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Episode 204 - SEO for Socials with Catalina Jean — Book Out Without Chasing Algorithms
0 Playsin 8 hours
Guest: Catalina Jean — SEO & Marketing Strategist for Creative Beings
Host: Carissa Woo (@carissawoophotography) https://instagram.com/carissawoo
Episode Theme: Turning your socials into client-booking machines (without burnout)
💡 Episode Snapshot
If you’ve ever felt tired of dancing on Reels, chasing every Instagram trend, or wondering why the algorithm hates you — this episode is your permission slip to stop the hustle and start building assets that actually bring you clients.
Catalina Jean helps photographers and wedding pros book out their calendars with SEO + Socials — a simple, sustainable, and scalable approach to marketing that doesn’t require daily posting or algorithm prayers.
In this episode, we dive deep into:
- 🌿 The truth about SEO for socials — what it actually means and why it’s your secret weapon for consistent inquiries
- 📈 How to create content that compounds (instead of disappears in 24 hours)
- 💬 Why your captions, hashtags, and website copy all matter for discoverability
- 🧩 The balance between long-form SEO content and short-form social strategy
- 🕊️ How to market without burnout and still book 30–80+ inquiries a month
🔥 Heck Yes Moments
“We don’t chase algorithms — we build assets.” – Catalina Jean“SEO isn’t scary. It’s the most freeing marketing system for creatives.” – Carissa Woo
💻 Connect with Catalina Jean
- Website: catalinajeaneducation.com
- Instagram: @catalinajean
- Free Resources & Trainings for Wedding Pros on her site
💕 Connect with Carissa Woo
- IG: @carissawoophotography
- Podcast: Get a Heck Yes (new episodes every Woo Wednesday)
- Join the 10-Day Challenge to build your own passive-income digital product → link in bio!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction: Viral Video and SEO Success
00:00:00
Speaker
Happy Moon Wednesdays! Catalina Jean will blow your mind today. Her most viral video got zero wedding bookings for her for photography and she started a brand new account with barely any followers and a photo got 20 likes and someone booked her highest 10k package off of that and she gets like a bazillion inquiries a month which is insane.
00:00:21
Speaker
She started using SEO for socials and that is what we are going to be talking about today. So I started a new IG because of her and I'm so excited. I'm going to test everything and I'll keep you in the loop.
00:00:33
Speaker
And yeah, we totally nerd out in the best possible way today. So go check out Catalina Jean and Catalina Jean Photo and you will be obsessed with her binge-worthy content.
Carissa Wu's Journey into Photography Coaching
00:00:44
Speaker
And thank you to 17 Hats. I will be doing a 17-week series on IG called Earn More, Work Less, and Un-F Your Business. Tune into that and enjoy this episode.
00:01:00
Speaker
Welcome to Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. I'm your host, Carissa, and I've been a Los Angeles wedding photographer for over a decade. I've traveled the world, built my team, and seen it all.
00:01:11
Speaker
I now coach wedding photographers hit 10K a month and build a thriving business.
Strategies for Wedding Creatives to Secure Ideal Clients
00:01:15
Speaker
In this podcast, we are going to deep dive into how top wedding creatives get that heck yes from their dream clients. We are not holding back on the struggles of the business and how to push through the noise. Some healthy hustle, mindset shifts, up-leveling your money story,
00:01:29
Speaker
Time hacks because I'm a mom of two, a little bit of woo-woo, and most importantly, self-love and confidence are just a few of the many things we will talk about. I want to give you a genuine thank you for following along my journey.
00:01:41
Speaker
i hope to inspire you every Woo Wednesdays so that you say heck yes to listening to this podcast.
Catalina Jean's Marketing Approach: Breaking Free from Trends
00:01:47
Speaker
See you guys soon.
00:01:51
Speaker
Happy Woo Wednesdays, everyone. Today on Get a Hack Yes, we're talking to the amazing Catalina Jean. I think you're probably the coolest person ever. She is a marketing mentor and educator who's changing the way photographers and wedding pros attract their dream clients. I had to have you on after looking at your Instagram.
00:02:11
Speaker
She used to think that it was impossible to book clients without posting every day, dancing on rails or chasing every new trend. That hustle felt exhausting. So she found another way. She cracked the code and now she books out every year with 30 to 80 plus inquiries a month.
Catalina's Early Life and Tech Fascination
00:02:28
Speaker
Holy cow.
00:02:29
Speaker
Give me some of that. All without obsessing over like likes or praying to the algorithm gods. Welcome, Catalina Jean! I'm so stoked to be on and to chat about some of my favorite things.
00:02:43
Speaker
Yes, because you are the marketing scientist. That's exactly it. It's that little giggle. It's exactly it. Oh my god. Okay, so I know everyone's going to go like binge, like watch your stuff, which you have to. um Everyone, Catalina Jean.
00:02:59
Speaker
um But tell the Heck Yes listeners who you are in a nutshell. Okay. Yeah, so my name's Catalina. I am just pretty much the most ultra nerd that you could probably imagine. um yeah i just love research and testing and kind of running all sorts of scientific experiments. I also and obsessed with reading fantasy and sci-fi. When like everyone got into the fantasy world from like Okatar, I was like, yeah, I'm not the only one.
00:03:33
Speaker
um You're like, now you're finding this out? Yeah. I'm like, welcome wizards and dragons. um And I live in Portland, Oregon with my husband and my little dog that's over on the couch. His name is Henry and he's a funny little red Boston. Both both the men in my life are redheads. So my husband's a ginger and then my dog's red.
00:03:52
Speaker
Oh, that's funny. I'm like, I guess that's my thing. Oh, that's funny. Oh my God. Yeah. I mean, all my Oregon friends, they're very cool like you. like They got the cool look and the cool vibes. So Yeah, it's all making sense.
00:04:06
Speaker
Okay, we're going to get into your backstory, your origin story. What were you like as a kid? Were you ultra nerd as well? Yeah. Yeah. And I actually, when I was a kid, i really didn't like that I was like that. it was, you know, it was really difficult to make friends. I was very awkward. I'm am still pretty introverted. Yeah.
00:04:28
Speaker
yeah But I still a nerd. that i remember like my strongest memory was when I first sat down at a computer for the first time in like middle school. And I was like, what is this magic machine? And since then, like I was, um coding websites when I was like 12 and um I would hack the school computers like I from the library I'd like hack the computers in the computer lab and like take over people's computers and be like I'm a ghost and you're being haunted my god that's so funny it's like because you could hack local area networks I couldn't get on the the teacher networks they are on yeah yeah but uh
00:05:05
Speaker
But yeah, that, but it definitely, you know, that's something where I've looked back and I'm like so thankful for that ultra nerd because it, it really, once I kind of allowed myself just to fully exist in I was like, this is the joy of my life of just playing with little technologies and apps and really getting into really deep into to topics. But, um, how did you have a toad at 12? I I just like can't, you if I have something in my mind that I need to figure out, I like have to figure it out. And um yeah, I would just play with codes and that's, I started mixing codes and that's just like so much of what I do is I pull things together that are sort of unexpected and kind of see what happens.
00:05:48
Speaker
um But same thing too, with like I was very into video games, but I was really into figuring out all the hacks in the video games. games like I would show up I would like mix classes together like I'd be like a warrior fairy and so I'd like run into like a group battle and I'm like a warrior holding a fairy wand and like all the other people are looking at me like the players are like that That's not correct.
00:06:09
Speaker
That was also a terrible idea. I died immediately, but I'm glad I tried it. Me and you are probably like the exact opposite people ever. You're like no video games. That's most. My husband doesn't like video games at all. You're like the dream woman that like loves video games and he's like a musician. like oh um cool guy.
00:06:29
Speaker
um But ah yeah, so but he he appreciates my nerddom. And he's a nerd in his own right. he's It's just cooler thing. No, think it's so cool. What were you like in like high school days?
00:06:42
Speaker
um i definitely kind of kept to myself. I really... I was like a really good bad kid. So I had like 4.0, but I basically cheated through most of my classes because I found them really boring. like i was just But if I was really interested in a subject, I'd be very into it.
00:07:03
Speaker
And then um when I was, i think, a a sophomore, i figured out that I could sell because I was really good at geometry and I was in the first class and I figured out like, oh, why why don't I sell the answers to other students?
00:07:18
Speaker
Wow. And so I had like a little business doing that until I got one answer wrong. And then a hundred people all got it wrong after me. And my geometry teacher was like, after the day after the test was like, so i i know who this is, who is doing that if they come to me after class. Oh my God. That's crazy. was my proudest moment. Honestly, I was like, not even mad. I got in trouble. And he, I went up and he's like, yep. And I'm like,
00:07:47
Speaker
That's so funny. I used to cheat like my whole education career. And um we used to get like the test from um my business fraternity co-ed fraternity.
00:07:58
Speaker
And then um we all got it. But for some reason, like I answered, I didn't copy and paste like one answer. And I was so proud of myself because all my friends got in trouble. Yeah.
00:08:10
Speaker
And not me. I
Overcoming Adversity: From Homelessness to Business Success
00:08:11
Speaker
was like, I'm a genius. That's the thing too is I think like with a lot of things, there's all these like assumed rules and I love breaking rules.
00:08:22
Speaker
I think it's really cool to find the ways that we can like break rules and not just be like, oh, I have to be this way or do this thing too. Yeah. There's just like, there's fun ways to do things.
00:08:33
Speaker
Totally. Are you, um do you have siblings or like are your parents whizzes too? Yeah. Yeah. so I have a little sister who lives in LA. So my parents are both gone and I actually grew up mostly in foster care. So was like homeless as a little kid for most of my life. wow i was ah I was adopted um and when I was 13.
00:09:00
Speaker
But before that I had, and I think too, that's why um kind of why I have such passion and drive now is being that young and figuring out like oh I have to figure out how to feed myself today like so I started cleaning apartments so I could go um I my sister and I joke that the dollar menu saved our life at McDonald's because like we would make enough to like go we'd go on our little like rollerblades that we, think we got from like a free pile and, uh, yeah, i get our McDonald's. But yeah, I think it really, it really birthed something cool in that. Um, yeah, that was a lot of years that were, it was a really interesting way to grow up and, uh, yeah, but my adoptive family is really,
00:09:44
Speaker
is really great and i really How old were you when you got adopted? 13. but Okay. Yes. So your life could have been down instead of up. What made you choose like the ah straight path or the ah path to success?
00:09:59
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't for a number of years. So I definitely became kind of the stereotypical. I really fell hard in my 20s, fell very hard into drug addiction and again into homelessness.
00:10:14
Speaker
um So it's like I kind of started out strong, but I didn't have... Because a lot of those in the boomer generation, and that's what I was adopted into, it was kind of like no one really talked about what had happened when I was young. And so I'd kind of bottled it down. wow But it sort of exploded later. And I really, i really broke down and um Yeah, and then really facing that level of self-betrayal was really hard. And so when I first started my own thing, my own business, I was a pretty shattered person. And it really put me back together to be able to create something beautiful, to create something that I could give
Discovering Passion: From Office Work to Wedding Photography
00:10:54
Speaker
to others. And, um, yeah, my business definitely healed so much in me. Cause I'm like, okay, I can do this. Like, yes, I felt really flat. Yes. I really, i really, um, let myself down and yes, it's understandable from the past experience, but, um, yeah, the biggest thing that's given me such a, a fire for life. Cause I lost my um a lot of years, you know, that they weren't lost, but it it can feel a little like that. And I'm like, for the remaining years I have, I would really love to make an impact and really build something real.
00:11:26
Speaker
And yeah, so those were some, those were, I definitely had a crash and, but I was able to kind of pull it back together after, after a number of years and, you know, from it got to create something really beautiful that I'm very proud of.
00:11:41
Speaker
Thank you for sharing. That was so vulnerable. It's beautiful too. um Tell me about the early stages of that time when you're trying to pick up your life and starting your career.
00:11:53
Speaker
And then tell me about the career. Yeah. So um when I was kind of putting things back together, I mean, I didn't have a college degree. I had just like You know, totally, really messed that up. And so I was, I was sitting in an office working in this base position. I was literally scanning like 60 year old documents in the back of a cubicle. And I was like, this horrible. This horrible. it just Horrible. and And one thing, i hadn't lived in sort of civilized society like for most of my life. I'd been kind of you know like a little bit of a street kid and then kind of again in my 20s. But i i you know phones started to have cameras on them and then I started to get absolutely obsessed with that. And there the photos were so bad.
00:12:40
Speaker
Oh my God.
00:12:42
Speaker
um If you scroll all the way back to my Instagram account, I left them there because they're so bad. it definitely want them. yeah Yeah, it's bad. um And that was like literally 14 years ago. And then I got my first nice camera and started taking photos.
00:12:58
Speaker
And I would, you know, you start with landscapes and like, i don't know, stuff around your house. And I was like, well, that's all very boring. And then I started to shoot just coworkers, families and stuff. And I was like, yeah.
00:13:10
Speaker
I like photographing humans. Like this is, this is really interesting. And then I shot one wedding for free for a friend's cousin.
00:13:21
Speaker
I shot for like 12 hours just for free. Yeah. yeah and um yeah And then i but I was like, I got done it and I was like, I'm obsessed.
00:13:33
Speaker
that was It was like such a cool challenge. like Just this like living, breathing thing that you're attempting to put into art through a digital object. i was like, this is so cool. And then that first wedding... And I didn't know what I was doing.
00:13:48
Speaker
I was just... just doing random stuff. I was like posting on Craigslist. Like that was my first. Yeah. yeah right Right. And I, I submitted it and it got accepted for publication on like wedding chicks or something. And I was like, I was like, nice. Yeah. They were like one of the first. And I was like, well, maybe I don't, I don't
Balancing Art and Business in Photography
00:14:07
Speaker
suck at this. And ah yeah. And it was just like, i it's almost those years are a blur. Cause I was just so obsessed with this like it's like every wedding was this interesting equation to figure out and this sort of competition of one of like I want to get better with each I want to get better and like taking an inspiration and yeah and I've definitely had the you know like we all do where there's a few years that you face burnout that you take on too much and and all those things um but yeah it was definitely i I'm not I wouldn't consider myself any sort of
00:14:41
Speaker
artist like that was very surprising to me of being such like a computer related person yeah but for some reason me and the camera i just got along and I was like what an interesting and I mean it is a digital piece in its way but it's yeah it's just been this you know and I've been full-time now for 12 years and it's it's still so you still shoot a lot you oh wow how many weddings a year So right now I don't shoot more than 15. Okay.
00:15:06
Speaker
but um Yeah. So last year ah shot 15. So that's kind of where I stay now. um On my height of my thinking I was invincible, one year I shot 46 and like half of them were travel. So I was like flying to Yosemite and then Mexico and then like teaching at conferences. And that was my burnout year.
00:15:26
Speaker
Highly don't recommend it. Yeah, I had one at home too, yeah. I think we all do eventually where it like gets really exciting and you're like, okay, I need to dial it back. So see yeah, but now I do, now I just do 15.
00:15:38
Speaker
But um so my husband jokes that my business is very over marketed since I do, like even this year, which is a lower year, at just, just got over, um think 350 inquiries for the year, which is much more than I
SEO Focus for Wedding Photographers and Creatives
00:15:52
Speaker
need.
00:15:52
Speaker
yeah um But I'm happy to pass those to friends and other talented people. Oh, that's so nice. Yeah. where Where are you located? ah In Portland, Oregon. Oh, yeah. yeah yeah dagger yeah sorry I totally bring it. It would be considered Portland, but I'm about 15 minutes from that time. I'm like, hook it up. Yeah.
00:16:10
Speaker
i Okay. So now this's time it's time to talk about your business, what what you do for Wedding Pros and Creatives and yeah talk a little bit about the business side. and Not the wedding side, but like the SEO side.
00:16:24
Speaker
Wedding pros, listen up. If you don't have a CRM that helps you organize and automate your entire business, you need to stop everything and get one. I've been using 17 hats for over a decade and I'm telling you right now, I could not run my business without them.
00:16:40
Speaker
They're also the sponsors of this podcast and for good reasons. With 17 hats, I know exactly when I'm getting paid. i can project my income for the month and the next year and the next year, and I never have to awkwardly helm people for money again.
00:16:55
Speaker
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00:17:07
Speaker
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00:17:19
Speaker
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00:17:29
Speaker
Yes, 50% off. Go check it out. Set yourself up for a success. And big shout out to 17 Hats. I couldn't run this podcast or my life without you.
00:17:42
Speaker
All right, quick plug for myself, but this is really for you. If you follow me on Instagram, you already know I'm all about helping wedding pros make passive income. That means making money while you sleep.
The Essence of SEO in Business Growth
00:17:55
Speaker
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00:18:17
Speaker
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00:18:31
Speaker
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00:18:47
Speaker
back to the
00:18:50
Speaker
Yeah, that was kind of my transition into... Because... but so by my second year in business, I was completely booked out. And i was like, wait, what am I doing? and Because I was just trying things. It was just throwing stuff against a wall. I'm like I don't know start a business.
00:19:07
Speaker
But yeah, went to one networking event and I was like, I'm i'm going to melt. Like, this is this is really hard for me to do this in person. And so i looked at Google and was like, what is this?
00:19:21
Speaker
How does this work? And so I've never taken an SEO class. I didn't even know it was called SEO before it was working. I just reverse engineered um what people were kind of doing on there. And then that skyrocketed things. um i I taught marketing once.
00:19:37
Speaker
at a workshop and then everyone afterwards was like, what is SEO? And I was like, oh, nobody, oh, nobody knows about that. So then I focused on that and it's been, um so I've been and educator and coach in a conference and stuff since,
00:19:53
Speaker
2016. So a long time. yeah um and yeah And since then, yeah my just like my big question that keeps me up this night is like, how does a business go from being known or unknown to known? wow that is like That is such an interesting leap um to make. So that is, so my obsession of getting, i do things in really complex ways that take a very long time to learn. And then I pass them to others when they have been simplified down and tested. So that way they don't have to go through
00:20:27
Speaker
absolutely. figuring things out and so that's been kind of my yeah sort of like how i package things up i tend to do things for very long and very complicated and i'm like oh but this is the most simple way to get the same result it just takes time and that's what no yeah Yeah, exactly. I just, I'm the translator. I'm like, you should, because I know most people are not obsessed with marketing.
00:20:49
Speaker
um They want to be photographing and that is a hundred
Implementing SEO in Social Media Strategies
00:20:52
Speaker
percent. Okay. Like let's find your cheat codes to get there because there's marketing and then there's what works for you specifically with your life and your business. And that's what I hope to like give and customize for people.
00:21:04
Speaker
o I'm so excited. Okay. So I don't know if you said it exactly yet, but what is your hot topic and why is it so near and dear to your heart? You pretty much just said it, but you could sum it it's it's it's to pick i mean it's tough to pick one because I'm i'm really kind of like a like a polymath of marketing. I want to learn every facet. So i you know I'm more in the process now of also learning ads and things. But um I will say that my my hot topic is still on my base foundational topic, which is SEO.
00:21:34
Speaker
ah so And then the hot topic that I think is really important right now is SEO for social, since that is newer. um Because ah SEO applies to absolutely everything. There is SEO on YouTube. There is SEO for ads. they It is underneath everything because as the internet becomes complex, it needs a way to be...
00:21:55
Speaker
indexed and understood and delivered to searchers or people who are scrolling. So that's what SEO does. It's sort of the the thing on the back end that helps connect our work to people that are potentially interested in it or searching for it. But the SEO for socials, I think, is really important now since that's a really new thing this year that I noticed. So I've been really excited to talk about that more and get resources in people's hands.
00:22:20
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. So and I guess it all ties into your big question, um how you get, you know, to be known. But i've I didn't do too much research before this, but I have seen on like Instagram where you could like have alt tags on the the photos.
00:22:37
Speaker
i Maybe we'll get into that, but let's just banter about it. So give some tips and tricks for the listeners today. Definitely. Yeah. And I was so excited when I really saw SEO happening for socials because for a minute I was like, oh, is... Not that I thought Google was going to become obsolete, but as socials became more prevalent, I was like keeping an eye on is this... Because it's really important to me too. Like I've told my students that if if ah SEO for Google becomes obsolete, I will be announcing it. We will be shifting and you'll come alongside me.
00:23:09
Speaker
But when I saw SEO for socials, when I've been doing SEO for 10 years, I was like, yeah's yeah, let's go. So sort of some tips and tricks with it. So it's when it comes to all SEO, anywhere that you can put text is an opportunity for optimization.
00:23:25
Speaker
Always, always,
Magic Keywords and Understanding Client Behavior
00:23:26
Speaker
always. So the robots and such are reading those things. So this has to do with your caption, specifically the first sentence of your caption from my testing.
00:23:36
Speaker
ah Hashtags-ish, I think would consider that a second layer of optimization. You can also add alt text. I have done tests with posts recently. with adding alt text, without adding ah alt text, I actually didn't know notice too much a difference, but it's really in that caption in the first sentence.
00:23:52
Speaker
And then an additional layer is the text. If you end up doing, you know, more of an informational post or whatnot, the text that is actually on the photo or on the reel or the first words you say, if you're doing talking to camera, that's, so that's kind of this layered thing that anywhere there is words, you can potentially,
00:24:12
Speaker
optimize. wow And sort of the best way to optimize, the easiest way for photographers is kind of what I refer to as magic keywords. In the wide world of SEO, We have it real easy. I know it seems like we don't, but I study SEO across industries and it is almost impossible for small business owners to carve out on there because they're coming up against the big publications, things like that. It's just things get taken over. we have an interesting little window with magic keywords that and usually has to do with...
00:24:44
Speaker
specifically with locations, targeting locations, venues, things like that. And then the additional layer for wedding photographers is we get to tag people in the photos and specifically to people that are a little...
00:24:59
Speaker
um higher up in the hierarchy of hiring. So like the venue and the wedding planner, because you know, couples are going to those profiles, yeah going over to that tag feed because they know there's the curated feed and they're like, well, what are people actually tagging? yeah That's a second layer of optimization where you're not just going for search, but you're also going for the lurk.
00:25:19
Speaker
Where are they lurking? Where are they kind of like that behavior. And that's something when it comes to marketing is it's not about these rules and tricks. It's all about role play. What are your potential client customers actually doing? And how can you kind of slide your work around in those places so that it becomes more visible to people who are in motion to buy and not just kind of, you know, just likes and views and and things like
Rethinking Instagram Strategy: Quality Over Quantity
00:25:44
Speaker
that?
00:25:44
Speaker
Yeah, when Ad Collaborator came about, i was I was like, I'm on it because I want to be that first person when they go to the venue site and the wedding planner site.
00:25:55
Speaker
um Sometimes they don't even a accept. So that's kind of sad. And I'll even ask, like, can you accept it? Like, I spend a lot time on this. yeah Yeah, I have some that try to add me as collaborators, but my main account isn't photo based anymore. I have a ah little new account for that.
00:26:11
Speaker
ah But I'm like, I'm sorry, I can't accept because my I know gonna mess face. This account changed like tag that one. Yeah. Okay. um Let's get people super excited right now.
00:26:22
Speaker
I think it's like your first post that's pinned, but you talk about like one of your posts went viral, but it got you zero sales. And then one got, you could, you could take this on.
00:26:33
Speaker
I talk more about that. Oh, yeah. Yeah. When that, it was my first ever photo post that wit went a bit viral, you know, getting almost 3,000 likes. That's a big deal. it was a wedding that I shot in Positano, Italy. It was one of my favorite weddings ever. And it was, so and I was like, yes, I'm going back to Italy. You know, like I was like, yeah this is going to happen. yeah And zero, zero inquiries. And i and I was kind of like,
00:27:05
Speaker
That's because only other photographers are seeing this. you know I went through the data. I went through the metrics. And wow, that's cool. I was like, oh there's something going on here. So I've been getting very, very deep into research for Instagram's new algorithm and engagement and things like that. It's kind of my new... i was very anti-Instagram until two years ago.
00:27:26
Speaker
And then I was like, I think I'm being a hater. I think I think i need to like do some internal looking that maybe I'm actually a little bit scared of Instagram and I don't actually hate it, yeah which I think a lot of people can relate to. It's it's a bit scary to put yourself out there.
00:27:41
Speaker
But yeah, this so that post led to zero inquiries and I was like, okay, interesting. So when the... When this year started and I had a feeling that it was going to be pretty wonky for the photography industry and just the world economically at large, i was getting polls from people and kind of hearing back, I noticed a dip in my website traffic and I was like, okay.
00:28:02
Speaker
And then I watched Instagram's algorithm change big time. And I was like, okay, this is going to be, this is now not a photo app really anymore. that's bad news for photographers. And I was like, okay, so I'm going to start a brand new Instagram account and I'm going to act like I'm a brand new photographer because it's really important to me as an educator that I stay connected to what the struggles are really like. You know, I think it could be tempting to get an education and be like, cool, I'm out of wedding photography and I don't need to market anymore. um I don't, I, and it sounds stuck up, but I don't need to really market my wedding photography business anymore. But
00:28:40
Speaker
If I do that, I can lose touch with what's happening and what's shifting. And I keep all my courses updated. So I want to stay in the thick of it. So I started a brand new account. And I was like, okay, what would I do on here if I was brand new?
00:28:53
Speaker
wow what How could I get in front of people? So I started experimenting with SEO for socials. um with that account. And from that account, and I ran a four week test, I just posted like three or four times a week, just using SEO for socials. That's it.
00:29:12
Speaker
I got five inquiries and I never used to get inquiries. I've got five inquiries, two of them booked and one of them booked one of my highest packages, which was at 10 K. who So I was like,
00:29:26
Speaker
What? like I was like, okay, my mind is completely changed about Instagram. And this is such a unique window that photographers and wedding pros can use to sort of work, to be able to book off Instagram without having to worry about metrics, without having to try to do talking to camera reels or or things like that. And it's actually, and the steps are incredibly easy.
00:29:50
Speaker
Yeah, the only thing is it's a volume strategy. So you know if you do one SEO post, that's likely not going to do anything. But if you can do three or four a week that are optimized for all sorts of different keywords, you have a marketing
Innovative Marketing Strategies: GEO and IEO
00:30:02
Speaker
strategy. That can be really, really interesting. So yeah, so that was my test. I was actually... in Because I just run tests without being like...
00:30:09
Speaker
Like, I'm not praying it's going to work. I'm like, we'll see. Like, and I was really shocked. um I was really shocked at at the results. And I was like, okay, I need to immediately download this into ah course and get this into hands. And I have a ah free resource as well that includes the the same information. The course just has videos where I can really walk through because I know that's really helpful for some people to see um with that. So yeah, I got that all downloaded. And ah yeah, it was just the most exciting thing.
00:30:37
Speaker
Like, did you only have maybe like 16 squares up at the time when they booked or were they? That's crazy. there was barely anything on there. Dang. Yeah. Yeah. Just barely anything on there.
00:30:49
Speaker
So they were just properly targeted and it got in front of someone um who was, you know, doing some lurking or some searching. Yeah. And what's cool about it too, especially um especially for wedding photographers is when couples can see your photos specifically at a venue that they are looking at, they can see themselves in the photos. And I feel like the conversion rate on that is much higher than someone just kind of coming from a broad website because they're like, oh, that, I want that. Great.
00:31:18
Speaker
Like that's kind of how they were when we got on the call. They're like that. Great. Yeah. And I was like, were they Were they like a carousel picture, static post, or real...
00:31:30
Speaker
ah These were carousels. So I am experimenting with reels and SEO for reels. When it comes to getting Instagram posts to rank on Google, I'm leaning that reels are going to be more effective because there's a short form video tab on the first page of Google. It keeps changing. so I have my eyes on it. We're probably going to see a lot of shifts with, because now we have,
00:31:55
Speaker
AI searching, Google's really pushing against the social media apps. We're probably going to see um see some shifts there. But that short form video tab is on Google. I have seen carousels on Google as well. It varies between each keyword, but carousels are awesome and will will totally be effective. But I'm a very big, and I scream about this in my courses, is we recycle, we repurpose. we If you put it into a carousel, put it into a reel.
00:32:21
Speaker
If it's a reel, put it back into a carousel. Just keep going. ah Because that's what's cool is it's in traditional SEO, you have to be a little bit cautious with what content you have going after certain keywords because you can cause content to compete with each other.
00:32:34
Speaker
not SEO for socials. This is like, just fire them off. Have a good time. like They're not going to compete with each other. So it's it's cool.
Targeting Audiences and Storytelling in Marketing
00:32:42
Speaker
So advice for me. So um you think it would be beneficial for me to start a new account or just keep going with my account that I had for a long time?
00:32:53
Speaker
both? ah So this is where we start branching into something new I am developing. So we have SEO, which is search engine optimization. We have GEO, which is generative engine optimization that has to do with AI. And then something I'm working with is IEO.
00:33:09
Speaker
This is interest engine optimization. This is the new Instagram algorithm. So what I would ask is what is the goal of your account and who are you trying to reach?
00:33:24
Speaker
So if it's mostly other photographers of kind of more of the goal of the podcast and growing those things, then maybe it's beneficial to start a new account. If you're just kind of working in the podcast with wedding photos and it's more of an even split, you can keep the same account.
00:33:41
Speaker
But having a very specific account that serves very specific people is one of the best ways to continue to grow a following if that's your goal.
00:33:53
Speaker
So, but if you're, yeah, you can kind of like mix them in. I did for a while, but I wanted to start a brand new account because I wanted to feel what that was like. It was really interesting to like, after being, having my account for 14 years,
00:34:04
Speaker
being like published on a new one I was like this is an interesting feeling yeah i feel like and you're like a new person it was kind of fun it was like slate is clean I was like interesting so yeah I always felt like um because I like the app like color theory so I like like the film edits it's kind of like VSCO but then I was like oh I would kind of like edit everything like that um for the new feed and I would post like those big squares to kind of like you know, launch it so it doesn't take forever. um i never got to it, but it's interesting.
00:34:37
Speaker
How about like for um me saying like I'm trying to target someone else, like not brides, but like wedding pros and creatives, is it similar, like the same, same techniques?
00:34:53
Speaker
Wedding pros. I have a new and exciting opportunity for you to make passive income with digital products, and courses and affiliate marketing. The space is booming right now and you have to take a look.
00:35:06
Speaker
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00:35:17
Speaker
Get your weekends back and comment at me at CarissaWu, the word info, and I'll send you a free sneak peek guide on how to make passive income, And if you're ready to start making money from home while being there for the moments that matter, i can't wait to connect.
00:35:35
Speaker
Totally different. So it is. Yeah. So. I think too, in a lot of marketing and where marketing becomes ineffective is when it becomes too diluted, there's not things that work for everything. Every single industry, even say like family photographers or portrait photographers, their Instagram strategy, in my opinion, they should be really focused on repeat clients specifically.
00:36:01
Speaker
So this is telling the story of how important photos are to get done three times a year, that memories are fleeting or you know to kind of share that heart because it's much harder to find a new client than it is to bring someone back into your world. So them seeing your posts, they're going to be like oh my gosh, we need to schedule family photos. That's why email mark email marketing is so important. If you have repeat, just tell your story. You don't have to sell anything. Just be like... that you know Have your clients write their story about their family. like You can do something really beautiful. It doesn't have to be... think marketing can feel like it has to be some whatever thing. It's like, no, just tell your story and your passion and remind people that you're there.
00:36:38
Speaker
When it comes to wedding pros... ah That one will be similar because, again, we're the the the customer is similar similar. Like I said, we always role play.
00:36:49
Speaker
So that one will be similar for wedding pros for sure. When it's general creatives and like graphic design or things like that, that's a whole other... ballpark on kind of what will be effective so it i would still say the the base concepts still apply but there are some little differences between ah those different those different industries so like with so someone so does branding photos that's repeat clients so you just want to stay to people's top of minds you know and give them little emails like hey
00:37:23
Speaker
You want to refresh that brand? Like, you know, just a little bit, like maybe you can make it fun and playful. um But yeah, and then what I do and why i focus so much on marketing specifically for photographers and wedding pros is so that I can...
00:37:38
Speaker
that the things in my courses are guaranteed to be effective. um I have one course that is for anyone and that's instant content creator. um That's like a big, like soulful brand deep, deep dive that will, especially if you're confused on socials, that one applies to everyone because it's,
00:37:56
Speaker
It's a deep dive AI mirror analysis that um that I tested. It's what I did when I was really struggling with posting on socials. I had no idea what to say. And so I started doing this process and it helped me break out and be like, oh, this is how I talk to actual humans and stop worrying about algorithm stuff.
Magic Keywords Guide and Resource Recommendations
00:38:15
Speaker
And that was that big one. So yeah, so it's it kind of depends on who people want to reach. that's That's the big difference. So it's not so much...
00:38:25
Speaker
oh, do I do SEO here? Or it's like, who who do you want to reach? Who do you want to get in front of? And then we we reverse engineer that, if that answers your question or if I could be any more clear on it. no if you um I know you have the freebie, but we have about six minutes.
00:38:42
Speaker
um But can you just give like some headline, like tips and tricks on like how to use SEO with socials? sir Yeah, I think the the biggest thing is to determine your magic keywords.
00:38:55
Speaker
That's going to be the biggest thing. There's four kinds of magic keywords. There's broad location, specific location, catfish keywords, which are kind of a funny one. so a catfish keyword would be ah you could if you could do a roundup post on the best bridal shops in your area.
00:39:16
Speaker
Because you wear what are brides doing? They're like, oh, there's a post about bridal shops? And you're like, you slip your photos in there. Oh, interesting. Little catfish keyword. And then, um yeah, and there's oh there's one more. What is the, now I'm like.
00:39:32
Speaker
It's okay You don't have to give it up. That's what the that's what's fine. Okay. If you want to DM me, because for some reason you know there's broad specific and oh my gosh, roundup. Thank you. My gosh.
00:39:46
Speaker
Roundup are things like, so say ah you could do top 10 wedding venues in Southern California. That's a roundup. Wow. Again, why? Because potential couples are looking for venues.
00:39:58
Speaker
Yeah. So those are, that's another, there's some angles that we can do here. I do have a really, really, really cheap little wolf ah resource that will give you your custom magic keyword plan that I've used with all my one-on-ones.
00:40:13
Speaker
Yeah, it's like 22 bucks. um I made it as cheap as possible because to me, it's the, it is one of the most important backbones of photography marketing is having your keyword plan because it will apply to Google, SEO, YouTube ads, all of it.
00:40:28
Speaker
um So the use one of the four types of magic keywords and that should determine what you actually post because I think it's kind of like, oh, well, what will we post? Well, what work do you have to back up those keywords and focus on those first because that's going to bring in potential clients. And of course, you can post whatever you like, but that way if you don't want to spend too much time on Instagram, just focus on your magic keyword posts.
Encouragement and Resources for Photographers
00:40:51
Speaker
That'll help dial that down to like make it more effective. And then you use your magic keyword in the first sentence of the caption, throughout the caption, in the hashtag, in the alt text. And if you have any text on the photos at all, anywhere you can write something, you naturally work in that magic keyword, very naturally. If you go to my photo account, Catalina Jean Photo, you can see examples throughout that account of All different ways I've done it. I've done it with one sentence. I've done it with like almost a mini blog post and and they all seemed pretty effective. And if you are in weddings, tag all the vendors in the photos, not just in the caption. I see that all the time.
00:41:34
Speaker
tag them and Tag them in the photos because you know couples are creeping up on those tag feeds. So that would be like my biggest place to start. Yeah. I love QuickWin.
00:41:45
Speaker
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Oh my goodness. Why are you so smart, Catalina? Nerd. It's a big nerd. This is literally what I Computers in middle school or elementary has gotten you pretty far in life.
00:42:00
Speaker
Yep. My next thing that I'm hacking is is the new Instagram algorithm. If you look at my last few posts, i have kind of um I wrote myself basically like a 50-page research paper on the psychology of engagement.
00:42:12
Speaker
Yeah. I'll probably share that. I wasn't going to, and was like, this will actually be be helpful, but it is deep. And I've been running some tests on what I'm kind of calling IEO. And on my last posts, really, again, I was very surprised how well they did. And they did well in the way they were designed. it would They were only seen by photographers, my target audience. And I'm like,
00:42:35
Speaker
So we'll get deeper into that. But that's my current. I kind of do these where I get really tunnel visioned obsessions, get really, really deep. And then I'll come out with all the the tips and tricks and easy ways that everybody else can can steal and do it. It's fun. It's really fun for me. It's like a joy of my life. I literally feel like I play my favorite video game all day. Wow. Yeah. And you have super fun facials.
00:42:55
Speaker
Yeah. I know I do that all the time. That's like definitely my... I hope I can post many of these because if people are not as seeing this... Just just make it to a guest. It's really funny.
00:43:08
Speaker
Okay, i last question. um I think the solid answer for this one is just... download your stuff. But um for speak to the hearts of wedding pros like struggling right now, just feeling like burnout or either um they just can't make a win or can't make a sale.
00:43:25
Speaker
um What would you tell them to just get them out of the funk today? Yeah, I would tell them that the the world of marketing the last year has has really shifted and it has become more difficult. So I think some people where they're like, I'm i'm trying and I'm not seeing results.
00:43:41
Speaker
it's It's really more than understandable right now. I think It is really a time to double down and to really get as to really focus in on effective marketing and to not let the shiny object, because there's tons of people saying like, oh, just use hooks, just use...
00:44:01
Speaker
This, like getting down to like really just foundational marketing basics and learning SEO, I have tons of free resources, like in-depth free resources. i mean Yeah, I'm really picky that my free resources are not just fluff. They are if no one buys from me, that's totally fine. Like I, offer as much as I can, but I have a 24 page ah SEO guide, go grab it.
00:44:24
Speaker
Um, yeah, my passion is to help people, but like, I'm here to help. But if you're feeling down this year has really been hard. And even my website is down 30% and hearing back from other people, like we aren't alone in this, there is kind of a general downturn, but don't Don't stay there too long.
00:44:40
Speaker
What we do is we, what can we do today? Even just the smallest steps to, to get our work more, more visible, however we can. And just doing these SEO for social posts or a few blog posts, getting your homepage optimized, definitely get the SEO guide that has a full breakdown of homepage optimization.
00:44:59
Speaker
Take small steps and take a deep breath. This year has been hard and, and you're not alone. So wow um yeah. Yeah. Well, you are a breath of fresh air, Catalina Jean. Thank you for being
Conclusion: Connect for More Insights
00:45:10
Speaker
on. Where can everyone find you and work with you?
00:45:14
Speaker
They can find me over on Instagram because I like it on there now. was definitely not on there for 12 years. and have Yeah, you can find me at Catalina Jean. All the resources are in there. If you do want to check out any courses, the link is in my bio. And my big goal this year was that every course I created as much as possible was under $50 because I want people to people to have really accessible education.
00:45:38
Speaker
And it's very focused on you gaining a new tool and a new skill with with every course. So that is all there for me. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out. I'm pretty social on there. So yeah.
00:45:49
Speaker
Thank you, Catalina. This is so fun. Thanks for having me.
00:45:57
Speaker
Thanks for joining me this week on Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. Make sure to follow, subscribe, leave a review, or tell a friend about the show. Take a screenshot and post to IG. Tag me. Also, don't forget to download my free guide on how to become a lead generating machine.
00:46:12
Speaker
See you next time, wedding pros.