The Socialize Podcast

Helen: 00:00

Welcome to The Socialize Strategy. Happy Friday. What a stunning day and week we've had here in New York City. It has been just blue skies and beautiful. It makes you want to smile all day long.

Helen: 00:10

Well, I'm going to kick off this one by saying you might wanna consider this podcast part one of the small business series because if you're around and it is still Friday when you're listening to this, this afternoon, I am having a workshop for small businesses, and it's a free workshop. And I'm going to dive deeper into the things that I'm gonna talk about here. So right now, I'm gonna give you a lot of the top line thinking as small business and marketing, and with my expertise from marketing and production and my years in the business, I have so much more I wanna add. So I'm having a workshop for small businesses specifically this afternoon at 4PM eastern time. So depending on when you're listening to this podcast, that is Friday, 4PM eastern time.

Helen: 00:53

And the link will be in the show notes, so you can jump over there and join us. And if you miss this and you're listening to this later and you miss the workshop opportunity, there is a replay. All you need to do is either respond to the newsletter, drop a comment here, or if you've signed up, you'll get the replay automatically. So whenever you're listening, if you ever hear about these workshops, signing up is a really good thing because you always will automatically get the replay. All right, before I get into the small business tips, let me kick off with unsponsored buy for today.

Helen: 01:22

I was influenced and I purchased something that I saw again and again on my feed on TikTok and I was like, okay, this has me written all over it. I even sent it to Julie to say, what do you think of these? And she said, they're very you. I bought the Crocs. I bought the comfy Crocs.

Helen: 01:38

And because I don't ever buy things in ones, I bought two. I bought these too. So I bought the flatter ones and the healed ones. And I said, if they're Crocs, they're gonna be comfortable because I think that's what they're, you know, they're regular Crocs, whenever you put them on, even though they're ugly as hell, and I hate wearing them personally. I don't even own any.

Helen: 01:58

But I know the comfort of the Croc. So I've tried them on and I know it's real. And I see nurses and people who are on their feet all day wearing them, so I'm like, I believe. I'm a believer. Let me tell you the truth about these because I put them on and I'm like, Ugh.

Helen: 02:12

True to form, Crocs comfortable. They slip right on. They're comfy. I actually had to size down because my feet are narrow, so my regular size was a little loose. So I did order two sets, and then I sent the bigger ones back.

Helen: 02:26

And I kept these and I wore them. I want to say there is a downside because the bottom, comfy great. The top that touches around your toes and your feet, they don't have this perfected yet. Okay? This plastic, hard, I have blisters on my feet.

Helen: 02:44

I can't even wear them. I cannot wear them until the blisters heal. And then I'm going to try them again because I've worn them so I can't return them. Although maybe I can because they don't even look worn. But they're hurt.

Helen: 02:54

My point here is my unsponsored buy for today is do not necessarily get sucked into this thinking Crocs, it's going to be great, it's going to be comfortable. I had a blister on this part of my foot. I had a blister on my pinky toe here. These I tried and I got the blister here. Okay?

Helen: 03:11

So if you're thinking about buying these, I'm here to tell you the truth that they may feel comfortable at first and you might get lulled into the sense of, Yo, delicious, comfort. And then you'll walk a few blocks and something will be rubbing and they don't have it figured out. And I'm so sorry. The end. Onward, let's talk about, oh, two things before I leave you, before I get into the topic.

Helen: 03:36

One is that the link obviously to sign up for later today is here. The second thing is I am going to Jamaica next week. Finally, I will be speaking at that conference that has been looming for days, for months, almost a year. I think I joined, I think I agreed to do this a year ago, and it is finally here. So I'm leaving on Wednesday heading to Jamaica, but if you have any interest in joining the virtual retreat version, so they do have a virtual option where you can join the sessions and learn from the sessions virtually.

Helen: 04:06

So I'm putting that link as well here. So if you have any interest in doing the virtual joining thing, there's I think there's gonna be a lot to be learned on that on that retreat. I'm really excited about it. And I looked at the schedule and I actually have little pockets of free time, so I know I'm going to enjoy it as well. Alright, let's get on to small business tips for small businesses on social media.

Helen: 04:25

And obviously there well obviously I'll start with I think all small businesses need to not put their head in the sand and realize they do have to be on social media. But a lot of brands don't have the time to dedicate to it, they don't have the resources, they don't have the knowledge, and so it just becomes a very big frustration. And the things that I will look at social media and think are perfectly normal, how do the people not know this? And then I realize they're just so far from it, and they only know what they see when they scroll, they don't even understand it from a strategic standpoint. So I want to talk about that today.

Helen: 04:58

And I'm going to kick off with something that's not even mentioned in the newsletter first, and that is you really need to understand that video content is where it's at. You can put static posts up. You can try do carousels, and fill some of them will hit, and you'll get some you'll get some traction. But likely that is traction that's gonna come from your existing followers. That's not going to help you get in front of new audiences.

Helen: 05:22

In general, on any of the platforms, it's not a lead unless you're on a static first platform, which I don't even think there are any anymore. Maybe Lemonade, maybe Pinterest, I don't even know if you'd call those static first. But the point is that video is where it's at now, so you've got to just think that you're going to embrace it and you're going to figure it out. And we're going to make that very easy for you. So let me move through the points now.

Helen: 05:47

As a small business, you might feel pressured to be on every platform. You need to be on YouTube, you need to be on Facebook, you need to be on Instagram, you need to be on YouTube Shorts, you need to be on TikTok. And that is terrifying. There's actually a Seinfeld meme type video that's going around where Seinfeld's looking at George and then saying, what are we doing? How did we get here?

Helen: 06:06

What are we doing? And it's and the caption is two real estate brokers trying to figure out social media. And that really hit home when I saw it because I realized that that's the huge problem that everyone's having is that they just don't know what to do or how they got here or how to approach it. And if they and they immediately think they have to be on every single social media platform. And that is not necessarily the case.

Helen: 06:29

Now with that said, you might want to really think about where your audience is. And it used to be that you'd say from a demographic standpoint, oh, we're going go over to Facebook and we're going get the older people. We're gonna go to Instagram. We're gonna get millennials. We're gonna go to TikTok and we're gonna look at the Gen Z.

Helen: 06:44

And now, obviously more than ever, we're seeing that shift in where TikTok has taken over every generation. And so even though you think, even now you might still think, mostly younger people are over there. I'm here to tell you, no, no, no. There are so many, so many older people over there. My demographic on my account alone is, I want to say 50% is over 50.

Helen: 07:09

I mean, this is a huge, and I have a million followers, right? So 50% of that, that's a lot of people that are older. So you can't sit here and think, Oh my God, my people are just going be on Facebook because they're grandmas. Because in fact, a lot of 50 and 60 and older people are grandparents already. So, you know, that's what I have to say about that.

Helen: 07:31

So you've gotta think, is your audience and I will sometimes think, this is crazy, but I'm going to say it, the super older senior citizen people, like we're talking 80, 80 plus, those are the ones that are almost like stuck on Facebook and scared to do something else. And there's that is a definite smaller demographic over on TikTok. So if your demographic is really, and I don't even want to say senior citizens because then I sit here and realize I am one because I don't consider myself one. But I think of my parents. So my mom only knows Facebook.

Helen: 08:06

That's where she's at. She can kind of figure out Instagram. So the point is, if you're, depending on, if you're going after a more of a 80 crowd, yes, of course, maybe consider Facebook first. But if you're considering a 50 crowd or even 40 or whatever, you really have to just decide what platform you feel that you want to lean on and you feel like you you can be most successful at. And that's where you lean.

Helen: 08:32

And then you put your content elsewhere as you have the bandwidth to do so. So just, you know, and no one's gonna say to you, oh, if you're once you start on Facebook, you can't do Instagram. Or once you start Facebook, you can't do Instagram, or once you start on Instagram, there's no point in going on TikTok. You can always add a new one on once you get your rhythm going. So pick one, maybe two, where you wanna start if they're and and feel comfortable.

Helen: 08:56

And then as soon as you get to that point, you might say, Oh, it's going to take me five more minutes to learn YouTube Shorts now. I can figure that out. Or whatever. So you'll be able to evolve. But the key thing is learning how to make that video content.

Helen: 09:07

Making the video content is that hurdle. And that's what I'm gonna talk about how I can help you with that. Alright. So the next thing is to focus on creating fun, easy, and inspiring content so that it's not going to completely take you out. It shouldn't be, a constant flow of sales videos like TV commercials.

Helen: 09:26

It shouldn't be constantly, sales y type content like that. It really is more fun to do more off the cuff, behind the scenes, things like that. But if vlogs are too much for you, if it's too much work and you're not experienced enough in editing and you think, I just think vlogs are just too much effort for me, then do something simpler. Do something where you're just sitting at your desk and you set up a camera and you're telling a story about a customer experience. Simple thing.

Helen: 09:53

This just happened to me. I thought I'd share it. Just like that. And you just tell it like you're telling it to one person. That's one way to do it.

Helen: 10:00

Another way to do it is set the camera up. This is kind of a funny thing. I don't recommend this necessarily, but setting the camera up, if you don't feel comfortable talking to the camera, maybe pretend you're on a meeting. Maybe pretend you're on a phone call and talking to someone on a Zoom. And maybe that's how you make your point if you're more comfortable doing that.

Helen: 10:16

You can actually get somebody on another, on a Zoom, and you can talk to them. And maybe that's how you're relaying your customer experience and it's not directly to the camera. Do I recommend that? No. I recommend you speak to the camera because I think that's more engaging and more of making more of a connection with your audience.

Helen: 10:31

But my point is you have to do what you're gonna do. If it's like, I can't speak to the camera. I'm too nervous. I'm too stressed. Then you're never gonna do it.

Helen: 10:40

So you've gotta figure out, so what are you gonna do? What can you do that you can do consistently? And that's what you should be doing. So it's like you have to work within yourself. When I work with private clients, I don't come with a form and I say, Here's your formula.

Helen: 10:54

I go in and I think like, okay, well what do you enjoy doing? What kind of content do you like making? Do you feel comfortable talking to the camera? How does that feel for you? Do you like the sound of your voice or does that freak you out?

Helen: 11:05

Like all of these things add up to what's gonna make them more comfortable. And a client I worked with recently, said, you know, she's in a certain area of content. And I said, you know, how do you feel about speaking to the camera? And she likes it except she doesn't wanna do it without a filter because she doesn't like to look at herself. Or and I said, well, you don't have to look at yourself.

Helen: 11:24

You should look at the camera. You should look up. But still, she doesn't like to then see herself on video without a filter on. And that bothers her. So listen, you have to do what makes you feel comfortable doing it.

Helen: 11:36

And that's the only way you're going to do it. So as a business owner, you've got to think, What can I do? What can I do quickly? What can I do consistently? And what's not going to take me out of my business too long?

Helen: 11:47

And you're going to set a time and you're going to decide. Okay? That's that. The next thing is to incorporate those tasks into incorporate the content into already existing tasks. So what are the things that are the course of your day and how can you work that into content?

Helen: 12:03

And I'm going to tell you something funny. I went to an event recently, and I talked about this in my studio, so sorry if you guys are listening again. But I went, I had no intention of posting a video about this event. I was for an agency I work with, and I said, oh, I'm gonna go and I'm gonna enjoy, and I'm not gonna really I don't need to post anything. And except I wanted to do like one little video with the founder the owner of the company.

Helen: 12:24

So I had planned that. I was like, I'm gonna pick a song and I'm gonna see if I can get her to just do a little something something with me. And I did get that content. But during the course of the night, when I was talking to other people and I was, know, the conversation came up, who are you? Oh, I shoot TikToks for them because that's what they hire me for.

Helen: 12:40

And they were like, oh, you're on TikTok. And so of course I had my phone out. And I was saying, yeah, you know, just shoot little, I shoot things of my life. And so I picked up my phone and I shot some things to, in conversation to explain to these people that I was talking to that I like to shoot and view my life through the lens of a camera. And so I view events through the lens of the camera.

Helen: 12:59

I see it that way and that's how I enjoy things. So my point is, if you can pick up your phone and just kind of shoot something quick, you will have some content. So if you're working and you're packing an order and you're getting frustrated and you're dropping things, that's kind of funny. Set up a tripod, okay? Put it in there and do your thing, and then when things drop and fall and things happen, you have some fun content.

Helen: 13:22

And it's just already something you were gonna be doing, so you're not making extra work for yourself. All you're doing is going, oh, I'm gonna just take five minutes and capture this. So maybe it's a strategy. Set an alarm on your phone, ding ding ding every hour. It will make you alert aware or alert that you should shoot something.

Helen: 13:40

And then you think, am I doing right now? Is this something I could shoot? Yeah. You know what? I'm gonna set up a camera and I'm gonna do it.

Helen: 13:45

But that's something I'm gonna talk about this afternoon. So the things that I learn as I work with clients on how to help them work it into their day, those are the types of things I keep track of, and that's an arsenal for me to help people to make content creation easier. So this afternoon, if you can hop on that call, you'll you'll yeah, workshop, you'll hear more about that. Next up is to use your team to bring personality to your business and your page. And this is always tricky because, well, a lot of people have solo businesses, but a few people have have, you know, even me as a solo business owner, I the FedEx guy comes, I know him, and so I'm like, maybe I'll make some contact with the FedEx guy, you know.

Helen: 14:23

Or when I'm running out to a store to pick up supplies and I just might shoot something like, oh, I'm off to go pick up more supplies or So there's there's things that even if you're a solo business owner, you're ordering lunch, so maybe you can film like your lunch delivery coming in and you're gonna work at your desk because you're so busy today. There's lots of things you can do that can bring personality to your page. You can, if you have a team, can interview them. I could easily interview my FedEx guy. Like who's your favorite person on the route?

Helen: 14:49

Of course, he's gonna say me. I hope, but we do have fun. I love my FedEx guy. Okay. So the next thing is not to constantly try and sell, sell, sell.

Helen: 15:00

You have to really get creative with the ways that you show your business. Because if it's just a sales approach, people don't really want that. They don't want to watch commercials necessarily. Think about it the minute the DVR came, Zoop people were zipping right through those commercials. So it's just tough.

Helen: 15:16

It's tough to figure out how to not be so sell y. And I will just say based on my own content, from my own experience, and I the only thing I really have to sell is my services and my time. So I don't sell products, but I sell, in a sense, I sell my time because I have one on one session offers and I have a studio offer. So I could sit here and think, Oh, I have to talk about my studio every single day every single video. But that would get quite monotonous for my followers.

Helen: 15:45

So instead of that, I find content that I can make that's something I might want to teach in my studio, so that's twofold. I'm learning something. I'm doing something new. I'm doing maybe a trend, and then maybe I'm making a tutorial for it. And then it's something that it can benefit my studio members.

Helen: 16:02

So I still post content that's not necessarily come and join my studio. I don't say it. A lot of times I'll just show something and I'll say if you want to learn more things like this, I have a studio. You know, you can get tips every week. And so it's really working it into whatever it is your business is about.

Helen: 16:20

I'm going use an example of somebody I worked with in a private setting already who has neti pots. If you know what neti pots are, they are nasal rinsing pots. And when I first worked with her, her team was really advising her to do more, like kind of I don't want to say sales y videos, but tip like commercials. And she didn't feel it was right. She knew it didn't feel right for her, and she was trying to figure out how to work around that.

Helen: 16:47

And we discussed it a lot. And it's like, if you can educate your customers about the benefit for them in doing the activity, then they're going to need the pieces for the activity, and then they'll find you to be the person that they buy it from. Okay, so for example, if she's teaching the benefits of nasal rinsing versus buy my neti pot. Now, the benefits of nasal rinsing are it's going to clear if you have allergies and you're trying to clear your sinuses and you're finding you don't want to turn to medication and have those squeezy nasal things going all the time, this is a really healthy, holistic way to handle that. And that benefit is going to appeal to people who don't want to take medicines, do have allergies, and may want to heal themselves in a safer way.

Helen: 17:37

So her educating about that versus saying buy my neti pot or here's what my neti pot does. She takes the neti pot out of the equation altogether and she's educating and teaching about the process. And the process needs the product, but she's not even necessarily having to say that, and people are gonna say, Oh, I gotta get one of those, that's really smart. And then they'll maybe go to her profile and find out she has them. Or at the end of her videos, she has, know, highlights the end of that that the product is available.

Helen: 18:08

And that's the way I suggest like because the person that will watch your video to the end will be your loyal customer most likely. And those are the people that then they'll know you're gonna send them where to get the product. So you can save that for the end so that you're not annoying your audience upfront so that new people that come in aren't like put off immediately by you trying to sell them something. But if you save your call to action, your sales pitch for the end of your video, your loyal customer that your potential loyal customer, the one that has stayed for the most of your video, is most likely going to be the one that buys from you. Whew.

Helen: 18:42

That was a good way of saying it, but it was a long way of saying it. Typical. Typical of me. I try to be short winded, but I can't. All right.

Helen: 18:49

Next. Focus on quantity. Sorry, backwards. Focus on quality over quantity. And I think a lot of small businesses think they have to be like influencers.

Helen: 18:59

And influencers are being advised to post three times a day to get your audience excited or keep your audience engaged. And a small business does not have to post three times a day. And or it doesn't even have to post once a day. You can pick three times a week. You just need to be on a consistent cadence of putting content out so that you might have something hit.

Helen: 19:19

So it's not about three times a day powering that content out. Unless you have someone that can do it, me just say that. I'm trying to make this a sustainable thing for a small business owner that doesn't have time. If you have a team and you want to keep them busy, make them make content, pump it out because that can't hurt. But if you are a solo business owner or a small team business owner and you don't have someone that can sit there and be powering content out every single day, you have to do what's realistic.

Helen: 19:47

Otherwise, you will fail because you will stop doing it altogether, and then you'll have ebbs and flows and ebbs and flows when you get into it and then when you fall off because you're too busy, and then when you get into it and then when you fall off when you're too busy. So it's really better to be consistent with less times a week than trying to power out content that's not even great, and you're trying to just power it out to get more content out there. Just take your time and put good content out. You know what I mean? Put good, valuable, meaningful content out.

Helen: 20:15

Content that you're proud of, that you can say, oh my god, it was such a fun video. It's always nice to watch your own content and know that it was fun and you enjoyed creating it. Okay. The last thing I'm gonna say is before I say to go to come later to the to the workshop when I get in deeper, the last thing I'm going to say is if you are looking for support in your content creation journey as a small business owner, the way that Julie and I have put the studio together is we give you the tools week to week so that you don't have to think. We're taking away the stress of the creative process of, oh my gosh, what do I have to do?

Helen: 20:51

So we're giving you along with the newsletter that you already get, you have trends and content ideas, that's great. That's your free newsletter. But in the studio, week to week, you're getting a challenge with a lesson. So if you are overwhelmed and you're like, ah, I just I can't I don't have the time to sit and watch a two hour class two hour class to learn how to make videos, you don't have to. Every week, you get a ten to fifteen minute lesson on one new skill.

Helen: 21:17

And think about it, you're just doing one skill per week and that will multiply on top of each other. So once you do that one, the next one you'll try another. Each week, you're going to increase your abilities. And it's like atomic habits. If you do something five minutes a day, eventually it becomes a habit.

Helen: 21:37

If you do something once per week consistently, learn something, one small skill, all of those things will add up to you knowing how to edit and knowing how to edit quickly. And it gets easier the more you do it. So the repetitive nature of being in the studio and getting a lesson with a challenge and then having a meeting that follows up, it always connects. We have a lesson, a challenge, and a meeting. And the meeting reviews the lesson and offers any support for questions that you might have about the lesson, and it always provides more information.

Helen: 22:10

So we stay on one topic week to week. It's like going to the gym and you do leg day, and then you do push day and pull day, whatever it is. I'm on. I'm going to the gym right now, so that's why it's on my mind. But it's like week to week, my legs are killing me right now, but next week my legs aren't gonna hurt as much because I will have, you know, I've kind of worked those muscles out, and I'm making them stronger.

Helen: 22:30

So this week in the studio, we did text, and we have it in different levels. So if you're a beginner, you're just gonna watch the beginner lesson and do that. If you're more advanced, you can watch it through the advanced portion, and you can do that. So it hits every level of creator. Okay.

Helen: 22:44

That is my freaking sales pitch because if you haven't tried the studio, seven days free and it's worth it. We have so much fun in there and everybody's learning. That's it for today. Have a great weekend. I look forward to seeing you next Friday.

Helen: 22:58

I wonder what I'm gonna be talking about unsponsored. I will be in Jamaica recording next weekend, so that's gonna be fun. At least I think I will, unless I can plan ahead. Not likely. So whatever, I'll record on the go.

Helen: 23:12

Like I really do enjoy podcasts on the go. It kind of makes for a little a little interest and a little something different. Alright, have a great week. Have a great weekend and I'll see you next Friday. Bye.