“You’ve got to learn to fly small planes before you can fly the big ones.”

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TwinEngine, Powered by The H Agency, is an award-winning, strategic marketing and creative agency that specializes in Social Media Marketing. Winnie Brignac Hart, right engine creativity, and Lorrie Brignac Lee, left engine analytics, bring 20+ years of marketing experience, 125+ industry awards and a passion for leveraging their twin talents to help companies translate traditional marketing channels into forward thinking online and social marketing solutions.

MO: Did you and your sister always hope to start a business together?

Winnie: A life long dream. Growing up as twins we spent most of our early years trying to be different, establish our own identities – we now realize that we are better together.

MO: Can you provide a recent example of how you managed to solve a problem through using your combined twin power of right engine creativity and left engine analytics?

Winnie: We just launched a Social Media Marketing Plan that has a dual strategy. We started with conflicting ideas – two very different approaches. One the left – it was about analytics and measurement – looking closely at the data to define the strategy that included daily monitoring of what’s working, what isn’t and adjusting. On the right was out-of-the-box creative thinking – how the brand will stand out in a unique way among its competitors. In the end, we achieved the perfect balanced strategy – 50% creativity and 50% analytics. Twin power!

MO: What advice would you give a young company thinking about launching a social media campaign? What are some of the ways that they can measure its effectiveness after the launch?

Winnie: There is a 1.3 trillion dollar annual value* opportunity surrounding social technologies with over 1.5 billion users globally. Think about how that opportunity can and will impact the growth of your company. Think beyond the tools – think about leveraging relationships – think strategy and execution. Social media is about relationships – a two-way conversation. Be authentic, consistent and meaningful and try to avoid promotional tactics.

Measurement – What gets measured gets done in Social Media. Set goals and align metrics – volume, reach, exposure, comments, traffic, shares, volume, influence, etc. Understand what metrics are important to you – focus on the tools that make the most sense and deliver the highest value (which may be different for other emerging companies).

* McKinsey & Company

MO: Out of your very long and impressive list of awards and recognition, what has been the most meaningful for you to receive?

Winnie: The LSU 100 – We were named one of the top 100 fastest growing LSU-owned or LSU-led businesses – honored to share this award with so many other inspiring leaders and committed to leading the next generation of entrepreneurs.

MO: Could you please share with our readers the great story behind the name of your company, TwinEngine?

Winnie: When we were 11 our dad bought a 4-seater plane. It was his lifelong dream to fly. It all started with building small model airplanes with our little brother and flying them on the weekends. We spent every Saturday at that flying range watching our brother and Dad fly planes, crash planes, then fix planes. This venture evolved into passenger plane flying lessons – he studied every night and spent countless hours in flight training. It took years and we still remember looking up from our front lawn to watch his first fly over one late summer afternoon. We dedicated TwinEngine to our Dad, Henry Brignac, who inspires and teaches us that anything is possible – you’ve got to learn to fly small planes before you can fly the big ones.

MO: What are some strategies for building brand awareness in a saturated marketplace?

Winnie: Stand out. Find what makes you truly unique and different. We learned early as identical twins that you’ve got to dig deep to discover how you differ and it must be authentic and true.