Boosting Topeka Businesses: Social Media Strategies | Gray Marshall

I'm going to pull up Topeka Insider's Instagram account. It's funny because I go on this page quite often. All right, more emotional clips. Get people angry in your comments. Hi, I'm Justin and I'm not funny. Get some hot takes.

Yeah, we're going to need some controversial statements from you, exactly, and you can't fire.

Cody yeah, dang it. He was my first choice.

Gray Marshall, the creative director at AIM Strategies. Let's go. Thank you for being here. Welcome to the show man. Thank you, happy to be here.

Good to have you. So who is Gray Marshall? Oh man, uh, broad question.

Uh, we're gonna need you to talk in the third person the whole time. Actually, who is this Gray Marshall person?

Weird name homeschool background, so very awkward. What do you want to know? What do you do? What is creative director at AIM Strategies mean? So, in the context of, specifically, the company I'm working with is mostly social media stuff with a little bit of graphic design. Over the past year two years we've been really wanting to push more on reels, instagram reels and things like that really to push more people onto Instagram. We have a large following on Facebook, but a lot of people are moving in the direction of Instagram, and so I've been working on graphic design for the past year, really getting used to the media side of things.

I did a lot of social posting as well. I just didn't have a lot of time to focus on the social media side of things, um, so we did a lot of food photos. We did a lot of you know, interviews with different people, which actually that was probably our coolest thing we were doing was interviewing our team inside each one of the restaurants. It just we, we needed more. We need more. I was focused on graphic design. So the shift came a few months ago where they asked me to hop on board to focus solely on that and then also kind of manage the graphic design, so find someone to work on that, and then I do the kind of smaller graphic design stuff. So when you say social, on that, um, and then I do the kind of smaller graphic design stuff. So when you say social media, you know, management, creative director for aim, that's the pennant, the Cyrus what all falls underneath that, what's under your scope?

So that would be the pennant Yep Cyrus hotel, the weather room which is in Cyrus. Um iron rail taco, our newest location. Um, I do a little bit of work for East bank. We need to push a little more on that. It's one of our. I don't know, have you guys heard of East bank?

No, yeah, I've been there.

It's really really cool. Uh, it's like a little resort area for business meetings and uh events that you can host. We do catering kind of things to that.

Um and it. It has a lot of really cool stuff. It's. It's really dope.

That's sweet, but so it's like an event space yeah, yeah, but a really big one with a pool and a lodge and cabins oh wow, it's almost like a, a retreat, like camp space, legit yeah oh, I think I remember hearing about when they they opened it a few years ago. Yeah, and we're kind of yeah, I mean it's been out for, because I, when I went, it was like seven, eight years ago, yeah, oh, was it really it's been out for? When I went, it was like seven, eight years ago.

Yeah, oh, was it really? It's been out for a while.

It's been out for a while, but yeah, it's pretty dope, sweet, but that generally I'm trying to think if there's any more. But that's about it, yeah.

Wow, yeah, what's it like overseeing 17 social media accounts?

It's a lot for sure. Accounts it's a lot for sure, it's a lot to manage. And right now I'm in the phase of like organizing all of that. Like, what does a content schedule look like for us on a consistent basis? How can we easily, you know, put all this stuff together in a professional way, make it look good? Um, really fast. Uh, because when you're doing like, technically, I'm running five social media accounts like on a regular, consistent basis, right, it's a lot.

And those are Instagram, facebook yeah, and Facebook meta really comes in yeah, in help with that. So I can post dual post on that. Yeah, so it's super helpful. Do you want to add one more? Topeka Insider. Oh yeah, no, I'm not booked enough.

Yeah, yeah, that's awesome man. So what's it been like? So obviously you have that, that role. What's it been like just working for aim generally, who is, you know, trying to kind of invest downtown, invest in the city, like? What's it like, then, working for that kind of an organization?

It's dope. It's really cool. I mean I got to hear Cody Foster with a group of young business people and we talked about that at one point early on with me working at AIM, and he had some really positive things to say just in general about that program, just how he wants to revitalize downtown Topeka, bring more people down there, and one of the ways he's really trying to push all of that traffic uh is with those restaurants. So just seeing more people downtown on a regular basis already is like awesome. So does, does the mall fall under your scope or is that not aim strategies? So is uh, that's a that's kind of complicated uh legally term, but technically, yes, okay. So yeah, it's, it's under us, um, but I don't really have any involvement in the marketing aspect. We have someone working gotcha, so it's. I was really excited when we got it. Also, I was like that's gonna be a big project right, so very thankfully we have some uh helping hands with that.

Yeah, okay.

So it's owned by AIM Strategies and Cody and David, but as far as the marketing and the day-to-day stuff of it, they have their own people that do that just for the mall. Yeah, is that right? That's correct.

Wow, that's wild man.

Wow, so you grew up here, you telling us before we started that you moved here when you're 10. Um, how old are you now? Uh, 25. Okay, so 15 years. How have you seen Topeka change in the last 15 years, popping up um and places to go, because I remember when I was a lot younger uh, first here, it was not much, I, I would be honest, there was just not a lot, uh, but we had like gage park, which is classic right love gage park.

Um, we had some like staple locations that were like the, the old, reliables right like, and they still are.

They're're still fantastic.

But just seeing all these different things, like I moved to Tulsa four years ago, stayed there for four years or two years, sorry, and when I got back there was even more like stuff that I hadn't seen, yeah. And so it was really cool just not only to see Topeka change over that long period of time, but then just to leave for a couple of years and come back. Yeah, it's like, oh my goodness, they're actually putting so much work into this.

Yeah.

Especially downtown, like Evergy Plaza, just popping up like that.

Yeah, it was wild, so cool. I know it's amazing.

So I'm going to ask you a tough question, because that's all we do on Topeka Insiders, managing all these businesses, their socials, their marketing. They're all like your kids. Yes, you had to pick a favorite. What would be your favorite one for whatever reason that you get to kind of facilitate with. I have two of my kids fighting for top place right now. Yeah, which ones are those top place right now? Yeah, which ones are?

those uh, we're looking at pennant and taco just because pennant is so fun, right, like the team there is super cool and they always are trying to put on events yeah and trying to like. They do such a good job at like bringing the young people and parents and their kids downtown, um and the others, just because it's new and it's fun. And it's this moldable business right now where we're not exactly sure exactly what we are yet. So, as far as social media marketing, we can have a lot of fun with it.

We can kind of define what Taco is how we want to bring people downtown with it, what kind of market we want to push. We've been meeting with some really cool people over at Compass who have been really providing some awesome input on where we can take the direction of Taco, and those meetings are always a blast. When you say take the direction of Taco, do you mean just like as a brand?

Yes, Like you know when people think of Taco, you know it's. What kind of social posts are you making, what kind of yeah, so, just like our target audience and yeah, just all the basics of you know bringing that audience.

As of right now.

What kind of brand is taco trying to? Oh man, who is your target? So people in their early 20s? We were really trying to shoot for that. We're kind of pushing that range at this point to see if we can really bring in those you know, really just anyone in that middle age range. Um, and we've seen like a lot of progress with that Cool. It's been great Like and I can't spoil too much. But there's more to come with taco as far as, like, we're changing some things around, shifting some things around.

It's kind of a regular basis of like what works and what doesn't work Right.

Yeah.

Right and adjusting accordingly. Yeah, let me ask you this Tell us what you can tell us. So I've been to Taco. Yes, love it. Food's great. The experience with the different levels is awesome. Yeah, I think I was talking about this on Don's episode, but when I was there, we had a window spot, so we got to see everything and what doesn't work at Taco, like what are you trying to change? Because I thought it was great. Yeah, but of course, I've gone a couple times. Absolutely, I think the biggest thing we like to see is just more people, more people. We want to get more people, because every time we have a meeting about taco, we're like this person came back and this person came back and they loved it, and they're telling all their friends about it, that they need to come over, and but we also get a lot of people kind of like unsure about taco. Like, what is taco?

Right, there's a lot of. Mexican restaurants in Topeka like local really good ones Right.

So people see taco and they're like, well, what's? What's the difference?

Right.

Like what makes taco so much better than the these other places? Yeah, and once we actually get them in seats for the first time, we always get the response of like we're going to come again.

Like we have to come again, Cause this is different.

It's it's not the same as any of these other places. Each one has their own unique thing they bring to the table and I feel like we're definitely bringing something more akin to like a place you'd find in Kansas city Right, more unique tacos Let. We really are moving away, or have completely moved away from trying to be some kind of local taco Mexican place.

Yeah, I don't know how the like you know the precise definitions in terms of you know food styles and stuff, but it reminds me some of the more like like what I would call like maybe Mexican like fusion, like some places I've been in larger cities, like we want a vacation in San Diego and this place that was really high level, like kind of like a pop style, fusion style, and it was kind of had a similar vibe where it's.

It's not yeah, you're right, it's not like a food truck outside, is making all the right it's like, you know, there's probably like some chef that's creating, you know, these, these combos and stuff. Yeah, yeah, um, I want to go back to social media for a second, unless you have more questions about that. So, uh, as a 25 year old Gen Z social media manager, yeah, how much does it bother you that you're not on TikTok?

That's a good question. That's a really good question. How much does it bother me that we're not on TikTok? Quite a bit.

Like I want to.

I want to get on TikTok more.

Although you were homeschooled, so were you on TikTok, like was that? Well, I was thankfully right at the time where TikTok kind of popped off.

I was well out of the house, I was kind of on my own.

I was doing my own thing. Treat your mom and dad. I'm getting social media.

I don't care who owns this company.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Take all my data China.

I don't currently have it. I messed around with it a long time ago when it first came out. But I think one of the big things is like, with all the weird stuff going on with TikTok is like, where can we excel best right now? And we have a following on Instagram, right, but we can get more traction there, right, without having to suffer the loss of any of the weird contention stuff going on with that.

And I think a lot of people get confused with platforms and that you know might as well be on all of them if they all exist. When it's like you know, if you would just do Instagram and Facebook really, really well, you wouldn't need to be on Snapchat, tiktok, twitter X. You know all this stuff, and so I think you know you overextend yourself into another platform where now you need someone who's engaging on that platform. You need maybe some unique stories and some unique content on there that you're not posting in other places, and so I think that you know, if you just dominate one thing, well, like a great example, our Topeka Insider page, our Instagram does really well, we have a lot of people that engage Facebook, nada, yeah, and so it's like it's almost gotten to the point where it's like all of our energy just needs to be on Instagram because that's where our big following is, that's where people like to watch the clips, so why would we overextend into all these other ones when it's just going to take away from what we're good at?

Yeah, I've heard the other side of that argument too. Like I love, I love Gary Vee, uh, well, yeah, and he's had some really great tips on that Like put everything everywhere, um, and his big thing is like do slightly different things for each social platform. Problem is I'm running like six social media platforms at the same time.

It's like there's an overextension of yourself and what you're able to do. I wish we could Um, and maybe at some point here soon we will be able to kind of extend ourselves to do that, and that's kind of the goal is to be able to do that. Um, right now, just focus on what we're good at.

You know, that's the idea. Yeah, I think there's a lesson there of like not spreading yourself too thin and do what you can do well and not moving too fast. Yeah, yeah, that's good, that's awesome. So you're, you're telling us, uh, so you, you kind of came into adulthood in Topeka. Um, what's it like? Um, what are you most excited about that's happening in Topeka, you know, in AIM or outside of AIM, just in the city in general?

Uh, all the young people who want to see Topeka thrive. That is so, so cool to me. One of my close friends, jackson Roberts I'll drop his name he owns a lawn care. Yeah, shout out If you need lawn care. His company Clean Cut crushes it. They're doing great and they've been going for a few years now and it's been awesome to see them grow as a company, from Jackson just with like barely any equipment to now he has a full team.

And he's having to crunch big numbers on everything and you know getting really like major companies here in Topeka to do that for. But that's just one thing and he's always coming to me and our friend group with like different business ideas he has and sharing those. There's just so many other guys. I've met, eric with Save Souls. I got to meet him over at the mall.

Oh, that shoe.

Yeah.

Someone else was telling me about that.

Yeah, it was. His story is so neat and I definitely could not do it justice, so he's the one to tell that but I am not going to try. He's. I've had the pleasure of meeting him. He is just so full of energy and he wants to get out there and do things. And yeah, it sounds to. From what I've spoken with him, it sounds like he dropped everything and just went at this business that's cool like full force that is cool and made it happen wow awesome.

Um, yeah, there's a few other guys I meet with on a regular basis. I'm doing a business class with a few of them and, um, we're talking about ai. We're talking about AI.

We're talking about. You know how can we?

you know, ideas of like what can we change about Topeka? What can we bring to Topeka? There was a couple of groups I was involved in a few years ago. I've since, you know, time just got away from me. I couldn't, I couldn't, you know, spend my time over there, but I got to meet a lot of really cool young people wanting to see Topeka like just just add, contribute what they had to this town.

Do you feel like it has been like that for a while, or do you think that that's changing?

That's a great question and I wish I had a better answer for that, but I wasn't really involved in that aspect, like before I left Topeka. So when I got back, yeah, I started meeting people and you know my friends introduced me to their friends and we're all in our very early 20s and I can I'm gonna bet we're seeing more of it for sure, especially with these young people. Seeing like actual change happening in Topeka, like you're seeing these new business businesses pop up. You're seeing stuff like circle coffee, like really, thrive in Topeka.

And there's an audience for it, Whereas, like I think I would bet you, like seven, eight years ago, I don't think that would have been like oh, we need like a third wave. Really fancy coffee shop in Topeka.

Like, and it'll definitely do well, there's definitely an audience for that.

But he showed that there is like David really showed that there is an audience for that. There are people who want that, Um, and so I think it's really encouraging young people here in Topeka to go. Oh wait, my business idea actually might take off.

Yeah, yeah, is that what it's called third wave? That's like the style of the coffee shop.

Yeah, see, my roommate would know so much more about this. He's an expert in coffee. Nice, nice, like one of the best in Tobago, and I'm not even going to exaggerate on that.

Yeah, so would first wave be like Starbucks.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

What does that mean? First wave, second wave, third wave. What is? I will do my best.

I would like to phone a friend. Yeah, give him a call. Um. So first wave coffee is, yeah, your Starbucks, um, your scooters, um, like different places that you know they have coffee and it's good you know it's quick and it's good.

You know it's quick and it's good.

You're not really thinking about where the beans are sourced, you know what climate. What temperature were they? You know what farm, whether it's burnt or not.

Right, give it to me yeah.

Uh. And third wave more focuses on like, uh, like, like I said, like where it's sourced, like, where are these beans from? Um, what flavor notes are we looking at Right?

Um more artisanal kind of it. Well, so is there a second wave.

See, that's the funny thing, because I asked that same question to my roommate and he's like eh, sort of like, I think that's something that's not really a thing anymore. Like because, second wave has just become third wave, wave like just jump to one or the other, either make money, you know so yeah, and first wave, third wave is this that's not something that's unique to coffee like this is just a style of a service. You know, that's a great question, because I'm well exactly.

Are you a third wave realtor?

absolutely, I am, and well he's an artisanal.

Well, this is kind of what I was going to source. Single source realtor.

It feels like single origin service right here, right exactly I'm trying to ask a question john because it feels like there's a lot of you know the chains of, you know of topeka that, do fine, you know it's, you know it is what it is, everyone knows what it is. And then there's a lot of you know the chains of, you know of Topeka that, do fine, you know it's, you know it is what it is, everyone knows what it is. And then there's a third wave that's like, hey, we do one thing and we do it with excellence. Yeah, you know. I even think you know Thursday Club. Yeah, you know. It's a third wave burger spot, sure, where they do one thing and they do really well. Is that the premise of this or is that I can see how it applies? Uh, I, technically I'm not sure.

I like to imagine that there are like all these guys we're talking about are watching this, just laughing at how stupid we are. I'm imagining all my audience.

No, but the idea does translate like artisanal or, um, just being really focused on quality. I think the concept of plastic is about anything, because I mean, when we had David on, he was even talking about that with like a hot dog stand. Sure, you know, if you're going to do something, do one thing really well.

Right and people will come to that, you know you don't need to do.

a little bit of everything mediocre, right.

Absolutely. Yeah, like high excellence, high hospitality. I will say, going back to the, the, the joke of applying that to your realty business, I do. I enjoy the picture in my mind of someone having you help them buy a house and then afterward thinking like, oh, just like an oaky aftertaste, you know like some notes of fruit in there. You know, in that realty experience.

That's funny, that's great, that's great.

So what are some things that? Um, so you're, as a 25 year old, you're kind of like the target demographic of a lot of places in Topeka. Like you and your friends are kind of like the up and coming rank and file consumer in Topeka that people are like, how do we get these guys to like us? Yeah, like, how do we get these guys to buy into our thing or whatever. So you know, as you look around just as like a, a person wanting to have a good life in the city, what are some things you're excited about in the city? What are some things you're like man, I wish we had these kinds of things. Like, like you know you talked about, like young people seeing that they can take risks and start a business. What are some of the things that people should be taking risks? Like we need a business like this. How can we don't have this? You know.

So, uh, yeah, so I think, um, businesses that I'd love to see. I mean, you guys interviewed Aaron, uh, from soliloquy. I miss them so much. I miss having soliloquy around, cause that was one of the things that me and my friends really were like this is what we need, right. We need, like, a proper cocktail bar spot. Yeah, like with handcrafted cocktails that are just phenomenal, right, just like top notch. You know what you're getting someone a third wave third wave, doing one thing really well, exactly, you got the.

The ingredients are sourced from like a particular spot. I mean, I remember, you know, talking with them and their you know their espresso martini that they were making. They were, you know, doing all the bean work themselves. They were Bean work, yeah, yeah, bean work.

Love a good bean work.

Yeah, no, it was it's yeah, yeah, burn bean love, a good bean work. Uh, yeah, no, it was. It's um, yeah, more stuff like that. Just like artisanal, um cocktail, artisanal cocktail spot, like soliloquy. I wish we had soliloquy back.

Essentially, right, right and whatever I like how thursday club's kind of filling in some of the gap?

Yeah, certainly they're providing some unique cocktails that you can't really get from anywhere else here in town and they're providing a really dang good burger.

Right, oh, my word.

Yeah, I just had it a couple days ago again for like the 50th time.

I know, yeah, and it hits every time. I know my wife's not like a big burger joint place but she loves.

Thursday Club. It's amazing, should we go?

there again. I was like really you want to go to another burger place?

She's like yeah, I mean it's Thursday Club, so Absolutely, and they only have one burger on the menu.

I know it's awesome, yeah, only one.

It's amazing. Yeah, it slaps. So I think that is like top of our list. As my friend group, I'm trying to think like there are places that we have to drive to Kansas City or Lawrence to do that we wish were in Topeka.

What are some of those?

Like just a more full downtown walk.

Like a walk, like we're getting there, like a mass street vibe. Yes, yeah, we're getting close, close. Yeah, we're having more shopping. You can kind of do it all.

Some retail downtown, I would love to see some of that. Yeah, um, yeah, just that walkable experience where you can park your car, go wherever you want, um, and each shop it provides like a unique experience. Yeah, um, yeah. I'd love to see like I know there's.

there's a one point some of the shops downtown were closing at like 7 PM and I was like who's going to these? Like, if you're going to stop downtown and eat dinner and then you want to walk around downtown, especially in the summer when the sun's out to like nine or more. Uh, you're like why are you closed?

Like stay open, Like you're not incentivizing anyone to come here, you know yeah, no, I I think just um providing those different retail spots, downtown would be, and and local places, I think especially right.

I'm sure the tension is. I will as a someone with no experience, but just guessing as an outsider, you know, I mean, I haven't started a store downtown or anything but but I imagine there's probably a tension of like, okay, like you know, supply and demand. There's not a lot of demand like there's not like huge crowds downtown right now. So you're hoping that if you start a store then the crowds will come, like you build it, that will come right, but what if they don't, you know. So there's kind of a tension you're maybe riding of, like you know, which is why I appreciate a guy like Cody, just like hey, man, we're throwing some big stuff down there and it brought the demand, you know. But some of the more mom and pop style shops where it's like hey, like this would be a big hit if it didn't work for us, you know.

Yeah, and I think it'll only grow the more businesses that become established down there as brand name Like, I think even the tee box. You know I go downtown to go to the tee box and then when I'm going to the tee box it's also maybe I'll grab a shake at the pennant afterwards. Or some people go to the pennant and then they like, hey, I'm going to go hit some balls afterwards. You know, the more that they add, the more the ecosystem will ecosystem will be. You know they'll all help each other right?

absolutely yeah, but that takes time, and that's not easy you know, it'd be sick, as if we had and I think the greatest peak of partnership is trying to do this but it'd be sick if we eventually had uh, what's it called? What's the brand in kansas city that started making all the clothes.

You guys know what I'm talking about the brand, it's like super popular I know what you're talking about, but all the case, you tie the hats like yeah, in the hearts, yeah, yeah, I know what you're talking about.

I don't know what it's called uh, but it's like kind of like a local, like artisanal not the right word but it's just like a it's a cool local vibe, like it's. Some local guy came up with the brand and it took off, you know, and they have local shops with all their merch. So it may be sick to have something like that, like which would help turn, you know, the spirit of the city, like, hey, we took pride in our city. You know we need some cool Topeka merch Right, some really cool Topeka merch.

Yeah.

All right, I got a question for you as someone whose sole job is managing socials for some of these businesses. I mean, that's what you do. A lot of local businesses don't have the resources to have someone like you do it. They just do it themselves. What is some advice you would give to some businesses on how to manage their socials.

There you go, man. It's a good question.

Yeah, scheduled content for sure. Like, really organize all of that, like have a regular schedule. You put stuff out. It really does not matter necessarily the quality, it's more of the content itself, like the substance that you're actually putting out. So, focusing on the local aspect of what's going on in Topeka and how that relates to what you're doing, or what you're doing relates to the rest of Topeka, be a part of the ecosystem. Be a part of the ecosystem, be a part of the community um, highlight your workers who are there, like your staff. Like people love people, so show people. Um, I've I've noticed we get so much traction, like we did a series for iron rail a while back where we just did a video interview with each one of our employees there every month. So we would just pick an employee, we'd sit them down and do like a quick 10 minute interview. I'd cut that up together into a certain uh, like a 30 second to a minute long reel.

We'd put it out and it would get some decent traction, like compared to our other stuff. Like their friends would share it out. Their family would be like their friends and family would just be like I love this person you know, Right right.

Yeah. So focusing on the people, I mean obviously you know, show your product, show what you're doing. But I think really engaging with the community is like where you're going to see a lot of traction. I mean, obviously memes are also going to go a long way, like just look at the trends. Uh, sometimes it'll take like it'll take you like 10 minutes to find like a popular meme and then just format it to your company and you don't even have to shoot anything new, right, you can just, you know, uh, I've seen a lot of places, even in Kansas city, doing that, like cause I, you know, I kind of follow.

That's funny, people love people.

I've noticed that even in like my real estate business. You know it's super common for realtors, you know, to post when they close on a house you know just sold, you know, and they post a picture of the house and the reality is is no one cares. You know that's great, you know you're advertising yourself kind of, but no one cares, and so they pop it's a picture of them. Of course my sign is there, but it's about them and they're so excited and those do.

those are killer it's a video of his sign and there's confetti off to the side. You can't even see the person in the video. Yeah, but I've noticed those are killer on facebook.

Yeah, you know, no one cares about the house they just bought. But it's like you know you can see the people no, that is a great idea, that's a great absolutely like. Oh my goodness, it could be like any family buying a house, like the joy that they're feeling just by buying it. Like to someone else who sees that house it's just a house. Yep, the joy you see on the buyer's faces like you're. You're not providing homes, right, you're providing joy.

Come on, yeah yeah, you're supposed to be like you're you're not providing homes, you're providing joy. Come on, yeah, yeah, you're supposed to be like. This could be you.

Yeah, exactly, if chat GPT gives me that caption, then I'll use it. Yeah, yeah.

There you go yeah.

Yeah, all right, as a young dude who is, you know you've already said you kind of into AI. What's your go-to AI source? You a chat GPT guy, gemini. What do you use? Yeah, uh, I use chat GPT typically. Um, I really I have mixed feelings on AI. I love it. It makes my job a lot easier. But you know there's also some controversy around AI with, uh, the artistic side of it. But, um, yeah, I use chat GPT all the all the time. I've started messing around with DeepSeek if you guys have heard of that and it's been fun to play around with these tools. Like, really fun, do?

you have any recommendations Like the best approach to get the most out of it.

If I'm a business owner and I want to get into AI to help my business, but I don't know where to start. What would you recommend someone use? Yeah, my business, but I don't know where to start. What would you recommend someone use? Yeah, I, just from my experience with chat GPT it's been amazing.

But create one thread you do one thing on. So, for example, um, for our social posts, I keep everything on one thread. It has a memory of that entire thread and so I can be like, hey, remember taco, I want you to make something about taco. Remember what I said about making it this way Right right Focus on that and allow it to kind of build up a database of like how you want it to sound Kind of a personality, exactly, or a vibe.

Yeah, yeah, sometimes I'll like take posts that's made in the past or posts that we've put out that I really like the caption for, and I'll just be like, hey, can you make it sound like like this?

essentially um and another thing is always tweak it when you're done, like once, once it's generated, always, always, always, go in and add something yourself. Maybe not to make it longer, delete a chunk of it, rewrite it yourself. At least one thing. Um, I always think that I think people will always recognize whether something was generated or made by a person. There's definitely gonna be a day where you're not gonna really be able to tell at all, but right now, where the technology's at you can kinda tell if you are in that space enough.

Right, you can tell if you're just copying and pasting, yeah.

I always tell people and I've started implementing it into my line of work is chat, gpt and AI isn't designed the way I use it. It isn't designed to get me the answer that I'm going to copy and paste and use. It's meant to help me figure out what the answer is. You know, if I want a caption for a confetti photo that I just posted, it's like all right. I'm not going to ask AI to give me the exact caption. I'm going to ask AI to help me craft a message that I'm trying to create. What are some good words to use here? How long should this be? You know?

it's meant to help me get to the answer.

It'd be a sounding board for myself and less of a give me the answer right now. I'm going to copy and paste it and use it Exactly.

And I think people misunderstand the purpose of AI, especially people who aren't familiar. They just punch in what they want the answer for and it's like no, you know the answer. You just need someone to talk through it with to get there. Yeah, yeah, it's. It's really helpful in my sphere when I'm kind of by myself in that marketing department. It's just like me going at it and sometimes I need something to bounce ideas off of specifically within my field.

So, um, yeah, there are times where I'll I'll write something up and be like hey, what do you think of this? How would you adjust it in these ways for these parameters? And really have it. Analyze that, so it's super helpful. I've even found I have to. I've noticed AI is. It's like your encouraging friend. They never tell you what's wrong with your idea.

And so.

I've had to tell AI if I have an idea, like, hey, what are three things that are wrong with everything we just talked about, or where is this going to?

fail Right In order to get it to like give me some constructive criticism.

Yeah, like you have to prompt it because it's so positive. You know this is great. You know there's no issues. It's like no, if small scale things that just like typically take up a lot of time. Like yeah, so absolutely.

Yeah, one of the things I've I use it a lot too and I love it, um is someone told me like it's really good if you define its role for it, like in the, in the particular thread, with whatever your topic you define like hey, this is, this is who you are, like this is how you're approaching this conversation, so like yeah, so you could say like hey, you're gary v, you know like I want I want to pick gary v's brain because he has so much content out there that chat gbt has access to, yeah, he can basically like sweep through all of gary v's stuff and get a sense of how he would answer things.

Or I have a friend who was telling me he has like a board of directors, a virtual board of directors he built on chat GPT. And so he says like like he has kind of a finance guy, um, you know different categories of his personal life and work, and uh, like he's like motivation guy is uh, oh, my gosh, david Goggins is David Goggins. Yeah, yeah, so you know, so he'll. He'll like hey, uh, I'm thinking about this idea. What does everyone on my board think? And everyone's giving it. And then David Goggins is like you effing blah, blah, blah, blah.

You know, just like ripping it and I'm like yes, that's awesome. You roll over at 5.00 AM. I'm thinking about skipping the gym. What do you have to say?

David Goggins, right, get up right now, right, right, yeah, yeah. So I found that to be really helpful as well. It's just like hey, define, like, what am I looking for? Like I'm not just looking for Google to tell me whatever, like I'm looking for this type of information. I found personally I mean, I'm in a different role than you guys are Um, you know, I'm using it to help some of the things I'm you know, I'm a pastor, so I'll like write a lot of sermons.

I'm not having it right content for me at all, uh, and I'll just get that clear. Uh, but I've found it really helpful as, like, a research assistant. So like, hey, help me find some stories that communicate this. Uh, help me find some historical examples of this. And so a lot of times there are things where I like, I know I've heard this example of this, I just can't remember the details, and so Googling it is really hard but I can just like you know, ramble on chat, gpt, like some details that I remember, and it'll find the exact situation that I'm thinking of and I'm like, oh, that's so how.

that would have taken me hours to find.

I even think for you. You know, I don't know how you write your sermons, I don't know what's best, but I imagine to some degree you know. You kind of write it out word for word on what you're kind of thinking and it might be able to help you outline what you're trying to get to.

Right, yeah, I've tried that. That can be kind of tricky because then it kind of gets into the AI, is not? It really messes with my voice and my flow of thought. I've tried that. I'm like, hey, would you reorganize this in a more coherent way? And it'll kind of reorganize it and I'm like I actually don't like that. So what I have used it for is there's one time a few weeks ago where I know the number of pages. For me that is like going to be a normal length, like sermon on Sunday, and if I go longer than that then the sermon is going to be too long. And so there was one time where I was like I have a lot to get through. It was a page too long but, I was like it's all important.

I don't think I can really cut any of it out, so I dumped it into ChatGPT. I was like, how can I make this shorter but keep all of the vital information? And it was like, oh, you could say this story in a shorter way, and it'll be just as clear. You could make this point in a shorter way, it'll be just as clear. I was like, oh, that's actually really helpful, and so I utilize not all of its recommendations, but some of them, and it was really helpful.

Yeah, so interesting. All right Back to social media management. Yes, john doesn't know, I'm going to do this, but I want to get a live on air. I'm going to pull up Topeka Insiders Instagram. I want you to give us two recommendations on what you would do different if you were managing this account.

What would you do if you okay?

Not going to hurt my feelings at all. We want to. We want to be better, Absolutely. It's funny Cause I've, I've, I go on this page quite often.

All right, he's like a list of 30 things that you could do differently.

What do you got Hit us with it? What could Topeka Insider be doing different on social? I think, um, like, everything you're doing is awesome. So, just to start off, don't tell me that, give it to me straight, just to start off, don't worry, compliment sandwich when I was in graphic design school we always had to give like one positive thing and then we can drop three negative things. Let's go.

You're great. Also, you're the worst Exactly.

I think maybe adding some kind of teaser or something before you get an interview, just to hype it up a little bit like you know, like hey, we've got someone in this industry or this thing coming up, or maybe just like one small snippet from like that interview before it drops, just to kind of create a little bit of a stir. Maybe I like it. Yeah, you know, um other than that I have to really think about it. I mean, obviously I can say like post a meme once in a while, but like it depends on your vibe that you're going for, like what are you trying to push? Which is kind of more of the conversational aspect that I love about social media, which is like getting down to business of like what direction are we trying to move? Right, so I can say, like what every social media post or content, like a page, is doing.

But at the end of the day, like what are you guys trying to push? Yeah, what? What are you really trying to see? What kind of market do you want to see as far as viewership, right? So like I don't know, like how does how do any of these correspond with current uh, topeka events that are going on right now? Maybe they don't. I mean, it's fun because I'm always surprised, because I think there is some way to connect like something to something and trying to jump off other people's I don't know or other events that are going on, topeka.

Well, it connects you with the rest of the community. It's kind of what you're saying.

Also like a cool feature, the. Have you used the dual post function?

The trial posts or the it's, it's where.

Two yeah, the collaboration posts have you guys been doing?

this yeah, yeah, those are awesome. Yeah, I love those. Yeah, those as well, yeah absolutely.

Um, I mean, I would be honest like you guys are are crushing no, don't say that like we want we want constructive criticism. Okay, okay, more emotional clips. Get people angry in your comments. Get, yeah, take something out of context some rage bait, let's go.

Okay, you asked for the real advice, that's the real advice.

Yeah, yeah get some rage bait going.

Get some hot takes yeah, uh, we're to need some controversial statements from you in this interview.

Yeah, just chop up together different words and then combine them together and you'll you know, you'll get something.

Yeah.

That's funny. I love it, that is funny.

Yeah, just like. Take a random sentence that you said in this interview and apply it to something completely out of context, exactly, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Just to ask a question, like I could even leave, and you can just, you know, ask some questions and then mash it together.

I saw this, I saw this reel. That was like it's a guy on a podcast and it's like it's a fake, it's like a skit. He's like how to respond when someone on your podcast wins a debate, wins an argument with you or something. And so he asked some question like what's your favorite state capital, or something. And then she says some state capitals. And then he's like I said state capitals and she's like what? And then he looks over at the editor and the editor is like and he says he asked like a new question Like what's your favorite nation capital? And the editor is like, yeah, I'm going to sub that out and make her look like an idiot.

Oh, I see.

Yeah, just totally like sub it out. I was like yeah, if we could do that Totally like sub it out.

I was like yeah, if we could do that.

That's funny.

That's awesome. Gabe has all the power in the world back there.

Gabe's got a ton of skills back there. Have you ever done the like, the trend Like?

I asked my Gen Z editor to make a video that is like number one, like as soon as I can, I'm making one of those videos, so you need, like the owner or the main, like manager of the company, to have some video and then you just cut it. Yes, I love those. Those were. Those were popping in my feed constantly like a couple months ago, right yeah.

Just all these random businesses across like very local places just everywhere. And, uh, I I am dying to make one of those with our manager over at Cyrus Hotel. That would be so funny.

Oh, here's a question. This might be harder to say off the top of your head and if it is, it's totally cool. But one of the things I love is on social media are there are like random places that just have the most amazing social media accounts. Like there's this random tiny coffee shop in some city and I probably couldn't find it, but like I know I follow them and it would pop up eventually. But they just have the hilarious, like the most funny videos that they post. Like their vibe is super cool and they have like tens of thousands of followers. You know, and it's probably like this. Like you know, they don't have that many employees, not a huge place, you know, but they just they've leaned into their personality and things like are there, are there places like that that you follow, that you really like, not necessarily in Topeka, but just around?

there. Yeah, I don't follow any of them, but I've seen them pop in my feed. There's this one account, uh, that's popped up a couple times. I wish I could remember the name of it, but it's this older woman who runs a pancake house, just a random pancake local, but she makes the funniest meme videos where she'll harass just the cameraman, whoever's filming or the person filming will make a joke about the place and she'll come in and do something hilarious. It's great.

That's funny.

So, man, I wish I had more that I followed, Cause I, yeah they. There's some that'll pop in my feet all the time, Do you think?

that's a trend in social media of like, like. I think the danger is, like you know you can, everyone wants to try to turn social media into a formula. You know, if you do this and this and this, then this will guarantee to work for you. But it seems like I think there are basic steps, like obviously, like some of the things you're saying, like hey, these are basic things everyone should be able to do, like people. But I also wonder, like sometimes it's like the most, some of the most off the wall, quirky things just like seem to take off because it's the person leaning into their personality and like how, just what they're interested, how they see the world, yeah, and for whatever reason, it's just like takes off, you know.

Yeah, um man, I I wish I could speak more to that. But like I see these random yeah, these random videos, I go into the account and they have like no followers and it's like a random business. But you go back to that one reel and it has like a million likes yeah um, and sometimes I'll run across those reels where I'm like it doesn't have any likes, but I'm like I know for a fact this, this thing is about to to shoot off like it's hitting my side of right.

uh, it's hitting my algorithm, meaning it's definitely hitting people in my range of viewership and it's you know you support, you give a like, you know you leave a comment just to get it, just to boost it a little bit, Because you're like people need to see this. Those are always fun to find those little gold nuggets. Yeah, that you're like this is going to go somewhere.

Yeah.

Yeah, I found with social media whether it be, you know, the Topeka Insider podcast account or my real estate account I've learned I don't have creative ideas myself, but I know a good one when I see it, and so I rarely especially for my real estate account post original ideas. You know, if there's a video with the sound that I think is funny, you know, I'm just going to rip it off from the person I found it from, make it my own a little bit Into it and repost it, because hi, I'm Justin and I'm not that funny, but I know something's funny when I see it and I'm gonna, I'm gonna repost that, right? Yeah, and those are the ones that do the best. Don't try and reinvent the wheel. Okay, I have this hilarious joke I'm gonna make on my right Instagram account. It's like no, it's probably not funny because hi, I'm Justin, I'm not funny, but you know there are accounts that are hilarious.

Yeah, you're good at laughing at jokes, not making the jokes. Nailed it. Yeah yeah, are there sorry, were you going to go for it?

Yeah. So on the real estate topic, it's really funny because this guy keeps popping my feed in real estate and he's just a young guy in his like early twenties and he will just like run as fast as he can through the entire house, yelling at the top of his lungs like master bedroom bathroom, you know just, and it it does so many views. It's so fun. I have seen those and the problem I run into is do I want to go viral on Instagram or do I want people to respect me as a professional? I'm not going to make those Right Exactly. It's like you do have to take the downside with everything else.

Right, yeah, I don't know. People respect people who put themselves out there, you know? Yeah, I guess.

But if I'm going to interview for a $750,000, you know listing, you know the biggest.

They want a classy agent. They want someone who is professional, you know listing, you know, the biggest.

They want a classy Asian. They want someone who is professional, knows that uh, you know, represents themselves as such. But yeah, there's, there's a, there's a market for that, I'm sure. Yeah.

Are there, uh, what? What are the best and worst trends in social media right now?

The best and worst trends. The worst gets pretty bad, the worst the I've been down the rabbit holes. I love the internet and I love looking into, like the little weird niche things that go on the internet, so the worst gets pretty bad. Uh, as far as trends go like, I remember when people were like opening ice cream containers and licking the ice cream, you know, and that was.

yeah, thank goodness was wild, yeah insane.

Um the best trends man.

This is gonna sound super generic and very like I don't know dream I I just like it when I see people like really having a good time with each other, like enjoying each other's company and making a fun video together yeah like those kind of trends of where, like the boys go out and do this right, right, right um like I'd love to see that for a restaurant like like film, a group of guys just doing something goofy and having fun at one of our locations yeah, like you know, what could pop off is something like that if you had a team with the right chemistry, like if you had a team of like fry cooks who were like best friends and they just made a series of ongoing videos of them like joking around while they're on the job, not like dangerous, like stupid stuff, but just like right, you know, just like or dangerous and stupid stuff.

Yeah, no, not like you know, not like, uh, not like you're gonna get a health code violation stuff, but like, but you know, just like, hey, here's some buddies like you're getting an inside look in just the culture of the company. Yeah, like you know, it's like why the show here's some buddies Like you're getting an inside look in just the culture of the company. Yeah, like you know, it's like why the show Friends was so popular. It's like you're just watching these friends hang out and it's kind of like.

I wonder if something like that could pop off, you know.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I've seen a couple accounts for like a couple coffee shops that have like crazy high budget, that have like crazy high budget. I don't know how they get the budget that they have for their.

Instagram. They've got to have a buddy who's like a film guy or something.

Legit. They're filming with like red cameras and they're making like short films about their coffee. I think I've seen one like that yeah. Yeah, it's wild, it's completely wild. They're making like the bear, but like super small. Yeah, exactly, exactly. I think I've seen that account.

I'm like how the heck do you have the money to make these videos? This is wild, so I think they've got to have somebody.

that's like a good friend. Yeah, yeah, they got a guy.

Yeah, they have like a buddy who works at Universal Studios or like some big budget place. Yeah, so jealous that's amazing, it's super cool yeah. So the kind of buddy buddy like friend camaraderie, that's a great goofy things.

Uh like literally this morning I was scrolling and like this has nothing to do with businesses, but I think the energy carries out can, can carry over. But like a bunch of guys were like lined up back to back and had a mattress like behind each one of them and they just did a human dominoes thing, that went crazy. I was like I want to see more of like that, just fun, fun stuff like that, and I think that idea gets into the. In my opinion, the biggest misunderstanding and businesses miss the mark the most with social media is the best social content is when you're getting ready to post it. If you think, is this something my audience will enjoy?

Yeah.

Versus. What am I trying to push in front of my audience? You know it's. Is this something the person who's scrolling is going to want to stop and watch? And I'm guilty of it too, you know. Posting just solds no, that's not something someone really cares about, right? But posting something about Topeka, where you know all my prospective, you know buyers and sellers will be, that might be interesting. Same thing with, you know, a restaurant posting, posting about the culture of behind the restaurant is maybe more interesting than posting your you know taco of the week. Absolutely, I think the biggest thing that people miss when it comes to social media is a lack of sincerity. Yeah, it's so good, in whatever you post, whatever you're putting out online, it needs to be sincere, especially if you're a business, because at this point you know you've got so many companies fighting for the top of like your social media page and for you to see their ads and to just see another corporate face or just another, you know, corporate animation is not enough.

Yeah, it's just, it's lazy, it's and sure, maybe a lot of effort goes into it, Right, and a lot of money goes into it, but that really doesn't matter at the end of the day, because people are looking for something more real and more tangible and, let's be honest, we use social media as like an escape method from the reality Right, and some people do right, and those people, like, are looking for some humanity they're looking for and and when you just have these companies posting, like you know, just generic stuff, it doesn't have the same kind of impact as something.

You can always just tell when it's sincere.

You can always tell when a company is being earnest, even when it's fun right yeah, yeah, I mean, people go to social media to escape and to be entertained, not to be sold, and if all you're doing is trying to sell someone on social media, you're not going to sell anything yeah, yeah, this will date this episode a little bit, but I love how David at Circle is like doing this whole theme on the snow pile in Circle right now, like having people guess, like when do you think the snow pile is going to melt?

And he's called the pile with TM.

Next, to it. I'm like this is hilarious.

They did the same thing when they had a turtle walk up there's a huge like campaign I was like they're leaning so hard into just like being genuine and local and you know it's so, it's so good. That is funny.

yeah, he's got such great instincts with stuff like that. How many potholes did you hit on the way here? Uh, two minute account it's. It's kind of a skewed question right now because of all the snow we've had.

It's there's a lot right now, but but like, one month of snow doesn't create a million potholes. You know, it's just one really big one right now, but but like, one month of snow doesn't create a million potholes.

You know, it's just one really big one right now.

Yeah, you just keep the whole street, yeah you think that the state capital would have good roads?

you know, yeah, it's funny uh, go to local coffee shop. What's your favorite? Oh, circle, okay, hands down, hands down. That was kind of a softball you've been talking which one is your favorite?

second, wave coffee shop.

Second wave. First wave. First wave or second wave? That was a joke, oh.

Gabe was laughing. Gabe was with me on it. Gabe's just laughing because he's trying to be nice, just maybe explain a joke, and it's not funny anymore. You shouldn't have to explain it if it was truly funny, we'll work on your delivery.

Whose fault that was? Hi, I'm justin and I'm not funny. So look, coffee shop. Are you a golfer? Uh, I've dabbled. Okay, cyprus, lake shawnee. What's your favorite golf course? Oh man, I. Whatever one. My friend invites me to there, you go right on, right on. Yeah, um, what's something? Topeka is missing. I think I said this before, but I'm gonna really just again a good cocktail bar cocktail bar yeah, love it.

Yeah, rip, worst restaurant in topeka you don't have to answer that.

Um, I don't know, I, I can't, I can't. I'm just gonna see what you said. You could cut the tension with a knife, right? Yeah?

if you could fire any aim employee right now, who would you fire? And you can't fire cody. Yeah, no, dang it, he was my first choice uh, no, I couldn't yeah, that's funny um, go to date night in Topeka.

You have to plan a date night. What would you do? That's a really good question. And you can't go to anything AIM owns. Sure, I can. I can do that. That's too easy for you.

Jong's Thai kitchen Bro we need a tally board. We do For the number of times people said Jong's yeah, we do for the number of times people said jonks. Yeah, every single person we interview always says jonks and you know what's funny is I've never been there I'm not a big thai food guy, but I almost need to go and just like try it is good, it's very good amazing.

I eat there like every other week. It's a problem. Why have we not had that guy on the pod? We need to yeah yeah, we don't know who and we need to.

Here's what we're gonna do we're gonna create a montage of all the times our guests have said jonk's high kitchen, jonk's high kitchen, jonk's high kitchen.

No kidding, I don't know how they get that like. I mean, I do know they have a 4.9 on google and I am so jealous for the rest of our businesses.

Yeah, if we could only get to 4.9 like them yeah, I mean, their hospitality is off the charts yeah yeah incredible, it's wild, what else we got uh, you a project guy, do you like build stuff? Do home reno stuff at your house?

I'll take a any project. I really, uh, I put my mind to like, uh, right right now it's I'm working on my car. I just got a new car. I want to put a new head unit in, so I'm just messing around with that, okay, watching a bunch of youtube videos on on how to, you know, get my car up to up to speed on where I want it there you.

So if you had to do like more of a building thing, would you go to Home Depot, Lowe's or Menards?

And there is a right answer yeah, home Depot, let's freaking go. Look, I worked at Lowe's before and I love Lowe's, but it's their theme song.

Their theme song slaps. So hard.

Oh my gosh, yeah. Theme song. The theme song slaps so hard. Oh my gosh, yeah. From a marketing guy yeah, I can see how that.

This episode's sponsored by Home Depot. Heck, yeah, I think that's all we got, man.

Where can people find you at if they want to get a hold of you, ask questions about what you do, or I don't know. If you see me say hi, uh, yeah too, yeah, you see me on the sidewalk. I'm always happy to have a conversation. Um, I am at hobo gray on instagram. Uh, do not ask me where I got that name.

It's, I do not know canceled, yeah, exactly canceled, your contact information on aim site or something?

um, no, but I have a website if you want to see some of the stuff I've designed and the photography I've done, which is gray marshalldesign, cool. Um.

So yeah, if you want to see your design stuff on your instagram. It's fire, bro. Well, thank you. Yeah, I appreciate that. It's fun, it's a blast cool, great.

Thank you so much for joining us.

This has been awesome brother, appreciate you, man, thank.

It's been awesome. Yeah, pleasure.