Season 1, Episode 5 - How to Expand Your Social Channels and Become a Multi-Channel Creator
I see so many entrepreneurs using Instagram and only Instagram to promote their services. We all know social media is a powerful business and marketing tool. With the various platforms available, there’s no shortage of channels to explore. However, this variety can be a double-edged sword. The more choices you have, the bigger your reach — and the easier it is to get overwhelmed. The key is to determine and capitalize on the strengths of each platform. In no time, you’ll be surprised at how you can use them as a true multi-channel creator.
In the fifth episode of The Limitless Podcast, we dive in on the strengths of different social channels available for your business. We cover how to use each of them effectively and the opportunities they provide when managed strategically. We also talk about repurposing other Internet spaces and taking advantage of your core messaging.
If you want to learn how to utilize different social channels for your business, this episode is for you!
As you’re listening, you will come across some cars honking and get a real taste of city life from my at-home studio in NYC! Nothing like a little added character ;)
Let's activate today's episode and apply it to your brand to accelerate your revenue and community growth. Join my 6-week program Social Expansion starting in mid-April, focusing on the freedom, growth, and resilience of your brand through social media. Learn more here.
Here are three reasons why you should listen to this episode:
Learn what it means to become a multi-channel creator and why it’s powerful to use more than just Instagram.
Find out the four key areas of focus for evaluating your social media marketing goals.
Discover the strengths of new and established social media channels for content creation.
Resources
Join the Social Expansion 6-week group course and learn how to break free from Instagram burnout and speed up community growth!
Sign up for Jamie’s 3 Steps to 30 Days of Content FREE MINI-COURSE!
Sign up for Jamie’s 12-week Marketing Mastery business activation program today!
Connect with Jamie on Linkedin: Jamie Ratermann
Episode Highlights
[02:30] Being a Multi-Channel Creator
Multi-channel creation is about expanding across the Internet and promoting in more than one place.
Many people feel dependent on specific types of social channels for business.
Jamie: “Knowing that you have so much power but putting it all in one place? You're not creating this foundation for yourself. You're not allowing yourself to have multiple ways to engage with those clients, those people who are looking and seeking for your support.” - Click to Tweet Here
It's about setting up your socials and allowing them to be easy ways to gain new insights, clients, and leads.
[04:17] Social Expansion Program
Jamie’s Social Expansion program is a six-week program centered on how you can free yourself from using only Instagram.
Jamie has never been a solo channel creator in the 11+ years of her career.
She was able to generate traffic and get conversions using social accounts for big brands like TripAdvisor and Henri Bendel.
You can use the insights you get from social channels to help bolster other business aspects.
[06:37] Determine Your Primary Social Channel
Each industry and type of brand has unique experiences with different social channels.
There is a core set of strategies you should know about each platform.
Tune in to the full episode to hear about Jamie’s experience in tripling the traffic for TripAdvisor!
It’s critical to identify the primary social channel you should focus on based on your business goals and message.
[10:38] How to Beat the Algorithm
Many articles on how to beat the Instagram algorithm only provide tactics, not an overall strategy.
The strategy comes from your messaging, consistency, and how you define your social style.
The simplest way to beat an algorithm is to not depend on one algorithm solely.
[11:56] Four Key Areas to Evaluate Your Social Media Marketing Goals
Look at different social platforms as channels of opportunity.
The four key areas of focus are brand awareness, conversion, engagement and building relationships on those platforms, and traffic.
[13:30] Instagram and TikTok
Instagram’s primary strengths are conversion and brand awareness.
Instagram’s algorithm encourages immediate engagement with your audience. However, it can feel like a beast that you need to feed regularly.
The one key element that keeps people on TikTok is its short-form video format.
It’s a platform where you can post informal videos that showcase brand energy and relatability.
[17:36] LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a hub for creators, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders.
It is not only for business professionals, coaches, and CEOs.
The key is to turn your LinkedIn into a creator account.
Peacock your purpose.
LinkedIn is the changemaker platform where you want to lean into your story, expertise, and leadership.
[21:18] LinkedIn’s Strengths
You can post compelling content without looking at it for several days. LinkedIn’s algorithm allows posts to last between 2 to 7 days.
LinkedIn has the second-highest salary for its platform users, with Pinterest being the first.
With its focus on business partnerships, it’s easier to pull in high-ticket clients on the platform.
The quality of the comments on LinkedIn is very compelling.
You activate your referral network and build awareness of your profile when you engage with others on LinkedIn.
[26:34] Twitter
Twitter is one of the easiest channels where you can share your insights, thought leadership, and build conversations.
It is the first place people go for potential PR and insights.
Twitter has been around for a long time, and it continues to evolve.
With Twitter, you can just repurpose your copy and messaging into multiple tweets.
Jamie: “That is what’s important — [sharing] what you find to be insightful about interest topics, what you find to be important around your business, and engaging in conversation.” - Click Here to Tweet This
[28:29] Navigating through Twitter
Find your quirks and think about how you can put that into engaging tweets.
You don’t have to tweet every day. Capitalize on the content your audience is looking for and hashtags they use.
The best way to use Twitter is to reply to the tweets of experts you like to engage with. The goal is to build brand awareness and relationships.
Any work you put into Twitter can have a second life elsewhere.
[31:52] Pinterest
You can post once or twice a month on Pinterest and reap the benefits.
You can drop many posts simultaneously and allow the algorithm to do its work.
The primary opportunity on Pinterest is its search functionality.
On average, a post on Pinterest will last at least three months. You can extend this with proper optimization.
[33:38] Navigating Your Pins
The key to navigating Pinterest is to identify keywords and incorporate them into your copy. How would you search and find particular information?
Vertical visuals are the way to go.
It is easy to transition into using Pinterest. You can even incorporate it directly into your blog.
Idea pins are a wonderful place to get early awareness. It focuses on video content.
One of the best ways to use Pinterest is to bolster your email list. You can do this by providing training and offering exclusive content.
[38:01] Taking Advantage of Each Platform’s Strengths as a Multi-Channel Creator
The power of your messaging and mindset will lead you to be the most effective multi-channel creator.
Play big and see the ripple effects of your business across the Internet.
Being a multi-channel creator with leadership and longevity comes from seeing your business as a long-term passion and knowing the right investments.
[41:01] Handling the Big Overwhelm
Many people find managing more than one social media channel overwhelming.
You need to release the pressure you put on yourself and the opportunities coming to you.
Jamie: “Overwhelm is just an opportunity with unnecessary pressure.” - Click Here to Tweet This
You can utilize every social channel we tackled for only an hour a week.
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Transcript
Jamie Ratermann: When someone now tells me today that Instagram is the only place you can get conversion for your business, that Instagram is the only place you're going to find awareness — brand awareness for your business, I'm ready to call bullshit. I'm ready to tell you that it is absolutely a wonderful tool, but it is not the only place for you to be.
Hello, all! Welcome to episode five of The Limitless Podcast. Here's a rundown. We dive in deep today on all the social platforms that are available to you, how you can utilize them for your business, and why I want to prove that this is not an overwhelming experience. Actually, a lot of opportunities that you can use that frees up your time, frees up your energy — it's just a matter of taking it from a strategic place.
You're going to hear all about how LinkedIn is a little different now, Twitter, Pinterest — why these strong established platforms are for you. Then, also how TikTok and Instagram can be places that you start with, and then you get to transition and repurpose to these other places. You'll get to hear me nerd out today and allow you to see what the internet has in store for you. So jump right on in.
Hello lovelies, welcome to episode five of The Limitless Podcast. I am so excited to have you here today. While I have you though, let's talk a little bit about the fact that I'm entering to month two of this wonderful way to share my voice with all of you. I have a small ask: if you are finding any of these episodes, do me a favor — screenshot these podcasts and share them to your Instagram Stories, tag me in them, tell me one key takeaway that you are loving and experiencing with each of these podcast episodes.
This is a long game for me. I'm going to be around for a while because I am enjoying every minute of creating these podcast episodes for you. But I want to hear what you love, what you think — of course, subscribe, rate and review. But tell me on the socials. Let me know what your takeaways are from these episodes and what I'm sharing, I would so appreciate it.
Today, I'm going to get into something that I'm a bit of a nerd about. I geek out about it, I enjoy it all damn day. It is something that is actually really important to how I am a business coach, how I'm a little different — and I am going to talk to you today about what it really means to be a multi-channel creator. A multi-channel creator, for me, means many things. But most importantly, we're creating this beautiful foundation and structure for your business. That you get to expand across the interwebs across the internet in an easy way, but also to — straight definition here — multi-channel creation means you are posting, you are promoting in more than one place, specifically on the socials.
The reason why I find this to be so important is that I'm sure many of you have found that you feel dependent on specific types of social accounts or specific channels for your business. If Instagram — the algorithm is just not giving you the same amount of engagement, same amount of reach that you used to have, you just feel like your business is shot. Or if you're not just ready to hop onto reels just yet, you think that you're falling behind. Or in general, if the whole account goes down like it did last October, that seems like a loss on that day for your business.
This is what I mean by dependence. Knowing that you have so much power, but putting it all in one place — you're not creating this foundation for yourself, you're not allowing yourself to have multiple ways to engage with those clients, those people who are looking and seeking for your support.
Within many of my programs, I talk about this marketing mastery is one of my signature programs. We make sure your website email and you are introduced to all the socials to make sure that you know that it's actually not an overwhelming experience — I'll talk a little bit more about that. It's all about setting it up and allowing it to be easy ways to gain new insights, new clients, new leads. But in particular, today I want to talk about how this relates to my current program that I am launching called Social Expansion, which is exactly what we're going to talk about today.
Social Expansion is my six-week program specifically centered on how you can free yourself from Instagram. It doesn't mean I'm telling you to stop using Instagram, but how you can use Instagram as your spotlight, as your lighthouse, and be able to shine your light on other places on the internet, on other social channels. Meaning, we're going to take all that beautiful work you've done, that creative work, that potent messaging you have around your brand, and be able to center it into new platforms that are ready and waiting for you to utilize them.
Clearly, I'm passionate about this. Clearly, this is something that is important to me. The reason why is I have never been a solo channel creator. I have been doing this for 11 plus years — more than 11 years at this point. Starting my career with bigger brands like TripAdvisor, Henri Bendel, I was able to not only generate traffic from social accounts but get conversions from social accounts, new PR events, new big partnerships. I use social media as a way to build multiple places in these big corporate businesses. Sometimes as a solo team — which I will talk a little bit about here.
But the idea is that we have so many arms — we have so many channels within our businesses that I was able to use the insights I got from social to help bolster the email team, to help bolster the creative vlogging team, the travel guides, to let them know, “Hey, I know this is going to get a lot of traffic. Why don't we pair this with this key demographic that we're trying to pull in?” I got to get a beautiful experience to know that if I'm going to get certain types of people when I post on Pinterest, I want to get certain types of people when I post on Facebook or on Instagram, and then also I can utilize Twitter to enhance this upcoming sale.
All of that was something that was always interworking within my mind, and that was a big part of it. But I want to talk about how I was rebellious. I like to wear the badge of being a radical, radiant rule breaker. I am a rebellious person in the fact that some of the information that is put out on the internet is BS. Some of the stuff that you're going to find around social media accounts is going to be based on personal experiences for your businesses or brands. This is where I like to jump in be like, “I've worked with 50 or more brands on their social media accounts.” Each industry, each type of brand is going to have a different experience with each of these social channels. But there are a core set of strategies that you should know about each platform.
My first radical act of rebelliousness was when I was tasked with tripling the traffic from social media accounts when I worked for one of Tripadvisor’s luxury travel brands. At that moment, we were generating no traffic — very little. If I could remember correctly, it was somewhere below 500 visits a month, something like that, from our social accounts — Facebook being our primary traffic generator.
Now, many of you may know this already, but Facebook pages in their heyday were amazing — they got some really great engagement, you were able to get people clicking over to your site. Unfortunately, that era has passed. That era has absolutely passed because Facebook is intentionally working on allowing personal accounts to get more reach, and then they're also asking for a little bit of money from those Facebook pages’ accounts.
Now, it's a lot harder to do that without having some monetary support. When I was creating this goal, this bigger goal, to be able to 3X or triple that social traffic from our social media accounts, I was told, “Alright, well, we got to spend all of our time on Facebook. This is where we should be. Clearly, this is where most people are spending their time. They're like don't even waste your time anywhere else.”
I just call bullshit. I was like, “Okay, we'll post a few things on here. We know how these things work. But I know that Facebook is not our primary place that we're going to be able to pull people in around travel. The mindset of people going onto Facebook is a little different than the mindset of someone who's planning a trip and using Pinterest to do those things.”
For me, I absolutely was able to still generate traffic from Facebook, but I didn't make it my primary place. When I was working there, I went ahead and focused solely on Pinterest. At the time, we were considered a wanderlust brand. People would be saving their pins to their boards to be able to just get in the mood of what travel would look like or how that would be. By making some very important fine-tune changes to our visuals, and to our copy and our messaging within Pinterest, we were able to match our Facebook traffic in that same month. Then, within that, we were able to triple that traffic within six months and hit that yearly deadline, that yearly desired goal for traffic just by really diving into potent messaging and deciding that, “You know what,? everyone else can use Facebook, let me show you how Pinterest is going to be that for me.”
This is just my, let's call it “origin story”. I don't know if I'm a hero here, but “origin story” of the fact that when someone now tells me today that Instagram is the only place you can get conversion for your business, that Instagram is the only place you're going to find awareness — brand awareness for your business, I’m ready to call bullshit. I'm ready to tell you that it is absolutely a wonderful tool, but it is not the only place for you to be. Leaning into that, that's exactly why I want to talk about what it means to be a multi-channel creator and how you can do that.
I'm sure you look on the internet and you see all these articles around how to beat the algorithm, how to use engagement — how to do these different things to beat the Instagram algorithm so that you're you're getting more engagement all the time. Now, as a very quick clarifying statement here, those articles, again, those are tactics or things you can use.
In general, I'm sure you've heard the idea where you should engage with a couple of accounts before you post, or like hashtags — they are a tactic, not something that's an overall strategy. Your strategy comes from your messaging, your strategy comes from how you show up consistently, your strategy comes up with you defining your social style and what that means for your brand.
But these articles on how to beat the algorithm — the simplest way to beat an algorithm is to not solely depend on one algorithm. The Instagram algorithm is different than the TikTok algorithm, which is different than the LinkedIn algorithm, which is different than the Twitter algorithm, which is different than the Pinterest algorithm. I know that I just launched all those off, and like, “Holy crap, my mind is spinning — there's so many things out there.” Nope, that's not it. There's so many opportunities out there.
See these as channels of opportunity. I want to share with you what the strengths are of each of these social media platforms and how they can be helpful to you. Whenever you are considering what is your goal, when you are marketing your business, there's usually three key areas of ways in which to evaluate your goals — one being brand awareness.
So brand awareness underneath that would follow growth — being able to find partnerships, specifically around those. A second one can be conversion. So not only are they engaging with you, but they are taking a step further — maybe into your website, buying your products, being able to do that. A follow sometimes can be considered a conversion. Then, of course, engagement. So community engagement, relationships — being able to build that on those platforms so that you continue to have awareness. They all kind of work within each other.
Did I say three? I meant four — four key areas. And the last one being traffic — traffic to site, traffic to email list builders, knowing that each of those pieces are along the way. What did I say — brand awareness, engagement, conversion, and traffic. Conversion and traffic will kind of fall sometimes in a similar place, but the idea is how you can generate people going further down your pipeline — I call it the social sales pipeline. How can you take it from the platform to a client? How can you make that feel seamless and easy?
Let's talk about Instagram strengths. Instagram is the bells and whistles platform. It has everything. It's taken a few things from other accounts, let's be clear. But it has everything — you're able to do stories, you're able to do video, you're able to do static posts, carousels, DMs, the place has got anything you can consider to do. With that in mind, it also allows you to hit every key area of what you're trying to do. It can be a traffic builder, it can be a place of conversion, it can be a place for growth and awareness. It can also be a place for PR and partnerships.
Now, its strengths. Its strengths are certainly conversion and brand awareness. That's where I would lean into that specifically for Instagram. But the reason to consider that is when you're posting on there, you're going to get more of a quick reaction. People are going to be able to dive into who you are pretty fast, which is also how the algorithm works. When you post on Instagram, it normally lasts in the feed between 36 hours — that’s static posts, photos, up to two weeks — that's reels.
That is how you want to think about, that feeling of, “Oh, I can't post and ghost. I can't leave.” The algorithm works that way. It doesn't want you to leave right after you post — it want you to stick around, it want you to hang out there. That helps you because you're able to immediately engage with people who are engaging with your post, but it also can feel like it's time-consuming — like you’ve got to stick around, you’ve got to be in the DMs, you’ve got to give immediate reactions. Instagram just can feel like a beast — you got to feed the beast on a regular basis.
Knowing any of the energy you're currently putting into Instagram is paying off — you're doing a lot of amazing things, right? It's great for brand awareness, it’s great for conversion, so you create those visuals, the copy, all of the pieces that go into that — I want you to hold on to that work, hold on to the kind of messaging you're creating there, and think about how that gets to be the hub that you get to share it in other places, and we'll talk more about that.
Now, TikTok —- let's talk about TikTok for just a quick moment. It takes one key element that keeps people on the platform, a.k.a video — short-form video. Our attention spans are obsessed with it. It's like frickin candy, we love it so much. TikTok takes a whole new approach to it where that's the only thing they do. Now, at the time of this recording, they have been considering putting out stories on TikTok — hopefully that changes.
But know that TikTok is about really informal video, showing the energy behind your brand, being able to really talk about topics that people find relatable, but putting your own spin on them. TikTok’s strengths are brand awareness. You can get more traffic, I've noticed there, more and more, but solely brand awareness is where TikTok’s at. Knowing that brand awareness is always going to help open up that top of your social sales pipeline — you're going to have a whole bunch of people coming in. But right now, it's not as easy to get them to where you want them to go. But there's potential — it’s still growing. It is the top platform. Instagram is losing to TikTok.
All these changes, this identity crisis you're seeing on Instagram is because even though they have all these bells and whistles, people are spending more time on TikTok on a regular basis. That's exactly why you're going to continue to see the algorithm change on Instagram. Even if you're ready to embrace video, if you're ready to get into it, I would heavily recommend that this is your time to take a look at TikTok — utilize it for your business. Okay. Deep breath.
Those big ones, the masters, the strong ones —those are the ones that are trying to grab your attention, they're the big ones here. Let me talk to you about the established platforms, the channels who've been with us since Facebook, some before Facebook, who've been around for a while and they choose their lane. They choose the lane for their strengths and how you can utilize them. I want to start off the top here with LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a place for creators. It is a hub for creators, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders. Let me tell you, you are a thought leader. If you are a candle maker, you're a thought leader. If you are a pottery maker, you're a thought leader. If you are a makeup artist, you're a thought leader.
Knowing that the meaning and the purpose behind your business are going to be what you want to spotlight or highlight whenever you are posting on LinkedIn. A couple of reasons to understand this. In the past, I want to say three years, they have been investing heavily in trying to get the feed of that platform to keep people around a little longer. While recruiters may still use LinkedIn, while you'll still get the occasional cold sales pitch — that is a future podcast for the record. We're going to talk about what it really means to have some warm DMs because I feel like I should have a hall of fame of some of the silly cold pitches I get from time to time.
But the idea here is that I want you to shake off the idea that LinkedIn is for business professionals only — is only for people who are business coaches, people who are CEOs of what they do. I have absolutely seen trainers, relationship coaches, pilates coaches, I actually saw a pottery brand — I used it as an example for a reason — all doing exceptionally well. Cooks, food companies getting tons of engagement, tons of reach, and a lot of partnerships on LinkedIn.
They have made the transition. You can now switch your account to be a creator account. One, that is something that I would recommend right off the bat. Make your LinkedIn a creator account. Within that, whenever you're thinking of the mindset shift you're bringing over into that channel, you're going to want to be like, “What is my movement in my business? What is the leadership that I want to create within my business?”
This is where you lean into what I like to call “peacocking your purpose”. You're not just taking photos of clients, you are capturing them in their most confident selves through key moments of their life. You are not just helping people create social media content, you are helping entrepreneurs create compelling content driven by their heart-centered mission. You want to think about how the work you do — 30-plus hours a week, small things that you do — contributes to the transformation, the impact in your customers, your clients, your followers’ lives just by being in your ecosystem, being in your world.
Knowing that LinkedIn is where you're going to want to lean into maybe your story, you’re going to want to lean into your expertise, but most importantly, your leadership. This is why I like to call LinkedIn the “change-maker platform”. What kind of change are you wanting to see in the world? This is where LinkedIn is going to get to know you really well. This is where you're going to see the engagement come through for you.
What LinkedIn does well is that, one, you don't have to stick around. I encourage a post and ghost on LinkedIn — I encourage it. You can post a really compelling piece of content and not look at it for a day, two days. In general, I usually recommend anywhere between two to four times a week of posting on LinkedIn. Why? Because their algorithm will allow any post that you create to last between two to seven days — just imagine that.
Things that you posted on Monday are still going to be getting more reach and awareness on average on Wednesday, Thursday, moving into the following week. Now, the more engagement you get, of course, the more reach you'll get as well. But knowing that that's how the algorithm works, they don't expect you to have to stick around and always be answering. In general, you get to post and walk away for a while.
The second piece is that LinkedIn has the second highest salary for users on the platform — Pinterest being the first. It is anywhere from $75,000 and above. Instagram — I don't believe the statistics are out for TikTok just yet, and Twitter, they're all a little less. Knowing that LinkedIn are people with money, people who are looking for support, people who are ready to find these business partnerships. They want to hear about your business, they want to hear the behind the scenes, they want to hear about the meaning behind the new product launch — all of those are really important key places within LinkedIn.
But also, on top of that, that means that you're going to find it easier to pull in some high-ticket clients. Somebody who's in tune with your business, someone who wants to know about the new programs that are coming out, someone who's engaging with your philosophy, your type of leadership — that is going to become a warm invite, a warm DM, a warm conversation. So really getting to see that on LinkedIn is important.
What I've noticed in particular is the quality of the comments on LinkedIn are so compelling. I'm sure many of you, when you post on Instagram, it's not too uncommon that you see someone giving you a comment that is just some emojis — which is nothing wrong with that, I'm not going to say, “Don't do that.” But on LinkedIn, you're going to find, “I will share this story around how I overcame imposter syndrome.” In the comments, somebody will reply sharing how they did that, or, “Oh, I never saw that.” The quality of the comments are important, which is exactly why relationship-building can be really good.
Separately, when you're engaging with others on LinkedIn, you are energizing and activating your referral network. One of the blocks that one of my clients has when they're starting to use LinkedIn is that they will say like, “Oh, I don't want my old co-workers to see everything that I'm doing”, or “This feels like it's not the right place to be sharing this.” I find it so silly. You all are CEOs of your business.
The main thing when it comes to this — and this goes back to those relationship limits that I talked about in episode one — is that we always believe that people who are watching us and are ready to criticize us. We criticize ourselves pretty easily the most. I can tell you that the kind of referrals I get from high school graduate friends of mine, from previous co-workers of mine, maybe there are people that are currently engaged with you or linked with you are not your ideal client but they are connected to your ideal client.
There's somebody like, “Hey, I love what you've been posting lately. My friend, Linda, absolutely needs your help. My friend, Linda, has been looking for a relationship coach, and I would love to recommend you.” Absolutely. I've had some old co-workers going, “Hey, cool, what you're doing I'm loving the message. I think I want to talk to you soon about this.” Know that limiting belief you might be having around LinkedIn, “It's only for professionals. I don't want to annoy my previous co-workers”, it's not true. It's just not true, it's something that we're creating.
But going back to the point here. When you comment, when you are a social being on LinkedIn, you are building awareness around your profile. Let's say you leave compelling content, that quality can't comment on another piece, on somebody else's post — everyone who sees that person in their feed also sees you. I will see a piece of content that I do not follow that person whatsoever, but my client, Nina, left a really good comment on there, so I get to see more things.
It's within the LinkedIn algorithm that they are going to show you to people you are not currently linked with. The quality of your comments is going to help you with relationship building, the quality of your comments is going to help you energize a new type of referral network. Okay, I could keep going off about LinkedIn. That is a wonderful place of expansion for sure.
Let's move into Twitter — because I think it's important to talk a little bit about Twitter here. Twitter is definitely something that I'm sure the first reaction you're going to have is, “You mean that political social media account? You mean that place where President Trump was a little too loud on where people like to tear each other apart?”
Twitter is actually one of the easiest ways for you to share your insights, share your thought leadership, and to build conversation. Whenever someone is looking for podcast guests they don't know, whenever someone is looking for potential PR, or potential insights based off of what they're finding on the internet, Twitter's the first place they go.
One of my favorite pieces here is that when Instagram went down back in October, where did people run to? They ran to Twitter. Twitter has been around one of the longest times, and they continue to evolve. They're taking on a piece of clubhouse right now, so knowing that they're going to see that audio opportunity coming for them as well. But the goal here is, when it comes to Twitter, is that you can just repurpose your copy, repurpose the messaging that you've used on Instagram into multiple tweets. That is what's important.
Sharing what you find to be insightful about interest topics, what you find to be important around your business, and engaging in conversation. Something I will be sharing — these first two I'm talking about here, LinkedIn and Twitter — making sure that you consider an engagement hour, like two days out of the week. How can you pop into these social platforms and comment — engage with each other? That is how you're going to see this expansion become really easy for you and those relationships get to be built from there.
For Twitter, this is where the repurposing gets pretty easy, but ultimately thinking about how you can find your quirks, how you can show your spark, how you get to add your clever way of twisting words because you want to show your deepest version of your personality. What would it feel like if I was talking to you, and putting that into tweets, putting that into a way that someone can engage with you? But also finding those industry experts replying — that is how you'll see Twitter work out really well for you.
One important keynote that I would like to say around Twitter is that you do not have to post every day — you do not. You can absolutely post three days out of the week, knowing that if it's based on a good interest that someone's looking for, if it's based on a good hashtag that people are using, you're going to be able to capitalize on that more often. But if I were to say, the best way for you to start to use Twitter is, if you check your email in the morning, check Twitter, reply to a list of experts that you like to engage with — that can be a fantastic way to get started.
But the goal, the desire, that marketing goal that we were talking about — this is where you're going to build brand awareness and relationships. That is the primary goal of Twitter. And even to just throw this out there — another way you get to repurpose Twitter posts is that they get to become Instagram posts. I'm sure many of you have seen where someone is like, “I wrote this really clever quip on Twitter. Now, that gets to become an Instagram post. Now, that gets to also become a LinkedIn graphic as well.” In general, any work you put into Twitter can have a second life elsewhere.
My favorite way of sharing how Twitter is really effective for me is that for my workshop that I run most Wednesdays — Content Planning Sprints, Twitter has been a key conversion place for me. I will share a couple of things that happened within the Sprints, things that are happening within my programs, masterclasses, just a random thought from time to time on Twitter. I would say maybe twice a week at most, I am posting on Twitter. But love it, we'll all engage with it.
I recently had someone come into a Content Planning Sprint saying, “I found you on Twitter.” Guess where she found me? She was a South African clothing maker, she was a designer, and I go, “What? Amazing!” The idea that Twitter has such a long reach, it's been around a long time, it has a decent amount of users — but knowing that just a really good bio on there and posting once or twice every week allowed me to get in there.
Tweets last longer than you think. Even though their shelf life of how long they are on average in the feed is 12 hours, people use Twitter in a different way for search — trying to search for their interest levels, what might be coming up for them. While the tweets last a short amount of time, people use them as a way to search for topics. So understanding that that comes through for you.
Alright, last one here, which I am super pumped about and I enjoy it so much. I started us off talking about how I was a bit rebellious when I worked for Tripadvisor about how we could use our Pinterest following. And yes, I'm going to talk about Pinterest right now. Pinterest is amazing. It is something that you can pour into once or twice a month and be able to reap the benefits. I talked about two to four times a week on LinkedIn. I said if you want to, you can be — twice a week on Twitter as well, being able to drop in a few posts on there.
Pinterest, you can drop many posts at the same time and allow the algorithm to do its thing, allow interest targeting to bring your pins into people's home feeds. But the primary goal, the primary opportunity that you have on Pinterest is search functionality. If you create blog posts, free trainings, email lists, and building landing pages — Pinterest is your place. Of course, I want to say of all of the marketing goals that you might have, Pinterest is going to be your traffic builder, your email list place.
On average, a post on Pinterest will last at least three months — at least. Once you optimize your search engine functionality, your visuals, it can get a little longer — the engagement is going to be there. When it comes down to Pinterest, the way in which to model that within your business is to start to identify keywords around how you help people, how you understand it.
Now, I would say that I am an intermediate expert when it comes to SEO. But the more that I ask myself this question, “How would I search and find this information?” That's a simple question to ask, “How would I search and find this information?” Or for my people who listened to my ideal client episode on episode three — no, episode two, forgive me — episode two talking about ideal client, “How would my ideal client search and find this? How would they search and find this one specifically?”
The idea is how can you come up with two to three keywords and phrases to drop into that messaging, to drop into that copy whenever you're setting up pins? It's that simple. When it comes to Pinterest, no reason to do hashtags, no reason to write long captions — being able to think about a one to three-sentence structure of how we want people to search and find that pin in some way.
Then, of course, you have a more vertical visual. You don't want it to be landscape, you don't want it to be horizontal — creating a vertical visual in some way. This platform is absolutely amazing. It is something that makes it really easy to transition to, and it is like a set-and-forget. Set it up so that whenever you create a blog, you create two to three pins that will go to that blog — make that simple for yourself. It allows them to have multiple entry points into your website.
For your email list building — same difference, giving easy access to a mini-course on what that looks like. So pins themselves are really great — idea pins are where it's at. Idea pins are a wonderful place to repurpose your reels, repurpose your TikToks, but to be able to use some video content to get early awareness. While I said that a regular pin will last up at least three months on average, knowing that, that means that sometimes it'll take a while for a pin that you posted this week to get some traction, it might take some time for it to reap the benefits.
But you are able to use idea pins to get early awareness. Idea pins is something that they're pushing a lot more heavily in the feed video all day — they love it. That will allow you to combine the work you do with the static pins but also use those idea pins.
One of the best ways to use Pinterest here is to bolster your email list. I like to use these things called “mini trainings” — so 10-minute trainings. I've talked about my three steps to 30 days of content in there so that you get to show and allow someone to experience your product or service before they buy it so that you can encourage somebody to hop onto your email list by giving them some exclusive content — something that feels really good.
Now, Pinterest is a wonderful place for that. Knowing that you can use your idea pins to get that early awareness to any of those trainings you're creating, but also creating those visuals to drive traffic to your site. One of the most effective ways I've seen Pinterest used within my clients is that we went ahead and made it our primary goal with one of my VIP clients where we went ahead and created multiple free trainings. I think we finished with five. So we created five trainings that were anywhere from creating five-minute coaching-style videos to 10-minute videos that just had that email wall so they had to subscribe that way, and we created pins around them — being able to disperse them month over month and within an idea pin. That is something that she created in January.
By June, without her having to consistently push out content on a regular basis, she was able to triple her email list — triple it. Only from Pinterest, we were able to look at where that traffic was coming from. Just consider the fact that each of these has their own strength. LinkedIn is about thought leadership and being able to encourage high-ticket clients with that referral network. Twitter is about conversation and PR. Pinterest is about showing your expertise, and in doing so, build traffic to your website or to your email list. Each have their strengths. You do not have to feed the beast like you do on Instagram and TikTok. Knowing that — that's a really important part of all this.
I just went through a lot of technical shit with you — a lot of technical stuff. Now, in my program, Social Expansion, I help you to direct this to your business and how it works for you in particular. I want to encourage you to consider it, of course. But aside from understanding the mindset behind each of these platforms, understanding the strengths and what they do, and understanding what your desired goals should be within them, what allows you to be the most effective multi-channel creator is the power of your messaging and your mindset.
We talked a little bit about this in episode two around your ideal client and really understanding who they are. Now, your power of your messaging is always going to come from your brand core. Your brand core is your ideal client — how your story is different, your school of life, your expertise, knowing that brand story is an effective and important piece for your marketing. Then, of course, being able to put your business into five essential content pillars.
Now, I would’ve let that be a different episode. But when I talk about the power of messaging, honing those three key areas is what people forget to do, so knowing that is an important part. But of course, I want to address my insight here. I would like to just put it out there — when I hear somebody is only using Instagram, I feel as if you're playing small. I want you to play big. I want you to see the ripple effects of your business that get to ripple across the internet.
Knowing that, when I talk about being a multi-channel creator, I want you to see yourself as that leader. I want you to see the kind of work that gets to be expansive, that gets to have longevity, that gets to create resilience in your business. But that comes from seeing your business as a long-term passion for you. That comes from investing in how you want your office suite to feel, investing in all the things that you want to create.
So having a really big vision for what you want to do and being able to come at it in different ways. So the mindset behind it is really important. Now, the number one thing I get asked of me whenever someone hears that I like to help people with more than one social media channel at and they be like, “It's just so overwhelming. Like, it's so overwhelming.” It's usually what I hear.
Now, it's not that I don't understand it, it's not that I don't hear what's actually going on there. You're all handling multiple places within your business, but it's not that overwhelming. I promise. A part of this is releasing the pressure. When someone tells me they're overwhelmed, I ask, “Do you have some trouble with perfectionism?” That's my first reply. “Do you have a little bit of trouble feeling like you have to do things perfectly wherever you are?” Even to taking it a step further, “Were are you an A+ student?”
I would say at least 90% of the time, they're like, “Yeah, yeah. Definitely. For sure.” That overwhelm is coming from the fact that you are putting pressure on the opportunities that are coming to you. You're putting pressure on yourself to be the absolute role model example of wherever you're putting something up. Now, I want to be very clear — I don't think there is a role model example anywhere, but you can believe that there is. I say that overwhelm is just an opportunity with unnecessary pressure.
I just gave you, in the last 30 minutes, a rundown of all of the ways you can grow your business, of all of the ways that you can share your message, share what you're trying to do with the work that you do each and every day. Everything that I've shared here, I can tell you that you can utilize it with just an hour a week. You can use LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pinterest, in addition to Instagram, and/or TikTok — depending on if you're using all of them. You can hit all of these channels for an hour a week.
I have clients who will batch all of their content for these other channels — on one Monday, four hours for the month. I talked about how I did this earlier in my career, why I handled multiple places for bigger corporate accounts. I also did this for TEDx speakers, bestselling booksellers, all of that was me going, “Okay, we know that I can get more speaking gigs for this person here, I know that I can get more conversion on the purchase of the book, and I also know that I can get some PR over here.” We would make some choices based on where we wanted to be. And that's my own evolution — my own evolution of going from corporate to helping small solopreneurs to working into how I help and coach entrepreneurs to do this for themselves now.
It is important to finish this long, technical type of podcast for you to be able to tell you that I will never tell you to hustle. This is a free experience — all it takes is to set it up a little bit. This is where I invite you. I invite you to socially expand with me, I invite you to be able to poke an eye at the people that say it's overwhelming and go, “Nope, I'm taking the opportunities that are given to me.”
This is where you free yourself. You are independent of what's happening with Instagram's algorithm to build your business. This is where you accelerate your revenue growth and your community growth by being able to channel your ideal client for wherever they are. This is where you dive into the big deep vision for your business.
I'll put in the show notes. Social Expansion will be starting in mid-April, so it's coming up. But let me know if you want to join in, happy to talk about it on the gram, or if you want to send me a quick email — all of the above. I got to nerd out today. I appreciate you for listening in on all these opportunities for you. This is something that I want you to see as a big opportunity. I'm going to say this podcast is going to be one of my favorites — I can already feel it. I appreciate you so much. I will talk to you all very soon.