Meet the So Contented team.

When it comes to attracting the right audience, content is key in turning browsers into buyers - which is the secret power of the team behind So Contented.   

The vision of Co-Founders Helen Cliff and Gemma Edwards is to help their clients convert customers into True Believers - the customers who will keep showing up to buy time and again. 

And supporting their mission is their crew of content creators: Tessa Leake, Tom Shiels, and Kimberley Taylor.

We sat down with the whole group to find out more about how they've used Sendible to streamline their workflow and scale their client management.

The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Tell us a bit about your team! What do you do?

Gemma

"I'm Gemma Edwards, my business is So Contented. It was co-founded with Helen.

Helen and I set up So Contented about three and a half years ago. We are content creators and we specialise in strategic brand content, brand voice development, website content, and organic social media content."

Helen

"So I'm Helen Cliff and I am one of the Co-Founders of So Contented. Here is the rest of the team:

We have Tessa Leake, who is one of our senior content creators at So Contented. She's been with us for quite a while now and just getting to grips with everything.

Kimberley Taylor, down at the bottom. She's another content creator and Tom Shiels, he's another content creator. So we've got quite a nice team."

What were your biggest challenges with social media management before using Sendible?

Gemma

"So our biggest challenge with our content creation and with creating organic social media was very much around our internal processes and how we created content to a really high standard that had been internally proven and then was approved by a client.

So through Sendible, we've been able to sort all that out really simply. The approvals process is just so good. It makes it so easy.

We can easily send it to whoever it needs to go to in the team to get that approval so we know it's been proofread internally before the clients see anything. But then our clients can just pop straight into Sendible themselves.

They get the notifications to say that we've assigned content for them to approve, and then they can check everything that they want to do before that gets posted on their behalf. So it's just really streamlined that process.

 

 

 

 

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It's cut out any kind of copying and pasting that needed to be done. It's cut out massive spreadsheets and emails back and forth.

It's just made everything so simple. And the time and the confusion that Sendible has saved has been really significant for us."

Helen

"That is a really big one. I think Sendible has been quite frankly, a game changer in that respect. The cut and paste, and the copy and paste, and the back and forth of emails is no more.

'I want to spend more time cutting and pasting,' said no one ever. So I think that has been a game-changer.

And Sendible is the kind of product that as we've grown, we've wanted to know more about what it can do for us.

So again, the second level of game change is not having to cut and paste for our clients. They can go in and directly see their own content.

And I think that's really good because it gives clients a sense of control as well. They feel like they're earning their content a little bit more. So I think that's quite a fluid way to work."

💡 Want to learn more about Sendible's approval workflows?
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How have you collaborated with clients and teammates?

Tessa

"We do work quite collaboratively. We each have our own individual clients that we look after, but before we send content off to the client for approval, we like to proofread it internally.

So it's really handy to have the approvals side of things because it just means that nothing gets missed, nothing slips through the net, nothing goes out that we're not happy with,  and so it's great in that respect. If anybody, for whatever reason is off work, we can all just hop on and cover each other's work and it's not all going to fall apart because somebody is off for a little bit.

So I think in that respect, it has enabled us to work quite collaboratively in one place, which is really useful."

Helen

"For business owners, and my learning curve particularly, Sendible has been a great help in transitioning clients to working with a bigger team as opposed to being focused on the one person that sold them the product.

So a lot of clients will expect the people that they have the meetings with to then go on and create their content and be their lead contact.

Having something like Sendible and going into it, they know that the amendments are going to be made.

So from a business perspective, rather than me having 70 odd posts a week to proof, I know I can put that in the hands of my team. I can have a glance, but I don't need to do that now because the clients can literally go in and take a look. So from a business-earner time perspective, which I think you would all agree this is a real pain point, that is a really useful thing."

Tessa

"Because we are now getting the clients involved, it's nice for them to be as involved or as not involved as they want to be. If they just want to go on and say, 'Yeah, that's all fine,' they can. But it's nice that they have the ability to add and edit, so that's helpful for us as well. 

Like one of you were saying about not needing to send emails back and forth, we can be confident that they have at least seen the content, they've approved it, and we don't need to chase them up for the things. It all just runs a bit more smoothly."

What are your favourite Sendible features?

Tom

"My favourite feature is when you're creating the post, you can also search for articles related to that post. That makes it much easier if you're looking to reference something, you can just type in what you're looking for. It cuts out having to open up tabs and Google. 

It makes the whole process cleaner and it makes life a lot easier for me when I'm trying to write a post and I need to reference back to something. I think that's a great feature."

Kimberley

"I think mine is the ability to customise content for each social media platform because, for quite a few of our clients, we have LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram posts.

They're all similar, but they'll need to be tailored to those specific platforms. Because you can do that in Sendible with just one kind of post, that's really useful, saves a lot of time, and just makes things a lot more simple."

 

 

 

 

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Tessa

"That was going to be the one I chose. It definitely speeds things up to be able to just tailor the content in a single tab.

Also for me, the bulk uploader is very handy when we're trying to get ahead of ourselves with clients. It's a useful feature to just be able to do it all in one go and they're all uploaded.

I actually quite like the feed as well where you can see how people are interacting with the stuff that you're putting out."

Helen

"So there's a couple of things for me. Tessa referencing the feed, I think that's really good. Instant access to that feed and knowing what people are saying is really good because I think it highlights why this is a tool for people who are social media managers but equally for those who aren't social media managers, because we don't do that specifically in our business.

I can see instantaneously if somebody, for example, has put a negative comment about something and it is addressed there and then. There's not a negative comment just sitting around.

We all get negative comments on social media. It happens, but it makes managing the risk to those business reputations a lot easier.

The second for me is not a feature specifically, but it is the fluidity and ease of use of Sendible.

I can write, I can run a business, but technology is really not my thing. So when Gemma says I've got some new software, I'm really frightened by that.

Sendible, doesn't frighten me. It's worth it alone for its ease of use. And if I can use it after being shown it once, anyone can use it after being shown it once. And that's just a fact."

Gemma

"Every word of that was the absolute truth because trying to get Helen to use anything is near impossible.

She hasn't technologically struggled with Sendible."

Helen

"I haven't, I've literally put my pen and my Quill and my ink away."

💡 Interested in learning more about Sendible's content suggestions?
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How do you keep your clients' accounts secure?

Gemma

"It's so hard to pick one favourite, but I think the thing that jumps out for me the most is client connect.

Just the simplicity of it - we dropped it straight onto our website, we send clients there, and say, 'Okay, you just need to connect your accounts.' Hop on, put in the details, and job done.

There's no back and forth. There's no trying to get a client to set you up as an admin on a platform that they barely know how to use.

It's just simple: click, pop in the details, and then I get the notification that says, 'So-and-so has connected their account to Sendible.' It's that easy.

There's nothing better than being able to deliver that for a client - where they can just quite simply hop onto our website and connect. It's just seamless and simple, and you can't ask for more than that." 

Helen

"I think that something that is quite a selling point for clients that you may want to push is that in the modern world - we are an online world, we're a digital world.

We work for a lot of firms. Law firms, finance firms, and firms that have a lot of new ideas and creative ideas and intellectual property. We are past the point where it is acceptable to take somebody's password. And we are past the point where we should be having people's login details.

I think the confidentiality and security of clients being able to log into their very own system and also being able to manage that without breaching their data protection is really good."

Gemma

"The reality is that if you want access to Facebook and you're trying to get them to grant you access, but then they first need to give admin access to your business, but then you're also trying to request it through the business manager...

They're probably outsourcing this stuff to you because they don't want to do this and they don't want to know how to do this.

So being able to just click a button and job done is just priceless, isn't it? For the client and from our perspective as well." 

Helen

"It's a big issue, you know. We are putting out in contracts that we are keeping their information confidential.

So we need to have a software that backs that up, and Sendible is that software."

💡 Interested in a secure way to store your clients' logins? 
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What positive results have you seen?

Gemma

"As a team, we've experienced a lot of growth in the past 12 months. I think it's probably testament to the fact that we have systems like Sendible that has allowed us to save time.

It's meant that we can concentrate on the other things that matter in our business rather than keeping an eye on your inbox all the time and chasing clients.

It's just brought a level of collaboration to the team that we couldn't do without Sendible, internally. As business owners, that's something that we know is scalable and that is really important to us as well.

We've got plans to keep growing and we want a system that can grow with us. And Sendible is absolutely that system."

Helen

"I think it's enabled us to diversify our business. So we are a business that creates content, but our core is brand and elevating brand through content.

And if you are constantly in your business, instead of outside of your business and growing a business, then you're never going to diversify.

Gemma and I are finding that the strategic things that we want to focus on - we have more time to do that because we are not constantly checking and inputting and doing all of that.

So I think if you're a business owner looking to diversify or move into other areas, then you need something like this because otherwise you're never going to stop. You don't have the time. And time is money.

We separate those things, don't we? We want to save money, but we forget that time is exactly the same currency. And if you're not freeing up time, you're losing money."

How have workflows benefited your team?

Tessa

"From a day-to-day project management point of view, the calendar view I especially find really useful. Maybe that's just the way my brain works, but to just be able to see who's got what going out when, what's still in draft, and what's still in for approval. Just being able to have that snapshot of everything is really helpful.

Most recently, now that we've started adding clients as users and getting those notifications and everything, being able to communicate directly with the clients within the platform is really useful for me whilst I'm managing those projects.

It's really streamlined the way that Tom and Kim send stuff to me and then it goes to the clients. Once it's all approved, Tom and Kim can see that it's all done so they know it's a job well done.

It's really improved our day-to-day workflow. The structure of it in terms of Tom and Kim sending it to me and me to the clients and back again is really great."

Gemma

"I think that's probably raised another good point there, Tessa. Especially for businesses that are looking to grow and to scale from a training perspective and for keeping good control on the quality of what you produce and create.

You can set up those workflows to make sure that stuff is not just going out willy-nilly, that you get that internal approval, that somebody is going to be able to check what people are doing.

Even just the simplicity of being able to comment on the post rather than having to edit it, and then somebody is trying to figure out what you changed. You can put a comment on there to say what you changed within the post. And that's something for that person to be able to learn from and change for next time.

So it's very much part of training and development as well, to make sure that the people that you bring into the team can learn from you and can get involved and start working straight away.

They can learn by doing without the danger of something going out onto a client's social media channel that shouldn't be there because you've got that level of protection from the workflow of somebody else being able to proof, check and approve content before our client can see what's going on and what's going out."

Helen

"It comes back to accountability, doesn't it? It's all about accountability, whether you are the director of a company or an employee of a company running the administration, whatever it is.

As somebody who can be guilty of procrastination from time to time, there is a level of accountability because you see what needs doing. You can instantly see if you fall behind.

There are dates, there are deadlines, and to put it bluntly, I've got nowhere to hide with this system and I just have to get it done.

I think that level of accountability is something that business owners want, isn't it? We make promises to clients and if you're not making good on them, your business is not going to succeed."

What best practices would you recommend?

Kimberley

"I think keeping on top of approvals and what's been drafted and what's been scheduled. This is my first graduate job so getting to grips with Sendible has been really easy to do, but it's a case of managing my time.

I need to make sure that I've got this in for this day and this set for this day. Just keeping an eye on all that and making sure what I've sent to who. That for me, is really important to keep on top of."

Tom

"It's the same as what Kimberley said. I think that keeping on top of it and making sure that it doesn't get messy and stays organised for each individual client is really important.

And I think that the calendar view - when you can go into it and see where you're at, it's really beneficial. And it's something that would be beneficial to a lot of businesses that work in this kind of industry. So that would be my recommendation."

Tessa

"For anybody whose role is similar to mine in that it is evolving from a sole contributor into a little bit more responsibility: definitely make sure you set up those workflows because I think that going forward it will make a huge difference.

Similar to Tom and Kim, I can keep track of what I need to do on Sendible to make sure that they can do what they need to do on Sendible. So definitely make sure that you've set up that structure however it works for you.

Also make sure to learn how to set up your clients within your internal structure and make sure that everybody's clear on how that process works in terms of who's got to send what to whom, when, and things like that.

So that's been really helpful for me as my role has changed and evolved recently. And I think it's going to be really useful for us going forward."

Gemma

"I think staying relevant is one of the biggest tips that I can give for using Sendible because you've got the ability to do it through the social listening in there.

You can monitor what's going on, you can see what people are having conversations about, and you can see what the latest news is. Which is what Tom referenced earlier about the news articles and checking out what's in the content feeds.

So I think for me, a best practice is to make sure that you use those features to keep creating really relevant, timely content going forward."

Helen

Don't forget that while this is a scheduling tool and it is a piece of software, you are still creating content in the same way that you would on native platforms.

So for example, don't forget to tag businesses just because you're on this platform. I think people sometimes think, 'Oh, we're doing this and it doesn't feel very real.' 

It is real. You go in, you tag the businesses, and names come up. Just create as you would always create. This is just going to make it a whole heap easier."

💡 Want to learn more about Sendible's calendar?
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What is your advice to others who are considering Sendible?

Everyone

"Use it!"

Gemma

"We did a lot of research and trying to figure out what tools we thought were going to best suit us, best suit our business, and best suit our growth.

And Sendible just stood out. It really stood out in what's a relatively crowded space, actually. There's a lot of other options for scheduling tools and they do similar things, but sometimes it's those little extras.

It's those finishing touches - things like client connect that you don't get anywhere else. It's that kind of thing that really makes Sendible stand out from the crowd.

And if you're looking for a platform that can do everything for your social media content creation and your social media management, this is it, you found it." 

Tessa

"Gemma did a lot of research on the various platforms, and we couldn't find anything that had the same functionality across the board.

Some platforms might do one thing really well, and we were like, 'Oh, that would be useful.' But then we would lose something else and we were like, 'Well, we still need that.'

So I think if you need a software that is going to cater across the platforms, then Sendible was by far the most sophisticated one we could find."

Helen

"It's sophisticated in its simplicity, if you know what I mean. And I think what I love is that not being technically-minded, I love having a port of call.

I think the customer care at Sendible is absolutely second to none. And I have never waited any longer than 24 hours for a response. I can't even think of a time when I've waited 24 hours for a response.

It is pretty much immediate. And the only time it isn't immediate is when I've had somebody come back to me to say, 'We need to look into this.'

I think that is a really nice feature. We've got a person we can go to. We've got Dan, and I email him personally and he can signpost me to wherever. For somebody who isn't technologically-minded, he's got the patience of a saint.

In terms of advice to other people who might be considering using Sendible, I think the only way I can put it really is that my business partner likes to spend money on stuff like this. I don't like to spend money on stuff like this.

So if I'm investing in this product and I'm telling you categorically that the question isn't why you should be using Sendible, the question is why are you not using Sendible.

I would not be without this now."

Gemma

"I think Tessa absolutely hit the nail on the head about functionality because you know how we say 'Jack of all trades, master of none'?  Sendible is master of everything.

Quite simply, we couldn't find anything that compared to all the features that this has. So yeah, we are believers.

Tom, I'm wondering if there's anything that you want to add from being new to the system because you're brand spanking new?

Tom

The first obvious thing for me was the fact that it was just so easy to use. A lot of these things can be very confusing or have too many buttons on the screen, you know?

And I was on there for a few minutes and already knew exactly what to do because it's so seamless.

So I think that was a major factor in how good Sendible is - the fact that you don't get confused that quickly when you're on there. The user experience is really good on it and I found that from day one.

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