Answering your BURNING social media questions

In this week's solo episode of Business Class, Vicky Owens answers your biggest questions about building a personal brand, growing on social media and turning your online presence into real business opportunities.

From whether founders should show up on camera, to balancing entertaining content with credibility, avoiding burnout and building an audience that actually converts into customers, Vicky shares the honest advice she gives clients every day. 

If you're an entrepreneur, founder, creator or business owner looking to grow your personal brand in 2026, this episode is packed with practical strategies you can implement immediately.

In this episode, Vicky discusses:

• Whether every founder needs a personal brand
• Founder-led content vs faceless business content
• Building trust and authority on social media
• How to grow without chasing every trend
• Why respect is more valuable than viral views
• Creating content that attracts customers, not just followers
• Managing social media burnout
• Building a sustainable content strategy
• Outsourcing your marketing effectively
• Balancing business growth with your personal life
• The mindset required to build a successful personal brand

Whether you're just starting your business or looking to take your content strategy to the next level, this episode will help you build a brand that creates long-term opportunities, not just short-term attention. 

🎉 This episode is sponsored by Plannerly

Plannerly is the all-in-one creator toolkit designed to help you plan content, schedule posts, manage your social media workflow and grow your business.

👉 Use code VICKY10 for 10% off your Plannerly plan.

Subscribe to Business Class with Vicky Owens for weekly conversations and solo episodes covering entrepreneurship, marketing, social media and business growth.

Produced by TAEPodcast www.taepodcast.co.uk

Transcript

Welcome aboard to business class. The only place to be if you are on your journey to success. I'll be showing the ups, the downs, and everything in between. Just a disclaimer that this is all my own advice and what if someone works for me as a first-hand business owner. So please take everything I say with a pinch of salt. So take your seats, strap in, and welcome aboard to business class with me, Vicky Owens.

Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of Business Class. I feel like I need to come up with like a jazzier intro to my episodes, but that's just what comes to mind. I'm like, how else am I supposed to start the episode? Uh I've got a solo episode for you today, a little bit more of a chilled one just to stick on on your Monday. If you're cleaning up the house, if you're getting some work done, doing some admin, maybe you're driving and I'm in your car right now. Maybe you're walking the dog outside. Who knows? In terms of what I'm doing today, I have got such a busy week this week. The sun is shining. It's supposed to be like the hottest week. I think on record of the UK, I think I literally saw on TikTok it was supposed to be like 37 degrees Celsius in the UK. Uh that's too hot for me, and I can't exist in that heat. Um, tomorrow I'm actually off to Cannes in France, or Cannes, however you want to say it. I choose to say Cannes, that's just on me. Um, to do a there's I've got some, I'm like I've got a panel talk with a French company called Le Bouc, and I'm doing some work with YouTube out there for Cannes Lions. So super excited for that. In terms of what my takeoff and departures are this week, I would say take off for me has 100% been my business class in-person events. So I've been doing business class founders round tables. We got 3,000 applicants for my first one. Um, narrowed it down, and I've just done the second one. And I don't want to toot my own trumpet too much, but toot toot because it was it was so good. Like I just loved it. The energy was amazing. We have such open and honest conversations. People were crying, people were laughing. I really think it makes a difference that it's full of northerners, if I'm totally honest, and that is no hate to my southern queens, but I feel like northerners are just another level of openness and to the point and just so blunt. I feel like sometimes when I go to things, I've been to similar things up in London, and they feel so corporate y and stuffy, and like you can't just say things how they are, and they're so they're so stiff. Whereas I feel like with this, it was just so come as you are, say what you want. Uh, and it was honestly, it just like made me so happy and made me think this is why I do what I do. My other takeoff has to be that I went to the Forbes 30 under 30 celebration event in Paris. What the hell youance is going on? Like, it was just insane. Me and my sister went to Disneyland as well for her birthday. Um, really long story short, but I was like not supposed to be at this event, um, but the universe brought me to this event. So essentially, when you get on the Forbes 30 under 30 list, you get an email about the celebration event, and it can be, I mean, it varies where it is from year to year. This year was in Paris, and Paris is like my place, my heart and soul. You know, when people feel like they're drawn to a place, it's always been Paris for me. Like growing up, I'd watch all the Disney movies that were based in Paris, I'd picture living in Paris. I've everything about it is just it gives me goosebumps. I love Paris so much, and I've been quite a few times now. Anyway, this dinner was in Paris. I was like, bookers on it, we've got to go, and it was sold out. And I was like, How is it? How is it sold out? Like, if you're on the Forbes 30 under 30 list, I thought that just meant you're invited to the dinner. Like, there's, you know, gonna be 30 seats and you're at the dinner. Apparently not. And also, there's more than 30 people on it. I didn't know this. There's different categories. So I think there's about 300 people because there's is this the maths? 10 different categories, I think. Um, so it was sold out. I was not gonna lie, fuming. I was like, I'm meant to be here, I have to be going. I don't understand why it's sold out. I'm on the list. I felt like such a deeper. I was like, I'm on the list, get me in. Anyway, I messaged my contact from Forbes. I was like, try and get her, get me on the list, you know. And she couldn't do it. Um anyway, I had a friend in no not Germany, Amsterdam, and she managed to sign up on her end. So I was like, girl, you gotta get me on the list. So she managed to get me on the list from her side. I thought it was a spam because I was like, how can I, how can it be booked out one minute, then not the next minute? Anyway, it turns out that two people had dropped out like last minute, and we were happened to be online that exact minute to re-get their tickets when they went back back live on the website. So I was not supposed to be at this dinner, and that's where I was. It wasn't even a dinner. I don't know why I keep calling it that. I just felt like it was so right to go. It was also a really big push for me because you can't bring plus ones. So usually I bring a member of my team or my fiance or my sister, and I wasn't allowed that. So it was a big, big push for me out of my territory. Obviously, I had a few businessy friends that were going, but I was shitting a brick. Um, but I loved it. We were only there for two days. We saw Paris, went to the event. The next day we went to Disney, and oh my god, it was just the best. It was just the best. It made me feel so emotional. So I definitely say that. And then this week I'm going to Cannes, honey. Like, what is going on? June has been crazy, and I think it kind of leads me into my departure. It's I'm very fully booked at the minute, and I keep saying yes to everything, which is great, but it's meant I've not seen some of my bestest friends in like a month or two months, not really spoke to anyone other than like my partner who I live with and my sister who I work with. Um, just about voice noting my mum from day to day. Like it is so tough to balance everything in your life all at the same time. And I think another thing is when you say yes to so much, it has a real toll on your social battery, especially if you're me and I have a very low tolerance for social interactions. So I think although it's been amazing having the highs, I actually come home feeling quite low. Um, and like last week or the week before, I think it was, I went on a creator retreat. Um, that's yeah, you had to spend like three days straight with all the creators on my roster, and it was incredible, it was so amazing. But I got home and I just crashed, and I was quite I don't know, I was like upset. I was going through the, you know, the cycle that we all go through where I was comparing myself to other business owners. It just happens, doesn't it? One night you just scroll and then you'll see someone that's like in your industry, you'll look at their account, you'll be like, they've got more followers than me, they've got more opportunities than me, they're growing faster than me, they're this, they're that, they've got a bigger team than me. And you just can't help the way it makes you feel. But one of my favourite quotes in business is that jealousy or like negative emotions like comparison are a call to action. I love that quote. Like, something has triggered me because it makes me want that thing. Do you know what I mean? If that makes sense. Like, if someone had just got like a job promotion in like, I don't know, something I'm not interested in, I'd be like, oh yeah, good for them. Like, you know. But if someone had got a job promotion is something you really want and it makes you feel that feeling of jealousy or comparison or resentment or whatever comes up for you, which is normal to feel these things, that's your call to action. So, but in in all is well today, this week, I'm like, I'm feeling good. I thought today I would do, like I said, a bit more of a chilled episode on just some social media QA's. Like my social media episodes, you guys seem to absolutely love them. So I thought, what better way than to spend today, Monday, going through a couple of your questions? So that is exactly what we're gonna do today. And without further ado, let's head into today's episode. Okay, so first question slash dilemma. Hi, Vicki. I absolutely love business class and listen every Monday morning on my commute. I've got a social media dilemma that's causing a few arguments in my business. I own a pretty successful company and recently hired a social media manager. She's convinced that the reason my content isn't growing is because I refuse to get on camera. But I didn't start a business because I wanted to become a content creator. I don't enjoy filming myself. I don't want people recognizing me in public. And to be honest, I find most con founder content a little bit self-indulgent. This is kind of true. Like this is an this is quite um a debate, I feel, that people need to have. Because I think there's a really fine line actually with founder content and what is, you know, look at me and I'm so amazing versus you're trying to build a successful personal brand. There's a really, really fine line. Sometimes I will post things and how I decide what I share is by thinking, is this helping someone or is this just like showing off something that I'm doing? You know, that's I feel like that's a good question to ask yourself. Um, anyway, let's get back to where she was at in the dilemma. She keeps telling me that people buy from people and that founder brands are the future. But I can't help wondering if social media managers just say that because it's easier to get views on their part. Do I need to get over myself and just start posting myself more? Or can my business still grow without the founder, without, oh my god, sorry, without the founder becoming the face of everything? And is that just my social media manager's excuse? So I would say it should never be like a it's not going to work if you don't show your face. So I think if your social media manager is like, we can't grow you without you on it, that's incorrect. Um, but I do agree in the sense of it definitely helps. Um, and I think you just have to think of to anyone who's listening to this who is a little bit scared of starting a personal brand or putting themselves out there online, just think of yourself like a character and decide how much you do or don't want to share. Like if you're scared about people not liking you or disagreeing with what you're saying, like you can just go on and just be this character of the face of the business, very lightly involved, doesn't really have that many opinions, or alternatively, you can go down the other route, um, which I do think it does help your business to grow faster. I will say faceless accounts just don't really work. Um, so I wouldn't suggest going for a faceless account. However, I do think you should be showing up in some way, um, whether that's just like in the B-roll content, doing voiceovers, whatever that might look like. But it's definitely not the be all or end all. But I would just say it's not your personal account, it's your personal brand. So, like, really think about it like any other business decision of if I start this personal brand, the opportunities that it will create for me might be speaking on stages, writing a book, more opportunities, working with brands, like whatever that might be, those are the opportunities that come with it. Um, but you don't, you don't need to. It's not it's not like the be all or end all, but I would say make sure someone's showing up on the account, whether that's the social media manager, whether that's the team, it doesn't have to be you. But I do think people do just trust from people. They do, people do buy from people. It's like the oldest, you know, trick in marketing. I trust the business more when I know the founder's journey. So I would I would honestly say go for it. And it's it's usually self, what's it called? Self-worth and self-beliefs that are holding you back from doing something like that. I'll always be an advocate for building a personal brand because it literally changed my life. Um, the next one says, Hi, Vicki, I've been trying to grow my business through Instagram for the last year, and I recently had a reel that hit over 1.5 million views. Okay. At first I was buzzing. I thought my inquiries would explode and I'd finally crack the code on how to go viral. Instead, I got loads of followers, loads of likes, but literally no sales. Now I'm in this weird position where I know exactly what type of content gets reach, but it doesn't seem to attract the people who will actually buy from me. Should I keep chasing the views for the short term because it might eventually pay off? Or should I focus on content that gets lower reach but attracts better customers? So I think there's a full there's a few things in here. I think it's to do with like your funnel. So you can definitely still continue doing the stuff that is getting you loads of followers and loads of reach because at the end of the day, like I always say, followers does do open doors and op and for opportunities. But I think don't just rely on that. Like I think have some content that's not going to perform as well, but does attract um customers. Usually, when you're not selling, it's down to a lack of trust, which is like which is down to a lack of free value, social proof and positioning. Um, and it's usually because it's just too top of funnel. So sometimes with clients, we'll do a variation of really high top of funnel stuff, which by the way, if you don't know what a funnel is, top of funnel's like um something where you're not really speaking about your brand, you're just doing it for followers. So it's probably just only going to get you followers and you know, reach. Middle of funnel is more like it's still gonna perform well, just not as well, and you might get something from it. Bottom of funnel is where it's direct sales. Like, I'm only doing this to get sales in, it's probably not gonna perform well at all. So we do a mixture of um the those few layers in the funnel. But I would say when people aren't buying, there's usually a few reasons. So it's usually because they've not actually got any idea what you do. It's not clear, like your bio isn't set up properly, you've not got a clear, strong one-liner. Who you are, what you do, who you are, what you do. No one cares that you're like mum of three, uh, you live in wherever you live, you blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's just who you are, what you do, your pin posts, who you are, what you do, your highlights, who you are, what you do. It's usually down to uh just confusion, who actually are you, what do you actually do? Is it simple? Um, the second thing is you don't shout about it enough. Like you don't actually say what you sell enough. Call to action sometimes won't be strong enough. So it might be that you're not ending your videos actually saying if you're interested in this, go and buy that, or if you want more content like this, save for more whatever call to action you might want to put there. Um, and also you're not speaking enough about social proof and positioning. So for ages I was just giving away free value on social media, but the way that I've been able to make more sales is talking more about my one-to-one sessions and like people that I've helped out and case studies and things like that. So it's just a little shift, really, in introducing more parts of the funnels, um, more call to actions and getting clearer on yeah, is it clear what you actually offer as well? The next one goes like this. Hi, Vic. A few weeks ago I posted a video that massively blew up. The problem is it wasn't really related to my business. The video was funny, got shared everywhere, and brought in thousands of followers. My issue is that now my normal content is performing is performing terribly because my audience seems completely different. Part of me wants to delete the video because I think it's damaged my account, but another part of me thinks deleting a viral post is madness. What would you do? So I actually spoke to someone recently about pretty much this exact same thing, and she said that she posted a video and she got something crazy from it, like a hundred thousand followers. And at first it was exciting, but it was actually all the wrong people, and it damaged her engagement and her account and everything like that. And that's why I think going viral has a bad rep. Whereas when you go in viral, I believe it can be intentional and you can know who you're going to bring in from it. Um, so this is a tricky one. I'd say if it's like if it's just bringing in the wrong people, I would maybe archive it because it isn't actually good to have a viral video that brings in the wrong thing. Um it depends how too far, how far gone you've let it go. Like if it's like all you know, 99% of your audience literally now are these people. Sometimes it can just be making a new account, which I know is like not what you want to hear, probably. Um, and then the other thing is you can just play off of what's happened. So it could be that you make a part two for the video, it could be that you address it. And I would personally make a carousel post or a separate reel or something like that to speak about this experience because I think people would find it really fascinating. You can call it like the downside to going viral, like the dark side to going viral or something like that. Um, and I think that would bring you in more of the audience that you'd be interested in. But sometimes, this is what I mean, if you're not intentionally posting, things can get out of hand and it has a negative effect on the account. I am so excited to say that this episode is sponsored by Planally. Now, I've been using Planally since I was about 16 years old in my very first marketing job, and I used to use it to basically plan out content for the feed, get it looking all nice, but now it does so much more. It's basically a full creator toolkit all in one place. You get your social media planning, but you also get a free Linkin bio tool and a built-in customizable storefront with checkout. So you can schedule your post, preview your feed, drive people to the link in your bio and actually sell your product, services, digital downloads, even one-on-one coaching without juggling five different tools or paying transaction fees on top. As a business owner, I know how easy it is to batch your content and then just forget to post it, or how hard it is to stay consistent on social media. I've used so many tools, but Plannerly is the one that makes my workflow feel so seamless and it has everything I need to manage my client's content and my own. So if you're looking to take your social media growth seriously this year, start with Plannerly and you can use code Vicky10 for 10% off your Planerly plan. Okay, the next one we've got is hi Vicky, I need your advice, please, because I'm starting to lose my mind and my patience. Same every day. Every time I post something that performs well, one of my competitors creates a near-identical version a few days later. Sometimes it's the exact same hook, the same concept, and even similar wording. Honey, this is me every day. So we'll keep going. The annoying part is that they often get more views than me, despite the idea being mine. I've spent ages building my content strategy and it feels really unfair watching someone else benefit from all the hard work. Would you call them out publicly, send them a private message, or just accept that copying is part of social media? Okay, you're asking the right person here because I make so much content about either social media or like relatable business content, it is easy to copy. So, like I uh I will make a video saying like here are the biggest mistakes you can make on social media. Someone could copy it word for word and it would do well for them because that's content that people want to see. Um, they can go and teach that, they can steal it, they can rip it off. The same with business owner content. If I say like a really relatable quote or something, people can just go and copy that. I think what I first look at is if I see someone do it and it's like a one-off and it is literally identical, like they've copied it word for word, I'll just leave a little comment and just be like, hey, would love some credit next time, or like a DM, something like that. Ultimately, it's out of your control though. And I always just think of it as how amazing that you're the one being copied and you're not doing the copying. And if people are wanting to buy into them, they'll soon find out that their brain is not as good as yours. So that's the first thing. If it's happening continuously, I would go through the same process of um the comment, the DM, and then if it's like constant, as in literally every single post you do, and and not a lot of people will agree with me on this, and I think it's so situational and dependent, but I don't mind a little call out from time to time. Like I think if you've actively tried to approach it and they've ignored you, like I've had some people where I've messaged them and they've just read it and carried on doing it, or they've blocked me, um, then sometimes a little call-out is necessary and you can do it in a you know non-passive aggressive way, and usually it ends up benefiting your account more. Um, but I think also you have to accept that as you're rising up and you're doing well, you're just going to get people that copy you. It's just gonna happen, and there's nothing that you can do about it. So I almost don't give my energy to it anymore. Um, but from my knowledge, but to be honest, I don't really look, I don't think there's anyone that copies every single piece of my content word for word for word for word, like every single day. I think that would literally drive me up the wall a little bit. Um, so I'd say, you know, take the first steps, but then after that, if you need to go public, like sometimes you just need to go public with it. Don't become a bully, don't do it out of, you know. I mean, I've just seen a few ones recently that I think have been actually really good, and people do stick up for them and support them because it is work, like, and it is your job, and it's really unfair and unjust that people do copy it word for word. The next one we've got is Hi Vicky. I know exactly what content I should be posting because I've seen it works for everyone in my industry. The problem is that every time I go to post it, I physically cringe. I know I should be doing the talking head videos, sharing opinions, creating. Stronger hooks, but to me, it feels really unnatural and salesy. How do you know whether content feels cringe because it's outside your comfort zone or because it genuinely isn't aligned with your brand? This is a really good question, actually. Um, I would say to me, content it's content that doesn't feel like you or like content you would consume. So if you're just doing a video where it's like, here's what I've got on my to-do list this week as a business owner, that's not really a cringy piece of content, but it might cringe you out because you're not used to doing that type of content. Whereas if it's like a dance where you're like pointing around on the screen, like that's yeah, I can understand that would feel a little bit cringe. I think you have to do everything of and think of what content would you consume? Um, do you agree with everything you say in the video? Um, does it align with your brands and your values? And just know that it is gonna feel cringe at the start. 100 million percent. Like it's so new to some people. I think I'm really lucky because my social media is full of my business owner and social media friends. So when I post anything, I'm like, that's just normal content to the rest of these guys. Like, they're not they're literally not gonna care about what I'm doing. And it is helping me get to my North Star and like my end goal ultimately. Um, so I would say maybe ask your friends and family to look at the content and say, does it sound like me? Is this content that aligns with me, like based on what you know about me? I feel like your friends and family would know if something's cringe or not you. So that's what I would do. That's what I started to do when I was at the start of my journey. The next one says, please answer exclamation point. I build an audience, I've built even an audience of around 30,000 followers by sharing lots of educational tips and advice. People constantly message me saying how helpful my content is, but hardly any of them become paying customers. What's even more frustrating is that whenever I post something with a stronger sales angle, engagement drops to the floor. Have I accidentally trained my audience to expect free content instead of buying from me? I was actually in a really, really similar spot to this this year, where I was just giving out free value every single day to my followers. Like every, and I still do. Um, so I started to make some shifts in my content to monetize more. Because as much as yes, you can do things for free, I'm so happy that I get to help people for free. You've got bills to pay. Like I've got a team to pay, we have to sell things. Um, but without doing it too salesy. So the first thing was get really clear on my positioning in that I am like the virality expert, I'm the social media queen. So that when people think of those topics, they think of me for opportunities. The second would be I'd add a call to action onto every video. So I'd do my normal exact style of content. I would add my value in, add my free value towards the end. Literally for the last second, I'd be like, if you like this video, book in a one-to-one with me, link in my bio. If you like this video, check out my digital products in the link, whatever it might be. And it did start to work. So I'd say that's a big one. Um, and I would also say as well, look at what your offerings are. Like, is there a reason why people wouldn't be buying? Um, I opened up one-to-ones with me, and that's great because I get so many DMs from people asking me more questions, and it's just like a here's a link to Pick My Brain, like just like an easy, easy sell. So just make sure the cells are easy and clear as well and align with what you are posting content about already. One thing as well that I did was pair free information with paid. So um on the freebie on our, probably shouldn't be telling you this, but on the freebie on our website for the agency, there's a pop-up and it's like a a one-hour masterclass on how to go viral. Um, and then I think at like the 40 minutes in point, there's a pop-up and it's like you've watched the freebit. If you want to access more, you have to like sign up to the academy or you have to pay X amount or you have to buy whatever it might be. So you're still, you know, you're not giving everything out for free. I would start off with trying with those and see how how it goes for you because that has really helped for me. This question I get all the time. So someone said, I've had an Instagram account for about four years. It currently has just under 15k followers. Um, my engagement is terrible. Most posts belly reach anyone. The growth has completely staled. I've heard people say it's easier to start a fresh account um than to revive an old one. Would you rather have an account with 15k disengaged followers or start from scratch with zero but a clean slate? I think sometimes it's just better to start fresh. And I know that's probably not what you want to hear, but I think you just know when the account has had its time and you're just getting like seven likes and you've got that many thousands of followers. I'd try a few things to see if you can re-engage. Like um, I would do like a reintroduction post, um, anything that would get engagement up. So, like I always say, when you announce something big, when you talk about your journey as a founder, always tends to do really well. But I would say, I'd say start a new account, honestly. There's nothing worse than a dead account, it's the most frustrating thing. Um next one is hi Vicky, I love your advice. However, I think every social media expert seems to have a different opinion. One of them says I should post three times a day, another one says quality is better than quantity. Another person says I should focus entirely on YouTube. I run a real business and I don't have unlimited time to spend creating content. If you're running a business and only had a few hours a week for social media, what would you actually focus on? So, first of all, I do think, yeah, social media experts do always have a different opinion. The same as when you go to a doctor, like different doctors will have different opinions, or I don't know what else example to think of for that, but everyone will have different opinions because different things work for different people. Um, and also you have to think with social media experts what the goal is out of giving you certain information. So I would look of have they done it themselves? Are they like a credible source? Um, like where we work with like TikTok and Meta and stuff like that. Like, are they trusted with the information that they give? Um, have they have you seen, you know, the clients they've worked with, the results that they've got. And then I would think of like the intention behind their videos. So my biggest ick from social media experts is like, here's how you can, you know, five times your followers on Instagram this week. Before we get into it, comment down below the amount of followers you've got so that you can come back and look at this video. Like little things like that that bait you to comment and give them something always makes me think they don't have the best intentions. Because you should just want to be, you should just want to help someone to help someone. Or like there's somewhere it's like, guys, it's never been easier to grow and go viral. Just put your TikTok on your story and it'll change your life. And it's just like they they just sell it as like an overnight fix. So I would say bear that in mind first. If I was running a business and only had a few and I only had a few hours a week for social media, what would I focus on? I would focus on what is your niche, your one thing that you are known for. I would do talking head videos, batch them, film them all in the same place, the same intro, the same editing style, and schedule them. That's literally all that I would do. And I would implement things like trends within your industry, uh, trending topics, get the basics right. I've done so many TikToks about this, like the hashtags, the keywords, words on the screen, captions. Um, if you go to my TikTok, Vicky. I've done, I've got a whole playlist of like everything like this for free. So that's what I would focus on, particularly. Particularly don't even know if that makes sense. It's a Monday, but it's feeling like a Friday for me today. Um, the next question is hi Vicky. I've noticed that whenever I share something personal, whether it's a holiday, a behind the scenes moment, or something about my family, engagement goes through the roof. The problem is that I don't really want strangers knowing loads about my personal life. It feels like social media rewards oversharing, but I also want boundaries. How much of your personal life do you think business owners should share online? So true that I'm just gonna read that again. It feels like social media rewards oversharing. It does. It really does because it's so refreshing. Um, I think of what is the goal of me sharing something. So, say for example, me and my partner go on a date night, and I've got a really good picture of me in my dress and my little heels and my bag. A lot of people would post that and it would get good engagement because people would be like, oh my god, you look unreal, have a great date night, blah, blah, blah. But I think of what is this helping me to achieve in my personal brand? So whereas you could post the picture, but you could like add some text on it and make it a carousel about the importance of having a good partner whilst you own a business or something that links it back to your business. You have to separate a personal account from a personal brand. So every time you want to think about posting something, whether that is a story, a post, I don't care. It should all be intentional. Just think about why and what is that going to add? Because it's so easy to be like, yeah, I got this fire bikini picture on holiday. I'm gonna post that. No, because that's ruining your perception and your personal brand opportunities. So is that actually going to get me any closer to becoming a speaker? Is that gonna get me any closer to getting clients on or getting brands on? I think keep personal account and personal brand separate is like a non-negoche. Okay. The next question is I've reached a point where I know social media is important, but I can't stand creating content anymore. I'm considering hiring a social media manager, but everyone tells me that founder-led content only works when it comes directly from the founder. So now I'm wondering whether I should waste my money outsourcing something that still relies on me showing up. At what stage should a business owner hand social media over to a team and at what stage should they still be heavily involved? So, first of all, you can do founder-led content, but it doesn't have to come directly from the founder. Like your social media manager can arrange a content day with you, you show up once a month, once every two months, batch it all, get it done. Um, I think it's really amazing that you are actually acknowledging how how big of a deal, if that even makes sense, social media is and you should be focusing on it. Um, so I think any bit any business that doesn't have a hundred percent time to focus on social media should be outsourcing it. I think it's you know, all good and well saying just do what you can, show up, even if it's two, three times a week. Yeah, it's good and it keeps the accounts ticking, but you're basically leaving money on the table. So I would be outsourcing it if you literally can't do it. We're literally having the same problem at the minute, even though we do people's social media, we don't have have any time for ours, so we're going through this at the minute. Um, and being involved, I would say all you need to do is just approve the content and show up for our founder content day. It's as simple as that, babes. The next question is uh hello, exclamation point. I run a professional service-based business and recently hired a younger social media team. They constantly want me jumping on trends, using viral sounds, and making more entertaining content. Their argument is that attention is attention. My concern is that we're attracting viewers instead of buyers and slowly damaging our credibility. What's more important being entertaining or being respected? I would actually say being respected, definitely. Just being sure things are on brand. You can definitely be entertaining while still being on brand. Like, for example, we worked with a really big brand and we said to them, street interviews are doing well, and they should go on street interviews. And they were like, Oh, we just think that lowers the credibility of the brand and it looks quite cheap to be like going out onto the street because they were a really premium brand. And I was like, Okay, well, let's just elevate it. Let's get when you're doing the street interviews. How about we get you in a suit? We film it on a professional camera with microphones, we have a setup where it's like a you know, a uh a pop-up stand rather than just interviewing random people. We can give out goodie bags like while we're doing it, we can make it look branded, make it look fresh, and it worked. So, like you don't always have to it. I think it depends. I think like things like doing TikTok dances and stuff, I completely understand. Um, I wouldn't just always be doing that, but I do think you can add your own branding to things and make it look look a little bit more premium. Um, the next dilemma says, I started posting consistently around 18 months ago, and my following has grown really quickly. The issue I have at the minute is that I feel trapped with my audience. Every day I think about what's a post, checking analytics, responding to comments, and worrying about performance. I built my business for freedom, but social media feels like it's a second full-time job. How do you grow a personal brand without letting it completely consume your life? Okay, it is a second full-time job. I'm not even gonna lie. Like it's literally when I describe to people what my jobs are, I'm like, I own a business and I own a personal brand. It's it's a a full job and kind of controversial opinion. I think it needs to be all-consuming for you to get what you want out of it, and then you can start to slow down a little bit. Um, I think about mine all the time. Every single day. I'm like, what's my post for today? How did yesterday's post perform? People can call that sad. I don't really care. Like, I think social media is this generation's version of crypto. Like, the more you invest in it now, the more you'll get out of it later. So I don't really care if people do think it's toxic or whatever it might be. I think you get you get out what you put in. So I think as long as you lock in, um, obviously you can do things to prevent burnout. So say, for example, if I'm going on holiday, which I am this week, I'll like pre-film all my content and schedule it. So I literally am able to pretty much um zone out and switch off when I go on holiday. That's fine. But I think you have got to put the work in. Like I did a LinkedIn post recently about how when I was at Disneyland recently in Paris, I was still working while we were queuing up for the rides because it was so busy. So we had like an hour, or we actually were waiting on one for an hour and a half. You couldn't even get fast tracks because the fast tracks were sold out. It was awful. We were waiting in the queues for an hour, an hour and a half. Just me and my sister, and we both worked together. What do you think we spoke about? Like I was answering emails, I was editing videos, I was everything. I was just getting work done. Because if not, I'm just stood there in a queue. And I was talking about how it's like an 80-20 rule in business where you can have a day off for 80% of the day. The other 20%, it might mean you come back home from this day off and you answer your emails, or it could mean that you have the day off but you work a lot in the evenings, or it could mean, I don't know, that you have one thing but you have to sacrifice another thing. And I just think that's how it should be in the first years of business. And I agree that it's crazy. I agree that it can lead to you being burnt out. But if you're looking to build something really big that's going to last, you have got to put in a lot of work into it. And I actually love the LinkedIn post because it then became a bit of a thread of the places where people have had to do work. And people were saying, like at a funeral or like um at birthday parties, um, on the beach, like all these random places where we should be switched off and we're still having to work a little bit. So I think as much as I do find it hard, what I would say if you need some inspiration is try and take a week off, but at least schedule your content into content still going out, but you physically stopped for a week, if that makes sense. Um, but I'm definitely still in the go, go, go era at the minute of building a personal brand, and I definitely need a break from it. So I'm really looking forward to it. We've got cans this week, and then next week I'm going to Greece for like my actual switch-off one-week holiday of doing nothing, and I just couldn't be more excited. So those are all the dilemmas and questions that I'm answering this week. I hope this has helped. And as always, if you want me to answer anything, just DM it to me on Instagram, Vicky.oins. I physically don't have the brain capacity to look on anything else. So I feel really bad when people DM me on the business class podcast account, but I just don't see it. I don't think I'm logged into it. So if you want to DM me, make sure it's on my Instagram. Um, if you've enjoyed this episode, please do me a solid. Rate it five stars on Instagram, Apple, subscribe on YouTube, like this video. It means so much to me, makes me so happy. And I hope you've enjoyed this episode. I will see you next week!