SERIES STRATEGY: TikTok Hooks, K-Pop Star Power & Content that Converts (Ep. 004)

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Content series aren’t just a vibe — they’re a strategy. In this episode, we unpack why serialized content is outperforming static one-offs, how star quality trumps strategy when you're stuck in scroll-jail, and what K-Pop training camps and The Summer I Turned Pretty can teach you about building brand obsession.

If you’ve ever struggled with consistency, camera confidence, or content that actually drives sales — this one’s for you. Get clarity on what makes people follow, binge, and buy.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why series-style content creates bingeable, buildable personal brands
• How to magnetize an audience by leaning into “star quality” over perfection
• What’s working in content right now (spoiler: it’s not more batching)
• How Netflix shows and viral cafes are blueprinting the future of brand attention

Timestamps:
 05:12 – Social media shifted niche success
 10:01 – From Scotland to Substack: modern-day travel marketing
 13:11 – 300-view TikToks = $$$ (yep, we said it)
 20:45 – Attention vs. systems: which are you missing?
 24:08 – Why content series convert
 42:10 – “Star quality” and energy in digital business
 57:02 – The Summer I Turned Pretty: emotional marketing 101

References & Resources:

• Substack
• TikTok
• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• Jimmy Fallon
• The Summer I Turned Pretty (Amazon Prime)
• KATSEYE
• Kajabi

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📱 Social: @themichellepualani | @joanna_atwork
📩 Michelle: hello@michellepualani.com
🌐 Joanna: millennialmktr.com

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Transcript

Ep. 4:

Michelle Pualani: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome back to the Click Tease podcast. Today we are talking all about how to leverage a series in your social media content so that you get people following you, paying attention to what you're doing and invested in your personal brand. We are looking at examples like K-Pop and how to attract and magnetize people to your brand, your product, your offers, as well as. The summer I turned pretty and looking at these tools that you can leverage in order to gain not just attention, but conversion in the content that you're putting out into the world so that you can really change your marketing and meet the demands of evolution that we're seeing as a society in order to grow, in order to reach more people, in order to impact. Hi, I'm Michelle Pulani Houston, the founder of To Be Honest Beverage Company. It's a non-alcoholic functional spirit brand, as well as mentor and guide for personal brands looking to create more [00:01:00] conversion with their content.

Joanna Newton: And I'm Joanna Newton, co-founder of Millennial Marketer and Agency, focused on helping creators start their own digital products. Let's get into today's episode. 

Michelle Pualani: Here we go. So today I am drinking, it's a mix of raspberry leaf and dandelion root. So I've been kind of trying to like balance my hormones. And dandelion is more for like detox. Raspberry leaf is more for balancing hormones. And since I've been dealing with all my, like, hormonal fluctuations and challenges, I've been kind of trying to do some natural homeopathic things to like balance me out a little bit more.

So typically I'd put honey in it, but I've just been kind of trying to like cut down on my sugar intake as well. So it's just, it's just herbs today. It's,

it's, it's a little earthy. Um, but.

Joanna Newton: This is a theme, Michelle. I think it's always funny. We chat about our beverages and you are like [00:02:00] earthy, natural, and I'm like shot of sugar and caffeine. Today I got, I got a boa tea from like a local boa place down the road from me. That's actually why we had to start a little bit late because I was like driving back and I was like, no, I'm not gonna be on time.

Um, but I just got like a classic milk tea and I, I took a sip of it when I sat down. I also filmed a little video that if it comes out good, we'll post on the click tees Instagram of my trip, getting my beverage for today's filming. I took a sip of it and realized that Boba tea's like the worst thing to drink while filming a podcast because you have to chew.

'cause when the, when like the tapioca pearls come up, like I have to chew them, but then I also have to talk. So we're gonna see how today goes.

Michelle Pualani: Fantastic. I love it. I actually really love Boba. I know some people aren't into the texture, but I am a big Boba fan. Jeremy and I go to this spot [00:03:00] locally called Sequel Tea, and I, you're totally right, like I tend to be more natural. Homeopathic. I don't do coffee, so I just do like a white tea with like light sugar and the boba.

Um, and well, that's just, that's just me, I guess.

Joanna Newton: Yeah, I always ask them to do like, like if you go to like a super fancy boba place, like in a city, you can like select your sweetness level. I always go like lightly sweet. I tell them to do it lightly. Sweet. It's always a little different every time. um, I, my favorite boba place is in Chicago, and I don't even remember what it's called, but it's like, we go to Chicago every year and it's in the hotel.

It's like in the mall, right next to the hotel we stay in and it's like the right amount of sweetness because I wanna taste the tea, you 

Michelle Pualani: Thank 

Joanna Newton: want to have the tea taste and the sweetness and the cream is just like extra.

Michelle Pualani: Yeah, well beverages are such an important part of, I think like culture and our daily lives. [00:04:00] We integrate them in all different ways. We have different options, we have different rituals, and so just finding the thing that you like and trying new things. I think that we're in an age of so many new things, right?

There's so many different things on the market, not just in the beverage space, but obviously on this podcast. We talk all about marketing, we talk about content creation. We talk about, you know, what's happening with people presenting their brands. Whether that, you know, for me, I see a lot of more of the physical product side, the e-commerce side.

'cause we have TBH, but. Even in the digital space is like how people are exposing, presenting, marketing. There's just so much newness, you know, there's a lot of innovation happening. There's a lot of change. It used to just be like, oh, well you could get coffee or you could get tea, and that's it. And now it's like Golden milk latte, matcha, hoa, boba, all these different kind of like fancier options. And I like the evolution. I [00:05:00] like the change. I love that we're heading into this innovative space where there are new things for your palette, new things for your senses, new things to experience in the digital and marketing space too, and how people are innovating with concepts and graphics and video and social media platforms.

It's just really, I think, a really nice thing and a beautiful thing to see in terms of human creativity as we expand and grow, you know, as a population.

Joanna Newton: Yeah, and it used to be that if you wanted to have a successful, profitable business, you had to have mass appeal because you had, there was only certain ways to buy things, right? The 

Michelle Pualani: Yeah. 

Joanna Newton: social media has changed everything. Last week we talked about Grow a Garden and how grow a garden is a game on Roblox that makes.

About $5 million a month has 21 million plus users, right? There's a lot of energy, a lot of people using this game, [00:06:00] but if you walk down the street and said, grow a garden to someone, most likely they'd have no clue what it's, but because of the internet, because of these little communities that pop up, there's so many things that can get traction that wouldn't have in the old day of traditional print advertising, TV advertising, like you had to have that mass appeal to get attention.

Now you can be a company that only makes tea with herbs that are earthy for Michelle, but find of people like Michelle all over the world to connect with and sell to.

Michelle Pualani: Yes, I think our niches are. Important and growing, right? Like I go back and forth between like niching down and being super specific, but more so like leaning into your own brand values. So if you have a personal brand, right, it's more about your interests, your values, you are niching in terms of the type of person that you're speaking to. But [00:07:00] it's not just like demographics where that was like the niche understanding of like, oh, I speak to women in their forties who are stay at home moms. And it's like, okay, well that's just the tip of the iceberg when you talk about your niche, your market, your ideal client. But I do think that. One with 8 billion people on this planet.

Like there's almost a market for literally everything. The more that I learn about different types of businesses and the things that people are buying, I'm like, what? 'cause it's so out of the realm of what I would purchase or engage in, but there's a huge market for it. There's a huge niche audience that's going to be attracted to that thing.

And then I think the other thing that's changing is, whereas it used to be like you had to be in LA or New York or one of these major places in order to see success in business. I think that's totally changing. There are places across the nation [00:08:00] now that are incredibly successful even though they're kind of in a spot that you're like, wait, I've never heard of that place before.

I've never heard of that town. But because of social media and the way that people are able to market themselves and drive tourism and drive traffic, because I think a lot of what's changing is how people are moving around the world, right? And how people are engaging with businesses. Whether that is in person or online, is just the exposure is so different and someone can drive, like we went to.

So last year for my birthday, which I just celebrated my birthday, by the way, welcome to 35.

We, I'm gonna thank you. Um, it's been a great week. My husband's been gone. Jeremy is in Idaho, so

I'm kind of bumed what my husband. Oh, I didn't think about that. No, actually I [00:09:00] miss him so much when he's not here. I was more like, it's been a great week, period. But unfortunately my husband's been gone, so I miss him a lot when he's not here. And we do a lot of things together. So I've had a lot of great friend dates. We went and got pizza on Friday, went to concerts in the plaza. It's like a local, um, you know, we have our local bands come out and play. It's tons of people come out. Last night we did a super fun game night and like charcuterie board night, and so that was a blast. So I've had some really great times over the past week, but I do miss Jeremy. Um, but with the birthday and heading into this new year, I have some things to share about a series that I'm working on and how series are becoming really, really important in our culture and in marketing and in content creation. And so we'll chat about that a little bit later. But [00:10:00] with my birthday and this change and this evolution, I'm just feeling like. We're in a place of exposure. And last year for my birthday, I totally got off track, but I'm back on track now. I remember what I was gonna say, so if that sounded really off kilter, that's why.

Okay. So last year for my birthday, my husband Jeremy, he took me to the uk. So we went to Scotland and we went to England and quite a few places, but we went to Edinburgh. And how do you discover things when you're traveling or how do you decide and determine like where I wanna go and what I wanna do? Yes, there's Yelp and Google, which we still leverage, but a lot of times you're often seeing things on social media, or if you go to Instagram and you search Edinburgh pastries or Edinburgh. Alcohol or whatever it is that you're looking for, you're gonna be directed to different things. And there are all these people who are [00:11:00] attracted to these faces because of social media, what the company's been able to do for themselves, and then what people are sharing.

And so we went to this pastry shop, I'm forgetting the name of it off the top of my head, but the line was around the block. And so we waited in line. It was delicious and fantastic, but the whole hype around it was built on social media and they would not have had that traction. Through another channel, you know what I mean?

Like people are lined up out the door. There's this really great chef in France, maybe I'm forgetting where details aren't my strong suit, but he does these amazing Instagram videos of like, you know, he snaps and things change and it's just so beautiful and so wonderful and people wait outside of the shop because he hands out goodies, you know? But, but people know him. He reaches millions of people through his content and he's been able to [00:12:00] grow and introduce other locations. And so the power of what we can do with the digital space is evident, and it's completely changed the way that we engage in business and marketing as a whole.

Joanna Newton: 100%. And I think that kind of on the flip side of that, the pressure of social media and thinking you have to hit those huge milestones, like those huge milestones of van vanity metrics, of millions of views, hundreds of thousands of followers to get that traction, I feel like keeps people from starting.

And something I've been thinking a lot about this week is, you know how on TikTok, they talk a lot about being in the two to 300 view jail and how like, oh, gotta get out of the two to 300 view jail. And I've been thinking a lot about how. That's still two to 300 views, like that's two to 300 [00:13:00] people watching, engaging, interacting with my content.

So you look at companies and you say, wow, they've had this huge success because they've had millions of views. And then I think we internalize that and think I have to have millions of views to have a lot of success. I have, as an example, I think I have a little over a thousand followers on LinkedIn, right?

That's not huge by any means, but I get two to three inquiries a month and probably one of those turns into a, a client that means. I'm making $5,000 a month on my LinkedIn content, but sometimes I think that I'm not making money off my LinkedIn content 'cause I'm not in that millions range. And then for people who are getting started, I think that's why they stop.

They get 300 views, 300 views, 300 views over and over again. And then they stop posting content. web developer, I found her on TikTok. Um, we wanted to find a new web development [00:14:00] partner to hire and bring onto our team. We weren't finding the right fit. So I went into TikTok and I was like. Kajabi hero, like hashtag Kajabi Hero who's using that.

And this video came up of her showing one of her websites and I was like, oh my God, she's perfect. That video probably had 200 views. Her TikTok had a couple hundred followers, right? Like she was not big by any means, but that video I watched got her a lot of money, right? She's on a retainer with me. She works every single month.

Like we give her multiple projects a month to work out from a web development perspective and that one video with a couple hundred of views. You know, I could add a, I could add up the amount of money I paid her, but it was 100% worth it and like a ridiculous ROI on her time. So I think we have to remember when creating content, something I'm trying to remember is like, it's okay if I don't reach millions if [00:15:00] I reach the right people, and 200 people still 200 people.

Right, like I think getting your expectations right can make you show up really, really well. Because whether I have one follower or 1 million followers, I should be showing up and delivering value to them every day.

Michelle Pualani: Yeah, the perpe, the perspective shift there I think is very important, and I was hung up on this for so long and I still get hung up on this to this day, is the concept of virality and, oh, you have to go viral and granted, virality can help and support your business. It can help and support your personal brand.

It can grow what it is that you're doing in this world. That being said, it doesn't necessarily, I actually just got an email. I get newsletters from Justin, Wes. Welsh from LinkedIn predominantly is where he is most well known. And he

was just sharing in the newsletter a client who came to him who had incredibly [00:16:00] great vanity metrics in terms of reach, because they'd been working with another consultant. So they basically had a successful, sustainable business, was making money. They wanted to get bigger. They worked with this consultant and they started to grow again from a vanity perspective. So they were getting more reach, more views, more followers, but their income and revenue had dropped. So even though they had these numbers, that was more, their sales were less. And what, you know, they figured out from Justin's perspective was that the content that they were creating were meant to attract the masses and get those vanity metrics, but they didn't drive sales. That didn't drive revenue. And sh and he, they had gotten a, an email from this person who basically said, you know, you used to change the way I think about things.

You don't anymore. And it was kind of like a light bulb moment to recognize like, oh, my content has become very whitewashed, for lack of a better term, [00:17:00] but very bland, very vanilla. It appeals to a lot more people because it's more common, more acceptable, whatever, but it's not actually bringing in the people who matter.

And so when you are. Uh, phys. Like if you're brick and mortar location, right? And you like the, the examples that I was talking about where you're trying to drive people who are traveling into your location and you just wanna get views on your stuff, and that's the important goal, then that's one direction.

If you are a personal brand online, who's selling your services, your coaching, your digital products, your membership, all of those things, it's way more important to have a very distinct niche audience offer and be speaking to the right people, right? Because it doesn't matter how many views you're getting on your content, as long as people are engaging in the right ways, as long as you're getting dms, as long as you're getting inquiries, as long as you're [00:18:00] getting applications, as long as you're getting people to buy your stuff, that's the goal.

And so I do think you're right because we tend to conflate success with vanity metrics reach. Followers views, and that's just the top of the funnel. And if you're not putting, I mean, it's like, it's just classic. It's like if you're not putting the right people in the funnel at the top, nothing's gonna come out the bottom.

If it's like you, if you're putting in trash, trash is gonna come out. And so that takes strategy, that takes intention, that takes clarity of offer with what it is that you're doing and what you're putting out into the world. And sometimes that content's not always gonna be that interesting to a lot of people, and that's okay.

You know, and you get better with content creation and you get better at like being a bit more engaging and perhaps virality. But again, virality still does not a business make.

Joanna Newton: 100%. And I keep saying that because you're so smart. [00:19:00] You always say the best things. Um, today I was working on an you always do. Um, today I was working on an audit for a client. he wants to figure out how to just get his business to the next, next level. He's seeing sales, he's getting traction. Um, but most of his sales are actually coming through ads, which is actually, uh, I find rare in the online education space that the majority of your sales are coming through ads.

What's really interesting about his circumstances across all of his social platforms, he has almost a million followers, like not on a single platform, but he has like almost half a million on Instagram. I think he had 50 K on YouTube, like he's, he has traction on all of the platforms. He gets views, he gets follows, he gets those things and he only has about 3000 contacts on his email list.

Which is like

Michelle Pualani: Interesting.

Joanna Newton: right? And, and the reason, the reason for that, and we'll discuss when we go over his audit, he doesn't have a clear path for [00:20:00] his customers to take. And Michelle, you and I have talked on this podcast before about how there always seems to be people who are really good at getting attention that aren't good at the systems.

And then there's those of us, like us who are really good at the systems and are working on that, in that attention. Right? Getting the attention because I.

Michelle Pualani: Yeah.

Joanna Newton: Luckily, I know I can have a couple thousand followers across platforms. I can get them into a funnel. I can convert them. Now I have that system. Now I need to figure out how to go wider, right?

Because I need to fill those funnels with more people if I want my business to grow. Now, there are people on the other opposite end of the spectrum who have no problem getting the attention and they need to learn the systems to sustain the business. And the most successful business is going to have both.

Now, whichever you, I think as a business owner, you have to lean into your strengths, right? And like operate in your strengths. So I'm not saying you should like [00:21:00] forego. If you're really good at attention, forget that. Only work at odd systems. That's not what I'm saying, but I'm saying you need a system.

And me, I need an attention strategy because I've got the system. So it's like figuring out that balance.

Michelle Pualani: Yeah. And for you, I mean, you don't rely on content creation for your main channel of. Clients like the way that your agency is set up, you have an inflow of clients through the Kajabi platform, through referrals and everything else. So when you're talking about getting one client on LinkedIn, that's just one out of many that you're already managing from other sources, and I think that's something that people often forget as well.

So as you're listening, if you aren't yet, hit subscribe for the Click Tease podcast so you can tune in weekly to what we cover with the evolution and growth of marketing and content creation, and how to establish your personal brand online because you do need both. You need attention. You need a way to [00:22:00] capture leads, you need a way to convert them.

Like business is really simple when you break it down to those principles, and you're absolutely right, like I spent so much time on the system side and not enough time on the traffic side that I'm shifting all of my focus to the attention side of things because I know that when I get attention, I can move people through the funnel system and through the conversion process.

Right? I also think it's actually easier to be the attention person and then be able to outsource, delegate higher for people with systems. So if you are someone who you're like, oh, I have tons of followers, but I'm not making that much money, someone can help you convert your content and change your systems to capture those people and move them through the sales process, right?

Like I feel like that's a little bit. I don't wanna say easier, but more approachable. I think if you're a systems person who understands the [00:23:00] backend and the steps for the customer journey of how to bring someone into your space, but fail to consistently reach larger audiences, I think that's a harder skillset to learn and hire for, because people have to be able to facilitate your then ability to get in front of more people.

And I'm not saying that people aren't good at that. There are agencies, there are freelancers, there are consultants who can help with that process, but I have found that it's much harder to help someone figure out the attention side of things than it is the system side of things. So just think about where you are as you're reflecting on this conversation and what you feel like you might need support with. So that to be said. One of the things that I'm seeing from an attention perspective be really successful are series. I think that this actually has a bit to do with the fact that if you look at a lot of our entertainment media side of [00:24:00] things, so many shows have come out and like series have come out that could have probably been movies, right?

Like we're getting away from movies and we're moving more towards like a series show, limited release, mini episodes type consumption. I think that that's the reason for multiple thing things, or multiple influences. One of the, I saw a funny video about this once that was like, ah, I don't really wanna commit to a two and a half hour movie, so instead I'll binge watch eight hours of this television series.

You know, because like episode

after episode. 

Joanna Newton: done that.

Michelle Pualani: Yeah. Right. You're like, oh gosh, this movie, like, I don't really wanna watch like a full movie, but I'll watch 10 episodes of this show. I'm guilty of that too. It's one thing I'm actually trying to work on is not like binge watching a show. I just watched all [00:25:00] the, the summer I turned pretty

episodes.

Have you watched any of it yet?

Joanna Newton: So I watched. I know I watched the first season. I might have started the second season and then I lost track, but I should watch it.

Michelle Pualani: Yeah, it's, I mean, it's so teenage like coming of age Young Woman and she's split between these two brothers, but it's super, super popular right now. Uh, I wanted to talk about it today actually. There's a couple of things that I'm seeing online in regards to it and the success of the show, but. Lemme take it back real quick is that we're in this place of like series and episodes and tuning in and people want continuity and we like things that are familiar, like psychologically we are invested in things that are familiar to us. And so for example, friends. Friends has like the same, actually I, I'm pretty sure it has the exact same intro for all [00:26:00] seasons. You know, the in the fountain that they filmed super early on and then they have their theme song and it's the same every single time. They didn't change it. They didn't wanna be like, Hey, let's evolve this.

We need to update this, we need to grow. No, people like familiarity and they like being able to see that. They like being able to hear it and it has a sense of like nostalgia, understanding, and. Identification. Like I, I get it. Right? So whenever you hear that song, you think friends, you are pulled into that world in a different way.

And so a couple of the series that I've seen, one of which I'll talk about specifically, is this Coffee Shop in Brooklyn. Have you seen this? It's like. It's like wild personalities that come into the coffee shop and there are two baristas, a woman and a man, and they're like, you know, super deadpan, sarcastic, very Brooklyn like, very [00:27:00] hipster vibes.

And then the person who comes into the coffee shop is a very over the top personality of like a character or someone that you would find in the New York, Brooklyn area. So you have like your incredibly spiritual person, you have your like super tech guy, you have like your finance bro or whatever. And it's always set in the same setting.

It has the same color tones, it has the exact same setup, but the character changes in terms of the person that comes in. And then they of course use other, they collaborate with other influencers or other, you know, people in the digital space. And it's, it's blown up. It's huge. People love it and the comments are all incredibly positive.

They love the engagement, they love the characters and the over the top personalities that come in. And of course, the way that the baristas handle the conversations in terms of what they're saying as well. And so you're invested in these [00:28:00] staple characters, the baristas, you get to see new characters who are changing.

It's in the same setting with the same tone, the same feel. So you have identification. Someone is invested in, they feel familiar with, they get to know, oh, and then when you're scrolling through the feed, you see it, you've seen it before. And so you stop because it's like, oh, I know what this is. I wanna see this next version. And we're seeing that I think in a lot of different. Brands, businesses, personal brands, talking about a goal, a main theme, and something of that nature. But it's like a series or a challenge or something that gets people invested, gets them coming back and tuning into what they're doing. So we'll see if mine is successful.

Mine is not slightly, like, mine is not a hundred percent related to marketing and personal branding because it's something that I've wanted to do for a long time. So it's very much like for me and to just drive the consistency of content creation and one of my main goals. [00:29:00] Is to go from idea to execution as fast as possible.

So instead of like sitting in that strategy place, sitting in the systems place and sitting in the place of like, oh, I just batched filmed all this content, but now it's not going anywhere because I'm stuck in post production. I basically am just trying to execute so much faster than I ever have in the past.

And so it's 365 days of joy. So with the celebration of my birthday coming into 35 every single day for the next year, I will be sharing one thing that day that brought me joy. And so it'll be, you know, a visual representation of that. I'll, I'll talk about it and I'm still kind of trying to work out exactly how it's going to be super streamlined, but that's where I'm at right now, is creating that series 3 6, 365 Days of Joy.

Joanna Newton: Yeah. And series are everywhere. I actually started a series too. We didn't even talk about this, um, but I really wanted a way to frame my, like, talking videos, so they were like consistent. So I do, [00:30:00] on TikTok, I do a lot of like trends and lip syncs and like funny things, but I wanted a way to frame, um, like my valuable content that I share and there's lots of things I could talk about, but I wanted to try to make sure it had a theme.

So my series, I'm, I'm not gonna do it daily, but like when I, I, I sit down on this couch and I talk about things that my, if my clients knew, they wouldn't have to hire me. So I start the videos. If my client knew this, if my clients knew this, they wouldn't have to hire me. And it. Allows me to sort of frame the, the tip in a way that's like super active.

I don't know how long I'll do it and I, I dunno if it'll be forever. It's something I'm, I'm trying out to see if that theme can get traction. And what I'm talking about in all of the videos really is process, so understanding like a roadmap. To get something done in [00:31:00] your business. Um, so it's not necessarily specifically marketing advice or web development advice or any of that, but like, what is that process or system that you need to get something done in your business?

And at the end of every video, I'm asking people to give me their business problem so I can make them a roadmap. And I'm doing that same formula over and over again and again, even though I have, we've talked about, I don't have this like massive following, I have just over 3000 people on TikTok. Um, but people are giving me problems and then giving me ideas for the next video.

So think if I keep doing that, it could snowball and turn it into something we'll see. think series other than just I think series are comfortable for the viewer, but I think it also helps you as a content creator, because now Michelle, you're thinking, okay, what can I share today about giving joy?

Like you're, you're thinking about that and you have a piece of content. Basically pre-planned, you just need the details. Same with this, uh, podcast, right? So [00:32:00] we're coming to this show. You and I aren't pre-planning it together, but we are thinking all week, what are the topics? What are the things we wanna bring to the table in regards to marketing, branding, um, and content creation that we wanna talk about.

That happened this week. So we're staying attentive all week and then coming to this place and filming an episode about what we've been thinking about. And I think that makes it easy and maybe even more exciting to make content because you can be thinking about ideas all of the time. 'cause you have the framework to put it in.

Michelle Pualani: Absolutely. I think it's important to, even if you don't. Prep everything in advance. So this is, again, one, the systems that you use to execute in your business are very important, right? They help with efficiency, they help with follow through, they help you reach and work towards your goals. And there are people who are just like, oh yeah, on the fly, pick up my phone and I [00:33:00] film something. And I think if you're in the influencer model of content, that's definitely more up your alley. And you may have a personality or have developed a skillset that just connects with people, and you figured out what hooks work in advance, you know? So you're not questioning everything that you're saying.

You're not really pulling a blank when you get in front of the camera. And a lot of people develop that skillset. Now, if you're like a content creator. More often than not, you're probably gonna script your hooks at least, or you're gonna script the content that you're gonna say you're more specific.

Because most content creators, at least I feel, are typically educating or sharing specific things around a certain topic where influencers are like, Hey, this is my life. This is what I'm doing. Let me take you through this process and like just capture what it is that I'm doing. Content creators are more intentionally shooting the content that they wanna use. use. they're prepping their scripts. They're actually like formulating a [00:34:00] concept of what they're putting together. And then if you're a personal brand, or actually someone who's selling digital product services specifically, and you don't consider yourself a content creator, but rather a business owner that is wanting to create content to drive traffic and gain followers, leads, et cetera, sales, then the approach is gonna be very different in each setting.

Right. And so I think where I'm getting at from like the business entrepreneurship side where I have products that I want to sell, and so I wanna gain traffic in order to direct people to those things more. So what I'm thinking about, it's almost like the hybrid influencer, content creator route with the intention and structure of strategy.

So you're approaching it from like, okay. Having a good hook or a way to capture people's attention from the beginning. Super important. But then speaking and sharing like candidly from what it is that you know and your knowledge and your education and your experience. And then just [00:35:00] capturing things that you can edit in and share.

So like for example, my first day of my series was talking about walking, and I've never even done this before, but I captured like five-ish shots of me walking yesterday. So there was one from one angle, there was one from another angle. I set up my camera and then walked like, it's so funny 'cause that influencer thing, you know that's a joke.

Like you set up your camera and then you like run into position and then you like walk like introspectively past the camera. Nonchalantly of course. Like it was always there. Anyway, so I set up that. I did the same thing when I went grocery shopping 'cause I've gotta try to bank like every, everything, obviously the 365 Days of Joy are focused on like, okay today. But also like having things prepared in advanced or or captured in advance if I'm in that moment. And then being able to just share it [00:36:00] on a different day, right? If I don't have the chance to film something. So you're capturing along the way and then you're able to kind of. Put those two things together where there's some preparation, there's some hook strategy, there's some intention in the content creation and structure as a business owner. And then you're also capturing in order to kind of like bring the story together. Because I do think that one of the biggest parts of this and what's happening with marketing is that we're seeing and wanting storytelling, and I think storytelling is such an important part of connecting with your audience, having them relate to you, and allowing them to come into your world and take them through the process of how it is that you're actually gonna help them.

Joanna Newton: Yeah, such good points. And when you're creating content, you have to capture content, 

Michelle Pualani: Mm-hmm. 

Joanna Newton: And, and when you have that framework for what you're gonna be creating, I think it sparks more creativity because now you're thinking, oh wait, 

Michelle Pualani: Yes. 

Joanna Newton: three days, I know I [00:37:00] wanna talk about this, but I can capture that perfect shot now in that process.

Um, so one, oh, go ahead.

Michelle Pualani: It is. I, I just wanna like, it is that exactly what you said. It's not just like, oh, I'm gonna carve out an hour a week to do this thing. It's more so how can I creatively think about this process so that it's integrated into my life? I started putting my camera, 'cause I have like a little, um, thing for my phone.

In my car. I started putting my camera there and just pressing record. I've started bringing my camera around with me. I'm not gonna use all of this content, but what it does is it makes you more comfortable. It starts to make you aware of angles for better angles to shoot from. It starts to make you think about like, okay, if I have the camera on right now, and if I were talking to my person, what would I say?

'cause a lot of people, what I hear from them and what they struggle with is like, what do I do when I get in front of the camera or I don't feel comfortable in front of the camera? I'm like, okay, cool. Just start putting your phone somewhere. Hit record [00:38:00] and start. Practicing being in front of the camera and normalizing it for yourself, because I think that will help you so much to get to the point where now like, okay, now I feel confident on camera because I've done this a lot before and it's not like I'm a robot and I can actually connect and relate.

Joanna Newton: One thing I've been thinking about a lot this week comes from as usual with me, a very surprising place. If you've listened to any of our podcasts, you know, I make very odd connections between various things and marketing and business. And one new thing that I've been exploring is K-Pop. you know anything about K-Pop, Michelle?

Michelle Pualani: so I've heard of it before and I have, I feel like visually know what you're talking about when you say it, but I can't say that I listen or am aware of the culture.

Joanna Newton: So, so K-Pop is Korean pop music and K-pop bands. They have a very, you, if you hear it, it's a [00:39:00] very distinct style. Um, dance style. Black Pink is a pretty famous example of a K-pop band. Um, BTS is another one. And in Korea, they, they basically have training camps for K-pop stars. They put them through pop star bootcamp dance lessons.

Voice. Yes. It's, it's like very serious. It's like very serious thing. Um, and then normally you get into a group. Either people put you together as a group or they'll even do like what they call a survival show and put people against each other and vote and make K-pop groups out of these people. But the essential idea is it's very group oriented versus like solo artist oriented, NSYNC dance moves, not n sync in sync the band, but in sync with each other, um, in, in that process.

So the reason I've gotten into, uh, [00:40:00] K-Pop is because there's a Netflix movie that's like all the rage and it is so good. It's an animated movie for kids called K-Pop Demon Hunters. And about, it's actually based on, I, I've, like, is my nightly rabbit hole when I can't fall asleep where this research is going.

But it's based on, I guess in like, for lack of a better word, like. Korean folklore has these women that would like sing the energy they'd create by their crowds. And the audience would create a barrier between like the human world and the demon world, keeping people safe, but then they'd also like kill demons, right?

So it's a movie about a K-pop group who killed demons and it's actually absolutely fabulous. I know you don't have kids, but like I would've like, I love it. Like the music is so catchy. It's a great story. You should watch it. So we got down that rabbit hole. Um, and then my daughter is a big fan of, do you know who Katai [00:41:00] is?

They're, they're a pop group that was actually created to be the first like international K-pop style group. So they did a training school for these girls to be in this group, dance, voice, all this lessons. And then they did a show to make a group out of them. And there's a documentary about them also on Netflix.

So me and my daughter are watching that together. We're about halfway through. And my husband, he's there too. I guess he's there. I'm sorry. I'm just going back to the joke about your husband not being around, um, it being so great. But, um, we're watching this show about these girls training to become K-pop stars,

Michelle Pualani: Interesting.

Joanna Newton: they get ranked on different things like their vocal ability, their their dance ability.

And one of the things they talk about in this show, and then in K-pop culture in general is star quality. So they get rated [00:42:00] on. Star quality, and it really got me thinking about building a personal brand because I think when I think about building my personal brand and when I think about helping other peoples build their personal brand, I think a lot about strategy, about training, about practice, about the right camera angles and how to get the hooks and how to move your hand in front of the camera to get that visual interest right?

Like I think a lot about that, but I almost forget about. presence, like my star quality when I'm creating content. And I used to do acting and that's something I thought about when I, when I acted right? Like when you do a show, you, you learn the blocking and the dance moves and you train and you work on your vocals and all of that, then you have to add in actual, in the moment presence.

So I've been thinking about, trying to think about when I make content, when I'm filming videos to focus on my star quality. And [00:43:00] it's a joke in my house now when I make a video, I show it to every like my family and I'm like, do I have star quality? Do I have star quality? But really trying to internalize that because I think in the the big pop star world, what makes the difference between the one hit wonders and like the huge successes and blockbuster sellout stadium people really is strategy and star quality.

Like together working.

Michelle Pualani: I am actually doing this challenge right now. I've been following this guy for a while, John Hilted. And he is hosting this challenge called the Fuck Yes. Frequency Challenge. And he's all about, you know, magnetic energy, manifestation, kind of like energetics of self. And I tend toward that direction, or at least especially have over the past few years, because I felt like I, it, like I felt like I was doing all the things right, right.

Like checking all the boxes, creating [00:44:00] the content, having the landing pages, have the emails, have the product, do the stuff, say the thing, collaborate with the people. Like it was like, I was just do, I felt like I was quote unquote doing everything right. And granted, like there were some things in my systems that now that I'm further along in my business, I look back and I'm like, oh, I really did have great this and this and this.

And I just wasn't. Doing this one thing that would've like really helped that process. But I think I just didn't have belief in myself for so long and I really questioned like all of those questions and fears and doubts that come up. Like, who am I to be doing this? I don't know what I'm talking about.

No one's gonna wanna listen to me. I don't have enough experience yet. I can't really help people. Like all of those things, which is wild because in the fitness industry, I'd already been teaching for a minimum of six, like full-time years. And that was like teaching in yoga and bar and [00:45:00] functional fitness.

And I did personal training and all of these things that I had taught hours upon hours, upon hours, upon hours. And then there are these freaking, what is it? Body coach? Coach body. What's that?

Joanna Newton: Beach 

Michelle Pualani: Beach body.

That's it.

Beach body. 

Joanna Newton: body now.

Michelle Pualani: They're just body now.

Okay, interesting. So used to what was Beachbody? So when Beachbody came online, like way back in the day, it was genuinely very unqualified general people who were like, Hey, let me help you lose weight and I'm gonna teach you how to do these things.

And I would watch these videos and they'd have terrible form. They weren't saying things correctly in terms of how they were teaching fitness and working with other people. But they were out there and they had the confidence and they put themselves through the process and they created content and did the whole thing. And so I have really realized this star quality, [00:46:00] this magnetic energy, this frequency, whatever you wanna call it, is such an important aspect of, I feel like what is your own? Self-belief or what I also feel like and have learned is more like authenticity of the person that you are and being okay with being seen as that person.

Like even if you're putting on a performance, you are essentially saying, I'm okay to be seen by hundreds, thousands, millions of people. And I think when a lot of people shrink away from content creation, it's because of this issue. It's not really wanting or feeling confident or comfortable being seen. And it takes time, it takes work, and it is a skillset that you can build. And so I think. That's such an important conversation. 'cause a lot of people struggle in the business space, struggle in the digital space [00:47:00] because they don't know how to bridge that gap. And I think going in the direction, like if you're in that place and you're listening and you're like, yeah, I don't feel comfortable getting on camera.

There are obviously things you can try to start to change that, but there's also other avenues in which you can continue to get business without creating content. Right. So I think there's also such an important thing to remember is that content creation is not the only. Method for business? Is it a great one?

Is it an organic one? Is it a free strategy? Technically yes, because you can approach it with a super low barrier to entry, but there are other avenues that you can leverage, other people's audiences. You can collaborate, you can show up on workplaces or you know, places where people are already going to look to hire and everything else. So I wanna talk about one more thing before we wrap, but obviously I'll pop to you, Joanna, and if you're listening and think that this would be super helpful to someone who has kind of been struggling with this concept of putting themselves out [00:48:00] there or getting traffic and getting attention, send them this episode so that they can hear this, because sometimes it just takes one little key thing to unlock their next level of action or execution.

Joanna Newton: Yeah, and I think that, you know what we're talking about, quality, energetics, magnetism, however you wanna frame it, it, it affects how you show up in the world and, and how you're bringing in business. And so right now, Michelle and I are in like a content creation area. Era. So I think we're talking a lot about, about this stuff in, in relationship to how we show up on camera.

But if you take discovery calls, if you meet people at conferences, if you do that, this magnetism, this like energy flow is important too. The translation of my energy one-on-one in small groups at conferences in discovery calls for me has always been there. I'm [00:49:00] always been able to show up and bring that energy that like, magnetizes people to me in person.

I've always struggled more when I pick up my phone to film a camera a, you know, a talking head video. So for me right now, I'm trying to learn how to translate what I'm able to do one-on-one while talking with someone to social media so that I can scale. But I don't know if I'd even be ready to do that if I couldn't do it in a one-on-one situation.

Some for me at least, right? Like I, I, I know how to do that one-on-one. So how do I bring that energy, um, through someone, through a phone so I can scale my business faster? Which is a totally different thing because if you're someone who takes discovery calls and client calls to sell your services. You have to be present.

You have to have that magnetism. Most of the time when someone's choosing a service provider, it's not necessarily about the deliverables or the price. It's about their connection with the person and do they feel like they [00:50:00] can trust you? And so this shows up in business meetings, partnership meetings, collaborations like conferences, whatever you're doing to grow your business, you need to be able to show up in that like star quality way to wow people, right?

Michelle Pualani: I think that business is the biggest personal development, personal growth tool you could ever. Ever leverage. It really pushes you outside of your comfort zone, into a place of doing things, learning things, trying things that you never would have otherwise, and just so much of the mindset, the negative self-talk, the chatter that goes on in terms of limiting us and what we can and cannot do is such a part of what you need to overcome in order to kind of hit that next level. To do that thing, to take the action, because again, the stuff that we do, it's super simple. The stuff that eight figure [00:51:00] businesses do is super freaking simple. Like if you look behind the scenes, which Joanne and I have behind the scenes of so many different businesses, especially in the digital space, their practices and principles are not a secret.

Like it's not, oh, this new tactic that I'm doing, oh, this very complex, whatever way that I've designed this. It's actually just really, really simple. When you break down the nuts and bolts of a business and then you course you layer over time, and it could feel complicated when you're coming into a 10 year established business because they've worked out all of these frameworks in the framework stack, and you have different team members all doing all these different things. But it is simple and approachable. So the thing that I wanna close on is the summer I turned pretty and some of the things that I've seen that they're doing really well. One of which is, is that each individual main character, there's three essentially like main, main characters, which is the girl who's played by Lola Tongue, [00:52:00] whose name is Isabel, or Belly in the show, belly or Bells. And then there's one of the brothers, Conrad and then the other brother Jeremiah. And it, it's like a love triangle. So I already think that's intriguing for people to kind of tune into. It's a young coming of age story and one thing that I found in looking at some of the content creation around it is I turned 35 this year.

Joanna, I know you're a little bit older than me, but like

Joanna Newton: for, uh, 

Michelle Pualani: our, but. 

Joanna Newton: me you're older.

Michelle Pualani: No, the point is, is that I'm seeing content creation from these women who are in their thirties and into forties. Like here I am a 30-year-old or 40-year-old woman, but I'm super invested in this young teenage drama. And I think that there's so much, oh, I actually put this in a chat, GPT side tangent real quick and then I'll come back to it, is I put this into a chat GPT, because I feel like I actually have been like struggling with this a little bit.

And for the [00:53:00] most part, like I'm fine, but sometimes I do go down these little spirals of social media, scrolling and television, like binge watching. And maybe once in a while that's okay to like check out or whatever, but for me, sometimes it gets to be too much. And part of that's my little benign tumor and not taking my medication.

And so now I'm back on my, my medication to help with like energetic energy and focus and reducing my prolactin levels. 'cause that's one of the things that affects my dopamine. So. All that to be said. Is that a, what was the tan? What was the tangent? What was I just

talking about? Oh my gosh, 

Joanna Newton: Well, you were 

Michelle Pualani: I'm spacing.

Yeah, the summary turned pretty. Oh, but Chatt BT, that's what I wanted to tell you. Okay. So I've been dealing with this, so I literally put into Chatt BT, these are my symptoms, diagnose me. And so my symptoms essentially that I put in was binge like scrolling, social media, endlessly binge watching, uh, like young [00:54:00] coming of age stories. 'cause I love like watching college or teenage like main Ma, female characters. And then wanting a puppy and like watching puppy because that's like all of my social media is like puppies and just all of this other stuff. I obviously look at content creation and marketing and brands and everything else, but my personal consumption is on that side of

things, swings towards that. 

Joanna Newton: train. You're on a puppies and teen drama train.

Michelle Pualani: Yes, exactly. So what Chachi PT came back to me with was like a few things of, you know, dopamine, but also like nostalgia and wanting to actually like kind of go back to simpler times and feel that youngness with like hope and opportunity for the future. And I forget exactly what else it said, but it like gave me a few things of [00:55:00] like why I'm doing these things and it, it makes sense and the reasoning behind it, but I'm noticing that a lot of other women my age, our age are similarly kind of in

the same place. 

Joanna Newton: I'm older than you.

Michelle Pualani: You're, but we're

in the same window. The point, okay. The point is, is that women are kind of in this space of connecting with these things. And so the summary turned pretty, even though it's this like, you know, young generation one, the three main characters have their own personal brands. So they themselves have a digital footprint online and they're representing themselves.

And I saw this from another celebrity who in an interview that basically said, even if I wanted to delete my Instagram, if I want to work on a production as a [00:56:00] cast member, I have to bring a certain level of follower count or attention that they have to be able to cast in order to make the movie in the first place, or make the show in the first place. So celebrities and actors and people are at a different place where they have to bring some type of personal brand to the equation in order to even be considered. 'cause collectively the show, the movie has to have X follower count in order for it to be produced because of the success of the show.

Depends on social media, it depends on their ability to market that show, that movie, right. So one of the clips, and then I'll close out on this is one of the clips is from Jimmy Fallon in the Tonight Show, or I forget the name of the show, but I freaking love Jimmy Fallon. He's one of my absolute favorite celebrities.

I just think he's so genuine and so wonderful and so it's him doing that like trend that's like [00:57:00] two. And then the young person is like, hmm. And they like, you know, they do like a cute pose with like a peace sign and then he go, he like makes, you know, it's two. He holds up two more adamantly and then they like, you know, do that thing by the, I don't even know what this is, but it's

like.

this thing by the eye, where they put it by the eye.

It's like your piece signed by the eye. I'm gonna have to have someone explain that to me, but it's like, ah, like cute. They do that again. And he's like, no, two minutes till the show. And then they're like, oh, and they gotta get up and go. That had, like, at the time that I watched it, it had like over 20 million views on it, which I do this, I don't know why I do this, but I guess it's just my, my, inquisitive nature.

So then I look at the other Jimmy Fallon reels to see how that compares to the performance of that one reel. And it's like four x, a lot of the other standard reels. A couple things. Obviously lots of people are invested in the summer. I turn pretty right now because of the way that they've been able to develop [00:58:00] content around the show.

It's collaborative in nature because as the three main people, so it right reaches their personal brands as well as obviously Jimmy Fallon's channels, and it's just got this like connection piece and relatability about age, about the demographic, about the humor. It just kind of captures that attention.

It doesn't talk at all about the plot of the show. It doesn't talk about like the, obviously we see behind the scenes, but the point that I'm making is that it's not about the product or the offer, it's about the. Attention, the entertainment value around that thing. And that's just what I'm seeing as more successful with brands and businesses right now, is that they're not creating content that is just like, Hey, here's our product, here's the benefits, here's the features [00:59:00] of our product. It's like, no, these are human beings and this is a storyline and these are the emotions surrounding it and this is what you're gonna connect with. And that is marketing. And why I've seen like this, seen this show just be incredibly successful on social media, in terms of people talking about it, people watching it, people being invested in it, people talking about the shooting of it, people talking about the storyline and the director and all of these things. And when you can create that curiosity, when you can create that intrigue, when you can create that. Not just entertainment value. 'cause we're not like on this show, we don't talk about like flashy, but the storytelling and the emotion behind what it is that you're doing. When you can embed that in your content, in your marketing, I feel like that's, that's where the magic happens.

Joanna Newton: One, 100%. And I think that I actually sent you a reel. This week we send each other lots of reels. So you might have [01:00:00] watched it or not, I sent you a reel this week of a music executive talking about how we have to stop thinking if you're making short form content. So you're making reels, shorts, tiktoks, whatever you're making for short form video content, we have to stop thinking about it as social media and start thinking about it as entertainment.

So he was specifically speaking to music artists, um, which is a little bit different, but even for us as business owners, coaches, content creators, and know, putting digital products out into this space, our short form video needs to be entertaining. That's why a series works, right? Because it's because it come becomes entertaining.

I'm not just like saying, hi, and, and you used to get away with this on social, hi, I'm Joanna, and here's my top 10 tips for growing on social media. Right? Like, that's done, right? That doesn't work anymore. So you have to be entertaining so you can do that. In a bunch of different strategies, and we don't have time to get into that [01:01:00] today, but there's a lot of strategies you can use to be entertaining.

But the point is, stop thinking about social media. Social media, and start thinking it as an entertainment platform, and how is the content you're creating, entertainment people, entertaining people, and how are you showing your star quality? Because that's, that's my theme for the month, is star quality.

Michelle Pualani: I love it. Yeah, lean into that star quality. Lean into your authentic, true self. I mean, that's, I think what you and I talk about so much on the podcast and in what we do and how we help people is leaning into who you are as an individual and letting that come out. Because I do know businesses and brands who make it so far and are successful with sales faking it, but they're freaking miserable.

Like they get to a point where that's either crash, burnout, lose everything, like. Hit a wall, however you wanna explain it. It's, it's tough. So the sooner you can [01:02:00] lean into your authentic voice and be who you are, and then kind of start to magnify that, like when I get on camera, the goal is not to just be like, oh, this is me in my normal day life.

It's me. Like this is, I'm kind of kooky. I'm kind of ridiculous. I'm kind of silly. And I think about more like my connection relationship with my husband is probably where I'm the most authentic per like of who I am. And so how can I bring that to the camera and how can I connect with people in that way? Because ultimately, like having a series, creating content, using storytelling, all the things that we talked about in this episode is about capturing. Your voice, your values, your mission, your goals, your ability to help people, your services product offer, all of those things in a way that someone's gonna say, yes, I buy into that.

Yes, I want to pay attention to that. And you do have to work for it. Sometimes like I think people are like, well, [01:03:00] I'm just really good at what I do. I just want people to buy my stuff. I'm like, okay, cool. Marketing is different now than it ever has been before. You have to market yourself. And it's like kind of that tough love conversation of like, you've gotta either fit into the model of what marketing is.

And I'm not saying trends, I'm just saying match the platforms and, and if you're choosing a platform, like figuring out what that is and how it aligns with you, but. Doing it in a way that's going to compel people to pay attention. Because you have to demand that attention now, right? Attention is currency and you can translate that currency and that attention into your sales, helping people impact. But you can't just bullheaded be like, well, I don't wanna do that. I, you know, I, I, I don't want to, I don't know, there's just, uh, whatever. But in any case, that's my 2 cents. I'll get off my

soapbox now. 

Joanna Newton: were some really good 2 cents. [01:04:00] Um, well thank you so much for tuning in today to another episode of Click Tease. Today we talked about some really important and great, great topics from

Michelle Pualani: I.

Joanna Newton: K-Pop demon hunters, which you should go watch to summer, to the summer I turn pretty and how we can kind of utilize what we're seeing these other brands do to help us get the attention that we need to grow our business.

So if you found this episode helpful, please subscribe, please share it with a friend, and we will see you next week.