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Social Sessions
Brought to you by TJ Creative Agency, a social media marketing agency, this podcast that will take you behind the scenes of the world of social media. Whether you're an influencer, a business owner, a content creator or just an overall creative person we will teach you how to create the perfect social media strategy and build your brand online.
Social Sessions
Breaking Down the Marketing Funnel; What Part of Your Social Media Strategy is Falling Short
This week Terrah and Audrey sit down to talk about the marketing funnel and how to determine what areas of your social media strategy are falling short!
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Have you ever wondered what goes into your favorite brand's digital marketing strategy?
Speaker 2:I'm Tara, the founder of TJ Creative Agency and I'm Audrey, the Creative Marketing Director of TJ Creative Agency. Whether you're an influencer, a business owner, a content creator or just an overall creative person, we'll teach you how to create the perfect social media strategy and build your brand online. Welcome back to Social Sessions, everybody we are talking about. This is, I feel, like a topic that a lot of people have questions about but don't necessarily know how to word it. We're going to talk about, let's say, you're posting every day, you're being consistent, but you're not seeing the results that you want to see. We're going to talk about how you can really break down what part of your strategy is the weakest link, essentially, what part of your strategy is missing and how you can fix it. I forgot to look up any sort of updates.
Speaker 1:I actually found one. I did find something on TikTok this morning which I thought was kind of interesting. That's, the thing with these apps is, if you aren't looking, I think they add things and we don't even realize it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's always new stuff.
Speaker 1:There's always new stuff. There was on TikTok, actually. If you go live, you can add a lead form to your live. They're pushing you people to go live for that reason, and that lead form could be for email or email marketing, or if you're trying to get them to buy a product, or whatever it may be. I thought that was an interesting way to get people to start utilizing lives more.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that is cool. I also saw that TikTok not TikTok Instagram A okay random update, but you can add song lyrics to display in your reels like you can on Stories. You didn't used to be able to do that. But bigger than that, instagram is bringing back their Creator Fund, which is pretty cool. I don't think they've divulged, I don't think it's started yet, but I saw a story posted about it and then I saw a few other accounts being like this is huge. I haven't, to be honest, done a ton of research into it, so I don't know if it's going to look exactly the same as the bonus play did before, which I don't think anyone really liked the reels bonus play, because it was like here's $2 for like 5,000 views.
Speaker 1:I did notice something on one of the accounts we manage is you have these award things or when you get a certain amount of likes on a reel or whatever. Have you seen that? And it gives you gauge.
Speaker 2:I feel like I've seen them, but I honestly haven't.
Speaker 1:I don't know if that's just to incentivize people to be like get to your next goal, kind of thing, or if it means anything at all.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I don't know what that Creator Program looks like I haven't looked into it enough but I know they're revamping and bringing back some sort of a reward system for creators over there, so that's kind of exciting. It needed a revamp. I'm glad they took it down when they did, because it was. I mean, I don't think any Creator Program is perfect. If you guys want more insight on the Creator Programs, we have two different episodes, like a part one and a part two, I believe, of all of the different Creator Programs on all of the platforms. It might be a little bit outdated now because Pinterest doesn't exist and the Instagram one doesn't exist, but yeah, the Instagram one was like well, I think it started off strong. This was like the conspiracy theory that I feel like a lot of people had. That was like it started off really strong and you made like an okay money and then, once you joined the program, I feel like everybody's views dropped tremendously and then it was like you went from making an okay amount of money on Instagram to making 50 cents on Instagram. Yep, it changed. So I don't know it needed some sort of a revamp.
Speaker 2:Instagram in general, I feel like, has been going through so many changes. Like I don't remember if I said this on the podcast, but I've definitely put it. On social media, like Reels, views are down 77 0% since last year across the board. So Reels this is also this is a sidebar on like, social media is constantly changing. A year, two years ago, reels were like the way to grow. It's not anymore. Reels are not like the way to grow on social media. Social content is obviously still like, probably the most prevalent amongst all of the platforms, but Instagram is not pushing Reels nearly as much as they used to and I've seen a lot of people say that they're seeing way more success with carousels and getting like having something shocking or some sort of like statistic or something that really grabs your attention, like big font on that first carousel post and get it on the explore page and a lot of people are saying they're seeing a lot more. You want to hear something else I read.
Speaker 1:I mean, these are all things like when you're doing your research. I don't know if you do this throughout the week, but like you read something and then you're like, huh, I wonder if I should do that or is that a waste of time. But it had said that not doing squares but doing the longer form Instagram posts. You don't know that measurement, because the idea is that one of the algorithm things is that how long they're staying there and it's longer in length.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean that's an interesting concept. I mean I would, I tried it. I don't like the way it looks on the grid because it's really hard to measure center and stuff. You know what I mean. Like it's awkward when it goes to the grid. But I was like whose account could I try that on, just to see if it made a difference? I mean I really think that's all we do is a lot of testing and trying to see. Yeah, so that feels like a.
Speaker 2:I've seen people be like you don't necessarily don't do squares, but you don't have to do squares, but like the idea that that's going to keep them on longer feels like a bit of a stretch, because it's about I think it just means like it's literally like that. No, that's what I mean is it's like it's like 200 more pixels on the screen, like I don't think it's really going to change the algorithm, being like oh, they're spending like 0.3 extra seconds.
Speaker 2:I do it sometimes because, like I do it with memes, certain photos, Like when I feel like I can't get the whole thing in. You know I'll do it that way, but I don't necessarily do it intentionally to be like I think this is going to keep people on a little bit longer, because there's like an extra centimeter of content.
Speaker 1:I mean, hopefully the guy that talked about it did some A-B testing, but because he's pretty big on like YouTube as far as like ideas, but I don't know if he just like makes shit up as it goes to.
Speaker 2:I'm also just like I've become super skeptical of everybody giving tips online, because I'm like so many people are so gimmicky and so like. This is matter of fact, this is the way that it needs to be and it's like who told you? To be honest, like that's how I feel about Gary Vee. That's how I feel about like so many people online giving these tips. There's probably only like two people that I really look to, and they're less social media professionals and more like marketing and advertising professionals.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Because there's and I mean I'm not discrediting anybody, because obviously here's the thing everybody speaking from like their own personal experience. Fine, that's great. But just because you had a certain experience doesn't mean everybody else is going to have that experience. You know what I mean? Yep, and that's what I feel like TikTok is with a lot of these growth specialists or like social media gurus or whatever it's like. I had success on one account and now I know what I'm doing and let me tell you how to do it.
Speaker 1:I'm going to get 1400 followers.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like I'm so happy for you. I am, but I don't think your tactics on your lifestyle page are going to help me and my client who is an esthetician Like I don't think that's going to translate, yep, you know. So I don't know. Again, I'm not saying, I'm not saying like don't listen to any of them. I just feel, like everybody, especially lately, I take very much with a grain of salt and I've been trying to like look into I don't know like sounds boring, but I've been looking into a lot more like articles from like more reputable sources versus like video content.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because it's starting to feel very like.
Speaker 2:Yeah, everything is just and the other thing is is that, like when you're giving social media tips, that's one of the easiest niches to grow in, because everybody wants to grow, right Like your audience is massive. It's much less of a niche audience because you're able to reach anybody who wants to grow on social media. You could own any type of business, you could be a social media manager, you could try to be an influencer, whatever, like it's just easier. So, even like, when I talk about things that have worked on our account, I'm very aware that the things that have worked on our account probably aren't going to work on other accounts, because we're talking to so many more people than than other like client accounts, if that makes sense. So I don't know that's. That's something else to keep in consideration when you're listening to these social media gurus online. Again, I'm not knocking any of them Like I'm giving out tips online.
Speaker 2:So, like take, just take everything with a grain of salt. But if they're only using their own account as a reference point, just know that if you're online giving social media tips, you're going to be able to grow a little bit easier than I think. Someone who has more of a niche audience and like a specific product or service that they're trying to push Agreed Anyways. So that was a bit of a tangent on the updates, but things are changing. Yeah, you got 10 minutes of updates this week. Now, before we jump into the episode, I would love it if you rate and review the podcast everybody. It would mean so much to me or I'll switch it up this week. Maybe share a video clip, share the episode with someone, I don't care, helps us out sharing it.
Speaker 1:That's a good. That's a good call, like if there's something that you think applies or would help somebody in your network of people, like, send it and share it.
Speaker 2:I share podcasts constantly. I don't know if anyone listens to them.
Speaker 1:Nobody does. I sent you one yesterday. Did you listen? Probably not.
Speaker 2:No, I'm gonna be honest, I didn't. Here's the thing Is I only listen to like work related podcasts on the clock. I'm not. I'm once. I'm off the clock. I'm not thinking about social media, because otherwise I'm incredibly drained and I was listening to it oh wait, you just sit there.
Speaker 2:So. But that's the beauty. That's the beauty of life Everybody has a different experience. I might listen to a podcast, send it to someone. They don't listen to it. The beauty of life we're all living different lives and we're all living different experiences. But I do kind of feel like sending a podcast is like a love language. I sent one yesterday to my friend and I was like I only need you to listen to the first three minutes. I was like they're talking about F1 and it feels like a very us conversation. And she was like, oh my god, love that, we'll listen later.
Speaker 2:She probably didn't listen but it was fun that I thought of her when she probably didn't listen to it, and that's okay.
Speaker 1:But I like the idea that you say it's love language, because I have a problem with sending songs to people that I want them to connect to the story and they're probably like what is she thinking when she's sending it?
Speaker 2:I don't okay. So I kind of do that, but I don't send the song necessarily. I do this less now because I have much less storage on my phone, but I'm not kidding you. For years, every weekend I'm like out of the bar, out of the club.
Speaker 2:A song comes on that I have some sort of memory with a friend. I'm recording myself singing the song to the camera. I'm sending it to my friend. Also, keep in mind, I'm not ever going to send it through Snapchat because I don't use Snapchat. So I'm just recording a video on my phone and texting it to a friend. And now you understand that maybe. Sure, I don't have that storage anymore. I don't have enough storage to record it and then also have it take up space in my texts. But I used to do that constantly. Any song that reminded me of a friend. I was like, oh my God, remember when we went out and we were dancing to the song? Or remember when you used to play this Bad Bunny song on this vacation? Constantly doing that that's also my love language is just seeing stupid, stupid things that I'm like thought of you.
Speaker 1:Thought of you. Hey, it's better than a card Gets there faster.
Speaker 2:That's true. So sometimes sending a podcast is what needs to be done, or I'm like these girls are so unhinged Feels like us. They're so delusional Feels like us, and I love that. Megan and I's love language has become just sending. You ever go on TikTok and there's those tweets and they're like the stupidest tweets, that's like, and it's just a roundup photo whatever, yeah, of just funny tweets. That's all Megan and I send to each other. We actually have a shared album together called the horrors and we just upload like these tweets on there.
Speaker 2:That's awesome and that's a love language in itself. Send stupid tweets to your friends, you guys.
Speaker 1:I'd send my dad. Do you send your? I'd send my dad TikToks all the time.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, my dad has recently really gotten into reels Him and my mom. I probably get more DMs on Instagram from my mom and dad than anyone else Anyone else. They're so funny too because I don't respond to them, because I don't even on TikTok. My friends are sending me things on TikTok. I'm not responding Unless it like really is speaking to me. Then I'll reply to that specific TikTok. Most of the time just know that I've seen them and I think they're funny, but I'm never gonna say anything back. And my dad's like.
Speaker 2:I guess my dad was talking to my mom and I was like why doesn't she answer? My mom's like she's watching them. She just doesn't reply. But my dad makes me laugh. He's recently, like I said, recently started sending me reels but has gotten into like he'll just be like me and you, and it makes me laugh when he says that or he's like this is so me, because he's like kind of getting like the internet, like that's how I'm sending things to my friends. I'm like me and you, or like this is me or this is you, and my dad's like starting to use that lingo and it makes me laugh. But he sent me a reel the other day of a guy explain like this would never in a million years come across my for you page or on my reels page or whatever. It's this guy justifying how he bought like 50 new car parts in a week and he's like this is me and I'm like so true, dad, that is you. Isn't it awesome that there's a?
Speaker 1:channel that's like for him specific, the things that he literally my dad all the time.
Speaker 2:He's so funny. I'll be like he came and visited right. And I'm like a lot of times if I have a package in the mail room and I don't know what it is, it's usually PR and I'm like I don't remember ordering anything. So I think I had gotten some sort of like PR package when he was here and he's like why don't you get car parts? Why don't car companies ever send you PR? And I'm like, well, that's not really like what. First of all, what would I do with a car part? I don't know how to use it.
Speaker 1:You should make an influence.
Speaker 2:I literally been telling him that I was like, dad, you know so much about cars, like there's a space for it, like you and Taylor could do it. And he's like, no, I'm like then you could get free car parts you could have. I was like I have a friend who's kind of a car influencer. Oh my gosh, he's like what if you like he's like you could do a deal with, like Harbor Freight, dad, by the way, what am I going to do a deal with Harbor Freight? For what am I going to do that for? You could do a deal with Harbor Freight. I think we should?
Speaker 1:I think you should, let's make him famous.
Speaker 2:I've been telling him like two years I'm like you and Taylor could do it. Like you know, there's a market for it there obviously is if he's getting reals fed to him.
Speaker 1:That's what I'm saying, but that's what I was saying.
Speaker 2:Anyways, that was a tangent Back to marketing. And now back to marketing, back to what we were talking about. So not talking about about to talk about, like I said, this episode is really going to be for those of you who you feel like you and this is something we get asked a lot about or like comments. We get DMs, we get things I hear in the one on ones and it's people being like I'm posting consistently or I'm posting content, but I'm not seeing results that I want. Okay, and obviously that can be a little bit daunting because it's kind of a whole machine, right.
Speaker 2:Your strategy is like several things that you can do, several things that are linked together. So when you feel like you're putting, you're implementing your strategy and it's not working, it's sometimes hard to tell what's yeah, what part is not working, because it's all tied together, right. So in order to kind of figure that out, I want to kind of remind you guys of the marketing funnel. Now, I know we've talked about this before, I know we have blog posts about it, blah, blah, blah, but this is very pertinent to the conversation we're going to have, so I just kind of want to break this down for you quickly. These are kind of the three main pieces of the marketing funnel which kind of correlate to the three main types of content that you're going to be making.
Speaker 2:So imagine, like an actual funnel, right At the top of that funnel where it's the widest, that is, the awareness part, right? So that is where your potential client or customer becomes aware of your brand and engages with you for the first time. So pretty self-explanatory. Like someone can't buy from you or make an appointment with you if they're not aware of you, right? Yeah, so this, the main focus of this phase, is visibility. You want to get eyes on your content and you want to know, you want to let people know that your company exists. So this is where you're going to focus on viral type of content. This is where you're going to focus on, maybe, the influencer marketing maybe paid ads.
Speaker 2:Yeah, all of those are great, and the thing that I see happening a lot is, as we kind of break down the rest of this funnel, is people will kind of hyper fixate on one of the three pieces, right? So this happens a lot with the awareness phase. People get super hyper fixated on like viral content, for instance. So that's why you see a lot of people like social media gurus online talking about this is how you're going to go viral. Three steps to going viral, blah, blah, blah. Because they get super fixated on these numbers and the views and whatever, but then they don't do the other pieces of the funnel. So, yes, you're bringing people to your page, but then what Like? Then what are they going to do once they're there? You know what I mean Exactly. So that's that I feel like is one of the biggest things that I see people struggle with is it's either the awareness phase or it's the bottom of the funnel, conversion phase, which we will talk about in just a second.
Speaker 1:I have a question yeah, in this awareness phase do you find with clients that nobody's goal, like everybody's automatic goal, is conversion, when I feel like the first part has to. There has to be awareness put in before we can get to that part.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it's like I almost think it's like kind of a two part situation with clients like they want the conversion, right, they want the sales, obviously that's why they're working with us, but they also fixate on views and followers.
Speaker 2:So it's like those don't correlate. I mean they correlate in the sense of everything is is combined, everything is connected, but they don't correlate in the sense of, like your conversions aren't a direct correlation of your views. You know what I mean Just because you have 15,000 views on a video doesn't mean that you're going to get sales from that video. Yeah, you know. So it feels like they don't, like that doesn't click in their brain a lot of times. Is they don't really understand that just because they're getting the views or just because they're like gaining followers, because they're doing paid ads, doesn't mean they're getting the conversions, because they're not focusing on the other two steps, right, like they kind of just want to jump from the vanity metrics to the conversion without realizing that there's work, yeah, without realizing that there's work that needs to be done in between.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So that kind of brings us to what that work is, and that's the second part of this funnel and that's the consideration phase. So this is where potential customers have entered the middle of the funnel, once they've engaged with your brand in a meaningful way. So this is really where you are trying to build trust with your relations, or with your audience, and you're starting to build a relationship with them. So this is when they start to understand who your brand is and why it is that you do what you do. So this is kind of what I'm talking about, this work in between, where this content is usually not going to get the same amount of views and impressions as your awareness type of content, but it is going to make your audience understand you more. Yeah, so examples of this type of content could be like behind the scenes, it could be a day in the life, it could be a Q&A. This happens a lot in stories too. I think stories are huge in these. These last two parts of the funnel Obviously like stories are not going to do much for your awareness, which is also why I think we have clients sometimes be like what's the point? But the point is your audience is getting to know you. They're starting to trust you, and this is also where you're answering questions that your audience might have before they purchase from you. Because we've talked about a lot Like you have to think about everything that you're doing. You have to think with your audience in mind, not with you in mind, not with your business in mind. But how is your audience going to benefit from this?
Speaker 2:And a lot of times you need to, like your audience needs to have certain questions answered before they're ready to work with you or ready to buy from you, right, and those questions are going to vary like product by product, company by company, service by service. But sometimes it's like how much money is this product? Is there maybe a payment plan for this product? Is there, like a warranty on this product? What do the review like? Do other people like this product? A lot is you know how much use could I really get out of this product? So maybe, like, even in that instance, maybe it's a clothing piece and it's you showing this piece of clothing in different ways, right? Maybe styled in a casual way, styled in a more dressed up way, styled for winter, styled for summer, like showcasing. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Like you have to know your audience well enough to know what their concerns might be to I think this is the hardest part of all of it, because this is where you actually show up Like you can't just make a piece of content that's viral you know what I mean Like that one amazing piece of content, like you have to actually kind of you have to work at this part a lot harder and especially like forward facing people or forward facing founders or whatever you have to be willing to kind of put in that work on stories.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you have to be willing to show up, and I know we've talked a lot about forward-facing founders. I actually want to get your opinion on this.
Speaker 1:I don't know how necessary it is anymore Like I don't think it has to be the founder, I just think it has to be. I do think there needs to be human presence.
Speaker 2:So here's my thoughts is I think we used to talk about this a lot If you've been listening since the beginning of the podcast. We used to talk about the importance of forward-facing founders a lot, and I don't know because now I look at the brands that I really like and, yes, some of them have a very forward-facing founder, right, like Haley Bieber is very associated with Rode, but it's because the followers come with it. But then I look at other brands, like Revolve. I have no idea who started that brand, right? I have no clue. Their presence is like influencers in UGC, right? So the human presence doesn't even need to be a real person, one like I think about another brand that I think about a lot is R Place.
Speaker 2:The Pans gone crazy viral and there's not a ton of humans behind it. Sometimes in like videos and stuff it'll kind of be like models and whatnot, and there probably is UGC behind it too, but I just don't know. But it is UGC, do you think like so that's what I was gonna ask is do you think UGC can start to replace that idea of the front-facing founder?
Speaker 1:I think it really can. I think that's why we're seeing an increase in it actually, and people putting actual, just putting more money towards it. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Even like thinking of skims. Obviously Kim Kardashian is very. It's hard with the celebrity founders because they are like a huge part of the attraction.
Speaker 2:But even with skims, I feel like she has become less front-facing over the years, like she's involved in fewer of the campaigns. Yeah, like she definitely still is there, but I'm seeing so much influencer content from skims and so much UGC content from skims Like that's what I feel like they rely on. Obviously they have their campaigns and their photo shoots for the different launches and things like that, but there's so many other people on the page than just her now.
Speaker 1:What do you think the elements are that are capturing that part of the audience in the funnel? You know what I mean. Like, what are the attributes or what are they doing different? Do you think it's just the connection between the human? Do you think it's the UGC?
Speaker 2:Skims specifically. They've somehow managed to capture the entire internet and I think I don't wanna say it's luck, but they definitely have gotten like. They started going viral on TikTok and I don't know if that's because they were sending out PR packages and that was kind of their method, cause it felt very organic, right, like that one. That first video of the girl being like these are my jeans without these and this is why I think it is or this specific like takeoff was organic was because she was using like a shaping body suit as a normal body suit, which is not necessarily what they were intended for. It was meant to go under your clothes, I believe, cause they had normal body suits, but this girl was wearing like this shape wear as a top, basically, and it went viral and this, this body suit, like kept going out of stock and but what I think Skims did really well is I think they capitalized on that and then they started.
Speaker 2:I think they expanded their PR list substantially. I think they got a lot more influencers involved. So they were like we're already essentially the talk of the town, people are already talking about us. Let's amplify that times 20 and have everybody be talking about us. So I think that's kind of what's been different and what has shifted from like Kim being front and center of everything to being like now it's your people, now it's people that you love and people that you trust and you're seeing it everywhere. Like it feels, like it genuinely feels like you cannot escape Skims. It's everywhere.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure, and I think that was intentional. But like I think in their sense, they really utilized UGC and influencer content, like they were even working with smaller influencers, right, like not even massive people, like, yes, they did have massive people, but they also just had people that were making good content that they could repurpose themselves. And, like I said last week, one of their ads, it didn't feel like an ad on TikTok, it just felt like a lifestyle girl that I would have already been following. You know what I mean. So I think they've done a great, great job with UGC and really like utilizing that in the way of like making that the human connection.
Speaker 1:The human connection. Yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 2:So that's kind of the consideration stuff too right Is like with them it was word of mouth right, sticking on that example. Their consideration stuff was like everybody's wearing it. Okay, like you should trust it because everybody's wearing it. So now, moving on to the bottom of the funnel and this is circling back to what I was saying earlier Like I think businesses either go full force on awareness or full force on conversion and conversion being okay, this is the bottom of the funnel. It's the last place prospective customers go before they convert.
Speaker 2:So a lot of times this is like testimonials. This is demos. So what I mean by demos are like, let's say, a spire, for example. I don't know how. This is kind of niche to us, but this is the first thing that came to mind. Like softwares will usually give you like a 14 day free trial, or like they will schedule a call with you and let you use the software for like a day, a week, whatever. And that's kind of the conversion stuff right, Like try it for yourself, see what you think about it.
Speaker 2:This is also why people do the guarantees right, like 14 day, whatever, or like your money back guarantee, like you'll love it, or your money back, that type of thing. That's conversion. It's also like segmented emails. It is sending out like an email newsletter to people who maybe have like had something in their cart. This is the reason that companies will also do oh like, don't miss out on like. We saw that you put these three items on your cart and you haven't checked out. They have like. That's why they do it right. This is the conversion. I also think. I think there's a little bit, there can be a little bit of a gray line in between the consideration and the conversion, because I think there's way to slip in conversion type of stuff like sell your product in a way that like feels more organic.
Speaker 2:It doesn't feel so salesy, but when I see people focus solely on conversion, this can also be why you're not seeing the results that you wanna see, because you're A selling in a way that feels outdated. Right, you're selling in a way that's like try my product. These are the features, like in a very like. When I think of outdated selling, I think very much of like infomercials, right, they're saying like you know, here's the products, here's X, y and Z about it, versus saying like I know you're struggling with this, this is what can help you. You know what I mean. It just like, doesn't feels organic, so obviously no one's gonna buy from you if it feels like they're literally watching an infomercial when they're on your page.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and if I found that sometimes when you focus too much on the conversion, even like the verbiage of like call the action stuff, like being kind of more selective in your call to actions and not plastering it on every single thing, yeah, we put out.
Speaker 2:I also think we talked about stories a little bit in the consideration phase. I think stories are also really huge on conversions because I think we get just as much, if not more, story link clicks than like link and bio clicks.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's right there, it's like yeah, it's easier.
Speaker 2:There's no additional step in the sense of like, going to the profile and clicking. It's just like oh, let me check it out. Yeah, and now am I saying that that's gonna lead directly to a conversion? No, but I think it's one step closer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is one step closer.
Speaker 2:It gets into your site. So now that we've kind of been reminded of the marketing funnel, we have to really look at where the disconnect is. Again, let's say you're posting every day, you are being consistent in your content, you are posting whatever three times, five times a week, whatever it is, but something is falling through. So here's where we can look to kind of determine that. First, we can look at our views Is your content consistently getting the number of views that you want? Now the caveat here be realistic with the views that you want, right. Like, don't be like, no, I'm not getting millions of views on every video. Okay, that's maybe aren't supposed to be getting millions of views every video. But let's say you have 500 followers and you're consistently getting like 1,000 to 2,000 views. That's pretty good, right, that's 500 to 1,000 more people than what follow you are seeing your content, right. So that's kind of what I mean. Are you maybe seeing? This is also a great place to look at like on Instagram specifically, you can see non-followers. You can go to each individual post and see okay, this is how many followers are watching this. This is how many non-followers are watching this. That's a great indicator how many non-followers are watching your content. So that's kind of what I mean you can also how many people are you reaching, how many accounts?
Speaker 2:I should say Don't necessarily look at impressions. I personally think impressions mean like Nothing really, except for like an ego boost. I don't think impressions really mean anything. But if you're looking at accounts reached, that can be a good indicator. If you and essentially like are your platforms growing? Right, even if it's just one to two people a day, are your platforms Growing like follower count accounts reached, are they consistently growing?
Speaker 2:If your answer to these questions is no, then you have an issue in your awareness phase. Okay, if those, if those are the issues, if you are seeing a consistent decrease or you're just like not reaching a lot of people, and what's important to note here too, is that not every single video of yours is meant to be in the awareness phase, right. Sometimes you're making videos that are more for the consideration phase. Sometimes you're making videos that are more for the Conversion phase, and I think some people get caught up in that because we've been, it's been, drilled in our head that video is the Best way to go viral and video is the best way to reach awareness. Great, yes, true, but it can have other purposes too. So I should be specific in saying that, like, when you're looking at singular content, make sure you're looking at the content that is meant to bring in the awareness.
Speaker 2:So, with all of that being said, if you're not growing, if you're not seeing consistent views on your videos, if you're not seeing, like, an increase in the accounts that you're reaching every month, then it's an awareness phase issue. So how are you gonna fix that? You're gonna probably do some research in your industry, right? You're gonna be seeing what are people Talking about, especially like, not even just people in your industry.
Speaker 2:But this is also reflective on, like, who you're following. Are you following the types of people that you want to be your customers? Yeah right, like, are you following people that you, let's say you're revolve, because we've used them as an example? Let's say you're revolve, and if you're not following the lifestyle, influence or aesthetic girls, you're not going to be in touch with your customers, right? So if you start posting in a way that doesn't speak to them You're not up to date on, like, the internet trend of it all it's not gonna work, right? You're not talking to them in a way that resonates with them. It's just gonna like, it's gonna flop, it's gonna fall short every time this. This is why I was just explaining this on a one-on-one call the other day. I use rare beauty as an example. All the time their tick-tock strategy. They're super plugged into internet culture like, and that's because their audience gears, I believe, a little bit younger. Sure, they have, they have older, but I think their audience typically ranges like in their 20s.
Speaker 2:I would assume, but they're super plugged into internet culture, so they're able to speak to them in a way that makes sense. So that's also what I mean by doing research. I don't necessarily just mean you're competitors, but I also mean look into how your audience is talking online. What are they interested in right now? What are, like, the trends that they're talking about right now?
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:So for it, like, a good example was Sophia Richie did that Tutorial likes, however, long ago, about how she did her slicks back bun. She's talking about a hair mask in there. If you're a hair company, you're going to capitalize on that. You're gonna like, maybe do your own tutorial of, like, how we do Sophia Richie's slick back bun, or blah, blah, blah. You're gonna capitalize on that, because that had a moment in Internet culture and in your industry. Yeah, exactly so you're gonna really focus on those things. You're gonna focus on your audience. You're gonna focus on your industry and you're gonna see what people are talking about and you're going to capitalize on that. That could also be like doing more trends. That could also be like focusing, if you're if your ideal audience is also someone that is maybe Super into pop culture. Maybe that means bringing pop culture into the mix in your next video or in your next piece of content, right, yeah, so it's things like that, but I would say that probably means you're maybe a little bit disconnected from your audience, and disconnected in the sense of, like, what's going on online, and this is another thing that, like, you would kind of be surprised that this is an issue, but If you're posting online and you want to market online. You need to be online, because this is actually something that I see a lot, a lot recently, like a lot of questions that I'm getting, where my biggest piece of advice recently has been get on the platforms you're trying to market on. I'm. I can't teach you Tic-Tac culture. I can't do that for you. Okay, you have to just spend time on the app. I can't teach you what people want on Instagram. You have to just spend some time there. Yep, right, so that that's kind of an indicator that your awareness phase kind of has a break. There's some, there's some sort of disconnects, and that's kind of how you can fix it. Now, maybe those aren't your issues, okay, maybe your views are fine and You're going viral or you're growing on the platforms.
Speaker 2:So now let's move on. Are you getting responses to your stories Regularly? Are you getting comments and DMs on a regular basis? Is your audience talking to you? Are they talking back to you? If your answer is no to those, if that is something that you're struggling with, then you have an issue in your consideration phase, in that realm of content. Okay, now, how do you, how do we fix that? This, I mean, to be honest, a lot of this stems back from like knowing, knowing your audience right. What's going to get them talking, what do they care about, what questions do they have that you can answer for them? And also like kind of what we talked about earlier, is there that human element there that makes it comfortable for them to respond to you, right, or do they just feel like they're going to be talking to like a robot or a customer service person?
Speaker 1:Do they feel?
Speaker 2:like they're gonna have an actual connection with you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think that's where it plays into, like that community, that community engagement is so important. I can't like the amount of people I see that just ignore comments or Anything especially from a business perspective is it's just crazy to me to expect that anybody would assume that you would are actually there Paying attention to them or wanting to bring them value. So I think that that engagement probably falls a lot into this. Yeah, shin, and if you're lacking, I would try to hyper focus on engagement or even any even engagement outreach. So reaching out to your audience specifically and engaging with them, that's probably the hardest thing to do and the most time-consuming, but I think it does. It comes back tenfold.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I also think, like kind of on that topic, like just talking to your audience, like asking their opinion on things, which could be as simple as like putting a question box in your More stories. It could be doing a poll and also like something really quickly on question boxes. I feel like people think about this all the time but like Influencers, are they putting their own questions in question boxes? Obviously they are, you guys, they are, and I'm not saying that's all of them, but, like I've actually given this advice before, like put questions, like type your own questions that you want to answer or that you know you hear often, or whatever. You can put your own questions in there, answer them publicly as a way to essentially tell your audience. I want you to, I want you to do this so that I can answer it. Almost. It makes them almost feel more comfortable like, oh, other people are, are asking.
Speaker 1:People are asking me this same thing. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:So it kind of and I'm not saying that to like put up a front of like oh, everybody's talking to us, blah, blah, but it creates more of an environment where people feel comfortable asking you questions or they feel comfortable voicing their opinions. Yeah, and also, when I say ask for their opinion, I don't, we've all seen those it's like annoying Captions that are like what's your favorite the beach or the mountains and it's like no one's shut up by the way, no one's answering that. But you can ask like. You can ask your audience for their opinion in a more like Subtle way, subtle way and also just a more like inviting way. Like I love when people say like these are our red flags, what did we miss? Like what are some things like?
Speaker 2:I did a video the other day on TikTok that was like social media X. Like I went through I found an article that was like social media managers say there's seven biggest X online and then at the end of the video, I was like what are yours that like aren't covered in this article, and it gets people talking, right, people want to be able to voice their opinion. Or it can be as simple as like do you have more questions? Like send me a DM. I would love to answer your questions. Before you like, make a purchase. I would love to educate you more on this subject or whatever it is. Invite people to talk to you more.
Speaker 1:Yeah, invite them. Invite them to the DMs. That's a good way.
Speaker 2:So okay, let's say that's not your issue either. Let's say your engagement is fine, your views are fine, you're growing, you're not seeing conversions. Okay, so are your sales low.
Speaker 1:This means this one's hard.
Speaker 2:Or is your website traffic down? If your answer is yes to those, then you have a conversion issue and, to be honest, you guys, a lot of this is that you need to sell more online. Now, I think there's like polar opposite, like big extremes in this category, where, kind of what we talked about earlier, you're constantly selling. All you're doing is selling. That's not going to work for your audience. Or, on the flip side of things, you're never selling. You're never telling your audience to buy from you. You're never telling them that their product can, that your product can, fix their issues. They're never hearing about those things.
Speaker 2:All they're coming to you for is your content, because maybe you're educating a lot. They're coming to you for education. They're not your customers, though. They're your followers, right, and they're not going to ever become your customers If you don't tell them about your product. Tell them about, okay, you like our education. This is actually this, like times 10. We can do so much more for you, yeah, right, or maybe it's changing the way that you sell. Like I said some times, it feels very infomercial.
Speaker 2:It feels very like you know so cheesy it feels and don't get me wrong. Like sometimes that works Like the newest skims ad. I just saw a monopoly go ad. Like sometimes cheesy works, but it's intentionally cheesy.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Right and it's like kind of comical versus like here's a photo of our product with a list of things that can do for you on the side. That's not going to work, so maybe it's doing it more organically. We've seen even influencers implement this. If you're doing an influencer campaign and your goal is more conversion focused, we've seen them like implemented in a get ready with me, like sometimes. Sometimes I've gotten campaign offers from brands that do not. They don't even tell me to talk about the product, they just need it in the shot, like I had one that was like I was.
Speaker 2:I think it was like a water bottle and they were like you don't even need to talk about it. It's like make a few videos where the water bottle is present in the video, right, and so that's kind of a way and showing like, showing you using it, which is why, like a lot of times, these, these brands, especially like UD brands or makeup brands, will send them to influencers and just be like you don't need to talk about it. There's no selling points, there's no like topics that you need to hit, just show you using it and maybe maybe point at like I love this product because it does X, y and Z or this is something I've struggled with and you know this is one of the only products I've found that that really does what I needed to do, whatever. So maybe it's it's selling in a way that feels more organic and less in your face.
Speaker 1:I like that concept.
Speaker 2:So those are really the three biggest areas that I think some of you guys are going to fall short. Hopefully this kind of opened your eyes and you were you're able to kind of dive into your own strategy and again look into your analytics, see where things are missing things, see where things are falling short, and then kind of use this as a guide of like how you can turn that around.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think we could. The conversion thing is interesting. I think that the it definitely. I feel like, in order for it to be conversion issue, those first two things have to be. That's what's missing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like a lot of it. Well, that's that's what I think is important to note too. Like, like I said at the beginning of this episode, it's not like focus on one of these things and you'll be fine.
Speaker 2:You need all three? Yeah, but you might just be falling short in like one area and the other ones are fine, yeah, so that's that you guys. I hope you enjoyed this episode. I feel like it was a little bit longer, but I feel like it was. It was good. I feel like there were a lot of good takeaways. Maybe listen to it again, take some notes, I don't know, do what you got to do? Do you ever take notes when you listen to podcasts?
Speaker 1:I always look at the time, but you know how like I'll look at the time and go back to it, but I do think the time stamping is so helpful right now. I've noticed it on so many things. Oh my.
Speaker 2:God, I love.
Speaker 1:I love when podcasts do that, so you, do like both times or yeah, and it just timestamps. I've never done it on.
Speaker 2:maybe I should do that on.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, actually sidebar I don't even know how to do that. All right, Like did the upgrade in that whatever you added in, and it automatically will do that for you.
Speaker 2:Like it grabs the well, now I want to see do they do that on Apple podcasts? Let's see, cause I think I've really only seen it on Spotify. Let's see. No, they don't. Maybe I should start doing that, cause I think it's so. I think it's helpful, because I normally start watching a podcast on YouTube, which okay, let's talk about that really quick.
Speaker 2:Do we want the podcast on YouTube? Because it was for a little bit and then I stopped doing it because you all weren't watching it. That's okay, don't worry about it, that's fine. I I just did it because I love watching podcasts on YouTube, which is what I was going to say about the like segmenting. I like it because I can skip forward, because then, like, let's say, I go on a walk, I'm like 30 minutes into a podcast. I go on a walk, I put it in my headphones and listen to it that way and I can easily get to like where I was at earlier, exactly. But let me know if you guys want it on YouTube.
Speaker 2:Like I said, easiest way to tell us any of this information is in the like Q and A box on Spotify or in our DMs at social sessions podcast. That's the easiest way to talk to us. Like I said even on the last Q and A episode, I want to hear y'all's questions. So let us know what you want to hear about, let us know who you want on the podcast, any recommendations, what we can do differently, as long as it's nice, I only want my criticism, please. But yeah, like, let us. We want to hear from you. So that's that and we'll talk to you guys next week. Chat next week. Bye.