The Socialize Podcast

Helen: 00:00

Welcome to the socialise strategy, the Friday edition of the socialise podcast, where we take a deep dive in to the topic of the week. Happy Friday. Hope you all had a productive week. I had some fun adventures aside from my work projects, which are currently involving editing of commercials. But aside from that, I found myself on 7 AM in 27 degree weather on a rooftop at a dance party, which was a lot of fun.

Helen: 00:27

If you don't know about Daybreaker, you can look into it. It's it's a it's a fun, good good vibes experience. And I also took Jonathan skiing, so I took an actual day off work during the week, which was fun and overdue. So I had a good time with him. And now we are heading into a weekend and I'm ready for relaxing.

Helen: 00:47

So before we dive in too deep into the topic of the week, I wanna remind you that we do have a giveaway underway for our email subscribers. So if you are an email subscriber you've already received a link to a survey that once you complete it enters you into a giveaway and the prizes are listed when you click on the survey link and read that newsletter which came out on when did that come out? On Valentine's Day on Wednesday. So take a look back in your spam folder or at your Wednesday emails, and you'll find that in your Wednesday afternoon email box. And if you do if you do the survey and you enter into the contest, the prizes are pretty good.

Helen: 01:26

We have a content creation set that we're giving away 3 of them, and then also 2 private sessions working with me 1 on 1. And you can use that however you like, whether it's for learning, strategy, or just discussing your account. I'm happy to do whatever you need to help you with your content creation. And the other thing before I dive in is that on, this afternoon, it's on Friday, I was gonna say, but it's today, I am hosting a workshop with Gina from Skinny taste, where I'm going to interview her. We're gonna have some question and quest q and a from our listeners that are watching live, And I'm gonna just get in deep with her social media questions, just finding out how she does her social media, how she manages it, and also just a lot about her life as a cookbook author.

Helen: 02:13

Pretty excited about that. So I can't believe it's today. We I feel like that was a long time in the making, and now it's here. Alright. Let's talk about the topic of the newsletter today, which went out this morning, and that is why does content perform differently on TikTok versus Instagram?

Helen: 02:30

It would obviously be so much easier if we could be have consistent views and everything across both platforms. But, unfortunately, the first thing we're going to share is that the algorithms are different. So, therefore, the content is going to perform differently. It's just the nature of the beast. We don't even understand fully what the algorithms are doing, and they are constantly changing.

Helen: 02:52

So at but at the core, they do have different algorithms. So content will perform differently. That's just the way it is. Unfortunately, it's there's no hardcore solution to it, but first, you just have to be aware that that's what's going on so that you don't get frustrated. The other thing and this was Julie's insight.

Helen: 03:09

And I I've when I first heard her say it, I was like, oh my gosh. That is so true. So I'm gonna share it with you now. And we think that one of the biggest differences between Instagram and TikTok is be due to the origin of the apps. When Instagram was first launched, and I think it was in, I wanna say, 2,000 tens or so, early 2,000 tens.

Helen: 03:32

When it was launched, it was a photo sharing app where you shared things with your friends. So it was people that you knew was that that's who you followed, and people that knew you followed you back. And it was more of a, if you follow me, I'll follow you. It was that kind of a vibe on the app. And most of what all of you the content that you were posting was only seen by the people who were following you.

Helen: 03:56

So there was not this other reach, which only happened since TikTok. So let's just talk about when TikTok blasted onto the scene in later in the 2000 tens in the later 2000 tens. And with the popularity of TikTok really surging during the pandemic when people found themselves with time on their hands and time to scroll. So what happened? TikTok, the nature of it was that it was feeding content of people you didn't know into your feed, And that was how the platform worked.

Helen: 04:27

So it wasn't you get on there and then you follow your friends and family. That was not the idea of it. You get on there, you make a username, and you immediately start scrolling, and and you're connecting with and seeing in the content of new users that you've never seen before. So the nature of it was a finding new people type of app, and it's really changed the game. It immediately gave the user an option for what what you wanted to see and how to curate your content, and people were always looking at the for you page.

Helen: 04:58

So that showed popular content from creators who were having viral videos going. So it's a really different way of starting out on that kind of an app. And that's why the people that jumped on it in 2020 or early 2020 grew a following pretty quickly because they were in they were visible to new people that they had never been visible to before on Instagram. And if you really take a minute and think about that, it's kind of game changing and it'll help you understand why the apps are the way they are. I loved it when she first said it.

Helen: 05:33

I was like, poof, my mind was blown. I love it. And it's also a way that it changed how content was created because, of course, then the whole concept of TikTok trickled over to Instagram where Instagram came out with reels to do the competing with TikTok, and then reels started to be shown to people who were not your friends and family. So or followers. So it picked up the same type of algorithm mantra from TikTok from pic Instagram picked it up from TikTok and then put it out in that way.

Helen: 06:05

And I think that really also helped to change how Instagram was working. It gave you a new opportunity to do something different on Instagram. So I love that insight. I think it's helpful to keep that in mind when you're creating content so that you understand how the apps started, how they evolved, and how you can then evolve with them. So now let's let's go a little deeper into that.

Helen: 06:31

If you are thinking about how the apps are different and you and you kind of are getting a sense of how they're different and you realize, oh, I get it. I get how the audiences are receiving my information differently, you can start to think about how to make your content perform better on the different apps. And now if you think about Instagram, it started out as a photo sharing app, and everything was polished and pretty. And even I think young people, millennials in particular, still post in that old style way. They can't get out of their head that their Instagrams have to be perfect.

Helen: 07:04

Even in their reels, they're more curated. They're more angle specific and thinking about your best shots and whatnot. So it's not quite as going rogue as things were on TikTok or are on TikTok still, but when TikTok first came out. So it was this whole idea that was through seeing influencers whose content was so polished, and they wanted to portray themselves in their perfect lifestyle. And, really, it affects the way your mindset is as a viewer too because you're only seeing someone's content that is so polished and you think their life is so perfect.

Helen: 07:37

And I think that's why a lot of people didn't wanna post on Instagram or didn't like social media at first. They just it was making them depressed because they weren't seeing reality. It was that whole Instagram versus reality. So really did a number on people's head. But on TikTok, we saw a shift into a more realistic type of content, humor, dancing, silly, ridiculous.

Helen: 07:58

A lot of that happened during the pandemic where people were just free to be themselves. And it probably helped that it was popular at a time where there was a global pandemic because it was it allowed people to just be free and explore their own creativity. So I think about that as it relates to my content. I would never have had time if there was not a pandemic to pause, make videos, star in my own videos. I was bake doing baking videos.

Helen: 08:25

I spent so much time making content because I was bored. I had nothing to do. I didn't have any work. I found I suddenly found myself with all this time on my hands. So I was really able to enjoy creativity creativity for creativity's sake.

Helen: 08:40

And so it really I think it helped a lot of people, I think, spend their time better or use their time to create their own world of, I mean, explore their own create creativity perhaps. And that's where we saw creators launch. And I think that was a really good time. So I love that time. It's I think back to 2020 TikTok, and I think it was like my kindergarten years on TikTok, and I love it.

Helen: 09:07

I love thinking about it. And I remember the good memories of when I was first experiencing the growth of and followers, and I thought, oh, what does this mean? I'm excited. I'm going viral. And I was just, it was just really, really a fun time.

Helen: 09:20

It it brings back good memories to me. But now we have to take that information and think, what are we doing with that information? We understand how Instagram started. We understand how TikTok started. And now we can see Instagram taking taking that lead from TikTok on most things.

Helen: 09:37

The one thing I wish TikTok would take the lead on Instagram on or vice versa do is that collaboration thing. I say it a lot, but there it is again. I can't help but mention mention it because I really want TikTok to hear my universe waves coming at them and make that feature available. But there are most of the time, the features that are coming to Instagram are kind of coming from TikTok. So knowing this, I think what we you wanna do is think about how you want to change your content for Instagram, if that's something that you want to do, or are you going to just accept that this is where I want my content to lead, whether it's Instagram first or TikTok first or Facebook first, wherever you choose that your first avenue is.

Helen: 10:22

If you want to take the time to curate it for another platform and do something different to tweak it, time consuming always. Everything is time. Everything equals time. So you've gotta decide if it's worth it and if you have the time for it. And if you don't, you want to lead into your first one and then trickle it out from there and let the cards fall where they may.

Helen: 10:44

And I kind of love that because often I I'll think that a video is going to do better on TikTok because it's more it's more crazy or relaxed or whatever. And, actually, it ends up doing better on Instagram. So I wanna almost challenge you not to worry about it and just see what happens, but maybe you're already doing that. So let's say you wanna go the other way. Let's say you want to really curate for each platform.

Helen: 11:08

What does that look like? Alright. I'm gonna start with this because this is this was not actually in the newsletter. I just I've been thinking about this a lot since I want knew knew I was gonna be recording this. And I wanted to make sure I'm providing extra information here.

Helen: 11:23

I've noticed on Instagram, there's a lot of these short little sounds where you can do one aesthetic shot of yourself thinking, looking, typing, one shot, and have a bunch of text on the screen that tells a story. And those tend to do well on Instagram for some reason. Those videos, in my opinion, don't do as well on TikTok unless you're really funny or really clever with your caption. And most people, we don't have that, I don't know, that sense of I I sure don't have that writing sense where I can really nail something relatable to someone because that's almost like a comedy writer when those people are really funny or really insightful. It's more Julie's style.

Helen: 12:02

She can she can come up with those things. I cannot. But if you want to think about how it can be different, try I would suggest taking on Instagram and trying more of those. In a theory, they're easy to do, and I wish that I could challenge myself with it, but it's just not important to me to do that. So I have to just decide for myself what is the most important that I want to focus on and not get myself bogged down with too many things.

Helen: 12:28

Alright. So the idea there is thinking about those short sounds where you see someone's video come up on your page, on your Instagram feed, and you see it, and it's a short sound. It's, like, maybe 10 seconds, 12 seconds, and there's text on screen, and there's just one shot of the person typing, thinking, whatever. And purposely make a few of those videos and see if they do well. Think about a nice aesthetic pleasing shot where you're doing something and you're sitting somewhere or whatever, and the and the background's pretty and there's plenty of space that you can put text over it and curate those short little quick I'm gonna call them quick virals because in a way, those are the ones that do tend to go viral for some reason if someone's clever enough with the caption.

Helen: 13:10

But if you're and now let's go the other way. If you're a really polished creator on Instagram and that's where you feel you're most comfortable, try thinking of TikTok as more like the Instagram story, where you post something that's a little more irreverent. You're not so worried about, what your audience is gonna necessarily think of it. You're just doing it kinda for you. You're doing it in a spontaneous way.

Helen: 13:35

And maybe that's a strategy you can bring into TikTok. You can also decide on TikTok, you're gonna do something more trending or more, like, lip sync dance type video or something that's very you can see it over and over and over again. There's that Benson thing with the transition when he's doing and he jumps over a couch and looks like he's landing on his phone and it cuts to a nice pretty shot. You can do transitions that that are quick and easy and that are more TikTok friendly. And those might have more potential to go to give you more views.

Helen: 14:12

So it's it's thinking about what's doing really, really well on that platform in particular that you can lean into. I'm gonna add one more thing here about we're going off the rails for for this one, but LinkedIn. Excuse me. So on LinkedIn, my challenge for this year, by the way, was to post more on LinkedIn. And it has been one of those things where I'm like, don't make me do it.

Helen: 14:38

It's too business. It's too corporate. Whatever my things were that were bugging me about posting on LinkedIn, I have now decided to challenge myself to post 2 times per week on LinkedIn, and that is just a goal. I'm using whether it's podcast posts or written posts or clips, you know, highlights from these podcasts. I'm trying to curate content that is specifically for LinkedIn.

Helen: 15:05

So why am I telling you this? Because I've decided to make a commitment to myself and do it. And that is exactly what will get me where I need to go. So if you have something in your head that you're like, I want to make sure I'm posting or I'm focused more on Instagram this month than TikTok or whatever it is. You make that decision, put it out there, put it on a piece of paper, write it down, tell someone, whatever is gonna keep you accountable.

Helen: 15:37

I put it on my New Year's resolution list with Julie, and I'm like, I am gonna do this. This year is the year I'm gonna post on LinkedIn and pay more attention to it. So I just made a, of I voiced that idea, and now I am sticking to it. So I think the thing that will help you is to hold yourself accountable. Decide what it is you're gonna do and hold yourself accountable to it.

Helen: 16:00

Alright. So we went off the rails, but we're coming back now. So lastly I'm gonna say lastly regarding the topic for today. When you are thinking about the diff the differences and you're thinking about Instagram versus TikTok, even when you're thinking about Facebook, try to take the pressure off. If you don't have time for thinking I gotta do this for this class and gotta do that for that platform, go decide, make the decision, which thing is the most important, and that's the thing you're gonna do this week.

Helen: 16:30

And just try it for a week and see how it feels. I did that with LinkedIn. I tried it for a week. I committed. I knew I was gonna keep going, but it felt good to keep going because I was thinking, wow.

Helen: 16:39

I've really, kept to my kept to my goal. And I think that's the key is keeping to your goal and not letting yourself down. And, also, if you screw up, you can always just give yourself a pass and then pick it up the next week. Kind of like everything else you when you set a goal and and you fall down for a minute, just pick yourself up and keep going. Alright?

Helen: 17:01

So that is those are the tips for the different algorithms and how to best manage them. And the biggest thing is not to be stressed about it. Let let give yourself a break. Give yourself grace. It's okay not to be great at every single thing.

Helen: 17:17

And it's also okay not to not to be everywhere. If you need to take a break on one platform to focus on another, that's also okay. Before I wrap it up, I'm gonna do a few questions. So let me open up my question sheet. I'm gonna answer a couple of questions that were submitted to the newsletter.

Helen: 17:34

One is based on your tutorial about stand out with photos, which is a feature that came on Instagram. This person created a few well received photo carousels using this feature, but now the banner is gone, and I can't even find it. Oh my goodness. Welcome to the nightmare of TikTok. That's my answer to that one.

Helen: 17:53

It has a feature. It puts it into beta testing. People start using it. Some people really like it, and then one day it disappears. So frustrating, and it is not you.

Helen: 18:04

So I'm saying to this listener, it's not you, Vivian. Don't worry about it. It went away, and it's so aggravating. So it went away, and hopefully, it'll come back. And that's what we can only hope for.

Helen: 18:16

I I also sometimes it's country specific, and you'll see it in some countries. To be honest, I also lost the feature. It was there a while. It was reminding me every day, and all of a sudden one day, it's gone. So don't be stressed about that.

Helen: 18:27

That's where it went. It went to the to the TikTok abyss, and maybe it'll return, maybe it won't. Another person asks that they edit their videos exclusively in CapCut, but when they hit the plus to add videos, they have to scroll through lots and lots and lots of photos to find the ones they want, whether When you hit the plus, if you look at the top of CapCut where it says recents or whatever it says all photos or whatever, if you tap that, there's a drop down menu that will show you the photo albums that you've created in your photo library on your phone. So if you take your videos first that you know you wanna use in a piece of content and put them into a folder labeled by that name of the video that you're going to create, Then when you're in CapCut and you tap the plus, you can tap the top arrow, the drop down menu comes, scroll along, find your videos, and you will be able to see the folder that you created with those videos or photos in it. So that should solve that for you.

Helen: 19:35

Hopefully, it's clear. It's hard to demonstrate that without showing you physically on the screen. But look at the top, look for a little arrow, a little down arrow, which indicates a drop down menu, and you can just select the folder. 1st, create the folder and put your photos in it. That will solve that.

Helen: 19:52

Alright. That's it for today. Thank you so much for listening. Don't forget we have the link to the giveaway survey in the show notes below. So grab that if you're interested in winning a prize.

Helen: 20:04

And if you're interested in signing up for our workshop, there's still time today to sign up to meet Gina in person when I'm interviewing her, and you could submit your questions and learn a lot from her. If you landed here from a podcast search, do subscribe to the newsletter to get the links to all the things that I'm talking about. I put a few of them here in the show notes when I do the Tuesday issue where I talk trends and such. But I can't put all the links in here and there. It's just it's a lot of it's a lot of legwork for the mothership and Julie Polisi.

Helen: 20:34

And we're doing a lot. You can also, of course, go to hellosocialize.com and find our free Tik Tok course. If you know a beginner who needs it, do the right thing and send them it as a gift because it's free. It doesn't cost you anything. And you can find that at hellosocialize.com along with all of our free workshops.

Helen: 20:54

I will be announcing another workshop coming up this weekend, which is going to be editing 105, and I am going to be teaching how to use keyframes. So keep an eye out for that. And in meantime, have a great weekend. Thank you so much for being here and spending a few minutes with me. Bye.