Not-So Kind Regards

How to grab the right attention with your content during Q4

• Maddy Birdcage & Caroline Moss

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In this episode of the 'Not So Kind Regards' podcast, Caroline Moss is joined by Birdcage Marketing's content strategist, Maxine Edwards. With Maddy Birdcage away, Caroline and Max dive into essential content strategies to excel in Q4, focusing on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas campaigns. They discuss the importance of mindset, avoiding common content mistakes, and understanding your audience. 
The episode also covers tactical advice on hooks and the effective use of organic content in marketing funnels. Max shares her experience with TikTok strategies and highlights the value of staying prepared and energized to attract and retain customers. Tune in to gain practical tips and insights to make your holiday marketing campaigns fun and successful.

Episode highlights: 

  • How to prepare for Q4 Content
  • Mindset for the Holiday Season
  • Understanding Your Audience
  •  Black Friday and Cyber Monday Strategies
  •  Creating Unique Campaigns
  •  Leveraging Influencers and UGC
  • Navigating Social Media Algorithms
  •  Promoting on TikTok: A Case Study
  •  The Art of Crafting Hooks
  • Max's Personal Content Strategy
  • Understanding Visual Hooks
  • Creating Engaging Content

Resources:  

Where To Find Us:  

Connect with Max:  


To work with us, book your discovery call at https://www.birdcagemarketing.com.au/start-here

To discover the school, visit https://birdcagemarketing.com.au/

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Not so Kind Regards podcast. I'm Maddie Birdcage and I'm Caroline Moss.

Speaker 3:

We are done with the digital fluff and pleasantries and we're here to talk straight about brand building, digital marketing and personal growth. This episode is, of course, brought to you by Birdcage Marketing, the forward-thinking digital marketing brand that started this all. We have a special birthday offer running now until the end of the year to celebrate Maddie Birdcage's birthday. Our no BS birthday blowout special is for the action takers who don't need more advice and want actual, practical steps to take your business forward fast. You get a foundational strategy, valued at $6,000. We'll build the bedrock of your marketing plan so you're not constantly chasing trends, but creating a strategy that works. We will complete a website audit for you, valued at $1,250, where we'll pinpoint exactly what's slowing your site down and give you the actual recommendations to improve it. We will complete copywriting for a welcome flow and one times EDM, valued at $1,500, so you can nail your customer's first impression with powerful, converting email copy. We will give you one week of content done for you on Instagram. That's three reels and three static posts, valued at $1,250. You can stop stressing over content creation. We'll handle it, so you don't have to. And then, finally, we will throw in one 40-minute coaching session with a coach of your choosing from the Birdcage team. That is valued at $1,250. So you can get laser-focused advice on your most pressing business challenges. You get all of this at a value of $11,250 and you only pay $6,000. We only have six available until the end of the year. So to get started, book your discovery call at birdcagemarketingcomau and let's do this.

Speaker 3:

Now back to the episode. Welcome to another episode of the Not so Kind Regards podcast. If you're new to the podcast, normally it is Maddie Birdcage, our fearless leader, and me, caroline Moss, leading the way, but Maddie is away in Europe right now. So today I am joined by our content strategist here at Birdcage, maxine Edwards. Welcome, max.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for having me. I love being on the podcast.

Speaker 3:

Today we are going to dive into the topic of what type of content you need to just kill it this Q4. So that's including Black Friday, cyber Monday and Christmas and we're going to talk about all the different strategies you can be doing with your content. And who better to take us through that than Max, I'm really excited to talk about this topic.

Speaker 1:

I absolutely love content. Hence I am the content strategist for Birdcage Marketing. I know it's still a little while away for Black Friday, cyber Monday and also holiday sales, but we need to start preparing for this because we need to start filming content and understanding a campaign to film the content and what audience we're going to go to. So we're going to talk about all that and what you need to prepare yourself to be able to get a successful Black Friday, cyber Monday and also prepare for the holiday sales as well.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, 100%. Let's talk a little bit about the mindset around this time of year before we dive straight into content. For anyone listening, you can go back to last week's episode where we talk about having a stress-free Q4 and the actual strategy and approach, the full funnel marketing approach that you can take there. And we do dive into mindset a little bit, but I just want to remind everyone that you know some common limiting beliefs around this time of year are everyone's on sale, everyone's advertising. My reach is going down. I'm so overwhelmed, everything is last minute, my sales are unpredictable, and that's why we're getting ahead of this right now and why we're talking about it right now, in September, to give you that time and that space and that leeway to really prepare.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, exactly, I think mindset is a massive thing, especially when we're at that time of year that we're feeling a little bit burnt out. So the last thing you want to do is start thinking about Christmas and all those times, because that those times are really special, but they're very stressful for everybody because it's the end of the year and you're trying to finish up your goals that you wanted to do for 2024 and you're just on this kind of hamster wheel. I always say, and you're just like, I can't even put the thought of going into Black Friday and holiday sales. It's quite stressful, but it can be fun, it can be really fun, and that's where you could pick up your mindset and get a bit more energized towards it. And that's what we've done, isn't it, caroline?

Speaker 1:

I've done such an exciting campaign for our Black Friday, cyber Monday, so I'm not going to be saying it yet, because we will be getting into a new campaign in October and then obviously we'll share it with you in November when all the sales start. So I'm really excited about that and that's made me have more energy and that's also made Maddie because she had to obviously film it she got more energy. So mindset is very important at this time of the year, because if you don't have a good mindset, you're not going to share with your audience that you're energized and excited. And why would they buy from you when you don't have very good energy?

Speaker 3:

right that's such a good point. It's like let's try to dig deep, make this fun, make it as fun as possible. It's so easy to get into that, especially if you're a mom as well as a business owner or a marketer. Like it's so easy to get into that mindset of like, oh my gosh, I've got so much to do. My to-do list just keeps growing, like both family stuff and work stuff. But that's why we're getting ahead of it and that's why, like, I love that little pep talk, because it's like oh yeah, this gets to be fun. This is like that's the whole point of social media.

Speaker 1:

It's supposed to be fun, guys it's so fun and oh, like I keep I'm gonna be keep saying this, but I'm so excited to share our campaign with you guys. Like, maddie filmed something really exciting in Europe and it's just a dream come true for Maddie and she she actually told me her filming this was probably better than her wedding day. So imagine this energy in this, like this content she's going to have, and she was with her husband filming this. So you know, it's kind of really exciting for her. And then, like my, my campaign, like vision, came to life and that's exciting for me. So I'm just looking forward to it.

Speaker 1:

So how to get a good mindset? I think we could talk about that, couldn't we, caroline? Yeah, so obviously we need to go back to strategy guys, getting back to your strategy and understanding your audience. If you don't understand your audience, you're not going to get anywhere in this Black Friday sale. So look back and figure out your strategy. Obviously, if you're a Birdcage student, you can always revisit your strategy. We were just talking about this on office hours yesterday and strategy is a constant like. You can constantly change it and you can constantly update it. So go back to your strategy and really understand your audience and what they really, really, really want, because this is a time for them to be able to buy from you with a really great sale.

Speaker 3:

This is also a time of year that you could be attracting a lot of new customers into your business that then turn into possibly lifetime customers. I think that's like one of the biggest opportunities this time of year if you're going to run like quite a big discount, getting in front of new people but then making it such an amazing customer experience that they keep coming back and back.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, exactly, and you've got to obviously show that energy to the right audience and if you don't have the right audience, obviously you're not going to get to these new customers and to the customers that have been thinking about buying. Because we are at that time of year that people are feeling a bit deflated and money might come into that factor of feeling deflated. So they know that Christmas time is coming up and they know they need to start saving up or start getting good sales to be able to buy Christmas presents. Or, you know, summer's coming so they want to buy new outfits for summer or new If you're in the Southern hemisphere.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah. Or you know, they want to start getting to the goals for 2025, for example, birdcage School. They want to, be like able to tick that off so they can start the fresh new year with a new course or something that will create their 2025 so much better.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I love what you said about. So people are Christmas shopping this time of year and I think, even though money is tight for most people who are in a cost of living crisis across the planet, I think people still probably really want to make Christmas special for their families. So they're going to try to find those deals so Christmas doesn't feel any different for the kids or for the partners or for the aunties, you know. And then, like you said, it's not just for the products and the Christmas gifts. You have to start thinking ahead to January. That's what we're already thinking about, because we know that's a big time of year.

Speaker 3:

If you're in like fitness and health, or if you're in the education information business, this is where people want to up level. They're like, okay, this is going to be the year that I'm going to achieve all my goals, whether it's fitness, health, business goals. So those are great things to be thinking about now. It's so funny because, as a marketer, I'm like my brain this time of year is like it's like already at Christmas. And when people are like, oh, we've got four months till Christmas, I'm like my brain's already there, like in work mode. But then, like mom life, I'm like I am so far from being prepared for Christmas.

Speaker 1:

I'm going to be. I'm going to be Christmas shopping, probably a week ahead.

Speaker 1:

I'm very ahead. Yeah, well, exactly, and this is my first year properly in marketing. I'm I used to be in interior design. So interior design, like any construction kind of industry, it is the most stressful time of the year Christmas time because people want to get everything done before Christmas, before the family comes, or they just want to have things done. So I'm not used to being this prepared, because you never know what's going to come a few weeks before Christmas in that industry. So, being so prepared, I'm so proud of myself that I'm like this is what we're doing now. But I've got to get this sorted in my personal life as well.

Speaker 3:

I think it's like that sliding scale, it's never going to be both.

Speaker 1:

I wish I was one of those people that, like, shopped on Boxing Day sales for the year after Next year, yeah, but I would like hide those gifts and then I would completely forget the next year where I hit open and they'd have double the gifts. Exactly. And that brings me back to the Black Friday. Cyber Monday sale was so good, because you won't forget about it, because it's like a month before Christmas finishing.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and on the last week's episode I talked a little bit about Black Friday, cyber Monday, christmas finishing. Yeah, and I um. On the last week's episode I talked a little bit about Black Friday, cyber Monday. Um, so first it was Black Friday and I remember that as a kid growing up, cause that's still new to Australia, but I'm from the U? S and so we'd always see on the news on Thursday night, which was Thanksgiving You'd see people camping outside of like Walmarts and like electronic stores and like shopping centers centers like actually with tents and things to get these sales. And then Cyber Monday came around for the e-commerce space and then Black Friday actually only became popular lightly popular in Australia in like 2011. So it was after both, after Cyber Monday even came around. We'll get to content in a second. But, yeah, what do you feel like? Do you feel like Black Friday is still something new to you or does it feel like kind of ingrained in your culture now too?

Speaker 1:

Definitely Black Friday is something that I do remember, but I personally myself, I get really overwhelmed when there's sales, because the sales are so good that I'm like I want to buy everything. And then I put everything in the cart and then I'm like this is too much for me. I'm backing out.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, as a consumer, it's overwhelming, for sure.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and the same with Boxing Day sales. I never went to the shops at Boxing Day sales because it's just too overwhelming for me. But that's me. But Cyber Monday I don't remember. That's a new thing, that's for me, that's a new thing. I kind of remember, I guess, a you know a few years back, and they're like cyber monday sales. I'm like what, what's that? Like you know, but it is a new thing, and it's definitely not as much camping out in front of stores. I don't think. In australia, and especially, everything is online now, uh so, and many stores don't have a storefront. So it is really just making sure you jump in straight away in the morning to not miss out on these great sales.

Speaker 3:

And I think that would come back to like customer loyalty. If you're worried about you know, your customer having to fight for their attention for all these other brands like, now's a great time when if you go back to last week's episode I'm going to keep referring to that because I talk about what you should be doing now with your to create brand awareness, to create engagement, to drive email signups go back and listen to that episode. But that's really where you can create some customer loyalty so that they feel they feel like they're your friend already and so they feel like they kind of owe you and they want to purchase from you, rather than something that's like caught their eye but they're like, oh no, but I've been saving up for this thing. That's middle of funnel, isn't?

Speaker 1:

it, yeah, middle of funnel content, and then they're going to get bottom of funnel when they're ready to buy.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, exactly, it's the marketing funnel in action.

Speaker 1:

Ladies and gentlemen, yeah, it's full force, super important.

Speaker 3:

Okay, so what do you think brands do wrong with their content this time of year? Like I, have some thoughts around this as well, but I'd love to hear what you think.

Speaker 1:

So I, for our campaign, I have made sure that it's super different. I looked at, for example, you look on Pinterest and Canva and you're like black Friday sales and they're like you know black posters with something that's like hidden behind this, you know this black, solid color and it's something that's like someone they're hiding something in this massive sale and that that is important. But it's so used so many times Like it's like they want to hide what the sale is. And I am a person that I'm very open to people and I I'm not a very good secret keeper, like, in a way of if I'm excited about something, I want to share it.

Speaker 1:

So we are going to be kind of doing that across our campaign as well, because people do need to know what they're going to be getting. So what people do wrong is, firstly, they hide. I believe they hide too much from their audience and they're not going to be telling them. And secondly, it's just not visually pleasing. It's been seen before and it's been done before. Like the pictures, like the carousel pictures, how they are just so boring, just like graphic and it's yeah, and it's just all the same as everybody else's.

Speaker 3:

black friday, cyber monday sales let's talk about those two points then. So by hiding do you mean like, um, they're not, they're not like promoting it enough? Basically like they need to be coming up with lots of different content to get those customer touch points?

Speaker 1:

so they might not to be telling people what they're giving as a percentage off. So on the Black Friday they might be like, okay, surprise, it's 20% off or something like that, or it's buy one, get two for free. So people aren't really that prepared.

Speaker 3:

I feel like if you tell people too soon about your sale, then they're just holding out and then you're not getting sales. But then people kind of it's this really hard thing and it's I always have to give a marketer's answer, which is like it depends when people ask me this and I just tell them the pros and cons of both. But it's like if you announce your sale too soon but it's not on yet, then people aren't going to purchase between now and then. But then if someone makes a purchase, like a day before your stuff goes on sale, that feels like an icky customer experience too. So you have to decide, yeah, how much leeway you want to give people and all of that stuff as well.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so I totally agree what you were saying. So, max, how did you?

Speaker 3:

come up with this, so we're not going to say what our idea was, but how did you get some inspiration and what kind of advice can you give other entrepreneurs and other marketers to find some inspiration on creating a campaign this time of year that's actually going to stand out and doesn't just look like everybody else's? I guess let's talk about so you think everybody else's is going to be like boring graphics, basically.

Speaker 1:

I see it all too much Every year. It's just kind of the same thing. You know, the black black graphics something that's exciting coming, and or it's face to camera. We've got a black friday sale coming. You know, be excited, we've got exciting percentage off. You know, it's nothing ever. That's like cinema. You know that's different.

Speaker 1:

We want some difference and we want people to get really excited. We want people to go through the journey of the month of November with you. So you want to really get people to understand that you understand their pain points. So that comes down to understanding your audience's pain points. And then you also want people to keep buying from you from the month of November. So you don't want to be like there's a sale coming up in Black Friday sale. You know, hold out until this sale and you'll get a really great offer. You don't want that. You want to make sure that people are still buying from you because you still got to pay those bills, don't you? So you've got to get those people to still come through. So that's a good way of showing people that you understand their pain points.

Speaker 1:

And then, about two weeks before Black Friday sale or one week before, you can start promoting that Black Friday sale and the way we've done it is a little bit cinematic. It kind of makes it really exciting for someone to be like, oh, what is happening? Or or hey, these people really understand what I'm talking about. Or I want to look like this person, or I want to feel like this person. So this is what like if I buy from them. This is how I'm going to feel. So the way I've come up is where we're actually starting a new campaign in October and I won't tell you what campaign it is, because it's coming in October and you've just got to wait for it. But it is something that you know. It's a really kind of positive and a great vibe feeling and, as I said, maddie's in Europe right now and I got her to do something that's really, really it's hard not to tell you, guys, you can probably be a little bit of a detective and go on Maddie's Instagram and you might start to put some pieces together.

Speaker 3:

but that's all we're going to say.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, but it's so. How I've come up with it is definitely reflecting on our new campaign that's coming out in October and that campaign's lasting is it three months, I think, until the end of.

Speaker 3:

December. We have quarterly campaigns now with Birdcage as a group to kind of drive all of our marketing. So every three months we're doing new photo shoots, new videos, things like that, just to keep it exciting and align all of our content with those campaigns.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. So Maddie came up with this really exciting campaign and I obviously piggybacked it, and then I just thought you know, European vibes, European summer she's already in Europe. Let's do it this way. So that's my inspiration, but for you people that don't have the chance to get to Europe, and don't have the chance to do what we've done.

Speaker 3:

I really believe that you need to start. Um is that people get on camera and the biggest mistake they make is just like, oh, this is so exciting, we've got a sale running, but, like, if everybody's running a sale, how are we going to stand out with that? It's like, why should I care about that as a customer? Like, why should I care? Like, yes, I'm getting a sale, but you need to be using messaging and visuals that make that like pull me in. And so I'm going to recap our marketing funnel content strategy for you real quick.

Speaker 3:

So top of funnel is controversial or aspirational or relatable content, and that's content that's going to grab attention. So we're using a mix of like aspirational, attention grabbing content in this. So we're using a mix of like aspirational, attention grabbing content in this campaign that we're doing that Max is talking about. And the middle funnel is building trust. You want content that that's your social proof, that shows people you say you do what you're going to do, stuff that drives engagement, stuff that drives conversations, that drives community. And then bottom of funnel is straight promotional, selling content.

Speaker 1:

And that's what you want to kind of do in the month of November leading up to your Black Friday sale. So you want the top of funnel to come in the beginning of November and then maybe two weeks before the Black Friday sale you want the middle of funnel, maybe two and a half weeks, and then a week before the Black Friday sale you want that bottom of funnel. So people are ready to buy for you and ready to jump on that website and buy from you. So really get into that marketing funnel guys.

Speaker 3:

And I think what's important, too, is for people to understand that, yes, creating like really awesome videos is an important part of your content strategy here, but we also have to cater for people. One customers are going to have several touch points with us before they buy, so they might not want to sit through a cinematic video every single time. So maybe it's a cinematic video, a carousel, a single image post that just exactly says what you're going to promote. Like you can still have some of that boring graphic content in there. You just don't want it to be your entire content strategy.

Speaker 1:

No, you need to mix in all these the funnels into it, because you might have other people on this journey, so you might have people in the beginning of November that's already ready to buy from you. So you want that bottom of funnel. So yeah, you're definitely right there. We want to keep it a bottom of funnel. So yeah, you're definitely right there. We want to keep it. Mixture of things.

Speaker 3:

Do you have any advice for people who might still be like a newer brand? They might have a really small community. Should they be like working with UGC creators right now, that's user generated content Should they be working with influencers or should they just really focus on nailing their messaging and their strategy?

Speaker 1:

I personally this is me personally I don't like. I think it is really important to work with influencers and UGC people because it kind of promotes your brand. But when you say small, that means they might not have the biggest budget. So you're not going to be getting those top influencers, which is okay and that's fine. But you want to make sure you work with someone, with an influencer, that reflects your brand. So let's say you. No, I saw a really good one and it made me buy this object. We have a case study, yes, so I needed I don't have a dishwasher in our house, which I think it's okay.

Speaker 1:

We're in an older house. I'm needing to wash my dishes and I've been thinking I need to get something that has, you know, the soap, soap and the sponge so I can just quickly wash the kids plates or whatever. And then I saw the dad. What is it called? I don't know what he's called, but he's a really funny dad and he was like he was promoting this scrubbing brush. Like it's a scrubbing brush guys, like it's nothing exciting, but he made his content quite like relatable to me. I needed something for my kids plates. He was promoting his kids lunch boxes and he was like this is how easy to clean a lunch box. The next day I bought this scrubbing brush and it just shows that I guess I was ready to buy Um and it's just a scrubbing brush.

Speaker 3:

You were already problem aware.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, but he was definitely someone that, like I, could relate to, because he's a parent too and I don't have time. He didn't have much time, but if you promoted this scrubbing brush and he was a young girl, that's like I've got to clean my stuff quickly because I just couldn't be bothered. I'd be like, oh no, I don't want to buy this scrubbing brush. So what I'm trying to say is you've got to be really clever with who you use to promote your stuff. So if you're a parent and you are wanting to sell this scrubbing brush, just promote it yourself. There's no point you paying money to influencers to promote it. So if you can promote it and you can just press the promote now button on Instagram, that you can pay like $6 and you get 24 hours or something like that to promote your content, why don't you just do it? I think you don't need to always use influencers your content.

Speaker 3:

why don't you just do it? I think you don't need to always use influencers as an ad strategist. I would say come to the school and learn how to build an actual ad strategy. But if you're not ready for that piece yet, you can just boost your posts. As painful as it feels to say that, but I think there is a lot of merit to it, because I know that the platforms are getting so much better at their targeting and their reach. When you used to boost a post, it used to just go to everyone, but now I know you're able to be a bit more specific with your targeting, so there's no shame.

Speaker 3:

I was just thinking about this actually last night. I think is that we look to the left, we look to the right, at all of these people. We're like how are they getting so much reach of? These people were like how are they getting so much reach? How are they getting so much views? You don't know if they are paying to play or not. Like you, don't? There's so many ways that you can get people to your Instagram accounts, to your TikTok accounts, to create brand awareness. So just remember that if you're comparing yourself to someone, you think all of their growth is organic. It might not be.

Speaker 1:

It's not. Can I give you a bit of an insight? Yeah, I said this to her on office hours yesterday and it's just something. My sister so my sister is Maddie Birdcage, so me and Maddie have been working together on her TikTok page, so she does her content and I edit it for her, but I also assist her with what I think she should be talking about. We have been struggling I think it's been like a year now with her TikTok. It has just like the views have gone down dramatically, like, and her content is. It's amazing. We have people writing in being like why don't you have more views on your content when your content is so amazing, like it is so like perfect and, to be fair, her content is still selling, like it's still bringing people into the agency, into the school.

Speaker 3:

So even though views are down, we still have like a very engaged. She has a very engaged community and audience, which is hard to do on tikt.

Speaker 1:

It is and it's not all about views. Guys Like Maddie always says going viral and you've had a viral video before and you said it was all too much for you and it didn't sell, like you didn't get anything from it. She's got a viral video and it wasn't anything to do with the school and it went viral and it just was all too much for her. But we do want to, I guess, share her message more to other people that need help. That is probably our most important thing and we want to reach as many. Yeah, and we want to reach the right people to help them. We want to help people and we've been doing everything. We've been doing everything and what's happening with TikTok now is people are getting a bit worried about the US band. This is just what's happening and views are down and people that are joining TikTok are down. So this kind of means that people joining TikTok. It means that TikTok's not getting as much money as it might have gotten last year.

Speaker 3:

Hasn't like users joining? Hasn't that slowed down or gone?

Speaker 1:

backwards or something. That's what I mean. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3:

So people aren't joining the app as much. They're rolling out new pay to play features. So, like ads, promotions keep going, sorry pay to play features.

Speaker 1:

So like ads promotions keep going. Sorry, yeah, no, that's, that's exactly right.

Speaker 3:

So ads promotion um coins, like you have to buy coins to give to people in their own lives. I'll just butt in here and say this happens on every single social media app. We saw it on Facebook, we saw it on Instagram. Like now, instagram is so commercial, but it used to just be a place where we shared, like artsy photos with our friends. So we see this. It's just the natural progression of every app they come on. It's very organic, it's very driven by the community, and then these businesses, whether it's ethical or not, have to make some money, so they try to figure out a way to do that and natural reach decreases.

Speaker 1:

But they don't tell us and so we have to figure it out ourselves. So we need to share this with people. So I've been doing everything Like we've been changing the content up. We've done like two strategies making sure that her audience aligns schemas. You know all that aligns. And I was like last week I was like can't like why, why is this not happening? And I decided to press the promote now button. As sad as I was, I was like I'm just going to do it, I'm going to show TikTok that I'm spending money. And guys, I've only I only spent $2 and 50 cents. Like that's nothing.

Speaker 3:

And it was a 24 like one one third of a coffee.

Speaker 1:

These days, yeah, and it was like a 24 hour turnaround and I was like I'm just gonna see, I'm gonna also show. Hey, tiktok, be nice to me, I'm promoting stuff, I'm using money. And her views on that video went up 14 percent and I didn't see any other like any odd kind of viewers looking or liking that video. It was all kind of the same.

Speaker 3:

So it seemed like it was the right audience.

Speaker 1:

It was the right audience and I just pressed promote now and it kind of just fed her video a bit more for 24 hours and it went up 14%. So if you do need to use that button, even though I don't, I've like when I see promote now, like like not sponsored ads, but um, ads that have been promoted, and I see them constantly I actually go, nah, I don't want to see them anymore. I it's too much.

Speaker 3:

It has to be strategic. It just can't be something that you rely solely on right. Yes, exactly yeah. You can't just something that you rely solely on right. Yes, exactly yeah. You can't just go in and be like I know nothing about my strategy, my audience. I'm just going to go create some content and promote it all and expect to get sales.

Speaker 1:

We could do this for Maddie's one, because her TikTok is so aligned with her audience and it's okay, because we just fed it to more of an audience, whereas if you're a new account and your audience isn't really up there, or you've got a mix of audiences, I would suggest not to do it personally. Well, can we?

Speaker 3:

dive into some of the like, finer tactical details of content. Before we wrap up, I'd love for you to explain what we teach in the school, but explain the strategy of a hook, and what we talk about is you need three hooks in your content. I'm so bad at writing hooks. Yeah, I'm not great either, but I feel like it's such like a catchy buzzword on social media. It's like you got to have good content to back up the hook. But yes, there is an art to hooks, isn't there?

Speaker 1:

There is an art to hooks, isn't there? There is definitely art, and what I've been taught by my amazing sister, maddie Birdcage, who is so good at writing, she's so good at writing a hook.

Speaker 3:

She's just like, naturally, like she's just so good.

Speaker 1:

She's just good at yeah she once wrote me an essay in like 45 minutes and that would have taken me like three days.

Speaker 3:

Wait, did she write your essay for you to submit to school?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and my teacher went to me and said Maxine, you are good at writing. And I was just sitting there like yeah, thanks.

Speaker 3:

What's the statute of limitation on school plagiarism?

Speaker 1:

I mean I had to do like the pre-work and the pre-information.

Speaker 3:

Maddie, was just your chat GPT yeah.

Speaker 1:

She's always been my chat GPT, but now I am helping her, which makes me feel great with her content. Okay, so written hook. So what Maddie kind of told me is you have to give. What did she say? You have to give people what they're going to get out of this video.

Speaker 3:

But you don't want to give it all away. It's like curiosity as well.

Speaker 1:

So let's say, let's say her big one is like Google is dead and here's why. And the answer will be happening. You know to explain. Okay, I think Google is dead because this, this and this and this is what you can do. Or three tips to get best sleep and people that okay. This video is about three tips of getting the better, better sleep but she also has the.

Speaker 3:

What we teach in the school is the written, so you have a verbal hook and that's what you're talking about. Written yeah, okay, okay, so you've got the, the verbal hook, the written hook and the visual hook. Yes, okay, so written, yeah, okay, the written hook and the visual hook yes, so can you explain each of those.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, okay, so written hook is what you're going to give to people.

Speaker 3:

It's the actual writing yeah.

Speaker 1:

That's something that's like what they're going to get out of this video. Yeah, it's a text on the screen. Yeah, it's text on the screen Three tips to becoming a successful digital marketer. Or Google is dead, and here's why. How to stop feeling X, you know.

Speaker 3:

It's kind of like a blog title, but shorter and a little bit like yeah and you want about like five.

Speaker 1:

You want about five words to it. You don't want it much longer.

Speaker 3:

Do you do this in your content as well? Max for your personal brand.

Speaker 1:

I'm a bit more casual, to be honest, but like, for example, I went for a morning swim and it was just like morning swim after training in New Zealand and this also is an SEO thing, guys. So me writing New Zealand, that's going to be pushing out to New Zealand content. Like if people write New Zealand into the search bar, that's an SEO help. If I write New Zealand as many times as I can in my hook, like written hook, in my captions, as well as in my hashtags and my like what the video caption, it will be fed through it, but it has to own.

Speaker 3:

SEO for anyone who doesn't know means search engine optimization, and what Max is talking about is using keywords so that your content gets pushed out to people searching those keywords, or the algorithm has tagged them as someone who's interested in New Zealand content or lives in New Zealand.

Speaker 1:

Exactly, you got it, guys. My brain thinks very quickly sometimes, so thank you, caroline, to stopping it. Here's a tip, guys you have to do it on the app that you're posting your video, so it has to be like native.

Speaker 3:

It can't be like written in cap, cut or something like that.

Speaker 1:

Exactly right, because you gotta think that videos have like layers to it. So if you do it through cap cut, your video only has one layer, but your one, like your video, might have the caption as well as the written text hook, but that is only one layer, whereas in like Instagram, in TikTok, even in YouTube shorts, there's three layers to your video. There is the video and then, if you create the captions in that, Like the closed captions, the closed captions, then that's one layer, and then you have your written hook written words.

Speaker 1:

That's another layer and that is all seo stuff to consider and your app will pick up that. Yeah so, yeah. So we're back to the written written hooks. We've got that five words. Make it so it feels like people can read and be like okay, this is what I'm going to get out of this video. Your vision, your verbal hooks.

Speaker 3:

That's the hardest one? I think no.

Speaker 1:

Maybe written hook is hardest, because it's hard for me to get something into five words and you don't want to be using chat gpt, no, the ai thing, because it is just so generic, and so ai I believe we have a list of a hundred hooks in birdcage school in the full library and I use that yeah you do you use that? For? Yeah, I use that. I always have it on my other screen on my computer all day.

Speaker 3:

I literally have a spreadsheet that I help my clients with that includes that Plus. Like I just go when I look at content, I'm like I'm like studying. So when I'm scrolling before bed, I'm like I'm studying. I'm always wondering like, why does this video work? And if I it's like, got a really good hook, or like they use something, um, I sent one to a client yesterday.

Speaker 3:

She she did a written hook that was like um, something about sales tips. Then she did a verbal hook and she was pretending to be someone giving an objection straight away. So straight away, you're like in this conversation and you're pulled in. She was like, um, you know I'm a potential client and I'm giving an objection. But she was straight into like oh, I don't know if I don't know if this is right for me right now, and like that was her verbal hook and I was like and then her visual hook, which you're probably going to get to, she had like a big Stanley cup and like that's the big like you'll start to notice the lipstick or the bottles or the tapping on something it's been done before, guys.

Speaker 1:

So we want to make something a little bit more interesting. This is another thing that I notice is new creators jump on with their Stanley cup and with their lipstick and with their, and I'm just like stop copying, just be yourself. I know this content creator is very successful the way she does things, but I can see you just copying her, so just be yourself.

Speaker 3:

But what would be some ideas for people who don't want to copy but they want to have a visual hook. Is it like the flipping the camera around? Is it walking into the screen like the shot?

Speaker 1:

So I've personally grown my own TikTok page and it was just kind of an exploration for me and it's all about just my life, I guess my moving abroad twice in two years With two young kids, with two young kids and a husband, changing jobs, starting a new job, all that jazz.

Speaker 1:

Anyway, I've tried so many different ways and the biggest way for me and it only it works for me it might not work for you, caroline, but it works for me is that 0.5 back camera, flipping it around, showing you know, showing people. Hey guys, today this is what's happening. Or or, hey guys, I'm so excited I'm going in to have a look at my new house. Come with me, I'm just so excited for you to come and people can see, feel my energy. I can feel my energy jumping out of that camera because I am excited. People can see that I'm excited, people are excited to come on that journey with me. And then I show them the house it's really unedited as well Show them the house and then at the end I'm like thanks so much for coming, like I'm really excited to show you. That works for me, it works for you, but also, I think, really excited to show you that works for me, but it works for you.

Speaker 3:

But also I think that's a great reminder that like content can be really simple, especially on Tik TOK. Like Tik TOK is such an enigma of a platform, but it's like we think it needs to be really funny, or really this, really that, but it can just be really personal. You're just inviting people into your life. That was something that we were talking about on office hours yesterday too is that another student told another student that she just saw her content and she did a big deep dive on her content and it was just having her husband in the video with her and then being in their um warehouse with like the formulation thing as a skincare brand and all this stuff. And she was like I just deep dive over like 10 minutes on your content. It was so interesting and it was like that's what people want. They just want to feel like they're invited into your world.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and that's what TikTok is. And I did say to her, like I'm a people watcher, I've always been a person that loves watching people, but I get to do that in the comfort of my bed now. So, if I'm, I'm, you know, at nine o'clock at night. I'm tired. I've been working on the computer, working on content, all day. The last thing I want to do is do educational content. Personally, I want to actually be saying something that's just so like just watching someone make breakfast for the kids, Like that is.

Speaker 1:

so my type of style at 9am 9pm.

Speaker 3:

My algorithm is very like just silly ridiculous things and I'm like I need to keep trying to be more strategic and follow other marketers. It's just brain rot.

Speaker 1:

Watching funny dog videos, like I have a good crack up like funny cat videos. That's me at night. But you know, if I'm on a good day on a weekend and I want to learn something, in the daytime, I'm my my content's a bit different. So what we were saying is it doesn't have to be polished and I think anything that it depends what you do. And this comes back to your strategy and your audience, guys. It depends what your audience wants to see. My audience, from my personal tiktok, want to see just inside my life and they, you know, they got excited when they saw my husband and they were like, let me see more of him. And I'm like, no, he's boring.

Speaker 1:

No, my husband's not boring, but he doesn't like being in front of the camera and people love knowing that my kids have just started school. Obviously not which school. Obviously I'm not showing that part, but I've updated them in my life because it's something that's exciting. But I'm about to start a new Instagram page and it might lead to TikTok, but I've decided to set this space up to be where I film and that's where I talk, and I'm going to be yeah, face to camera.

Speaker 1:

It's going to be like hey guys, this is what's happening, this is what you need to do. I'm not going to be like walking around my house being like like it's going to be face to camera, stuff. So what I'm trying to say you've got to know your audience and you know your strategy to understand what they want to say.

Speaker 3:

Know your audience and you know you see strategy to understand what they want to say Know your audience, know your strategy, and then just go in with like a scientist mindset of going like I have this theory, I'm going to test it. You can't just like test it once and go oh, that flopped.

Speaker 3:

You got to test it over and over again as well because you have to teach the algorithms what you're all about and has to go find your audience. And that's going to take quite a few videos for that to happen and that's why we say three videos a day and I know that's unrealistic for a lot of people. But if you do that, you are going to reach your goals so much quicker. You're going to figure out what works so much quicker. You're going to be better in front of the camera so much quicker.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, like you can do one B-roll with over text. So B-roll is something that you just film, like you might just be walking down the street. Get your tripod up, film you walking down the street for 15 seconds. That's all you need for B-roll, and then you can just do a text, maybe inspirational text or something. I know that works very well on Instagram, but try it. You can try that on TikTok.

Speaker 3:

Try it.

Speaker 1:

Maybe that might be something that really resonates with your audience. The next one can just be filming throughout the day. You know you just do a pan across. You want about two. I always do two to three seconds so you can kind of edit it each clip. But you can just film something and then do a voiceover that's inspiring or taking someone through a journey or taking someone through your day, but it has to obviously be a subject. So let's say you are a dog walker and you are going to be just showing people how you pick up the dogs and then taking them for the walk and showing them how cute the dogs are and then bringing them back home, and you can just literally do three second clips and just do a voiceover. Hey guys, today, hey guys, I'm a dog walker and today I'm going to show you what I do whilst I'm walking the dogs.

Speaker 3:

Can you imagine being a dog or a cat? Brand Like how? I just feel like that would be such easy content, because it's like everyone loves dogs and cats, like everyone loves dogs not everybody, but most people, I mean most people yeah, most people with a soul.

Speaker 1:

And then the third one is face to camera. Yeah, so these are your three formats that you test yeah, so you got your b-roll, which is just filming, and then something maybe on the text or with a trending sound, and then your voiceover and then you've got your face to camera. Face to camera. So face camera is literally getting your phone and talking to the camera. And I would suggest just talking about one subject.

Speaker 3:

And you also have carousels and those are getting quite popular on TikTok. They've been around on Instagram for a while, but you can now do text on the carousel on Instagram as well, like on an image.

Speaker 1:

That hit like that was great for me when I was living in Germany and I did that like you know why I love Germany. You know that would be the start and then people would flick through I love the weather, flick through, I love the landscape and you show the picture with weather and it's something you put with really beautiful trending sounds. It might be something that's inspirational sound music and people really feel, that's connecting and that really shows people who you are, because you can take photos.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and that's great for storytelling as well. Like, yeah, you know, like this was really hard for me, but I got this result. Like you know, I did this hard thing or this really surprised me and it ended up here, and then you take people through the story.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3:

So wrap it up. So what people need to be thinking this time of year with their content is they need one like a really strong mindset to go. I'm not going to be like scarcity mode. I'm not going to be comparing myself. I'm going to try to be strategic, even if I'm not as prepared as I want to be. I'm still just going to show up and do the thing um, content that stands out and that's not just like boring graphics and lots of it, especially because, just as we go year on year, we're to have more competition, so more people are vying for your audience.

Speaker 3:

So you need to make sure you create volume of content too, and on different platforms. We talked about hooks, so you need a verbal, written and visual hook in your content. You really need to go back to some of the previous episodes and look at your audience strategy, look at your brand strategy, start mapping that out for this time of year. Think about if there's a specific audience, persona that your sale is going to appeal to the most and that's who you're speaking to this time of year. And I think using organic content even in your ads is a really great strategy, and even using some of that storytelling features and different things in your email marketing is a great feature too, but mix it up. Have both the storytelling and the cinematic stuff and also have the really simple content to just make sure it's showing up in front of the people. Same with emails. Some emails can be straightforward, some can be a little bit more storytelling or pain point driven. Is there anything else you think you?

Speaker 1:

want to add Just make it exciting for your audience, guys, and again, figure out your audience first. You're not going to be able to get to the right people if you don't understand your audience and you always, always need a strategy. This is the biggest thing. Like you need a strategy. So Birdcage Marketing has amazing tools. It actually taught me how to do a strategy.

Speaker 1:

So, I was a creator before that and I ran my own business and now I am the content strategist. So Birdcage Marketing actually taught me all I know plus I know more through my own testing. But it is really important to just get to your strategy now, guys. You've got time still and then you'll be able to hit like. Then you'll be able to just go crazy with your content and it will be exciting because you know exactly what you're supposed to be posting, because it's not going to be overwhelming.

Speaker 3:

And that will give you the energy to show up and be excited and you need that energy guys.

Speaker 1:

If you don't have that energy, if you don't have that right energy behind the camera, you're not going to bring people through. Why would people buy from you if they can feel that your energy is not there?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, If it's like, oh, you're flat. And it's like, oh, I don't really feel that great about this. And versus someone who's enthusiastic and excited and they're speaking directly to me and they're like, oh, wow, I want to be best friends with this person. This is awesome, let's go.

Speaker 1:

Sometimes I jump on the camera, my husband's watching me and I'm just like, hey guys, how are you like I'm? I'm so flat, and then I just go like with this big smile and then I get off the camera and I'm like that's.

Speaker 3:

I think that's a special thing that you and Maddie have, because we know we know you have to have that energy yeah, we know it, you can do it, guys.

Speaker 1:

You can do everything. Just really stop doubting yourself, stop thinking you're not going to get to where you want to be in the next few weeks, because you can Give yourself a bit of a break and then jump into your strategy and understand your audience and then film stuff that excites you, and when it excites you, it's going to excite the right people and the right audience into your brand.

Speaker 3:

And it's a marathon, not a sprint, so look after your energy as well.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3:

Awesome. Well, thanks so much for joining us today. Please, if you can go and rate and review this podcast on your podcast app. That helps us get amazing guests, that helps us reach more people and help them with their marketing. So please go do that, and thanks so much for joining me today, max.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for having me. I always love our little chats, caroline, big chats, usually Always big chats. We love a good yeah, yeah, so good, all right, I'll see you later, max, see you.

Speaker 2:

Thank you bye thanks for listening to this episode of the not so kind regards podcast. We hope you enjoyed it. If you did, we would really appreciate if you left a review, on whatever streaming platform you are using. It helps us to grow as a brand new podcast and to help many more business owners and content creators reach their goals, just like we hope this brought you one step closer to yours. Remember, connect with us on TikTok, at Maddie Birdcage and at Birdcage Marketing, and the same handles on Instagram again, and if you really want to learn how to work with us, make sure you head to our website and book a call. We would love to speak with you.