Welcome to the Muthership Creator Strategy. Happy Friday. I'm back on the home front after my stint in Dallas briefly. And, I'm gonna be able to talk about it soon, hopefully. But for now, we'll just keep that under wraps and just say I had a really great shoot.

It was a lot of creativity. And I love when I get to get really creative with a brand because then it starts my wheels spinning for things that I wanna share with you guys. And there's a lot of learning that I have on these jobs because I'm working with big brands and I see what they're looking for in their talent that they're bringing into these projects. And all of this feeds into my analytical not too analytical sometimes, but my strategic brain. And it really makes me think about things a lot deeper.

So I'm here to share. But before I get started, I wanna tell you about my unsponsored by choice of the week, and this week, it is Fable Cosmetics. And I will be completely transparent and say I received this as a gift. I'm gonna show you because it's very branded. We've got Purple Box branding.

It came in a purple envelope, a shipping envelope, and everything inside is branded with the purple. I love when someone embraces a color palette and fully embraces their branding. I I took this out of the pouch already because I used it today, but this came in this nice purple pouch and it is some really beautiful blush colors. Actually, that I don't always use because I don't go with pink. I tend to go with more neutral tones.

So it's really nice to step it up into pink. I feel like it makes me feel a little, I don't know, rosy cheeked a a bit without looking eccentric, you know. And I love it because it also is a really nice mirror for because it's going into my my makeup case for for life now because I love to have a mirror in my makeup case. I also received setting powder. And I'll be honest and tell you, I've never used setting powder in my life.

So this is a first. It is so soft. And after I do my I I will tell you I use a a moisturizing I don't use a foundation. I use tinted moisturizer. So it's really nice when I that I can put this on top and it gives it like a soft matte kind of feel.

I love it. And I just like you know, the devil's in the details. Right? I love the little right? It's got the little powder puffs.

If you're watching this on YouTube, you can see what I'm showing. It is so dainty, so lovely. I adore it. And Tina from Fable Cosmetics also sent me a huge pouch. I was shocked.

A huge pouch of new brushes. Something I could definitely use because I will be honest and tell you I've been using the same blush brush for about ten years. It's embarrassing. So now, I was able to revamp, took out a new blush brush, I'm ready to go. Tina, you're awesome.

Products are great. They are good for you products. They are made with good ingredients so you're not putting crap on your skin. Tina is a makeup professional. She does really beautiful makeup, honestly.

I I'm inspired to start using eye shadow when I watch her videos. So I am going to link her content here, and I'm going to go and use because I also received a little discount coupon in here. Hold up. Hold up. Hold up.

Right here. So I can now purchase and play with eyeshadows. So that's coming coming up next. Thank you, Tina, and love the branding, love the vibes, and very grateful for the gift. On we go to the topic of today, which is why are you not growing on social media?

Let us sit back and really think about it. If you are posting strictly TikTok shop videos or strictly lip sync videos or strictly just photos with text on it, what else? Just photos of, you know, I don't know. Just like still photos is really I'm I'm and and not to say I'm anti still photos, but still photos is very 2017 Instagram kind of thing. So you've really gotta step up the game if you wanna play in the the league with the video video content creators.

So if you are doing those types of videos, it is very unlikely that you are going to grow followers because people follow people who they don't wanna miss their content, who they're getting value from. Okay? That is a big thing. A big thing. So so what you wanna make sure is that you are creating a reason why someone follows you, and this really goes back to the learning that I have when I'm on set, when I'm working with big brands, and I'm on these shoots.

And the people that they're picking, it to to represent their products when they see what they're who they're using for their, for their social content specifically. It is not necessarily huge creators that have that are like the influencers. It's typically really good storytellers who can make really good content, who feel authentic, who are sharing their truth versus trying to promote a product. There is a big difference between a quintessential, like, I will call it old school a little bit, old school influencer than their than a than a creator. If you are I think brands are looking for creators over influencers, but I know it's very similar because influencers are creators.

At least they started out that way. But what happens is influencers tend to they gotta follow the money because that's what's keeping their their living. So therefore, now they just become almost like I don't wanna say QVC, but it almost becomes like you're following them, you've bought into them maybe for their personality, and if you're a loyal follower from that time, you would buy into it. It's not as likely that an influencer is gonna grab a large new audience. It's not that likely because they've already established who they are, and now they are already an established influencer.

So any new audience that trickles in is like, oh, because they're the famous influencer. Oh, you don't follow her? You should follow her. And it's like word-of-mouth. But if you're trying to grow an account, you're really gonna need to give people a reason to follow you.

Whether that is adding value via things that you share or tips, any expertise you have, whether it's just making them laugh, whether it's being amused that if a creator amuses you, you might follow them. I mean, is kind of, it's hard to say what what adds value to someone's life because we are all different people, and what we consider valuable is different. And for example, we were just talking about the, Savannah Bananas today on our on our meet group meeting. And I love following them. I think they're so funny.

I think they're adorable. I love watching them dance. But that might not float someone else's boat. But they watching them makes me smile and adds value to my life in a way. I like to watch this guy who does like rapping off the cuff.

He just like someone will give him a topic and he can bap, bap, and I'm like, oh my god, you know? I find that really interesting. Like, that to me is like, I love watching people's creativity. People who do really good transitions and things love watching that. So what appeals to me might not appeal to you, but the point is there's something about that content that adds value to my life, which makes me want to follow that person.

So if you are just strictly posting a lip sync video, and I don't know what value that's gonna add to someone's life in an ongoing way at this point to make them follow you. It might have been the case in 2020 if you came on TikTok and you were doing strictly lip sync videos and people were like amused and throwing the follows right and left. We were bored. We had nothing to do. We were following every creator that came up on our for you page that amused us.

People are very, very particular about their follows now. And I can tell you firsthand, I sometimes post, things that I think, oh, this is gonna be so well liked, or somebody will message me and they're gonna and they're asking me for something like, would you do a tutorial on this? And then when I go to that person, they're not even following me. And I'm like, this person has obviously is at one with my content, but they haven't even take the time to hit the follow button, and they're asking me to make a tutorial for them. So I'm trying to say that it's hard to get followers, and it's gonna be really hard if you're not adding some kind of value to someone's life.

Because I'm even doing it, and I'm still like seeing all these people are asking me to send them this or do this for them or whatever, and then I go and they're not even following me. I think it's funny. But and I'm very not likely to then respond to that person. Like, I would be more likely to respond to a person who's been following me for a long time and asked me to make a tutorial. Then I'm like, oh, I this person's been such a loyal, like, in my in my world, been a like a friend to me on TikTok or on Instagram.

I'm gonna make them a tutorial. So you you see it's it goes both ways too. If you are a good viewer and you are supporting that creator, they notice it. I mean, it's just a fact. Okay.

So first thing I want you to think about is to flip the script and how to do that. If you can answer this question, ready? Why do I want to post on social media? Ask yourself that question, and then honestly answer it honestly for yourself. And if your answer is to make money, I can pretty much tell you that you are gonna have a really hard time growing an audience because your motivation is not the mean it's it's like it's not the means to the end.

Your motivation is the end. So you're already jumping to an ending, and you haven't even figured out what your purpose is, what your why is, why are you here, what do you enjoy, how are you gonna stay consistent. If you just want, I'm gonna make money. I mean, okay. Good luck with that.

I don't know what else I have to say except good luck with that. Because people make money because they have built trust. That is how it works. It is proven again and again from influencers of old that the influencers have built trust because they're relatable or trust because they're going through something that, you know, you're interested in watching. Whatever the thing is, they have built and curated that.

They didn't just put turn on their phone and start making money. I can almost a 100% guarantee that, honestly. Anyway, I'm just telling you the truth. So if you can't get an audience to trust you and you're just posting and because you're just like you came on and you go, I'm gonna make money, so now you're gonna post about every little thing you buy. This, that, boom, bing, makeup, this, blah blah.

I don't know what what person why would a person trust you to buy it from you? They might might just likely scroll on and wait for someone that they have already connected with, they've been watching for a while, and support that person who's selling something. Okay? It's somebody it's establishing that connection has way more value than just, having a product hit. Because you can do that.

You can do that strategy. Just post all day and maybe you'll have one that hits. You're not gonna grow a community that way. And I mean, I know that we talked about this on the studio today when when somebody said, well, if I I don't wanna mess with my algorithm by pop by posting non shop videos, and I was like, who's saying that in the first place? Because, of course, who?

Somebody that's pushing you to sell on TikTok shop. The the shop people are gonna are gonna push it because they want you to sell more. The app the app's probably gonna push it too and get behind those videos of people that are saying these things because they want you to believe it so that you're just constantly selling for them. But the reality is if you post something if you post in between content, and I know a lot of influencers in my life that do, like, that are friends of mine, they post like 70% non non sponsored content, and 30% of their content is sponsored. That's how they build trust.

That's how they keep their audience interested, not because every freaking video is a sales pitch. So that's just the reality. So I think the thing to do is if you are thinking, I wanna monetize, I wanna monetize. If you don't have a purpose behind it, it's going be a lot harder. I'm going to use a real life example.

A very real tangible situation that happened to me many years ago in working with a client who they had to come up with a new product. I don't even wanna get into the details of it. But new product, these guys, they were gonna promote it, they're excited, blah blah blah. So I said, well, we should do some storytelling content, so we're gonna make some storytelling content. And I was like and so I was interviewing them, and I'm like, well, what do you really love about this product?

Like, why did you get into this business? And they gave me some answer on the camera. But as soon as I stopped the camera, they went, to make money. And I was like, okay. That comes through.

Like if you're not real about what your mission is, and you're just trying to sell something, people are gonna see right through that in a way. Like, it's not gonna feel authentic. It's never gonna do the purpose of what you're intending because you're not feeling those things for real. So, you know, I'll leave you with that as in terms of like authenticity. But I'm gonna tell you that in general, I think what a lot of brands are looking for now are are creative creators, interesting or maybe storytellers or specific communities that have been built by a creator.

So it's like the menopause community, the autism community. Oh, this is a great example actually. Look Amber from the studio. She has curated a very beautiful, tight knit autism mom community. And with 11,000 followers, with not a million followers, she has brand sponsorships now because she has a loyal 11,000 followers.

She is passionate about what she's talking about. And so now when she's talking about something that's for a child with autism, it's very real, and it's not she's picking up a mug today, and a microphone tomorrow, and some headphones, and some makeup, and bing, bing, bing, boom. She has created ah, Amber, I hope you're listening. She has created a loyal audience who loves her, and loves her kids, and has invest and they have become invested in her. And the brands see the relationship she has with her audience.

The brands see the truth in her content and the from the heartness in her content. Actually, she's such a great example. I'm glad this just came into my head. Because you don't need to have millions in order to start monetizing. You need to have loyal.

You need to have a community of, you know, whether it's like minded or a certain type. Think about the people, women in my studio too who are doing menopause videos, and they're getting sponsorships for that niche because they're very specific in what they're talking about, and they've built a community before they were trying to sell their audience anything. So I think the thing is just remove yourself from jumping into, you know, the money you wanna make. I don't know. I kept thinking when I started also, like, oh, when I get a million followers, I'll be making so much money.

But I wasn't really thinking about that in the journey. I was in the journey, I was like, I really want to show people how to do this. I really want to teach people how to do that. And it never came to my mind. And I always thought, well, when I have a lot of followers, maybe I'll get sponsorships or something.

I don't know. I don't know what I thought I was gonna do to make money. I really don't because I didn't do it for five years. Before four years, I didn't even start doing any kind of paid thing or and then the studio thing came up because Julie and I started talking about what to do together. So I think that if you pace yourself and you don't put pressure on yourself to make money so quickly, you will have more time getting to find out what you're meant to make money doing on social media.

Okay? Have a wonderful week. Percolate those things for a little bit. Float them around. Ask yourself the question, why do I wanna post?

And answer it honestly. And then reassess. Just dial it back and and figure out if there is a purpose that you have that is before the make money part. Because ideally, it wouldn't be nice if we all could make money doing what we love on social media, and I was hoping that would present itself one day, and it has now presented itself, which is wonderful, and I look forward to my studio members seeing them every week, to be honest. But it's like but I, you know, I don't know if I was, you know, obligated in saying you know a lot today, but if I was obligated to talk about this microphone this week, this tripod next week, this tripod you know, after a while, like, I don't even know if I'd enjoy doing that.

So find your purpose. Don't put so much pressure on yourself to, like, make it happen so fast. It takes time. Play the long game. It's a much funner game.

That's why people like golf. Not me. But I do like the long game when it comes to business and thinking about, like, I don't wanna just do something because it's quick money today. Like, I really want to make sure I'm I'm liking what I'm doing because quick money is a dangerous game because then you're, like, obligated to that because you get, like, addicted to it, and then it's, like, is it fun? And then you find yourself in a job that, like, what the hell did I what the hell am I doing?

Okay? So just take your time. Take your time. Pace yourself. Trunquilo.

Trunquila. Depending on if you're male or female. And I'll leave you with my espanol. And before I leave you, just let me remember to tell you that if you wanna join the holiday challenge, we are in it to win it. We are doing a holiday challenge, and it starts today.

Today. So get in it and join us, and it's gonna be it's gonna be a nice twelve days of Vlogmas. You don't have to even do a vlog. Twelve days of holiday videos. Fabulous.

Okay. We'll see you soon. Have a great week. Thanks for being here, and enjoy the holiday season.