Building a Personal Brand and Leveraging Social Media with Nicole Phillip

Summary

Podcast Summary: Small Business Quick WINS w/ Jay Schwedelson Presented By Thryv

Episode: Building a Personal Brand and Leveraging Social Media with Nicole Phillip
Release Date: December 5, 2024

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Introduction to Nicole Phillip

In this episode of Small Business Quick WINS, host Jay Schwedelson welcomes Nicole Phillip, an accomplished independent social media and travel content creator. With a rapidly growing following—over 190,000 across platforms—Nicole shares her journey from traditional media to becoming a prominent figure in the digital space.

Notable Quote:
“I have over 190,000 followers. People actually are checking out my content, consumer content, and I didn't start all this a million years ago.”
— Nicole Phillip [00:10]

Nicole's Journey to Building a Personal Brand

Nicole begins by detailing her professional background in the television news industry, working with esteemed organizations like ABC News, The New York Times, and NBC Universal. Her transition into digital media and social media management laid the foundation for her current success.

Key Points:

• Transition from Traditional to Digital Media: Nicole leveraged her experience in handling social media for major brands to create her own personal brand.
• Initial Growth: Starting on TikTok in late 2021, Nicole grew her follower base slowly, reaching around 50,000 in two years.
• Strategic Niche Focus: The turning point came when Nicole decided to specialize in travel content, which significantly accelerated her growth.

Notable Quote:
“When I chose to niche down into the world of travel, things completely took off for me because people who were interested in travel knew what to expect.”
— Nicole Phillip [07:28]

The Importance of Personal Branding and Social Media

Jay poses a common dilemma faced by small business owners: the reluctance to engage with social media. Nicole emphasizes that the era of questioning the value of social media is over; it is now an essential tool for marketing and business growth.

Key Points:

• Essential for Marketing: Social media has proven to be a vital marketing tool for reaching and engaging with audiences.
• Humanizing the Brand: In an age dominated by AI and automation, having a personal brand adds a human touch to businesses, making them more relatable and trustworthy.
• Visibility and Accessibility: Customers increasingly prefer reaching out via social media channels rather than traditional methods like phone calls.

Notable Quote:
“I would say that the time for fighting against social media and the value of social media has passed. It's proven itself as a vital tool.”
— Nicole Phillip [04:09]

Choosing the Right Social Media Platforms

Nicole advises that focusing on the platforms where your target audience is most active is crucial. She highlights the importance of aligning your content style with the platform’s strengths.

Key Points:

• Audience Demographics: Identify where your audience spends their time. For younger demographics, platforms like TikTok and Instagram are ideal, while LinkedIn caters to professionals.
• Platform Strengths: Choose platforms that complement your content style—video-centric platforms for video creators and text or community-focused platforms for those who excel in written content.
• Avoiding Burnout: Spreading yourself too thin across multiple platforms can lead to burnout. Instead, prioritize quality and consistency on selected platforms.

Notable Quote:
“If you have a brand that really speaks to young folks, maybe like within the 44 and younger age group, you want to be on TikTok, you want to be on Instagram.”
— Nicole Phillip [08:07]

Strategies for Success on TikTok

Nicole shares actionable tips for those looking to establish or grow their presence on TikTok, emphasizing the importance of understanding the platform’s dynamics.

Key Strategies:

1. Content Alignment: Create content that resonates with TikTok’s audience—educational, fun, and entertaining videos perform well.
2. Active Consumption: Regularly consume TikTok content to stay updated on trends and successful content styles.
3. Consistency and Quality: Maintain a consistent posting schedule with high-quality content. Nicole suggests aiming for three posts per week to balance engagement and prevent burnout.
4. Algorithm Utilization: The TikTok algorithm favors consistent and engaging content, increasing the chances of reaching a broader audience.

Notable Quote:
“With TikTok, really quality content over the quantity of content. They like high, high quality video and all of that things that are going to be super engaging.”
— Nicole Phillip [12:19]

Balancing Multiple Platforms and Avoiding Overextension

While Nicole advocates for focusing on primary platforms, she also acknowledges the value of maintaining a presence on secondary platforms for professional interactions and brand opportunities.

Key Points:

• Primary vs. Secondary Platforms: Concentrate efforts on platforms where your main audience resides, while maintaining a minimal presence on others for professional networking and collaborations.
• Cross-Posting Efficiency: Utilize cross-posting to streamline content distribution across multiple platforms without significant additional effort.
• Tailored Content: Customize content for each platform’s unique audience and purpose, ensuring relevance and engagement.

Notable Quote:
“There is a place for that on LinkedIn.”
— Nicole Phillip [09:47]

Final Thoughts and Practical Advice

As the interview concludes, Jay encourages listeners to implement Nicole’s strategies, emphasizing the importance of building a personal brand and leveraging social media effectively.

Key Takeaways:

• Niche Focus: Specializing in a specific area can significantly enhance growth and audience engagement.
• Platform Selection: Select social media platforms based on where your target audience is most active and where your content thrives.
• Quality and Consistency: Prioritize producing high-quality content consistently to build and maintain a loyal following.
• Personal Branding: A strong personal brand humanizes your business, making it more relatable and trustworthy to potential customers.

Notable Quote:
“If you're not building your own personal brand, even from companies you're seeing, and I've been seeing a few articles about this, the rise of the employee, being the center of the brand, being the face of the brand.”
— Nicole Phillip [05:31]

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Conclusion

This episode of Small Business Quick WINS provides invaluable insights into building a personal brand and effectively leveraging social media for business growth. Nicole Phillip’s journey underscores the importance of niche focus, platform selection, and maintaining quality and consistency. Small business owners and marketing managers can apply these strategies to enhance their online presence and drive remarkable results.

Follow Nicole Phillip:

• TikTok: @NicolePhillip
• Instagram: @NicolePhillip
• YouTube: Nicole Phillip

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Transcript

[A]

Welcome to Small Business Quick Wins, presented by Thrive. This podcast is exclusively designed for small business leaders like you. Prepare to get invaluable insights from every episode, equipped with actionable tips made for immediate implementation in your business. Tune in as we teach our firsthand lessons from fellow small business owners and thought leaders. I'm your host, Jay Schwettelson. Over the last 25 years, I've grown multiple small businesses that have generated over $300 million in revenue. Along the way, I've learned pitfalls to avoid and quick wins that can transform your business immediately. I'm excited to share it all. So if you're ready to win on Main street, let's dig into this episode. We are here for Small Business Quick Wins, presented by Thrive. And we have somebody really cool here who's here. So we have Nicol Philip. Now, Nicole Philip is not only an independent social media creator and travel content creator, but she's like a big deal because she has over 190,000 followers. People actually are checking out her content, consumer content, and she didn't start all this a million years ago. She's very recent to the game in terms of being able to grow that fast. And that's what we're going to dig in today. The value of a personal brand and how it's not really impossible to do it. And you're not late to the party. So, Nicole, welcome to the podcast.

[B]

Hi. Thank you so much for having me. I'm really happy to be here.

[A]

Excellent. So before we get into all of it, how did you. How did Nicole become Nicole? What is your deal? What's your story?

[B]

So for me, I started off in the television news industry and transitioned into digital. So I was working for companies like ABC News, the New York Times, NBC Universal, and eventually I made a transition into social media after working on a major project with the New York Times, where I handled social media there. And then I transitioned into social media because I kind of always wanted to move into marketing. I learned so much about how social media works from working with these brands and the ethics of it all and kind of incorporating the journalistic aspect into it that I decided that maybe I should take all of this things, all these things that I've learned and apply it to myself. So you mentioned I am very new within the content creation world, personally, like doing this for myself, not for other brands. So when I started, I had some knowledge there to bring with me. I was on TikTok in about 2021, like the end of that when I started, and I had Maybe grown to about 50 ish thousand followers over the course of two years. It was very slow growth. And then I decided I wanted to really latch onto a niche. And it was when I did that that things really just took off for me. So that was around December of last year and to kind of put into perspective how much I've grown. So I had around 50 to 60 ish thousand followers on TikTok, only 4,000 on Instagram. And those are just friends and former colleagues. And today I have around 75,000 on Instagram, 120,000 on TikTok. I launched a YouTube about a month or so ago that now has approaching 4,000 SUBSCRIB.

[A]

That's amazing. It's, you know, for those listeners that are out there that they're like, well, you know, the Kardashians have a hundred zillion billion people. You know, that doesn't sound so hard. You have no idea how not simple it is to get people to gravitate towards you, to consume your content and to follow you. So the growth that Nicole is talking about is exceptional. So let's dig into a little bit. First off, I'm listening to this thing. Maybe I'm a marketing manager, maybe I'm a small business owner. And you're like, well, I don't like posting on social. Why do I even need to have a personal brand for my business to grow? Is there really value there?

[B]

I would say that the time for fighting against social media and the value of social media has passed. Maybe in 2013, we were still kind of figuring out, oh, should we not? Is it worth it? That's it's proven itself. It's proven to be a vital tool. And anyone who is trying to market themselves, grow a business, anything like that needs to be on social. I can't remember, like, if we're talking about something like airlines, I can't remember the last time I called an airline for anything. I messaged them on Twitter. I say, hey, you know, can I add my travel known traveler number, which is your pre check number? I messaged them on Twitter. People want to reach your business through these social media channels. People are learning about your business through social media channels. I'm sure many of us can think about social media accounts where we might not have even understood what they do, but we know they're social. Like, we definitely know that, you know what I'm saying? And that was our first interaction with them that made us want to go, hey, maybe I should learn a little bit more about what this brand does.

[A]

And would you agree that we're heading into an age where brands need to have an identity tied to a human with all this AI stuff that's coming at us, all the same type stuff? I mean, is a personal brand now for your overall brand almost like a must do if you want to be successful?

[B]

Yes. I would say that having a personal brand in this day and age, even though we might feel like things are oversaturated with personal brands, everyone's a creator, everyone's doing something. In this day and age, if you're not building your own personal brand, even from companies you're seeing, and I've been seeing a few articles about this, the rise of the employee, being the center of the brand, being the face of the brand. Duolingo has a whole thing going on, you know what I'm saying? Bringing that, having some sort of face, some sort of something to connect with, even if it's not a human, but something that makes your brand feel human and bringing that in.

[A]

Totally. And you said something that I think is really important for everybody, that things really took off for you when you kind of said, okay, this is what I'm going to focus on. I'm going to be out about travel, I'm going to be about this. And people gravitated towards you when you weren't just the generalist about everything. And if I'm listening to this, let's say I own an H Vac company or I'm an accountant, I'm a CPA company, whatnot, whatever it is that you're in. Is that the move? How did that happen for you? Why did you decide to focus on one thing?

[B]

Because, to be honest, when I first started all this, I thought I was different. I was like, I don't need a niche, everyone else needs a niche. But I could do whatever I want, talk about whatever I want. But that's why that growth was so slow. People didn't know what I was offering. Enough to want, to follow, to want more. Everything was changing. They liked one video that really took off, but then three videos later, it's all different. People need to know what value you're bringing them and what consistent content they can expect from you. And that's why I believe that when I chose to niche down into the world of travel, things completely took off for me because people who were interested in travel didn't have to think, well, you know, she posts about travel once every six months. It's not really a reliable source of this sort of information that I can go to. So I'm not going to follow her. People knew what to expect and they hit that follow button.

[A]

And so you're on big on TikTok, getting big on Instagram. Now you're looking at YouTube and this is where I guess really those travel audiences are right there. It seems like you were intentional that I'm not going to have a huge following on LinkedIn because that's not really where the audience is that I'm trying to communicate with. If you are saying, okay, I'm going to really 2025 in my year, I'm going to grow my personal brand. Do you. Is it worthwhile to spread yourself then and try to be on all platforms or to think about, no, I want to be on this platform because that is where my audience most likely is. Is that what you did for yourself?

[B]

Yes, because it is so easy to get burnt out with social media, spreading yourself across every platform, that's not going to work out. You have to really think about where your audience is. If you have a brand that really speaks to young folks, maybe like within the 44 and younger age group, you want to be on TikTok, you want to be on Instagram, perhaps you speak to older generations, then maybe Facebook is the place for you. If your brand is something like, I know we, we work a lot with people in legal services, people who work within these office job jobs as well, then you want to be on LinkedIn. And so when I thought about where are the best places for me also I'm a video first person, so TikTok made sense, Instagram made sense and obviously YouTube. But there is, every platform does have a place. Even if you're not going to make that your focus, there's a place within your larger strategy. So for me, I still do post on LinkedIn and a lot of the interaction and attention that I get for brand deals, collaboration often comes from LinkedIn because I use that as a place to do the humble brag, amplify myself and all of that. It reaches the right eyes because these are the types of people, people that are on LinkedIn, these professionals, influencer marketers. Whereas I'm reaching more of my everyday audience on Instagram and TikTok. Of course, there are probably some influencer marketers, brand people in the mix, of course. But from a professional standpoint, I'm not going to post on TikTok that, Hey, I just, you know, hit this many numbers and da, da, da, da, da, you know, those sorts of things because people want to be entertained. But there's a place for that on LinkedIn.

[A]

So, okay, now we're going to get down to like the 10 foot level tactics here. So I spend a lot of time on LinkedIn but I do literally nothing on TikTok. I've never posted before, but this is real. I want to start TikTok in 2025 for me and like my personal brand. What are your keys to success? Okay, Jay's getting started. Do this consistently. Don't do that. Give me some of the Nicole tips. Must do's.

[B]

Okay, so some, we're talking tick tock. So some things to ensure your success on TikTok, stick with what works, like with the platform. What works on TikTok? Right, so educational, fun, entertaining type of stuff. If you can mix the two, even better. So stick with what works. Don't try to, you know, square peg, round hole, tick tock. Work with what you're seeing working on the platform. Which means you should be an active consumer of TikTok content as well to understand what works well on the platform. And in the beginning you're going to want to test out, you're going to try things, you're going to, you know, figure out what works and when something works, stick with it. That's, that's a big thing. Okay, when something works, you stick with it. There's always room for experimenting. But from what I have seen, when something works for you on TikTok and it starts pushing, going forward and pushing out, the way the TikTok algorithm works, from what my experience has been with brands and with myself, is it says this is what I want to see because this is what the people want to see. So you keep giving me this and I'll keep showing it to the people because you'll notice maybe, maybe you go viral from a cooking video and then you decide, well, I'm going to do an automobile wrapping video. And that goes flat. Even though every other cooking video got a million views. It's because the algorithm is like understanding, okay, this is type of content as well for you. You continue there and then you experiment in little ways in between to see what other type of content you can get to have picked up there.

[A]

What, what role does consistency play in growing your following? So let's say I go on TikTok. I say, okay, I do what Nicole said. Now I'm posting, you know, 5, 6, 10, 20 videos. Some are hitting, some are not. And I'm like, maybe I should just stop or I should post maybe just once a week instead of every day. Is there some sort of no you got to keep going and not stopping and do X, Y and Z or else you'll never get there. Is consistency matter on things like TikTok.

[B]

And Instagram, consistency matters, but I would say quality over quantity matters most.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Some people will tell you that they post every single day. I am very big on not being burned out, so I post three times a week. One thing that Meta specifically says when coming to Instagram, post at least three times a week just to stay in the, in the algorithmic rotation. So that's two videos, one carousel. Uh, just for the audience's understanding. Carousels go directly to your main following. So anyone who's following you are going to see you and that kind of brings you back up into their feeds. If you want to grow, you post reels and those reels will get to other people. For TikTok, there, there was a time when I was posting like once a week because I just didn't have it in me. And I was still able to grow from there because it was quality, it was quality content. Now these brands, they keep the algorithms very close to their chest. We don't know 100% how they work. We only know, you know, the little bits and pieces that they tell us when they have ability to give us that sort of transparency. But with Instagram, like I said that at least three times a week works best with TikTok, really quality content over, over the quantity of content. They like high, high quality video and all of that things that are going to be super engaging. I would say if you can manage perhaps three times a week as well on TikTok, that's kind of where I'm at now that I've found a rhythm and I can, and I can handle all of my duties and that's been working out pretty well for me.

[A]

These are great tips. All right, I got one final question for you about. There's all these other platforms that are out there. There's threads, there's bluesky, there's probably a million other things I'm not thinking of. If you're really just trying to get rolling with all this, does it matter or is that just noise? Don't even try to play the game. Of all these other secondary networks that.

[B]

Are out there, I would say most small business owners, sole proprietors like myself, you're a one person team, right? So you definitely want to focus on what you can handle as one person and what you're best at. Because I present on camera, that's what I've been trained to do. That's what I can do. But if I was someone who was just more maybe I'm funny in text, then I'm going to be on threads, I'm going to interact on threads, build a community on threads, Twitter, LinkedIn, whichever it is, depending upon what works best for me as one person. But I will say that you probably would want to be on some of the main platforms. So you definitely want to have a TikTok presence, an Instagram presence if you can. You can always cross post, which makes that easier. Right. And a LinkedIn, depending on what sort of service it is that you perform, maybe a LinkedIn is going to be one of those top as well.

[A]

Amazing. All right, well this has been super helpful. Now I need to go start my TikTok account. Everybody needs to follow Nicole. We're going to put Nicole, all of her different handles and place to follow her. Nicole Phillip, she's amazing. And Nicole, I just want to thank you for being on Small Business Quick Wins presented by Thrive.

[B]

Of course. Thank you so much for having me. This is fun.

[A]

Yeah, we'll have to get you back and we're going to put it all in the show notes and we'll see you soon.

[B]

All right. Thank you so much.

[A]

Well, that was fun and great news. We got way more where that came from. Subscribe. Make sure you get the latest episodes each week for more actionable tips from today's top small business leaders. And hook us up with a five star review if you've got at least one new idea you may consider using. Lastly, if you want to ensure you never miss a message from your customers Again, check out thrive.com wins to get your free account with Demand center today.