How To Make Social Media Simple with Andréa Jones

TRANSCRIPT AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED diane: Hey, Hey, today's guest Andre Jones helps businesses and podcast is build profitable online communities through simple social media solutions. We all know that social can feel pretty draining as a consumer, but also for those of us who rely on it in our business. So simple sounds quite lovely. Hey Andrea, welcome to the show. Andrea: Thank you so much for having me. diane: So let's kick off with a little bit about your journey. Andrea: Yeah. So I'm one of those weirdos who actually likes social media. I found myself, you know, on my space in the early days before my friends were on Facebook. And I even met my husband on YouTube. And so I feel like I have a natural tendency to go towards social media. And honestly, from my personal life perspective, I just found it easier to find people who happen to like the same things I do. And so, my initial. Kind of dive into this world was just trying to connect with individual people who wanted to geek out with me about Harry Potter. So. I've found that because of my natural tendency is to enjoy creating content and spending time on the platform. When it came to build the business, I also felt ease as I was doing that. It's own 2014. I started the business. I started as a freelancer and built it up to the agency and course training programs that we have today. diane: Okay. I have to go back to, how do you meet your husband on YouTube? Andrea: It's just like we're interviewing here for this podcast. We just produced content together. And then we kept talking and the rest is history. And it's funny because I was in Atlanta, Georgia, and he lived in Toronto, Canada. So not even the same country. And it just was like, Bright time situation. And also, you know, one of those things where, you know, I was in my mid twenties at the time and I was just, you know, let's, let's see where this goes kind of thing. And so here we are seven years later and No. I think that the reason that it works is it isn't because we were looking for it. It just kind of happened. And it was the relationship building side that I like to teach today as well. It's not that, you know, you go up to the first person going, okay, I'm going to marry this person. Like that's a totally different energy from, I want to meet this person and see what we have in common. diane: so it's kind of that same strategy when we're talking to our social media followers, we're not trying to marry them. Baby steps. Steps. Okay, good. I thought this is a game play into a whole lot of my commitment phobia. I was like, Ooh, this is a different episode than I was planning, but okay, here we go. Andrea: I love that. diane: So you've always loved social. Do you think your simple social strategies have come from the fact that you love it? And so. You've naturally kept it simple. Or do you think because you love it. You've had to learn how to keep it simple so you could keep loving it. Andrea: Oh, it was definitely the second one, because a couple of years into my business, I was loving it a little too much. And I think that just happens naturally with anything. Like, even if you drink too much water, it's a bad thing. Right. And so there, there got to a point in my business where I was exhausted from being quote-unquote on all the time. Cause I'm actually very introverted person. I was. Feeling anxious over notifications. So something would happen on my phone and I'd go Shoop instantly. My attention was there and feeling almost this sense of Like almost this panic, like I was making up in my mind, what could possibly go wrong before things would happen. And as we know with social media, it's constantly changing. There's so many opportunities for people, you know, getting canceled and you know, what political activism piece is going to be in the news today. And, and so it was all of that pressure actually caused me to have. As sort of panic, a moment, like a sort of anxious moment, I was never diagnosed with anything. So I do want to be careful with my words there, but it was. Definitely a significant event. Enough for me to go, I have a lot to change this. I can not keep living like this. And you know, a lot of it is if you study and follow the advice of a lot of social media professionals out there, they tell you, you know, post several times a day, you gotta do this thing. And that thing you've got to be on these platforms and that platform. And so it was the culmination of that moment where I was like, I've got to figure out a way. To manage social media for myself and for my clients that doesn't result in me feeling completely drained by the end of the day, especially since that's my job, that's what I do consistently. So it definitely came from a need. And the first thing for me was to turn off notifications. And to really set up intentional time to spend on social media so that I can fall back in love with it again, instead of feeling like, almost like pulled around in all of these different directions because of the notifications. diane: so it's almost like, let me control social media versus the other way around. And I definitely feel that in my own journey, I have had to turn off all notifications on my phone. Most of the day, my phone is on do not disturb because not just social media, but messaging and all of the things. But I think with me with social media, when people are saying like, you have to post five times a day and you have to post every single day, and then you must do stories and you must do reels. I very much found myself always on. And then I would miss a day and I would fall off the wagon for three months. And then I come back and I'd be like, right. 30 days of social media, I'm going to do every single day, and over time I have settled into this is not going to work. So what does consistency look like for me? And for me, it's two or three times a week, a week, but how do you teach your students clients to think about social media in a way that just makes it simpler than that, because I think there's so much advice from so many different angles and every time an algorithm tweaks a little bit, it's an opportunity. If everyone's be like, it's all changed by my new thing, to understand how to now, when it social media. Andrea: Yes. And I love that you have landed on what works for you. And that's exactly what I teach is you've got to practice enough to go, you know what? Two to three times a week is perfectly fine for me, it's enough to keep driving my business. And I still feel like I can be present without. Feeling that drain and exhaustion from being on all the time. So the first thing I suggest considering is I actually have a meditation that goes through this process, understanding your relationship with social media, both personally and professionally. And I think sometimes we just kind of jump in and do, you know, quote unquote what we should be doing without really understanding the role that social media plays in our business. Because for some of us, social media is talking to the direct consumer, the end user for some of us it's to build strategic partnerships for some of us, it's a portfolio piece to showcase our work. So you really need to understand. And where social media fits in the entire business in your marketing plan, and that will help guide you into making decisions about it. And then the second thing is you kind of want to understand yourself, do you like social media? Because it is something you can outsource. You don't have to be the one doing it. I like to use the analogy or, or relate this to bookkeeping. So for me, I just. I just don't like it. I mean, I'll do it as a business owner and is especially newer business owners. We do all of the things. Right. But as soon as I could start outsourcing something, I was like, this needs to be someone else's deal because I do not want to think about this more than I have to. And so social media can be the same thing similar to bookkeeping. No, it's not like you can't ever think about it or look at it as a business owner. I still have to be in charge and in control of my numbers and make sure my profit margins are healthy and all of those things, I just don't have to think about it every single day. And so I think that's a possibility as well. Now, if you like social media, maybe it's outsourcing bookkeeping with me. So it's kind of understanding those things. And then I would say it's carving out time to commit to social media. And I love focusing in on time versus output because I think sometimes we go, okay, I need five posts this week, every single day. And I've taught that strategy for years. And what I found is just like you said, people would try it for 30 days and then they miss a day and then they'd feel like I can't do this. And so they don't. And so instead of saying you have to produce five posts every single week. I started teaching the method of, of time blocking commitment, essentially. So what if you spent one hour a week? Batching out your social media posts for the next week. The first time you sit down to do it, you may only get one post, maybe even half a post. You didn't even finish in an hour. That's fine. Next week you finish that post and then you post it. And then the week after that, see how far you get and you build up the skill set that is required to create content for social media, because it is a new skill. And it's very similar to any other skill we developed. So, mine, for instance right now is I love practicing yoga and some of these poses y'all I can not do at all. It doesn't mean I don't try them though. Like the super-duper modified version, that's barely even looks like the post at all, but it's the practice of doing it that helps me get better. And you know, it may take months. It may take years. And so I think with social media, the same can be true. It's the practice of creating those content pieces for social media. That'll help you get better at that skill. You're going to be able to produce more content within that time commitment that you're, you're kind of promising to yourself. And over time you will see more results from that strategy. diane: I think what's good about that is you can't fail an hour, whereas you could, like, I feel like social media is so good to make us feel. we've failed in some way, you know, there's the stick thin model. There's the like, you know, gorgeous person promoting whatever. There's the person with the fabulous hat, like everything about it is this weird messaging at us. And then all the people who are prolific content creators as their jobs who are, as you say, maybe creating a portfolio or there's a reason that they are showing up as much as they are. Makes you feel like, should I even bother that? I can only do two posts. Like, what's the point. Whereas if I have to do an hour, I can't fail at doing an ally because I just sit at my desk. So I really like that as a concept when I sit down though. So for me, blank, page of doom. is my nemesis in business, no matter what, whether I'm writing a sales page, web copy, doing something for social media, getting started for me is always the tricky part. Is there a simple starting solution Andrea: yes. And, you know, getting started for everyone is the tricky part. And I think that. It, it, there are some like jumpstart things we can do to get started with social media content. But my perspective on social media is that it should be a reflection of what's happening internally in your business. And sometimes where we get step is exactly what you identified earlier is we're looking externally at what everyone else is doing. And we're going to try to match that somehow. And that's where we feel stuck because we go, anything I write is not as good as that or any photo I have is not as good as that. And so I think starting from that place internally of, you know, what did I talk about with a client today? What question did I just answer in my inbox? What am I thinking about with my business? Why am I doing this? Why am I creating this day? That's where the social media content comes from and it's not going to be perfect for the first times you do it. It may never be perfect. But as humans, we're not perfect. And if we just accept that we can actually produce quite a bit of content in that time. And so I want to talk about the types of content pieces you can produce. It really can be a really great jumping off point. But it really should reflect what's happening internally in your business. So the first content type is promotional content. So that's talking about your offer, your product, your service, the thing that you do, but really focusing on the transformative side. So how do people feel before and after experiencing your work? And so it's just, again, a reflection of what's happening there. The second content type is educational content. So it's really teaching something. And oftentimes this comes from those things where we know it intuitively we just live it every day, but if we were to share it with someone, they would go what that's, how that works. And so it's that sort of content you can share on social. The third content type is community content. So this typically revolves around news industry happenings things that you can showcase that it's not just you talking about these topics. The fourth content piece is entertainment content. So this is behind the scenes content. For graphic designers, for instance, you can show your work, maybe like a stream, a fast. Forwarded showing off, you know, the process of what you're doing. And then the last content type is engaging content. And this is really a conversation starter with your community. I've the easiest place to start here is like a poll ABC D really asking people their thoughts on the topics that you teach or that you talk about. And so you'll get those people in the comments who are like, I'm totally be, or those people in the comments where like, I'm none of these. And so it's really. Starting those conversations. And when you sit down to create content, if you could just choose one of those content pillars, that could be a really good jumpstart for creating some of the types of social media posts. We want to share on social. diane: Yeah, I'm a big fan of the, the educational one. Cause I just picked something that I've rented to someone about in Voxer, turn it into a podcast episode and an infographic and people are like, this is amazing. And I'm like, seriously, I've said this like seven times in the last, like three months, but this is just the minute I'm like super honest about it in that kind of Renty style that seems to land. How do we take those content types and then think about. All the social media that's available to us because I think once we get to, okay, I'm only going to do a couple of Instagram posts, our brains and go, okay. But what about Facebook and LinkedIn? And should I do doing Pinterest and wait now there's tech talk. Should I have YouTube reels stories? Andrea: You know, you talked about a lot. Facebook, Instagram, Tik, TOK, YouTube, Twitter. I promise you, you can find your ideal client on any of those platforms. It really comes down to which one are you actually going to use? So if I told you Diane, that a LinkedIn was the best platform for you and you logged in and you were like, I hate it here. I don't want to spend time here. Then you won't actually spend time there cause you'll re you'll feel resistant to it. But if you love Instagram and then you love showing up in that way, then. You will feel committed to that platform. So as practical as our brains try to be, we are very feeling based creatures. And so we had to lean into that a little bit when it comes to social media and choosing that platform and then committing just to that one platform. I think the key is in the practice of it. Now, there are certain platforms that you could potentially see more success on depending on your niche. Right? So you can take that into consideration, but if you absolutely despise it and you're not going to use it anyway, then, you know, you might as well not even worry about it. So an example would be if you are a career coach I pretty much would recommend you be on LinkedIn. PR like, I think that's just the best platform for that business style. However, if you find yourself not even using the platform, if you find yourself struggling to participate, then you've gotta dig into why that is, and really try to find a solution that will work for you and actually grow your business. And so that's kind of, it's, it is a mix of the two, but I do like to start with, you know, figuring out which platform you already use, you already like, and enjoy, because I promise you almost any platform. You can find your people there. diane: I think the key statement that you made was that I can find my ideal clients on any platform. I think there is a lot of social media. Folklore out there that you have to know, where are your people, and then that becomes your platform to find your people. And I know I've definitely said it to people as a business coach myself. So do you have a particular. Social media pet peeve, or big mistake that you see people making, even if not like trying to post too much, but when they actually post Andrea: I think my biggest pet peeve is when people assume that other people know already what to do, and this really shows up a lot with podcasters actually, where, when they post about the podcast, they just go, go listen to my podcast. Without like, what's the name of the podcast? Where do I go? Listen, how do I listen? Why should I listen? And it's all of those things that I know they could actually get more listeners if they actually start thinking about those answers and the answers to those questions. And I think it really comes from a genuine place. We don't want to bother people where we feel like maybe we've said it already. So do we have to say it again? But honestly, I don't even remember what I ate for lunch yesterday. I don't remember what the name of your podcast is. And so, I think adding that information into the post is very helpful. And thinking about social media and in the larger context, a concept of how we use it. So we're scrolling, we're seeing like our friend's dog, we're seeing our sister's baby. And then we see your posts about the podcast. What information do we need to actually take action on that? Knowing that we're probably going to forget something, the second we scroll away. And so as business owners, we have to be repetitive in the way that we speak and the way that we write. And it actually makes it easier for us because we're not really creating new things. Every time we kind of have our set list of things we talk about and we just keep talking about them over and over again. diane: Yeah, I think we all think our thing because it's the most important thing to us that it's also the most important thing to everybody else. And therefore, how could you not just remember from last week, what my podcast is called, even though you've seen 20 other podcast promos since then from 20 different people. And we do forget those. Like, it can actually just be that easy. There's nothing worse than seeing a post where someone's like. Oh, and I do this thing and I'm like, where do I get this thing? Like, I want your thing. I don't know how to get your thing. We make people work maybe a little too hard, Andrea: Yes. And I think we do this just again, it's human nature. And I see this a lot with events too, where especially local events, people will post about them and I'll get excited and I'll start digging into it. And I'm like, where is it? Where is this thing happening? And suddenly I find out, Oh, it's a completely different country. It's going to take a lot of travel to get there. And I feel like if you just put that information in the post. I could easily figure out if this was for me or not. And so, yeah, it's definitely human nature, but it's something that we can all improve on. diane: What's your top, top social media tip. if people could only do one thing, what's the one thing you would suggest they go and do Andrea: You talked a lot about content, like actually producing the posts, but I would much rather see business owners spend more time in the relationship building side. Then the content creation side. So I mentioned that I recommend, you know, sitting down for an hour a week, but if you've got to cut somewhere, cut that down to 30 minutes and see what you can do at that time. I'd rather, you spend more time, about 10, 15 minutes a day, logging onto your platform, finding new people to connect with connecting with the current relationships that you have and build those up because that's. Truly where the magic happens on social media. And I'm not talking about like sliding into someone's DMS and going by this thing, because again, it's just like going up to someone and saying, marry me, it's it's too extreme. It's really the relationship building piece of it. And it is a lot like dating, right? Like if you decided that you wanted to. Find a partner. You wouldn't expect the very first person you talk to to be the one, right? The same is true with social media. Most of the people that you talk to and interact with are not going to be clients or customers. And if you become okay with that and just continue conversation and participation and communication in a way that feels good for you, you will start to see that. Build and pay dividends over time. And so I'd much rather see folks spend more time in that area than producing so much content. diane: That makes me feel much better because I'm definitely like heavy in the engagement side of Instagram. I'm like always in people's DMS, usually as you well know, asking for more pictures of their dogs and stuff like that versus having actual work conversations. But I think you're right. That is such a neglected. Pot. And when I encourage people to use it as networking, I can see the fear kick in. And I like what you said about if they just think about it as dating, like if you met somebody new or you were introduced to a new friend, what would you say? Like, hi, I like your jumper. Like, I literally wrote that to someone yesterday. Cause I really did. I was like, I really liked that way. Did you get it from a jumper as a sweater? Sorry. For all my North Americans, I feel like I need to come with subtitles sometimes. I'm like, this is what she actually means. Andrea: Yes. No. And you're so right. I mean, it is that, that basic level of conversation and us talking today is a great example of that, where you've been sending me messages about my dog. And I love that. I love that we can both love on him. And so when you said, Hey, I want you to be on my podcast. I was like, yeah, absolutely. I feel like I already know you. diane: And my only condition was that he had to be here with us and he is in the background, which no one can see, but he is with us, but it is really true. Right. That's, we've had conversations about that and then other things because of it, but, it's finding something to connect with someone on and. I think really keeping it authentic as well. I think if I had gone, Ooh, nice dog. Hey, do you want him on my thing? That's a very different scenario than me stalking your dog for a good six months or so. So I know people are going to be like, this is a new idea for me, that social media can be simple, that I can do this a different way, that it can feel good for me. What's the best way for them to get started with you defined how about your simple social solutions? Andrea: Yes. So I actually have a free course. That's the best place to start. You can find it by going to online draya.com/free. And it really breaks down the framework that I use and that I teach in my programs. It it's About a five or six lesson course, there's a workbook. And there's also some, some done for you content pieces as well. If you just want a bit of a jumpstart, but it really kind of guides you through the process of finding out a strategy that will work for you and a strategy that you can actually commit to. diane: and is the meditation in there as well? Andrea: Yes, the meditation is in there and I link out to the other meditations as well. It's it's I actually just put them out there for free for everybody. It's the social media unwind. So you can search for that or any podcast app there's about 10 of them now. Because it's true. Like it's, it really is one of my. I don't know, missions in life is to have people, especially business owners find a way to use social media. That still feels good. Because there's a lot of pressures around it. So that's available. No opt-in anywhere. Social media unwind. diane: I've never had somebody say to me, like here's a meditation for you on your social media. It's so unique to me, it's such a different approach to it. So I can't wait to go and try them all out. So I always like to finish with a couple of questions for all of my guests. The first one is what is your number one lifestyle boundary for your business? Andrea: So lately it has been a super slow mornings with no alarm clock. I have found that if I wake up to an alarm clock and I have to get ready and go to work right away, I am the grumpiest person. Ever, like, I just feel at my worst. And so what that means though, is I have to go to bed earlier. I have to stick with it same times, even on the weekends because my body will naturally wake up around six 30, seven o'clock in the morning. So it can be, I can be boring at parties cause around 10, I'm going to leave. Like I have to go to bed. But also it means I have plenty of time in the morning, drink coffee, meditate, journal read. And then I start my day and it's become a non-negotiable for me. diane: Yeah, I'm very similar. Not, not because it was a conscious choice. Just my buddy has loved 5:00 AM full forever. Like since I was like a kid. And so I have that exact same thing. My friends will laugh at me. There's zero points in trying to contact me off to 8:00 PM. Cause there's a really good chance I'm already asleep. So I feel you on that one. Okay. Finally, what's the worst piece of cookie cutter advice you've been given in your entrepreneurial journey? Andrea: I don't, I wouldn't say this is Sarah Lee, the worst, but it's one that I really don't like which has to do with pricing. I've been given the advice several times over the years to not put my prices on my website. Especially for my high touch service. And I just find that whenever I don't do that, I end up with a lot of people wasting my time and I'd rather have the person who self-selects out. I will never know who they are. Cause they looked at my website, it looked at my price and said, this isn't for me. It's a much easier. Process for me, for someone to look at my website, see what I'm about. Look at the price, book, a call with me, cause we've already overcome so many hurdles. And so that's the one that I like to implement despite what everyone else says. diane: Yeah. And I definitely think people are coming around to that more. I'm the same as you. If it's out of your price range, I don't want to waste your time. Let alone my time. I don't want to waste your time being on a call with me, especially cause on a sales call. I'm one of the more fast acting salespeople. I want the button at the top of the sales page. You know, I've already stalked you on social media. I know that I want to buy it. I just want you to tell me the price and the details and you know, so if there was the price and a buy button, I wouldn't even have the sales call with you, you know? So I'm with you. I would much rather know upfront. Then I don't also feel like, Oh, I might be shamed on the call because I say, Oh, I can't afford it. Or, he wrangled into some hard sells. So, but I think people are coming around to that idea more. I think it was definitely old school. Coaching was very hard on no price. Make it all a secret. It's not mysterious. It's just annoying. Andrea: Yeah, exactly. diane: Well, thank you so much. Again, this has been such a great interview. I want to go and like implement all the different things, but first of all, I want to listen to the meditation to make sure that I'm like Zen about social. Do not feel Zen about social right now, but I know people are going to want to connect with you. So what's the best place for that? What's your favorite social so they can come and find you. Andrea: Yeah, I'm loving Instagram. Y'all I really like it. It's like six platforms all in one. When you think about all the different options. So send me a direct message. Let me know that you found me on this podcast. I love a good voice note as well. So I can hear you and get to know you. But yeah, Instagram at online Draya. diane: yeah, great posts and super cute pups. I highly recommend the follow. Thank you so much. Andrea: Thanks for having me.