The Role of Social Media in Banish’s Growth: A Talk with Daisy Jing

Welcome to the Marketing Growth Podcast. I’m your host, Shane Barker.

In this episode, Daisy Jing joins us again for a detailed conversation about how she leveraged social media to grow her customer base. Find out which strategies worked for her company, Banish, which platforms they use, and which trends she thinks will dominate the social media industry.

I want to talk about the base you’ve built here, starting off on YouTube for Banish. How did that come together? You started with your first video—the video went out, and you were like, “Oh shoot, the video’s out. Can’t put the genie back in the bottle. Oh shoot, this is going well.” People really cared about what you had to say. They were resonating with the message you were putting out there.

How important is social media? Obviously, for your business, it was the foundation. Are you on any other channels—TikTok, anywhere else? Where else are you guys showing up, pivoting, and having fun?

Yeah, I was going to say, it really depends on the business. I mean, you guys are doing seven figures and—actually, let me ask you this: how many employees do you have?

Thirteen? Okay, cool. So you’ve got a good, healthy team.

Social media can be awesome. I always recommend that businesses don’t try to focus on every platform. But in your case, it makes sense because it’s all about getting the word out, and there are so many people who need your product. You’ve got to be on the new platforms, putting yourselves out there—doing your little dance videos or whatever’s happening on TikTok—to get in front of the people who need your product early on in life. That totally makes sense.

So where are you guys now? Obviously, YouTube is still big for you. What are some of the other channels that have really taken off?

Yeah. I mean, that really is the key, right? It’s kind of those early adopters. If you have a platform, it’s hard because then you’ve got to put all that work into it, and you’re saying, “Oh, it’s early, and we gotta try,” and you’re hoping the platform takes off so you can be an early adopter. And then if it fizzles out, you’re like, “Ah, all right, let me move over to, like, Vine or something like that.”

Being an example, it’s like you want to be present and put out that content. You know, myself as a content producer, I understand how hard it is to be on all the platforms and the amount of time it takes to produce content for all of them. It is very time-consuming.

But I think there are efficiencies that can be put in place. And you know, there’s been times—like YouTube, for example—my YouTube channel is terrible. There were times where I started to do it, and then I didn’t. And then I started again, and didn’t. But you lose the momentum, right? If you’re not on there all the time.

I always tell the influencers I work with, “If you’re not on stage performing, then they’re going to buy a ticket for another show.” That’s just how it goes, right? Which kind of sucks, but you gotta keep it going. You gotta keep the band alive and keep things moving.

So were there any other social media strategies that worked well for you? When you guys were working with Banish, was there anything you tried where you were like, “Wow, this was really cool, we didn’t think it would work,” and it just kind of took off?

On that note, Daisy, allow me to inform my listeners that my team and I help businesses generate better ROI through customized influencer marketing campaigns. We can help you find the right influencers, craft your influencer strategy, co-create content, manage your campaigns, and track results.

But that’s not all we offer. You can also benefit from other digital marketing strategies, including content marketing, SEO, online PR, and more. Just go to shanebarker.com—that’s S-H-A-N-E B-A-R-K-E-R dot com—and choose whether you want to hire us as a consultant or for fully managed services.

Now, back to the conversation with Daisy.

So you guys have built that long-term relationship. And then how many influencers do you guys work with? About a number?

Hundreds?

Who knows—hundreds. Gotcha.

Yeah, and I think that is some of the value. People ask me, “Hey, should I work with an agency if I’m an influencer or an influencer agency?” And the time that I tell them it could make sense is if you’re working with an agency because they have relationships with influencers.

They know the influencers that are good—the ones that are serious about what they do, that are going to get stuff done on time. There’s huge value in that relationship.

And it sounds like you’ve been able to foster that kind of relationship with your influencers, where it’s no longer a pay-to-play thing. It’s like, “Hey, we believe in the product.”

And yeah, there’s going to be some upside—whether that’s affiliate marketing or whatever—but the goal is, “This is something I really believe in, and I don’t need to be paid every time I talk about it, because I’m not being forced to.”

I think that’s the differentiator.

Yeah, well, that’s a differentiator—especially when you’re going up against some of the big players in your industry. It’s hard, right? You don’t have the billions of dollars that, at least starting off, you didn’t have. You didn’t have that big budget to go out and shoot 10,000 commercials in two days.

You had to get a little scrappy. Which—you’re used to that. That’s you. You were built on that. Honestly, your last name should be Scrappy. I’m just saying. Not that you need to change it, but it would make a lot of sense to me.

So, in your opinion, what are some good social media trends that you’re seeing that will be important for e-commerce in 2021? Anything that you’re seeing on your side? Obviously, there’s TikTok and things like that, but is there anything else you’re noticing that you want to share with the audience?

Tiktok.

That’s it, huh? Just a Tick and a Tok.

You can’t stop yourself now. You can’t put the genie back in the bottle. You just can’t you wake up just jumping around and pointing at things and making it happen.

That’s crazy. So how big is your How big is the old following in there or Banish on Tiktok?

Gotcha, gotcha. But that’s probably—I mean, the thing is, 10,000 is probably a heavily engaged audience, so that’s a good thing.

I think my TikTok’s at zero. There we go. That’s how much Shane’s on TikTok. It’s just not really where my audience is at.

The thing is, I’d probably need to use an inhaler if I started dancing like that—or I’d end up hurting something, maybe break a hip. I make it sound like I’m 100, but I’m not that old.

TikTok, though—I love it. I think it’s awesome. You can definitely get sucked in watching videos and all that. But for what you sell, it makes total sense. I don’t know if I’d get too many clients off TikTok, but who knows? Maybe it’s the future.

You want me to get on Tiktok? Is that what you’re secretly telling me? And I think, I think I think you need to get up in the morning and do videos and start performing for your Tiktok audience. If I get on tick tock, I will, I will let you know, and then I’ll have at least one follower. So I’m excited about that.

I mean, why not? I mean, that’s why not. I just put on some Ben gay and I’ll just start getting down and dancing. So that’ll be awesome.

This episode was fun, Daisy, and I may just take you up on that TikTok challenge.

To our listeners, thanks for joining our conversation with Daisy—I hope you learned a lot. And while this episode may have come to an end, I’ve got more in store for you on the next Marketing Growth Podcast episode with Daisy Jing. Stay tuned.