Today we’d like to introduce you to Emma Dann.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Absolutely! I started as a micro-influencer and have been in the social media space for 4 years with a professional marketing background. I worked in corporate marketing but I’ve always wanted to be my own agency owner. So that’s when I actually told myself to take the leap and just start even though I didn’t feel ready. But I didn’t want to continuously be stuck in the cycle of climbing the corporate ladder, so I took that jump and decided to become my own boss. I started Social Edit LA because I am passionate about content creation and social media management and I want that passion to be reflected in the work that I created for myself and for others. I started targeting the restaurant industry because I realized a lot of restaurants aren’t utilizing social media the way that they should, and secondly, who doesn’t love food? This industry is the most exciting and fun space to be in because I genuinely love helping grow businesses’ online presence.
In the beginning, I hustled really hard. I filmed, edited, and tested so many content styles to see what actually resonated with my target audience. I was really frustrated because I didn’t know exactly what kind of content would resonate with restaurant owners or really what kind of content restaurant owners wanted to see. So I spent hours and hours researching how my content could hit the right people. I even filmed free videos for restaurants to start building a portfolio. Luckily, these free videos actually landed a Michelin Star client and that was when I knew all of my free and hard work paid off.
Now, Social Edit LA is helping top-tier restaurants elevate their digital presence with high-quality, viral content that drives engagement and bookings. It’s definitely been a learning journey but I couldn’t be more happy with what I do.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Absolutely not. For a while, I was actually struggling with getting people to say yes to me. I was being ghosted and people were just not interested. As I have a background in corporate marketing, I worked for global companies such as Adidas, eos, and Christian Louboutin, so I was very familiar with the beauty/fashion industry. Once I realized that it wasn’t for me, I shifted to restaurants.
I didn’t have anything to show or any experience in marketing restaurants online, so nobody would take a chance on me! So I started to create food videos of my own that I would cook at home. I continuously refined my strategy until one day I hit over 1,000 views and that’s when my videos started gaining traction. The first restaurant I ever shot for was a small bagel shop located in the Valley. I wanted to showcase my skills and prove to myself that I could actually do it, so I shot for free and the video came out exactly how I wanted it to. From there, I went to a casual restaurant, then a more high-end one, and finally a Michelin Star restaurant and chef! It has definitely been a struggle journey but I’m continuing to refine my business strategy every day.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Yes for sure! So I am a restaurant marketer and I create high quality videos for high end restaurants to showcase their food on social media to drive bookings and more revenue. I am the most proud of starting not even 2 months ago and already landing a Michelin Star Restaurant. That’s pretty impressive to me!
I think the thing that sets Social Edit LA apart from others is our approach to restaurant content. A lot of agencies just focus on taking pretty food photos or iPhone content, but we create cinematic high converting videos that actually gets people’s attention. We turn restaurant videos into an actual experience. Another thing that makes us different is that we create content with a purpose. We don’t just film and post and hope for the best. We put ourselves in the eyes of restaurant customers and think “okay, if we were to go to this restaurant as a customer, what kind of content would we want to see?” and we create content based off of that. Our content is all about the customer experience and what will actually get those customers through the door.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
Yes! Just keep going. Starting out your own agency or business or whatever it is that you end up doing, its going to be really hard! There are times where I thought about giving up, and there are still times where I feel that way and that’s okay. Having the discipline, the motivation, and the strength to keep going is what is going to set you apart from others.
Something I wish I had known when I was starting is honestly to just do it. You might never actually feel ready to take that big leap but you’ll learn so much faster by actually doing the work rather than waiting for everything to be in place. I spent a lot of time second guessing my decision and thinking to myself “am I actually good enough for this?” but the thing is that YOU ARE! Overthinking seriously got the best of me but I kept going because I knew this was something that I’ve always dreamed of. Embrace the hustle and everything will pay off.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/socialedit.la/
