put myself out there and take the chance of getting rejected. But thank you for saying yes and not making me have to learn some more rejection lessons. So I'm glad that we're here.
Speaker 2:
Yes, me too, Thank you. No, that's so good, oh no you're good.
Speaker 1:
I struggle with interrupting sometimes, as you were saying. No no, you think as a podcaster I'd learn, but sometimes my mouth starts moving and my brain takes a second to catch up.
Speaker 2:
No, I'm just going to go on and say that's part of the whole thing just saying yes to opportunities that come your way.
Speaker 1:
Yes, absolutely. I did a lot of that last year of just saying yes to everything and seeing what would happen. You really learn what you like and you don't like, but I want to get into your story and not yelp about myself too much. So, amanda, you started in the manufacturing industry around 2018. Can you tell us how you ended up here?
Speaker 2:
Yes, so I started in 2018 as the field service coordinator for Roper Whitney that's how I got into this space, I would suppose. So I started out with scheduling field service technicians to jobs, getting clients prepared to receive their new machines or get their machines repaired, so I learned a lot by doing that job, and then eventually I got into marketing. Yeah, yep.
Speaker 1:
Very cool. So before that you were in the grocery business. How does that transfer from groceries to industrial, Like how did you come across a job in this industry?
Speaker 2:
So actually my dad does work for Oprah Whitney. He Whitney, he's on the manufacturing side of things, so he's in the planning department. He's in charge of planning for all the shop orders in the shop, from raw materials to, of course, finished machines, finish machines, so he's on that side of things. They let me come on to the same company because I was doing a completely different role, so we don't really work together. But him being here did help make me more comfortable into, you know, trying something completely different.
Speaker 2:
But, at that time in my life, I needed something completely different, because I felt like there's nowhere else to go and I knew I wanted to go somewhere.
Speaker 1:
Was your dad shocked that you wanted to come work in the industrial space? Was he like?
Speaker 2:
really. He was really yes, he was actually really worried because, yeah, so he didn't know me professionally and actually that's another great story within itself, because now that he knows me professionally, I feel like our relationship is so much better. Now he was worried for me because a lot of I guess there's a lot of people that didn't stick in that position, because it can be challenging.
Speaker 2:
I think you have some experience with field service. Yes, okay, so he was right, I'd be stressed and it turned out I loved it. I stuck. Obviously they thought I was doing a good job because they let me do other things, but yeah, that's.
Speaker 1:
that's really cool. I feel like I don't know. I mean, I love my dad. I don't know if I could work at the same company as him and him be even remotely linear near my professional stuff, because I feel like he would try to get very involved, like be in the same space as their parents. But it's not like overlapping in a way. But I'm sure that gives you like more to talk about at, like you know, christmas and things like that, when you guys are like, oh gosh, like this is happening right now, like I'm sure there's a little bit more overlap now.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, in the beginning we talked about it, but now we barely even talk about work and we don't even talk during the day. It's kind of odd. We're kind of just in our own world.
Speaker 1:
That's so fun. So you were in the field service coordination spot and then you eventually transitioned into the marketing role. Can you kind of walk us through how that happened?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so I think it started with me just putting myself out there a little bit, saying that I'm willing to like, for example, my field service technicians. I never got to see them in person because, um, we didn't get into this yet, but there's three different companies, so three different locations, so I never got to actually meet these guys face to face, um. So the trade shows were coming up to one of these and then finally they invited me to go.
Speaker 2:
So I can meet everybody in person, and not only that. I got to learn so much by being there, meeting our customers, other people in the industry. It was a huge learning experience. And I do have a story from my first trade show. I don't know if we want to get into there, okay. So, of course, I was like a fish out of water. I had no idea what to expect. Um, that was when we were bringing on our other company, rollformer, a whole other line of machines that I knew absolutely nothing about, um, but I was standing at their booth and people were asking me questions. Of course, I had no clue, but eventually, you know, I learned.
Speaker 2:
But it was the MetalCon show in Tampa in 2021. And the show was going around doing interviews for each booth. And they came by and they asked me if somebody from our booth would like to do an interview. I'm like, I know just the person, yeah. So at the time I was in field service. I wasn't in marketing or sales, um, so I asked our marketing manager. I said, hey, they want to do an interview. Like, can you do the interview? Yeah, he did not want anything to do with it. Oh, my gosh, no, I won't do it. I'm like, oh okay, and I'm like, hold on, I know just the right person. And I got our sales manager. She didn't want to do it either, which was surprising because she's extremely bubbly outgoing. She didn't want to do it, so it left me.
Speaker 2:
I did it. It was terrible, oh no, um, you know the lights on people walking by first trade show just kind of soaking it all in. But I did it. And, um, it's a hard one to go look back at, but I was proud of myself for doing it. Yeah, I was going to start somewhere. Yes, anyway, I think that kind of opened up the doors for me because I was willing to put myself out there and do it, no matter how nervous I was. So after that, that's when the opportunity was kind of presented to me hey, would you like to be the spokesperson and get more into the marketing and sales side of things? Yeah, yes, of course.
Speaker 1:
That is so cool. I feel like it's not common to find people who are willing to get on camera, especially without much notice. I see that all the time in my business. I show up to my customers, we're recording, and people are scurrying away, they're hiding and they're like oh no, get away from me, I don't want to be on camera. And it is so rare, especially in our industry, to find somebody who's comfortable on camera. But the hard part is when you go into a technical industry is getting comfortable talking about technical things on camera, especially, like you said, your background wasn't technical, you were new to it. There's the learning curve. Can you kind of walk us through what it was like becoming somebody who had to talk about technical things on camera without a technical background?
Speaker 2:
Okay. So a lot of things going through my mind with that one, yes. So where do I want to start with that? Again, the service side of things really helped me because I got to learn like electrical schematics, a little bit mathematics, a little bit getting people ready with the right type of electrical. You know, 233 phase got me kind of into that type of thing. Knowledge, a little bit bill of materials, different replacement parts, um. But to the original question was, um, how to talk about it in a video?
Speaker 2:
without that background. So a lot of times when I'm doing a video on a machine, especially for one of our companies, because I'm doing a video on a machine especially for one of our companies, because I'm stationed in Rockford Illinois at the Roper Whitney branch so when I do a video for, like, a 10 Smith machine or a roll former machine, I've never seen it before. Wow. So the information I have on it is, of course, what I have on the websites, because I'm in charge of the websites. But what I'll do is I'll I'll request a manual, so I'll look at the manual, try to find out as much as I can about the machine before it gets here.
Speaker 2:
Um, luckily I have a good relationship with the guys over at the role former branch so I can talk to them hey, what are the main points I should cover? And then I collect all this information and then I put it into a script and then sometimes I'll send it over to them. Hey, did I touch on all those important points? And that's kind of my process. It depends on the machine, but that's kind of how I do it.
Speaker 1:
That's like a really good methodical process, though, because some people, you know, like those going to chat GPT and be like hey, what do I say about this machine? And then you have a script that's just generated, and when somebody doesn't have a familiarity with what they're talking about, you may emphasize weird stuff or like not point to the right thing. So I like that your process is like manual, like let's get to know the machine even though I haven't seen it, and like kind of get the background you know, coordinate with different people on the team that have that more hands-on experience.
Speaker 2:
Can you tell us?
Speaker 1:
when you first started doing that, how open was the team to communicating these things with you? Like, did they like find it exciting that you were making videos, or were they kind of like that's weird, like what was the vibe around it?
Speaker 2:
they kind of like that's weird. Like what was the vibe around it? Um, very good question. Um, I think the role former team in particular were super excited about it because they never had a marketing person, so they've been great. Um, I would say kind of like in my at Roper Whitney, I think some people kind of think, oh it's weird, why is she doing that? Not everyone seems super supportive at times, but that you just got to keep going and just keep doing the job.
Speaker 1:
So yeah, I always love like I at my last job would have to like get people on the podcast or something, and I'd be like you know, like I think you do a really good job, like especially the people that are in sales that you think would be happy to be on camera, or like doing something social because it would help them sell things. They'd be like I will only do it if I have to do it and I'm like that's not the attitude, like it's going to come through on camera if you feel forced into it. So it's, it's nice. You know, like sure it could be hard, but you gotta have to work with the willing and I think it's okay that not everybody's supportive of video, but I think the value is there. How do you communicate the value of creating these videos to your team?
Speaker 2:
How do I communicate the value? Um, it's a good question.
Speaker 1:
People are usually like why, why, why do we need a video? Like what's the point? Like, can't they just read the?
Speaker 2:
manual, it's, it's. I think in this day and age you absolutely need video. I mean, everything is so fast paced, Everything is a real. Now you got to get the information really Nobody wants to read. I mean, you mentioned chat GPT. I'd be lying if I said I don't use it Of course I use it.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, yeah, but, as you said, you want to make sure you actually have the knowledge to work with it and make it a powerful tool. But I think when somebody is looking to buy a new product, if there's a video there, that's going to make them a lot more interested because they can actually see it working. Yeah, and it's visual, it's just.
Speaker 1:
I don't know if that answered your question, but no, I think it does, because to me it's obvious. I'm like if we're marketing a product, then the more types of content we have to showcase it and build the brand awareness, the stronger it's going to be, because people want to watch a video, they want to interact with someone, they want to feel like there's that human element to it. Have you ever had customers that are like oh, I saw your video and that's why I was interested?
Speaker 2:
So at the trade shows, I would say almost I'm amazed, actually, at the amount of people that have come up to me and told me they saw my videos. Oh my gosh, yeah, I don't always know what to say. Yeah, when they say that to me, I'm like thank you, yeah. But yes, it's amazing though, people do see it and, yeah, it makes an impact.
Speaker 1:
That's really cool. No, I always love that at a trade show and someone's like are you Jordan, from LinkedIn? And I'm like I guess, yeah, like from LinkedIn, sort of Like. I don't work at LinkedIn, but I sure am on there a lot posting, way too much probably. But it's definitely a fun feeling because you realize, like how close knit this community is and that, although people aren't all posting, that, they are watching and is and that, although people aren't all posting, that they are watching and interacting in that like this is where our buyers are Like, if we're putting ourself out there, like our buyers are seeing it and it's really powerful to be working it. I mean, the video is one portion of it, but then you have like the rest of your job, which is website running, marketing, running all the social accounts. What else do you do in your job besides the content creation?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so I feel like there's a lot. Since I do have background in other departments, I'm a good support system for other people that are here. So, for example, I was helping the field service coordinator earlier today, so it's kind of nice to be able to help other people. But besides that, I'll make new quote templates for machines, besides updating the websites, of course, all of the posts and everything I come up with what to post and when. Um, let's see, did you mention trade shows?
Speaker 4:
that's a big part yeah, there's a lot that go into those, um, right now, um, our next one's in chicago.
Speaker 2:
It's the mro, um, it's the aviation space for airplanes, and we have a certain product line that actually we don't manufacture here in the USA, but we are a US distributor. The machines are from Switzerland, so that's what that show is going to be about. Yeah, it's really cool, and yeah, yeah, I don't know. What else do I do, though, besides the content creation.
Speaker 1:
Because implementation is so important. You know like you can make videos, but if you don't, you know, put them into emails or you embed them on the website or put them onto the social accounts and it's like they just go off and they die and they're just a video that exists, but you have to actually implement it as well. Can you kind of walk us through that? I mean, I think it says you run 12 social media accounts, like what all are you doing?
Speaker 2:
yeah, so, um, specifically, um, so again, there's ten smith roll, former and roper whitney. They're all us manufacturers of sheet metal equipment, so of course I have the facebook for each of those, instagram um linkedin, so there's um, what is that nine? And then also, as I mentioned, we are us distributors of it's called echoed um. They're craft formers, so they shrink metal, stretch metal um dome metal, so you'll see it in the aerospace, you'll see it in automotive so I run um those pages too.
Speaker 2:
It's called echoed usa um, and then also the youtube pages for yeah, ten Roll, Former, Roper Whitney, and then I also. I don't know how it's going to go for our space, but I did start a TikTok. Okay, it's difficult though, because I have three and four if you count Echo different companies. We're all under one. But that's a challenge too, is I've got all these separate pages, but we also want to be promoted as one too, so I made the TikTok just all in one.
Speaker 2:
So everything for all those product lines. I'm just putting it in one. I just started that, though, so I'm going to see how that goes. And then you mentioned LinkedIn a little bit. So LinkedIn I just started posting within the last two months regularly to LinkedIn, and I can't believe how. What a great platform that is for people to be. I've met so many amazing people on there and it's just a great place to be, I think, right now, and it's just a great place to be, I think, right now.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, no, I love LinkedIn and I think I noticed you, honestly, probably a month or so ago, so not too long after you started being regular on there, because it's a woman taking a picture or selfie with some cool equipment and I'm like that's my shit, I love that stuff, that's what I do all the time, and so when I see someone else doing it, I'm like, yes, you get it, like you're doing, like you're humanizing your face with what you guys like sell.
Speaker 1:
Like I love seeing that. Do you remember like going back and like your first time you were like I'm going to post a selfie to LinkedIn. Did it feel natural, did it feel weird? Like do you recall what that was like?
Speaker 2:
So yeah, so that's a great question. So I never thought I would put selfies on LinkedIn because, it doesn't seem necessarily professional.
Speaker 2:
You know, back in the MySpace days and Facebook, oh, selfie, selfie. I was kind of done with that. But what got me kind of onto LinkedIn is I was looking for customer testimonials for our role former line. So I don't know what made me search LinkedIn for it. But I found one of our customers who I didn't know I don't know if it's okay to say his name, doug Craig with Viking Metals. I come across his page and he actually had one of our machines there out of all times.
Speaker 2:
So I reached out to him, I called him and he actually was the one who started telling me you know, you got to be on LinkedIn you got to market on there, so I listened to him, got on there more and then I don't know if it was before my first selfie or after, but I came across Hallie, I believe is her name?
Speaker 1:
yeah, um with.
Speaker 2:
IQ manufacturing anything yes, the girl with the all the hats. Yes, I love her. Yes, so, seeing her posts and her selfies, i'm'm like I can do that. So I went out there in front of a big machine that we're still making, actually right now, took a selfie and it just blew up. I'm like wow. So, yes, it felt weird. Sometimes it still feels weird, but I'm going to keep doing it because I'm getting really good feedback.
Speaker 1:
I'm going to keep doing it because I'm getting really good feedback and meeting people like yourself and, yeah, I think posting your selfies to LinkedIn is one battle, but the hardest part is when you're taking the selfie and somebody walks by and they're like why are you taking a selfie with a machine? That, to me, is always the most awkward part.
Speaker 2:
Yes, and you're so right, because I try to wait towards the end of the day, when a lot of our assemblers and shop people are gone. But they're still around, especially the shop manager out there, and I usually tell them what I'm doing. It's still weird, but you know what? I'm just going to keep doing it and I'm still thinking about doing this. I want to make a blooper reel with my videos, because some of the things I do when I mess up is just really funny the faces I make. I'm constantly I don't know why, but I'm constantly looking around to see who saw me mess up, because I'm doing it during the day yeah, the whole shop is running or if they'll make a really loud noise when they're putting together a machine and I'm talking and you could hear it, instead of just keep going, I stop. Yeah, like, oh, why did they have to make that noise? Because you can hear it in the audio and, yeah, it's just really funny.
Speaker 1:
It must be even harder for you too, because if you're doing scripted content, it's like you, you memorize it and you're in your flow, and then it's like someone messes you up. I would be like, oh my god, can you just stop doing your job for a second? Like everyone, right on set, please like. What are you doing?
Speaker 2:
yes, I'm. I'm excited for the day that I can do these without scripting them, when I'm, like, really a pro at the machines. But again, a lot of the times I'm seeing them for the first time, so I'm trying to come off as knowledgeable as I can, but sometimes I'm I'm just learning as I go too.
Speaker 1:
So yeah, to me I'm like so the opposite, because scripting is so hard that I cannot remember my line.
Speaker 1:
Like I've tried to do a couple of scripted videos and my thing that I'll do is like I'll be in my office and I'll like look at the screen next to me and then I'll memorize like one line and then I'll like look back at it and then I'll like read a little bit and then I'll read while looking at it and then so I'll lay over some B roll, since I'm like looking at the screen and then it's so much editing because I'm like looking, I'll memorize like three words and then look at the camera and say it, and it's so choppy and like I just have such a horrible memory that I just can't recite it. And so I think I don't go off the cuff because I think I'm so knowledgeable. It's just because I literally cannot remember anything. And it's so frustrating because I've had companies reach out to do a campaign with me and I had just a really short video I had to make and it took me hours and I was just sweating and I was stressed. I can't remember anything. It's so hard, oh.
Speaker 2:
Oh, yeah, yeah. So how do you do it? Then you just naturally just speak.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, so I think I'll like usually I talk about things I know about, so it'll be like I've gotten to know it, like you said, the process of learning about it, and I have sort of like points. I want to hit on like hi, I'm Jordan, today I'm talking about X and I want to tell you about this cool feature. I want to hit on like hi, I'm Jordan, today I'm talking about X and I want to tell you about this cool feature. I want to tell you about this, and then I'll just kind of elaborate on it. And I did sales at one point, so I just imagine I'm like giving my sales pitch to the camera, and if it's good, it's good.
Speaker 1:
If not, then I'll just do it again. Try a different angle. Sometimes I have to see how it rolls off my tongue before I can decide if I like it or not, and so it's really just about going into it with, like what's your agenda, what do you want to communicate, and then just go for it.
Speaker 2:
Yes, and there's times where I've made a script and so I. What I do as a security blanket is I don't read what I'm saying, because then you can tell I'm reading it, but it makes me feel better I do. Actually. I do post what I'm about to say in front of me.
Speaker 4:
It's like my security.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and if I don't do that, it's like I feel naked. So so I put it there Again. I don't read it. I do kind of what you said, kind of memorize it, but there's times when I'm doing that I'm like wow, I just hate that line.
Speaker 4:
Yeah that's not sound right.
Speaker 2:
It's hard to say so. A lot of times I do end up just coming up with what I'm going to say on the fly, but also there are times where I have to memorize exactly what I'm going to say.
Speaker 1:
So, yeah, I think it helps that I don't talk about too many specific specs to where it's more like I'm telling a story, I'm telling more of the application, versus like hey, this is 600 volts and this many RPMs, because that is where it's like okay, if you're wrong, you're going to look really dumb.
Speaker 1:
If you say the wrong spec, you can be crucified, but if you're just talking about the general application and the vibe and what someone likes about it, then it's almost too vague to be penetrated but still telling enough to be convincing. So you kind of have to like ride that line of I want to bring life to it but I also don't want to be like held accountable for details. So it's, it's. It's a thin line, you know, but it line, but it definitely comes with time and you just have to learn by practicing.
Speaker 2:
Really, yes, totally agree yes.
Speaker 1:
But I guess we're getting close towards the end of our time, so I want to ask you one more question for the listener's sake. If they are starting off and they're getting new into video whether it is for manufacturing, industrial or something that is a little out of their comfort zone and they're doing something new, what tips can you give them for getting in front of the camera?
Speaker 2:
It'll get easier. The more you do it, that's for sure. The more you do it, um, that's for sure. Um, so I can. It kind of depends how you're going to do it. So if you have somebody filming you and that person makes you more comfortable, um, that might help. Um, I'm, everything I do, especially recently, is solo, so I don't have like somebody telling me, oh, that looks good. Or comforting me. But in a sense I I'm, since I'm filming myself, I'm not wasting somebody else's time too. So that makes me more comfortable at the same time. But as far as to get somebody started, you just got to do it. I don't, it'll get better. The more you do it, the more you get used to speaking. I guess that's about it.
Speaker 2:
I think that's sometimes yeah, I mean it's still difficult to sometimes, but it's getting. For me it's getting easier every time I do it.
Speaker 1:
So that's, that's what I tell people to just do it and see what happens and like you're going to realize like some things aren't as hard as you think, some things are harder, but you just have to have a starting point to learn from. And so just do it and figure out the rest later and it will hopefully come along, because you know it's not rocket science, it's a little difficult, but you can figure it out. Guys, you got this yeah for sure. Sweet. Well, Amanda, thank you so much for coming on today.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, thank you so much for inviting me.
Speaker 1:
Of course and, guys, I appreciate if you made it to the end of this episode If you would please like subscribe all that stuff that people say at the end of videos. You know the drill. If you guys want to connect with Amanda, I will put her LinkedIn in the description of this episode so you can find her, learn from her and stay up to date with what she's doing. But in the meantime I'm your host, jordan Yates, and then I keep messing up my outro. In the meantime, I'll be failing for you. See you next week. Bye.
