Melanie Yvette Brown Talks Engaging Black Women As Social Media Coordinator for Strength of Nature & Managing A Tight Online Schedule
I didn’t expect Melanie Yvette Brown to get back to me so soon and felt afraid to even respond to her with a time to chat. She is former beauty and style editor for Ebony magazine, currently writes on beauty and style for Centric TV and works as social media coordinator for Strength of Nature. She also runs the self-started brand, Beautifully Brown, a site focused on all things beauty and style for women of color.
In other words, Brown is Super Woman. For now, I’m more like Lois Lane. So I fretted over whether I should wear my Tupac t-shirt on Skype. “It’s got to be at least a little professional. C’mon Marquaysa.”
I changed into plain black thinking, “New Yorkers do black, right?”
And the interview began.
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Wearing a Snoop Dogg t-shirt while holding a large coffee mug and warm smile, Melanie Yvette Brown greeted me with a casual morning chat via Skype. We discussed how she runs the social media for 6 brands under Strength of Nature, what it’s like catering to droves of black women online, and how she keeps the scheduling altogether with such an online-based position.
Q: Tell me a little bit about Strength of Nature, the different brands [underneath that umbrella] that they represent and how they cater to their varying audiences?
Beautiful Textures is for the young, millennial, 20-something who’s very trendy and edgy. African Pride has really been solidified in our community so it’s a bit older. It’s a bit more mature. Elasta QP is for the woman who’s always in the salons. Mega Growth is for the woman who’s really focused about having long, shiny hair. So they figured out different demographics under the umbrella of catering to African-American women.
Q: Awesome…How has the process been like learning their specific audiences and speaking to them through social media?
So, it’s interesting because I manage 6 of the brands in terms of like social media. So what I learned is that each brand has a voice. Each brand has a very specific demo and you have to understand what that voice of that demographic is. So like I said, for the African Pride demo, I have to understand that they love black celebrities. They love anything that is attached to heritage. They love anything that is attached to black culture. Whereas, Beautiful Textures, while they’re still black women, they’re more interested in different varieties of hairstyles. They want to wear weave. They want to go natural. They want to go short.
I always say they are the girls who are obsessed with Beyoncé and Solange at the same time. Whereas, African Pride, I think that group is really obsessed with Solange because she solidifies this natural hair…
So I learned how to — I’m learning — how to speak to each audience specifically and it’s very tough especially when you’re managing 6 because you have to remember that ‘Elasta QP women don’t have the same taste as the Beautiful Textures women’ so you can’t post the same thing on that Instagram as you want to on the Beautiful Textures Instagram. So that’s been a learning experience.
Q. Now that you’re managing these 6 accounts and they obviously all have different social media platforms. How do you post to this Insta or that Insta. Do you have 2 phones where the app is on both or…? What is that like for you?
I have 2 people who work under me so that’s good. And what we’ve done is broken down the six brands into three. So one girl has three and the other girl has three. And basically, these girls are very smart. They are very good at what they do. They know that if they have Beautiful Textures, Soft & Beautiful and Elasta QP, they understand each individual voice. So basically, I help them curate the content but then I go in, I just refine it and make sure what we have scheduled makes sense for each brand.
Q. So with you having a team, what are the planning meetings like? Do you guys meet [in person] or do you meet virtually like [via] Slack or Google Hangouts? What is that process like?
A. So that’s the thing we’re trying to work on. We all work in different cities and different states. We all work from home and it’s a blessing but it’s also very tough to have team meetings. So what we’re trying to work on now is a bi-weekly check-in. These girls really know what they’re doing so I don’t need to check in every single week but I do think that as fall picks up, we’ll have to do like a weekly check-in. Just 30 minutes, doesn’t have to be long. Just to make sure we’re on the same path.
[We discuss]…how do we feel about the growth? Because it’s all about growing numbers and followers…What’s working? What’s not? And that’s something that I want to do better at just because as a social media manager, it’s all about the numbers and your reach. And that is measured so if you’re not getting that, then you’re not doing the job.
Q. So was this your first position working directly with social media and were you the first one in the company or was this position passed down to you?
A. Well, I wasn’t working with this company before. I was working with Ebony and at Ebony I did social media because we didn’t have a social media manager for a while so I did handle a lot of that which was a lot. Social media is actually very heavy. But, with this company, I’m not particularly sure if they had a social media coordinator. It was just something that I was recruited [for] and it was offered to me.
Q. Is the posting that you have to do and the managing easier for you because it kind of matches your goal with your company [Beautifully Brown]?
Um, yes, it’s easier just because I’m a black woman and I understand the variations of how we speak with one another…Adequate social media is about having a conversation with your audience and being able to relate to them but it presents its challenges just because all black women aren’t the same. My personal [site], I mean Beautifully Brown, is different because it’s a bit more provocative in terms of the actual content whereas Strength of Nature’s brands aren’t really that provocative. They might be a bit edgier but I talk about things on BB they would probably not ever talk about via social media which is fine, because they have standards that they have to uphold which I don’t. It’s just my blog, I can talk about whatever I want.
Q. So do you ever post — and I know because I have — something that you’re like, “You know what. That didn’t work for that audience,” and have to go back and edit?
A. Um yeah, but more so based on picture. I’m a very big stickler for beautiful imagery and it was one thing I wanted to do when I came into the company. They didn’t have a good standard for higher res[olution] imagery and so for me I feel like with the girls that work under me, that’s probably the biggest challenge. I’m trying to get them to understand what high res imagery looks like.
I wouldn’t say there have been many moments where I would say “We can’t say that”. There may have been one or two and if it was, it was about the wording or the actual conversation but for me, the biggest issue has been pictures because I’m a very big stickler for that and I’ve had to go in and delete some images because their grainy or blurry and I’m like, “I need you to understand what high res imagery looks like,” So that is a constant battle because I don’t think they get it yet.
Q. So in the meetings, is that something you guys continue to talk about or do you think it’s just something you think they will just have to learn over time?
I think at this point, I’m going to have to create an official guide. It’s something they will just have to have on their desk when their working… I don’t think they always understand precisely what a bad image looks like. And I mean a bad image is any type of blurred, unfocused image. I just don’t like them and I don’t think that they always think that way.
Q. Do you guys get comments on the photos, well not physical comments but that they are loving the photos since you’ve taken over and become the social media editor? Have you noticed a change in the response?
A. Here and there.
Q. Also aside from just the pictures and the quality, what other areas did you notice that you kind of wanted to bring up a notch with their social media platforms?
Being a part of the Hashtag conversations, the #ThrowbackThursdays, etc… And the consistency. We didn’t really have that. We still battle with it now just because we have so many brands to manage. But you know, [we have] Throwback Thursdays, Flashback Fridays and we do Talk To Us Tuesdays now. Getting into the conversations that have already been solidified in the social media world and being a part of it all the time, I think that was something I brought to the table.
I’m not really even a social media user, which is interesting. I just do it for work. Personally, I don’t really even care. But it’s important when you’re building a brand, to be a part of those conversations. Those hashtag conversations.
Q. So you mentioned “Talk to Us Tuesdays”. Can you tell me more about that? Is it more along the lines of Essence Live Debates?
No, it’s just like a quick question. I think that I realized we weren’t really conversing with our audience and I want to expand that now. Summer gets really slow and around this time it’s really amazing to pick up and get back in that beauty/hair conversation because fall is all about beauty fashion. In the summer, people aren’t really reading. People don’t really care. They are on vacation every other week so they’re not at their desk, but now people are back at their desk and they want to revamp their wardrobe. They want new hair for fall.
So, my goal this week is to sit down and figure out how we can turn it up a notch for fall, even if it’s just for the next two months. Just to get a rejuvenation into the brand. What can we do? Like, is it a newsletter revamp? Are we adding more conversations to the social media schedule that we already have? Are we adding more images? Are we doubling up on how often we post? I’m trying to figure out what that’s going to look like for fall — and holidays. Fall and holidays, people are always online. They’re shopping. They’re at their desk. This is the perfect time to really engage.
Q. So specifically you want to launch not an online campaign but just kind of a threading conversation with your readers?
I want us to just kick it up a notch in all aspects. I want it to be bigger. I feel like we’ve gotten a little bit comfortable, and me too. And I think a big part of it comes from summer but a big part of it comes from not working together in an office. So, that’s something that I really want to work on and I actually plan to talk to the girls later on this week. How we can kick it up a notch this week. What can we do as a team to collectively like…have a bit more activity than we have now. So maybe we’re posting 2x a day on Instagram, aim for 4 times a day. How can we do that as a team and what does that look like?
Q. Is this your first time working with a team that’s all spread out in different cities or have you experienced this before?
No, this is my first time.
Q. Which one do you prefer though?
I prefer this one because I have more flexibility. I do like when we come together, because we do. We come together every quarter. I do like that because it reminds you that you’re working with people and not a computer. I do prefer working from home, but it is a little difficult to stay focused so a big part of that is just discipline. But corporate office culture is a bit hum-drum. It’s just dry.
As much as I genuinely loved working with Ebony in our New York office (b/c Ebony is based out of Chicago) — the NY office was very live and fun but I think that corporate America in general is still very slow to understand how people are inspired to work well. I feel like until that changes, I don’t know how much I really want to go back into a corporate office. I prefer this.
Q. So whenever you are doing your work online, what do you do to regain your focus? Do you shut out Facebook for the day? I guess you can’t in some regards. Do you go to the coffee shop around the corner? How do you stay focused with a job that’s so online-based?
To be honest with you, my focus is all about time frames. I know that between 7 and 11 is probably my most productive time to write and to come up with really good ideas and to edit. Between 11 and I need to either be doing something creative, making calls or putting the finishing touches on some things. Because my writing mind needs a break. And then I wanna say after like 5 — after a workout, I try to work out at 4 — I can go back to writing. Everything depends on the individual.
Focus-wise though, I have been realizing that while I have a little office in my room, I should probably find a nice little café around here because I do work better in public settings. I do know that. It’s just all about me being lazy and not going. But I do work better around public settings and I do work better around people who are working because it encourages you to work. The good thing is that I don’t own a television so I don’t have the inclination to go watch TV but that’s something I definitely want to work on.
And I also travel a lot so I’m blessed with the opportunity that I can pretty much work from anywhere. So sometimes, I just go home to Maryland to see my mom. And my focus is completely different because I can drive to the café, I can go to Panera, I sit in my mom’s room or I can go in the kitchen. Sometimes I go to Philly for the weekend or a couple days during the week because it’s cheap to go there and I will work out of the hotel. Sometimes I do need a reboot.
Q. So what is a typical day as a social media editor and the leader of your own brand?
My goal is to be up between 6:45 and 7:15. I like to sort of do my morning routine. Drink water, drink tea and do any finishing touches on blog posts. Most of the morning is scheduling for Strength of Nature and doing top edits Beautifully Brown.
After that…I go to write stories for Centric [TV]…I owe them 3–4 stories a day. After that, I go back to Strength of Nature because we have posts that go up in the morning and at 1 pm and then around 5 or 6 so I have to go in and make sure everything looks good. Sometimes I forget and honestly, I have girls who are really good so sometimes I actually forget to check on them and that’s something I want to get better at because I’ve gotten comfortable with the fact that they know what they’re doing. But then there are moments when I go to the page and I’m like, “Whoa!” …
A typical day in my fantasy world would be a very time-blocked schedule and I’ve done it before, but it’s all about consistency. But I can also have like many calls. Like, anything can happen. We have a big launch coming up with Soft and Beautiful Classic and we’ve had 50 million calls about that. So you never know. Beautifully Brown is taking off and people are actually interested and from there, somebody might reach out and say, “Can you do a panel? Can we send you this?”
I’m working on having a schedule and things just happen…
Q. How do you blend your professional and personal accounts on social media? Do you have a private and personal account? Do you have a private account for just family and friends or do you do everything from your one handle?
The good thing is that everything I do in terms of work is surrounded by beauty and hair. So I don’t have to separate it. I don’t post much from [other brands] on my account. It’s usually attached to Beautifully Brown. But, if I’m doing a red carpet event for Centric or traveling for Strength of Nature, yeah I will post it on my personal account. So I don’t separate the two. I don’t really feel the need to.
Q. With your Twitter, do you decide what to say and what not to say or is it like, “My brand is me, so I’m just going to post whatever it is that I like?”
I don’t use Twitter as much. Instagram is more my favorite. I’m always particular about what I post. My pictures have to be very clear, very bright, very sharp. They have to match my personal brand. I don’t put anything up that doesn’t match my personal brand and if I have in the past just being quick or being ignorant or out with the girls and being ridiculous, I will take it down because it does affect how (if you’re building a brand), it does affect how people view you.
Q. Have you ever gotten responses about that? Or has it just been you?
No, it’s just been me.
For the rest of the week, Brown will run around getting things together for the Soft & Beautiful Classic launch, planning with her social media team and wrapping up coverage of New York Fashion Week.
Next week, Super Woman is having coffee with Lois Lane. ; )
