Sarah Bowmar Interview

In this 2023 interview, Sarah Bowmar discussed social media strategy, audience growth, content planning, family life, and the businesses she runs with her husband, Josh Bowmar.

Bowmar has a background in marketing and told us that much of what she learned about building an online audience came from working at a digital marketing agency rather than from her MBA program.

Did an MBA Help Sarah Bowmar Build Her Following?

Maria Spanadoris: With an MBA in Marketing, how much did you use your marketing skills to build your following?

Sarah Bowmar: I didn’t really use the skills I learned from my MBA to build my following because social media marketing wasn’t being taught during my time in school. Instead, I gained all my knowledge about cultivating a following from my work at a digital marketing agency after graduating.

Do Traditional Marketing Rules Apply to Social Media?

Maria Spanadoris: Do the rules of traditional marketing also apply to social media?

Sarah Bowmar: In a sense, the rules of traditional marketing do apply to social media. Marketing still revolves around the four Ps – product, price, place, and promotion. However, social media marketing needs to be quick and able to catch the eye. It’s also more focused on emotions.

Bowmar gave an example involving a product she had posted about and said her followers responded by sharing their own experiences with it. Her point was that social media reactions can be more immediate and personal than traditional marketing.

How She Viewed TikTok, YouTube and Instagram

Maria Spanadoris: What do you find is the key difference in growing your audience in each type of channel?

Sarah Bowmar: Tiktok is the easiest platform to grow on since it’s actively trying to get users to post content. On the other hand, YouTube is the most difficult to gain followers since it requires high-quality content with a clickbaity title.

Sarah Bowmar: However, once you have an established following on YouTube, it trickles down to your other social media channels, and you can build a deeper connection with your audience. Instagram is becoming increasingly saturated, making it harder to gain a following.

Those observations reflect Bowmar’s experience at the time of this 2023 interview. Social platforms, algorithms, and creator tools change constantly, so they should not be read as current platform rules.

How She Juggled Family and Multiple Businesses

Maria Spanadoris: How do you personally juggle family and multiple businesses?

Sarah Bowmar: Josh and I have an amazing team in place so that we can focus on being owners instead of operators. We are constantly on the go but find time between everything to do what we need to do.

She said they handled chores and email before their children woke up, took business calls while traveling to the gym, and filmed social content while working out.

Sarah Bowmar: We constantly multi-task, and communication and organization are key to balancing it all.

Bowmar also said they coordinated schedules, told their team when they were available for business conversations, and ranked daily tasks by importance.

How Sarah Bowmar Planned Social Media Content

Maria Spanadoris: Having the social media channels like you do is a job in itself. Do you schedule that like you might schedule your other businesses?

Sarah Bowmar: I have a content note that reminds me when I need to film content. I usually put all content in drafts and find time later in the day dedicated to posting it. Stories are where people learn about me the most, so I am very methodical when it comes to them.

She said Bowmar Nutrition held weekly social media calls to plan promotions, educational content, graphics, and other posts.

For Bowmar Archery, she described a greater focus on customer content and reposting user-generated photos. Bowmar Bow Hunting was more seasonal, so she said its posting schedule was less consistent and relied heavily on stories.

What Stood Out From the Interview

Bowmar’s approach was highly scheduled. She treated content creation as part of the business workflow rather than something separate from it.

Her answers also showed how differently she viewed each platform in 2023. Instead of using the same strategy everywhere, she adjusted the type of content, posting rhythm, and audience interaction by channel.

At the time of the interview, Bowmar was active on Instagram and Facebook.

For another conversation about audience growth and creative work online, read our CG5 interview.