As female entrepreneurs and business leaders, we have a lot to overcome. But the first step is to get out of our own way. Maybe perfectionism is holding you back, or maybe you’re thinking too small. Today’s guest is on a mission to give you WINGS—Women, Innovating, Networking, Growing and Scaling—and turn your small business into an empire. Melinda Wittstock is a serial entrepreneur, award-winning journalist and content marketer. She has more than 25 years of experience as a host, journalist and executive across the world’s top media brands, and she has launched four successful media, tech and predictive analytics businesses of her own. Wittstock currently serves as the founder and CEO of Verifeed, a predictive social intelligence solution that helps businesses grow their brand and bottom line. She also hosts a podcast on female entrepreneurship called WINGS of Inspired Business to help women develop the confidence, connections and capital they need to achieve. Wittstock is a passionate advocate for women in business, committed to investing $10M in 100-plus female founded companies in the next ten years. Today she explains the concept of Return on Authenticity, discussing why talking to prospects as human beings leads to a higher return on investment. Wittstock speaks to the idea of building personal relationships at scale through social media marketing and the value in defining your ideal customer before you design a social media marketing campaign. Listen in for her insight around investing in female entrepreneurs and learn how her podcast is inspiring women to grow in business and in life.   Key Interview Takeaways Speak from the heart, and you will wildly outperform your competitors. Wittstock calls this idea the Return on Authenticity, and it is a much better measure of return than vanity metrics such as likes and followers. People do business with people. Companies do better when their leadership has a personal brand presence, and social media allows those leaders to build relationships with prospects at scale. Define your mission and your ideal customer FIRST. Verifeed’s software cannot help you with social media marketing until you know yourself. Once you have identified your ideal client, the platform helps you understand and engage those people over time. Too many women succeed in silence. Wittstock’s podcast, WINGS of Inspired Business, seeks to affirm and inspire female entrepreneurs and business leaders, exploring the connection between personal and business growth and manifesting the confidence they need to succeed. Successful women must give back to other female-owned businesses. Wittstock has plans to invest in 100 female-founded and women-run businesses in the next ten years. Connect with Melinda Wittstock Melinda Wittstock’s Website Melinda Wittstock’s Podcast Melinda Wittstock on LinkedIn Melinda Wittstock on Facebook Melinda Wittstock on Twitter Verifeed Verifeed on Twitter