Early Impressions Part II
"I have an idea of how we can start to market these new collections, especially the swimwear one." Monty tells Mattie as they are sitting at a couch in an office at Jabot together looking over some new swimwear on the computer that the company wanted to market.
"What's that?" Mattie asks looking at him.
"Well, promoting it on Social Media." Monty tells her. "That is definitely a big way to market things these days. And I had asked Billy already if it was okay for us to market it that way."
"You did?" Mattie asks.
Monty nods. "I did. I asked him the first day of work, before I left for the day." Monty informs her.
"He said it was okay, even encouraged it, but just laid down a few ground rules about posting on Social Media. He wanted me to try and keep it professional, no inappropriate language or images and of course to make sure I tag and mention Jabot Collective." Monty pauses and then continues.
"I think we should start doing that from our own social media accounts like twitter and then hopefully the posts will get some good circulation., maybe even draw some attention of some major influencers."
Mattie listens to his ideas and thinks. "You think that influencers will just pick up on our tweets just like that?"
Monty nods. "Yes, they have with employees the past." He informs her. "I did some research on past projects with Jabot, around and after the time they launched Jabot Collective and they were working with influencers. Maybe some of those same people would also support these new Summer collections, if they see it mentioned and trending with Jabot Collective."
Mattie nods. "Maybe."
"I know some famous people, through my brothers, so maybe I can contact them through social media, and they can help us."
"Did you run that by Billy too?" Mattie asks.
Monty nods. "I did and he was fine with it."
Monty looks at the computer that is in front of them and then goes to Twitter.
"I may not have the largest Twitter following, but it's enough to jump start things." He states. "And then we can tweet to your followers as well, and hopefully together we can really reach a larger audience."
Mattie makes a face when he mentions her twitter following.
"Uh—okay." She says.
Monty notices her tone. "You do have twitter right…?"
Mattie frowns. "I do but…"
"It's not a private account is it?" Monty asks.
Mattie shakes her head. "No, it's not private but…." Her voice trails off.
"Then we should be able to reach a good amount of people with your followers as well."
Monty logs into his Twitter account and looks at it. Mattie leans over curiously and looks at his Twitter page. She sees the number of followers he has, and her eyes widen a bit.
"75,367 Twitter followers." She says looking at him.
Monty shrugs. "I know that's chump change compared to some. And truth be told a lot of them are because of my connection to my brothers. I have picked up followers after tweeting things at my brothers." He gives her a look. "You know how people like to sometimes follow the family members of famous people." He shrugs again.
"Maybe I could have more, but I do try and be cautious of what I say at least sometimes on Twitter. I wouldn't want something I say to be misconstrued or used against my brothers. Especially Darryl, you know what I mean…" He says giving her a serious look.
Mattie nods, still thinking about his amount of Twitter followers. "Um… I think so. I mean… I don't have famous siblings. Well… my twin brother sometimes wishes he was famous… but…"
Monty smiles. "So, you kind of get it." He logs out of his Twitter account and then hands the computer to her. "Okay, so you can log into yours and we will see what you are working with as far as Twitter followers goes." He tells her. "Do you know roughly how many you have?" He asks.
Mattie puts her hand on her face and looks into his attractive brown eyes. "I am umm... not quite sure exactly…." She stammers.
"Okay, well let's see what you are working with." Monty gestures towards the computer. Mattie takes a breath and then logs into her twitter account. After she does that, Monty leans forward to look at her twitter following. He sees the number and then makes a face.
"Twelve followers." He says and lets out a laugh. "Uh, is that for real?" He asks looking at her. He sees her expression and then his eyes widen a bit. "Oh, it is for real, uh…okay." He lets out another laugh.
Mattie gives him a look. "What's so funny?" She asks.
"I mean Twelve followers." He repeats. "I mean... I thought…"
Mattie looks at him and frowns. "You thought what?" She asks.
"I honestly thought you would have more than that." He says looking at her. "Like considerably more."
Mattie hands the computer back to him, a bit annoyed. "Well, I'm sorry not everyone is going to have like 75,000 followers." She tells him in an annoyed tone.
Monty nods. "I know. And I like said many of them came from people who follow my brothers. But I thought…" His voice trails off as he is thinking… "But maybe you're the type of person that…."
Mattie crosses her arms. "I'm the type of person that what?" She asks. "You know I don't really tweet much and most of the people who follow me are my family and a few friends from school."
Monty nods. "Okay, I get that."
"I don't waste a lot of my time tweeting or trying to pick up followers, because I have famous brothers." She claims in a bit of a snappy tone.
"Who says I waste a lot of time tweeting?" Monty says now frowning himself. "Sure, I tweet but I…"
"You know some of us have better things to do than tweet all day trying to hustle followers."
Monty makes a face. "Hustle followers? Hold up now…"
Mattie sits up a bit taller. "I'm just saying. I don't have this obsession with twitter and social media like some people do. Some people live for that stuff, but I don't." She tells him in an almost defiant tone.
Monty puts his hand on his face for a minute thinking. "Okay, but Social Media can be an important tool in the world of business. People can use it to reach a widespread group of people like their followers and potential customers too." He gives Mattie a serious look. "These days some jobs want people that are fluent in social media. Those that are can have a leg up on the competition."
"Well, I'm sorry I'm not fluent in social media." Mattie says. "I prefer to connect with people more in old fashioned ways."
Monty makes a face. "Old fashioned ways?" He asks.
"You know talking to people in person, or even on the phone. And I love to write letters to my dad. There is something very special about writing letters to someone you care about."
Monty nods. "I mean, all that is fine and dandy, but you can reach a lot more people by using the internet and Social Media." He pauses and then thinks a little more.
"So, if you have that low of a Twitter following, your Instagram and Facebook accounts are not exactly overflowing with followers either?" He asks.
"More or less the same amounts on both." Mattie informs him in a matter of fact tone. "And I like it like that, I really do." She affirms to him.
"Sorry that may not be good enough for this project…" She tells him.
A thoughtful look comes across Monty's face. "You know what?" He says. "Every follower counts." He tells her. "We will send out this information about the collections to all of our followers." He states.
"We will try and reach as many people as possible with what we have." He pauses for a moment thinking. "And maybe some of your followers have large followings and they can retweet/send the information to them. So, we can still get some decent mileage out of this."
Monty gestures towards her with his hand. "You said your brother wishes he was famous… maybe he has a good amount of followers and can help spread the word. And your friends. And…" He pauses and looks at her. "Your boyfriend.." He suggests. "Maybe he can help as well? Or does he think like you do and doesn't have or care about a lot of followers?" He asks curiously.
Mattie frowns when Monty mentions her having a boyfriend. "You know what as far as that subject goes. I" … Mattie's voice trails off and she decides not to tell Monty that she didn't have a boyfriend. "You know I... the people that I follow will probably do their bests to help me get the message out about the new collections." She remarks in a cryptic manner.
Monty nods, and wonders about her kind of dodging his question. He decides not to press anymore about that subject. Especially since she already seemed upset with him.
"Okay, well here's hoping whoever you follow will help us get the message out." He goes back to looking online at the collections especially the swimwear. Him and Mattie then talk a bit about what type of messages they want to tweet about it. They decide to tweet some teasers about it and mention there will be more information coming up later. Monty decides to DM and reach out to some famous people that he knows to see if they can help. While they are doing this, Valentina pokes her head into the room.
"Hey guys." She says giving them a big smile. "What are you up to?"
Monty smiles when he sees her. "Hey Valentina, we are just starting to work on our early stages of marketing the collections. Right now we are working on starting to market a bit on Social media. And we will take it from there."
"Cool." Valentina says smiling at him. "Boyd and I have also talked about marketing the fall collections on social media. Though we might wait a little bit before we do that since we still have some time before those collections are launched."
"And Billy said it's okay for us to use social media, though he had some ground rules." Monty relays to her. "Like making sure we tag Jabot Collective in any of our social media posts, not to post any inappropriate language or images or things like that. You can go talk with him, so he can run them by you just to be on the safe side, before you start to market on Social media." He advises her.
Valentina nods. "Sounds good." She says to him. "I think we can probably reach a lot of people with our followers." She tells him optimistically. "I mean I don't have the largest following in the world, but my followers are pretty cool and they will help get the word out."
"How many do you have?" Monty asks curiously.
"A little over 21,000". Valentina tells him. She gives him a coy look. "You think that is too little?" She asks teasingly.
Monty smiles. "I think that is a nice amount and like I was telling Mattie every follower counts."
"Right..." Valentina says. She then turns to Mattie. "And how many do you have?" She asks. "I know that Monty has like over 75,000 and I'm one of them." She admits slyly.
Monty sits up a bit straighter on the couch and smiles. "You follow me?" He asks a bit flattered.
"I do." She tells him. "We're working together now and I must admit, I was a bit curious about you and searched you out. You're an interesting follow, so yeah I decided to follow you." She tells him smiling. "That's cool with you?" She asks.
Monty nods, and looks at her, his face breaking into another smile. "That's definitely cool." He says.
"Cool." Valentina tells him. "And feel free to follow me back." She says. She gives him her Twitter name.
"Will do." Monty says and they look at each other for a moment smiling. Mattie watches this and tries not to roll her eyes. She had only been working at Jabot for a couple of days, but she had already noticed how flirty Valentina seemed to be with Monty. And for some reason it annoyed her.
"Well..." Mattie says jumping back into the conversation. "Now that we've all discussed our Twitter followings, Monty and I should probably be getting back to work."
Valentina nods. "Right, but you never did answer my question. How many followers do you have?" She asks again.
"You know I have an idea, and I will run it by Billy, if we can all promote each collection that is coming out... Boyd and I can help you guys promote the Summer collections on Social Media, and you can help us with our fall collections." She pauses and continues... "So... how many do you have, Mattie?" She asks again.
Mattie frowns, she really didn't want to end up having the same conversation with Valentina that she just had with Monty. But she decides to be honest about her twitter following.
"Twelve." She tells Valentina bluntly.
"Twelve?!" Valentina snickers. "You're joking right?" She looks at Monty and laughs and then looks back at Mattie's serious face.
"Oh, you're not joking." She says. "Oh...well uh.. okay." She makes a face. She then shrugs.
"There are some people that just aren't into Social Media like that." She says.
"Yeah, there are still a few of us unicorns out there like that." Mattie says with a bit of sarcasm in her voice.
"Yeah... okay." Valentina says and an awkward silence fills the room.
"Alright then well I guess I will let you guys get back to work. And I will go work with Boyd on our marketing strategies." She turns to leave and then turns back to look at Monty.
"Talk to you later, Monty, and make sure you check out my Twitter, I'm on Instagram too." She says grinning at him. He returns her smile and she leaves.
"Now it's time for us to get back to work." Mattie says looking at Monty. He nods and they spend the remainder of the work day doing things like talking more about how they wanted to market the collections on social media as well as start to discuss and plan some other strategies for marketing.