Today we’d like to introduce you to Ruoyun Killian.
Hi Ruoyun, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve worked in the Social Media Marketing industry before Facebook even had Business Pages. Growing up as a first-generation immigrant in the US, I was always aware that I could either follow the path laid before me or chart my own like my parents did when they came to this country. So when the blossoming new arena of Social Media came online, I dived in first to explore how this new medium changes the way we communicate.
When I started my agency C3Nami, my job description as a Social Media Manager didn’t even exist yet. Many business owners either worked with a branding or SEO agency that “said they did social” or looked around the room and said” You’re a millennial, you should know how to do social media right?”
15 years later, that thought hasn’t quite changed, except it’s now “You’re a Gen Z, right?” Even as social media marketing is starting to reach maturity, most people fail to realize that Social Media is a direct reflection of humanity – the good and the bad. It is also where, no matter what size your business is, you can reach your customers and continue building your brand through the visual version of word of mouth – content creation from your customers.
For the last 10 years, I’ve worked with companies to learn how to navigate the ever-changing algorithm. No matter how technology or AI changes the landscape, we focus on what makes brands powerful: the human relationship with their customers. Our job is to build fandoms that help these brands continually stay resilient to the ever-changing algorithm, the economy, and the world.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Running a business for the last 10 years is definitely not for the faint of heart. The biggest struggle has been burnout. When I stopped being aligned with the larger mission to set standards in marketing on the internet, I stopped getting joy from what I do.
Evolution is key. It’s very easy to hold onto what has worked in the past instead of learning to adapt the business model to reflect what is needed at the time. Over time, I have evolved the business from a full-service digital marketing agency, C3Nami, to a private practice as a Fractional CMO building out teams, to now a Human-Centered Marketing advisor. Each phase of evolution was because the market needed something new.
The hardest variable over time has always been: how do I use my time and talents in the most effective way? I learned that it’s best to stay true to my Zone of Genius, a concept I learned from the book “The Big Leap” by Gay Hendricks. My Zone of Genius was being an advisor and reflector instead of being the implementer. On the surface, I was a great project manager and implementer, but I always had an energy limit of how many clients I could take on and how long I could take on each client. That’s when I realized that being an implementer was a Zone of Excellence instead of a Zone of Genius. Both of these Zones I was great at; however, only in the Zone of Genius did I continue to gain energy instead of losing it slowly over time.
Understanding what I’m aligned to and doing the work that gives me energy has allowed me to continue evolving my business as the world evolves.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Hi I’m Ruoyun pronounced Rauren. For the last 15+ years, I have been on a mission to set Human-Centered Marketing as the standard. When we humanize the way we do marketing, we create space for society to serve our humanity overall.
Human-Centered Marketing amplifies the natural way businesses grow: word of mouth. We are creating fandoms that are resilient against waves of change, from the algorithm to the economy, because fandoms are loyal to the long-lasting impact the brands want to make.
I work with 100-year brands like Big Commerce, Rebel Cheese, Serenity Kids, Slow North, and more to implement a Human-Centered system so that they can continue owning their next evolution and foster creativity on their teams.
I want to make Human-Centered Marketing accessible to the next generation of marketers so that they have a common language to describe the power behind brands. People do business with people, not businesses. Our job as marketers is to communicate that with our customers and tie back to our business goals with data. You can learn more about Human-Centered marketing at raurenxu.com or visit my youtube at https://www.youtube.com/@imperfectlyren
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
My favorite childhood memory is visiting my grandparents in China over the summers. It was a quiet and slow time since my grandparents didn’t have access to the internet I was left to do screen free activities. My creativity was limitless with writing short stories to cross stitching. During the afternoons I would be able to play mahjong with my grandparents while listening to music on my CD player. It was a grounding experience to simply enjoy the mundane things in the day to day.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://raurenxu.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imperfectlyren/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruoyunxu/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@imperfectlyren
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@imperfectlyren?_r=1&_t=ZT-97QV4I4dbby
