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Twice weekly show providing social media updates, trend alerts, original content ideas, strategy session, industry guests, tutorials and more!
Getting personal or oversharing? That's what we're gonna talk about today. Welcome to the Muthership Creator Strategy. Before we get started, a shout out to our creator of the
Helen:week, Kim Deckert, who has been with us in the studio for such a long time. Just a quick note about her content, and this is what I love, and it's gonna help.
Helen:Actually, she's the perfect creator for today's for today's message because her content is not forced. She is herself. She is calm, and her delivery is relaxing, and she helps women 50 with fitness, wellness, health, and all of that good stuff. So highly recommend going to give her a follow and see what she has to say. Let's talk about why her manner connects with the topic for today.
Helen:Why sharing more of you on social media actually helps your content. Now I'm not gonna sit here and say every creator should open up their doors to their house and everything's on display. This is not the Truman Show. Okay? You can choose and pick and choose.
Helen:But the way that most successful creators have become successful is because they give you a little peek inside. It's not just straight up hacks, straight up tips. There's a handful of creators who are gonna be successful doing that, but it will get to it gets to a limit of how far they're gonna go in terms of making a connection. Because you might have people who follow someone who is, you know, the TikTok tips of the week or something like that, and that's all they do, and that's what you follow them for. The growth and the connection is not gonna be as deep as if they were letting you have a little bit more.
Helen:Oh, so that's what we're gonna talk about. And why do some creators hold back? I'm gonna start with that. So we have, like, a few bullet points we're gonna hit today. A lot of bullet points, actually.
Helen:Oh my god. Maybe too many bullet points. I got carried away with myself, but I'll I'll power through it. But why do so many creators hold back? Because a lot of people think that nobody cares.
Helen:This is my you know, it's not relevant. They don't wanna make it all about me. Okay? You don't want a lot of people and I know I'm one of them. I don't like when it's I don't like to feel like it's all about me.
Helen:I and it's hard because when you're on social media, it kind of is. So, you know, if I'm being honest with myself, I open up myself and I share the things because I know someone's gonna relate to it. And so, yes, this is about me, but it also could be about you. So it's this relatability thing. I have a post I'm gonna put out, and I probably will release it before this podcast even goes live, about, what I discovered about low rise jeans versus high rise jeans and body type.
Helen:I did a little a little deep dive on that. And that is going off my usual content and sharing something personal about me where I figured out, oh, I didn't even realize I'm an average height, but I'm a I'm a short torsoed person. I never even knew that. So sharing that, it's not like I'm sharing something so intimate that I can't, you know, oh my god, I have to cringe when I walk out the door. But sharing that little bit of info is gonna be relatable to some people.
Helen:And they're gonna go, oh my god. I figured out that I'm short torso too. What do you know? I have a long torso. So it's more it's more pick and choose what you want to do, but this is I think a lot of creators hold back because they think that they it's like all or nothing.
Helen:Okay? Now let's just go with the overview here. Social media is not just about information. It's about connection. So if it's just about if you just have a page where you just wanna be powering out that information, very one-sided, you know, not following people, really just be you know, the accounts that have, like, 5,000, 10,000 followers, and they're following one or two people, that is clearly not an account that is trying to make a connection.
Helen:And it is very obvious when you follow an account like that, number one, there's no chance this person's gonna follow you back. There's no chance you're making a two way relationship. It's just one-sided. And a lot of people do that, and they can do that somewhat successfully because they're putting out a certain kind of content people are interested in. But the majority are not going to is the majority is not going to find success in that way.
Helen:I have to correct my grammar as I go. Alright. So search social media isn't just about delivering tips and facts. It's about connecting with people, making the relationships, building community so the more successful creators have a community around them. So even if they don't have a big, big follow back, they have following enough people and they have enough connection in their comment section of people who are having the conversations with them.
Helen:I can't I'm trying to think of who I can say is similar is like this even though a big follower. And this is probably she's probably too controversial for this podcast, but whatever. I'm gonna say it anyway. But, like, somebody like Bethany Frank Frankel, all the people in her comment section are either I mean, she'll have viral videos where she gets haters. But for the most part, it's people that are all like, we are with you, girl.
Helen:Every it's teamwork. Okay? And that feeling is something I enjoy on my own content when I post something and then I see my studio members all connecting. I love when I see my studio members connecting in their own videos, and I see, oh my gosh. Those I brought those people together.
Helen:It is a good feeling, and it it's what social media is about. This doesn't mean you have to turn your page into a diary. Alright? So let's just talk about the difference between being, I guess, useful or and then being memorable. Maybe let I'll I'll do it that way.
Helen:So if you are useful, people are gonna go, oh, yeah. That woman who who does the TikTok tutorials. But being memorable, oh, yeah. She shared her cancer journey. I remember that.
Helen:I wonder how she's doing now. Okay? Now that's an extreme example, but it is a very, very powerful example of what happened to me because I was plowing along teaching my tutorials, doing fine with that, you know. And then I would a little blips of my family, little blips of my my life. I always opened the doors to to a degree because I get excited about making content, and I like making content about the things I'm experiencing.
Helen:And so that's who I am. But when I opened the door that that period of time to share about something that was personal, it brought me huge, huge loyalty community, brought people together who wanted to help. What can I do? Can I send you makeup? Can I send you eyebrows?
Helen:You know what I mean? All the things. I mean, it's an extreme example, but it is a good example to show the difference because I didn't because I shared that, I didn't lose followers who were like, You know, now this teacher, we have to listen to her talk about cancer because I didn't make it all about that. I balanced the content between personal and informational. And I think having that helps when people get to know your personality, your perspective, your sense of humor, my dark humor at the time, my life experience, values.
Helen:If you think about these things and relate them to yourself, well, I'm gonna say them again actually. Your sense of humor, your story, your life experience, your values, your perspective, your personality. What are those things for you? And what can you start to let people in to see? So there's a lot of people that will do this just with funny little lip syncs, and then they have a thing like, oh, they love Diet Coke or something like that.
Helen:That's that's personal. Even though, you know, that you're gonna get the people that come out like Diet Coke's bad for you, you're still sharing something that you like that would be relatable and make a connection even if it's not about your fashion content or your makeup content. So it's letting someone in a little bit further, and then they're more likely to remember you and trust you because you're pulling back the curtain, like peeling it back a little bit. Alright? Now people love to follow people.
Helen:They don't just follow content. There is a big difference. You if you think about the successful creators, yet again, it is the personalities. It's not just because Mikayla I don't even know to say her last name, but she's a great example. People follow followed her.
Helen:And, yes, makeup tips, but they got invested in her life because she was starting to share snippets of her life and whatever the marriage and the breakup and all the things. So you're building community not just by pumping out information. And it doesn't matter if you are you have great information because you are part of that information. There is a ton of people teaching TikTok tutorials. Tons of them.
Helen:People some of them are copying my content and having successful videos. Like, okay. Go for it. But none of them are me, and they're not creating the community that I create because they can't replicate my life and my personality and my nuances of the things I do when I go out and about and I meet people and I have, like, a quick connection and then I record it. Those those little snippets are how I've built community.
Helen:And I don't believe I'm one could say, oh, you built community because you're teaching so many helpful tips. I don't think it's all that. I I don't. Because there were so many people that came into my con comments when I was going through cancer and where they were like, oh, I followed you to learn TikTok, but now I'm really learning about life. You know?
Helen:Things like that where where you're offering something a little bit a little bit more, and you don't have to be experiencing something dramatic to do this. It can literally be something as simple as sharing your favorite morning coffee drink or your favorite, you know, your favorite thing to do in your in your spare time. It little little things. And I'm gonna relate it back for one more second because it's important to show you the different levels. But, you know, even when I was pulling back the curtain and you might think, well, you just opened the door and you shared everything.
Helen:There were things I could not share, and they were that was by choice. Okay? I did not wanna bring my whole family's perspective into it. I wasn't gonna get on and talk about what my husband was going through, what my kids were going through when I was going through it. I there is a a division line for me where I know how far to go and what I can share and feel comfortable sharing.
Helen:And then it gets there is always a point where, okay, we don't need to tell people that. You know? And I don't I don't can't even think of what that is right now because I'm not that good on the spot. But what happens is personal content helps your message land even further. So you can help people understand things by sharing why you care about it.
Helen:And so even something as simple as me talking about stop motion yeah. Okay. I taught that lesson. Great. I know how to do stop motion.
Helen:My excitement about stop motion is what made that video better. My my joy of creating was very visible in that video, even to myself because I know how much I love stop motion, so it's not even an act. It's like, I really love stop motion. When it works out and it looks so amazing, I'm like, oh, man. That looks that's so cute.
Helen:You just I just love it. So I allow my personality to come through in my content. Okay. Now so let's talk about what it means to share more of yourself aside from me sharing about cancer because that's a great example. But I'm gonna give you other examples of what that means.
Helen:And I have a list because I love a list. But what it can look like is just simply behind the scenes of your day, a small personal story. I'm gonna use an an example of our Philly diaper cakes studio member. She makes cakes out of diaper baby diapers for baby showers and things. And she does all this content of how she makes her cakes her diaper cakes and all.
Helen:But she did one, which was a personal story about somebody she'd an unexpected customer. That was a great window into, oh, that's what she does. She talks about it in her day job. And then I suddenly pictured her with somebody that was a coworker. And now I have a different picture of her than I had before.
Helen:I didn't know anything about her before, but now it's starting to build. And it's not like she divulged where she works and who it was and what the company you don't have to go into, like, a diary entry. You can just give some context that is outside of the normal content. Okay? A little personal story.
Helen:You have you live on a farm. You have a pig. I'm gonna another studio creator. A little bit about what you use the pig's poop for. That was, a great personal story, and I kinda loved it.
Helen:So although I told her at the time that she needed to leave with that as her opening line because that did that little point didn't come out until way towards the end of the video. But anyway, that's like personal. How you learn something is personal. So you might be someone who's learning in the studio and you might say, you know, this is out of my comfort zone, but I'm gonna show you how I learned this transition. Boom.
Helen:That's personal because now you're telling people that you are studying, you are learning, you're trying to level up. You can also share something you struggle with. Okay? I struggle with making content and so now I'm learning how to edit videos. I mean, of course, I'm using that example.
Helen:But you might struggle with waking up in the morning and what you're doing to help your morning routine. And then somebody else might be like, oh, I struggle with waking up in the morning too. It's suddenly relatable to people. Your opinion on something. Okay.
Helen:That's always good. It's also people might say you wanna lead with your opinion because that will bring out always somebody on the opposite side, and you'll immediately have engagement. And if you want that kind of, controversy and negativity in your comment section, you have to be prepared for that. So but sharing your opinion on something that's more, I don't know, benign, that's just fun. You know?
Helen:That can make fun content like pineapple pizza and you have a strong opinion one way or the other. That the people who don't like pineapple pizza, honestly, they're not gonna attack you like if it was like a political opinion. So and they might, but it's fun then. It's not the same negative energy. So your opinion on something in your niche.
Helen:If you're a fashion creator and you have a strong opinion about low rise jeans versus high rise jeans and who should wear them and vice versa, That's a great opinion to share. But you can also talk about bring yourself into it. As a fashion creator, I know this about my clients, but I also know on my body type, blah blah blah. And then you've suddenly brought yourself into the conversation. So it has gotten a little more personal.
Helen:Sharing your humor and then also sharing your process. So I'm gonna review those because I kinda rambled through them. Here are what examples of sharing more can look like. Behind the scenes, a personal story, how you learn something, something you struggle with, your opinion on something, benign or serious, your humor or your personality, like what you know, let your let people see the funny version of you. I, like, break into song a lot of times.
Helen:A lot of times. If you are on my lives, you know this about me. But I do. Suddenly start singing. And so recently when I was talking about that piece of the the Gap jeans, content piece, I just start singing.
Helen:Thank you, Gab, for bringing it back. Like, I don't know. I just broke into song. But that's, like, what I do. So I now have let people see that that might not know that about me.
Helen:Something a little oh, I didn't even have this one, but I'm gonna add one more before I wrap this section up, which is a skill you have, like a secret skill. I'm always doing the baton twirling thing or handwriting backwards in script. Like, those things give a window into, oh my gosh. She's crazy. She's got these little quirky talents or whatever.
Helen:And then sharing your process. So there are some examples of what personal sharing it doesn't have to be oversharing. Okay? So now I'm gonna get into the next topic, which is being personal is not the same as oversharing. Okay?
Helen:You don't owe the Internet or your followers everything about you. You don't. You don't owe them anything about you, honestly, but you can choose what stays private versus what you feel like you want to let people in on. You can be personal without oversharing deeply private issues, painful detail painful details about a thing, every single detail about your life. Why personal content often gets better engagement is because a lot of times it's more relatable.
Helen:So if you those things definitely bring out, you know, the opinions bring out the haters, the relatable moments bring out people who are going through the same thing. I remember Julie, a long time ago, shared a video when she lived in Chicago, and it was about a glow up. But her glow up remember when glow ups were everybody was showing their glow up on how their fashion changed from high school to through to adulthood or something? And her glow up was a series of parkas because she had to be prepared for the weather, and she owned, like, six parkas be when she lived in Chicago. Like, that's relatable because peep that went viral, by the way.
Helen:Because people who live in Chicago know what's what's up with the they need to be warm. So it was very, very funny. But, yeah, that's something that you can think about, something that's very niche that you can share that's purse that's becomes personal and becomes, so relatable to people. I'm so glad I wrote this list and I'm, like, going off the rails every time. But sharing about yourself can be generous and not necessarily self centered when it's done thoughtfully.
Helen:It can be generous because it helps people connect, trust, and relate to you. They will feel less alone. They will feel seen, feel heard. There was a oh, so many funny videos sometimes about husbands that are so relatable and so funny. And I'm like, oh, of course, now everybody in the comment section is, didn't know I was married to this the husband that sneezes the same as as your husband or whatever.
Helen:Just like funny things like that. Suddenly, that's a very relatable video. And that's sharing personal stuff. Like, that woman opened up about her relationship and then found out, oh my gosh. My relationship is the same.
Helen:And it was it it's just like funny videos like that. But it's also, generous of you because it lets your audience know you're not perfect. Your life isn't perfect. You're not on you know, this isn't like an Instagram post that is curated. Life is real.
Helen:Life is not always pretty. And letting people know that even your life, which seems so perfect from the outside for what people are seeing on social media, it's okay to let them know that it's not perfect, and it's real. Real is always gonna win. I have to come to the like come to the conclusion of that. Because in a world of generic content and lots of people copying everybody else's content and I'm gonna make that video because that person made that video and it went viral.
Helen:You know, even viral isn't necessarily the win because viral gets you, okay. You copied someone's video and you went viral. Great. Now they're following you. What kind of connection do you have with them if you just copied someone's video?
Helen:Gets you into a cycle of you constantly have to copy people's videos to maintain that and to keep those people interested. But you're not just filling your feed with views. You're building relationships. You're building connections, and your social media will be way more successful if you do it that way. It's not just a performance.
Helen:So to wrap it up, I feel like I'm getting so serious, but to wrap it up, people connect with people, not just information. Your content will get stronger when people can feel the person behind it. You don't need to share everything, but sharing a little more of yourself can really make a difference to your viewers and your followers who are becoming your friends because parasocial relationships are real. It's true. People think they know you once they start to get see a little bit more of your life.
Helen:And the human part of your content will probably be what people remember the most. Alright. Have a great weekend. Think about those things. Think about how it relates to your content right now.
Helen:And, think and maybe the challenge for this week is, since I did it, I put out one video that is more, like, off topic, but because it's not a tutorial. And I like to do it I do it more on my story, but I did it I do it as feed posts now and again. Shared my son's Special Olympics win. A lot of engagement because people are invested in me now, my son. I mean, it's just it's really nice.
Helen:I think you'll feel good. So at the end of the day, make your content so you feel good, make the connections that make you feel good back, and have fun doing it. Alright. Have a great weekend. I'll see you next week.