Two people hired Tiffany Borne Jones within the first month of her posting consistently on Instagram, and I’m about to show you why.

I’m Madelyn, a fractional CMO for service providers. Tiffany is a business strategist and operations consultant, and she’s hired me for social media management twice. Here’s what that looked like…

Why Tiffany Came Back

Tiffany took a break over the holidays, so we paused social media management services for a couple of months. When she came back, she told me:

“I have a big contract right now. I know how important social media is, but when I sit down at my desk, the LAST thing I want to do is think about social media. I need to focus on my clients and actually running my business.”

I know that feeling well. Sometimes I get so caught up in client work that my own Instagram even gets pushed to the bottom of the list, and this is what I do for a living!

Social media wasn’t necessarily a knowledge problem for Tiffany. She had opinions and client stories and years of operations work to pull from, so she was never short on things to say. But with two young daughters and a husband who’s a gastroenterologist (and sometimes on call), she didn’t have an hour at 9pm to edit a reel or design a graphic.

What I Asked Her on Our First Call Back

Tiffany and I got on a short Zoom call, and I asked her questions about her goals for the year, what she was selling, and what type of client she wanted more of.

She was in the middle of a big contract, and her two main offers, a strategic planning intensive and a coaching partnership, weren’t available until June. She had nothing to launch, and it wasn’t efficient or effective to push an offer no one could buy.

As we talked, Tiffany agreed that she didn’t want a hard sell anyway; she wanted to nurture the people she already had and keep them warm for when she was ready to sell and book out her spots. So that was our strategy, and we pointed her social media content to her email list where we continued giving them value and keeping them “warm.”

What Social Media Management Looked Like for Her, Month to Month

On January 29, I sent Tiffany the first two weeks of February’s content: two reels to film, plus the graphics and carousels I’d already made. She filmed the reels on her phone and sent them over, I edited and wrote the captions for them, and then those also went into ClickUp to review.

She had until our first post on February 9 to go through it all and request changes.

From then on out, we tried to work two weeks in advance, so she had plenty of time to film the reels and review the content I had made. Of course, we also left a couple of placeholders for trending reels or things that came up in the moment.

Not Everything She Posted Was Advice

A lot of consultants I’ve worked with or talk to assume they should only be sharing educational content on social media. Yes, educational content IS important for sure (although, I would always encourage you to tie an opinion or experience to it as well to stand out!), but a lot of Tiffany’s posts came from other content buckets.

One reel she shared was a fun twist on a trend where she shared a list of her “hobbies” as a mom of two: working around her husband’s hospital shifts, driving her kids to their hobbies, cheering for them at their hobbies, building a business between their hobbies, and spending all her money on their hobbies. (Every mom who saw it knew what she meant.)

Two Posts People Couldn’t Scroll Past

I also wanted to show you two post examples I shared for Tiffany and explain why they got a lot of views:

The first one was her unpopular opinion:

“if your day stresses you out, your business has an operations problem, not a money problem.” She called out a specific identity, which stopped people in their scroll (because whose day doesn’t stress them out?). Then she tied it to how she helps.

The second one was about her family’s schedule:

“If you haven’t managed a business while your husband is on hospital call shift, handled school pickup for two kids, coordinated gymnastics and soccer schedules, and still booked out for client calls… respectfully, we’re not operating in the same 24 hours.”

Both of these reels called out a challenge she knew her ideal clients had: being a working mom or a mom with a business. Even with her funny or lifestyle posts, I made sure her core message was in there somewhere.

CEO Moms Started Commenting

The women commenting were HER people. They’re business owners or working moms tailoring their schedules around gymnastics practice and school pickup, and more of them started joining her email list, which was the goal.

Anyone can ask AI for operations advice and get something decent back in about four seconds. If you want generic tips, ChatGPT is free. What nobody can get anywhere else is Tiffany’s experience, and they definitely can’t get it tailored to their business the way she does it for her clients.

Where Her Two Clients Actually Came From

Like I said earlier, both of the clients who hired Tiffany had already met her previously. They’d seen her at in-person events, so they knew her name and had a loose idea of what she did. Posting consistently kept her in front of those people afterward.

She started showing up in their feed every week with her opinions on operations and what her life looked like. She stayed top of mind, so when they needed help, she was the one they called.

A lot of people didn’t completely understand what an “operations strategist” is or how she could help. So when we shared posts about how she maps out client onboarding, how she plans for Q2, and how she trains a team so they’re not reliant on the owner, they saw the exact problems she could solve for them.

And also some of the people she met in person weren’t ready for her services yet, so Tiffany kept them warm and nurtured until they were ready weeks or months later.

Why We Wrapped Up

Eventually, Tiffany’s hospital client saw what an asset she was to them, and offered her a full-time position. It was a great opportunity, so she took it.

Her client roster is much smaller on purpose now, and she’s putting her energy somewhere different, like the in-person retreat she’s hosting. She doesn’t need full social media management for the business she’s running today. Her social media management needs have changed, but I’m here to provide marketing support if needed.

Want an overview of what the actual process of working with me looks like, from how content gets off your plate to what changes in the first 30 days? Click here to read a short blog post about it!

Questions I Get About This

What does a social media manager actually do for a consultant?

For Tiffany, I handled the strategy, the content calendar, reel ideas, editing, graphics, captions, and scheduling. She filmed on her phone and approved everything in ClickUp before it went out.

How much of my time does this take?

For Tiffany it was about 30 minutes a week. She’d film a few clips when she had a minute, then look over the drafts and approve them.

Does social media work if I already get clients from referrals?

Yes! That’s actually how it works best. Before someone fills out your contact form or books a call with you, they go look you up, and what they find helps them decide whether they reach out. Both of Tiffany’s clients had met her in person before they ever saw one of her posts, and her content is what kept her on their radar until they were ready to hire.

Do I have to be on camera?

Some of it, yes, but we mix it up. Tiffany did talking reels, but we also balanced those with carousels, graphics, and reels that had just text on the screen with no talking. If getting on camera is what’s making you hesitate, that’s something we can work around.

What if there’s nothing to sell right now?

Then we don’t sell anything. Tiffany’s two main offers weren’t available until June, so we spent those months building relationships and growing her email list instead.

How fast does it work?

Tiffany’s two clients came within the first month of consistent posting, and both already knew her. If your audience is mostly strangers, give it longer than a month, because Instagram has to learn who your posts are for before it shows them to the right people. I typically tell my clients they’ll really start seeing results in 3-4 months.

If You Want This Off Your Plate

If you’re reading this between client calls and telling yourself you’ll “get to your own content this weekend,” you won’t. And you shouldn’t have to! You’re the business owner; creating and keeping a social media strategy should be someone else’s job.

If you want someone to take social media off your plate entirely, I’d love to help. I’ll come up with a strategy that specifically works for your business and goals. Then I’ll create your carousel posts, write the captions, tell you what to film, I’ll edit those videos, and schedule everything so you get visible for the people who’re looking to hire.

Learn more about social media management and how it can save you time and consistently attract the right leads.