Episode 74: Web Development & Social Media With Ian Anderson Gray

In this episode of Bella In Your Business, Bella sits down with Ian Anderson Gray, the founder of Seriously Social; a blog focused on social media tools. Ian & Bella discuss all things social media including how pet sitting and dog walking business owners can effectively use Facebook, Instagram, and LIVE video. Here is what they chat about: Biggest misconceptions about social media The worst mistakes business owners make on Facebook & Instagram Tips for maximizing your presence on Facebook, Instagram, and live video Differences between web developers and web designers What business owners should look for in a web developer Special Gift: As a special gift to the audience, Ian is offering 20% off of his Facebook Live Courses with discount code BELLA20 here: https://iag.me/products/ Who Is Ian? Ian is an international speaker, trainer, teacher, web developer, and consultant. He has a passion for making the techno-babble of social media marketing easy to understand. Ian is co-founder of Select Performers – a family run web agency. As well as being a geek, husband, and dad to two kids, Ian is also a professional singer and lives near Manchester in the UK. Transcript: Bella:This is episode 74 of Bella in Your Business. Welcome to Bella in Your Business, where Bella will discuss anything and everything about your pet sitting business to help you land on target. So get ready, Bella's got your chute. Let's jump. Welcome to Bella in Your Business. My name is Bella Vasta, your host, and today I have the dynamic Ian Anderson Gray with me. He is, my gosh, I don't even know where to start. He's the founder of Serious Social, a blog that's focused on social media tools. He's an international speaker, a trainer, a teacher, a web developer, and a consultant. He has a passion for making the techno babble of social media marketing easy to understand. Can I get an amen, you guys? Ian is the co-founder of Select Performers, a family-run web agency, as well as being a geek husband and a dad of two kids. Ian's also a professional singer and he lives in Manchester, the United Kingdom. Welcome to the show. Ian:Well, thank you so much for having me, Bella. It's great to be here. Bella:I have to say, I think you're the first singer I've ever had on the show. I'm going to put you on the spot. Would you mind singing a few bars for us? Ian:Oh dear. I just don't know where to start. Let me think. How about a folk song? Shenandoah, I long to see you. Away you rolling river. Bella:That is so cool. You are now down in history as the first one who has ever sung on Bella in Your Business. So thank you so much. So go ahead and take a moment and fill in some of those gaps for us. I kind of gave an overview of who you are, but how did you end up sitting here with me and being this international speaker and just web extraordinaire? Ian:Yeah, I think we all have these kind of interesting stories. My background when I was at school, I was definitely involved in music. Music was my passion, but I was also a bit of a geek and it's quite cool these days because being a geek is actually a cool thing. Well, I'm not sure it was when I was at school. But when I went to university, I did music, then I trained to be a professional singer here at a music college in Manchester. And when I left, I wanted to see if I could find a way to combine my passion for music and technology. I was doing singing and I was doing a lot of teaching in singing, but I started to build websites. I started a web agency with my dad who had retired at that time. And if we fast forward a few more years, about five or six years ago I set up a blog just for a bit of fun on the side. It always starts that way, doesn't it? And it's kind of funny, you know, I had no idea. In fact, you know, people were talking to me about monetizing, you know, if you thought of how you were monetizing it, and I was thinking, I'm not. But because I was passionate about what I was writing about, I was writing about social media tools. And particularly one of my passions is taking technology that is difficult for people to understand and making it easy for people to understand. Because I get frustrated when I see this documentation written by developers and it's like, it's just so difficult to understand. I wrote all these blog posts that started to get a lot of traction. I wrote one on the tool Hootsuite, which was slightly controversial. It was reasons not to use it. And then I wrote a follow up article on why you should use it. I was looking at the balance between the two. So yeah, I did that. And then I took the courage to get on a plane to San Diego, which is a long way from where I am in the UK. And I went to Social Media Marketing World, which is one of the biggest social media conferences in the world. I went to that. And I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that changed my life. Because through that, through the people I met at that conference, I had all these other opportunities. I started speaking at conferences. I ended up speaking the following year at Social Media Marketing World. It's kind of interesting because my background as a performer, I feel that it prepared me for the world of speaking. Because when I was just about to get on stage, I was thinking to myself, if I'm going to be truly honest with you, what on earth am I doing here? And then suddenly I got on stage and everything clicked into place and the fear and the nerves turned into just the energy and getting in front of the audience and helping them. Yeah, that was a really good experience. Bella:So transitioning into social here—what do you think the common misconceptions are about social media? Ian:Well, I think the hint is in the title. It's social media. And we forget this. We can set everything up, we can save time, we can get some social media tools out there. And maybe as business owners as well, we're just so conscious we want to get our message out there that we're just bombarding people with our message and forgetting that actually social media is about interacting with people, engaging with people, building relationships with people. It's not a one way communication machine. It's listening, it's engaging, it's building relationships with people. Bella:I love that. What comes to mind is that brands put something out there and people comment, but brands might like it instead of replying like, “Thanks so much — what did you find useful?” Start a conversation. We're all wanting engagement but we're not proving we want it. Ian:Exactly. If you go back hundreds of years to the medieval marketplace, businesses were people. You'd buy your vegetables from someone you knew and you'd talk. Then mass media came along and we lost that. Social media brings back the people. It gives power back to the consumer. When a brand replies to you personally, you feel valued. Bella:So taking it further, how can Facebook Live help us be social and authentic? Ian:Facebook Live brings you flaws and all in front of your audience. You can't hide because it's live. The imperfections make you relatable. Businesses can show behind the scenes, do demonstrations, how-to videos, take questions live, give direct access. That's powerful. And we never had this ability a few years ago without expensive technology. Now it's just your smartphone. Bella:Right! And for pet sitters—behind-the-scenes is adorable and relatable. And people fear imperfections, but there's perfection in the imperfections. Ian:Absolutely. Fear means you care. But don't let fear stop you. Test it first. Go Live to “Only Me.” Watch it back. It will probably make you cringe — everyone cringes — but be constructive. Say what you did right first. Then improve. And look at the camera — not yourself — to build connection. Bella:Great tips. And I love that you said start by speaking to the replay audience — because most viewers are replay viewers. Ian:Yes! Start with “Thanks for watching the replay, today we’re talking about…” Then welcome live viewers. Then deliver. Then end with a call to action. And remember — your live becomes evergreen content you can embed, repost, write a blog from, repurpose. Bella:Amen. COPE: Create Once, Post Everywhere! Ian:Love that. Bella:Let’s shift to websites. What's the difference between a designer and a developer? Ian:Think of a website like a house. A designer is like the architect — branding, colors, layout. A developer builds it, wires it, makes it function. Content writers, UX designers — there are many roles. Don’t assume one person does everything. Bella:Exactly. And trends? Ian:Simplicity and conversion. Beautiful design is nice, but the goal is conversion — contact, booking, buying. Many flashy sites distract users. Simple sites often convert better. And every site must be responsive. Bella:Your site even changes the browser tab text “I need a hug…” — how?! Ian:It’s just a bit of code. I should make a plugin! It brings personality and keeps people engaged. Bella:I love it. How can people find you? Ian:IAG.me. Twitter @iagdotme. Lots of resources and courses on live video. Bella:And you guys can use code BELLA20 for 20% off. Remember to keep jumping!