
Where it all began.


When GMM founder Kirby Befort walked through the streets in downtown Eau Claire during the time of his education at University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire, he saw so many small businesses that he had never heard of. He then went online to find out more information about what these businesses do and why they do it. Being a 21-year-old, he naturally took to social media to search these small businesses and had a difficult time finding their pages on commonly used platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. This lack of social media presence was surprising, but the thought faded away as time passed.
​
This intriguing notion resurfaced when he was hired in 2020 as a summer intern at a local wealth management firm in his hometown of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. To his surprise, they didn't have a LinkedIn company page and he was determined to show his managers the benefits of using a social media platform like LinkedIn. Throughout his internship, he created and managed the firm's official LinkedIn page by growing its' follower base, creating, and posting weekly content, and advertising the page through the platform's marketing campaign tools.
​
The subject of social media presence again showed itself to Kirby. He then started to dive into this trend further by looking into why small businesses weren't using this channel of communication and all of the benefits using these social media planforms provides them. Through extensive research he found that many small businesses aren't taking advantage of all the benefits that social media offers and just like that, Gravity Media Management was created.
