How to Launch A Career With Community Forums: Talking with Emmanuel Flossie of FeedArmy

[Skye]

How can you turn a hobby into a career? 

That’s what Emmanuel did while working as a warehouse worker in Kent, United Kingdom when his former bosses requested a favor with their website. 

They needed some tweaking done to their current site and wondered if Emmanuel was capable of completing the task. What started as a one-off opportunity to impress his boss opened up various doors that have now developed into a career in advertising with a specialty in Google Ads. 

While Emmanuel started with limited website development knowledge, his bosses were impressed enough to offer him a part-time position developing a brand-new site for the company. 

While undertaking this new, exciting role, he seized the opportunity to learn on the job to expand his knowledge and gain more skills. Once again, his career pivoted when his employers entrusted him with marketing and advertising the site. 

Of course, to be successful in today's market, traditional advertising and a strong presence on Google are necessary for success. You can have the best store on the internet, but if no one knows it’s there it won’t be successful. This is where Emmanuel comes in.

From researching target markets for Google Ads to creating rock-solid SEO, Emmanuel has helped hundreds increase sales due to what he learned when becoming a Google Ads Expert; a certificate that was pivotal for him finding success in digital marketing.

In 2016, Emmanuel joined the Google Ads Expert Program where he answered thousands of questions in the Google Ads Forums. Eventually, an individual used the Google Ads Community for help to answer a question in Shopify’s Community Forums. 

He joined the Shopify Community to provide the support that was needed. Over time he found that many of the answers in the Shopify Community that related to Google Shopping were either incomplete or very wrong. This expanded into checking the Shopify Community every day to assist merchants.

During this period, Emmanuel learned that merchants constantly needed someone specializing in Google Shopping. Thus, he naturally joined the Shopify Partner program. 

He took this opportunity to develop fundamental scripts for tracking, remarketing, structured data, and more. The Shopify Community allows him to flex his skills, dive into new and exciting tasks and build relationships with merchants and partners worldwide. 

If there’s anything we can learn from Emmanuel, it is that it is never too late to try your hand at something new and challenge yourself to grow your skills. Whether it be helping a friend with a task or simply replying to a stranger in an online forum; the possibilities are endless. 

What’s holding you back? 

Looking to learn more about setting up and building the perfect campaign on the Google Shopping channel? Then stay tuned for part 2 where Emmanuel provides great insight into what it takes to create an effective campaign. 

[EmmanuelFlossie]

Thank you for the amazing interview @Skye Nice little New Year Gift 🙂

[Skydestinee]

Can’t wait for part #2, Skye…I’ve been trying to create a Google ad campaign that actually “works” for months. 😉 

[EmmanuelFlossie]

@Skydestinee I hope my article will not disappoint 🙂

There are a lot of factors to consider, for example for all the clients I manage, I have for each account a different setup. While some are similar, I change tactic in setup depending on goals, niche, and results.

This also means there is testing to be done to find a setup that works.

But the article that is about to be released will be of great value! Enjoy 🙂

[Leysam]

Nice article!  Thank you @EmmanuelFlossie for helping the Shopify Community! 

I can't wait for part 2 to drop 🔥 I'm going to take some notes 🗒 ✏️ 😄

[EmmanuelFlossie]

Hi everyone, here is the article, and thank you for reading: https://community.shopify.com/c/blog/building-the-perfect-campaign-on-the-google-shopping-channel/ba...

[HotDeigs32]

Interesting article!

[PeakDistrictSEO]

I've always found community forums to be a fantastic resource and a great way of keeping a community. Moderation can be tricky though...any tips on that?

[EmmanuelFlossie]

@PeakDistrictSEO Can you explain more. Do you mean how much you share? Or how you moderate the community?

If you mean how much you share, I recommend enough info to help kickstart the user find its tracks.

15 years ago, if I asked a question, the mentality back then was, if there was documentation, you will be firmly (imagine some colorful words) advised to read the docs, and a lot of times I felt you would get your head bitten off, for daring to ask a question. Now, that was in the communities of coding, and these guys are very harsh, in my opinion (not beginner friendly).

Over the years prior to being a Google Ads expert, I was reading a lot of other experts comments (on Google's old community) and found a very different group of users, ones that were kind and would help no matter what. Sure, you still should read the documentation. But it was a more helpful environment. This, over time encouraged me to do the same.

So how much you share, is up to you. I try to help the user to direct them in resolving the issue (finding solutions).

If you mean moderate the community, I don't know. I'm not a mod here.

[Gabe]

Yes, I too can remember the old RTFM acronym 😉

[PeakDistrictSEO]

EmmanuelFlossie  yeah, I meant how do you moderate?  I'm kinda old school I like a forum with a bit of banter as much as the next person, but what I'm really looking for is "information". The hair on the back of my neck stands up when people say RTFM.   Google's documentation, certainly of old was very generic. Saying "do this",  or "set up this", without actually showing anyone HOW to do things.   

The other issue I had with PHPBB which was the forum of the day back in the 90s through to the mid-2000s was spammers.  They literally killed one forum I had.  Tech has moved on a fair bit though and there are plenty of spam filters and ready-made systems that work for you.

But it all came a bit too late because in truth Facebook gobbled up a huge portion of the Forums traffic.

[EmmanuelFlossie]

With regards to moderating, in this instance I can not answer your question, considering I am not a moderator on this community. You may want to ask Shopify staff, who are in charge of this community.

Or if you need general advice, you may consider Reddit.

[PeakDistrictSEO]

Ok sorry, I was a bit off-topic with my responses, Thinking more about the FORUMS part than your actual journey.  Congratulations on what you achieved. It's a similar story to my own. Just goes to show what you can do with a bit of drive! 

Keep going, Emmanuel!

[EmmanuelFlossie]

@PeakDistrictSEO no worries, I was a bit confused. And I was replying in my helpful mode, rather than general discussion haha 🙂

[Keveinp56]

Really interesting artical.