061: Want KAPOW Factor On Your Socials? Here's How.
Episode #061: Want KAPOW Factor On Your Socials? Here's How.
A chance conversation with a fellow travelling business owner showed me how it was possible to get massive conversions to new clients from ONE Instagram shout out, to an audience of just over 300 people.
So how is a small start up getting massive numbers like this straight off the bat? Walk this way (and a heads up, it's something you can start replicating yourself, right now, regardless of your industry or following).
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Transcript
Meredith: [00:00:00] Hello beautiful small business people. Hope you're well. Sitting here in the car in a suburb outside Cairns called White Rock, waiting for the laundromat. So, hey, why not record a podcast? Cause we're good at killing a lot of birds with one stone around here.
So, interesting, conversations that come up on the road when I talk to other people that have got small businesses, they're running from laptops or in small towns.
I was talking to a couple who run a disability support service. Basically what they do is they help Parents of disabled children, they help them navigate the NDIS, and they help them kind of figure it all out, make it work for them as best they can, and just be like a support person as they're, again, navigating that whole, what I can imagine would be a really complex thing.
Just so they can get the help that they need, and she was explaining to me what they do, and like, honest to God, if there was ever anyone, like, this is what I love about what I do sometimes, I wish I could do what I do for free for people, because, I loved what they did for [00:01:00] other families, and it came from a lot of their own experience.
And then they found that other families needed the help that they had to create for themselves. So God, if there was ever anyone I could build a website or do marketing for free, it's businesses like this. But she said something, the lady, the wife of the couple, said something that struck me.
She said... “Check out our Instagram.” She's like, “Please don't judge. It's really sloppy. It's very unpolished,” but she said “we get mad conversions out of our Instagram.” She said “We've only got about 300 odd followers. But we get…” oh, so I think the week I spoke to her they'd gotten 12 new clients out of like a shout-out on Instagram and I'm like that is wicked good conversions from, like, math obviously isn't my thing, I make stuff look beautiful for a living so I couldn't tell you what percentage that is, but that's really freaking high.
To have say, 300 followers, give or take, and be getting 10 clients. from a single shout-out. That's a mad conversion. So my marketing brain switched on. I'm like, what is it about this business that's getting [00:02:00] such good conversions and such good client acquisition from a very small Instagram following, relatively speaking.
So, I went and had a snoop just to try and figure out what's going on here. And I read the first couple of posts and they were beautiful, like heartwarming posts about what a day in the life of like a family with a child with a disability looks like. You know, beautiful moments where the siblings step up and they're sort of like the unsung heroes of families with disabled kids.
And, you know, it's the sort of stuff that's like, sucker punch, but really like, beautiful, uplifting, we're all in this together stuff, right? And that's when it hit me, I'm like, it's so heartfelt. They're getting like 40, 50 likes, comments, that kind of thing. Like, I don't get that kind of engagement online.
Okay, what I'm doing isn't as emotionally engaging as disability support. But, it made me kind of think, wow, like what, what they're doing, it's real heart on their sleeve. We're all in this together stuff. Very [00:03:00] emotionally engaging. And it's like... Okay, so, how do we make our content more emotionally engaging?
How do we sort of bring that human element through our content? Because, and I thought, I've noticed this trend in other clients I work with, like I do some social media management for a waste management company. And so, at the end of every month, we have a marketing meeting, we review what content was successful the previous month, and then that in turn tells us what we should double down on in the next month to get better reach, better engagement, things like that.
Um, and inches matter when you're talking about like waste management, where it's not very sexy stuff, so there's only so many things you can say. But what we've noticed consistently in their content, it's the behind the scenes, employee shout outs, day in the life of stuff that ranks the bejesus of any educational content we put out there.
So again, it's that human element, the story, the faces, the people, that your audience will really respond to. So, how do we, how do we weave this human [00:04:00] story into, well heck, if we can do it with disability support, a business from that to the waste management end of the spectrum, I'm sure every business can have a focus on the human story inside their business.
So, I suppose the takeaways that I wanted to share with you from that little aha moment were things like, how can you tell your story in a way that it makes your audience feel heard? Like, think about the stuff that you kind of butt your head against every day. Try not to be, for lack of a better term, try not to be a Debbie Downer about it.
But what's something that it's like, oh, don't you hate that when, or like, just to show them like, hey, I see you. I see what you're going through. I go through the same thing. Here's what I try. It's gonna be okay. How do you say that to your audience? In a way that can be like engaging or emotive or funny or heartfelt.
How can you sort of think about how you can weave that story into your social media content? So in the case of this disability support group, they just put [00:05:00] lovely photos and moments from their kids. I would always put a caveat on, be very careful about using your children as, content in your marketing.
For them, a lot of what they do is children-centric, and especially children with a disability. So there's no real way out of showcasing their story as a way to connect with others. But as a general rule, I would be very careful about using children, especially your children, in your marketing content.
And the reason I say that is because... They didn't sign up for that. They didn't ask to be the faces of your brand. And that's consent they can't really give. Because they're not adults. They don't fully understand what it is they're doing. And they can't take their face back off the internet. Like, once you put that content out there, it can get screenshotted, copied, pasted, saved.
Once it's out there, you've got no control over where that ends up. So, you need to be mindful of your future adult children when you're using them as [00:06:00] content as young children. So, ways you can get around that, I like to, and again, I did this in the past. Like, I'm not preaching from the mountaintop here. I used to show my children a little bit more on my content, but as I kind of educated myself on, like, the dangers that are out there without sounding like an alarmist, I thought, you know what? I'm going to try and find a way to tell the story of a parent running a business without using my children's faces and, like, whilst still allowing them to have a level of anonymity.
So, like, I'll shoot them from, like, facing away from the camera so you can see that I've got two boys, but you wouldn't recognise them walking down the street. So sometimes, they'll be in the distance playing, might be a really nice scenery shot like we might have stopped somewhere that's a beautiful spot and they're playing in the mud or something.
So things like that you can do. But think about, yeah, think about ways you can weave this story through.
Coming back to your why. Why is it that you do what you do? Why is what you do important? Like, for me, I believe that small businesses, especially like these [00:07:00] family runs or solo businesses, they're the backbone of our regional towns. Like, they're employing our locals, they'll show our teenagers the ropes when they're just starting their first jobs, they'll be on committees, they'll be coaching soccer teams, they're supporting charities.
They do so much in our communities that if I can help them... grow and run successful businesses with really strong marketing that gives them back time to do all these amazing things. We're all gonna win like we all get something out of that if they're doing well. That's my mission. And so I feel like I can speak so much to the parents juggling too many balls dropping some Juggling that madness of kids after school activities.
Why did I say yes to that to that committee? Why did I say yes to that? I meant well at the time, but where was I going to get that time from? Like the me, the person that said yes to that and the person that's having to show up and do it are probably two different people. Like one of them has their best intentions at heart and the other one's responsible for the schedule.
We look the same, but we're not the same person. So next time I say yes to that. Just remind me to check [00:08:00] my Google Calendar before you take my yes, like, just for my benefit, please. So things like that, that seem mundane and everyday, even if it sort of feels like it, oh, but everyone goes through that, that's exactly the point.
That's exactly why you should share it, because everybody goes through that. And the thing is, we make... When we make buying decisions, right, we make buying decisions based on emotion. We actually emotionally invest before we physically invest. We just back that decision up with logic and reason and facts.
But we've normally already made the emotional decision. By doing what I call putting your face in your feed, putting your story out there, using your voice, sort of giving people a preview of what it's like to work with you and what your values are, you know, what's important to you as a person and a family.
They're gonna create this sort of preemptive relationship with you almost, and the ones that are going the ones that Like what they see and the ones that felt they can relate to you The ones that feel like you hear them, you see them, you understand what they're going through. The minute they're ready to buy It's going to be a [00:09:00] hard yes.
It's going to be like shut up. Take my money. Why aren't we working together already? That's the power of putting this heartfelt stuff out there It's the minute you put the offer out there and go look ready to transact Does anybody want to take me up on this offer or this service? It's going to be a resounding yes, if you've met them where they're where they're ready to buy in their buying cycle.
So Little bit of a challenge for you:
Try and find something that you can do once a week that is, here's my story, here's who I am, can you relate? Easy way to do this, go back through your photo album on your phone. Like, we've all got a bajillion and one photos of stuff that just happens to us on our phone, right? So once a week, set yourself time to go through your phone and go, Oh, I could say a really good story about this.
Or, this photo really relates to this thing that I've been going through, and this would be a really good vehicle for that. And it can just be a really nice photo from behind the scenes in your life. And just say one thing that matters to you about it, whether it's gratitude, or frustration, Or, maybe like, a bit emotionally [00:10:00] challenging, physically challenging, mentally challenging.
Don't come from a place of like, active trauma, right? Don't sort of make it look like you're looking for sympathy. You're out there offering sympathy. You're out there offering empathy and connection and companionship and like, hey, we're in this together because I go through this and yeah, it's a bit crap, but hey, at least we're going through a bit, a little bit crap together.
But it also can be the upbeat stuff too. It can be the wins, it can be the highs. Like, I love sharing, like I just... The fact that I meet so many amazing people using business as the vehicle to do so much good and to fix problems that they've faced. How the f**k is that a job? I get to chat to amazing people and I get to make beautiful websites and then I get to use beautiful websites and marketing strategy to make them more successful so they can help more people.
Like, how the f**k do you get more satisfied than that? That's that's cool, man. That's what I get to do for a living. That's how I... [00:11:00] That's how I get to operate every day. Like, that's so freaking cool. So whenever you're hit with a moment where you're like, Shit, do I get paid for, like, I make, I create wealth doing this.
How the frig did that happen? Record it, share it, because you know what, you might just light somebody else up who needed it. You might just attract someone else in who is looking for someone as motivated and passionate as you. They don't want to just they don't want to deal with someone who's just doing it because it's a job.
They want to deal with someone who's got that level of commitment to what it is they do every day. So, like I said let's take it back to the top, weekly challenge. Go through your photo Roll on your phone, find one photo every week that you can share that gives people an insight as to who you are, what your values are, why what you do is important.
Put up a bit of a spiel. You don't have to be a wordsmith. Speak from the heart because this is a preview of who you are. So the best you can do is just put yourself out there because that's what they're going to respond to. Tag me and tag me in what you do. I'd love to see it. Show me what, show me if this sort of helped you out.
If you came up with some content [00:12:00] off the back of this, tag me in it @meredithpage. me. I'd love to see what you come up with. See you next time.
