AJV (00:02): Hey, welcome everybody. This is AJ Vaden, one of your co-hosts on the Influential Personal Brand podcast. Get excited. ’cause Today we’re gonna be talking about all the things that we actually need to know, that sometimes we get so annoyed that we have to know, which is social media and it’s a, it’s a love hate relationship for many of us with social media. But we’re gonna deep dive today into, in Instagram, and I will give a formal introduction of my awesome guest in just a minute. But Chelsea is here today to do a deep dive with us on Instagram. So let me tell you why you need to stick around for this episode Before I introduce Chelsea to you. Number one, if you are questioning whether or not you should be on social media, that’s probably a good episode for you. AJV (00:51): Specifically if you are an entrepreneur, small business owner, solopreneur, anyone who is a reputation based, word of mouth, highly referral based business. If you’re asking yourself, do I really need to, well, what if I hate it? Do I still have to? This is probably good, worthwhile content to help sway your decision one way or the other. The second is if your preferred platform of choice is Instagram, do not skip this episode. Do not fast forward. Do not stop early. This was curated and built because of the amount of inquiries and questions on video content, the algorithm. What do we need to know? What should we be doing? And quite honestly, a lot of these are tips and ideas that you probably have never thought of before. So first category, you’re not sure if you really wanna keep going down this path of social media. AJV (01:45): Yeah, you should listen. Number two, Instagram is your chosen platform. This was an episode specifically designed for you, so don’t skip ahead. So with that now I get to introduce a new friend of mine Chelsea Pietz. And she was referred to me from another guest that we had on the show. So if you haven’t checked out Phil Treadwell’s episode, go check that out. But this is also a really special thing because we actually have lots of friends in common that we didn’t even put together when I first got introduced to you. And then this is what I love about the world we live in, is that you know so many people that you don’t even know, you know, until you’re like, oh, wait, like I follow you. I was just watching your course, or I just heard this episode you were on, and it’s this really cool world that we get to live in, however frustrating it can be sometimes. AJV (02:38): So let me give all of you a quick formal introduction of Chelsea and then we’ll jump right in. So Chelsea is an influential figure in real estate marketing coaching. She’s has more than a decade of experience doing all kinds of awesome things in the real estate industry but specifically being a trailblazer when it comes to the real estate. And then anything to do with that mortgage. Just anything in that world when it comes to social me, social media, being on video, creating content for people in that industry. She’s also a keynote speaker. She’s also renowned in the neuroscience behind effective social media Video Connections, which is a lot of what we’re gonna talk about today. She has authored a book which is called talking in Pictures. She has one has her own awesome podcast episodes all over the place. That’s one of the things that got introduced to her as you sent me the episode that you were on for Social Media Marketing World, right? Yeah. And all of these podcasts. So she’s a podcast guest, all these amazing shows. And today she gets to be a guest on our show. So we’re so excited to have you with hands-on tactical experience. You’re doing it, you’re talking about it, you’re writing about it, and now you’re gonna talk to our audience. So Chelsea, welcome to the show. CP (04:00): Oh my gosh, I’m so excited. First of all, I need you to be my hype woman everywhere I go. That was like the most incredible podcast, welcome. And you’re right, I do a lot of podcasts, so you are definitely at the top, if not the top. So I’m so excited to be here. I love talking about social media and demystifying all the complexities and the abstractions and helping people really understand it can be simplified. You don’t have to follow quote the rules. You can make it something sustainable and authentic to you. And at the end of the day, you are a human being. On the other side of the screen is also a human being. So I love to teach about marketing with heart and humanity, not hustle or hacks. And I know that’s what you and your team is all about as well. AJV (04:44): You know, I love that and I’m so, so, so glad that you started with that because I think for most of us, the reason we have this love hate relationship with social media is one, social media has got a bad rap, right? And it’s like, it’s like everything else in the world, though. It can be used for good and it can be used for bad as is life. But if you choose to use it for good, and you choose to create valuable content for an audience that you feel really called to serve, like you can do so much good. Yeah, there’s a lot of bad, but there’s a lot of good. And today we’re gonna focus on the good parts. And you know, I I am one of those people who has a love-hate relationship with it because, because I think what happens is people get hit up all the time with this is how you make it successful, and this is how you go viral. AJV (05:36): And I just wanna put it out there. You do not have to go viral to make a difference, right? You do not have to have millions of followers to make life-changing impact. And I think that’s the exhausting part of, you know, you feel like you have to run this machine, and it’s like, no, you don’t. So I love you said, it’s like you get to make the rules for how you do it, and there are best practices and tips, but quite honestly, pick what works for you, use that, but it doesn’t matter if you’ve got one follower or a million, like you’re doing this because you feel like you have content that can be helpful. And if we stay focused on that, the rest takes care of itself. Right? CP (06:14): I love that. I, I I feel like that is the entire theme and message of this entire podcast. Say it louder for the people in the back, aj. Absolutely. There is a massive difference between someone who is an influencer and someone who is influential. Ah-Huh. And I always talk about views versus value. Views do not equal value. And there’s so many meaningful metrics that we will never, ever be able to measure. I know that the people who are listening to you will have an aha moment listening to one of your podcasts. Are you able to measure that? Well, not unless they actually tell you about it. So there’s a lot of things that are immeasurable, which I also call the humanness of social media. And that’s what I’m really passionate about because I’m sort of a, I didn’t realize I was a rule breaker because I, I consider myself a rule follower. I’m like a high D rule follower. But it just wasn’t working for me. And I found it really wasn’t working for a lot of other people too. And I felt boxed in. I didn’t feel like it was sustainable. To your point, you read a blog, you go to a conference, you watch a YouTube video, and every single person is telling you something different. Well, which one is it? What do we do post every day? Post once a week? And so it becomes very overwhelming very quickly. Yeah. AJV (07:27): And I think the other thing that’s so overwhelming is then you do all of the things that are recommended or taught and then the algorithm changes and PO there goes all that work you did . And we tell, we tell, we tell our audience at Brand Builders group all the time, so this isn’t the first time we’ve said this, but it’s like, you know, don’t build your audience on rented real estate. Right? There’s like a follower on social media is not your following, right? It’s like you’ve got to convert those people from social media to your email list, to your podcast, to your blog. But it’s an amazing advertising vehicle. But then it gets complicated when this mysterious algorithm is constantly changing. So that’s where we’re gonna start. What can you tell us about the mysterious algorithm ? Yes. CP (08:14): That is AJV (08:15): Constantly untrackable. You’re CP (08:17): Right. It’s untrackable constantly changing, but we’re gonna talk about it today and I’m, I’m going to bring some clarity and simplification so that you can actually apply this and understand that it’s not working against you. And in fact, if you do the right things, it’s going to be working for you. And one of the things I remember from almost 24 years ago now, I became a, a real estate agent 23 years ago. My broker would always ask me the same question when I came into the office every day. And the question was, how many people did you talk to today, ? And in early 2000, I was like, wow, it was such a busy day. I talked to three people, , I went to a coffee with someone, then I went to a tour, and then I had a listing appointment. And that was a full day. CP (09:00): And you also had to have someone’s phone number. You had to have their email, they had to answer their phone. You had to mail them something or go see them in person. And now the beauty of social media is you still can create those real human connections. You just can happen to share your story and your expertise and your thought leadership at scale while you’re sleeping. And so one of the things that I love to demystify is the algorithm. And yes, the algorithm is a little bit different on every single platform, but by and large, it is about the same specifically on Instagram. So we’ll talk about that one today. Believe it or not, there are actually separate algorithms for separate formats. And we’re not going to confuse anyone. There’s no need to even know about that. I just wanna let you know that there is a separate algorithm for stories. CP (09:46): There’s a separate algorithm for reels and everything else. What you do need to know is what is the platform looking for? And the good news, it’s the same thing your community of humans is looking for. And I call it simply less contenting, more commenting, having more meaningful conversations with people with intention and thoughtfulness. These would be people that you’ve worked with before and perhaps you want to continue working with them in the future. It could be a referral partner, it could be another small business in your particular area or hometown, anyone that you want to build brand awareness with. And that you can see a benefit that if you continue to create video content or written content, that that content could help a stranger feel like they already know you before they meet you. And so the algorithm is heavily driven by your conversations, your comments, your direct messages. CP (10:48): Direct messages are huge on Instagram and they have been for a while. So here’s the great thing. Who you talk to matters. And if you ask me, and I’m actually a full-time content creator, I would prefer to talk to people versus creating videos all day. I love talking to people and I love having those connections. And I love doing it specifically through Instagram stories because you’re getting this peek into someone’s life where I call it their sacred spaces. You are in my home, you’re in my office. You might be on a vacation with me. And you also see my co-stars, my dogs, my kiddo, my husband . And so you get this real sense of who I am. And you have this real time shared experience. So when you talk to people with intention, the takeaway is this, who you talk to matters. Focus on who do you wanna build an intentional conversation with? CP (11:41): And here’s what happens When I send you a direct message, aj, the algorithm wakes up and it takes notice because the algorithm is just a a, a data set, it’s just a software. And the ultimate goal of any platform is to keep you on it. Mm-Hmm. , as long as they possibly can. and they wanna serve you ads and they want you to create a community. So you have to keep coming back. And so while it sounds like a lovely idea that they wanna create a community, let’s be honest, they are for-profit companies. And so it behooves them to give you a positive experience while you are on the platform and to keep you there. Now, here’s the neuroscience. You spoke my love language. I am a neuroscience nerd. I love the psychology of social. Here’s the thing. Think about how you engage with your notifications on social media versus say your email, I time block my email. CP (12:38): If I go in there and it’s not with an intention, I am down the rabbit hole. Uhhuh , when I see an an, an Instagram notification and I have all of mine turned off. But when I go into my time block to go into Instagram, I see that notification and I immediately think, oh, this person’s probably saying something nice. They’re probably commenting or supporting my content. So I have this immediate positive reaction, and then I open it and I see your name, I see your face. So I’m having that repeat brand experience, but not in a pushy or aggressive way. You are supporting my content. And then the algorithm says, well, I think AJ and Chelsea probably wanna see more of each other because they’re talking. Hmm. So let’s reshuffle both of their feeds. So when AJ opens her feed again tomorrow, guess who’s gonna be at the top? Or when I do post something that’s not specifically for you, meaning I didn’t send it to you in a direct message, I posted it to my feed, it’s also going to show that post higher up to you, so you are more likely to see me. So it’s just like real life. Yeah. The more people you engage with and talk to, the better your community is going to be. And your algorithm’s going to reward you. They, you can train your algorithm by talking to people with intention. AJV (13:58): I mean, that last line, you need to like have that on a poster somewhere where it’s like, it’s like, just like in real offline life, more engagement, the more communication, the more interaction, the better it goes. Exactly right. And in this case, it’s, you know, my takeaway for this, and the good reminder for everyone is like, the algorithm rewards you for spending time on the platform. That’s what it’s rewarding. So spend time, and in this case they know engagement, right? Communication interaction is what’s gonna keep you coming back for more and more. So that’s super simple, right? CP (14:40): Yeah. And you don’t have to make content all the time. So that content stress, and I know we’re gonna talk about content overwhelm today. How many of you would rather talk to someone that you enjoy speaking to or potentially making their day and having them feel seen and remembered and thought of? And you can do that while you’re having your coffee or your tea in the morning from bed because you don’t even have to make a video in order to send someone a direct message. You can even send them a voice message so they can hear the tonality in your voice if you’re wishing them a great day or a happy birthday or congratulations or whatever the message may be. And that is so much easier than having to drive and go see people. Yeah. I can talk to 30 people in less than 30 minutes if I want to on Instagram. CP (15:22): And because you’re a heavy engager, because you’re a good community member in the eyes of Instagram. And I’m also bringing people back because they have to open that notification. So I am bringing people back. And so what happens is this ecosystem where I don’t post every day. I never have. I post once a week in the feed. I know that’s gonna be shocking for a lot of people, but I’m a heavy engager and it fuels my community and it also brings me joy. And guess what? The algorithm is very happy with that. Because your most important content is your conversations. AJV (16:00): Hmm. Most important content conversations. Tweet that. Or it’s not even called that anymore. I forget, CP (16:07): Is it a something, an X, X, AJV (16:09): X X? No. Who knows what’s happening over there. We’re not talking about them today. It’s so helpful. That’s so insightful. I love that. Like, that is so simple. It may not be the answer everyone’s looking for. It’s like, oh, so that’s my problem. I only get on once once a month. Okay. but it’s, but it’s so simple, which, and that’s what we’re trying to do, is just go like, what are the simple things that you can do? What do you, what do you need to know so that you can time block it and put it in your schedule, just like you do with email and all the other, you know, communication formats we have. So, okay. So I love that. I love that. So now let’s talk about the next big topic, which, okay, knowing that we’ve got some, some sort of action plan to compliment the algorithm. The next big question we wanna tackle here is, well, what, what is the one thing or the one or two things that entrepreneurs should be doing today to help build their personal brands using Instagram specifically? So what do you got for us? What should we be doing? CP (17:10): Absolutely. This is something that may not seem as sexy as making a reel, but it’s so critically important because the foundation of how you show up your personal brand experience on Instagram matters. And one of the most important things that I always start with when I’m auditing a client’s profile or their account, is we don’t start with content. We start with the engagement, proactive engagement, which we just talked about. Then we move into, are you searchable? Can people find you? And when they find you, what do they see? What’s the experience they have of of you and your brand and what you do? Can they even tell what you do and how you can help them? And by the way, this happens in seconds if that. So we need to focus first on your profile. And I’m gonna give you some really tactical tips and some how to use some homework, if you will, for the listeners, because I bet there’s at least one thing, if not more, on this list that you haven’t done that will absolutely help you get found by the right audience, get followed by them on the first visit. So let’s dive into a little bit. I’m AJV (18:24): Pulling up my Instagram profile right now. This is like a, a mentoring session right now. It’s, I’m pulling up my profile. I’m gonna check my boxes. Okay, I’m ready. CP (18:34): Okay. So the very first thing that you need to know is how your profile actually works in your favor. A lot of people think it’s just a place that you can go and you can set up your information one time and that’s it. When in reality it’s just like a website that lives on the internet except it lives in Instagram. And we at a basic level understand how a website and how Google searches work, there is a website, it’s a place where people can find out information and how do we find them? You go to Google, you do a search, you ask it a question with some keywords, and then it says, Hey, these websites have similar keywords. This might be what you’re looking for, obviously an oversimplification. But just to keep it really, really, really basic like that. The same thing happens on Instagram. CP (19:18): Instagram is a search engine. Every social media platform is a search engine. Think YouTube. Mm-Hmm. think Google owns them. And so they are trying to increase the, the robustness of their search, which means that now, yes, you can search for keywords. For example, if you wanted to find a keynote speaker, you could type in the words keynote speaker into that search bar and it will search every single profile and every single piece of content. And guess what? It’s looking for those specific keywords. But there is an asterisk where you have them matters. So when you’re looking at your profile, pull up at the top, you’ve got what’s called your username. That’s also referred to as sort of your handle. It’s the at symbol. And then your handle, I would assume yours. I think yours is your first and last name, which is perfect. And so you have your username and then you have your profile picture. CP (20:21): And underneath that is another field that’s called the name field. Let me go slowly through this. The fields of username and the one underneath your profile called name, those are the only searchable fields of your entire profile. So if you wanna get found, you need to make sure that you have optimized those two key areas. And I’ll give you a couple of tips on what you might wanna put in there. Well, first of all, you need your, your first and last name. That’s your personal brand. If this is representing a corporation or a company, then it would make sense to have your company or your brand’s name. If it is a solopreneur, an entrepreneur, a personal brand, it needs to have first and last, not just first, not just last. And it certainly doesn’t wanna be something obtuse like Jeep Lover 22, because then I definitely won’t find you when I’m typing in your name and your personal brand. CP (21:21): As you know, AJ is so critically important that we want people who are referring you. We want to easily find you. ’cause We’re not gonna stick around and keep searching. Mm-Hmm. , we’re probably gonna do one search and then just move on. So first and last name or brand name, very important. The second thing is, and I, I see this miss so many times, if you are location specific, i e real estate, you also wanna include a location in one of those areas because you want people thinking of what are they typing in? They’re probably not typing in realtor or real estate agent yet. They’re probably typing in cities or a neighborhood names. And so whatever words that you think someone would type in to find your product, your service, your company. For example, I have marketing in my name field. I’ve also had speaker in my name field as well. CP (22:16): You might have author or whatever types of products that you want to be found for. So name or brand, name some kind of keyword that is going to tell people what you are offering or what you wanna be found for. If you’re location specific, I do recommend a city. And last but not least you know, you can also have some of those industry terms. And I wanna just take a moment to say, jargon is very challenging when it comes to those internal language that we often use. For example, if you’re a mortgage, you might call yourself a loan officer, but you shorten that to lo and no consumers are going to be searching for the the lo . So be aware of what your consumers are looking for. So username and name fields absolutely critical to getting found. That’s the first step. And then I’m gonna give you a couple more tips for your bio once we get into your bio. CP (23:12): There’s no rules of how you should craft this bio. It’s super short. So they make it brief. We love that. Get to the point, but be clear about who you help and how you help them so that when somebody lands here and skims mm-hmm. , they know exactly what you are about. And one thing I see repeatedly left out, this is the one that I bet almost every single person listening to this is gonna say, oh, I don’t have that is a call to action. A call to action, a command, if you will, to tell people there is more great stuff that you don’t even know about living in this link in my bio. And to your point, aj, we don’t own Instagram. I hope it doesn’t go away tomorrow, but it could. And if all of my people, my ecosystem live on Instagram, how will I lead nurture them through that marketing funnel over time. CP (24:07): Mm-Hmm. and build that like no trust. We wanna get these people off of Instagram and into your ecosystem. So you need to tell people what to do. It could be something like free guides, free course. If you have some sort of free item, whether it’s educational or something that they can do, that you can offer, let them know to click that link or send you a direct message. You may not have a website yet. That’s okay. Before I had a website, I told people to direct message me for a free audit. And yes, it was manual. But back at that time, I was able to manage yeah. The number of people that were coming in. And I built my brand with them. So you don’t have to have a website, but you need to tell people what’s the next step. Yeah. And they need to know specifically what’s in it for them and what’s on the other side and click here. That is a call to action. It’s a short one, but we want something that answers what is in it if I click not just to click here so that they know exactly what they’re going to get. So those are kind of the the two main areas that I would say in the profile and the bio that are critical for people to, to see who you are and what you do and to find you. And it’s also telling the algorithm what you’re all about. AJV (25:22): Yeah. I love that. And I think that, you know, it’s so similar to, like, we talked about this a lot with like LinkedIn, it’s no different here, right? It’s like all the CP (25:29): Same. AJV (25:30): It’s all the same, but you gotta know the little things. And so, so here I have a question. So what if you know, ’cause this kind of goes in with another question we were gonna talk about, which is, should you have your own personal account and then one for your business? Like, I mean, I wanna like, you know, you know, do all the fun vacation picks, but then I have all my business content. Like how do you manage those? And so before you answer that, because I am super curious to hear your thoughts, what if you are, you know, the, the face of a business per se? So like, I’ll use mug mine for example. So I’ve got my name. Would it also be good to put my business’s name next to my name? Mm-Hmm. , CP (26:12): I would it without looking at it, I don’t have it in front of me, but I would have your username be your first and last name. Yep. And then in that name field you could have AJ and then like a little space and then Brand Builders group or whatever company or information you want in there. And then the bio itself, yes. You can also please insert keywords. It’s not going to be searchable by Instagram standards, but here’s the thing. Every ai, every software is looking at overarching themes. I think of it like a, ’cause I have a 10 year old who’s in fifth grade. So we do a lot of homework together. And I always tell ’em, you know, it’s okay if you just, you know, don’t s smash it on this, you know, spelling test. It’s not gonna ruin your whole grade for the year. . It’s the same concept on the socials. Okay? So it’s looking at what you’re, it’s looking at what words you’re saying in your videos. It’s looking at your content over time. I guarantee Instagram knows that you are the person to share with people who are looking to build their brand because you talk about it consistently. You use hashtags that have to do with that. So it’s looking at all the things, not just those two areas, even though those two areas are very important. AJV (27:25): Yeah. So my last question on this, so in your opinion, would it be better to put like AJ Vaden, you know, little Space Brand Builders Group or AJ Vaden Little Space helping entrepreneurs build personal brands? CP (27:42): Okay. I would put the, the message or what you’re doing in the actual bio one, because there’s probably not gonna be enough space for it. But also think about what people are searching, helping. Probably not a lot of people searching for helping, right? Yeah. That actual word. But if somebody refers me to Brand Builders Group, I’m searching for that direct. I know this because I did and I typed it in, and guess what I found? I found your account, which is exactly what I wanted to find. So I would say, you know, what are the words that people are searching? And a lot of people wanna put these words in and I say, but wait, are people searching those words? Or would this word maybe work better? Mm-Hmm. . AJV (28:21): Yeah. So I think a lot of that too is, you know, one I love free coaching advice, but then also I think a lot of people, it’s like you, what I find all the time is that we have so many of our audience members at Brand Builders Group, they get caught up in being in the catchy word phrase, Hey, I want it to be like cutesy and I want it to be like this. And it’s like, no, be clear. Just be very clear. Right? But it’s like we get caught up in the marketing lingo Yes. Versus, you know, just what are people typing in? Right. CP (28:52): And I’m laughing because I’m not, I am one of those people. I’m very transparent. I love a good little rhyming marketing slogan. I understand that. And you are so right. It needs to be clear. It needs to be concise, and it needs to be succinct. Absolutely. AJV (29:07): Yeah. So good. This is great. Okay, so personal profile, business profile. Do we need two accounts? Like really? Okay, CP (29:15): This is a, this is a question I get every single time, every podcast, every webinar, every time I’m speaking. And I love this question because this question really aligns with, with my message, which is, you know, your human first and whatever you’re, you’re selling or service, you know, it is second. And at the end of the day, we are human beings behind the screen, right? So the reason that we got started on these two accounts, we can, we can thank Facebook for that because Facebook made us have these business pages. And so we all got business pages and now everybody has a business page. And guess what? The reach and engagement is abysmal unless you pay for it. Hmm. That might be why they’re keeping bus business pages around. And then invariably what happens is, every time I coach somebody that has two accounts, okay, they say, oh my gosh, I’ve got this one business account. CP (30:04): And so I put business stuff over there. I put my just listeds my just sold or my definitions of the day or anything that is professional and businessy, but it really doesn’t get much engagement and it’s kind of crickets over there. And so now I kind of resent it and I don’t even wanna post over there. So then I go to Canva, which I love and adore, and I just pull a template and I post it over there. And guess what? I’m in this vicious circle of not being able to get any engagement and then feeling the pressure of having to also post to that account. Now, there are many times where an individual may wanna keep something completely separate. You decide what works for you. If you have children that you don’t wanna share your children on social media, absolutely have a private account for family and friends. CP (30:51): Just know that I would recommend having a secondary account that is public because you do want people to find you, you do want to grow that way. And that is absolutely perfectly fine to have two, oftentimes I think two accounts is twice the work, depending on what your goals are. If you’re trying to grow. Two, it’s a lot of work. I also consider one human, one brand, one account. Mm-Hmm. . So generally speaking, I do recommend having one account, mainly because it’s just gonna be easier to manage. And also because at the end of the day, people wanna see the human being and have that connection of that person, even if it’s behind a team or a product. They wanna know what’s going on behind the scenes because we need that connection point, that emotion point, that human point. And so it doesn’t have to be private content. CP (31:40): There’s a difference between personal and private. Private is whatever you decided to be. It could be the vacation pics. It could be showing your family but personal is your face, your voice, your perspective created from your lived experiences. And that is the only original content on the planet. is your take, your an unpopular opinion, your story of this is what happened to me when, and so a lot of people, you know, think they don’t have any good stories to tell. And I’m like, but everything has already been told unless it’s your story. Amen. And so by showing up with your face and your voice and talking about a market update or data or this new chart, you’re still humanizing it and giving it your own original flavor. So a long answer to whatever serves you the best, whatever you’re comfortable with. CP (32:36): I usually just say, unless there’s extenuating circumstances, have one account and make your content a hundred percent human. There’s no 80 20 anymore. You can have a hundred percent business content and still humanize it. Or you could have no business content . It really just depends on are you in it? ’cause I’m scanning, I’m looking for AJ’s face when I go through her content. Are you even in it? Would I even know who I was meeting? And I’m also looking to pick up within seconds, what are you all about? Mm-Hmm. , if I see video after video or tile after tile that says about brand building, about personal brand, about thought leadership, about podcasting, I know what you’re all about. So it’s that quick that people look through something and they scan, they’re just lurking with love. They’re lurking looking there to see if they’re gonna find out if you’re somebody that they wanna follow and take the next step. AJV (33:27): love that lurking with love . CP (33:29): Yeah, absolutely. I AJV (33:30): Love that. But I think I love that. And I, I completely agree, like agree, we completely are on the same page here. The idea of trying to manage two accounts feels so much work. I mean, it feels like so much work because it is CP (33:47): Mm-Hmm. , it’s like it’s, I can’t do it. And AJV (33:50): Really, I think more importantly, it’s like people don’t fall in love with businesses. They fall in love with people. They fall in love with founders. They fall in love with the person who had the idea for the business, and they fall in love with the story and what it’s about and who it’s for. But nobody falls in love with a logo. Right? They may fall in love with the products because the products serve a need that they have, right? And so totally agree with that, and I love that. So you, you actually just talked about this when you mentioned lurking with love. It’s like, if you’re scrolling quickly, like we’re making instantaneous judgment calls decisions on, is this the type of person I wanna follow content I wanna check out is it, is this someone that I want more of and more from? AJV (34:34): And a lot of that has to do with video content, right? And so one of the things that we had kinda outlined is something that we thought would be worthwhile for this conversation today is, well, if we know that it’s that important, and we know that the, you know, typically algorithm favors video, just generally speaking why do we have such a hard time with it? And I can just speak for the community that I get to serve at Brand Builders group and our own team. It’s like, I’ll be having a conversation with someone just like this, and it’s mind blowingly good. And I’m like, we gotta get that on camera. So I pause and I get my phone and I ask the question again, and then it’s like, deer in the headlights, crickets. And they’re like, wait, what, what were we saying? AJV (35:17): And it’s like all of their like personality and their amazing ideas just fluttered away into who knows where. And there’s this immense amount of video insecurity. It’s, I don’t like the way I look on video. They, they are not themselves, like their personality, their, even their words just fall apart as they look at this red dot, or in my case, a green dot and five computer. And so why does that happen and how can we overcome it? Like how do we get better at creating better video specifically for short form content, right? Because we’re not trying to put 30 minute videos up, or 10 minute or even five minutes, right? We’re talking about short short. So how do we get better at this? Oh, CP (36:05): Video insecurity is something that I know well and it, I know it well because it was me. I I have a secret. I did not watch my videos back for five years , which I would not recommend that strategy. But I will tell you, we talked about making it your own. I was self-aware and I am self-aware, and part of marketing is being self-aware and what works for you and what doesn’t, and trying things and deciding that. And, and I knew that if I watched my videos back, I would not make the next one . And I said, I’m gonna do video because I know that I need to. It is part of where we’re going. And so I made videos and I never watched them back. And finally when I started it, I thought, oh my gosh, I could have become so much better quicker. CP (36:50): Mm-Hmm. If I had kind of looked at some of the things. And so I’ve really, really honed in on what I call the the cringe factor or the ick, you know, why do we have the ick when we are watching our recorded selves? And what’s really interesting is that it comes down to a mismatch, right? It’s a misalignment of seeing the recorded self and, and who we are in, in the real life. And you just mentioned this, where we can be having a conversation and then all of a sudden the camera comes on and we feel as though we have to deliver a persona or a scripted performance or sound a certain way. And then when you add in that, oftentimes when you’re framing yourself in a small video like your phone, you’re not moving very much, right? And you’re not moving your hands or your body if you’re scripting, which by the way, I love scripting. CP (37:42): Not saying not to script, but I spend a lot of time working on making it sound human and making sure that the warmth cues in my face don’t dissipate. Hmm. And this is a lot of your beginning, I’m gonna give you a beginner’s tip, but some advanced tips is the reason that you don’t like what you’re seeing is that mismatch is because you don’t have any body movement. You’re probably not using your hands. You may have written down some scripts and your brain is trying to remember bullet point number three because you don’t wanna rerecord or you don’t wanna make a mistake, but your face and your mouth is on the intro. Yeah. And so all of a sudden your eyes kind of just dead in and then you’re just talking like this. Now, another important thing, hardest thing I’ve ever done was scripting, is we don’t talk like we write. CP (38:26): Yeah. It’s a very challenging to write in a conversational friendly tone. And what happens is we’re reading in our brains and our brain’s really focusing on one thing at a time. So if you’re reading your face is probably not emoting. And if you’ve ever memorized a speech, I know I have, I’m sure you have too. It’s the hardest thing. I do not recommend it. It’s really hard to be able to memorize something, read it in your mind, and e mote and move your body and all of those things at the same time. So those are some of the reasons for our video. Ick. The answer is one that’s very simple. Ask yourself this question. If you feel a limiting belief creep in. I don’t like how I look. I don’t like how I sound. I’m not hair and makeup ready. Oh, I don’t have time to write a script. CP (39:17): I just feel like I’m not very good at this. Whatever that limiting belief may be, because there is a long list, ask yourself this one question, what would you do in real life? And this is the, the question I ask almost everyone who is struggling with social media. And so it works in so many capacities. Like, okay, I can’t stand how I look. Okay, so imagine I’m going to visit a client and we’re at Starbucks and we’re having a coffee, and I’ve got my first p ss l of the season, and I’m so excited and they ask me a question and I know the answer. But instead, I dive under the table and I’ve left the lattes and my clients sitting there wondering if I’m okay bending over saying, are you okay down there? And I’m like, I’m totally fine. I just have this thing where I can’t look at people when I talk to them. CP (40:04): What would you do in real life? We would never do that. Right? And so when we ask ourselves this question, or, you know, people say, should I, should I dmm somebody a copy and paste sales script? Okay, well, what would you do in real life? You go to a wonderful conference, you’re meeting someone, would you throw your cards in their face and give them that exact word for word copy, paste message, and then leave and go home and say, I can’t believe it. I didn’t get any new business. And I even gave them my cards. Even the new ones with the new logo, I don’t understand it. Of course not, of course not even the private thing when people are like, well, I like to keep business and personal separate. Okay, but what would you do in real life? You meet a client. Do you talk about anything but business? CP (40:49): If they ask you, oh my gosh, do you have dogs? And your eyes glaze over and you’re giving them stats and data? Yeah. And they’re like, okay, no. ’cause, So it’s important to ask what would you do in real life? And that’s how you can kind of work through, through those, those limiting beliefs and, and say, okay, does this make sense? Would I do that? Probably not. Okay. And then we kind of peel back those limiting beliefs and then can get into sort of the tactics, which we’ll talk about of really, you know, now that you’re gonna get on video, what are some tactics you can do to make that video better so that you do feel better about the performance, about the finished product, and also get some engagement. ’cause There’s nothing worse than making content and keep being consistent, and you’re posting it and like nothing’s happening. Right? I understand it’s discouraging. So we’ll talk about those tips as AJV (41:35): Well. I love that. And I, as you were talking, I, I remember somebody giving me this tip one time, and it’s been a long time since I’ve used it, because I don’t have video in security. It’s probably, I probably need to have a little bit more video in security. I a little more . That’s probably my problem. But I remember, like there was, in the early days, you know what my biggest problem was? Is I was watching myself, right? Mm-Hmm. . And like, I was so concerned with like this piece of hair stuck on my neck. I don’t even know if that, but it’s like I was, I was concerned with all me, and that’s not who I’m making list for. And somebody had said, you know, if someone is filming you don’t ever look at the camera, look at the person. AJV (42:17): So ask the person to step right above or right under the camera and talk to them, position the camera in a way that the person who you’re talking to, you’re talking to a person, not a camera. Now if you’re filming yourself, and we, this is something we talk a lot about, but hopefully you have an ideal, you know, customer avatar, right? You have this person that’s like, this is who I’m making this content for. So it’s, you know, whoever that person is, but have a picture of a person and cover it. Like, you can, like, just tape it on your computer screen right below where the little camera is. So you’re not looking at yourself, but you’re looking at a picture of the person, right? And it’s like, Google some images, give them a name like build out who they are. Like, but you gotta know that this, you’re talking to a real life human. AJV (43:07): Like, these are not mysterious accounts. These are people. And so talk to a person. And I remember that was years ago. I haven’t done it in a long time, but I may bring it back. I may bring it back because I, I think so much of what you said is like, what would you do in real life? In real life? You don’t talk to a camera, you talk to a person. Mm-Hmm. , right? It’s like you’re not talking to yourself. You have a, a dialogue, not a monologue. So try to recreate as much of that as humanly possible. So, all right, I love that. I think that’s so wise and so helpful. So give us some give us some tips of, okay, we’re over the video anxiety parts, and now we just need to make it better. What do we need to do? How do we make good short form content? CP (43:46): Yes. Okay. I’m gonna give you a lot of tactics, but I, before I do, I just wanna say there are no rules. We are applauding you and cheering you on if you make any video at all. . Yeah. So I’m speaking to me, I’m coaching myself because I get very in the weeds about did I have this kind of intro? Did I have my call to action? Do I have? And so it can feel very overwhelming, especially if you were that type of personality, which I am. So please know that you can maybe pick one thing, one thing from this list, and you don’t have to do all of them. And maybe over time you can try adding something new. So the list that I love to give is one of the first things is how you’re starting your video. The thing you also need to know about algorithms in general, especially on Instagram, if you are creating, say, an Instagram reel or if you’re on TikTok, or if you’re making a reel on Facebook, what a lot of people don’t realize is their entire purpose for creating those short form vertical videos they call reels, is discovery. CP (44:50): Which means that they are pushing those videos to people who don’t know you. Mm-Hmm. Which is kind of awesome. If you wanna grow and you wanna share your message, you used to have to pay for ads for that, but now they’re looking at your topic, it, they’re serving this content to people that don’t know you. In fact, it’s 40 plus percent of the content you see in your feed and your home feed are from people you don’t follow. And that’s kind of new. So what happens is, you don’t have time. These people don’t know and love you. I kn I know and and love people that I follow, and I will sit through their intro because I love them, but not if I don’t know you. You’ve gotta get to the point. So the intro, sometimes we hear something like this, Hey everyone, it’s Chelsea Pipes, and today we’re talking about, and they won’t even last through the, Hey everyone, first of all, we wanna address the one human being that we’re talking to. CP (45:42): So we’re gonna use that word, you, not everyone, or hey all, or hey guys or whomever it is. But it’s how you start matters. So how do I recommend that you start a video? The simplest way is to ask a question and use the word you. So you’re gonna ask a question and use the word you. And you could call that a hook if you’re speaking in marketing terms. And there’s all kinds of hooks that you can use. You could even Google it. You could ask chat and g p t you could make it so that it’s specific to your industry, but simply asking a question. So here’s an example. Instead of me saying, Hey, everyone, it’s Chelsea, and today we’re gonna talk about three things you need to know for Instagram. Okay? I might say, do you wanna know the number one thing you’re doing wrong on Instagram? CP (46:29): I asked a question. I used the word you. And that person who doesn’t know me is like, oh, you’re talking to me because you used the word you and even invited me into a conversation by asking a question. Now, does every video you ever make have to have a hook? No. Does every video you ever make have to start with a question? No. But this is a best practice and it will improve your mindset when you’re creating video content to think about how can I stop the scroll? So that’s tip number one, is how you start your video matters. And I recommend having a hook, or it could just be simply a question and use the word you. Now, my second tip is my favorite. This is like my, my secret weapon. And when I realized this, I was like, where have I been? Where have I been this entire time? CP (47:15): If there’s anyone out there listening who thought I need to record this whole video in one clip, that was me. And then I thought, well, wait a minute. I don’t have to record this whole video in one fell swoop. I can actually record it in clips or little tiny itty bitty sentences I mentioned before. I love to script. I do a lot of educational content and I gotta be brief. So I like to write it out so I know what I’m gonna say. I don’t wanna memorize it because I still want it to feel like me. And that’s a lot of content stress. So I’m gonna do one sentence at a time. And if you’re in Instagram or TikTok, or if you are in Facebook and you’re creating a reel, all you have to do is press and hold record sentence number one, let go and reset. CP (47:57): Have a glass of water, look down at your notes. And when I started doing that, I was like, oh my gosh, I feel so much better. I don’t have to memorize all of this and I can record in clips. And with the beauty of how they set up these editing features, it just strings it all together. And so it’s a really simple way to not have to memorize, to be able to look down and feel confident. And also another pro tip, really high production value. I actually move my arm from here to here or just, you know, a few inches in between the clips. And I don’t even use a tripod, but I, I just move. And people say, why you change your angles? I go, because TV has a lot of cameras. They have camera one, camera two, we’re zooming in, we’re zooming out, and I hate editing and I don’t wanna edit. So all I do is my high production value of starting in one position and moving to the next when I’m recording clip number two. So recording in clips is absolutely going to help you. Ooh, AJV (48:55): Love that. So easy. And you know what the best part about that is? You don’t have to like get another, you know, editing app. You don’t have to like do this on your computer. You don’t have to do it outside of the, of the platform. Mm-Hmm. , just do it in the platform. Hold, release, hold, release. Mm-Hmm. . Yeah. Make, you’re making it easy, but you gotta know what to do. Yes, AJV (49:18): Yes. You gotta know what to do. I love that. And I love two simple tip of like, just move your arm, right? , it’s like, you know, I think those are, but those are the subtle things that as you’re looking at engaging content, it, it is more than just a face in a box, right? Mm-Hmm. the videos that I end up, you know, paying attention to have movement, right? It’s like, and I even think about that with static posts too. It’s like the amount of time that I spend at looking at motion posts that have quotes on them versus a static quote is unbelievably different. Why? Because I want all the senses involved. I wanna look at the flowing ocean in the background. I wanna hear the music that I like, and I want to read the, you know, the quote versus here’s a static image with a quote on it, right? I will share, or like the ones that are motion, that have movement and sound 100 times more than I would share one that’s just a graphic image. CP (50:21): Yeah. And, and you know, it’s funny because you can have really powerful text thought leadership content without any movement either. But you’re right, the, the stopping the scroll usually happens with some kind of, of movement. And that also brings in my, my really important last point for any video that you’re making. And this is one point that I see so many people missing almost a hundred percent of my audits. I will look through the content and this is not on it. And this will help you get more followers as well. So words text, right? Yeah. What is it? 80, 90% of people viewing videos have the sound off for a variety of reasons. Yeah. If it’s me, I’m in an airport somewhere, right? I’m getting on a flight to go somewhere. Maybe you’ve got a newborn and it’s 3:00 AM and you are not moving to wake that baby up. CP (51:07): But you are sitting there now and you’re gonna watch something, right? Maybe it’s like if your husband’s like mine and he watches like sci-fi and I don’t wanna watch that, but I don’t wanna be rude and have my phone on whatever reason it is. You’ve gotta give people different ways to consume the content. There is a massive audience of users who prefer sound off or need the closed captioning because they are hard of hearing or death. Yeah. So good. And so it’s critical that if you wanna engage people, they’re not gonna watch your mouth move for 30 seconds. They’re not even gonna watch your mouth move for three seconds if we can’t read it. So you need to add the closed captioning. It’s built right into the system. And the last thing that is the one that everyone, almost all, everyone misses, we’re going back to the profile where I’m scanning AJ’s profile, seeing what she’s all about. CP (51:51): If AJ doesn’t have a title on every single video, she does like a reel and there’s no title. I’m not gonna click on all 300 of her videos. I’m new here. I just wanna scan and see what she’s all about. So it’s so critical that on any short form, vertical video on any platform, you have a title that tells people what are they going to learn about? What are you talking about in the video? Because when somebody scrolls through mine and sees what I talk about, they’re like, oh, this person knows what they’re talking about. I’m gonna click follow. And so it’s really, really important to have those, what they call cover photos. Or just text on, on your video so that we know what it’s about. AJV (52:34): Oh, this is so good. And y’all, I cannot believe that we have already been talking for an hour. I told Chelsea it’s like 45 minutes and we’re gonna cover these things. And it’s like, whew. 60 minutes, just like flew by in a gif. And like we had a whole nother question that we were gonna spend time on. I, Chelsea, I’m gonna have to have you back at some point, but I don’t wanna leave everyone hanging. So the last question, and we’ll just do this super high level, and then we’ll tell people where to go to connect with you. Actually, I’ll go ahead and do that now. Y’all, if y’all wanna learn more about Instagram, then you should probably just follow Chelsea on Instagram, right? It’s like, if you want more of these tips you just go to, I think it, you said it’s, hold on, I’ve got this, I wrote it down so that I didn’t forget. AJV (53:16): It’s Chelsea dot pipes and it’s P E I T Z, Chelsea Pipes. That’s her handle. It’ll be in, in the show notes. So go follow her on Instagram and learn more about how to be better at Instagram. Now, last thing, content overwhelm. And we’ve kind of touched on this in a variety of different ways, but so many people want to, but they’re like, oh my gosh, I just don’t have time. Right? And I’m not a full-time digital marketer. I’m not a full-time content creator. I have a full-time business. How do I fit this all in ? And so what, what kind of quick tips can you give us in like, the next couple of minutes that you think would be really helpful for the listeners so they can get things going without feeling overwhelmed, feeling overwhelmed? CP (54:03): I think the easiest way to start thinking about content, and this is my personal strategy too, because I am in the overwhelmed category, I get so excited. I have too many things. I, I then I have no ideas. And what if I run out of ideas, which I guarantee will not happen, but I’m just letting you know, I also have that fear because I am human. And so I would recommend being more aware, and that’s the hardest part of content. So when I’m coaching people and creating like Instagram stories, they’re like, I don’t have anything to post. Like, I’m, you know, going to my law office and I’m, you know, doing paperwork that’s not exciting. Well, we have to start looking at everything as content. And I’m not saying to give all of those details away, but you can mess or you can give the message of, today I helped a client who was going through X, Y, and Z. CP (54:50): And you know, this is a really good lesson to learn about copyright law. So you can still let people know. So you have to start being aware of the content that’s around you. The best way that I personally do this is I put some time in my calendar, like three minutes max. I mean, if you wanna try it in one minute, go for it. I love that for you. But look through your text messages, look through your emails. Think about what meetings you had today. Mm-Hmm. And what were questions that came up? What were topics? What were the things that went sideways? Because you know, that’s definitely gonna be good content for you to say, here’s how to avoid this. And it’s being aware of the questions you’re being asked. And knowing that I am always asked this set of questions, Hmm, maybe I should make some content about it because if these people have questions about it, I guarantee that other people have questions about it. CP (55:39): And here’s my last tip on the content is, and this is a little bit harder, so maybe this is like the 2 0 2. I want you to start thinking about what are the questions people aren’t asking ’cause they don’t know to ask about. And that’s really where you can build that mind share and that thought leadership where people say, huh, I never thought about that. Mm-Hmm. , thank you. And so, yeah, questions are always good places to start. The hardest part is actually capturing the questions and, and having the discipline to sit down and think about it. And I don’t do anything fancy. I literally put it on the notes on my phone, and that’s all I do. I don’t have a spreadsheet if you want one. I love that for you too. And you can just start writing down questions. And you’ll also, I would challenge you to break apart those questions. If you’ve got three things they can do, then you’ve got three different videos or three different posts. Or if you wanna put it all in one, you can. AJV (56:32): I love that. And I just, I kind of wrote this down too. It’s, I, here’s my big takeaway from this. It’s like, content’s everywhere. You don’t have to come up with it. It’s everywhere. Like it’s, find one thing to talk about every day. So I love what you said, it’s like, what questions were you asked today? Or what questions did you ask today? Or what questions did you want to ask that you didn’t? You know, what experiences, like, did you run into an old friend? Did you did you have a client come back? It’s like, but what unique, something happened. Maybe it was a school event with your kids or a sporting event, but like, what was an experience you had? Where did you go? Who did you see? Were there any interesting moments? Was it like, you know, I have weird stuff happened to me every day. AJV (57:15): I don’t know if I attract it or what, but it’s like Rory is always like, babe, like, like, put that on Instagram. Like, you need to like talk about like this weird, like, yes, it’s just like that, but that’s life. Everyone has it. Yeah. It’s just, are you paying attention? Mm-Hmm. , are you thinking that’s worthy that anyone else could relate to this? And I’m tell you what they can mm-hmm. . And they’re, they’re waiting on someone like you to go. Me too. Me too. So that is what this is about. And I’m gonna bring it back to that one thing you said in the very beginning, which is such a great wrapper on this. It’s like, the most important conversation you’re having is the communication. Mm-Hmm. . And I think that’s so true offline and online, right? And so this has been so insightful so many pearls of wisdom and tactics and also just principles of thought around this has been so awesome. I’m so grateful. Thank you so much for your time today. And as a reminder to everybody go follow Chelsea on Instagram, Chelsea. AJV (58:17): I’ll put it in the show notes, but then also stay tuned as I do the recap episode next.