Katie Marchese and her husband Mario (aka Mario the Magician) have been in the full-time magic biz for a decade - and have nurtured an engaged community of fans. Broadcast live from their Little Blue Bus (parked at their home in their Nyack, NY), Katie discusses her approach to social media, personal branding, and online community.
Key takeaways from Katie:
- "In the beginning, we thought we had to do everything... the 'brand' started when we started to really focus."
- "Community...that's what's been more valuable to us than anything."
- "We started getting more feedback when we started giving more of ourselves."
- "Facebook is great for really getting people in on a storyline, and then people will continue to follow it."
- "It doesn't matter if you have 10,000 followers or 300 followers; it's the quality of what you're feeding them."
- "Nobody wants to feel like they're being sold to."
- "If we're going to do the social media thing, let's have it be SOCIAL, 'cause that's what it's supposed to be."
- "What we post is very curated, so you're seeing what we want you to see."
- "We're sharing our beliefs and inviting people to be a part of the stuff that we're doing, and it's super fulfilling."
- "People expect a certain style from you, and then they're more interested to follow it because there's something that's continuing from photo to photo."
- "Through the photos we want people to feel that, even if they're not seeing a snippet of the actual show, we want them to get that vibe."
- "Instagram is unique because you can really go out there in the community and get new relationships... it's a great way to build a community organically based on things that you're really drawn to and interested in."
- "Pick the mediums that you really enjoy, and do that the most; it'll be more interesting to you, and you'll get the most feedback. For us, Facebook & Instagram are our two faves."
- "It's totally changed things for us that we don't have to send flyers to Boulder, Colorado or wherever we're going; we can use targeted advertising and sell our tickets that way, and it feels like we've created a community before we've even arrived in these cities...it feels like more of a relationship than us just showing up somewhere, doing a show & then leaving."
- "Definitely Facebook Live is where it's at right now... it's a way that people are engaging right now, at the moment...I think that's what people crave right now."
- "I feel like when people see a moving image, they're more engaged; I get a lot more feedback from those posts than just a static post."
- "You can't get too invested in one strategy, because it's going to change in a few months or in a year, so you kind of have to be flexible and just keep figuring it out...my advice is just to play around, keep trying new things."
Check out Mario & Katie's YouTube series, My Magic Family, below!