FIVE MINUTES WITH Javier Melendez National Sales Executive, Walker-Clay, Inc. Forging Connections on TikTokWithHumor And Authenticity Javier Melendez, national sales executive with distributor Walker-Clay, Inc., is known in the industry as an early TikTok pioneer. He discusses how he uses humor to showcase new promo and share relatable content with his clients, prospects and colleagues. by Danielle Renda When Javier Melendez created his TikTok account, he didn’t anticipate emerging as an industry leader on the social media platform. He was simply looking to connect with others by sharing relatable content about himself and cracking a few jokes along the way. Little more than two years later, Melendez has over 40,000 collective likes on his profile and he continues to upload several times a week. As national sales executive with Hanson, Massachusetts, distributor Walker-Clay, Inc., one of Melendez’s responsibilities is to connect with existing clients and reach new ones. A few months before the start of the pandemic, as TikTok’s popularity catapulted, Melendez started uploading his own videos, using humor to teach people about promo and share relatable moments with industry colleagues. Some of the silly work-life nuances he posts about are renovating his home office and getting pumped up for the first sales meeting of the day. Idea-generating posts include ways to elevate an event and how to make safety programs more fun. PPB spoke with Melendez to learn more about how he’s using his TikTok account—@javisdaman—to reach a larger audience. PPB As one of the most-advanced early adoptors of TikTok in the industry, how did you first approach using the social media tool to sell promo? Melendez: I never approached TikTok as a tool specifically to sell promo. My approach with it when I started was to post videos on there to show me, show a little bit about my life, because being authentic is more important, I find these days, than putting out just a brand or a message and such. So, my whole strategy around most of my social media is: It’s me posting. I don’t schedule posts. I don’t make things specifically because people ask me to. Ninety-nine percent of the time it’s just me pointing and shooting, no real strategy to it, just going for it. Some things stick and some things don’t, and that’s cool. I realize it’s not everyone’s flair. From a tool perspective it’s helped me build out some relationships, some opportunities and some sales. PPB Do you have any tips on what works and what doesn’t for TikTok? Melendez: There are things that work and things that don’t work. Some of the social media influencers will tell you things like “you need to post three times a day,” “you 74 | MAY 2022 | THINK
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