293 – Social Media Ideas to Do NOW to Bring in Holiday Sales with Bobbi Baehne of of Think Big Go Local
Ready or not – the holiday season is here! That’s why in today’s show, Bobbi is sharing holiday social media ideas you can use NOW to help you bring in more sales this season.
Bobbi is the President of Think Big Go Local, a digital marketing firm specializing in social media, web design, and messenger bot creation. She’s passionate about sharing her knowledge with businesses that need an edge over their competitors and a solid strategy for capturing the attention of their desired audience.
Bobbi delivers actionable tactics that business owners are looking for, to develop and execute effective marketing strategies. In her own authentic style, she illustrates the most effective ways to reach and engage online audiences, providing valuable recommendations on how to convert them into loyal, paying customers.
Bobbi’s been published in Huffington Post, Inc. Magazine, the Chicago Tribune, and is a TedX Speaker.
BUSINESS BUILDING INSIGHTS
- Take advantage of new technologies to increase visibility as they become available. That’s when the algorithms are really favorable.
- Show up where people are spending their time. Embrace stories as part of your strategy.
- Engage people in order to create relationships. Take someone from a casual viewer to a loyal customer.
- Using live video allows people to create an emotional connection with you. Then, when you meet in person, it’s like you’ve known each other for years instead of meeting a stranger.
- People want to connect, understand who you are, connect with you, and feel like you have something in common.
- Showing who you are in your unique way is a powerful relationship builder.
- Going live is authentic and appeals to people in a whole different way.
- The more people see you, get to know you, feel like you’re in their network – the more you are building your business and your brand.
- Tune in to get all the biz building insights!
Powerful Holiday Social Media Ideas You Can Do NOW
- Use Your Analytics: dive into your insights and analytics so you can post strategically for more visibility:
- when should you reach out to people?
- what’s the best time to post content?
- where your people are hanging out?
- what time are they there?
- Tune in for the detailed conversation on this!
- Focus On What The Algorithms Favor: Look at the platforms where your audience is and identify what tools and opportunities are feeding the algorithm. What are they giving preference to right now? That’s what you can leverage to maximize your reach and get in front of people.
- The best content options *right now* are:
- Live streaming on Facebook & Instagram
- Stories – leverage all the new stickers
- Instagram Reels – Big opportunity right now. Watch other peoples’ reels to learn what they’re about.
- Listen in for all the specific tips on each of these!
- Use DMs BUT focus on building relationships, not trying to sell.
- Before you go live, let people know when and what value you’re going to offer.
- Utilize hashtags and tags to expand your reach and get your content shared.
- The best content options *right now* are:
- Setup Instagram & Facebook Shops:
- Make it really easy for your customers to buy. Don’t make them have to contact you via DM. Let them just click, purchase, done.
- Use Messenger – it is fully integrated with FB and Instagram and will be a powerful tool for businesses. Tons of opportunity here. Pay attention to all the new features that are rolling out.
- Focus On Building REAL Relationships: All of what we’ve talked about here is about developing real relationships with your audience.
- Listen to the full conversation to get more amazing goodness!
Resources Mentioned
Bobbi’s Contact Links
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Linkedin
Join Our FREE Gift Biz Breeze Facebook Community
Become a Member of Gift Biz Breeze
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Thank you so much! Sue
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Transcript
Gift biz unwrapped episode 293,
Speaker:and it's never to sell because nobody goes to these platforms
Speaker:with the intention of buying things,
Speaker:they go there to either be entertained or informed or to
Speaker:feel connection and to build relationships.
Speaker:Attention gifters bakers,
Speaker:crafters, and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one.
Speaker:Now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is gift to biz unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode,
Speaker:packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources, and the support you need to grow.
Speaker:Your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host gift biz gal Sue moon Heights.
Speaker:Hi there.
Speaker:It's Sue.
Speaker:Thanks for joining me here today.
Speaker:As you might imagine,
Speaker:as the holidays creep closer,
Speaker:it gets harder and harder to find time for my guests
Speaker:to come on the show and do an interview.
Speaker:Since this is the experience that I've seen,
Speaker:I've already recorded quite a few upcoming shows,
Speaker:and I have to tell you,
Speaker:there are some amazing conversations coming up.
Speaker:So hit the subscribe button right now,
Speaker:because honestly you don't want to miss a single one of
Speaker:these, including today's.
Speaker:But before we get into that,
Speaker:I want to update you on what's going on in my
Speaker:private community gift biz breeze.
Speaker:Each year.
Speaker:At this time,
Speaker:we run posts,
Speaker:highlighting your holiday products that are available for purchase based on
Speaker:interactions and requests I've seen in the group.
Speaker:We're taking this a step further with the introduction of the
Speaker:buzz book.
Speaker:The first version has been out now for a few weeks,
Speaker:and I'm hearing such uplifting stories about Howard's working just as
Speaker:intended. The buzz book is a compilation of small handmade business
Speaker:owners like you and provides a way for you to support
Speaker:each other.
Speaker:You can do this by purchasing from each other,
Speaker:of course,
Speaker:but it goes much deeper than that.
Speaker:This is a way to connect with people who make a
Speaker:product similar to yours to discuss the nuances of your industry.
Speaker:It's a way to easily get in touch with fellow Breezers
Speaker:in your local community so that you can get together for
Speaker:one-on-one coffee chats or even establish a more formal face to
Speaker:face networking type meeting.
Speaker:It's also a way to create collaborations.
Speaker:I've seen local brick and mortar shops reach out to regional
Speaker:makers to display their products in store.
Speaker:This helps increase their visibility during a very challenging time.
Speaker:I've also watched Breezers get together and do virtual shopping,
Speaker:chose offering different,
Speaker:but compatible products,
Speaker:thereby getting exposure to each other's audiences and let's face it.
Speaker:This going live thing is a lot easier when you do
Speaker:it with somebody which reminds me,
Speaker:did you see the Facebook live interview?
Speaker:I did on comment sold it's over in my Instagram account
Speaker:at GIF is unwrapped.
Speaker:This will help you see how easy and efficient your live
Speaker:streaming sales shows can be.
Speaker:Stay tuned for a podcast episode,
Speaker:all about comments sold as well,
Speaker:but no time to wait with the holidays coming.
Speaker:So make sure and go check out that IGT TV,
Speaker:the things we can do through our connections together is far
Speaker:greater than what we can achieve on our own.
Speaker:So getting back to the buzz book,
Speaker:it facilitates that,
Speaker:and it's totally free for more details and to learn how
Speaker:to be listed.
Speaker:Join the gift biz breeze,
Speaker:Facebook group,
Speaker:all the details.
Speaker:Along with a video,
Speaker:talking more about the program are right there,
Speaker:separated as a special unit for easy access.
Speaker:Moving into the show today.
Speaker:I challenged Bobby to tell us exactly what we need to
Speaker:be doing online right now to attract sales.
Speaker:She reminds us of something really important.
Speaker:The majority of people don't go into their social media accounts
Speaker:to buy we're so focused on our businesses.
Speaker:I think we forget that.
Speaker:So what do you do body to the rescue Today?
Speaker:I am so excited to bring back on Bobby Baney.
Speaker:She was on an episode way back when I don't even
Speaker:remember what episode it was,
Speaker:but guess what we weren't talking about social media,
Speaker:but today we are.
Speaker:Bobby is the president of think big go local,
Speaker:a digital marketing firms,
Speaker:specializing in social media,
Speaker:web design and messenger bot creation.
Speaker:She's passionate about sharing her knowledge with businesses that need an
Speaker:edge over their competitors and a solid strategy for capturing the
Speaker:attention of their desired audience.
Speaker:Bobby delivers actionable tactics that business owners are looking for to
Speaker:develop and execute effective marketing strategies in her own authentic style.
Speaker:She illustrates the most effective ways to reach and engage online
Speaker:audiences, providing valuable recommendations on how to convert them into loyal
Speaker:pain customers.
Speaker:Bobby's been published in Huffington post inc magazine,
Speaker:the Chicago Tribune,
Speaker:and is a TEDx speaker.
Speaker:Bobby, welcome back to the gift biz on rep Podcast.
Speaker:Hi Sue.
Speaker:It is so great to be here and to hear your
Speaker:voice again.
Speaker:I know it's like,
Speaker:we're not That far away in distance,
Speaker:but given the times we're really far away Because we can't
Speaker:see each other.
Speaker:It feels further than normal.
Speaker:Doesn't it?
Speaker:I know.
Speaker:And it was nice that we were able to see each
Speaker:other right before lockdown.
Speaker:We got Robbins event in the week before everything shut down.
Speaker:Yeah, we were right there On the edge,
Speaker:right Under the gun,
Speaker:because I remember that we weren't sure if we should give
Speaker:hugs or shake hands at the event.
Speaker:Cause things were just coming down.
Speaker:Nobody knew what was going on.
Speaker:Exactly. And we all made it out of there in one
Speaker:piece. So grateful.
Speaker:Yes. That seems like eons ago.
Speaker:And it's been less than a year,
Speaker:Right? Yeah.
Speaker:So glad to say by the 2020,
Speaker:it's on the way out,
Speaker:But let's make it a smashing fabulously glorious end of the
Speaker:year. How about that?
Speaker:Absolutely. There's still lots and lots of time that we need
Speaker:to focus on making sure our businesses are ending strong.
Speaker:True. How has business changed for you given this last year?
Speaker:Since I last saw you,
Speaker:It was really interesting.
Speaker:And I feel like we've made some really monumental shifts over
Speaker:and over again.
Speaker:And kind of since this pandemic hit,
Speaker:the first thing that I found to be pretty interesting was
Speaker:when lockdown started and everybody realized that they were losing their
Speaker:opportunity to do in-person networking and to do their normal sales
Speaker:and things like that.
Speaker:All of a sudden,
Speaker:so many business owners were in a panic because they had
Speaker:put off what I think is one of the greatest ways
Speaker:to grow your business.
Speaker:And all of a sudden realized they needed to shift strategies.
Speaker:They needed to find a new way to communicate.
Speaker:And so our first two months of what had to no
Speaker:let's call it Blackdown or working from home,
Speaker:we really decided we had to spend trying not to operate
Speaker:out of fear because everybody was so nervous about what this
Speaker:was doing to the economy.
Speaker:And we were seeing I'm sure what a lot of other
Speaker:people experienced kind of a fall off of certain customers that
Speaker:were already on the edge and things.
Speaker:But what we realized we needed to do was just offer
Speaker:our support to our fellow small business owners who were truly
Speaker:in a panic and we're going to need more resources.
Speaker:We were already pretty accustomed to working in the digital space.
Speaker:The tech didn't make us nervous.
Speaker:Getting in front of cameras didn't make us nervous,
Speaker:but all of those things were making our clients flip out
Speaker:because now they needed to utilize that because it was all
Speaker:that was left to get in front of customers.
Speaker:We spent a ton of time developing strategies and classes to
Speaker:help people figure out how do I go live on Facebook?
Speaker:How do I let go live on Instagram?
Speaker:How do I set up zoom meetings?
Speaker:What are all these tools that I need?
Speaker:How do I set up my cameras?
Speaker:My lighting people can't hear me.
Speaker:All of these things that I felt like I'd been preaching
Speaker:for years.
Speaker:All of a sudden people had to pay attention to.
Speaker:So we just made it our sole mission for a couple
Speaker:months just to offer as much help as we could because
Speaker:there was just so much change happening.
Speaker:Yeah. I've heard this over and over again.
Speaker:I knew I was supposed to be doing and I'd heard
Speaker:about Facebook live before.
Speaker:I understand why I should.
Speaker:I'm anxious about doing it.
Speaker:I'll put it off.
Speaker:I'll put it off,
Speaker:put it off.
Speaker:And then all of a sudden it,
Speaker:when it becomes the only thing that you can really do
Speaker:to communicate,
Speaker:at least initially when we were really locked down.
Speaker:Now we're some of us are able to come out,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:I feel like the field thing that can poke your head
Speaker:up. What is it?
Speaker:What's that animal?
Speaker:Oh gosh.
Speaker:Well I want to say Groundhog the Groundhog.
Speaker:Like I feel like the Groundhog,
Speaker:they can pop its head out,
Speaker:look around,
Speaker:see what the status is and you either get to come
Speaker:out or go down.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:At that point,
Speaker:as I'm thinking it,
Speaker:wasn't just the fear which we all have of going live
Speaker:when you first start doing it.
Speaker:But the whole tech thing,
Speaker:like you're saying,
Speaker:There's fear,
Speaker:there's technology and then their strategy.
Speaker:So you know that you don't just jump on and go
Speaker:live and get off.
Speaker:And that's it.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:that's great.
Speaker:If you've got a gigantic following that just sits there waiting
Speaker:for you to go live.
Speaker:But for most of us,
Speaker:it involves a little bit more work,
Speaker:letting people know when you're going to go live,
Speaker:what value you're going to offer?
Speaker:When is it going to happen?
Speaker:Somehow setting reminders or countdowns,
Speaker:how to repurpose afterwards and get more eyeballs on that video.
Speaker:And there's just a whole strategy.
Speaker:And I think one of the lessons that I learned just
Speaker:in a really obvious way,
Speaker:but that I hope other business owners we're learning too,
Speaker:is when we see these technologies become available and really create
Speaker:opportunity for us,
Speaker:we really can't afford to wait for so many reasons.
Speaker:One of the reasons I never thought I'd be saying is
Speaker:cause a pandemic might hit and you might need the stuff
Speaker:that was not.
Speaker:I thought people were just going to need it.
Speaker:But just the opportunities to kind of jump in when the
Speaker:algorithm is being really favorable to some of these tools,
Speaker:I wish people would have listened when we were saying,
Speaker:Hey, do this.
Speaker:Because then when this unforeseen thing came into play,
Speaker:people who had already embraced that were like,
Speaker:woo, I am golden.
Speaker:I've got a strategy.
Speaker:And I'm just going to spend more time doing this.
Speaker:Other people were just in a panic and frustrated and scared
Speaker:trying to then learn something new when a really stressful anxiety
Speaker:filled time of their lives.
Speaker:So I'm going to ask you a question that you have
Speaker:to answer,
Speaker:honestly, with all the compassion in the world.
Speaker:Didn't a little part of you be like I told you.
Speaker:So yeah,
Speaker:no doubt about it.
Speaker:I even said it a few times.
Speaker:Not with judgment,
Speaker:like you said,
Speaker:or malice,
Speaker:but Oh my gosh,
Speaker:you guys,
Speaker:I told you,
Speaker:you needed to be creating this kind of content,
Speaker:which is why we decided,
Speaker:okay, we're just going to start doing live classes so you
Speaker:can do live Q and A's and let's get you all
Speaker:into this place so that you have a chance.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:And have you seen a lot of people then take it
Speaker:to heart and really start doing live?
Speaker:I have,
Speaker:I think a ton and Facebook is telling us to the
Speaker:use of Facebook is been up dramatically since COVID hit for
Speaker:people who thought maybe that platform is becoming less relevant,
Speaker:not true.
Speaker:This was kind of a real boost for their usage and
Speaker:it caused a lot of change and they rolled out a
Speaker:lot of things.
Speaker:Yeah. I think a lot more people are using those tools
Speaker:because we don't have a whole lot of other choices and
Speaker:Facebook, I have to give them credit sometimes I think they're
Speaker:slow on certain things,
Speaker:but they have sure ramped up opportunity and tools for small
Speaker:businesses over the last six to nine months.
Speaker:And we've got to thank them for that.
Speaker:Where else would we have been to your point?
Speaker:Exactly. Let's dive into the holiday stuff right now.
Speaker:It's really important for all of us to recognize that when
Speaker:so many people start talking about the same thing,
Speaker:because I've been preaching live from the standpoint of this is
Speaker:how you differentiate yourself because no one can be like you,
Speaker:other people might be able to sell candles or pottery and
Speaker:they might have a little bit of a different technique in
Speaker:terms of the output of the product,
Speaker:but there's no place where anyone can be just like you
Speaker:versus you showing your personality and the best way to show
Speaker:your personality is when you're live.
Speaker:Absolutely. There's so much opportunity and so much advantage.
Speaker:And I know it's scary.
Speaker:I know it's hard for people to think about doing this
Speaker:themselves and the pandemic kind of pushed us into it because
Speaker:it's either this or nothing.
Speaker:It's interesting too,
Speaker:that you mentioned that because I have this story that I'll
Speaker:share really quickly about going live on Facebook.
Speaker:And it was really a lesson to me.
Speaker:I'm involved in a local music festival that we do here
Speaker:in my community.
Speaker:And I do the marketing,
Speaker:the social media,
Speaker:and I also emcee the events.
Speaker:It was appropriate for me to go live on behalf of
Speaker:the organization that does this music festival and talk about the
Speaker:event as a way to get people excited,
Speaker:tell them who the talent is going to be,
Speaker:who are our sponsors,
Speaker:what the day's going to look like.
Speaker:Who's doing food.
Speaker:So I would go live every week for about four weeks
Speaker:before the event.
Speaker:And I would just be talking about what people can expect.
Speaker:And we had a lot of local people tune in and
Speaker:when I would see them,
Speaker:I'd acknowledge them,
Speaker:answer their comments,
Speaker:that sort of thing.
Speaker:Well, when the event took place and I got out there,
Speaker:it was so ridiculous.
Speaker:People were stopping me all day.
Speaker:Oh Bobby,
Speaker:you told me to introduce myself.
Speaker:I saw you out here or thank you for sharing this
Speaker:piece of information.
Speaker:I would have never come.
Speaker:Had you not said that.
Speaker:The thing that was so interesting about it is one.
Speaker:It was so cool.
Speaker:I got to meet so many people,
Speaker:I didn't know in the community,
Speaker:but the people that I met actually felt like we knew
Speaker:each other,
Speaker:that we were friends and had a relationship.
Speaker:And from the moment they introduced themselves,
Speaker:it was so different than meeting a stranger.
Speaker:And it was truly the power of people watching you and
Speaker:starting to feel that emotional connection,
Speaker:Hey, I can relate to this woman for whatever reason,
Speaker:it was just really,
Speaker:really powerful to see how much power,
Speaker:that relationship building aspect of showing who you are in that
Speaker:unique way really,
Speaker:really has people want to connect.
Speaker:They don't want to look at your logo.
Speaker:They want to understand who you are and connect with you
Speaker:and feel like they have something in common and live is
Speaker:one of the only ways to really do that.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:even video can be so edited and produced that people don't
Speaker:always feel like it's authentic.
Speaker:You don't get that when you go live.
Speaker:It is authentic.
Speaker:And I think that that really just appeals to people Whole
Speaker:different way.
Speaker:I think.
Speaker:So your story is so powerful because give biz listeners just
Speaker:think of it.
Speaker:If you could have that type of a relationship with people
Speaker:who are watching that you don't even know yet,
Speaker:but feel that they know you so well automatically walks the
Speaker:path down to them,
Speaker:buying your product and being interested.
Speaker:And I think that's the whole thing about live Bobby.
Speaker:That's a great example.
Speaker:You're talking about it in relation to showing up at an
Speaker:event, people coming up and feeling that you're approachable because you're
Speaker:so friendly.
Speaker:Obviously it comes across in your voice.
Speaker:We know that,
Speaker:but feeling comfortable,
Speaker:even coming up and saying hi to you,
Speaker:have you seen a lot of those people come and start
Speaker:using your services?
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:not in that particular environment because we're not reaching out to
Speaker:my audience there,
Speaker:but in all reality,
Speaker:yes, because it builds our brand in the local community in
Speaker:a really strong way.
Speaker:I'm very recognizable because I get that visibility in front of
Speaker:a huge audience.
Speaker:So yes,
Speaker:in a roundabout way,
Speaker:it has,
Speaker:because it just helps build our brand and make us known.
Speaker:We're reaching out to a different demographic through that.
Speaker:But at the end of the day,
Speaker:the more people see you,
Speaker:the more they get to know you,
Speaker:the more they feel like you're in their network,
Speaker:the more you're going to build your personal and business brand.
Speaker:And ultimately that's going to lead to a better bottom line.
Speaker:Absolutely. I want to start getting really tactical here.
Speaker:I specifically was interested in having you come back on the
Speaker:show, Bobby right now,
Speaker:because everyone is so concerned about holiday sales.
Speaker:A lot of the craft shows aren't going to be happening
Speaker:if they are happening in person,
Speaker:there's severe social distancing.
Speaker:So the number of people that are able to come into
Speaker:the shows,
Speaker:I mean at six feet,
Speaker:I don't mean to say it differently than that,
Speaker:but people who are able to come into the shows,
Speaker:the whole crowd is different.
Speaker:And a lot of people just aren't going to come.
Speaker:We're going back to social and relying specifically on social media,
Speaker:just like you've been talking about the pandemic forced us into,
Speaker:but I'd love to start talking about what specifically our listeners
Speaker:could do to help get visibility.
Speaker:And then also lead them down towards selling products online through
Speaker:social. This is such an important topic.
Speaker:I'm only going to take a quick timeout for you to
Speaker:hear from our sponsor.
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Speaker:Well, let me share a few things I've been thinking about
Speaker:for this industry.
Speaker:One, I always try to find silver linings and every challenge
Speaker:that I see.
Speaker:And one of the things about the times that we're in
Speaker:right now is I feel while there's a ton of competition
Speaker:everybody's buying online,
Speaker:and this has almost been kind of an opportunity for everybody
Speaker:to start on a level playing ground.
Speaker:There is tremendous opportunity out there for crafters and makers and
Speaker:bakers and all of those people,
Speaker:because everybody's pretty much got the same tools to work with
Speaker:at this particular moment.
Speaker:No one's going in the big stores as much either.
Speaker:But one thing I think that businesses really need to focus
Speaker:on right now is understanding what has changed with your audience
Speaker:over the last year.
Speaker:If you haven't done it recently,
Speaker:make sure you're diving into your insights and analytics and taking
Speaker:a really good look at what's changed.
Speaker:So Facebook and Instagram have been telling us for months that
Speaker:they have not only seen an increased use in their apps,
Speaker:but that the times that people are using them is completely
Speaker:been flipped upside down from maybe the strategy we were using
Speaker:nine months ago or a year ago,
Speaker:even prime time TV,
Speaker:which used to be what later in the evening has become
Speaker:like in the middle of the day,
Speaker:because everybody's home.
Speaker:We really need to look at that first and see if
Speaker:there's any adjustments we need to make.
Speaker:And when we're reaching out to people,
Speaker:when we're creating content,
Speaker:make sure we know where our audience is spending time and
Speaker:what time they're there so that we can strategically post to
Speaker:get the most visibility.
Speaker:That's one thing I think everybody needs to do just because
Speaker:there's been so many changes that have taken place.
Speaker:Okay. I have a question with insights.
Speaker:Sure. When I look at my insights,
Speaker:it always goes up right?
Speaker:When I'm posting fire hit,
Speaker:have something that's going out at 11 o'clock.
Speaker:For example,
Speaker:my insights go up,
Speaker:is that because I'm posting?
Speaker:So people are looking at it right away.
Speaker:Like if I were to have posted instead at 9:00 AM,
Speaker:would my insights have gone up at nine instead?
Speaker:I'm not sure exactly what you're looking at,
Speaker:but that's really interesting suits.
Speaker:There is definitely the opportunity to kind of train your audience
Speaker:when you're putting content up there.
Speaker:And I know that you have a very engaged audience.
Speaker:I don't know if that's necessarily true for everybody though.
Speaker:We primarily look at our audience,
Speaker:not in necessarily in relation to our content,
Speaker:but when are they active?
Speaker:What days are they active on social?
Speaker:And what times are they most active?
Speaker:And then we kind of decide to post our content a
Speaker:little bit before that time.
Speaker:So it's been floating there for half hour an hour before
Speaker:we expect the majority of people to log in.
Speaker:It shouldn't be tied to your direct content though.
Speaker:So those analytics should really be based on what Facebook and
Speaker:Instagram knows about their audiences usage of the app.
Speaker:That's an interesting exercise to kind of play with though,
Speaker:because a lot of this stuff is we're kind of guessing
Speaker:and testing all the time All the time.
Speaker:And I will also say I've also used some of the,
Speaker:is it an Instagram app?
Speaker:When is the right time to actually In a lot of
Speaker:third-party apps that help you with scheduling have things like that
Speaker:built in as well,
Speaker:where they kind of examine your profile really quickly and make
Speaker:a recommendation Be that because I looked at that and then
Speaker:coordinated along with that,
Speaker:that that's why it's coinciding together too.
Speaker:That could be but very interesting.
Speaker:If you haven't looked at your insights for a while,
Speaker:or if you've never looked at your insights,
Speaker:Bobby, which is probably many of our listeners,
Speaker:If you have never done it,
Speaker:I highly recommend you put a little spot in your calendar
Speaker:at least once a month to do a little audit of
Speaker:these things.
Speaker:Cause we need to know when it's time to shift strategies
Speaker:or understand what's working because those things can change.
Speaker:And if we're not paying attention,
Speaker:we just may be noticing,
Speaker:Hey, sales are down engagements down without really realizing there was
Speaker:a shift somewhere that we could have identified and addressed and
Speaker:kept things moving.
Speaker:So definitely do that every month.
Speaker:Take it way back just because I know there'll be some
Speaker:listeners who will get caught up in this.
Speaker:You see insights.
Speaker:If you have a business account,
Speaker:let's say on Instagram,
Speaker:if you're using Instagram as a personal account,
Speaker:you don't have insights.
Speaker:If you flip your account over to being business,
Speaker:then you'll see insights.
Speaker:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker:Because some people Might go back and look and be like,
Speaker:wait, what?
Speaker:I don't have Any.
Speaker:Yeah. And for people there is a new option in Instagram
Speaker:too. So I know for some reason there were people that
Speaker:get all hesitant to switch it to business,
Speaker:but you can also switch to a creator account depending what
Speaker:it is that you do that kind of lets you maintain
Speaker:that personal brand of your account,
Speaker:but gives you the tools that a business account has.
Speaker:So you could establish a creator account and that doesn't have
Speaker:to directly connect to a business profile on Facebook.
Speaker:So there is that third option now for people who are
Speaker:just maybe for whatever reason,
Speaker:maybe they have a unique business model or they're hesitant to
Speaker:make that switch.
Speaker:For some reason,
Speaker:if you switched to creator,
Speaker:you can get access to some of that info.
Speaker:Okay. Business account on Instagram can link to a Facebook business
Speaker:page, a creator account on Instagram stands alone.
Speaker:Yes, it can stand alone.
Speaker:So you don't have to connect that to the business page,
Speaker:but you get the insights so that you're kind of able
Speaker:to identify,
Speaker:you get more information about your audience.
Speaker:Think of it as a creator,
Speaker:more like an influencer,
Speaker:maybe like a YouTuber type of a thing versus someone in
Speaker:business to sell a product or service 30 of our people
Speaker:then, because we're product creators.
Speaker:I like to be really tangible and give people direct answers
Speaker:for this.
Speaker:So it's good to know that there's the creator account,
Speaker:but more than likely for the majority of people who are
Speaker:listening here,
Speaker:they would want a business account.
Speaker:So they can also then connect it to their Facebook page.
Speaker:Absolutely. Yes.
Speaker:That's how I set up my business account and how I
Speaker:would encourage any business owner to do that.
Speaker:That's actually selling something.
Speaker:This is the first step we're talking about how to put
Speaker:yourself in the best position to capture holiday sales for this
Speaker:season. And we're what five weeks away from Christmas.
Speaker:If you're listening,
Speaker:when this went live.
Speaker:So first thing,
Speaker:go look at your insights.
Speaker:We're looking at when people are most likely online to your
Speaker:point, Bobby,
Speaker:we want to then put out content when we have the
Speaker:best opportunity of getting the most eyes on our content.
Speaker:And we're talking all organic right now and we're not talking
Speaker:to anything paid Exactly right.
Speaker:That's a great organic strategy to get in front of as
Speaker:many people as you can,
Speaker:just out the gate,
Speaker:know where they're at and what time they're on.
Speaker:And then the next thing that I would say is so
Speaker:important. And,
Speaker:and this is where things get a little uncomfortable for people
Speaker:that don't like to try new things or get a little
Speaker:hesitant to be in front of the camera.
Speaker:But you have to look at the platforms where your audience
Speaker:is at and identify really what tools and opportunities are feeding
Speaker:the algorithm.
Speaker:What are they giving preferential treatment to in those platforms that
Speaker:you can leverage to maximize your reach and just basically get
Speaker:in front of people right now,
Speaker:I would say that those things hands down are live streaming
Speaker:and that would apply to Facebook and Instagram creating content in
Speaker:stories. There is no doubt.
Speaker:Stories is such a big deal,
Speaker:but only two right now,
Speaker:maybe be beaten out by the introduction of reels and Instagram,
Speaker:who we have noticed.
Speaker:Instagram's giving a ton of reach to people creating reels.
Speaker:The reels are getting a lot more reach than stories are
Speaker:getting right now.
Speaker:And if you're creating reels,
Speaker:it's even helping to increase visibility on your profile and your
Speaker:other content,
Speaker:looking at these new things that are there and saying,
Speaker:okay, it's time to utilize these tools,
Speaker:develop a strategy,
Speaker:figure out how to do it.
Speaker:There's so much that goes into it,
Speaker:but you just can't afford to wait.
Speaker:There's a lot of people sitting at home right now,
Speaker:doing everything they can to make their businesses sustainable through to
Speaker:this next year.
Speaker:You've just got to utilize these opportunities.
Speaker:Creating content in reels stories and live streaming are absolutely huge.
Speaker:Totally. A hundred percent agree with you for someone who's listening,
Speaker:who's never done any of this that's way.
Speaker:Overwhelming. It really is overwhelming.
Speaker:It's Prioritized for us.
Speaker:Someone is on Facebook and Instagram will say they have both
Speaker:of the accounts.
Speaker:They have them connected.
Speaker:So if they do Instagram,
Speaker:it jumps over to Facebook,
Speaker:whether you should or not,
Speaker:that's a whole different conversation,
Speaker:but they've never gone live before.
Speaker:All three of these things have some type of a live
Speaker:component to it.
Speaker:Which one should they start with?
Speaker:I think part of it becomes in where do you feel
Speaker:like you can enter into that space with the most amount
Speaker:of comfort?
Speaker:I feel for example,
Speaker:reels is probably way over the head for someone that's never
Speaker:even created stories and stories can feel really intimidating if you've
Speaker:really never gotten in front of the camera either.
Speaker:Cause it takes a little bit more creativity.
Speaker:I feel like a more natural progression,
Speaker:but someone feels more comfortable in another space.
Speaker:They can start there,
Speaker:but I feel like starting with a strategy for going live
Speaker:is a good place to start.
Speaker:It's conversational at this point in the game,
Speaker:we've probably all been on enough zoom meetings and getting into
Speaker:messenger and things like that.
Speaker:That we're probably a little more comfortable doing a live streaming
Speaker:scenario where we're talking to the camera now in a conversational
Speaker:way and then figure out what are you going to do
Speaker:there? Are you going to show people how to use your
Speaker:product? Are you going to show off the different,
Speaker:maybe value propositions your product has and different ways to utilize
Speaker:it, ways to gift it ways to customize it,
Speaker:whatever it might be,
Speaker:figure out how you can start doing live content that showcases
Speaker:the products that you sell.
Speaker:I think that would be a great place to start.
Speaker:Plus kind of allows you to get in the habit of
Speaker:how do I repurpose some of this live content,
Speaker:maybe pull some quotes out,
Speaker:maybe download it and put it on YouTube.
Speaker:Just kind of spend some time figuring out what you can
Speaker:do with that type of content,
Speaker:how you can get better at it and then move to
Speaker:the next thing.
Speaker:But I think going into the holidays at a bare minimum,
Speaker:people gotta be creating stories,
Speaker:Live streaming,
Speaker:but also stories for sure.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:Also stories for sure.
Speaker:Facebook is telling us that they're seeing a trend where people
Speaker:are watching more story content and less of the newsfeed content.
Speaker:We have to show up where people are spending their time,
Speaker:every platform out there as launching stories.
Speaker:So it's pretty hard to deny how irresistible they are in
Speaker:terms of viewership.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:Facebook has them.
Speaker:Instagram has them.
Speaker:YouTube is testing them.
Speaker:Twitter is testing them.
Speaker:LinkedIn just launched them.
Speaker:Stories are everywhere and we need to make sure we're leveraging
Speaker:that space.
Speaker:Real, probably going to take a little bit more watching,
Speaker:experimenting, learning before people really dive into that that are maybe
Speaker:feeling hesitant or aren't quite as comfortable,
Speaker:but you've got to embrace stories as part of your strategy
Speaker:right now to drive traffic for the holidays.
Speaker:Plus with all the new tools they've put in the story
Speaker:platforms, people can buy right from you.
Speaker:There, you can support small businesses.
Speaker:There's just so many ways to engage people in a story
Speaker:that you really aren't able to do anywhere else live regular
Speaker:posts. Anything stories are a necessity to figure out how to
Speaker:leverage that for your business.
Speaker:Okay. So I have a question on stories.
Speaker:Now it used to be that the only people who saw
Speaker:your stories were people who were following you on your account.
Speaker:At least to my way of thinking could be wrong.
Speaker:And you could correct me there,
Speaker:but now recently,
Speaker:and I've been doing some testing with this.
Speaker:I'm adding hashtags to my stories,
Speaker:to broaden my reach of my stories,
Speaker:but I'm hiding it behind images.
Speaker:So you're not seeing it on the story,
Speaker:but it's spreading.
Speaker:Is that a good idea?
Speaker:Bad idea.
Speaker:Talk to me about what I'm doing.
Speaker:It's a fantastic idea.
Speaker:Here's the reason why hashtags are so important in our stories
Speaker:is one people follow hashtags.
Speaker:If we're utilizing hashtags in our story,
Speaker:we have the potential to pop in front of somebody who
Speaker:follows that hashtag,
Speaker:which clearly means there's a like-minded individual and a potential new
Speaker:follower. If we're doing a good job of making sure they're
Speaker:relatable to our content that we're sharing.
Speaker:That's a great reason to get hashtags in.
Speaker:There is it does get us found.
Speaker:It does help our content get found in search as well.
Speaker:Even if someone doesn't follow the hashtag,
Speaker:they could come across our story based on the hashtags that
Speaker:we're utilizing.
Speaker:So great strategy,
Speaker:hiding them behind photos is awesome.
Speaker:You can use,
Speaker:I believe up to 13 hashtags in a story,
Speaker:some of the ways you can hide them.
Speaker:Like you said,
Speaker:hide them behind an image.
Speaker:You can also use the color picker in your colors and
Speaker:make your hashtag blend into the background.
Speaker:So if you have a blue sky,
Speaker:grab the color picker,
Speaker:make your hashtag blue people won't even see it in the
Speaker:backdrop. There's definitely ways to do it.
Speaker:One thing that was being taught a lot about a year
Speaker:or so ago was to reduce the size of it.
Speaker:So it was so small.
Speaker:You couldn't see it,
Speaker:but I've been told that the algorithm is identifying that.
Speaker:So we don't want to shrink them to small.
Speaker:Your strategy of hiding them is definitely a better idea.
Speaker:Utilizing hashtags is great.
Speaker:Another thing you can be doing in your stories to get
Speaker:more visibility is using tags,
Speaker:create notifications,
Speaker:every chance that you can in your story,
Speaker:because even for big brands,
Speaker:they might get shown.
Speaker:As an example,
Speaker:we were talking about messenger bots in our story a couple
Speaker:of weeks ago,
Speaker:and we tagged many chat,
Speaker:huge messenger marketing platform.
Speaker:We're partners with many chat,
Speaker:but I mean they're gigantic,
Speaker:but because we tagged them,
Speaker:they shared our story into their story,
Speaker:allowing us then to connect with a whole bunch of other
Speaker:individuals that create bots that are in the digital marketing space.
Speaker:Because now we got seen by many chats audience of hundreds
Speaker:of thousands versus ours is much smaller utilizing hashtags and tags
Speaker:to create notifications is a great way to expand your reach
Speaker:and even get that content.
Speaker:Okay. Perfect ideas for us in our creative space.
Speaker:You know how I talk about how behind the scenes,
Speaker:everyone wants to know what's going on.
Speaker:They're curious about how you make your product,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:You could tag the providers of some of the elements of
Speaker:your product,
Speaker:the little pieces and parts of what you make,
Speaker:where you're getting them from.
Speaker:You could tag the tools that are used.
Speaker:Maybe it's a cricket or a ribbon printer or different types
Speaker:of things like that.
Speaker:You might tag.
Speaker:If you're talking about colors and branding,
Speaker:maybe you even tag Crayola or Pantone or who knows what,
Speaker:but so it's not just what your product is.
Speaker:It could be the elements of your product.
Speaker:And I love this idea,
Speaker:Bobby, in terms of expanded visibility,
Speaker:I'm not doing this enough.
Speaker:So I'm taking this on.
Speaker:I loved when you said the ribbon printer of what,
Speaker:a great way for you to generate content.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:it's just such a win-win for everybody.
Speaker:When you do that.
Speaker:I know when you think about that,
Speaker:if people are tagging the ribbon printer in their content,
Speaker:that's an easy share for you.
Speaker:Why wouldn't you want to put that on your story,
Speaker:shows how other people are using your products and their story.
Speaker:It's a positive basically recommendation for a product that you've got.
Speaker:It's a win-win for everybody.
Speaker:I love that strategy and you'd be surprised even the big
Speaker:brands will share your content.
Speaker:Especially if you're being really intentional about kind of staging what
Speaker:shows up in your story.
Speaker:You create the opportunity to do that tagging Well.
Speaker:And that's the thing too,
Speaker:though. It has to relate to what you're showing,
Speaker:because I got to tell you about it.
Speaker:I get super frustrated when people tag me about something and
Speaker:the story has nothing to do with me,
Speaker:right? I've seen that a lot and that makes me mad.
Speaker:It makes me Two.
Speaker:And I agree,
Speaker:and I see that as well.
Speaker:And we've got to think about how are we engaging our
Speaker:audience. Now,
Speaker:if it was something I thought you'd be really interested in
Speaker:and tagged you,
Speaker:then the opportunity for you to be like,
Speaker:this is so cool.
Speaker:I want to share this might be there.
Speaker:But if it doesn't really genuinely authentically do that.
Speaker:Yeah. None of us can afford to be upsetting people in
Speaker:the inbox these days.
Speaker:Or if you tag,
Speaker:I don't know how many tags you're allowed to have on
Speaker:a picture,
Speaker:but if there's like 20 twenty-five tags,
Speaker:I personally am feeling used.
Speaker:It's like,
Speaker:all you're doing is using me as a follower for me
Speaker:to share what you've done.
Speaker:Exactly. Just be really careful with that,
Speaker:I guess is my point Being that you've got an audience
Speaker:that's so similar and everybody's in a similar niche,
Speaker:a better strategy.
Speaker:If you're really looking for people to help you promote is
Speaker:create a small social network of friends that you can create
Speaker:a group of and platforms like Instagram or Facebook and maybe
Speaker:name them like your social media team and help share with
Speaker:each other,
Speaker:but have a strategy for it.
Speaker:Like how can we help each other?
Speaker:And we can all drop our content in this group.
Speaker:And if it's relevant for your audience,
Speaker:you can go share it,
Speaker:but have an understanding and build a little team.
Speaker:That's willing to do that with you.
Speaker:That makes sense.
Speaker:Versus a strategy like that,
Speaker:that just upsets people.
Speaker:I think the big thing is,
Speaker:think of the receiver on the other end.
Speaker:And does it make sense?
Speaker:The other thing that I'm thinking of with stories that I
Speaker:want to make mention of here,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:stories is for visibility stories can also be for sharing content
Speaker:from others.
Speaker:Let's say you have a customer or someone who you've worked
Speaker:with and you want to share what they've done.
Speaker:You can take.
Speaker:And Bobby,
Speaker:you can probably say it better than I can,
Speaker:but a picture from their feed and share it to your
Speaker:story. So you can help other people,
Speaker:maybe their customers,
Speaker:someone in your chamber,
Speaker:maybe that you want to support and you can share their
Speaker:products in your stories too,
Speaker:to give them more visibility.
Speaker:And then from there,
Speaker:can you say that better Bobby And you know what?
Speaker:There are just days when people just don't know what they
Speaker:want to share.
Speaker:And I love strategies like that on days when you're feeling
Speaker:that way,
Speaker:like I just don't feel creative.
Speaker:I don't have my own content for whatever we all know
Speaker:how days can be to say,
Speaker:okay, I'm going to go.
Speaker:And today I wanted to go share my five favorite businesses
Speaker:and then you can go to identify those people you want
Speaker:to share.
Speaker:And now there's a theme to your story.
Speaker:Or I went out and I found my five favorite quotes
Speaker:of the day.
Speaker:And you share those.
Speaker:You can also do that with your own content.
Speaker:Anytime we post something into our Instagram feed,
Speaker:we share it into our stories to maximize visibility for our
Speaker:own content.
Speaker:A great strategy.
Speaker:If you're putting up an Instagram post,
Speaker:share that post into your story,
Speaker:then create a couple more segments to add a little bit
Speaker:more context or value or ask your audience some questions.
Speaker:So every post you could put up as an opportunity to
Speaker:get a story started as well,
Speaker:or you can go share it from other people's feeds or
Speaker:if they allow you to,
Speaker:from their stories.
Speaker:Also One of my favorite little parts is where you can
Speaker:link at mention them,
Speaker:but show a business's Instagram account.
Speaker:And it shows the first three photos of their feed.
Speaker:No, I don't know what you're talking about.
Speaker:You totally do.
Speaker:I'm not explaining it right.
Speaker:You go to it's the support small business.
Speaker:It's the one that has the business,
Speaker:the sticker.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:The sticker,
Speaker:the sticker.
Speaker:Yeah. And the sticker.
Speaker:That's my favorite one,
Speaker:because it adds a little bit of additional flavor to your
Speaker:story because it pulls in,
Speaker:well, you can click it sometime.
Speaker:If you've click it,
Speaker:it just shows the name,
Speaker:but you click it again.
Speaker:And it shows the first three posts of their feed.
Speaker:I love that one.
Speaker:Okay. Got you.
Speaker:Yes. I mean the stickers that Instagram has launched since we
Speaker:went into this pandemic,
Speaker:I've been amazing.
Speaker:I mean really such valuable tools.
Speaker:Do you feel there's advantage to trying to blend some of
Speaker:your content with a trending sticker?
Speaker:I definitely think that that's a great strategy and here's the
Speaker:reason we need to engage people in order to create relationships.
Speaker:One of the things I love about stories is all these
Speaker:opportunities to ask open-ended questions,
Speaker:ask people,
Speaker:polls, use a countdown sticker to create a notification for something
Speaker:that's going to happen in the future.
Speaker:It really is giving us such great ways to engage what
Speaker:I enjoy even more.
Speaker:Again, jumping back to those analytics.
Speaker:If you look at your story analytics before your story expires.
Speaker:So you've got to dive in there before that 24 hours
Speaker:hits. It shows you the names of every people that have
Speaker:watched the story who is engaged,
Speaker:who hit the stickers.
Speaker:Some of those stickers give you the opportunity to share them
Speaker:back with just a click into your story.
Speaker:There's just so many ways to learn from your audience,
Speaker:let them know you're paying attention.
Speaker:And then there's also in the analytics,
Speaker:the opportunity to reach right out with the direct message,
Speaker:which in my opinion is magic in social media.
Speaker:And the most underused tool really in social media is using
Speaker:direct messages to actually create relationships with people.
Speaker:If you see someone popping up on your story and you
Speaker:don't know who they are and day after day,
Speaker:they're watching,
Speaker:why wouldn't you reach out and say,
Speaker:I've noticed you've been watching and I want you to know
Speaker:how much I appreciate it.
Speaker:And is there content I can create?
Speaker:Or is there something you're looking for?
Speaker:How can I add more value to this relationship?
Speaker:Whatever it might be.
Speaker:You just took someone from a casual viewer to a loyal
Speaker:customer just by taking that five seconds to create a relationship.
Speaker:So I think people need to be using that tool and
Speaker:really using those analytics to identify those people on a daily
Speaker:basis. Yeah.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I go so far as to blocking out 15 or 20
Speaker:minutes a day,
Speaker:which seems small,
Speaker:but I can get a lot done then and going in
Speaker:and specifically only direct messaging on Instagram.
Speaker:So if new people are following me,
Speaker:I'll go look at their account.
Speaker:And if they relate to what I'm doing,
Speaker:or if I find interest,
Speaker:I might follow them back.
Speaker:But if I don't follow them back,
Speaker:I'd still might DM them and say,
Speaker:Hey, whatever my comments are,
Speaker:or I have a question about their product or something like
Speaker:that. And I've developed so many relationships doing that and it's
Speaker:not, Hey,
Speaker:come buy my stuff,
Speaker:right? It's Anyone relationships,
Speaker:again, it all leads to people buying your stuff or recommending
Speaker:that someone else do that.
Speaker:We've just got to create those relationships first.
Speaker:And I think for a long time,
Speaker:we were so focused on content creation that sometimes we forget
Speaker:what our real purpose is in these platforms and it's never
Speaker:to sell because nobody goes to these platforms with the intention
Speaker:of buying things,
Speaker:they go there to either be entertained or informed or to
Speaker:feel connection and to build relationships.
Speaker:We need to know that even as businesses,
Speaker:that's really our primary job in that specific space,
Speaker:we do a good job at it.
Speaker:Then we can sell to people,
Speaker:but they've got to like us and feel connected to us
Speaker:first. And the thing that's so great about that.
Speaker:We're all worried about being too salesy.
Speaker:This is a way of building relationships,
Speaker:forming bonds,
Speaker:finding areas of commonality that naturally then lead to product sales.
Speaker:If it's right,
Speaker:exactly. Cause sometimes you build relationships with people and you're not
Speaker:going to use their product and that's fine too,
Speaker:but they can support you in other ways,
Speaker:they can share your product with others.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:there's lots of ways you can collaborate right now,
Speaker:Bobby, within the group and give biz listeners who are part
Speaker:of gift biz breeze that my Facebook group,
Speaker:you already know this.
Speaker:So many people right now are reaching out to each other
Speaker:to do live shopping shows so that it's not just one
Speaker:person taking control of the Facebook live.
Speaker:They're doing it together.
Speaker:And More interesting is that to the viewers,
Speaker:then they're really thinking about what would make this appealing and
Speaker:bring people on.
Speaker:That's so good.
Speaker:And it's not one person being really anxious about being live.
Speaker:You've got a couple of people coming on together and their
Speaker:audiences then are blending too.
Speaker:Right? I was going to say for promotion,
Speaker:every new person you bring on,
Speaker:you bring their audience with them.
Speaker:So Great idea.
Speaker:This is just started happening naturally.
Speaker:It's a beautiful thing to say.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:Love it.
Speaker:Yeah. I love that.
Speaker:So, all right.
Speaker:Let's move to reels for a second.
Speaker:I got to tell you I am sick and tired of
Speaker:seeing people pointing.
Speaker:It was really cool in the beginning,
Speaker:but I'm kind of over it.
Speaker:I agree with you.
Speaker:There's a lot of that going on.
Speaker:Interesting though.
Speaker:A couple interesting things about reels for one,
Speaker:I personally do not feel like Instagram has really even come
Speaker:close to making this a very user-friendly space to use.
Speaker:Just as an example,
Speaker:my account doesn't have access to music and I manage a
Speaker:lot of business accounts and a lot of them don't.
Speaker:So I can't even create a reel and Instagram reels.
Speaker:I can't create it there because I don't have access to
Speaker:the music to actually make that happen.
Speaker:I'm still in a position where I either have to use
Speaker:a video editor to create my reel and then uploaded into
Speaker:Instagram. Or what I prefer to do is create my content
Speaker:and Tik TOK who has mastered this short form video concept.
Speaker:I'll create it over there,
Speaker:download it and then upload it into Instagram rails.
Speaker:So they have a little bit of work to do.
Speaker:However, that being said,
Speaker:I would recommend that first of all,
Speaker:people really start watching reels.
Speaker:See what it's all about.
Speaker:Go over to tic-tac and watch what's being created on Tik
Speaker:TOK. My daughters who are younger millennials right now,
Speaker:they're, you know,
Speaker:one's a young mom,
Speaker:one's a young professional.
Speaker:They're like really into their crafting right now.
Speaker:Like learning those skills that I think you develop at that
Speaker:creative, younger age.
Speaker:And they constantly watch how tos and craft videos and recipes
Speaker:and things on Tik TOK.
Speaker:There's a huge space there.
Speaker:Jump in there and watch what people are doing.
Speaker:And there's nothing wrong with starting to replicate those things,
Speaker:but using your own voice and your own personality and your
Speaker:own branding.
Speaker:And then as you kind of watching,
Speaker:you'll start to understand what it's all about,
Speaker:what kind of content is being created.
Speaker:But here's what I do love about reels.
Speaker:If you go into the explore tab,
Speaker:the discover tab,
Speaker:basically in Instagram,
Speaker:that little search magnifying glass,
Speaker:each post that gets put up or each video occupies a
Speaker:little square,
Speaker:but the reels are given to squares.
Speaker:Anyone creating reels is giving double the real estate in the
Speaker:explore tab so that people are seeing that content.
Speaker:They're just giving a lot more attention to reels creators right
Speaker:now. So if you really want to take advantage of this
Speaker:opportunity, that won't exist forever because once more people are creating
Speaker:content, they won't be able to give this kind of attention
Speaker:to this sort of content.
Speaker:Now is a great time to start learning and testing how
Speaker:to do it.
Speaker:And listen,
Speaker:we all stink at the things we first do.
Speaker:The first time we do them.
Speaker:I'm sure if I went back and watched my first live
Speaker:stream, I'd probably be mortified,
Speaker:but that's okay.
Speaker:We get better over time.
Speaker:It's new to just about everybody right now.
Speaker:So dive in there and just start experimenting a little bit
Speaker:because they're giving so much attention to that content.
Speaker:So that's one of the things I do love about it.
Speaker:Yeah. If you're at the point like Bobby Jo said live
Speaker:streaming first,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:don't try and capture right now because then you'll probably do
Speaker:nothing. But if you've already been live streaming,
Speaker:you're already doing stories and you haven't started reels.
Speaker:This makes total sense to me.
Speaker:And I agree with you,
Speaker:Bobby, I'm still in the stage where I'm watching what other
Speaker:people are doing and trying to decide what my messaging should
Speaker:be on reels.
Speaker:But what I'm seeing,
Speaker:mostly the value I get out of reels is when someone's
Speaker:teaching me something,
Speaker:I didn't know some hidden thing within Instagram or some of
Speaker:the entertaining things like the dancing and all of that.
Speaker:I'm also enjoying just from an entertainment standpoint,
Speaker:but you can in 15,
Speaker:now 30 seconds really share some valuable information that someone can
Speaker:use. It's really helpful.
Speaker:It is.
Speaker:And it's creative and you know what?
Speaker:You have a creative audience.
Speaker:They should be able to really wrap their head kind of
Speaker:around how do I make this unique and fun?
Speaker:And that's really what gets people.
Speaker:Attention is one be consistent and just keep showing up,
Speaker:but use that creative aspect of what you do to make
Speaker:your brand and your videos a little bit unique.
Speaker:I want to circle back to what you said about seeing
Speaker:everybody pointing to those little text bubbles.
Speaker:And I do want to say one of the reasons you're
Speaker:seeing so much of that is the algorithms do give again
Speaker:preferential treatment to things that are trending and the songs that
Speaker:get used in those types of reels,
Speaker:get more attention.
Speaker:They're getting more search.
Speaker:They're showing it to more people because it's a trending song
Speaker:or hashtag I don't like this Bobby.
Speaker:And so like you see the same thing over,
Speaker:like how many times have you,
Speaker:I can't even tell you how many videos I've seen to
Speaker:Fleetwood Mac in the last week because people are utilizing that
Speaker:because it's trending and it gets them a whole lot more
Speaker:attention by utilizing a trending song.
Speaker:So that's maybe one of the downfalls right now.
Speaker:And maybe as the platform builds out,
Speaker:gets more users and more content that'll shift a little bit.
Speaker:But right now everybody jumps on a trend,
Speaker:which in a way is almost a good thing while this
Speaker:platform is young.
Speaker:Because if you don't know what to do there,
Speaker:just do what everybody else is doing.
Speaker:And it's actually perfectly acceptable and will actually get you more
Speaker:reach You agree with.
Speaker:And if that's the way you are able to start doing
Speaker:something on reels,
Speaker:then go for it.
Speaker:Yeah. It's a good way to just sort of dive in
Speaker:and be like,
Speaker:well, this is what everybody's doing.
Speaker:Let's do it.
Speaker:I don't know if I'm going to do it now that
Speaker:I've said all that about the pointing,
Speaker:because I'm going to get calls like us.
Speaker:I'll tell you,
Speaker:there are a lot of work.
Speaker:When we first went into lockdown,
Speaker:I started making some tic-tac videos out of sheer boredom.
Speaker:And Holy cow,
Speaker:you could spend an hour making a 32nd little video.
Speaker:It can definitely suck you in.
Speaker:So go into it with a strategy or you're going to
Speaker:find yourself just being,
Speaker:having time sucked away from you at like you can't imagine.
Speaker:So a strategy,
Speaker:what would my audience like to see?
Speaker:How can I deliver it?
Speaker:Have the whole plan first before you go in there.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you said a few minutes,
Speaker:know what you're going to do in that space?
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I have a personal tic-tac that I've just been playing on.
Speaker:We just opened a tic-tac that we haven't even made a
Speaker:video yet that Jenna,
Speaker:who is our social media director at think big,
Speaker:a local,
Speaker:and I are going to create tic-tac videos there,
Speaker:but we had to open that one going,
Speaker:okay, this is our business Tik TOK.
Speaker:What are we going to do here?
Speaker:It's going to obviously be very different than what we do
Speaker:in other places.
Speaker:But the value proposition can't be that different.
Speaker:What are we known for?
Speaker:Why do people follow us?
Speaker:And how can we deliver that in these little segments in
Speaker:a totally different way than we're doing it anywhere else.
Speaker:So you've got to go into it knowing that,
Speaker:or you're just going to end up being lost.
Speaker:I think this is a really good point too,
Speaker:Bobby, because if you're going into it with business intent,
Speaker:you want more followers who are going to want to relate
Speaker:to you,
Speaker:follow your brand,
Speaker:ultimately purchase,
Speaker:whatever it is that you offer,
Speaker:just getting millions of viewers on a platform doesn't really necessarily
Speaker:serve that purpose.
Speaker:So you've got to be putting up content that people are
Speaker:going to be interested in that lead to you.
Speaker:Exactly. Which doesn't mean you don't do some things personal because
Speaker:people want to know who's behind the brand too.
Speaker:Oh sure.
Speaker:Well, and ours is going to be personal and it's going
Speaker:to be fun.
Speaker:And knowing Jenna and I were going to dance and be
Speaker:silly. However,
Speaker:people need to know that if they're going to follow us,
Speaker:it's not just for dances that other people created that we're
Speaker:replicating it's because we're figuring out how to offer value by
Speaker:teaching in that platform.
Speaker:And if we can do it in a fun way,
Speaker:yay for us.
Speaker:But yeah,
Speaker:no, what people are coming to you for,
Speaker:because if you don't deliver that,
Speaker:they're never going to sign up for your course,
Speaker:buy your product.
Speaker:Do any of those things,
Speaker:if they didn't come up to you to have that value
Speaker:delivered, they were just having fun watching you.
Speaker:They're not your ideal client.
Speaker:We need to attract our ideal clients in these spaces.
Speaker:Absolutely. Did I get us off balance with the things that
Speaker:you think specifically we should be doing?
Speaker:The first was going to your insights,
Speaker:checking to see what's changed and then adjusting your plan accordingly
Speaker:and then doing what the algorithm favors,
Speaker:which is all live.
Speaker:So we're talking streaming stories and reels.
Speaker:Yup. Was there more after this?
Speaker:I put create notifications and then I was gonna say,
Speaker:talk just briefly about mentioning if you sell a product,
Speaker:you've got to set up Facebook and Instagram shops.
Speaker:So that would be my last thing.
Speaker:It's actually a good point because you can't be talking about
Speaker:what they could purchase and not having a way for them,
Speaker:people to get there.
Speaker:How do you feel about this?
Speaker:If you have an opinion,
Speaker:I know that there are still a lot of people.
Speaker:I see them on both platforms where they say DME,
Speaker:if you're interested in buying and that's it.
Speaker:So there's really no place for you to go and buy
Speaker:online. And definitely there's a strategy to that.
Speaker:I see that a lot of times people will go live,
Speaker:especially people that have unique products,
Speaker:where there's only one of them.
Speaker:And basically it's like the first person to DME pay.
Speaker:I see that happening.
Speaker:And I guess for some business models,
Speaker:maybe that works.
Speaker:But I also feel like there's people that find that a
Speaker:little bit more invasive and maybe feel a little uncomfortable and
Speaker:that you potentially could lose buyers because people maybe don't want
Speaker:to reach out in that personal way,
Speaker:unless they've been following you for a long time,
Speaker:maybe they'd be really comfortable.
Speaker:And I guess it depends with your audience too.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:if someone's DM-ing you,
Speaker:then you have the whole thing of,
Speaker:okay, I'll send you an invoice.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:like it's all that back and forth versus click purchase done.
Speaker:It's coming.
Speaker:Right. Exactly.
Speaker:Now that messenger has changed so much.
Speaker:I'm even like starting to go,
Speaker:Holy cow,
Speaker:I open messenger.
Speaker:I'm getting the notification and Facebook.
Speaker:And I don't even know where my messages are coming from
Speaker:the last couple days.
Speaker:Talk about that.
Speaker:We haven't discussed the merging of all of that yet.
Speaker:So share with everybody what you're talking about.
Speaker:This is another thing that I think people need to really
Speaker:pay attention to in the coming year is the changes that
Speaker:Facebook's making to messenger.
Speaker:So they've been talking about it for years.
Speaker:We've been really excited about what is now taking place because
Speaker:we build messenger bots and think it's a really amazing technology.
Speaker:But what Facebook has basically done is they are now making
Speaker:messenger, the crux of all of their direct messaging and all
Speaker:of their family of apps.
Speaker:So right now Facebook and Instagram are fully integrated into messenger.
Speaker:They are also going to be opening up the Instagram API.
Speaker:Meaning if you have a messenger bot that maybe manages customer
Speaker:service or takes registrations for events or however you might be
Speaker:using that technology,
Speaker:you're now not just limited to utilizing that in Facebook and
Speaker:messenger, but you're gonna be able to use it in Instagram
Speaker:as well.
Speaker:Messenger is really going to become a massive tool,
Speaker:not just for messaging,
Speaker:for bringing people into rooms.
Speaker:You can now watch content together in messenger,
Speaker:but you can integrate all these tools to help your sales
Speaker:funnel really flow in a different way.
Speaker:We're really excited about it.
Speaker:You can answer your messages from everywhere.
Speaker:So if you're on your desktop,
Speaker:if you're in Facebook,
Speaker:the messenger app stands on its own.
Speaker:Facebook is bringing in messages from Facebook and Instagram and allowing
Speaker:you to respond from there,
Speaker:create content for both.
Speaker:It's really pretty exciting.
Speaker:All of the features that they have been rolling out.
Speaker:I think we're going to be seeing people using messenger more
Speaker:and more as Facebook continues to expand upon it.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:at this point you don't even need to use zoom.
Speaker:You can use messenger rooms and it's a great way to
Speaker:bring people into a conversation,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:in a platform they're already using and comfortable with.
Speaker:So really tons of opportunity in messenger,
Speaker:and you should definitely paying attention to all of the new
Speaker:features that they're rolling out in that space and utilize them
Speaker:Not so much in the U S but WhatsApp is part
Speaker:of that as well.
Speaker:Right? They do own WhatsApp.
Speaker:They have not integrated fully to WhatsApp yet,
Speaker:but that is also coming.
Speaker:They've been doing a lot of work in WhatsApp and right
Speaker:now some of it's kind of sitting independently,
Speaker:but eventually that's going to all integrate it into messenger.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:the overall theme clearly is Easier communication,
Speaker:easier contact,
Speaker:easier communication with each other and deepen in relationships because that's
Speaker:what it's all about.
Speaker:All we've been talking about here,
Speaker:Bobby this whole time.
Speaker:Yeah. I mean,
Speaker:it started out with how can people bring in more business
Speaker:and sales this holiday season?
Speaker:And it comes back to the same thing,
Speaker:which is first of all,
Speaker:getting seen then building relationships and then taking them deeper,
Speaker:then walks the road down to connections,
Speaker:collaborations, and sales,
Speaker:Right. And when we talk about taking people deeper,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:we just cannot ignore everything.
Speaker:Facebook and Instagram have done to make it easier for us
Speaker:to sell in their platforms,
Speaker:like setting up a Facebook shop,
Speaker:selling from Instagram posts.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:all of these tools that make the shopping experience absolutely seamless,
Speaker:not just for the user,
Speaker:but even for the business is so valuable,
Speaker:especially around the holidays.
Speaker:And especially during a time when we just aren't that comfortable
Speaker:going into the stores.
Speaker:And you know what I mean?
Speaker:I'm not exactly sure what retail is going to look like
Speaker:on black Friday,
Speaker:but I know that a ton of stores have already said
Speaker:they won't even be opening that they're not going to open
Speaker:on that day.
Speaker:They're not going to deal with the crowds and try to
Speaker:figure out how do we do that shopping experience in a
Speaker:safe way,
Speaker:maybe looking at just what is black Friday going to look
Speaker:like and making that your focus for,
Speaker:I need to get these Facebook shops set up and I
Speaker:need to do something different this year.
Speaker:Take advantage of the tools that were being given in the
Speaker:space that everybody's spending their time in.
Speaker:Couldn't agree with you more.
Speaker:And if any of you don't know how to set up
Speaker:your Facebook shop,
Speaker:jump over to gift biz unwrapped.
Speaker:We talk about all of that.
Speaker:There have a course for you,
Speaker:super easy way to set up and sell Bobby.
Speaker:This has been phenomenal.
Speaker:I appreciate so much all of your information.
Speaker:Where can someone go to get more learning from you?
Speaker:You've been talking earlier about all of the classes that you've
Speaker:had. Where could someone go?
Speaker:If they want more direction on how to go live,
Speaker:doing reels,
Speaker:all the things that you offer,
Speaker:You can find all of that information on the training page,
Speaker:on our website,
Speaker:which is think big,
Speaker:go local.com.
Speaker:You can also find us in all the social media platforms.
Speaker:Our handle everywhere is at think big,
Speaker:go local,
Speaker:send us a message in any platform.
Speaker:And we will get back to you with any more information.
Speaker:And then finally we do have a private Facebook group where
Speaker:all we do is share the latest information on things that
Speaker:are changing in social media,
Speaker:new tools that small business owners need to utilize.
Speaker:And you can find an invite to join that on our
Speaker:ThinkBIG go local Facebook page.
Speaker:It's called Bobby bees,
Speaker:social media.
Speaker:Clambake, it's a little beach party we have on a daily
Speaker:basis just to make sure small business owners know what's changing
Speaker:in social media so they can focus on the things that
Speaker:they're experts in and have a resource to come and figure
Speaker:out how they might need to shift strategies.
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:I appreciate your time here.
Speaker:I appreciate the extension to join your group.
Speaker:Look at your courses.
Speaker:You offer so much value.
Speaker:Thank so much Sue.
Speaker:And I hope everybody has a fantastic holiday season and that
Speaker:everybody really gets the opportunity to end the year strong.
Speaker:And that 2020 brings better things.
Speaker:Here's to that.
Speaker:Thank you,
Speaker:Bobby, for challenging me this week,
Speaker:I love having people push back on my thoughts and make
Speaker:me consider something new.
Speaker:How convincing was she?
Speaker:Well, you need to go to my Instagram account at gift
Speaker:biz unwrapped to see if I am now doing reels.
Speaker:Did Bobby convince you to do something different up your game
Speaker:online in some way?
Speaker:If so,
Speaker:tag me.
Speaker:So I can see on tap for next week.
Speaker:We're talking with a long time business owner who goes through
Speaker:the evolution of her business,
Speaker:but that's not why I'm going to tell you to listen.
Speaker:She has some things to say about Pinterest that you don't
Speaker:want to miss.
Speaker:Thanks so much for spending time with me today.
Speaker:If you'd like to show support for the podcast,
Speaker:please leave a rating and review.
Speaker:That means the world to me and helps the show get
Speaker:seen by more makers.
Speaker:It's a great way to pay it forward and now be
Speaker:safe and well.
Speaker:And I'll see you again next week for another episode of
Speaker:the gift biz unwrapped Podcast,
Speaker:I want to make sure you're familiar with my free Facebook
Speaker:group called gift is breeze.
Speaker:It's a place where we all gather and our community to
Speaker:support each other.
Speaker:Got a really fun post in there.
Speaker:That's my favorite of the week.
Speaker:I have to say where I invite all of you to
Speaker:share what you're doing to show pictures of your product,
Speaker:to show what you're working on for the week to get
Speaker:reactions from other people and just for fun,
Speaker:because we all get to see the wonderful products that everybody
Speaker:in the community is making my favorite post every single week,
Speaker:without doubt.
Speaker:Wait, what,
Speaker:aren't you part of the group already,
Speaker:if not make sure to jump over to Facebook and search
Speaker:for the group gift biz breeze don't delay.