[TRANSCRIPT]

0:00:00 - (sam): Welcome back to building the abundant woman. And today we're talking social media. So have you ever wondered why you've been posting on social media over and over again and you're like, it's not working, I'm not growing. Well then this podcast episode is for you. We're going to talk about your hooks and some examples of those, as well as the quantity versus the quality of your Instagram, them carousels, your reels, your static images, as well as setting up your funnel so that way you can actually convert the clients that you are getting.

0:00:35 - (sam): Because when all of those things work together, even when you have a smaller following, you should still be getting some sort of engagement to your content and to your profile as well. So first we're going to talk about the hooks. I'm sorry to tell you, you can't always blame the algorithm. You need better hooks because you're not hooking people within what you're doing, what you're showing them, or what they're trying to accomplish.

0:01:00 - (sam): So when I talk about hooks, it's like when I said, need to figure out why it's not working on social media. That right there is a hook. It's not always going to look exactly the way you think. A lot of times people post, like ideas of hook of hooks. Like, I did this for 30 days and you'll never guess how it turned out. Well, guess what? I posted consistently for 90 days and my reach actually went down.

0:01:29 - (sam): And here's why. So as the algorithm changed, which yes, we can blame the algorithm for some things, but not all things. So I was reaching about 11,000 accounts every 30 days between October, November and about mid December, they changed the algorithm and I started seeing about 4000 4500 account reach. But what's really interesting is it got me way more clear on what I was saying and I got way more engagement on my accounts as well. So sometimes more reach isn't always a good thing.

0:02:08 - (sam): You can reach a lot of accounts, but if they're not engaging with your content, it actually can hurt you. And so when we talk about hooks, you can say the top three things. Well, those aren't really useful right now because people are always like, oh, three more things that I could probably Google. And so if it's not something that's really captivating or catching people's attention, they're going to scroll on by.

0:02:34 - (sam): And so the educational side of Instagram has to be a little more engaging than it used to. People aren't here to just drop to get information all the time. They're kind of information overloaded at this point. And so what you want to do is actually educate them in a fun way, but that also keeps their attention because watch time is going to be one of the big things that as you increase your watch time, should increase your engagement as well as increase your reach.

0:03:09 - (sam): And so when we start to talk about watch time is like, one of my favorite videos that I ever saw was like, I bet somebody $10,000 that I could get them 100,000 views on their first reel. And you never know how it went. And I was like, I would be interested to see how that went. And so, see, they piqued my interest. I had to find out what happened. And so that's a lot of the formatting that you want for your videos as well as your content is like, you want it to be a scroll stopper is what they call it.

0:03:51 - (sam): And so you want people to engage with your content because it's interesting, it's funny, it's relatable, however that is, you want people to have hooks that really draw them in. Now, let me tell you, as a web designer, probably the strongest hook I'm ever going to have is to say all the reasons why you don't need a website. And they're going to be like, why would a web designer say that? And so it draws people's attention.

0:04:21 - (sam): I met my favorite TikTok influencer the other day, and you'll never guess how it went. Well, did you want to hear the rest of that story? You can go actually check that out on my Instagram. It was a really cool interaction and I saw her at church and it was really cool. But you can actually go check that out on my instagram at build your brand with Sam. And you'll see there is like, I don't always recommend things for people, especially if something's working for, like, I'm not going to straight across the board be like, hey, this is exactly what you need to do every single time because every business is different, every person has different needs.

0:04:57 - (sam): And so you really want to have some strategy with how you do your hooks as well. And so you want to communicate with your person what's going to stop your person in their tracks that makes them be like, yes, I need you. That's what you're going to have to do with your hooks. Now we're going to talk on the quantity versus quality. Dun dun dun. I know nobody wants to hear this, but I'm not going to tell you that you need to post three times a day for the next 30 days to grow your account.

0:05:31 - (sam): And here's why. Because what Instagram is prioritizing, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, is they want people to stay on their app. So if your stuff is not engaging and is not getting people to stay on their platform, they're not going to show it to people. So you want to spend your time putting out some quality content, some things that get people to interact, that come back and check your stories every day.

0:06:03 - (sam): And I'll talk about that shortly about your stories. But what you want to do is if you want to put out reels, then I would suggest putting out two to three reels a week that are really quality reels, talking to your ideal client in a way that resonates with them. And so that is where you need to sit down, get really focused, and be intentional, because you're really looking at like eight reels a month.

0:06:33 - (sam): And if you can't sit down, spend like an hour or two really planning out your content for your reels, they don't have to be extremely well made. You can make them on an iPhone just like anybody else can, but they just need to really be quality pieces of content that your ideal client would consume that keeps them on the app longer, because then they'll start showing it to more people. And so from there, when they're consuming your content, when they're engaging with your content through your reels or static images or carousels, they're also going to start to follow you.

0:07:09 - (sam): And from there, if you want to give anyone who follows you just a little bit more in your stories. So every day in my stories, I get up, I take a picture, and I tell people what I'm doing for the day. And so then they can say, oh, what are you? Instead of like, this is what she's working on today. That's really interesting. And then I will start to share some behind the scenes things or things I'm feeling, thinking about what I've posted based on my four pillars.

0:07:40 - (sam): And so with that, I'm very mindful of the content that I put out there because I want it to be around the three things that my ideal client enjoys. As what they're looking for out of me is they're looking for tips, they're looking for marketing strategy, they're looking for christian motherhood, and the fact that I like to travel. Those are things that they're going to be looking for in me on my stories.

0:08:13 - (sam): So that's where they get to know me a little bit deeper. So those stories are actually going to get, as well as quality content. It's just going to be your chance to be a little more relatable with your person and show that your business has a personality. And so on my digital abundance page, I'm a little more like, this is like client work that I'm working on. These are things that I'm doing, whereas on my personal page, I share a little more, like, these are the things typically people know me for.

0:08:46 - (sam): And so these are the things I try to stay within because with my kids, I can still share things about my children, but somehow relate them back to what my pillars are, not just being like, hey, these are my cute kids. No, it's like, hey, I spent a quality day with them and I had a really engaging time. We got to learn something new because people, when they're coming to me for motherhood things, is that they're actually coming to me to see, oh, how does she do this with her children? Like, they're coming to me to learn or engage or affirm or ask questions.

0:09:22 - (sam): And so just a picture of my kid doesn't invite them to do any of those things. So you need to get really quality content. You can do less, you can post four times a week and still be considered consistent by the algorithm, but your quality of content needs to be better. Okay, so from your stories, you can invite people say, hey, this is the first look at my new offer. These are things that I do. When my confident customers went on sale for $17, my stories were the first people to see it every time because those people are the ones watching me the most and seeing my content the most often.

0:10:02 - (sam): And so there's about 100 people that are watching my stories daily that got the first glimpse of my confident customers being on sale for $17. And you can actually go get that. Just dm me the word customer and I'll send you the link to that discounted price because it's typically 97 and that's how you set up your customer journey and all that good stuff. So basically, next from there is like you want to set up your funnel because you want your people to engage with you.

0:10:31 - (sam): So from there is, you need to have your bio optimized. Tell people what you do, how you do it, and what they're engaging with you and how to connect. What's the next step? And so from there is like you have your bio optimized, you have your one link. Get rid of your link tree. It's too many options. It overwhelms people and it shows that it just gets them frustrated and they exit out. So it may be working for some, does not work for all.

0:11:05 - (sam): But lead with your offer that you want people to see and engage and connect with. It's an easy way for them to start getting some skin in the game. Okay, so I lead that with one of my other offers. It's typically good for like a 27 $57 offer. Something like that is a good way to draw people in. Or maybe a freebie. Freebies are really great too. Go ahead and get their email address so you can send them a freebie and then you can start to drip on them with your funnel set up.

0:11:38 - (sam): And so that leads you into your email marketing is if you're going to be doing any business on social media is you need to have some sort of email marketing set up, you need to have a place to send these people and you need to have a way to engage with them in the dms. And so if you haven't noticed, you can go look at my Instagram account. Like on every post there's a comment, this word called action. So that way I train people to go and comment certain things on my posts.

0:12:08 - (sam): So that way it will send them whatever link that I'm trying to engage with them on. So that's the funnel setup is from there, you just need to have your Instagram bio optimized that it's working the way that it should, as well as engaging them to pursue another offer with you. Get to know you a little deeper, something that they found value in from you. Get them into an email marketing campaign and have a place to send them when they're done with that.

0:12:40 - (sam): So those are the three things of how to improve your social interactions, how to get, when you do improve it through better hooks, better quality content, how to get those people to convert. And so I look, seeing you on the next podcast. Bye.