0:02

Did she really do that ? You

0:05

betcha ? She did . Hello

0:22

, and welcome back to another episode of you

0:24

Betcha . She Did the podcast where women

0:26

learn to elevate their voice , grow their brand

0:28

and earn their worth . I am your host , raina

0:31

Rakicki , and this month in May

0:33

, we are focusing on the idea of May

0:35

Day . May Day , let's get women's

0:37

voices heard . Today in the studio

0:40

I have Holly Van Akron . She is

0:42

a social media pro and she

0:44

is here to give us some tips and

0:46

tricks to get your voice out there , holly . Welcome

0:48

to the show .

0:50

Hello , I'm happy to be here , Raina . Thank

0:52

you yeah .

0:54

I'm very excited you're here . So

0:56

you specialize in a lot

0:58

of social media platforms . I think , for the purposes

1:00

of today , let's really dial

1:02

deep into Instagram , my

1:08

favorite . Anyway , for the purposes of today , let's really dial deep into Instagram and

1:10

my favorite . What are ? Okay , good , so see , we're all in alignment . Can

1:13

you share one or two ? You know tips

1:15

and tricks to get to . You know to work with

1:17

the algorithm to get your voice heard out there , without

1:19

, of course , giving away trade secrets . But like what ? Could

1:21

you tell us , yeah , no , no ?

1:22

of course , first

1:25

I would say know

1:27

the facts there

1:30

. There is a lot of tips and tricks

1:32

out there right , because everybody

1:34

wants growth and everybody

1:36

wants it fast , right . But

1:39

unfortunately there are a lot of tips

1:41

and tricks aren't there that aren't actually

1:43

real or helpful . So

1:51

, like , my first thing that I always tell people is know who you're getting your information

1:53

from , know if they're actually an expert or if they're just trying

1:55

to see what sticks . And trying

1:57

to get as many followers as possible

1:59

, as much reach as possible , because

2:01

sometimes people just throw crazy stuff out there

2:03

and it gets shared . That's

2:06

, unfortunately , something I see a lot in my line

2:08

of work and it doesn't have

2:10

what's the word I'm looking for , not

2:12

background , but there's no actual fact in

2:14

it . It's not real . Please

2:25

don't do it . It's not going to get you any help . But the other thing about that

2:27

is is follow people who do know what they're talking about . I am a definite um prescriber

2:29

to or subscriber to Mosseri , adam Mosseri

2:32

, who's the head of Instagram . I follow his stuff

2:34

. He does a really great job of getting on there and

2:36

talking to people every week

2:38

, doing like ask me any things , um

2:41

, and being honest about you . Know what's going to help you

2:43

guys and what's and what's not . He

2:46

wants people to stay on Instagram , so he's

2:48

not going to tell you anything that you know would

2:56

would make you want to leave . Obviously , people get get so frustrated about the

2:58

algorithm and about , I would say , most , most of the time , about

3:00

reach and about

3:03

followers and stuff like that , and another

3:05

thing that I just want to throw out there is

3:07

that followers

3:10

, especially , is a very

3:12

vanity metric . Yes

3:14

, I'm glad you brought that up . It's

3:17

not what you should be focused on . You

3:21

shouldn't be mad about losing followers either

3:23

. This is something that I talk to my

3:25

clients about on a regular basis

3:27

. I have so many clients who are like what

3:29

if we just bought followers ? And that's something that

3:32

you never want to do , because that just

3:34

messes with your engagement . They're not real

3:36

. It's going to make it harder

3:38

for people who are following you to actually

3:40

see your stuff because it's

3:42

so oversaturated

3:44

and it has been forever right . But

3:47

especially since the pandemic , especially

3:49

since 2020 hit and

3:55

we saw this increase in people bringing

3:57

their businesses online or trying to be digital coaches or

3:59

the vast variety

4:01

of digital businesses that we see today

4:04

, that really started amping

4:06

up , you know , four years ago .

4:08

So think about

4:10

yeah , Do you feel like it's so much

4:12

more important to focus on engagement with

4:15

your audience versus , like you said , trying to get

4:17

more and more followers who , especially if you're a

4:19

business , they're not going to convert to clients

4:21

? You know , they're just 100% ?

4:23

random people . And I say this especially if

4:25

you are a service based business , you

4:27

know , if you're selling products , if you're actually

4:30

like shipping stuff out and stuff like that and

4:32

you have reels go viral , that's excellent , right

4:34

, Because that can actually help you sell stuff . As

4:36

a service provider , going

4:39

viral sometimes is going to hurt you more than it's going

4:41

to help you , because you're getting pushed out to all these people

4:43

who are never going to use your services . Another

4:46

thing with going viral is it's not always

4:48

good . You're going to have some negativity there

4:50

. So you know it's just not . It's

4:53

not the gift that everyone thinks it is . It's

4:56

not a one and done kind

4:58

of thing . It's not like , hey , my reel went viral

5:00

, Now I made it big and now I

5:02

have millions of followers and now I

5:05

have 100 grand

5:07

months Like that's not how it works

5:09

, Right . So I've had I've

5:11

had reels go . I've had reels go viral

5:13

. Personally , my clients have had reels go viral and

5:16

none of us are living those kinds of lives Right . So

5:19

it's so

5:21

important to actually focus on nurturing

5:23

your people . Find your people

5:26

, find people who value

5:28

you , who really respect

5:30

and understand what you're talking about

5:32

and what you're educating them on , for it's

5:36

just . It makes so much

5:38

more sense to find those people , nurture those

5:40

people and focus

5:42

on what they're there to learn

5:44

from you or what they're

5:46

there to get from you , right . So

5:49

that's a huge thing with creating content

5:51

, too , is know your audience , know

5:53

who you're talking to and who's listening

5:55

right , Because if your

5:58

audience , if you think your audience , is

6:00

someone who's completely different than the people who

6:02

are actually showing up on your page , that's

6:04

something you got to pay attention to too , right .

6:07

I was gonna say , going along with that , is there like

6:10

an ideal and optimal schedule for how

6:12

often you should post on Instagram , or is it

6:14

better just to be consistent in the way you post

6:16

?

6:17

It's better to just be consistent in the way you post

6:19

. Honestly , if , if all you can

6:21

do right now is post a couple times a week

6:23

, then post a couple times a week and

6:25

at least people know that they can expect that from you , right

6:28

? At least people know , hey , raina

6:30

is going to post , you

6:36

know , a reel today , or a reel at the beginning of the week and a post at the end of the week or something

6:39

. It's something that gets them in the mindset of like , oh , they're expecting to see this from

6:41

you today , so then

6:43

they will probably engage with it when it

6:45

does come , because they've been waiting

6:47

for it , as opposed

6:49

to just kind of pushing out content

6:53

that might not actually be branded

6:56

or valuable to you . Right , you

6:58

know , like a Canva graphic that

7:01

says Happy President's Day

7:03

or something you know like that's not

7:05

going to do it . So if

7:07

I yeah , I don't know I

7:09

always say that of course , course , you want to show

7:11

up as often as you can , as

7:13

often as you can be in front

7:16

of people's faces , you want to . However

7:18

, it does matter what you're showing

7:21

them when you're there . Right , yeah , don't

7:23

just show up just to be there , to be like I was

7:25

here every day , but my content was crap

7:27

, exactly , and I wasn't saying anything

7:30

and I was just talking to the void , because

7:36

that's also a way that , like , if people are expecting you and then you're not

7:38

giving them anything , they're going to leave . Why would they stay ? So

7:41

definitely , definitely focusing

7:43

on quality over quantity

7:45

. Definitely focusing on

7:47

stories , which is something that I

7:50

think a lot of people overlook . Stories

7:53

is where conversations start . Stories

7:55

is where people message

7:57

you and reply

7:59

to something you said , or a crazy story that you're

8:01

telling in your story , or

8:03

relate to the coffee

8:06

that you got that afternoon that you posted a picture

8:08

of . That's where connections

8:10

are built , I will say , is

8:12

in stories . Another thing

8:14

that actually is a little trick that people don't

8:17

always know about that encourages

8:19

well what I like to say

8:21

is social media is meant to

8:23

be social right , so that's what

8:25

I like to use it for . And

8:28

this little trick actually encourages that

8:30

, because when you

8:32

reply to someone's story

8:34

, or message someone's story , um

8:37

, or reach out to them in a way , in that era

8:39

, in that area , excuse me you're

8:42

going to start showing up closer

8:44

to the top of their stories . Oh

8:48

okay , you guys have had that conversation

8:50

, you guys have had that connection , that interaction

8:52

from that . So then Instagram is

8:54

going to use that and say , hey , you guys were just talking

8:57

to each other . I bet they want to see more of your stuff and

8:59

they're going to push you up in those people's

9:01

stories .

9:02

Yeah , and their feed , their story feed , yes , and your

9:04

feed as well . I was going to say

9:06

, speaking of stories , then , like that's more

9:08

of a safer spot , a better spot to purse more

9:10

personal things , like funny things happening throughout

9:13

your day , little insights into your

9:15

life , right ? And is it that a place where you

9:17

want to encourage that engagement by , like

9:19

I don't know , asking a question or

9:21

absolutely having to do that little ?

9:22

slider bar . How much do ?

9:24

you like this .

9:24

Yeah , yeah , I was just gonna bring those up . There are a ton

9:27

of interactive things

9:29

that you can do . On stories . You can

9:31

do polls . I love doing polls with people

9:33

. They're

9:37

super fun and people like to do them because people have opinions . So , even if it's like the dumbest

9:39

little thing , you're going to get a wide variety

9:41

of answers and it's going to be a fun thing

9:43

to talk about . And it's even cooler if

9:45

it can be related to your content . But

9:48

if it's just related to you and your personality

9:50

, that's okay too , because

9:56

again and I'm a service provider a lot of my clients are service providers , so I tend to talk about

9:58

that a little bit more . But

10:00

as a service provider , they're

10:02

not only coming to you for what you provide

10:05

, they're coming to you for you . If

10:09

they don't like you , they're going to go

10:11

find somebody else .

10:13

You're not the ideal client .

10:15

No , so so

10:17

that's why I do think it's important for excuse

10:19

me for your personality to shine through

10:21

in your brand . Yes , show off

10:23

some personal stuff and stories . You don't have to overshare

10:26

, you don't . It doesn't have to be like really deep

10:28

stuff about , about your family

10:30

or anything like that , but show off your personality

10:32

, show off what you like and what you don't like

10:35

, and have that intertwined

10:37

into your content

10:39

, whether that's in stories or posts

10:41

. I

10:43

know what you

10:46

were saying before about you know , showing

10:48

up more personally in

10:50

stories than on your feed and that kind of thing

10:52

, and that's true . But you also

10:55

want your feed content to still

10:57

be intertwined with you and your brand

10:59

and your personality , because

11:01

that's how it's going to come across

11:04

to your viewers

11:06

, right ? So , yes

11:08

, definitely stories is safer , but also

11:11

, you know you want you kind of want it all

11:13

to be intertwined . People , that's what people like

11:16

. And that's another thing that I wanted to touch on here

11:18

today is like the biggest

11:20

piece of advice

11:23

that I would have for anyone right now on

11:25

instagram who is really wanting

11:27

not just to grow , not

11:29

just just to gain followers , but

11:31

to actually get

11:34

something out of the app , get

11:36

a connection , get you

11:39

know , grow

11:41

. Grow in a way that doesn't

11:43

necessarily mean just your followers

11:45

, right Like . Grow your business

11:47

in a way that , like , people know

11:49

who you are . You're showing up branded

11:52

, you're showing up put together . When

11:54

people see your brand colors

11:57

and your text on the screen , without

11:59

even seeing your name , they know who you are , and

12:01

that is all stuff that's going to help

12:03

actually tell

12:05

your story , which is

12:07

what I'm coming back to here today . That's

12:10

been huge on Instagram lately is

12:13

storytelling , and it's always been

12:15

an effective way to market . But I

12:17

feel like previously we've been like trying to like

12:19

hide it , like we haven't . We haven't been

12:21

like just straight up , honestly

12:23

saying , yes , I'm just going to tell you a story

12:25

now . And that's what we're seeing a lot

12:27

of on Instagram right now is

12:30

the storytelling reels . That is just literally

12:33

like the face to camera reels

12:35

talking to you , teaching

12:37

you something or telling you a story about their days

12:40

, and those are getting incredible

12:42

results right now Because they're entertaining

12:44

and they're also truthful .

12:47

Yeah , and it builds that connection to right . You're like

12:49

I'm sharing something with you , like a friend

12:51

to friend , exactly exactly

12:53

.

12:54

Um , I think that people got really

12:56

, really burnt out about

12:58

, um , the , the

13:01

perfect reels and the perfect homes

13:03

and the perfect everything

13:06

that we were seeing . Like it was like at

13:08

the beginning of the pandemic a little bit right , because

13:11

like that's when people started growing up and everything

13:13

had to be perfectly curated . And

13:15

now we're like we just got

13:17

through a three-year pandemic . Um , we're

13:20

we're showing up with our hair on top of our

13:22

head and we just rolled out of bed and

13:25

this is life and people like

13:27

to see that kind of stuff . People

13:29

want to see the truth , they want to be entertained

13:31

, but , like they don't want you to lie to them . They they

13:33

see enough of that out in

13:36

traditional commercials and TV

13:38

and Netflix , right

13:40

, all that stuff . So I

13:43

think the biggest part of social media

13:45

is to tell

13:48

your story , show your personality

13:50

. That's how you're going to find your people and that's how

13:52

you're actually going to grow and make more money . It's

13:54

not about gaining

13:57

thousands of followers

13:59

a week on Instagram or something

14:01

like that .

14:02

Yeah , or going viral or being an influencer . It's

14:04

like no , that's not actually what you're trying to

14:06

do , especially if you're a business owner .

14:08

It's like forget that Right exactly

14:10

.

14:11

Well , holly , if people

14:13

want to work with you . Give

14:15

us a little pitch , Tell us about what you do and how people

14:17

can get in contact with you .

14:18

Yeah , so I offer

14:20

a few different things . I'm a social media manager , so

14:22

I have a few full-time clients that I basically do

14:24

everything for , from content creation

14:27

to caption writing and scheduling and

14:29

messaging and all that kind

14:31

of stuff . And

14:33

then I also offer some smaller packages

14:36

, including done for you content

14:39

, which can be just graphics

14:41

or videos or

14:43

a combination of both , and

14:46

that's just kind of stuff that I get together

14:48

with you . I take some pictures , we get to know about your

14:50

brand and then I send it over to you and you

14:52

have it to post for the month . I

14:55

also do VIP content days . Those

14:57

are really fun for our immersive

15:00

, like deep dives into your brand , where

15:02

we do a bunch of video recording , we talk about

15:04

your founder story and we

15:06

get a bunch of foundational

15:09

pieces of video and

15:11

pictures and stuff . And then I take it all

15:13

and I formulate all these cool graphics and videos

15:15

and stuff for you and I I take it all and I formulate all these cool graphics and videos and stuff for you and I give

15:18

it to you in a Google folder and you

15:20

use it all yourself . So

15:22

there's a few different ways to work for

15:24

me . I also do strategy sessions , but

15:28

yeah , you can go to my website , hvasocial

15:31

, or

15:34

follow me on Instagram , as we were

15:36

discussing at Holly Van Wetteren

15:38

. But

15:40

, yeah , I would love to help amplify

15:43

some more local female voices

15:45

via social media

15:48

this year , so hit me up .

15:50

That'd be great . And listeners , I have

15:52

done a strategy session with Holly and it was super

15:54

helpful just in getting me to really kind of

15:56

target what I want to do with my social media

15:58

and learn about better hashtags , so

16:01

I'd highly recommend it . Like

16:03

Holly was saying , if you're interested , check the show notes . I'll

16:05

have all of her info there for you to

16:07

click on and find and follow

16:09

. Until next time . Yeah

16:12

, Thanks , holly . Until next time . Take

16:14

care , and don't forget to share this episode with

16:16

someone that you know needs this info

16:18

. Take

16:21

care .