← The Mindful Marketing Podcast (Formerly Known As The Savvy Social Podcast)
The Mindful Marketing Podcast (Formerly Known As The Savvy Social Podcast)
Social Media CPR with Peg Fitzpatrick
00:38:03
Ever feel like your social media could use a reset? Or maybe you’re stuck in the cycle of creating the same kind of content week after week? In this episode, I sit down with social media strategist Peg Fitzpatrick to explore practical ways to...
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- [00:01]
A
It's that time of year where we start thinking about how to refresh our social media channels. And in this podcast episode, I have Peg Fitzpatrick on the show to chat with us about how and when we should think about our CPR revitalizing our social media channels. I'm excited to dive into episode number 330 of the Mindful Marketing Podcast. But first I have to give a special thank you to our sponsor, Riverside. I record and edit and create social media content all inside of Riverside, and it makes it super duper easy for me. I love their recording studio super profession, obviously, but also their magic editing tools are amazing. They have this one click editor where it'll put me on the screen, it'll put me in the guest on the screen, and I don't have to like edit too much. It just does it with their magical AI technology. Also love magic AI clips. If y'all need little clips from the podcast for social media, they do it all with the power of artificial intelligence. If you want to try Riverside today, click the link in my show notes. I also have a super duper special coupon code. Make sure to use the coupon code so you can get percentage off your monthly subscription. And with that, I'm excited to welcome Peg Fitzpatrick on the show today. Peg, welcome.
- [01:20]
B
Great intro. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be on your show.
- [01:26]
A
Yes, I'm excited to chat with you because I am a longtime fan. I remember following you back in the day when I started my business in 2014. But tell me more about how you got started in the world of social media marketing.
- [01:41]
B
Oh, God. We're going back so far. It is so far. So I actually got started. It's kind of a funny story. It's a long story, so I'll make it really short. But I was accompanying my husband on a dinner with his bosses that were over from Europe and they were talking about marketing plans. And European marketing is different than American marketing. It's just they. What they do is different. What they talk about is different. Language from German doesn't always translate exactly to American in like a normal conversation way, even though it's. It's like sort of grammatically correct sometimes. Their translations are very off and bad when they. So we were talking about marketing things and I just started. I did not work for the company, but I just started. You know, it was like North End in Boston, drinking a lot of red wine and I just started like throwing out all these marketing ideas. Well, this is what I think would be amazing. And I just was like, there's this new thing called Facebook, which tells you how long ago the center was. There's a new thing called Facebook, and businesses are making Facebook pages and connecting with their audiences and, you know, building people are following them. And it's great, great way to connect with people. And then like six months later, they were like, hey, we want to hire Peggy to come and do this product launch. And I was like, I had to, like, remember all my stuff. I was like, what did I pitch? Because I. I wasn't really even pitching. I was just talking. I think people who love marketing, and this is really in the early days of social media, but I had done traditional marketing before. But I think if you're a marketer, like if someone says, hey, what do you think about? And then your brain just goes. And then you start coming up with a million ideas. And that's what I did. So I started out with this huge product launch at a Vegas trade show. And I needed to fill a huge room to bring people in to hear about this product at a trade show. So it was like traditional, but I used social media to get there. So I used social media, I got people's email addresses, I started talking about this new product and we not only filled the room, we exceeded it. And they had to bring in more seating. We ended up with like 500 people live to hear about this product launch. So it went like, amazing. And it was like a total. It was a great rock star starting moment because, you know, I was just figuring things out. And that's kind of how it's always been for me because I was in social media so early. Like, everything I've wanted to do, I've had to figure it out. So then I started my blog and, you know, I'm always figuring out how to do things on my account. So I always say, like, accidentally built my own account base because I was always testing things out for clients or the company that I work for. So I've actually worked for the same company for this whole entire time. It was part time at the beginning. So I did like other things, like work with Canva when Canva was a little teeny baby. I worked for them when they were a startup and I was their first head of social strategy. And my job there again was like, get this company who wanted to be bigger than a small Australian company. They wanted to be global. They wanted to, you know, create this great product to help people design when they couldn't use Photoshop. Part of their mission was, you know, Photoshop is too hard and there's too many buttons and this tool is easier now there's a million buttons in Canva, but they still maintain, keeping it easy to use and they have tons of training stuff. So that was like one of my other first thing was I worked for Canva as head of social strategy and helped launch them globally with Guy Kawasaki. And I think we were successful because everyone knows who Canva is now and they've done a million, obviously 10 years more work since then. Their marketing is amazing. Not just because of me, but because they are amazing.
- [05:33]
A
I'm 100% Team Canva. I remember too when I first started my business, people did not like Canva. When I told clients I designed social graphics in Canva, like initial reaction was like, but now it's so commonplace. Like, in fact it's preferred. Even designers I talked to, they're like, yeah, I do some stuff in Photoshop, but sometimes Canva is just faster.
- [05:55]
B
Right, right. It was really, you know, Adobe was for professionals and Canva was, you know, it was, designers hated it. But now everybody's using it and brands are using it for their in house things. I mean it's, it's used everywhere now. And I never have been a Photoshop user. I have it and I can do a few things, but it's just complicated. It takes so long just to make a graphic.
- [06:19]
A
Yeah, yeah, it really does. And it's just starting from such a blank canvas that makes it so much more challenging.
- [06:24]
B
Even if you have templates, you're like, whoa, it's just not easy. I think if you have it and you're great at it, good for you.
- [06:31]
A
Yeah, exactly.
- [06:32]
B
But it is not me and it never was me and I've tried. It's hard.
- [06:37]
A
Yeah.
- [06:38]
B
Anyway, we're not talking about Canva the whole show, but I do love it.
- [06:42]
A
Yeah, I do. Canva, stand over here. One of the things that I wanted to really go deep with you on in this episode was about revitalizing and like doing CPR on our social channels. Because social media is changing, right. Landscape is changing and it's time for a bit of a refresh, especially this time of year as we start thinking about 2025. So what are some of the signs like that we can notice when we look at our social channels and go, oh, yep, it's time for some reviving.
- [07:09]
B
Right. So if you're not getting any engagement, if there's like tumbleweeds in the comments and you just, you know, things feel a little bit stale, you know, it's time to change things up. You can't. I actually saw a thing on your account where you, like, you said it in one of your videos. If you're waiting until things are changing, you know, the train has left the station and it's too late, it's not coming back. And that's true. I mean, I think Instagram in particular, you know, we all were. If you've been on Instagram for a long time, you know, it just was all images and people got so tied to making that perfect Instagram, where everything was coordinated and everything looked great, and boy, is it hard to break that mentality. And also, some people just got really good at that form. And then they're like, okay, now everybody has to do, you know, videos. So then everybody was like, duh, dun, dun, dun. Like, everybody was making the same three videos. At the beginning, it was like, no, no, this is not marketing your brand individually. Like, that is not going to help your brand. So if it's feeling stale and if you're just feeling like you've been doing the same thing for a really long time, you definitely have to switch it up. And I think, you know, video is. Is here to stay. So if you haven't been doing video, it's definitely time to figure out a way to work on reels. And also, I'll give a little pitch for your class because your B roll class is excellent. B roll is a thing that, for me, like, I don't even know why, because I'm a. I'm a photographer and I love doing stuff, but B roll, like, on yourself, it's a little awkward and it's a little hard to get it started. But once you have a lot of B roll, it's totally your friend. And you can remix stuff or you can hire someone. For my book launch, I worked with a photographer and she did a bunch of photos. But I also do B roll video, so I have professional things too, but it's really just the same kind of things that you would film yourself working on computer, you know, doing things. And I think once you start doing B roll that, you know, build up a library for yourself of content of you so you can remix it. I think that's a really, you know, it's a good way to revive things. And also just if. I mean, we're gonna go into more detail, I don't want to, like, spill it all in the first answer, but it is, you know, if it. If it feels like you've been making the same thing over and over again, then it's going to feel like that to your audience too. So just realize that you got to keep it fresh because there's a lot of competition out there for entertainment and for information and just, you know, being here.
- [09:49]
A
Yeah. I think this is just such a common thing I've been hearing from a lot of people is they do feel like they're a little bit on this, like, hamster reel of content creation and they're just kind of like spinning around, doing the same things, checking the box and going, yep, I did it. I posted the pointing reel like I was supposed to. Um, and I do feel that pointing reel. I. Okay, so I have done a few. I. I feel awkward doing it. I just feel it's same lip syncing for me. My mouth just wants to say my own thing. Like, I just don't like lip syncing. I don't like pointing. I don't really like dancing. So it's like none of that is really my thing anyways. Um, so I tend to lean towards, you know, doing other things anyways, which is cool. Yeah, I love that. And I can almost hear the listeners thinking, like, okay, I notice things are getting stale, but how do I, like, get that creativity back? How do I spark that creativity? What are some of the things you do when you think about revitalizing, refreshing and breathing new life into their content strategy?
- [10:49]
B
Good question. Pinterest. I love Pinterest so much. You can get so many great ideas and inspiration there. So if you're totally stale and you and you're like, I need, like, you really knew you needed, like, you need cpr, Create a secret board and come up with some ideas and pin some things of things that you're inspired by. We never want to copy other people and other brands because it's not going to be authentically you. And it never works. It never, ever feels comfortable. Which is part of the reason I think that the videos that people make where they're the same ones, it gets boring because you're seeing the same people do things so you never want to do that, but you can get inspiration and do that. I am a big Swiftie. Are you a Swifty by any chance?
- [11:32]
A
I like Taylor Swift, but I wouldn't say I'm a swifty.
- [11:34]
B
Okay. I. I love her and it's fine that you're not, but she's. She is a person who has done reinventions on herself sometimes. You know, a lot of artists do that for like every album that they have, but she had a. She had a like, little falling out thing with the Kardashians, which goes into a whole other thing. But she, like, she literally took a year off and she went to Europe and she just, like, hid in this house, and she didn't even go out. She. And so when she came back, she was like, does anybody care? Like, she did a whole. Whole revival on herself. And, you know, she had a new album, she reinvented herself, and she just came out fresh and just really hit it strong. And I think that we can take inspiration from that, because if we're, you know, revving up and we're gonna, like, say. I mean, there's two. Two things that need reviving. One, if you're just doing a little refresh, sometimes your account is totally dead. Because a lot of times small business owners just get burnt out and they stop. So if you're at that stage, then you want to go in, start with a fresh photo, do new cover photos, and just revive your artwork. Like, just come up with a new plan, get new templates. I like to go to Creative Market. If you don't want to use Canva templates that everybody has, you can go to. You can go to Creative Market and find really cool stuff that isn't in Canva, and then you can just customize that to your brand. Or you could hire someone to create some special ones for you. So just really look at it as a total revamp. Give yourself a little bit of time and just think about doing, like, a Taylor Swift splash, you know, like, when you're ready, just hop out there. Don't come back. A little pet peeve of mine that I think makes it worse is when people say, I haven't been here for a while. I haven't, you know, it's been a hot minute since I, you know, don't do like a re announcement and say, you've been gone. Just reenter strong. Like, have a content plan. Plan out a week or two of content so you know that you can be consistent and just, you know, just do it. If you did a really big brand refresh, that's a great time to do just like a, hey, I redid my website. Everybody, like, you know, let people know. You know, every once in a while, you do have to refresh stuff, whether it's your website, whether it's your profile photos. I mean, especially with all the video now you definitely have to have fresh profile photos because there can't be a disconnect between your avatar and your live person, you know, your live video. And I still see that sometimes. And it's Surprising at this stage that people, you know, yes, we all have a great photo from 10 years ago that we like, but, you know, it doesn't look like you. Now. We all age in five or 10 years. It's reality, right?
- [14:12]
A
Yeah. Yeah.
- [14:13]
B
Life.
- [14:14]
A
The. The realities of life. And I. I think one of the things that is a huge compliment is when someone goes to your social and then they, like, get on a zoom call or whatever, and they're like, oh, you're exactly like you are in social media. Right. I think that's. That's a huge compliment.
- [14:27]
B
I say that all the time. That is your goal. Right. And if you're going to an online event and you're meeting people when they're like, you, I love your blog. You look just like you do, and you're. You sound exactly like you write. And they feel connected because we build that parasocial relationship with people that we meet that we see online. We feel like we know them. And if they meet you in person and you are not anything at all, like you sound on your podcast or, you know, people will be like, I don't. That's weird. You know?
- [14:55]
A
Yeah, it just.
- [14:56]
B
It. It loses the trust. Any trust that you had previously built.
- [15:00]
A
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Well, one of the things, too, that I've noticed, because I'm in my whole. I'm in my Taylor Swift new era moment where I'm, like, I'm heading into the next season of what it means and for me and my business, and one of the things that keeps coming up for me is, like, this balance between the old Andrea and, like, the new Andrea, and also, like, staying consistent, because in an ideal world, I would pull a Taylor Swift and, like, shut it all down and go hide away for a year and come back out. But the reality of life is. Yeah, the reality of life is I'm still running my business and pivoting at the same time. So how do we balance, you know, the creativity of, like, the refresh and the reviving with, like, our current content strategy?
- [15:47]
B
So, I mean, I think, you know, if you're. If you're doing, like, a little slow move over and you're switching your content strategy, which I think we all do from time to time. I mean, I did the same thing, like, switching over from my book launch. I'm like, okay. I mean, I always talk about social media, but I'm like, I'm only focusing on small business owners. So I think part of it is offline, where you just really hone down on what your focus is. And what your brand is going to be. And if you're changing something, I think you changed name of your program or your name. Yeah. So, I mean, that's a pretty big change. And so you're just like, you know, get super strong with it behind the scenes, know what all your new messaging is, and then just bam, like, be like, this is it. This is the new thing. Like, really just do a launch for it and just make sure that people kind of get used to the new name. You could even say, you know, more than once because people don't remember things if they just hear it once. But like, my, this, this program is now this, you know, and this is why I revamped it. And talk about your process, because you're a person who talks about what you're doing. Like, talk about your process. Like, this was a thing, but now I'm segueing, you know, I'm eating my own dog food. As they say in Silicon Valley. When you, when you follow your own idea, like, because sometimes as marketers, we can be our own worst enemies and not follow our own advice. Right. Sometimes we do that. But you're going to follow your own advice and just say, like, I'm moving this way. This is the new. And you could just do a little transition time where you're like a little of the old, a little of the new, and then just stick with the new and, and go strong with it. And I think, you know, if you're working with a new, I don't know if you're changing, like, the brand voice of it at all. Just make sure it's all super tight behind the scenes. So your plan is strong because if you're not sure, then what you're creating isn't going to be exactly on point. So we do get used to, like a certain thing. So, yeah, just if you're, if you're bumping it up, just, you know, even just say you're taking it up a notch. Like, you don't even have to be like, this is a change. Like, it's time for the judge. I'm here, you know.
- [17:48]
A
Yeah. And big brands do this all the time. Like, I can't. Like, there's so many kind of, like, iterations of brands, even, like logos, websites, like, it's just part of business. But one thing I'm curious about too is, like, how much impact our audience and our community has on this, like, resuscitation process. Do, like, do we take input and feedback? What are your thoughts?
- [18:09]
B
I always do take input and feedback because you want people to like it. You don't want them to be like, oh, this is so different. But, you know, when I redid my website, redid my logos and stuff, I did not ask for feedback on that because I knew what I wanted. Like, I know what I really want my brand to look like. A lot of times authors do that with COVID You know, they'll post multiple covers and say, like, this is my cover. You know, these are the three choices. You know, which one do you guys like the best? Because you want people to like it, and getting the audience feedback on it is really important. When Guy and I wrote the Art of Social Media, he loves feedback on his book. Like, he'll send it to people, have them read it, you know, get feedback on it, correct things. I don't like to send my whole thing out to a whole bunch of people, but he likes that. Like, that's his feedback process. So depending on how much feedback you're comfortable with, like, what parts do you want feedback on? But once you're launching, you do have to make sure that people like it. An example, a few years ago, Starbucks readed their logo and people hated it. Like, that's a thing. Like, people roast the brands. When they do, if they try to change and people don't like it, they ended up switching back within a week because people were like, no way. We hate it. Dunkin Donuts did a switch from Dunkin Donuts to just Dunkin.
- [19:33]
A
Dunkin. Yeah.
- [19:34]
B
They wanted to get donuts out of there. And they still use their brand colors and theirs was not, like a total fail. I don't feel like it was a fail for them. It was kind of a weird segue. And I think they kind of ignored if people liked. I think they wanted to de Emphasize the fact that they're just unhealthy donuts. But we already all know that.
- [19:54]
A
Yeah, we're not going to Dunkin for, like, healthy stuff.
- [19:57]
B
Do you have happy donuts?
- [19:59]
A
Yeah. But I see this happening right now with Convertkit going to Kit, because I'm a huge Convertkit fan. That's where I run my email list. And this is the second time they've tried to rebrand. The first time, I don't even remember what the name was. People did not like it. And then this time, people aren't loving it. I like it. I think the brand is tight. Like, visually, the name Kit to me is a little generic, but I get what they're going for, and so I'm here for it. But, like, the feedback online isn't great. And they're just full steam ahead going with it. So.
- [20:28]
B
Well, it's their second time. They put a lot of money into it, so they're like, we need this to work this time. If you don't like it, too bad. We don't want to be called Convert kid. Convert Camp was a awkward name. It's an awkward name, but we're all used to it.
- [20:41]
A
Yes, that's it. I think that's why there's a lot of pushback, people. Yeah, yeah. And I think people are giving pushback because it's what we're used to. But I think there are times when, you know, you just got to go forward with it and trust your gut. I'm curious if there are any times where, you know, we should not revitalize something or if we should just let it go. So last year, for instance, I said goodbye to X, formerly known as Twitter, because it just felt like it was time for me. But what, like, how do we know when it's time to just let a platform go?
- [21:14]
B
I think sometimes you do have to Maria Kondo stuff and just say, this did not work for me. I think if we were on too many platforms and it was too much, that's certainly a reason to do it. Sometimes you try something out, doesn't work for you. I mean, Twitter. I was on Twitter. I still call it Twitter. I hate the name X. I think it's terrible. So anyway, yeah, it's. It's. It's a big dumpster mess over there. It used to be great. I mean, I think most. I haven't, like, 100% left it, but it's not a reliable great thing for me anymore. And I think if something isn't working for you, then it's good to leave it. You know, I think Facebook, during the last election runs when there was so much political stuff, we all knew it was bad. We know Facebook just turned into a really big political hot mess. And it started a lot of political arguments and there was a lot of, you know, negativity from both sides and that, to me, like, we have to be online no matter what. If this is your job and you're doing social media, you have to be online. And sometimes it's even mental health. Like, what is this not working for me? You know, is Instagram making me feel bad? Because, you know, the diet culture is just always there, and it's making me feel bad. And they have a really great life and how come their house is bigger? And, like, sometimes those things just get to you too much. Even sometimes seeing yourself too much. If you're recording yourself and taking photos of yourself. Like, I think before the pandemic I did that a lot more. And then I was like, you know what? I'm missing pieces of things because I'm recording it and I really just want to be like in this moment. So I took that back and I still do photos. I do photos sometimes now, but not all the time. Where before I think I was doing it like literally all the time. Like document everything. Well, mom, do you know where that one came from? Gary B. Was Gary B. Don't create document. It's like, yes, but not every minute. You know, like, we also need to have mental sanity. So Pinterest, as I already mentioned, is a really, it's, it's a much more positive environment. It's like a brain cleanse. You just go there. It's creative. There's never negativity. There's really not even that much commenting there. So I think sometimes if something isn't working for you, it is fine to let it go. You don't always have to keep everything like Twitter for you. And lots of people just wasn't working any anymore. So I think sometimes it is okay just to let things go if it wasn't or if it just wasn't a platform that's right for you. Like TikTok. I do post videos over there, but I would not say I'm a TikToker. Like, you know, it's a whole different vibe. It's a different community. It's just not my 100% jam, you know?
- [24:02]
A
Yeah. Yeah.
- [24:04]
B
Do you like TikTok?
- [24:05]
A
So I do like TikTok. I watch more than I post and when I do post it does tend to be business related. And I just love the algorithm over there. Like, I just find like for my personal taste, I get like a nice eclectic mix of like content and I'm like, this is fun. But from.
- [24:23]
B
We both like books and that's the best place. I love book talk. I do love book. But I also like, I like, you know, I like bookstagrammers too, so. But books are great on TikTok. I do love, I do love that culture over there. But it is, like I said, it is okay. Sometimes we're all not going to fit on every platform. You know, like if you're really. We don't have that much time to be the best at five different platforms because all the vibes are a little different. All the, you know, the lengths are. The captions are a Little different. You know, there's little tweaks to all of them. They each have their own personality like we do and.
- [24:59]
A
Yeah, and this is one of the things I've noticed that has changed over the years because like 10 years ago you could post the same content to all the platforms. I remember doing my little hootsuite scheduling tool, square graphic with my caption and like, I'd maybe tweak Instagram to say link in bio, but it was the same, it was the same thing and things have changed. And one of the things you mentioned too is Gary Vee's like, document everything, which, you know, he has like a full team doing this behind him. Like, this is not a one person thing.
- [25:29]
B
No.
- [25:29]
A
So when it comes to like managing our mindset and our energy around approaching social media, how do we, how do we do that? How do we stay positive? How do we stay inspired throughout this whole like CPR revitalizing process?
- [25:43]
B
I think, you know, to be able to maintain consistency, I think you need to like block out some time so you can batch process things and create things in a group. I think you can still schedule some stuff, but it is hard to be consistent if you're getting burnt out. Like, you know, that's one of the things that can happen. So I think, you know, the mindset and the energy, if you're really in your vibe, it's easy to create content and if you're getting burnt out, it gets harder and harder as you go. So I like to batch process things so it makes it easier. It gives me more time for the communication and the engagement pieces. Like, so if you post something then it gives you time to go there, gives you time to like customize the energy piece of it. For me, sometimes like going back to the last one, if the vibes are negative, I just, it just will end up weighing too much on me. The pandemic was like, that was hard for social media people. It was hard to like maintain content. It was hard to create content. Everybody was home, Everything just like went crazy. So I think the energy piece of it is really important. Like, how can you maintain that for yourself? I think we have to do our own thing for that and not just, just I think the cookie cutter days are done of like everybody has to do xxx. I think we can't compare ourselves to other people. We need to know what our brand is and just create content that works, that we can mentally handle. Like that's not an overload. That's not too much. That's, you know, not Too much exposure and just, I feel like it kind of went crazy, you know what I mean? Like, just with the whole having to be everywhere and do everything and document everything and don't you feel like we kind of exploded kind of the core why we were doing it?
- [27:34]
A
Yeah. And I think the pendulum is like swinging back the other way. Where we went, we went so far into like have the aesthetic record your whole life and put it all on the Internet and be vulnerable and transparent. And now it's kind of swinging back to where like we can have some stuff on the Internet and that's fine, but we also can live our lives and enjoy like real life things like you, you know, taking photos and videos of everything. I used to be that person too. And I just find if I just leave my phone somewhere and like go like enjoy times with my kids or like go on vacation, I feel better about it. And so now I'm at the point where if I'm not in my office, I'm probably not recording stuff, like at least not for the Internet. And I'm okay with that. Even though this is my literal job.
- [28:18]
B
It feels so much better for you mentally, right?
- [28:20]
A
Yeah.
- [28:21]
B
Like I don't have to think, oh, I need to, you know, like recording B roll, for example, just have a stash of. You don't have to every day be like, oh, I need to be camera ready and I need to, you know, make sure that this is this. And I think that mentally is really hard long term. Like you just can't keep it up. And the people who used to, you know, the YouTubers that were just like videos, videos, videos, those people have burnt out. There's a lot of them that aren't even around anymore because you just can't do it long term. You can't make yourself just keep grinding, keep hustling, keep, you know, millions of dollars are not going to magically show up on your door. It doesn't happen. Even if you go viral, you know, the whole go viral and your. All your problems will be solved. They won't. Because even if you gain a bunch of followers, they might not even be interested in what you are talking about. They may just like that one video that happened to be really good. So I think, yeah, maintaining your mental health and energy is, is, it's super important. What do you think is the most important for you, like in maintaining your energy throughout? Because you have, you have kids and that there's a lot that goes in that, you know, taking care of small.
- [29:32]
A
People in your house and so so mentally exhausted. Exhausting. I'm still figuring it out. Like, my oldest is only 2, so I feel like I've been doing this mom thing for a very short amount of time.
- [29:44]
B
Yeah.
- [29:44]
A
And so for me, it's figuring out.
- [29:47]
B
Mom, how to be a mom, how.
- [29:49]
A
To be mom, how to still run a business, how to do the social media thing. And I think a lot of it is making sure that I take time for myself, too, because creating content is very mentally exhausting. And the days where I skip are the days where I don't actually, like, fill my own cup. So we talked about reading, for instance. I'm a huge reader. I love reading. And I find that if I don't give myself that time for my brain to just relax and enjoy life for a sec, then everything feels so heavy. And working, working on the Internet, you know, this. It just. We see a lot of terrible stuff. Comment sections are mean. We see, like, the worst of the Internet. So I need, like, my escape. Yeah, my escape. And if I can escape for a little bit, then usually that's enough for me to, like, maintain my energy while I'm working and maintain my energy while I'm, like, on mom mode.
- [30:40]
B
Right. And. And also just creating stuff so you have a little bit of backlog of stuff just in case you do need a day off or take a dab. And also, if you do have to take a dab, don't beat yourself up about it. I mean, we like to be consistent, but if you need a mental health day or you need to just be offline, like, I used to work a lot at night. I'd work all day, then I'd work more at night, and then I would work on the weekends. You know, I had a blog post that would go out every Monday for probably a good 12 years, you know, and I was working on those, always on the weekend, and then doing all the social. And, you know, it's. It's hard. It's important to be consistent. But also, at some point, you can just say, now I have such a good backlog, I can just kind of redo things and reuse them and repurposing things in a smart way, like creating a bigger video and then making little things from that gives you content to trickle out. So you don't need to just. You don't have to recreate the wheel anymore, I feel like.
- [31:39]
A
Yeah. And I think that's it. It's like finding ways to keep your message the same, keep your main points the same, and then just tweak it A little bit. And then content creation does become easier the more that you do it. You know, like I've been creating content for 20 years at this point, so it's like, for me it's a lot easier than 20 years ago. And so I feel like there's this like, ease that comes with it over time.
- [32:02]
B
There is, but also you gotta keep it fresh. So there's that aspect of it too, you know, and things change a little bit and tweak a little bit. And I've been doing, I mean, I've been, it feels like I've been creating content forever, writing, doing whatever. And you do have to really make sure that you do mentally, like you said, refresh and give yourself time off so you can come up with new ideas and be fresh with things. Yeah, I think that's such a bigger piece of now. I try. I do, you know, work in a lot of self care stuff just so I can, you know, keep going. Yeah, yeah, self care is important.
- [32:36]
A
Yeah, it really is. It really is. Okay, last question is about like metrics. How do we know that once we've done our CPR on our accounts, how do we know that it's all working?
- [32:47]
B
So the biggest indicator these days is really engagement. So follower count. You know, we always focus on how many followers we have. It doesn't matter as much as how many people are engaged with our content. So it's really a matter of like trying to get in there and, you know, ask questions, give things, you know, hot takes, not like a negative hot take, but something that's like your opinion on a thing with your spin on it, with your brand overlay. You know, those kind of things are important. I think, you know, the engagement metric is the biggest piece, especially if Instagram is your big thing. You know, they come out every once in a while and they tell us these are the things that are working. And the sharing of posts is really the highest indicator. It probably always was likes, comments and shares. So they really look at how many people are saving and sharing things. So think about creating content that really resonates with people enough to share it. Not just for them to, you know, hit the like button and say, yeah, I like that. So you're really working at creating something that people would feel like they do want to share to someone else. So you want to make sure it's really educational or valuable or funny. Maybe, you know, marketing, maybe we're not as always funny as other things, but we definitely want to be helpful and entertaining. So share something that you create that's really valuable. So people do want to share it. And look at those engagement metrics more than the follower count. And just check your analytics, you know, and just see, like, are you doing stuff? Is it really not working? You know, you can see when something picks up, like, and then really grab that piece and say, why is this working? And make more of that. I mean, I think the thing is, figure we all get a piece that goes really far, then you really got to break that down. And if you have some, you know, if you're not really getting anything that's doing really well, kind of look around in the community and look at what kind of posts are other people making. Like, are they making carousels? Are they making, you know, just videos? Carousels are doing great. You just have to do a longer carousel. They can't be super short. You know, they're trying to convince us that adding music on every carousel is a good idea. I really don't think that's a good idea. So I'm not going to try it, even though they want us to, because I think that's too much of a disconnect for me. You know, they. They try to come up with stuff and they're like, hey, you should do this. But do we really need a different song with every image?
- [35:17]
A
This was like the music on the profile for me. I'm like, hello, are we MySpace now? Like, what is happening? We don't need music on our profile.
- [35:24]
B
No, just give us better ways to track our comments and respond to people. Even, you know, even when you're really careful and you go try to hit every comment. Because I'm posting, like, a bunch of different places. I check all the time. I went on LinkedIn and I found, like, three different posts that had comments that didn't even show in my notifications. And I was like, wow, I hate you now. Thanks. Yeah, there's people that I didn't respond to because I did literally did not see the comment. Yeah, they're also making it harder. Even on Instagram. Like, you don't see all the comments. You really have to click on a couple things to see your own comments on your own post posts. Yeah, they're making it harder.
- [36:02]
A
Bring back, like, regular notifications and stuff. LinkedIn's the worst for this. All the notifications, like, aren't comment related. It's like this other person posted. I'm like, I don't need that one.
- [36:13]
B
Like, how many commented on my post from yesterday?
- [36:16]
A
Yeah. Yeah. All right, Peg, you have a new book coming out. Tell us about the new book, when is it coming out? What is it all about?
- [36:23]
B
Thank you. So it's coming out November 19th, so it's pretty close. It's in pre order now and it is for small business owners who struggle with their social media or if you just need to revamp everything, it's really beginning to end. Like how to figure out what your brand is, how to figure out who your clients, your target audience is, how to build your goals out and then how to reach those goals, how to create content where you should be depending on who your audience is. And just really from the beginning to the end for small business owners to create their own content and create a brand that will bring sales for them.
- [37:00]
A
Yes. Awesome. So you can check that book out. I'll put the link in the show notes online dre.com 330 along with all the links to connect with Peg on social media. Thank you so much for being on the podcast today.
- [37:12]
B
Thank you for having me. This was so fun. I love your show.
- [37:16]
A
Truly fangirl moment for me. Thank you, thank you. And thank you, dear listener, for tuning into another episode of the Mindful Marketing Podcast. Stay tuned because next week I am interviewing Christina Barthold, who is actually the connection for this podcast, but I'm excited to talk to her about events and all the things that she does over there. Also, if you are in my community, we have a content collab coming up where we can brainstorm all the content ideas. So if this episode was really a spark for you, come on in into our collaboration session and we can brainstorm even further on content ideas for your business. But that's been our episode today. I will see you next Tuesday. Bye.