The Ali Dee Show

Ep 98: The State of Social Media for Boutiques and Brands

• Ali Dee • Season 1 • Episode 98

Share episode

The digital landscape has fundamentally changed, yet many business owners haven't adjusted their strategies accordingly. Welcome to the new age of social media.

Join us inside the TRENDSETTER UNIVERSITY here.

Work directly with me in TRENDSETTER VIP, DM Me on IG to apply

Follow the Ali Dee on TikTok and Instagram @ali.dee.ceo

Speaker 1:

Hey, welcome to the Allie D Show. I'm really excited to make today's episode because it's really going to give you a state of social media Maybe that's what we'll call it the state of social media in 2025, and what it means for you and your business and how you need to be thinking about it as you're trying to grow and scale your business using social media. This is something that I've been teaching really from the beginning. I always understood what social media was really about and how to get into people's feeds, and I remember early on when I started using now has become my three Bs strategy. When I first started using this strategy, it really was almost like a hack of the system for me, because up until then, social media was really more of a place where people connected with old friends or their cousins in other states or people they went to college with or high school with. Social media was born from a very different place and a very different use than what it is now and this current day. So I want to have this conversation with you because I don't know that many people are breaking it down. Simply, and, as someone who wants my trendsetters you to always be at the top of their game. You need to understand this shift because everything is going to go back to this now as you're growing your business on social media, and I want this at the forefront of your mind of how social media works now.

Speaker 1:

So, like I said, when I first created the three Bs, it was really a system that I had been using for years, and not only myself, but I had taught other business owners just for fun you know my peers how to really be seen using social media, because what I was finding is you know my accounts, my different brands were growing at a very rapid pace on social media and other people weren't seeing that same success because they were using social media in a way that really. I mean, quite frankly, it was started for, but it wasn't working for businesses because businesses aren't people, right? So it's not like people are following us because they want to reconnect with their long lost cousin, right? We're just a random business. So how and why should people connect with us on social media when social media is all about connecting to people? So this is where my bee scene, my first bee as in boy, my first bee of the three bees, was born because I almost hacked the system back in the day when I realized the way that I could get our business posts into people's feeds that would like us is by really just posting stuff that they would share with a friend, and at the time it was almost like, I think, you had to like, copy the link and send it via text message. I don't even remember a share button being around, but that was the way you could kind of get your brand noticed Because, again, people were not following brands. Back in the day, brands had a very hard time getting things up and running because they didn't really understand this concept and they were just selling, selling, selling, selling. Now, I hate to say it, some of you are still doing this and it's why your social media isn't doing well, because you're posting like you're a brand instead of injecting yourself into the conversation and organically getting people to find your business.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so that sounded like a bunch of jargon. What that means is social media has now shifted from being social media. Let me see what Sally Sue's doing from high school. Let me connect with my old friends. Oh, my gosh, we went to kindergarten together. Oh, here's my cousin in Ohio. What are they up to? Oh, let me follow you know one of my favorite athletes or whatever it could be.

Speaker 1:

Now and this really started with the rise of TikTok Now, instead of social media platforms feeding you content from people that you're connected to or following, they're feeding you content that they know from studying you with their wackadoodle algorithms and their AI systems. We all are like, basically a bunch of data codes to them, okay, and they have figured out how to hack our systems as people and serve us individually things that they think that we would like based on our behavior on their platforms, other platforms. You know how they follow us all around our phones, all the things. So social media now has transformed into and I've heard Gary Vee use this term, I heard another social media person use this term interest media. So social media has transformed from social media being social, connecting with people long lost friends, to interest media.

Speaker 1:

You're going on social media because it's feeding you things constantly that you would be interested in. It don't care if you follow them or not, right, which is kind of why follower count is getting less and less important. Really, the only thing follower count gives you a little bit is some credibility and some social proof If you're a business, right. If you have like 10 followers, it's like Ooh, I don't know if this is a real business, as opposed to if you have, you know, a hundred or a thousand followers. People are like, oh, okay, this is a legitimate business. I really think that's the only reason why you need to grow your follower count, because it does give you credibility and there is still that chance that you'll get into. What is it like? One percent of their feeds? Right, but how you get into your people's feeds on a regular basis so they see you over and over and over again, is you hack the system using interests because it's interest media? Think about it.

Speaker 1:

When you're scrolling on instagram, the content you're scrolling on Instagram, the content you're seeing is mainly like. If you go to like the reels page, let's say, you see a funny reel and you click on that and you watch that reel and you swipe up. The next reel is the same kind of content, and the next reel and the next reel and the next reel and the next thing you know you spent 30 minutes scrolling watching random reels and everyone is like more dialed into what you like and it's and it's. You know. If you don't like it and you scroll past it, well, then it now knows that you don't like dog videos, you like cat videos, and so it's going to give you more cat videos because it's noticed you've been watching all the cat videos, right? Or it sees you sending the videos and the DMs to people Like, for example, let's talk about my Instagram feed, it's pretty much all mom content because.

Speaker 1:

Or like parenting, like funny parenting stuff, cause that's what me and my husband send back to each other all the time. Like there was a funny video that I saw last night where it was like a goose and he was doing that. What is that singer? I can't Coolio. I think it is when he's like, you know, like that, like rap that he does, that's so fast. And it was a goose that was doing that. Where he's like, you know, like that like rap that he does that's so fast. And it was a goose that was doing that. And it was like my daughter, you know, from the morning she, from the moment she wakes up to the time she goes to bed, and like that is the phase that my daughter's in right now is she's just chatty, chatty, chatty, chatty, chatty, chatty, chatty, kathy all the time. And so, sending that video, it's a mom. It's a funny mom parenting video and literally that's what my feed is all about Now.

Speaker 1:

Tiktok was the first to implement this right. Tiktok is the place that birthed this idea of how we get people on these platforms more is by feeding them content around their interests instead of around you. Know what their best friend from 10 years ago is eating for lunch? They found that that content wasn't performing well and it wasn't keeping people on their platforms, so TikTok figured out to make this like a drug, so people stay on our platform. We are going to have a never ending source of entertainment dialed into exactly you, the human, what you like.

Speaker 1:

You, specifically your DNA, and every single person's algorithm is different. So here's where this is important for you and your business. When you know what your ideal customer's interests are, when you can hack their DNA codes and you know the things that they're going to watch, you make videos that follow those codes. Okay, you make videos that follow those codes, okay. So for me, example, my ideal customer is someone who and we've talked about this in the last episode how I may be tweaking this, but just for example's sake, my ideal customer is a woman that lives the Western lifestyle cowgirl country life, okay, so I'm not just going to post product pictures 24-7, especially in the growth stage when I'm trying to get more visible and people to find my brand for the first time. I'm not going to just post a bunch of products, because that's not telling the algorithm enough about who I'm looking for and it's also not entertaining, right?

Speaker 1:

And the algorithm's number one job is to entertain people. It's to entertain their guests. You are the guest. So instead, what you do and what we do, if you go to any of my brands pages you can go to at Allie D Brand or at rodeoranch, and you can see this in real time what we do is we pump out content that's something that they would laugh at or think is funny or share with a friend on a DM, right, like, maybe it's a funny joke about what it's like owning horses, maybe it's and that was one of, you know, our biggest memes that we've done recently, or maybe it's, you know something about like.

Speaker 1:

When you leave the like, if you're, if you're a country person and you're filling up water tubs for your animals, sometimes you'll put the hose in and you'll forget the water's filling up and you'll go off to do something else and then you realize, oh my God, the water's overflowing and you flooded your barn. That is a very niche thing, but my ideal customer has done that so many times and so they see something like a piece of content, like that. It's going to resonate with them, they're going to save it, they're going to share it to all their horse girl friends that have done that exact thing. And this is where I always say, like with my clients or in any of my programs, or if you're going to be inside Money Maker with me starting on Monday, which, by the time this podcast airs, we will be in the first day or two of Moneymaker and the doors are going to close. So if you haven't already jumped in right now, pause this podcast and go jump in, because we're getting started and it is my free 21 days of training where we're going to dive into all this stuff, right, the nitty gritty of what it really takes to grow your business. What it really takes to grow your business. But this is why, in all of my programs, I am so like annoyingly on you about what are the interests of your ideal customer, because if you don't have that nailed down, you will not grow.

Speaker 1:

On social media period, because your stuff won't get into the feeds and your people will never find you. Because the algorithms are not posting or are not pushing product pictures because it's boring. Okay, and they don't want boring, and you know why. At the end of the day, they want the more you're on there, the more ads they can serve you, and the more ads they can serve you, the more money they make. That's how they make their money. It's from ads and people watching ads. So you staying on their platforms means more eyeballs that they can serve ads to, and that's how they make their money. So if you're not playing the game, they're not going to support you, and this is nothing personal. This is the way it is. This is business.

Speaker 1:

So your content strategy must begin with how do I entertain my people? Because that's how I'm going to get on the feeds in the first place, and this is where this interest media concept comes from and why you really got to get this. You really got to get this Because, without understanding this concept, you really got to get this, because without understanding this concept, it's just a losing game. I hate to say it, I really do. I wish it was as easy as it was in 2015, when you could just post something on the internet or post a product and it would sell out, because that was a new concept back then right, posting on socials and seeing a product be able to buy it online. Remember, guys, that was all new then. Now we're 15 years into the game here, people are smarter and the way social media works is different, and people aren't going to see your stuff unless you play this game. So here's what I want you to do right now Think about five things that you could post that your ideal customer is going to find engaging, interesting, funny, inspirational.

Speaker 1:

It has to entertain them in some way. Now, entertainment doesn't mean performative, like I'm putting on a goofy costume and I'm running around and doing something wild. It could just be an inspirational quote that you know your customers are going to resonate with, and I was just having this conversation inside VIP today with one of my girls where it's funny because my customers love funny humor and it's probably because I love funny humor. I don't know. There's always a connection there with the owner, right? But not that everyone doesn't love funny humor, but funny content Like I love funny jokes, funny memes. It's what I share, and so do my customers. So the bulk of my content that really freaking pops off is funny memes that I know they're going to like that are around like country, horse, western girl lifestyle.

Speaker 1:

Okay, now I have a woman that I work with who were in similar niches, but her customers, they love and engage with more inspirational style posts. There's no right or wrong, we don't care, it's what our customer likes, that's what we care about. So the posts that work for her better are ones that are more inspiring, that make them feel some type of way an emotion like a deeper, like a, almost like a tearjerker, right. Whereas my customers, whenever we try that, they don't really resonate with that and that's fine, right, they resonate with the funny, like here's what it's like to be a horse girl, you know. And so the bottom line is that's okay, we don't judge what they resonate with, we just want them to resonate, okay, this is the whole key here and you need to test different things and you need to be okay with things flopping and some things working and then dissecting it and going wait, why did this meme work and this meme flopped?

Speaker 1:

If you don't know what a meme is, a meme is just like a funny or a quote. I just use the word meme broadly, but it's basically like it could be a quote, it could be a joke, it could be like a funny picture with, like the cat who's like. This is my vibes when I show up at the office on a Monday morning and it's like the cat sleeping or something. You know that's a meme. Okay, that's what I call a meme. So it's important for you to try different styles of content, put it out there and then look at the data, evaluate it and go Ooh, I noticed that I posted a cat meme, like a dog meme and a work-life meme and the work-life meme really popped off and no one really cared about the dog or cat stuff, even though I like dog or cats. That's interesting that my customers didn't like that or they don't resonate with that. So I'm going to stick with the work memes and I mean this is kind of a bad example because you should know whether your customers are going to like dogs or cats or work. But it's just to give you like a broad example.

Speaker 1:

So you get there's different buckets that you need to test and let's say let's say you sell dog collars. Okay, this is going to be a good example. Let's say you sell dog collars and you make the cutest dog collars in the world Congratulations, your products are amazing. You can't get anybody to find your dog collar business. What I would immediately start doing is make dog memes.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so we're either making funny dog memes or we're making inspirational dog memes, like memes that make you feel like, oh, you know. Or memes that you go, oh, my God, this is so funny, right? That's kind of how people are entertained they're either laughing or they're crying. Okay, so we want to make them feel something, though. So you see, as the dog collar owner, that all your funny dog stuff is popping off, but but the like, more inspirational, sad dog stuff isn't popping off. So now you have data to know. Okay, my customer actually is going to like more of this, so you just produce more of that.

Speaker 1:

And then you create this machine of like never ending visibility, because you always are pumping out the right type of content to get into these people's feeds. And then what happens is they see your posts and they see them multiple times. They come to your little social media profile page, they see that you sell dog collars and they're going to buy a dog collar from you, because you make them laugh, and that's how this works. So social media is not social media anymore. Social media is now interest media. List out five to 10 interests that you know your ideal customer has. Maybe it's health, maybe it's nutrition, maybe it's horses, maybe it's workout programs, I don't know. Whatever the case is for you and your business, it can't just be your products.

Speaker 1:

And that is the whole lesson I want you to take away from this episode today, which is probably one of the most important episodes I've made in a while, because it really helps you understand the nitty gritty of content. And I just happened to be ahead of the game and I happened to figure out the hack years ago, and it's why I can now teach it to all of my girls, because not only has it worked for me for years, but it has helped multiple businesses go from totally being invisible to actually getting engagement, and this is the whole way that you need to have that big swell of people finding your stuff. So again, don't forget, jump inside Moneymaker. If you're already in, you need to upgrade to VIP, because if you've been wanting to work directly with me inside VIP, we're going to meet every Tuesday and Thursday during the challenge and I'm going to tell you exactly how to implement what you're learning, and if you have any questions, you'll be able to ask me there. So it's going to be super fun.

Speaker 1:

So I'll drop the link in this podcast episode so you can get inside Moneymaker and get in right away, guys, because the doors are going to close. They may already be closed, but I'll leave them open for a couple of days, since I know that this podcast is airing on Tuesday. I may even drop this podcast on Monday. That way, you have the time, but get in right away. And if you can't, just DM me and be like Allie I heard on the podcast, I missed it and I'll pop you in. Okay, don't tell anybody else that. That's just our little secret for the podcast listeners. If it's any time next week and you want in the challenge, send me a DM on Instagram if the doors are already closed and I'll just, like, secretly, add you in because you're my podcast listeners and I love you. All right, so again, thank you for this episode. Please do the work. Do the work Five to 10 things that you know your customers are going to have interest in and watch the floodgates open. Bye.