The Socialize Podcast

Helen: 00:00

Welcome to the socialized forecast, February 13, 2024, the Tuesday edition of the socialized podcast where we take you through the trends, original content ideas, and social media updates of the week. Before we get started, since it is Galentine's Day today and Valentine's Day tomorrow, Just want to let you know that we are hosting a giveaway. And I'm really excited about this because it's about showing the love by giving some of our favorite gear away. So 3 lucky winners and one grand prize winner. And here is what you are looking at.

Helen: 00:32

For our 3 winners, it's going to be a content creation gear package consisting of my favorite microphone, which is my plug in wired microphone that I use for my TikTok videos. And the brand is Saramonic. It works on iPhone. They also have one that works on Android, depending on you what phone you have, that's the one you'll be sent. So very excited for the microphone because you know, I believe I'm a big believer in a good microphone.

Helen: 00:57

You'll also receive a tabletop tripod that extends up into a standing tripod and a small LED light panel that I like over a ring light personally. So those are your 3 pieces of equipment if you are one of the 3 winners chosen. And the grand prize winner is going to receive a 2 one on one private social media lessons with me. So that'll be a lot of fun. And I really enjoy when I do get to meet a a winner like that or one of my followers that's been with me for a while.

Helen: 01:28

We have a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to it. So that's what's up with the giveaway. We also have upcoming next week this week. Oh my goodness. Weeks are flying.

Helen: 01:39

On 16th, on Friday, I am going to be doing a live interview podcast style workshop with Gina from Skinnytaste. So if you're not already registered for that, it's free. And I'm gonna interview her. I have lots of social media questions for her as well as just life questions. And if you're there, you can put some questions into the chat and we'll be asking Gina all of those.

Helen: 01:59

Very excited for Friday. Yay. I can't wait. Alright. Let's get into the update for for social media this week.

Helen: 02:09

And I'm going to really lean on the Super Bowl, which happened Sunday and was a lot of fun on so many levels. But being in advertising for so many years, I always really focus on the commercials and see what's happening, what brands are doing in the commercials. And what I really loved this year was a lot of collaboration with creators. I will say the commercials crossing over into social media. So there was a lot of that going on.

Helen: 02:36

And my favorite was Duncan with Ben Affleck. First off, because it showed his funny his grumpy side and how he leaned into that and really kind of capitalized on it. I loved it. And also how the collaboration happened over to social media where he was at a drive through shooting a commercial at a Dunkin' Drive Thru in Massachusetts, Also, that production shoot for the commercial just looked like a lot of fun. Also, that production shoot for the commercial just looked like a lot of fun.

Helen: 03:07

So wish I was on that shoot. Anyway, I kinda love seeing when advertising is crossing into social media just because both of those, I mean, are I guess, both of both of those are a love of mine, Having my whole career in commercials and now seeing how it's blending into social media is just a whole lot of fun. Alright. Let's get into the trends. What what have we here?

Helen: 03:30

I've seen this one for about a week, and I I was really hoping that we would include this one this week, which is do you see these hands? Do they look like they're shaking a u? No. Really fun trend where you can show you can highlight this in a lot of different directions. You can use it to to say things that you to to demonstrate things that you are afraid of and you're showing your hands actually shaking, or you can do it, about something that happened and you should have been afraid of, but you weren't.

Helen: 03:58

So you can take it in a lot of different directions. It's a really good idea to look at the audio and get inspired by what some of the other creators are doing, and maybe relate that to your own experience. I I'd love to say trends are fun. But don't think about necessarily copying someone else's idea. Getting inspired and doing your own spin on it is a much better chance of going viral.

Helen: 04:21

Because stealing someone else's idea and trying to do the same type of viral video, that's number 1, that doesn't always work. And number 2, it's really not, it's not authentic. So try and figure out your own way. It's way better. The next one is fun, just because you can poke fun at yourself where you can, be saying, a lot after my filler video.

Helen: 04:43

What the heck? And I'm not gonna edit this, so you're hearing it clean as it gets. But this trend, Somedays I'm on Fire, is a way to show and tongue in cheek that you're on fire, but you've the one girl that we have highlighted in the main video here is when she finally gets gets to work and it's, like, 10:45 at night, and she's finally opened up her laptop to do some work. So it's a good way to poke fun at yourself and say, you know, you're on fire and you really are on fire, or you're on fire tongue in cheek because you really have been lazy the whole time, and now you're just you're just kind of waking up to it. So there's a lot of different ways to use that trend.

Helen: 05:21

The third one, which is really a Rihanna mashup, and it's not a specific trend that you have to do exactly like everyone else. This is where you can take this music. Some creators are lip syncing to it. Some are creating dances, and you can make this your own doing it for a Valentine's Day video. You can do it for a Valentine's Day video.

Helen: 05:43

There's plenty of ways you can just use the music and make a music video out of it. The the music is is trending, and that's what you wanna really lean into. So don't get hung up on doing exactly like someone else. Once again, take your own spin on it and have some fun with it. In terms of original content ideas, it's a good idea to lean into a holiday because it tends, at least from where we sit, it tends to look like the platforms do push out specific content that is being seen for a reason.

Helen: 06:16

So the Valentine's Day would be a good reason why they'd push that kind of content out on that day. So it's a great idea to hop on something like that. And you don't have do something that that's not in your comfort zone. So you can just share favorite things to do on Valentine's Day. Like, how do you spend your date night?

Helen: 06:34

What kind of gifts do you buy? Or you can spread spread the love in a different way. And really, Julie and I decided to take that on, and we decided to release, a giveaway for Valentine's Day. So we specifically made a plan that we were gonna launch a spread the love on share the love, spread the love on Valentine's Day with a giveaway. So that's another thing you can do, which is very easy.

Helen: 06:56

You can also share, you know, creators you love. You can share podcasts you love to listen to, shows you love to watch, just using that love theme and rolling that into what you might be wanting to share otherwise. The next one we'll call dinner party topics. But this is the idea that you are going to create a video sharing something that you love to get on a soapbox and talk about. So I did this myself very recently, this past week where I talked about filler words because sometimes I get so annoyed listening to myself use filler words, which I have been doing on this podcast episode, and it's really frustrating when I hear it.

Helen: 07:36

And I'm like, why am I doing that? Even when I use the word like, like I just did. It's just so frustrating and it's so hard to, you know, get out of that habit. I use the word, you know, I just did it again. You know, get out of that habit.

Helen: 07:50

I don't know why we are conditioned with these filler words, and I just feel like I need to crack the code on my own self to solve it, but it is difficult. We don't like pauses. We also try to buy time to think, which I believe is a lot of where filler words come from. That hesitation or you're trying to think of what your next thought is that you wanna get out, and so you put in a filler word like, and you just try to buy some time. So I really I so I get so frustrated on Zoom meetings often when I hear filler words over and over again, and it just was one of my things where I said I gotta talk about this.

Helen: 08:29

And I'm not talking about it to make fun of other people. I am guilty as charged on in using filler words often. So that's my topic. Another topic I love to speak about is dental health because I work on a lot of, as you know, the Sensodyne and Pronamel commercials. And so I have spoken to dentists so often in my life, and I'm so aware of dental things.

Helen: 08:49

So I get into it. Sometimes I'll get into talking about toothpaste for some reason. So whatever it is that you enjoy talking about, try and make a video about it. See if you can get some engagement from your followers by just getting on a topic that you really, really like. And mine was filler words for this week.

Helen: 09:06

So there you have it. You know? Right. Alright. Our next one is who made you buy it?

Helen: 09:15

And this is whether it was a Super Bowl commercial you saw or an Instagram ad or a TikTok shop thing, where you were coerced into buying something or you were persuaded, you had a good sales pitch presented and it and it made you purchase. That is a fun one to not just share what the thing is, but why you bought it. And then was it worth the purchase? You can go deep into something like that. And I think a lot of people would would really wanna know, especially when it's a TikTok shop item, whether it's was really worth worth the purchase.

Helen: 09:51

So that's a possible good third option for you this week. Now I can't even remember if I said this at the beginning of the recording, but this week, I am going to meet with Skinny Taste, Gina Homolka on Friday in a live podcast type workshop, where I'm going to interview her and open it up for questions to whoever joins us. It is free to register, and you can put some questions in the chat, which she'll answer. I'm also gonna be answering some questions, and we're gonna dive deep into really Gina's social media journey, how she got started with her cookbooks, and how when she when she did start actually posting and what that was like for her, what she loves about it, what she doesn't like about it. And I really am curious to see how she goes about creating her content.

Helen: 10:37

Does she do it by herself? Does she have help? All these questions have been burning in my mind, and so I'm going to be asking her them on Friday. So join us for that. It's definitely gonna be fun and I'm excited to meet her for the first time.

Helen: 10:50

I'm definitely gonna be fangirling over that because I've been wanting to meet with her for some time now, and this is just the perfect opportunity. So do join us if you're available Friday at 1. And if not, you will receive the replay. And now let's get on to, I guess, let's get on to that. Some of the tutorials that we've shared this week.

Helen: 11:10

Personally, the one that I leaned on this week was the Vogue magazine trend because I was requesting it. I've had a lot of requests for it. A lot of people messaging me and sending it to me and saying, how, how, how? Tell us how. Teach us.

Helen: 11:22

So I will tell you that there is, if you have CapCut, there is a bunch of templates. There are not is. There are a bunch of templates you can choose from. However, I've noticed that in some countries, the templates aren't always available. So what I did was provide how to create it yourself from scratch.

Helen: 11:42

And honestly, it's not that hard as long as you know how to create a freeze frame, how to turn it to black and white, and how to adjust it for the timing of the music. Those are the 3 basic steps, but it is taught in a tutorial nice and neatly with the visuals. So you can just tap on that from the newsletter and learn. The other thing I put in I didn't put in as a tutorial, but I did share the link to the filler words rant that I went on just to talking about filler words because I guess I'm just on that this week for some reason. And I'm trying really hard to pay attention to it in my in my content and in my podcasting now.

Helen: 12:19

And for the music suggestions, I always say, please just get the newsletter because I provide the links and then you can just tap them and see why I chose the music that was chosen for the week. Before I leave you a couple of things, 1, I'm gonna do a little tech talk Tuesday tech talk thing where I'm gonna mention my ceremony wireless microphone set, which comes with 2 little microphones. This plugs right into my iPhone, and then I can be not attached by a wire. I find this useful when I'm on the go and I'm out and about in the city. When I'm home sitting at my at my phone right in front of my phone recording, I tend to use the wired one just because it's plugged in and it's ready to go.

Helen: 12:56

And I don't have to worry about keeping things charged. So that's my little Saramonic Lovett little tech Tuesday talk. And I want to answer a couple of quick questions before I leave. Alrighty. So for this week, we there's a bunch of questions that have been coming in.

Helen: 13:11

And I'm just gonna pick out a couple and do my best to answer. First off, somebody asked, does reposting help your views? So I thought that was an interesting question. Reposting tends to help the creator who you're reposting's views because you're sharing someone else's content, and it's going out to your audience in theory. It's not going out to your entire audience, but it gets pushed out to a first portion of your audience.

Helen: 13:38

So it's helping that creator be seen. It's also probably somewhat helpful to the algorithm that it sees you as an active participant. So I'm not gonna say that reposting actually helps your views directly, but I think it is a good thing to participate in. Now this next question came in as a full paragraph, but I'm gonna summarize because I kinda love this question. Somebody mentioned that they accidentally post and then they panic because they can't get out of it.

Helen: 14:09

And sometimes you'll see the wheel spinning and they're trying to figure out how to cancel, cancel, cancel. So I am going to share my hot tip on how to deal with that if you accidentally hit that red post button and you see the percentage thing going in the wheel spinning. The best strategy from what I have been using for years now is I quickly swipe and put my phone on airplane mode and turn off the Wi Fi. So all you have to do with the minute you see, oh, no, I hit post. Do your swipe, hit that airplane mode, and then make sure that wifi is off so that you're not connected.

Helen: 14:45

Your phone will, in theory, freeze up and won't be able to post that video. So it'll get as far as it got, and then it'll it'll get it'll fry. It'll stop. And what that does, if you then quit the TikTok app or quit whatever it is app that you're using, Instagram or TikTok, it will then put it back into the drafts. And when you go back to the app, you'll be able to post it without or make the changes or finish off whatever you were doing.

Helen: 15:09

This is like a hot tip. I probably should make a tutorial about it because I think that I've used this I've used this strategy so many times on my videos when I hit post by mistake and I'm like, blah, you know, when they move the button at one point. And so I used to be next was red and now it's post was red. Oh my goodness. Completely freaked me out.

Helen: 15:28

So that's a hot tip on how to stop your video from posting if you hit post too soon. Alright. And that is it for today. Thank you so much for joining me. As always, if you landed here by accident from a podcast search, make sure you subscribe to the socialize newsletter so that you get the links that I'm talking about.

Helen: 15:47

And you can go find the free TikTok course and workshops and newsletter sign up. It's all available in one stop on hellosocialize.com. So you can find the TikTok course, the workshops, you can subscribe to the newsletter, you can click on the podcast. It's all there right on that website homepage. So check that out and then come back to us on Friday for the socialized strategy where we do that deep dive into the topic of the week.

Helen: 16:13

I always look forward to it and more questions will be answered. Thank you for listening and have a good week.