The Socialize Strategy - Social Media Myths + Facts
Welcome to the socialized strategy. Happy Friday. Another weekend is coming upon us. I am excited. I will be spending it in the Catskills with my newly married son and daughter-in-law.
Helen:Yay. And Jonathan will be with me. So if you follow on social media, you'll be seeing a lot of Jonathan this weekend. So get ready. Buckle up.
Helen:And I do have a plan for Jonathan, actually. I'm gonna give him some tasks of content creation for me to help me with my with my work because I'm doing some projects that involve content creation without me being in them. So I am going to enlist him to come up with some ideas and let's see what he does. I'm I'm excited. I'm excited for this.
Helen:I think this could be something really fun for Johnny Boy. Before I get into today's topic, which is fun, by the way. We're gonna have some fun with this one. Before I get into it, I just wanna talk about this idea of creating for for brands or creating user generated content for those of you who do that or who are interested in doing that. Or if this is you're running your own business and doing the social media.
Helen:One thing I've noticed is the get ahead of it situation is really, really important. So when when working with brands already now, I'm creating Thanksgiving content. So it's really helpful to think ahead even if you're not necessarily a person that's gonna make the content right away. It's making that plan for, when Thanksgiving hits, am I gonna be ready for it? Do I have the content banked?
Helen:Do I have the shots I need? And so get ahead of that. And it's funny because I'm never a fan of of getting ahead. I I live in the moment. Julie will tell you.
Helen:And I just like to think for this week and I'll worry about next week, next week. But I am being forced to change my way of thinking since I'm working more with brands and I'm seeing how far ahead we are doing content, especially when I'm now on the shoots for big brands Olay, Pronamel, etcetera. They're thinking ahead now. In that case, they're not necessarily enlisting me to do their, what what do we call it, like holiday content or anything like that. But because I'm seeing how far ahead they're planning their non holiday content, it's making me very aware of how much people who are running businesses do have to get ahead of it.
Helen:So I'm gonna try and start sprinkling in some thoughts about what you should be thinking about coming down the road so that you're not caught behind the 8 ball. And I have already done some funny research for my clients, for Thanksgiving. And I wanna remind you, if you are somebody that needs to do a brand video for Thanksgiving, ponder me this. I love the song. The it's not even a song.
Helen:It's a made up TikTok sound, but it's the girls who come home for Thanksgiving. I walk in the oh my gosh. I can't even think what the audio is, but it's the funny audio of the girls who come home for I played it a hundred times this morning to get it in my head and now it's gone. Anyway but they come home for the holidays and how they take over the house. So I am actually gonna do that for a brand.
Helen:I'm gonna have the brand arrive home for the holiday and the brand take over the house. So that's a fun and a freebie idea straight from the mother ship's creative brain into your house. So feel free to run with it. So that's the nice thing. If you are a listener of the podcast, you're gonna get my little sprinkles of creative flow that I do right off the cuff.
Helen:And I will be doing more of that as we move forward. Alright. Let's get into today's newsletter and what the topic is. By the way, look. I'm holding my microphone today because lots of changes happening in the mothership homefront Casa here.
Helen:I'm actually gonna revamp this room into a studio, give myself a nice space to shoot because right now it's a bedroom and I work here sometimes. Because for the past several years that I've lived here, when we have to be working at home together, this is how I operate and it does not stop my creativity. It does not stop my flow. I just keep going. So it hasn't stopped me for 4 years.
Helen:I just decided it's time to make myself more of a comfortable space to work in. And if you don't have that opportunity, just know that you can do what I do. We can hold the microphone. You can set something up. I have I literally have my laptop on a bed and I have a tripod set up over there and that's how I'm recording this.
Helen:So hot tip. You can do it. You don't need the perfect space to do it. If you could see what's on this side of the camera, you'd be laughing. Alright.
Helen:Let's go. Today's newsletter topic is common social media myths. And I'm excited for this because I, for about 6 months ago, shot a social media campaign for a client for I think it was Pronamel, actually. And we did a series of myth and fact videos. And it was so much fun.
Helen:And at the time, I remember thinking, oh, I should do myth and fact videos about social media. And it went right out of my brain. Forgot all about it. But Julie came up with it today in the newsletter. So creative minds think alike and she has set us up for success for today.
Helen:So let's get into it because there's a lot of gurus giving advice on social media. On Instagram, on TikTok, there are good ones, a lot of them, and there are bad ones. And the bad ones are trying to give you not necessarily factual advice just to get more views. So they'll kinda say anything and, oh my gosh, all of a sudden they have a viral video and it's not even true. So be mindful of what you listen to and who you're listening to.
Helen:Myth or fact? I need to post 5 to 7 times a day to see growth. Folks, that is a myth. You do not need to post like a maniac in order to see growth. The whole time, obviously, if you are posting more frequently, it might help you because you have more opportunities for your videos to be seen.
Helen:But it's not going to make that magic happen for sure. The algorithms love quantity, but it means nothing if their quantity doesn't have quality. You are better off with consistent posting and trying to do I love to do one a day. But I will tell you over the past 2, 3 weeks since I've been on vacation, I've barely made the one a day happen because there's so many priorities pushing me each day. And I'm like more I prioritize this podcast before I prioritize my TikTok content.
Helen:So I'm trying to add more value here and have at least you guys who listen, thank you, will see my will hear my podcast or see it every week. Whereas on TikTok, you don't know if people are gonna see it. Sometimes it just flops and it sits there and nobody sees it. So I spend a lot of time making a video and then it just goes to into the Netherlands. But when I do the podcast, I feel that I'm here for you and I'm not and I know that you're consistently with me.
Helen:So I want to add value and I spend my time on this. So my order of priorities has shifted slightly, but I still love TikTok. And I was telling Julie the other day, oh my god. I miss it. I miss the space and time I had before I was so busy with work obligations and client obligations, and I miss it.
Helen:So I said, I have to figure out a way to factor it back in. And that's what I'm working on because I do miss the fun of it. And it's just like when you're working and you and you don't have any time to go out with your friends or you're in the midst of a project and you know, alright. I'll get to my fun craft after this project is done. It's the same type of thing.
Helen:My fun craft, my fun project, or my going out with my friends a lot of times is me being able to make some creative TikTok content. So hopefully I'll get back to that in the very very soon future. But my fact is that you can post consistently without making yourself insanely crazy and you will still see growth. And I see it on my Instagram account because we post consistently 3 times a week and we have consistent growth on the socialized Instagram account and the same on my personal account. I post consistently at least 3 times a week.
Helen:That's not every day. So you don't have to post every day. Okay? Relax. Next, myth or fact.
Helen:Everyone I follow should follow me back. Oh, my goodness. This is a huge myth. You should never expect because you follow someone that they're gonna follow you back. And I will tell you a lot of times I see peep I mean, I haven't noticed this on my own account, but Julie's noticed it where she'll have people follow her and then unfollow her and then follow her back again and unfollow and it's like maybe maybe they're trying to get attention to get her to follow back.
Helen:I don't know what if that's a strategy, but I really, really stopped paying attention to that. In the beginning of Instagram, I used to think, oh, why isn't this person following me back? I didn't get it. I didn't understand it and I think so a lot of times this is new people who think all because you're friends with them or, well, you've commented on their content or something like that that that you are gonna follow them back. And, you don't have to.
Helen:You wanna make your For You page curated for you. So, you wanna know the content you see are people that you really wanna see content from or it's the you're designing your for you page. You're both on Instagram. I say for you page, but it's also the font the, what is it called on Instagram? Yeah.
Helen:I guess it's for you or following. I don't know what it's called on Instagram. But you wanna create curate your page so that you're seeing the content you wanna see. So if you are, for example, very into seeing food content and you're following a lot of other types of people, you're gonna see less because they're gonna feed you a percentage only of the food content. So when you're curating your feed, follow and think about the percentage of the people you're following and why you're following them.
Helen:And don't think it's an insult if someone doesn't follow you back. It's really okay. I have a lot of people who I follow that don't follow me back. And you would think, oh, that's crazy because you have a lot of followers. But no, it's true.
Helen:I follow people, certain people, because I just wanna make sure I see their content or I get value from it in some way or it makes me feel good in my life. I learn things, you know. Mel Robbins, I'll give you an example. She's not gonna follow me back. She doesn't even know who I am.
Helen:Whatever. I like to hear her what she has to say. So I'm following her and I don't care if she follows me back. So you wanna think that way. And that way you won't expect when you are, when you don't expect it the other way.
Helen:It's a two way street. You don't have to follow people back or you don't have to expect people to follow you back. It's both ways. I I don't know. It's a two way street.
Helen:And I've talked about how that's a very poor path to growth. So don't get caught up in in that web and don't get insulted. Especially, don't get insulted because it's really not a big deal at all. It's really not. It's doesn't mean they don't like you.
Helen:I promise. As a matter of fact, I have some dear friends that I didn't even know I wasn't following and they've been following me for years. And I went, oh my gosh. I wasn't following you. I'm so sorry.
Helen:Like and they're my close, close friends in real life. They've never even been insulted which is beautiful because they are true friends. So that's how you know your true friends. Alright. Myth or fact?
Helen:This is fun. Isn't it? I can only make money on social media once I hit 10,000 followers. That is also a myth. Now certain platforms like TikTok don't allow you to join creator funded programs until you hit 10,000 followers.
Helen:But that doesn't mean you can't make money. There's ways around making money on social media depending on what your page is about. So for as a small bit if you're a small business and you're just starting out, you could you could hit have a viral video hit when you have a 1,000 followers, when you have 500 followers. You if you just keep consistently making the content, you could really do well without having a lot of followers. As a matter of fact, it's once it's been said to me many, many, many times by marketing experts I've met in my career.
Helen:And I met one on a train once. We were just chatting. And he said to me, I people always think you have to have thousands and thousands of followers to sell products and I'm always telling them telling them that that is not the case. It's almost the opposite. So let's learn from the marketing guru.
Helen:He was a huge marketing expert that I ended up randomly chatting up chatting with on a train from Washington DC. So that's funny. But you also might think, oh, somebody has a 1000000 followers. They're immediately or somebody that just has a viral video. They're immediately called by brands and invited to to make money and thrown money thrown at them.
Helen:I'm also gonna tell you that's not true. And I can tell you from my own experience, I can tell you from other friends of mine's experience that it's very dependent on the type of content you're posting and the type of virality you have. So, for example, somebody like the demure virality level trend. It's huge. Huge.
Helen:And because it's very almost it was like makeup a no brainer for makeup companies and fashion company. No brainer. That person, Jules, she is now getting brands coming to her. She went to some fashion show or something in Paris. I forget what.
Helen:I don't follow it that tightly. But that's an example of somebody who had such mega mega mega virality that, yes, a brand knocked on her door. The Stanley Cup woman who the car burned in her, the car the cup her car went on fire and the cup burned in there. She got a whole thing a whole new car from Stanley. Okay.
Helen:That's great. But the point is, those were mega mega mega mega viral videos and those are a dime like, what a needle in a haystack. Whereas just average viral videos can still make you a viable creator for a brand, but you have to go after it. These creators who are monetizing have chosen and they haven't quit their day jobs immediately. They haven't.
Helen:They they keep their day jobs until they have a sustainable living. So some of them are doing this 4, 5, 6 years. I interviewed 1 on this podcast who has been a creator. I interviewed 2 of them, actually, who were creators for something like 7 years before they were making enough money to let their, their day job go. And they don't even have the level of followers that you would think.
Helen:They more have 20,000 followers and not, you know, hundreds of thousands of followers. So it's not really quantity, even on the follower count that can get you the brand deals. If you are curating a a loyal audience that's gonna really listen to what you're saying, you're gonna have value and you'll see it. And it happened to me during the pandemic when I had a lot of people following me for my baking my, my baking videos, and I would do raffles. And they were some loyal people in there every week, always with me every week.
Helen:So I think that and it wasn't I didn't even have a lot of followers on Instagram at that time. I think I maybe didn't even have a 1,000 followers on Instagram and I still had this very, very loyal community. So create loyal, create friendship and create people create curate, not create. Oh my gosh, Helen. I have to just stop myself, but I'm not even gonna edit that.
Helen:I'm just gonna let it ride and tell you that I make mistakes with words. So curate the audience that you want and engage with the people that are that you really love hearing from and they will stay with you. It's so good and it's so rewarding and it's just such it just becomes really like beautiful friendship on the Internet. Alright. The last myth or fact for today.
Helen:I can post myth or fact. I like to say that first. Myth or fact. That's what we did in the in the commercial. I can post on social media for fun.
Helen:Fact. Yes. You can. We finally have a fact for you. You might think, oh my goodness.
Helen:I have to do all these trends. I have to be on my business. I have to be consistent. I have to be posting on my messaging. And all of that.
Helen:Nope. Post something for fun and let me tell you something else. You can it might do well. You might say later. Oh on Instagram.
Helen:We're just going to hide it on the feed. It was just my fun video. Maybe you even take it down because it's not in you don't want it in your feed forever. Whatever. You can it's not permanent.
Helen:You can take it down. The point is it will give you some joy. It will have you liking it and you'll see what happens and you'll have fun and then a lot of people do it and immediately it doesn't do well and they're like, woah. I'm embarrassed and they immediately take it down. Let it sit there for a day or 2.
Helen:You don't know. It might just kind of lift off a day or 2 later. So don't be so quick to judge yourself, and we just don't want you to forget that posting and creating really, really should be fun in the at the core. Otherwise, you're not gonna enjoy doing it and you're not gonna keep doing it. And what's funny for me is I'm having the opposite problem.
Helen:I enjoy it so much and I've been so attacked by obligations. A list a long list of things every day that I'm like, I can't even get to my fun thing. This is so unfair. But don't worry because I do get to it. When the day comes to an end, I usually do have some content to post because I'm a content creator, and I'm always thinking everything is content.
Helen:So when I'm out in the street and I see something funny, I film it. If I don't, I make something of my own and I post it. So yeah. I don't know. I'm just, like, waxing poetic about it now because I just I'm a person who loves it and a person who really, really wants to share and help others be really good at this because the joy I get from it, I want other people to experience it.
Helen:So we have some exciting things coming soon with the building out of my space here. It's not building. I'm gonna be just decorating. Okay? I'm not putting I'm not bringing in hammers and walls.
Helen:But, anyway, in the evolution of my space here, I'm we Julie and I are evolving something very, very special that we are ready to share to help you be able to do this without stress, to help you level up, to help you learn, and I'm just kind of excited about it. We're still working out all the irons that the the irons. We're still working out all the nuts and bolts and irons. I'll tell you what people. It's hard to record a podcast when you just have to talk and you have nobody to engage with.
Helen:Because when the other person's talking, you have a minute to collect your thoughts. And I'm solo over here trying to give you information every week. And sometimes, oh, baby, I go off the rails. Alright. I have to wrap up because I do have a meeting in another 2 minutes.
Helen:So I have to sign off and get get ready to get on my Zoom call. But if you can please hit me up with some questions, I would love to answer some questions every week. And I think that people forget about the question button. I think I really have to make a more of a point of it in the newsletters because I would like to have a conversation here, and I would like to know what I can help you with. So if you're listening to this and there's something bugging you about your social media or there's something you need to know, whatever, just drop me a question.
Helen:Hit submit question in the newsletter. Or if you're watching this on YouTube, submit the question here. You can email. I will always read the emails team at hellosocialize.com. Just send me an email, and we'll have your question, and we'll be ready to answer it.
Helen:Okeydoke. Thank you so much, and I appreciate you. Have a wonderful weekend, and I will be filming content in the Catskills. Bye.
