We recently had the privilege of interviewing Matthew Smith, Founder and Director of Steel Frame Socials, a digital marketing agency. With tailored strategies designed for their client’s business requirements, with his clientele ranging from bespoke furniture companies, luxury properties, and interior designers. After years of experience driving visibility for luxury properties and premium brands, Matthew founded the agency to deliver tailored digital marketing in SEO, social media, branding, and content creation. As a highly skilled social media and content executive getting millions of organic views for clients, Matthew is emerging as a key player in the digital marketing landscape.
The Beginning
We started by asking, “Can you walk us through your professional journey and how it led to where you are today?”
Matthew Smith shared, “My career began shortly after COVID-19 when a custom sneaker company wanted to interview me to be their social media manager as I had previously managed a few popular social media pages for personal interests. This business was Custom Crep City UK, and I owe them the beginning of my professional career. The skills I would use in my current executive role were developed in this job, which included managing social media content, planning photo shoots, creating email marketing campaigns, writing blogs, developing promotions, designing graphics, and coordinating influencer outreach. Following my departure from this position to pursue opportunities overseas, I strengthened my experience by earning the Hubspot Academy certifications in SEO, Digital Marketing, and Social Media Management.
Shortly after, I co-founded my first company, Optimisebnb, which was an Airbnb co-hosting company with a focus on digital marketing. I was in charge of 15 properties under this company. To increase cash flow, I began working as a social media and account manager for remote agencies, where I oversaw a greater number of clients from various industries. I planned and produced content every month, making sure it matched client specifications and brand objectives. Improved interaction via social media tactics and optimized posts. Worked together on blogs, ads, and SEO while keeping an eye on results and submitting weekly reports.”
Matthew Smith added, “After returning to the UK after a lengthy job search, I was able to secure a full-time position in digital marketing for a large business, leaving behind both these agencies and the company I founded. As of this interview, I am employed as a Social Media and Content Executive for a recruitment agency. In addition to managing every aspect of the company’s digital marketing, my responsibilities have broadened to include budget management, branded merchandise, and assigning tasks to a team. In addition to this position, I recently founded Steel Frame Socials, a digital marketing agency, where all of the abilities I’ve honed over the years have come together to create an accurate and effective lead generation strategy for clients.”
Adaptability Amidst Uncertainties
Interested to learn more about the challenges faced, we asked Matthew to share some of the significant challenges he faced in his career path and how he overcame them.
Matthew Smith explained, “One of the difficulties I faced in my career was starting my first company and collaborating with people without any immediate financial benefit. I discovered that even the most driven people can experience burnout, which is a real problem. Working in a team made me realize that everyone experiences ups and downs in motivation, and I found it difficult to balance this with other people’s expectations. To avoid overworking myself and becoming burned out for the coming weeks and months, I controlled the amount of work I would do in a single day.
Even though you might feel like working on your project for eight hours a day, I think it’s crucial to manage your time so you maintain the desire and hunger to keep creating something for yourself. Keeping up with the ever-changing trends and advancements of social media is currently the biggest challenge because the platforms themselves don’t specifically explain how to reach high numbers. The best strategy against this is to become deeply involved in the community where you are establishing your business, participate in forums, and pay attention to creators in the same market to stay ahead of industry and platform updates.”
The Art Of Balancing Vision And Requirements
We further asked, “How do you balance long-term vision with short-term operational needs?”
“Writing down a list of your long-term objectives and short-term tasks is what I find to be effective. In my opinion, the short-term task list is the most crucial since it is directly correlated to the growth of your business. There is no set time limit for this, but what I did to succeed in both my professional and personal endeavors in digital marketing is to make regular checklists of simple to medium-sized tasks that I can finish quickly to guarantee continuous progress free from difficult tasks. And when I reflect on these brief task lists, they all added up to an enormous amount of finished work that would have seemed too difficult to handle if given all at once.” Matthew added.
Current Offerings At Steel Frame Socials
We asked Matthew to share about his services and exciting additions coming up in the future in his company.
“For bespoke furniture companies, interior designers, and other luxury brands in this industry, my company, Steel Frame Socials, offers an effective and efficient digital marketing strategy to generate leads. This involves transforming the client’s online presence across all channels and digital platforms, going beyond simple social media management and content production, which is what the majority of my competitors provide.” He mentioned.
Assessing Market Trends
To understand the strategies adopted by Matthew to stay ahead of the curve, we posed the question, “What methods do you use to analyze market trends, and how have these influenced your business decisions?”
“As previously stated, it is essential to become deeply involved in the communities to which I offer my services because, although anyone can read a blog post about a popular topic, these trends will shift in a month or two. I stay up to date with the biggest brands and creators in the field when it comes to popular subjects, so I’m always aware of what’s profitable for the biggest players in the market. However, I use the standard tools that most professionals use when it comes to data, such as Ahrefs, Google Trends, Google Keyword Planner, and all of the backend dashboards of the platforms that I use to market my clients.” He responded.
Impact Of Digital Transformation
We inquired about the effect of digital transformation on Matthew’s business model.
Matthew Smith explained, “The market for general digital marketing services is already fairly saturated, with an estimated $798.7 billion in market value as of this writing. As more businesses move to online platforms, the market will only grow. The business model is all about seeing what services my competitors aren’t offering and staying up to date with practices on digital platforms that drive the most reach. If I stay ahead of these things, I can maintain the basic business model while making minor adjustments to my strategies to stay ahead of the curve.”
Emerging Trends Of The Industry
We asked Matthew to share his perspective on emerging technologies that can leave a significant impact on your industry in the next five years.
“I think this is an obvious one. It’s AI; this technology is automating a lot of the processes digital marketers use for their services; however, it is not quite ahead of what humans can perform themselves; it’s just a lot more efficient at doing so. Google already has AI summaries on its first page, and from speaking to other industry professionals, I believe that the first page of Google will soon become a completely AI-generated response based on what would be the first page results for that search query. This is very dangerous for small businesses, as they are going to lose out on a lot of SERP traffic, so they will have to consider other mediums of traffic like social media to compete with the giants like Reddit and Forbes.”
Empowering Employee And A Positive Workspace
Ensuring employee satisfaction for a successful business is crucial. So, we asked, “What strategies do you implement to maintain high levels of employee engagement and satisfaction?”
Matthew Smith replied, “Positive reinforcement is a huge driving factor to make sure that the people I employ enjoy working for me, as I’ve seen a deeper level of commitment to my business from my employees who get a good sense of fulfillment in completing the tasks I set for them. From my experience of being an employee to now managing a team, having an overbearing, micromanaging boss can cause a negative atmosphere in the workplace and often drives a sense of resentment, which I try to avoid.
Since the majority of my work is done remotely, I make it clear that we should maintain open lines of communication. I want my employees to feel comfortable approaching me with any questions or concerns regarding assigned tasks. My team feels more at ease approaching me with any problem at any time, which has resulted in a stronger working relationship.”
Crafting A Strong Legacy
We ended the interview by asking, “How do you want your business to be remembered, and what steps are you taking to secure that legacy?”
“I want my company to be known for staying on the cutting edge and providing genuine value to the digital marketing industry. What I value most is being a key player promoting authenticity and ethical practices because this is and always will be a constantly changing industry. I want Steel Frame Socials to add a personal touch to our clients’ brands and create vibrant communities around them, providing them with an audience that will remain dedicated to our client’s business growth.
There are a lot of issues with the current digital landscape, which is becoming more automated and less personal. The primary factor that distinguishes me from most corporate marketing agencies is my continued involvement in my clients’ communities and industries, my understanding of popular subjects, and my understanding of what matters to people. With the rise of artificial intelligence, businesses and consumers are lacking a genuine human touch, which is what I offer.” Matthew concluded.
Follow Matthew Smith on LinkedIn.
Find Steel Frame Socials on LinkedIn and visit their website https://steelframesocials.com
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