Who is Libby Rasmussen?

Libby Rasmussen is no stranger to living colorfully. She runs a social media and marketing company in Washington DC, where she “helps brands on a local and national level kind of build their voices and showcase their businesses on social media.”

She also runs her own social media platform, LibbyLivingColorfully, where she shares her colorful life. 

Starting LibbyLivingColorfully

After college, Libby worked at a corporate law firm where she worked countless hours into the night. As a creative outlet, she started an interior design blog, where she discussed home projects, interior designers, and things happening around the DC area. 

“I really just love sharing these things. You know, these projects that I was working on my home, that I love to decorate, things like that, and then it just kind of amassed into, you know, what it is today.”

The name “living colorful” came about as “kind of like a joke, honestly. I think that it was during a time where minimalism was really, really hot.” 

She notes that many social media influencers and designers love minimalistic color schemes, which can be very beautiful. Still, she has always been drawn to vibrant colors in her clothing and home decor choices. Today, her social media content shares DC-centric content, restaurants in the DC area, things happening around the community, small businesses, and her colorful life. 

Her content also includes “a lot of lifestyle things, but mostly encouraging people to kind of think a little bit deeper than just superficial content… I like to grow with others and show my growth through social media.”

She shares, “I feel like every day I’m learning new things and kind of just showing that via social media as a fun way to kind of share those new learned experiences.”

Libby’s Content & Marketing Strategy 

Libby shares that she is “an underthinker when it comes to my personal social media. I’m constantly thinking about what I’m posting for my clients and how it’s going to perform, and all this stuff in my brain is just kind of rattling around… [with her social media] if other people like it great if it sinks, I don’t care.”

Libby notes that while she wants her personal social media content to perform well, most of her energy is spent brainstorming and analyzing her clients’ social media strategies. 

Regarding her marketing strategy for growing her business, Living Colorfully Media, Libby shares that she is big on in-person networking.  

“I came from a world where networking is just really important, and also when I moved to DC from Wisconsin, you know, no one knows who you are when you move to a new city. So I always just kind of stress the importance of saying my name, saying hello… just making yourself known.”

She feels that her unique name, Libby and LibbyLivingColorfully, helps her name to stick with people better. Her clients vary but are primarily located in DC.

“I have a lot of local brands here in Washington, DC. A lot of them are in the food and beverage sphere, so restaurants, a few national brands that I help advise. I have a really cool luxury motor coach company… that takes trips to and from DC right now.” 

Libby notes that she usually checks Social Blade to make sure that prospects didn’t mass purchase followers. She’ll also ask for media kits and analytics from the past 30 days. 

“As long as they’re creating really great content, that’s what I want to see for my clients.”

Disco Balls

In addition to her client work and social media accounts, Libby also runs a disco ball business which started as a side project and exploded into a successful business. 

It began after she “redid my bedroom and did this very cool 1970s-inspired decor in it, and I just wanted to have disco balls on the ground. So many people have never seen a disco ball in front of them… You never really see them in the daytime, but the really cool thing about a disco ball is any light that reflects off of it will cascade over a room.”

She shared photos of her bedroom’s decor online and soon had many questions about where she purchased the disco balls. After a while, she was tired of sending people to Amazon to buy disco balls and decided to take the disco balls into her own hands. 

“So I found and started making some disco products… I make little disco mugs and planters and things like that, but with the disco balls, I was like, I’m going to find a really great company in the U.S. that makes them.”

During the pandemic, she started her disco ball business and included an option to send disco balls to other people during this stressful time. 

Libby notes that she thought, “I’d maybe sell like 40 orders top. It was the pandemic – people were hoarding toilet paper [and] a disco ball is not really an essential item, but people were just so eager to feel good and send someone something that would make them feel good.”

Her 40 orders turned into an incredible 4,000 orders per year. Currently, she is working on a business name and website. 

Working with Other Companies

Libby’s favorite campaigns are usually promoting local businesses and hearing from them about the difference it made in their business. 

“Those are the most successful to me. It’s directly referring my followers to small businesses, rather than the ones that maybe like pay the most money.”

Libby’s Tips

Don’t worry about your photos too much. When Libby started her Instagram, many influencers hired professional photographers for photoshoots which she found a little intimidating. However, she got started anyways by using the self-timer function on her phone. 

Stop and connect with others. Social media is all about connection, but many influencers focus heavily on themselves rather than forming true connections with others. Slow down and work on connecting with others by asking them about themselves, their goals, dreams, etc.  

Be yourself. Everyone puts on a bit of a show online. However, staying true to yourself will help you connect much better with your audience. Libby notes, “I think that people can see through that and kind of read between the lines.”

Choose motivating friends. Libby shares, “I’m such a firm believer that if your friends don’t make you just a little bit jealous, they’re not your motivators. My best motivators are the people that I’m like, “how do you level up?” Like, how do I get on that level? But also then still appreciating the hard work that they do. Some of my best friends are really, really great business women and men.”

Future Plans

Libby notes that she is excited to finish her disco ball’s website. She also shares that her disco ball’s website will also share vintage pieces that she has collected and “basically all of my favorite things and one website that everyone can kind of shop and have an experience.”

“And then maybe someday a store here in DC… that would be the dream.”