The Three Videos Every Business Should Post First

In this episode, we're pulling back the curtain on two recent client projects and breaking down the strategy we come back to again and again: pinned posts.

We walk through our content session with F45 Belmont and how we built out three foundation videos designed to live at the top of their feed, an origin story, a CTA, and a testimonial that we're honestly a little obsessed with. From there we get into our ongoing work with Mondays, a reformer studio where community and atmosphere drive everything we shoot.

But the bigger conversation is about why pinned posts work, and why they're usually the first thing we create with any new client. Unlike a regular post that disappears from the feed in hours, these three videos are doing work every time someone new lands on your page. They answer who you are, what you do, and why it matters, before someone decides whether to stick around or leave.

We break down how to approach pinned posts whether you're a personal brand, a small business, or somewhere in between, and why the strategy behind those first three slots matters more than most people realize.

We also get into the less glamorous side of growing something, reaching out to the people who left, asking for feedback, and why that discomfort is actually one of the most useful things you can do.

A podcast about what really goes on behind the scenes of building brands, businesses, and personal platforms. 

We talk marketing, content, branding, community, and the uncomfortable middle between idea and execution.
Built for founders, creators, and business owners who want honest conversations, not recycled advice.


Hosted by Matt and Olivia. Audio-only for now. New episodes regularly.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome back to episode sixteen. This one we want to talk about some of our past projects and just kind of what went into them. Let's start. Let's do F forty-five Belmont location with Aaron and Brent. Because that one was really fun. Yeah, it was. And we're so close to wrapping it up. How did this one come about? I think they knew that they needed content that felt more relatable and high quality content. They needed more human connection and human element to their content. So the first step was just to hop on a quick discovery call with them. And this was back in March, I think. Just to get a better idea of what they're looking for.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

And what was like what was their what was the conversation like with them?

SPEAKER_01 0:57

I think every conversation is somewhat the same when we hop on discovery calls. It's just a bunch of questions. Yeah. Getting a better idea of what they have been doing in the past, what has worked, what hasn't worked, where they want to go, what they want to do with the content.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

And then that gives us a better idea of our approach too, since every project is somewhat a little bit different.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Yeah. I feel like especially with a franchise like F-45, each one is individually owned. So I think it was important for them to distinguish their differences between the other ones and what and how they could create something aligned with that.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

Totally. And in the scripts, actually, we talked about how it is a franchise, but it doesn't feel like a franchise. No. And this goes across every business, but there is so much competition with different F-45s. Yeah. That you need a you need to figure out how to stand out and how to separate yourselves. And one of the ways we can do that is through better content.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

Yeah. And that's I think was like the selling point is what we could provide for them to make their content different than the other ones.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

Yeah. And we talked about everything from does this look like a monthly content where we work together pretty closely and repeat the process. Is this something quarterly where we come in every quarter to give you that batch of content?

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Or is this kind of a one-off, more so like a trial shoot to see if we're a good fit?

SPEAKER_00 2:35

Yeah. And I think it was more of the last one.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

I think it was more so build a foundation first for them, see how that goes. And then the nice thing about that was the way we positioned it was pin posts. And so one of the biggest problems with content is it will last on the feed for six hours and it's gone.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Most of the time. Unless it does very well. And so what we wanted to do was create these pin posts that would stay on top of the feed for as long as they want. And it's the first three videos that they see when someone new comes across their account. So it talks about Aaron and Britt, how they got into being owners of F-45. Like a brief Oregon story of why. And then the second one was more so our CTA like calling people to reach out, sign up for the five-day class pack, basically. And then the third one was a case study slash testimonial. Which I'm so excited for that to be. He's obsessed with post that I think I spent so much time on the first three seconds of that video. But it's so good.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

Yeah. And I think ultimately as a business, especially a franchise, those are two really um or three very important things to have highlighted at the top. And especially a testimonial. I think that those things are really important because it really shows the members' experience and how it makes them feel, and people can really connect with that, especially with local people.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

Yeah. It's almost a no-brainer for everyone to do this content day. Yeah. Or create the videos from themselves. Especially if you're not ready to commit to, let's say, a three-month contract. Yeah. Or six-month contract, 12-month contract.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

Because these types of posts are going to continue to work for you.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

Exactly. Even for myself. At the beginning, I thought these would just be best for personal brands and individuals. But literally every business can do this set of content. Like they all of them can create pin posts.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

Yeah. That's something that I actually did that yesterday. I created a pin post for my business platform, my business page. Because before it was just three nice looking photos just explaining, just one word explaining what the Instagram was, but it's like you can't tell it's an online platform based on that. So it's okay. You actually have to be strategic and be smart about what your pin posts are because people are going to land on that, look at that first and be like, oh, okay, this is an online platform or this is a studio. Because before it looked like I had the brick and mortar.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

And a lot of people thought you did have an actual studio.

SPEAKER_00 5:31

Yeah. And so I just I'm trying to take out all of the confusion and keep it very direct.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

And honestly, I think it's the one of the biggest factors when someone decides to keep looking at your account and keep doing their research versus immediately leaving.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Just for everyone, can you quickly explain what why a pin post is good and why it's effective?

SPEAKER_00 5:57

Just kind of going back to what I was saying. It's just it eliminates the confusion. It's more of a direct line of what especially for small businesses or businesses in general. Personal brands, I think you're allowed to have pin posts that are just really beautiful, or you're more high interaction ones that people like to highlight. But I think especially for small businesses or businesses in general, it is important to have those pin posts so that people can actually understand what it is that you're selling, what it is that you do, and people can go to that and learn about what your business is.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Yeah. Let's break down how someone let's say how a personal brand can use a pin post and then let's do a business.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

I think for me, for a personal brand, an individual or creator who knows that it would be effective for them, but they have no idea where to start. I think my first thought would be highlight who you are, how you got to that point of creating content for yourself through different jobs, your passions, your hobbies. Just basically a quick video of letting people know who exactly is Matt, for example. The second one could be honestly, it could be like an example of a UGC video that you made for a brand.

SPEAKER_00 7:25

That's what I was gonna say. It's like what is your niche when it comes to what content you create? Yeah. And it's almost like a portfolio piece.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

Yeah, totally. And that kind of works as a testimonial case study, but you could always make that third one a case study too. And a lot of our projects consist of these projects, and we find ourselves tweaking each one just because we can. Yeah. We have the flexibility to tweak it if we need to. If one of those topics doesn't align with you and what you're doing, we can swap that out for the lifestyle video of a product or service.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

Okay, so then when it comes to businesses or brands, what do you think?

SPEAKER_01 8:03

I got the hiccups. For a business, especially for a small business, I think you stay more aligned with those three topics.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

An ordinary story, who started the business, did you start the business? Why did you start the business? Where you were, how did you get to this point? Yeah. Give the audience just a good idea of everything from the timeline, basically.

SPEAKER_00 8:31

Totally.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

Second one would be again the case study testimonial. Highlight a customer, highlight a client, highlight a project that you completed.

SPEAKER_00 8:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

Show the results of it, show them the outcome of it. Break it down for everyone to see what went into that project.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

And then what is the second one? Third one, sorry.

SPEAKER_00 8:53

The third one was the case study.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

The second one was it about me.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

The about us showcasing what you guys do, how you guys do it. Yeah. Different offers, packages. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And we do this with a lot of clients. Yeah. A lot of our one-off content sessions are pin posts. We did this for a landscaping company. We've done this for a couple of gyms. We've done this for personal brands. We've done this for studios. We've done this across pretty much every single agriculture companies.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

I don't think people understand the importance of a pin post either. I think people just think it's just a post that people like to showcase. And there's actually a method to using it.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

Yeah, it's strategic. Yeah. The strategy behind it.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 9:47

So all of our retainer clients, the first content session we do is typically a pin post. We create three videos just to get you started. Because I find you do those first. That helps you create better content in the future too. It also gives you more ideas, too.

SPEAKER_00 10:03

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

It all comes down to just talking to the that one person who is your ideal customer.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

Yeah. This makes me want to create more. I have to.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Well, that's why we started the podcast. Okay. Let's highlight a different content session we were on.

SPEAKER_00 10:23

What was your recent one with Mondays?

SPEAKER_01 10:26

Mondays is a retainer client, and so every month we basically create a set of videos and photos. So this one on what day was it? Tuesday.

unknown 10:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

We wanted to really emphasize community, collaboration, just the atmosphere and the environment that you get walking into Mondays. So we did a lot of group photos, a lot of cancer, just a lot of laughing, having fun. We did a mock, quick 15-minute reformer class, get some make the room feel full, get a lot of shots of people working out. I try to be creative there too. I always like whip panning the camera. I don't know if you're a photographer listening to this, but if you're like slowing down the shutter and whip panning the camera to create those lighting effects, I was doing that. It looks so cool.

SPEAKER_00 11:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

But it's different because you don't see that in the reformer space.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

No.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Not necessarily. I haven't seen that in a long time. So it's new and it's different and it looks so good. So I'm excited to share those soon.

SPEAKER_00 11:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:38

But yeah, we really wanted to emphasize the community aspect of it. And then we also did a testimonial with two of the girls there too. But we've been those testimonials have been doing so well that every single month we're just highlighting new people. And I think that's one of the best things you can do for a local business or studio. Highlight the people.

SPEAKER_00 11:58

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

I even I like I've been t telling Liv this all the time. Like, I know it's online, but like email or reach out to the people that are members, get feedback. Figure out what they like, what they don't like, what could be fixed, what could be better. Like I think that's the first way of getting a creating a better community.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

Yeah. And this is like just the reality of starting a business is like doing the uncomfortable things of reaching out to people and really figuring out again what works and what doesn't. And I've been doing that a lot lately with some people who have paused a membership or they weren't even active on the platform and they didn't move forward with the platform. And I actually reached out to them individually. And as uncomfortable as that is, it's like you actually learn a lot from those things. And I was having a conversation with my dad about it, and he was like, and I just kept saying that those types of things aren't things that you take personally, it's something that you learn from, and you gain a lot of understanding, especially as like a new business. You want to make sure that you are creating something that people want to come back to, and there's no better way to do that than to talk to the people who are participating, both like active and inactive.

SPEAKER_01 13:24

Yeah, totally agree. Even I still do this sometimes too. After a shoot, I will send out like a quick form just to get a better idea of what they liked about the process, what could be better, what was stream like seamless. Yeah. Just to give myself a better idea of what I can get better on.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

Yeah, it's putting yourself in a position to get constructive feedback, especially as their own boss. You're not gonna necessarily give that to yourself. You have to reach out to your clients and members and w whoever your audience is to gain that level of knowledge.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

Totally. Sixteen minutes of Island Dodd for episode 16. What are a few things that someone can take away from this podcast, from this episode?

SPEAKER_00 14:10

The importance of pin posts, putting yourself in a position to be not criticized, but get enough information to be better and to work with us.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

Get on the pin posts.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

Yeah.