Creating different content for different platforms, with Jonesville Lumber

Prefer to read about it instead? Take a peek at the transcript below.

(Editor’s note: Transcript is AI-generated and may include some errors.) 

Sally Traxler-Lacey  
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of LBM talk social media and welcome to today’s guest, Noah Shackleford. 

Noah Shackelford
Hello everybody. My name is Noah Shackleford, and I am the Marketing Manager at Jonesville Lumber.

Sally Traxler-Lacey
How you doing today? Noah? 

Noah Shackelford 
Doing fantastic. Enjoying another Michigan day while it gets warmer and you know, we’re down here in local Jonesville, Michigan. If anyone knows where that’s at, it’s a nice little, tight knit community in Southern Michigan. 

Sally Traxler-Lacey
So yes, I looked you guys up, population of less than 3000 So, small town, and it seems like Jonesville Lumber is really well known, maybe in your community. I mean, that’s a small community. 

Noah Shackelford  
Yeah, it is a small community. But I feel like one of the benefits of having a local community type of business is everyone is super close knit. So we have super close relationships with our contractors, with different customers that come in, even new customers that come in, they come in and they get really good local service, because we’re able to say, hey, you know, oh, you’re doing a project. Like, customer walks in the door, right? And they’re like, I want to do a project with roofing. I don’t really know what I’m doing. We’re able to be like, Hey, here’s the material, because obviously we provide building materials, but also we know several contractors that can do that type of work at reasonable prices, and we also know how reputable they are. So that really helps having that type of relationship with everybody, since instead of being in, like, a huge area where you don’t really know who everyone is and maybe a little bit scattered, right?

Sally Traxler-Lacey 
Cool hat you got, I did want to say that I think your guys is like, branding is awesome. It’s just very cool. So why don’t you go ahead and tell us about a little bit about Jonesville Lumber, and also kind of how long you’ve been working for them?

Noah Shackelford  
Yeah, of course. So I guess start off with Jonesville Lumber. We’re a local lumber yard that’s been around since 1919 so we have a pretty long heritage. We really value great customer service and providing quality building materials to people, and, of course, fostering those relationships, like I said before. And you know, obviously we have, like, all sorts of building material, pretty much anything you need, from building a house, building a shed, building a garage, you know, decking, roofing, siding, doors, windows, you name it, also hardware and Blackstone. So we really try to hone in on showing the people that we have pretty much everything you need in one place. And our service has been known throughout the area to be really good. We really strive to provide our customers with like. Like, really good quality, like, education on how to build something. Because, you know, you get a lot of people come in, they’re like, I want to work on this project, but I don’t know what to do or how to do it. And we want to be that per those people that can help them get to where they need to be project wise. And, yeah, so we, and terms of when I started, I started about four months ago, and pretty much what they told me is, like, listen, like, we, you know, we’ve been around for a long time. We got great business going, but we really need to step up our game digitally, which means, like, you know, focusing more on the website, focusing more on the Google side of things and all the social media aspects and graphic design video editing. So it was a pretty, pretty big role for me, especially because I graduated college in 2023 at the end of the year, and I figured it’d be a great role for me to really expand myself and learn more about marketing and be able to use my creative skills to get go into a lot of different areas, you know? So I think it’s worked out pretty good so far. Obviously, you’ve seen our social media page. We really try to post about the products and the people and the projects we’re working on, as well as doing, getting into the reels and showcasing a lot of those similar things. So it’s been, I think it’s been really good. And you know, we’ve even had customers come in like, Oh, we love that video, or we love that post. And as someone working in social media, that’s really good to hear.

Sally Traxler-Lacey  
Right? It’s so nice to hear, yes. So when you kind of got started on the digital marketing, how much of that would you say is social media?

Noah Shackelford  
I say honestly, like majority, because if you think about it, like marketing is where the people are at, you know? I mean, back then, marketing is, was mainly radio or mainly television, because that’s where the people were at, you know, I mean, but nowadays, I mean, most of the people have one of these sitting in their pocket. So where are they at? Most the time they’re on social media, they’re checking out their friends, their family. So, you know, for us, social media has been huge, because we’ve been able to be like, Okay, how can we Nestle ourselves into someone’s feed and provide valuable content for what they might see as something that they want, you know, I mean, or something that they find cool or inspirational. And that’s the biggest thing I’ve been trying to focus on, is like, you know, I know sometimes you can be like, Oh, I gotta get something out Monday, I gotta get some on Tuesday, gotta get some on Wednesday. But I remember one at one point I stepped back and I’m like, okay, don’t focus so much on just being like, I gotta get stuff out. Focus on, how am I providing value to the audience I’m trying to target. You know, like a lot of our audience are either homeowners or contractors. So whenever I go to post content, I’m always like, thinking immediately, like, okay, are either them gonna find this useful, or is this video just gonna be like, worthless. Just get a post out type thing. And I don’t want that, you know, so I think it’s worked out pretty good, like I said, people are talking about it, but it also, social media also really represents the brand too. So I’m always thinking about like, like I mentioned earlier, like quality is a big thing for us, quality service, quality products. So I’m always like, How can I demonstrate us in a professional, community oriented way to help boost our reputation as a local business, right?

Sally Traxler-Lacey  
I just want to touch on what you just said in kind of terms of, like, intentional content. It just makes me think of a lot of the social media resources that I read or listen to, and yeah, it’s like, in today’s day, there’s just so much out there that you really have to be, like, intentional about the value that you’re providing in order to make in order to get any attention, otherwise, you’re just kind of another post in the feed. And I experienced that too, because, like, I’m sure you have other responsibilities also, and so do I, and so I really have to sit down and take a couple days a week to really just like spend time and build that intention into my content as well.

Noah Shackelford 
And, you know, we do a lot of, like, original content too. I try not to really look at other businesses and being like, Okay, I’m just gonna copy them because they’re posted good because. Is, like, I get that, you know. And don’t get me wrong, there are some posts like, when I promote the products, when I’m like, Okay, that looks really visually appealing, I feel like someone, like a homeowner might like that siding picture, since it’s a brand we carry and whatever the case may be, but posting original content makes you unique as a business, you know, and we’re, we’re not trying to market to someone who’s in Florida or California, you know, we’re trying to market to people who are in Southern Michigan, Northern Indiana, northern Ohio. You know, around the area that we can deliver material to and sell material to to help promote those projects, you know? I mean, so we are more concerned about just showing, hey, here’s the products we have, here’s a quality service we have, and here’s the, here’s what you can expect when you work with us, type deal, you know, and that a lot of lot of original content helps promote that. And people like see like coming in being like, Hey, I recognize that guy. I worked with that guy, you know? I mean, that’s part of that localness I was talking about. Yes.

Sally Traxler-Lacey 
So you guys, at least, from what I’ve seen, are on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn, Yes, correct. And from what I would guess, and you can agree with me or disagree with me is that Facebook is kind of your most relevant, or like the platform that you use the most, and maybe that your audience is on the most. Would you say?

Noah Shackelford  
Yeah, no, definitely. And I mean, if you, even if you just look it up like, Facebook has the widest age audience of any social media platform, and they are the most community oriented platform, and for us, like I said, we are such a vital part of our community that go being on Facebook is huge for us. You know, that’s where we post our events. That’s where we post, right? You know, us like sponsoring someone, or whatever the case may be, anything that’s community oriented. That’s why it’s been such a big deal for us. And really, you know, because I started the Instagram soon after I got here, and my main intention with that is like, Okay, I’m going to make something that’s a little bit different from our Facebook page, but focuses highly on the esthetic side of things, you know? I mean, because Instagram is very picturesque and visually appealing, you know, and a lot of you and it does reach somewhat of a different audience compared to Facebook. It’s more of the younger generations. But, you know, making that slightly different than the Facebook but still kind of posting some of the same stuff, it kind of gives people reasons to follow both pages. You know, it’s, you know, you’ll probably notice that we don’t really post like the reels on Instagram as much, and that’s one of the reasons, because, you know, I want it to be like all really high quality photos, and part of that is supporting the brand, you know. I want the brand to be represented like these guys are professional. Their pictures look really professional, really clean, and they do a good job at, you know, marketing their products, you know.

Sally Traxler-Lacey 
Well, you know what? I bet that Milwaukee versus DeWalt video would be awesome for Instagram. I bet your comment section would just be full of people siding with one or the other.

Noah Shackelford  
Yeah. And, you know, obviously I say that like I want everything to look super esthetic and nice looking. And I’ll admit, there are times when I’m like, I maybe I should post some of those reels on there. But again, it’s kind of like I’ve been doing some A B testing and figuring things out. And, you know, some people say, oh, you should post the same content on Facebook, Instagram, everything you have. But part of me is like, do you want it to be the same thing? Because, what if someone that follows you on Facebook follows you on Instagram? Like, do they want to see the same exact post three different times if they go on three different social medias, right? Or like, like, one thing that I’ve done is, and you wouldn’t really notice this unless you follow this both on Facebook and Instagram, like I was talking about, but I put unique behind the scene pictures on Instagram. So like, one of our guys loading up the truck, one of our guys stocking the shelves. And I’ll put a little caption talking about like, you know, we care about stocking the shelves and making sure our customers have everything they need for whatever project they’re doing, or we take the time to really bring the materials to you in a really safe way, because we really do. You know, these are things that people just don’t see. They’re more like that behind the scenes. Content, right? I don’t post that on Facebook, you know. So there’s like, I’m still figuring it out, but it’s that underlying question of, like, do you just post everything on everything, or do you just post some things on both, which is what I’m doing, and then have, like, the reels on Facebook and the behind the scenes on Instagram, right? You know? 

Sally Traxler-Lacey  
Yeah, so it definitely takes time to figure out that’s just the reality of it. Like one thing that I think is that you totally can post all three platforms, but I think something that’s just going to naturally happen is say you post one piece of content to all three platforms, it’s going to naturally perform better on Maybe one, maybe two. And so, like, it kind of, like naturally weeds itself out because the platforms are different. So like, posting that Milwaukee DeWalt to LinkedIn probably, you know, wouldn’t perform as well as, like, on the more entertaining platforms. So it’s like, it can, I’m sure, kind of be helpful if you use it as a tool to, like, figure out what the audience wants. But I’m totally with you on the side that I want my content to be different, more so because the platforms themselves are different and, like, the people want different things. And just like you said, like, yeah, it just gets a little repetitive, so, but yeah, it takes time to figure out.

Noah Shackelford  
Social media is a game. I tell anyone who, like, asked me about the social media, I’m supposed like, it’s a game. It’s a constant game, like, you don’t reach a plateau and then you’re done, like, right, changing continually, you know, I mean, I remember back then when reels weren’t even a thing, and it was like, oh, like, post a flyer. Just keep posting flyers. You know, that was the big thing. But then people started realizing, well, you know, psychologically, when, especially nowadays, because I noticed this with so many local businesses, big businesses is they’ll post flyers with a ton of text, right? And they get no interactions, you know, most of the time, because the problem is, people have short attention spans from scrolling they want to see the next thing, if it doesn’t hook you in the first couple seconds, you’re done, right? And flyers do not do that, you know. And you can post an occasional flyer, but you really gotta be intentional with how visually appealing it is in order for someone to even engage with it, right? So that’s why. Like on our social media page, like, if I’m if I’m promoting a product, I’m not saying, like, Hey, this is the name of the product, this is the price, this is, like, a ton of description on the benefits of it. No one’s going to look at that. What people are going to look at is, how does this product look in my home? You know? I mean, because they want to see the benefit immediately. And that’s how I try to grab people’s attention, is immediately providing benefit for them, so then they can gravitate towards a given product or a service that we do like, I don’t know if you’ve seen but on our social media, I post a lot about the boom truck, the truck with, like, the big arm that’ll like, deliver material straight to the roof. That stuff is awesome. And you know, as a homeowner or contractor, it can appeal to both of them. Homeowners like, wow, they can bring it straight to my house and lift it right up to the roof. Saves me money, because the contractor is not having to lift it up manually. Or, on the other hand, the contractor, it’s easier for them because right to the job site, they don’t have to drive to us, and it can lift it right up to them. So I try to really show the benefits of things in a lot of our content, when it comes to promotional stuff, especially,

Sally Traxler-Lacey  
I was telling you this earlier, but yeah, you I must have been on Facebook, because that’s where your reels are and such. But I was just coming across your guys’s videos and finding them engaging, and I was like, wow, okay, I have to get them on this podcast. So you guys, yes, like you mentioned, you create original content, like deliveries, just lots of videos with your sales people, um, so kind of walk me through. Like, kind of, where does the inspiration come for your content? And you mentioned it a little bit. It’s product focused. You want to show the benefit. But like, is there any other kind of goal that you keep in the back your mind when creating content? Of like, this is what I want my audience to know. I see you guys do employees, yeah, just tell me about your content.

Noah Shackelford 
So whenever I go to create content, I always, I’m always in the back of my head thinking, how does this reflect the brand? You know? I don’t want us to come across as a place that’s silly or a place that’s weird or a place that’s unprofessional. I want us to come off as a place that is very professional, high quality, and really cares about the community and the people that do business with us. So that’s why you’ll see like us highlighting like projects, because that’s something that like, you know, this is our boom truck, and this is a guy who really knows what he’s doing and how to operate it well and gets the job done right. Or, here’s, you know, someone you’ve probably seen videos of our sales staff talking about different products around the store.

Sally Traxler-Lacey  
I love those. Those are so great. They’re educational.

Noah Shackelford 
And that’s a big thing too. Is like, if you think about it, a salesman who has education about a product or a service, that’s how you win a customer over, you know? And we want to make our customers the most satisfied they can be by providing them with the knowledge that they don’t have filling in that gap, like I mentioned earlier. But anyway, so like, when I’m going to create content, I really think about the brand, like, make sure it reflects a brand, and then from there, I’m like, okay, audience wise, is it appealing to either a homeowner or contractor or both? Because it has to, you know, I’m not going to make something that’s appealing to someone who is interested in music or interested in, you know, some other thing that’s not related to our business, right? So once I figure out those two things, and I have a list of different like content, content buckets, if you will. So I have buckets that are like fun. Like fun content you’ve seen, like the Q and A’s, like the Milwaukee to wall. That’s part of the fun content. And then we also have stuff that’s educational, like I just talked about, and then talk about projects. And then sometimes, you know, there’s and I have some that also relate to, like, just like trying to highlight products as well. But once I figure out one of those buckets, then it’s kind of funny how this works, but you might relate to this as well. But and being in the creative field, sometimes it takes just walking around or, like, not being focused on a specific thing. Like, sometimes I’ll just walk around the lumber yard and then boom, idea hits my head, like, when I’m not trying to think about anything, and then I’m like, Oh, that’d be a great idea for a video, you know, because I’m just looking at stuff and finding any source of inspiration to give me an idea of something that might capture the audience’s attention, you know. And then from there, once I get the idea, then if I need a sales person, I’ll go up to them and kind of tell them about the idea, and then they’ll give me feedback, and we’ll kind of work together. And they’ve said, I’ve been pretty good at directing the videos, you know, like something, sometimes it’s one take, sometimes it’s 30 takes. You know, it just depends on the day and depends on how everyone’s feeling.

Sally Traxler-Lacey
Are they pretty willing to join you for content?

Noah Shackelford  
Some, some are you’ve seen Scott in the videos. He is fantastic. He’s just got that he could be in a movie. He just has an actor. Personality. Loves it, yeah. And Mitch, you know Mitch, David, Bobby, all of them, they do. They do a great job. And they like being in the videos every now and then. But I will say, like, a good amount of them don’t. And I think, obviously I respect anyone in the videos for their privacy. You know, some people, they’re like, I straight up don’t want to be on social media. And I’m like, totally fine, you know, I respect that. And a lot of people are like that, you know. And I, you know, I’d rather them say that than me post it. And then they’d be like, Why did I do that? You know? I mean, I also think that we are very new. I mean, like I said, I’ve only been here for four months before that, they didn’t have someone walking around with the camera saying, Hey, you ready to do a video, you know? So it’s kind of like it’s a new thing. So a lot of them are still getting used to it. And, you know, it just takes time. It’s something that takes time. But again, I’m also super respectful. So I know some people just want them to do with it. And you know, we’re in a local, small town community as well, with a lot of older demographics. So we have customers and everything that are like, Don’t put me in nothing. I don’t want to be in it. But then we get some people who are like. Yeah, I’d love to be in a video. Let’s do it, you know. So it’s, it’s a challenge. It is definitely a challenge. But, yeah, I always find a way to work around it, because sometimes, you know, we also can be very busy, and that also adds to it, which is good, you know, it’s good we’re busy. There’s a lot of people, especially right now, a lot of people who are going and buying material, and the counter is full, and it’s really hard to grab a salesman when that’s going on. Yeah, but, you know, I I make my work around, if I can’t give video filmed with them that day, I have always got, you know, ideas from the other content buckets I’ve come up with that maybe doesn’t even need a salesman, like going out on boom delivery, or showing the Moffitt chuck or something along those lines.

Sally Traxler-Lacey 
Those were great kind of steps that you walk through. I mean, you sounds like you were a marketing major, yeah. Okay, so I wasn’t. And I love that kind of emphasis on brand. I like, I’m going to kind of take that because, like, one piece of content is just kind of one piece that doesn’t have the entire context. But I love that you try to, like, have this overall cohesive feeling about your company, that seems really great. Yeah, and then thinking about your audience, and you can provide value to your audience in several different ways, like you just explained. It’s just like knowing what they want to see when it comes to education, when it comes to entertainment, etc.

Noah Shackelford 
You know, this isn’t like related to, like, our business, but the meaning of it is, I remember, when I was in school, I learned this thing about, there’s an ad about piano, like, in the early 1900s and it was, you know, this ad where it showed somebody playing the piano, and it was like piano lessons, and they were playing at like a big like, I don’t know if it was like a big event or wedding, something like that, but it showed how great they could play, and someone was asking them how they could play. I can’t remember if it was like a radio ad, or if it was a I might, it must have been a graphic, but the whole point of it was showing the benefit of the lessons, you know. I mean, you can say, hey, here’s piano lessons. You’ll learn this, this, this, but showing someone playing, showing the benefit of what product or service you’re doing. That’s what impacts people, you know. I mean, that’s why, like, again, like I mentioned earlier, I’ll post pictures of what a product looks like on a house or in a house, because that’s what people care about. You know, I can be like, Hey, this is, this is a picture of a door. It’s, you know, we sell it here. Or this is a door on a house in the countryside. They might be like, okay, that kind of looks like my house. And I really like, you know? Yeah, so, right. I really try to think of how it can, again, provide value or benefit to the customer in some way, or the audience that I’m trying to target.

Sally Traxler-Lacey  
Those were all great insights. I’m wondering if you would just share a piece of advice to our audience, other LBM dealers trying to do social media, like, from your experience, what would be a piece of advice you would give on how to do social media?

Noah Shackelford  
Well, yeah, so my biggest thing is, I guess I have two main points for anyone who is really looking to improve their social media, or at least get a start on it, is, number one, be consistent. You can I’ve seen so many times when people get on social media and they post for a week, and then they get busy, and then all of a sudden, they haven’t posted for two weeks, and then they’re wondering why their content stopped getting engagement. Well, you got to keep showing up in people’s feed or the algorithm is going to completely shut you down. And that is huge. Like, we we post every like, I have a consistent schedule every week, three times on Instagram, five times on Facebook, and that’s why I do every single week. There’s never a week where I don’t do that. And then number two, the biggest thing, and I’ve highlighted this a lot like especially talking about the original content, is be authentic, because authenticity is what makes you stand out as a business. You know, I can say, oh, I want to copy this person’s content that person’s content. Yeah, you know, I get that there’s certain ideas, but at least put your own twist on it, or post something that you know is low if your local business have something that’s locally focused sometimes, because that can really bring your local audience in, or you. You know, have things that represent you as a business, you know, show off the things that make you unique, make you genuine, and the benefits that people see and why I would go to your business versus another business, totally, that’s That’s my best advice.

Sally Traxler-Lacey 
Well, thank you, Noah, so much for joining us.

Noah Shackelford  
Of course, thank you for having me and good luck to anyone who’s trying to start a social media page. You got it!