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Ep 9 - Buying for Content vs Buying for Conversion
80 Plays3 months ago
In this candid episode of The Influencer Sisterhood Podcast, Lauren and Leslie are pulling back the curtain on something we don’t talk about enough in the influencer world…
What do you actually need to buy to be an influencer?
Because let’s be honest — not everyone is getting gifted boxes and brand deals. A lot of creators are funding their own closets, their own product hauls, and their own content.
So how do you decide what’s worth it?
In this episode, we talk about:
- Whether you should buy what you personally love… or what you think will convert
- If there should be a strategy behind what you purchase
- Learning your audience (and why guessing doesn’t work)
- Using your affiliate platform analytics to guide smarter buying decisions
- A real example of a reel Leslie posted that got major views… but very little sales
- Planning content first and shopping second (versus impulse buying and figuring it out later)
- Advice for creators who are still growing and trying to understand what their audience actually wants
If you’ve ever stood in a fitting room wondering,
“Do I love this… or will this sell?” — this episode is for you.
This is a transparent, real conversation about strategy, spending, growth, and building a business — not just a closet.
Because influencing isn’t just about having more stuff.
It’s about buying (and creating) with intention.
Sister Shoutouts this week are:
@kimberly.marie.lifestyle
@refinedbybrandy
Follow us on Instagram @theinfluencersisterhood and be sure to let us know what you want to hear on the podcast! You can also dm us any questions!
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Transcript
Introduction to Influencer Sisterhood Podcast
00:00:06
Speaker
Hey, I'm Leslie. Hi, I'm Lauren. And we're the Influencer Sisterhood. Your weekly coffee date for real, unfiltered conversations about life as a midlife influencer.
00:00:17
Speaker
No gatekeeping, no fluff. We're two women at different stages of the journey, sharing the wins, the struggles, and everything in between. This is safe space where all influencers belong.
00:00:29
Speaker
So grab your drink, get comfy, welcome to the sisterhood. Let's dive in to this week's episode.
Challenges of Solo Episodes
00:00:39
Speaker
Hey, y'all, we're back with another episode of the Influencer Sisterhood podcast, and we're back together after recording two solo episodes. You get me and Lauren. Hey, Lauren. Hey.
00:00:51
Speaker
So excited that our schedule's worked out, that we can record this one together. i think it's fun to have a little bit of both, right? Absolutely. i tell you, though, got to tell you, it was quite challenging as somebody who is has up until now only recorded in a conversation.
00:01:09
Speaker
For me, the hardest thing was not having a conversation. Like I didn't realize just how much looking at you while I'm talking makes a difference because I'm talking to a person. Like I, that was so hard for me all. Oh, that's funny. I record a podcast every week for my photography business and it's always just me. So to me, it's not like, it's what I'm used to. So that was fine. In fact, it's so funny. I recorded a podcast for my photography, business last weekend. I got real spicy on it. So... Ooh, I can't... Is it out yet?
00:01:46
Speaker
Yeah, it's out. Oh, I'm going to listen. Yeah, you need to listen. It's just more about... you know i mean, I'm guilty of this too, but like we can complain all day long, but like sometimes you just need to get off your you-know-what and do the crap, right? Like, do it. And so it was I was tired of hearing photographers complain about the same thing over and over again when they could so easily Fix it.
00:02:11
Speaker
Well, isn't that the same for this business? I mean, absolutely. i mean, like when you're saying it, I'm like thinking to myself, yeah. I mean, how often have we said to each other, like,
00:02:23
Speaker
For whatever reason. I mean, I know yeah me with some other thing I wanted to do in my business. And you're like, dude, if you don't just do it, like at some point you're going to talking about it and get get off your butt and do it.
00:02:33
Speaker
yeah So yeah, absolutely. i mean, I think it's universal, but I cannot wait to go hear your spiciness. I know. And now I need to record one before tomorrow. so I don't know what that one's going to be about. anyway,
Product Selection as Influencers
00:02:45
Speaker
okay. today we are recording one about...
00:02:49
Speaker
So Lauren and I both in our separate, like in our interviews of each other, we were trying to get to know each other, I think the question was, is one thing you didn't realize before you got into this? And I think we both answered with the sheer amount of stuff you need in order to do this, right? Like neither one of us knew how much stuff. So today, to elaborate on that a little bit and talk about how do you decide what stuff to even get?
00:03:19
Speaker
Obviously, if you have a brand deal, you know what stuff you have to put out there, right? You know what you have to share. But we don't always have brand deals, especially when starting out. And even though you've been in this a lot longer than me, you don't constantly have a brand deal, right? So how do you go about deciding what stuff to buy, what stuff to share?
00:03:44
Speaker
You know... That is a great question, and it's changed over time. And I will say a little caveat up front. I buy entirely too much stuff, which makes it much harder. It sounds like it would be easier because, oh, well, you have that much stuff, right? Yeah.
00:04:03
Speaker
If I took you into my garage because I got it out of my house so that I wouldn't see the piles of stuff, huh it is overwhelming to think about, i don't even remember what's in there.
00:04:15
Speaker
Like- It stresses you out knowing you've got so much stuff because that just means more content you have to create. Exactly. And I have to figure out which part of it am I going to take out and show. And, you know, when you reach a certain point,
00:04:30
Speaker
Not only, yes, they're the brand deals. And we, you know, you mentioned that and no, we don't get them constantly. And most of what I do is not a brand deal. So um that's not an easy do, but I do get gifted a lot of things. And I will only with very few exceptions, except gifted unless with the, I'm not going to guarantee that I'm going to post it because I've learned that lesson.
00:04:57
Speaker
Well, especially if it's something that maybe you've never purchased before. Correct. Right. I mean, like I don't want to wear, i don't want to guarantee that I'm going to show something that what if I get it and I don't like it?
00:05:08
Speaker
it What if it doesn't look good? Exactly. and And I'm not going to meet certain deliverables, which if I think we talked about a little bit in the in the brand deal episode, if I actually said this part, but But that you probably did.
00:05:25
Speaker
I hope so. But, you know, the idea that you use brand deals as a i mean, excuse me, you use gifted as a way to beef up your content, your resume and a way you show brands what you can do. So in the beginning, you treat and gifted just like you do.
00:05:45
Speaker
ah a paid deal. But at some point you may accept a gift and say, I'm not going to guarantee you in ah a reel or a story with this content because that's reserved for paid. I mean, at some point you have to like differentiate that. So, because you have a certain amount of value um on the market, but I still might want to try an item, but ah so Or brands who I ended up on their PR list, which is a little bit different than just sort of being gifted. i mean, it's kind of the same thing. But if you end up on a PR list, like a brand who you may have worked with before will just send me stuff out of out of nowhere.
00:06:25
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Google sends me stuff randomly out of nowhere. I'm sorry. Who? General Mills. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. You and General Mills. Y'all are tight. General Mills is not interested in me, but clearly because I'm not. Let me tell you something. My college kids absolutely adore when General Mills boxes arrive on my doorstep because that is a lot of food that they will eat.
00:06:47
Speaker
Can I tell you who else would love if General Mills liked me is Eric Daniel G. He would be all over it. He loves free stuff. But even he has gotten to where the stuff...
00:06:57
Speaker
He understands free stuff is not always a good thing. so right So what I say that with a caveat, because I end up with a lot, I buy a lot more stuff than I need. And then I end up showing. And then there, there so what I want to say upfront is,
00:07:17
Speaker
understand you don't, don't do what I, don't do what I do. Like, and, and. Do as I say, no not as I do. Because there's somewhere in between. i mean, I think between not having enough stuff and having too much stuff is probably the sweet spot. um But I determine at this point, I've gotten where I've learned that one, I know my audience and I know for the most part, I think about what,
00:07:47
Speaker
Do they like to see? What do they respond well to? And this is a business, right? So it's it's
Understanding Audience Preferences with Data
00:07:55
Speaker
twofold. I mean, i obviously, as a business, if a business is going to be successful, you have to know your audience and know what your audience wants to see because they trust you to bring them things that they want to see and buy. So it goes back to your audience, but also what has my audience bought from me in the past? So I'm going to want to make sure.
00:08:20
Speaker
But on that note, you're somebody like me who has not quite learned her audience yet. You didn't know that right off the bat. Like if somebody's listening right now, they're like, but Lauren, right i don't know what the heck my my audience wants. I only have a thousand followers or they don't talk to me or they don't comment.
00:08:40
Speaker
Or in my case, they don't actually buy. mean, y'all, I've worked really hard on ah building a platform that like barely anybody buys from. So how am I supposed to learn my audience? You can learn yours because people are legitimately buying things. Right. So you can look at it.
00:09:00
Speaker
All right. I sold 22 of this Walmart shirt dress. So clearly people like the Walmart shirt dress. But if you don't have that information, what do you do?
00:09:13
Speaker
Well, that's a great, a very good question. So I'm going to go back to what I did. Okay. Because that's all I know. i mean, I can, I can give ideas and this is a great thing. And you there's so many levels of it, but what I personally did in the beginning, because is I just showed up every day with what I was wearing to work.
00:09:31
Speaker
Now it was helpful because I went to work. I was teaching. I had to get dressed every day. in something. Right. And I didn't teach it a little easier. Right. what had he address it's It made sense. I didn't have to create a reason to put clothes on, you know, like, and by clothes on, i mean like an outfit, um you know, and so, and it had to be a certain level of clothing professionalism. I wasn't a kindergarten teacher, so it wasn't like and we couldn't wear jeans ever. You know, I've taught at a private school and even in the public schools where I live,
00:10:06
Speaker
maybe once a month, they might have a jean day as like, Ooh, surprise teachers. We're going to give you a big, here you go. You can have a jean day. and um it's just, it depends on the system. And I, I personally think it's because this is a whole other thing, but I think it's, it comes down to professionalism and it might be easier in their minds um the higher ups to to police what people wear outside of jeans. And that once you say jeans, you like go to the least out looking outfit and you go, oh, no.
00:10:42
Speaker
So funny you say this. This is totally off topic, but it's too funny not to share. So, you know, Dan and I met because we had cubicles across from each other. Okay. So we worked in the same office. It's the one and only quote unquote real job I ever had. Like where I actually had to go to work, corporate job, blah, blah, blah.
00:10:58
Speaker
Anyway. So they had a casual Friday and old Tricia took casual Friday.
00:11:10
Speaker
Like, she had a great interpretation because you could wear jeans on casual Friday. And y'all, first of all, why you would ever own this type of jean in your whole life, I don't know.
00:11:23
Speaker
Maybe that's judgy of me, but whatever. They literally laced up on the side. Like the whole side. I'm not talking just like the leg. I'm talking all the way up the side with nothing underneath the laces.
00:11:40
Speaker
Okay. Like you can see her cheek. Oh, can I say that? i you can say her but You can see her, the side of her cheek. She wore it to work and there were nevers there was never another casual Friday.
00:11:53
Speaker
There's always that one casual Friday and Trisha ruined it for everybody. Trisha, why you got to ruin it? Well, first of all, I want to know what job Trisha had there because... I mean, she was a sales rep.
00:12:07
Speaker
A customer sales rep. That's what this, done like we all, it was, we all worked in what was called the OFC, which was the order fulfillment center. And everybody had the same job of being the, the, my question
Shopping Habits for Influencer Content
00:12:22
Speaker
is sales rep for this.
00:12:24
Speaker
Did people ever see her? And that's why they bought, like, I'm curious, like in my mind, I'm thinking like, I could see her going to, this is so horrible, but like a job where you go into a garage, like, you know, the mechanics. And this is coming from somebody whose family has a car dealership. But like, I have a friend who used to do that and she sold to um like car parts and things like that. And I mean, she wore the shortest skirts. Well, yeah, but she's dealing with a lot of men. She was actually short. And she sold the bejesus out of stuff. I mean, she really did. And I can remember, like, I was too young to understand at the time, like exactly what she was doing. But like, it was brilliant, you know, and he had no problem with that. But that's why was, my brain immediately went to me working with a lot of, is that helping? I mean, so you and I come from the same background. My father and grandfather were car business, they had car business too. When I was in high school, I would run errands for the business. And part of that would be to go to the DMV or go to the auto parts store whatever.
00:13:22
Speaker
But yes, let me tell you something. i learned real quick. how to use my female self to walk into an auto parts store full of a bunch of men. So that girl was smart for sure. was She clearly was, but she ruined the casual Friday for everybody. Trisha ruined casual Friday because she wore lace up jeans. That is why. That's probably why the school system would not let you wear jeans because they're afraid Trisha's going show up lace up jeans and a high school student is going to try to unlace them.
00:13:50
Speaker
Oh God. Yeah. so Or if she was a younger kid, i mean, if she taught younger kids, she'd try to bend down onto the ground and it'd pop, you know?
00:14:02
Speaker
Is that the visual, like where the where the seams pop and it just comes undone? Yes. Oh, my God. So if you're listening out there, please don't buy and or wear a mask.
00:14:16
Speaker
Don't be Trisha. And for all of you, know about too we love you, Trisha. And I wonder what Trisha is these days. Yeah. I wonder what old Trisha's doing these days. I hope she's still rocking those damn lace-up jeans. I man. That is like something. That's a whole other, I'm sure that's a whole niche, but um not the one I'm working on. No. So, okay.
00:14:35
Speaker
But so back to like teaching and it there was a certain level of professionalism that I had to, what you know, type of clothing I needed to wear, whatever. And so in that respect, I had a reason. like i knew what I was wearing because I was wearing it for a purpose, which was to go to work. So I was just buying clothes that were in stock.
00:14:57
Speaker
Mm hmm. Initially, I learned that, um that I would show that I could link. And because I could only link on Amazon at the time, everything I bought was Amazon because that was all I could link because I wasn't approved for L2K. You weren't on L2K yet, right. So, and there was no Madeleine at the time to my knowledge. So anyway, that's how I got started. And then i would go on the weekends. I would go to, let's say, Old Navy or it was mainly Old Navy. And actually i went into Walmart then too, because I wasn't buying a lot of Walmart, but I would um go and do try-ons in the grocery store. What in the world? I would do try-ons in, I call my pantry. Every time I go to say my pantry, I say the garage. um I don't know what's wrong with my brain. Maybe I need Prevagen.
00:15:45
Speaker
Do they want to send me something for free? um Please Prevagen. And now there's an ad for Prevagen. Okay. So anyway, I... um I would go and try things on in the in the dressing room and film that because it would give me something else because I was only showing what I wore work. And I literally would show what I was wearing that day. So if it was a day I didn't get dressed, you saw a video of me saying, happy Saturday, today's outfit of the day are these PJs. I mean, like I literally, that was what I said. So that's how I built it
00:16:17
Speaker
Right. So that's how you start. That's how a lot of us start. That's what I'm still currently doing. But I think the part that I'm missing and maybe some others are missing is how long before you started to actually see, all right, this is what that audience, my audience is buying. So let me show more of that.
00:16:36
Speaker
I would say it was a couple months in. by And I was, I started, I also followed a ton of started following a ton of fashion um creators who also showed Amazon and I would see what they were showing. a lot of them were also teachers.
00:16:57
Speaker
And so i would buy the things that they were showing because I think, oh, well, I could wear that to work or I could wear that. And then then i would also once I started doing that and because I was tagging the brands, I started having people gift me things. And so then I and i would, sure, you can send me that and I'll make a reel and whatever. And so that became what I would show.
00:17:25
Speaker
Additionally, because I was still in the brain thought process of I can only show things a certain way, which is today's outfit of the day is like that was my format.
Using Analytics for Effective Content Creation
00:17:36
Speaker
And so I really was stuck for how do I show multiple things like three shirts from this brand? And that felt really that was kind of a hard place for my mind to switch because it was easy for me to make the other kind of content. But once I sold things,
00:17:54
Speaker
I showed a dress. It was a free people look for less. And I didn't even know that. I just thought it was a cute dress that I saw people. And then all of a sudden I heard people referring to it as a, as a free people dupe. And I hate, I, I even, I never say the word dupe. So I was like, now, but, um,
00:18:11
Speaker
When I saw that, I was like, oh so then I made a comparison reel with the real one in a picture. And that and then I did another one with it with a sweatshirt like that. And I'd never even been in a free people's tour. I didn't even know we had one in the mall across the lake from where I live. Like, I had no idea. I hadn't been in the mall in so long. So, I mean, you want to talk about shelter. So I...
00:18:32
Speaker
was just I showed it and it just took off. And that's when things began to grow. And I knew people liked that. And there was another Free People set. It was a sweater set that had almost like um balloon type of sweater pants. I don't know if you remember. It was called Freya was the name of the name of the set from Free People.
00:18:52
Speaker
I had that in every color. I had it in long sleeve, short sleeve, shorts, pants, like every which way but loose. And people were buying the heck out of it. So I just kept showing it in a different way. And I could wear that to work in the pants as well. So I would show it dressed up with a belt or show it, you know, with a jean jacket over it or show it with whatever. So that was when I began to get data back.
00:19:18
Speaker
And that was about four three or four months in. So you have to be showing enough stuff and trying different things in the beginning to see what people respond to. And you can tell based on, do they ask for a link initially? Do they ask for a link? That's a good indicator. um Then did they once you start having enough time under your belt and you are you can see what the the analytics on a platform to tell you what actually sold. Right. And then you can go, okay, so now there's that. But in the beginning, you throw a lot out there.
00:19:55
Speaker
Okay. So throw a lot out there, spaghetti at the wall kind of thing. yeah And then once you get enough stuff out there, start paying attention to, okay, this look for less did really well. So let me repeat that with,
00:20:13
Speaker
Either that same i item different ways or another look for less because that's what worked for you. Whatever works for somebody. And then analytics. I know ShopMy and also probably on LTK and Madeleine,
00:20:29
Speaker
you can see this item got this many links, I meant clicks. This item, you know, I sold 24 of this item. I sold 52 of this item. I sold one of this item. So maybe nobody likes this item. But then how do you read that to say, did nobody like this item because it was too expensive?
00:20:52
Speaker
did nobody like this item because my age group dresses more conservatively and this wasn't conservative? Like, how do you interpret that? Well, that's a great question, but I think it comes down to a combination of a couple of things. One, is it, if people, if a bunch of people asked for the link, commented that they wanted the link, clicked on it, but didn't buy it It could be a stock issue. It could be a price issue.
00:21:24
Speaker
If people don't ask for it, then that would be like in in terms of your on your actual reel or carousel or story, whatever. People aren't actually saying, yes, I want that link or clicking on it.
00:21:39
Speaker
then that tells me they weren't interested in that. Or it could be, and you and I have been talking about this lately, that maybe I didn't prompt them in a way that said, hey,
00:21:52
Speaker
here's what you need to do next, because we always need to be telling the audience what we want them to do next, whether it be follow, whether it be comment, whether it be shop, whether it be click the link, you know whatever it is. And so you can't just automatically assume Because nobody, this didn't sell, it's because it's too expensive or because it's too conservative. You can start to get a hypothesis and then test some other things. And then you can start to build up data. But here's the other thing about when you use your analytics, not just, I'm not talking about Instagram meta analytics. I'm talking about an LTK or a ShopMine now.
00:22:32
Speaker
Mavely and LTK for sure. I'm not positive about ShopMine because I don't look at those analytics very often. um Amazon tells you the exact item that's sold. So that's easy when you're on the Amazon platform. Right.
00:22:48
Speaker
But through LTK and Mavely, it'll show. them for the longest time, I thought, well, let me say what was the best seller last month because I saw people doing best sellers or best whatever. So I'd go and see what got the most clicks. So I'd say that's the item.
00:23:02
Speaker
Well, here's the thing. I'm like, why are people, man, I can't believe, that was a year ago I showed that. How is that still in stock? It's not. The issue is just because you see an item that shows, that's the thing that the person clicked on to take them to, they were interested in the item enough to click on it, but that's not necessarily what they bought. right So you can see a picture what and I didn't know this for a very long time, um a picture of like, it could be the same item. Like I have a romper on right now. So let's say I have, i it shows on LTK that yesterday four people clicked on that romper.
00:23:42
Speaker
And for each sale that resulted from that, my commission was different. And I didn't understand that. I'm like, why? It's the same outfit. It's because we don't know what they bought actually after they clicked that link. So they may have not even bought the romper at all.
00:23:57
Speaker
Yes, exactly. So it can only be an indicator of what interested them. And if enough people are interested enough to click, that tells us it's probably a popular item.
00:24:09
Speaker
But you can't just go on that. But if you don't have anything else to go on, it's great to go on. And at this point, I know now that when I am wanting to make sure that I'm showing things that people want to see, because its that's why people come and they want to see.
00:24:31
Speaker
yeah they you know They know they're going to get certain things from me. So I try to show more of what I think they want to see. And then, so I'll buy that. um i know that the majority of my audience in general prefers to cover their arms and cover their legs, period. Like they want some type of arm coverage, some type of leg coverage.
00:24:56
Speaker
Me personally... I have no problem wearing something short. Plus I'm tall. But if I'm going to show a shirt dress, I might show a short one in a long one. But if I had to choose because I could only get one to show, I'm going to show the one that's longer and has sleeves because that's going to sell better.
00:25:16
Speaker
than not. So I use what other previous buying habits have been.
Balancing Personal Style with Audience Demand
00:25:22
Speaker
and it's I've been doing this two and a half years. So I know enough, I have enough data to tell me that.
00:25:29
Speaker
But doesn't mean I don't still ever show sleeveless or shorter or whatever. Like the romper I have on right now is not going to sell nearly as well as a maxi dress. I can tell you that right now.
00:25:40
Speaker
But I like this and I'm wearing it. Right. You know, and there's somebody who'll like it. It's just not going to be a big top seller, likely. Rompers in general are not universally liked.
00:25:53
Speaker
I love them and would wear one every day. But I, it fits my body easy. It doesn't fit everybody's body. So I have walk a long torso. A romper really does not work for that.
00:26:05
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, wearing one today. You probably have to size up. Well, great. And I have the small on right now and I've already taken the tags off, but it wasn't very expensive. And I have ordered the medium and I'm going to pick it up later today. Because you because it probably will fit better. It's not going to fit.
00:26:24
Speaker
I mean, it fits, but it's not as comfortable. So, but I'm 5'8". So that's why with a long torso. Okay. So I think if I had to guess,
00:26:37
Speaker
It's a lot like boutique owners trying to figure out what to buy to put in their store. Absolutely. And I think, at least for me, and maybe for others out there trying to do this, it's a little bit of separation between what you actually like and what might sell. Because I personally have a hard time showing something that I don't actually like.
00:27:07
Speaker
Might not make me the most, you know, probably not going to make the most money at doing it because what I like is probably not what the mass is like. So how do you find the fine line between, and it's not that you don't like what you're showing. I'm not saying that. But you just said if you had a choice for you personally, you'd probably buy the short thing, not the long thing, right? Yeah.
00:27:31
Speaker
So I don't want to end up with a whole bunch of clothes that I don't personally like. Do you know what I mean? Right. Well, I think, you know, first of all, there's a lot that we show that we don't keep.
00:27:45
Speaker
So I can show something that I'm not actually wearing of my house. So then I can return it. um So there's that. But if I'm actually going to wear it and I do at this point in the game, I think about,
00:28:00
Speaker
how I'm going to show something. So if it's something that I really think I'm going to probably would would do well with me wearing it out once somewhere, then I'm going to wear something that I'm going to keep.
00:28:17
Speaker
So I have to like it and think, do other people want to like it? So, pat but I think that it comes, it comes down to what your
Setting Influencer Business Goals
00:28:28
Speaker
goal is. And I think,
00:28:29
Speaker
Only only you or whoever's listening, we each have this for ourselves. What is our ultimate goal? Is our ultimate goal to show up online only in clothes we are wearing that day out of the house?
00:28:43
Speaker
And that we would that is our favorite things we've ever put on our body. If that is the case, then then that's the case. And just know that unless what you love is stereotypical,
00:28:57
Speaker
of your age range or whatever, you're likely going to have less sales in general. That doesn't mean you can't make sales. It doesn't mean you can't find people who like the same things. It's going to be harder to get to that point, in my opinion. um But I think, you know, for me, because this is now my full-time job and it is my income,
00:29:23
Speaker
I want to make sure it sells. So I want to make sure that I am showing what people who follow me want to see. ahha And that doesn't mean that it's like...
00:29:37
Speaker
there's some stuff that people offer me to show. And I, there is no way on God's green earth. I'm putting that on my body because I just, no, it's not my personality. There is no way, never not going happen. I don't care if it's inexpensive or it's expensive. I don't care. It's just, it is, it is such a departure from who I am that it would be take case in point. I took a deal a year ago and you may remember this, Leslie,
00:30:03
Speaker
And it was these really, really fitted tops. And they double lined, which is wonderful. And I love a good like Pumi double lined tee that's like a Skims knockoff that I love.
00:30:17
Speaker
I size up, but it's not like body suit-ish. I mean, and I have, so I've gotten body suits, but it's not, it's just, that's not what I wear. i don't like body con things on me personally. It's just not, I'm not comfortable in that. i'm I don't wear quote going out tops. Like right if it's got that in the description, probably not going to be what I want. And so, although it's comical to me though, on Amazon is,
00:30:46
Speaker
When you see something and it's like, looks like something from Little House on the Prairie. And then somewhere in the description, it says going out top or something like, or sexy or something like, yeah what? that is not There's no way Little House on the Prairie. yeah is i' going out to right yeah It's just funny now. Cause I'm like, okay, they're just trying to get as many people's eyes on it through the, through the search engine. But like, but I put this outfit on.
00:31:13
Speaker
It wasn't an outfit. It was a top. It was three tops, different styles. And they were paying me. And so I needed to show it. And I certainly couldn't look like I hated it because I do know there are people I know who I love dearly who can style those really well and they look great on them.
00:31:33
Speaker
It's just not my personality. So i didn't want to not show it and make, and totally make fun of it because I know there are people who love it. And even it's not that it's wrong. It's just, I was so uncomfortable. And then there's this one that like had the full back out and it was like, Oh my God. And So what actually ended up being shown is not everything I filmed, which you missed was the, and I don't think Leslie's probably seen it. It's the behind the scenes where I'm like making a turnaround and I'm like, oh dear Jesus. Like, you know, it's like, you can see my face, like never, never, ever. Those things went right into the donation pile. right Like goodbye, never, never to be seen up from again. So I learned like, and that brand, God bless them. I've done other things with them. They've come out with some other items, but now when people send me sexy things, like there's nothing about me. I hate that word. I'll be honest. I hate it it. makes me uncomfortable. It's probably a whole other session that could be done on that. But like,
00:32:38
Speaker
If somebody sends me something, oh, people will love this. It's sexy. It's blah, blah. And I'm like, that's a no. And, you know, thank you, but that's not my style. And they'll be like, okay, well, you know, you might like these things or we have other things. and But there are things I will not show.
00:32:57
Speaker
I'm also not going to be showing, it's not that I've never shown a bathing suit. I have. And I've had people ask me, like followers, people in my audience, in my community say, i would love to see some options for bathing suits.
00:33:11
Speaker
That makes me uncomfortable. I have shown two In two and half years? Maybe ahead. Well, you showed the one that was with the skirt.
00:33:22
Speaker
Oh, yeah. It's always got a skirt. Oh, yay. That was cute. Yes. And I showed that one once before. It's the same one. Okay. And there's another one that came with like a built-in kind sarong.
00:33:33
Speaker
And it was it was actually not bad. But like the skirt doesn't come off. Like it's not happening. Like I have skin. Yeah, I love it. ah you I mean, it's it's to the choir here. Cause I mean, I'm telling you right now, bathing suit companies need to stay away from me. Cause I'm not doing it.
00:33:49
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, and you would be adorable because you've got a cute little body, but like for me, it's not even so much. And it's like, for me, like people say about all my massive weight loss and they say, you don't look like you have any loose skin. I'm like, Oh honey, I do.
00:34:03
Speaker
And it's all in between my thighs. Like it is just awful, you know? And I'm like, that is horrible. Like, I think it's more for me. think my thing with bathing suits is because, I mean, I wear a bikini and I wear a bikini. But what I don't want to do is have something live on forever that somebody could screenshot and blow up and talk about any possible imperfection. Like I would rather die. And then on the flip side of that, I'm also never going to wear a swim dress. Like that is not me either. Like it's just not going to happen. Right. So I can't show you're comfortable showing or not comfortable showing. I think what we're getting at is there's a level of staying true to yourself and buying stuff or being gifted stuff or picking out stuff. that feels like you, but also if you're trying to make a business, it also has to appeal to your audience.
00:35:03
Speaker
Right. And so maybe that's just something you, I mean, I hate to say it, but like learn along the way, like is there any sort of formula? Is there any sort of like. There is no, to my knowledge, there is no formula. If there was, I would bottle it up and sell it and make a gajillion dollars. I don't think there is a formula, but I think what you can do is there are insights in Instagram and there are insights and analytics in the platforms that we link
Evaluating Content Success for Brand Partnerships
00:35:33
Speaker
to. If we use that as we know what people click on, what they respond to and what they buy or what they at least clicked to buy on Amazon, I can actually see what they bought. um
00:35:47
Speaker
But That itself is going to be your best indicator and find what you're comfortable with within that and show as much of that as possible. So, you know, again, no one tells you what you, I mean like this, everybody goes into this for for their own reasons, whatever they are. um I don't know that I ever thought, I didn't think that I would be doing what I'm doing right now as a business and thinking of it as a business and showing things the way I show them now, it just wasn't even on my radar. so But what I have learned is if I'm going to take the time to show something and if I want to continue to work with brands, I need to show that I can't.
00:36:37
Speaker
have converting power that people actually will buy based on what I show. So i need to continually show things that create patterns that are repeatable that they I then have data that I can show to a brand that says, in the last 30 days, this is what ah you know these this is what's happened. And so over did I think of that in the beginning? No, I wasn't thinking it at all.
00:37:06
Speaker
But over time, I've learned that that has to be a part of my thought process if I want this to be a business and I want to work with brands. So you can take somewhere between me starting and just wearing what I was wearing to work right and or going in, this is what's out in the,
00:37:25
Speaker
stores and trying stuff on that I think is cute and filming it. um Looking to see what other people are showing who have similar styles or age range or things you are attracted to. You think that looks nice. I would, but I would buy that. Maybe I should you know show that. Then those are things you can do when you're building, but then you need to start using, figuring out what people are actually buying. And if they're not buying, then you need to figure out why.
00:37:52
Speaker
and you may never get the exact answer but you can look for clues based on you know is it did they click on it and it actually did get clicks like they asked for a link they got the link they clicked on it but they didn't buy then you can guess it's either out of stock or it's too expensive and potentially right or if they're not asking for the links then You're probably, ah my guess is your best bet is to look at what is it that you are saying or doing in your reel or in your caption that's not giving them a reason to ask for the link.
00:38:30
Speaker
Okay, so an example. So the whole reason we even came up with this podcast episode is because we were talking about a post I did that is actually with this gray sweatshirt that I currently have on. But I had a gray sweatshirt with a scarf.
00:38:46
Speaker
OK, and it got a ton of views, ton of views. And even though I said comment scarf to get the link, I didn't have that many comments.
00:38:59
Speaker
So you and i were going back and forth about wonder why. Right. And I think from our conversation, we kind of arrived at the fact that while I was showing a scarf with a sweatshirt, I don't know that.
00:39:16
Speaker
maybe the way it was presented was more like, oh, okay, well, I have a scarf and I have a sweatshirt. So I don't need that scarf and i don't need that sweatshirt. And maybe it was more of the views were because they were looking at how I tied it versus they want to buy that scarf. And not that that's a bad thing because sometimes we need views or people to follow us. And maybe it's not about the sales for that, but that was just sort of an example.
00:39:45
Speaker
Of how you might take a post and look at, all right, it got a ton of views. And maybe the views were more because they had to watch it a bunch of times to see how I actually tied the scarf.
00:39:56
Speaker
It did not get a ton of, it mean, it got some, but it didn't get a ton of people saying, I want that scarf or that sweatshirt. And that's why we use the analytics.
00:40:07
Speaker
Right. 100%. that's going to give us, it's data that we can use. And it's like, and you just make hypothesis. hypotheses or whatever. Like you can't, it's not a guarantee. Nothing's going to be like, well that's exactly why this didn't happen. But you can go, okay, let's eliminate that for a reason or this for a reason. and And what we arrived at is I think, and and we won't know until you continually, I think it was great content. And I think you can use, and my recommendation to you, and I'm saying this to everybody else, is that
00:40:39
Speaker
take that content, you can repurpose it, share it again with a different call to action, with a different spin, a different hook, a different placement. I have learned that if I put in the very first line of my caption, the comment, the trigger word that I want them to use, it's going to get more comments because when somebody is watching the reel, they don't have to click into the caption to see what I want them to do. It says,
00:41:09
Speaker
Tap the heart because I'm not going to say like this because a lot of women over 50 don't understand what the like button is. So interesting. So I say tap heart, tap the heart plus, and I don't write the word plus or and because it takes up too many spaces. And I just do the plus side. Yes, because how many characters does it show before watch it? don't know.
00:41:31
Speaker
I don't know, but I can say... going to Google that talk. you look, like what mine shows... going to turn this down. Like if I look at it, it will say...
00:41:42
Speaker
um Tap heart plus comment. And then in all caps, I will say the word that I want. So like nothing is all caps except the word that I want for people to click on. And if I'm looking at that from somebody else's, let me go to a different account so that I can actually. By the way, while you were looking for that, it is 125 characters. Really? Okay. Okay.
00:42:09
Speaker
really okay Um, that's good to know. This is hidden behind a more button requiring users to actually click to read it. So there you go yeah So when you, I'm going to click on mine and look and see exactly what shows up on my end, if I'm looking at it.
00:42:27
Speaker
Yeah. So if you, you can't, know if you can see this, Leslie, but it can't but okay okay it says, it the comment it's when I am looking like you, this is somebody looking at the reel on the explore page or whatever.
00:42:39
Speaker
And it's, you see tap heart plus comment and you see the word. yeah Nothing else after that do you see, but they don't have to click on anything to know what I want them to do.
00:42:50
Speaker
Right. And that For me, I have learned over time, converts. I will get more sales. I will get more comments and comments that actually turn into sales because the actual sales come from trust.
00:43:06
Speaker
And people, for the most part, do not buy from you if they don't trust you. So you also have to look at, am I doing things that foster a relationship with the people who follow me? Am I talking every day in my stories about my day-to-day life, what I did today? Or am I only showing up in a... Sales.
00:43:28
Speaker
Well, not even just a sales, but like in a produced reel. Or some type of produced content, right? Or am I actually talking to people? And that makes a big difference.
00:43:42
Speaker
It does make a big big difference. And one thing i have noticed as far as my stuff, I tend to, or reels that show me somewhere out in a parking lot,
00:43:58
Speaker
Somewhere outside of my house where I think psychologically you can see that I did, in fact, wear the thing versus in my home where I literally could have and sometimes do put it on, make the reel, take it off.
00:44:16
Speaker
Right. It's it's I wonder if psychologically it works better when they they see that you actually wore the thing. As opposed to just showing the thing. It could. My question is, and when you say it does, and you didn't use these words, but these are my words, did better, performed. Is it views?
00:44:36
Speaker
It's mostly views, yes. Because you're generally always commenting on mine at all. the real The real thing, not real like a ah video, but the the actual thing that I think, yes, I do think psychologically it's helpful to see people wearing it and they think that. But I think more than anything, it's a pattern interrupter.
00:44:53
Speaker
When you are outside, people go, where is she? Right. Oh, we're like, right you know what I mean? Like it's a pat, that's what you need to get people who, if you need people to find you, you know, like they're not already in reels are, as we know, get pushed out to non-followers more than anybody else.
00:45:13
Speaker
So yeah. it has to be watched by non-followers for it to travel at all. And so non-followers are the people who are scrolling.
00:45:27
Speaker
What causes somebody to stop their scroll? Not you saying stop your scroll, which I think at one point in time actually did keep cause people to stop your scroll. Not anymore. um Don't use that as your hook. and um But if you, I have found through my research, just,
00:45:45
Speaker
for whatever reason, um that they call those pattern interrupters. And that is helpful. And it can, it's a visual hook. That's not, you know, it's a pattern interrupter, but also if you like, you did one where you did a viral comparing a viral is the, are these really viral genes or not? Or what are they all worth the hype?
00:46:04
Speaker
And you physically started your reel as you slid into your car. Right. That movement is a pattern interrupter. And so Those are the things that get people to stop what they're doing, who don't normally follow you and follow. Then once they're there, you got to give them a reason to actually want to buy what it is you're showing.
00:46:26
Speaker
Absolutely. Okay. So now back to the stuff, right? Like, cause we started this thing talking about the stuff and yes, if you're getting tons of brand deals or you're getting gifted, that's all wonderful. But when you actually have to buy stuff to show, we've already talked about the fact that you want to try to learn your audience and learn your analytics, right? And look at things that have done well and repeat that pattern, right? But the next part of that is how far in advance do you buy stuff? How often are you buying stuff? Like, is there sort of a strategy there? I know for me, when I do it well, it is based on a plan because I work really well with the plan. but I don't always plan, right? Like that like this week, i don't know I don't know what I'm posting today. i haven't even posted anything.
00:47:17
Speaker
When I do it well, what I do, and I'll start and then you can chime in, but I will write down ideas of content.
00:47:28
Speaker
So for instance, I've done this for next week. And so I have an idea of East like this is no new idea. Everybody's showing Easter dresses, but OK, Easter dresses like that's something people are looking for. So that is an idea of a content to post next week. So then now I know I've got to shop for Easter dresses.
00:47:52
Speaker
OK, I also know i wanted to show white jeans like for petite. Like that's a content idea. All right. Do I either have white jeans or do i need to buy white jeans? So I guess the point is, is are you shopping with content ideas in mind?
00:48:13
Speaker
And therefore buying the things that fill that content or are you just shopping and hoping you figure out how to show it later? Or is there a mixture? I think it's more of a mixture, but I probably, I'm always shopping if I'm being honest. And so um like right now, because I show so much Walmart, i'm if I see something that is that I think is cute,
00:48:40
Speaker
And is going to probably sell well, I buy it immediately, whether I'm going to show it or not. Sometimes it doesn't ever get shown because by the time I get it, it's out of stock or whatever. But so I have so much Walmart in my house that needs be returned. It's not even funny. That hasn't even been like boxes that haven't even been opened. out of stop Because I didn't get to it.
00:49:00
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? like and and so because it's back to the beginning of it's overwhelming, I have so much stuff. So that's a little much, right? But I also know that if I'm going to continue to work with Walmart, some of these things I can show again in a different way.
00:49:19
Speaker
It just, it helps me to have for a day-to-day basis um clothes that are from Walmart. Cause for a long time, I didn't have enough Walmart stuff and I have a ton of Amazon. So I can always throw something Amazon that's going to be in stock and show it.
00:49:32
Speaker
But um i I, don't make a plan beyond my only plan that I have is I know on Mondays, typically I do a comparison reel that I now do as a series. um with a high end and a low end. So I'm always on the lookout for something that I think looks like something else that's high end.
00:49:58
Speaker
And then is it something that I think would be of interest to my audience? Right.
Contrasting Content Planning Approaches
00:50:04
Speaker
um So I don't show home stuff. So I actually got onto some now where I'm like, see a lot of people who show the look for less for home stuff. And it's like right pottery bond for less or Serena and Lily look for da da da. And I don't do any of those because that's, I don't show home stuff. um But I am always on the hunt and I will start, but if I see something that I know is ah in stock, cause it's usually Amazon um that I know is a look for less of something, I'll just go ahead and order it.
00:50:35
Speaker
So I have it to fill. Um, so I do that on Mondays and then I know that on, um, Fridays, typically I will do a, um, now it's, it's turned into like, don't tell Walmart, but I'm in Walmart showing to Amazon or whatever.
00:50:53
Speaker
That has kind of become a series. And that, so I know, i think about filming during the week, if I'm going into, like yesterday I went into Target and I had on Walmart. So I thought, well, I'm going to do it. Don't tell Target I'm in Target, but I'm showing you some Walmart. So, I mean, it's not the most brilliant idea, but for whatever reason it did well. And so now I'm just going with it because it gives me an idea. um But so I will think about, i need to film something in a store that is not that store's outfit and that it's in stock. So I think about that when I am buying and wearing. um
00:51:32
Speaker
And outside of that, like I just put an order in for Avara and I love Avara stuff, but I likely by the time I get it it's going to be out stock. And so even though I think it's beautiful. I have dresses in my in my um closet that I love that you've probably seen. That's either Spartina or Spartina 449 or um stuff we bought together in 30A that I love. And I think they're beautiful dresses and I don't want to get rid of them cause I love them. And I've only worn them once or maybe twice and I can't link them. So it's like I always end up going for something else, but I'm keeping them because they're beautiful. And maybe one night I might go out to dinner and not care.
00:52:12
Speaker
Right. right But I'm always looking, but that's about the extent of what I do when I plan. i don't plan. Okay. I just don't plan. And I, but I, that's my personality.
00:52:24
Speaker
Um, I'm not a planner. I just am not. I want yeah i like a to-do list. I like a, okay, I like a, I mean, and you know, to each his own, and but obviously it works for you. And I don't do it all the time just because it's more out of like, I'm too busy to sit down think.
00:52:40
Speaker
But I shop better when I have an idea of what I need to look for. Like, yes, do I just kind of scroll a lot of times? Oh, that's cute. That's cute. That's cute. But when I'm ready to actually spend my money, I need a reason to buy it So if I sat down and said, okay, this week I'm going to post about Easter dresses, then when I'm scrolling and shopping, i know i need to look for Easter dresses. It's exactly why I love to shop for a vacation. Right. Because I have a very specific, like I love to shop for like outside of doing this. My favorite thing to shop for is a destination or a theme, if you will. Right. Because it allows me to take,
00:53:26
Speaker
80,000 things available and fine tune it say, okay, well, I know I'm only looking for something to wear to Miami, which I am also shopping for because I'm going to Miami, but there's a certain look I want to look like in Miami. Like, right. It's got a motif, if you will, it's got a, you know, I, I, you can get away with wearing the very tropical thing that I'm not going to probably wear, but to run to the post office in Greenville, South Carolina, right right? So I do better with a little bit of a plan helps me figure out what stuff to buy. Right. So then I think the lesson here from our conversation is you can have a plan or you cannot have a plan depending on the type of personality you are, but to buy things that hopefully you've learned a little bit from your audience that you also like, that you hope will sell if you want to make money. But it sounds like there's also times where content is content. And sometimes we need content that isn't necessarily for the sale. It's maybe for the follow or the no like trust factor or the right.
00:54:34
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. and As an aside, I have some place to be it in 30 minutes. I'm just telling you. on this I've been talking. about um I can keep talking. And that's why i was like, oh, my God, what time was that appointment? um Anyway. send this out yeah Yeah, exactly.
00:54:51
Speaker
But I think, you know, it's um it's important to remember that in the end, there are no hard and fast rules that if you do these things, you will be successful.
00:55:05
Speaker
And there's also no hard and fast rule that if you don't do these things, you won't be successful. That being said, there are best practices. There are things that, and if you use the tools that we are given, which is data that, and I'm not a data person, but I'm learning how to be one.
00:55:23
Speaker
um If I use that, it tells me so much about why something in terms of content that I created may have been seen by a bunch of people, but didn't get follows is, you know, or people bought it, but they didn't follow. What is it about like their things, or i may have gotten views, but I got and got to follow, but they didn't buy. Or, you know, that there are that kind of, there's that kind of data that we can use to inform our decisions going forward of what we want to do with the content. And if monetizing is a
00:56:04
Speaker
is a goal, you've got to figure out what the people who follow you want to purchase and then figure out how they want to be sold to basically.
00:56:16
Speaker
And then give it to them in a way that, that is easy for them to then go, Oh, this is what I can expect from this person. And this is how, this is how it works with this person. And so, and does that mean that they're always going to comment the same, you know, you can have a trigger word that's like,
00:56:33
Speaker
dress and they'll say, buy, shop. I mean, people whatever. Even if you set it out loud, it's on the screen and it's in the caption and it's, i mean, you can have the word buy across your face a thousand times and they're going to yell shop. i mean, you know, it's just, it's the way it is. And i mean, we're all guilty. I'm sure of that as we scroll through, we're used to our own thoughts and and doing things a certain way. But over time, i think you can, if you want this to be a business, use you got to throw stuff out there for a while and see what hits. And if nothing's hitting, then start looking at why it's not hitting and not assuming it's because they don't want to buy it or assuming that it's because it's too expensive or assuming that it's too inexpensive and your followers like, not that those cannot be reasons, but they're not automatic reasons.
00:57:26
Speaker
There are other things that could be about how we are creating the content and the text we put on our screen and where we put our, CTA in our caption, what we say in it, those things actually could be contributing.
00:57:40
Speaker
So I think that's ah that's an important lesson that i I have learned and am continuing to learn. Right. And I think it's a lesson that I need to pay more attention to.
00:57:51
Speaker
Yeah. and and but you know your yeah and But you now have enough data of doing it a certain way say, this is not working. for sales.
00:58:03
Speaker
It's working for views. It's working for this, but you had to get enough data out there right to even begin to look and see what the patterns are. You can't just have a couple of reels and not that, i mean you've been doing this long enough. You have more than a couple of reels, but i mean, when you're starting, you can't make assumptions based on a couple of things. You have to start to figure it out and go, maybe let put that little, ah that little thought away on the side and come back to it later and add this to it and add this to it. Kind of like scientists, even though I don't. Well, I was going to say, it's kind of like, you know how people have to eliminate stuff from their diet to figure out what is causing the issue kind of situation. yeah Like it's kind of like that.
00:58:44
Speaker
It's amazing. Yeah, I think, yeah. And again, you know, it's also figuring out the mindset of, well, I like it. Surely other people will like it, which has probably been my mindset for a while versus, all right, maybe they like it on me and don't like it on themselves. right Or maybe they don't like it at all. i mean, that's possible. I feel like, um do you remember that episode of Friends when, uh, Reese Witherspoon was the guest star because she's Rachel's sister sister. And she was like, you had me questioning my style. Yeah.
00:59:19
Speaker
Remember? Yeah. She thinks she's so stylish. It's not. It is absolutely. that That's why I'm saying when, where we landed. And so if you are somebody who's listening to this and you're feeling stuck, whether it be not getting enough views, not getting enough follows, not getting enough comments, not getting enough likes, saves, shares, whatever. it isn't always what you think it is.
00:59:42
Speaker
There are other places and that you use your data and put the data plus your hypothesis, but your data into, and now im I do this into chat GPT and almost every reel now, because I'm trying to refine and tweak things. I will screenshot the analytics um from Instagram and upload that into chat GPT. And I have a project that I've saved and I will say,
01:00:09
Speaker
Here are the insights after X amount of time. what And this is what I will say to it. Tell me what you glean from this. Like I don't tell it what to tell me. don't give it a direction. i just say, here it is.
01:00:22
Speaker
What do you take from this? And then it'll tell me. It's showing me this was this for this. And your basic this is that. I mean, it's very, very interesting and has been very helpful for me. it can be very frustrating, too. But just know that your first thought is not always the right one.
01:00:41
Speaker
And it's always not, it may not and likely isn't the obvious reason. Well, and I, you know, need to take my own advice because the amount of times I tell photographers, see, it's all a mindset thing. Like, you know i mean? I'm so used to helping photographers and their big thing is why didn't someone book me? And they automatically assume it's price.
01:01:02
Speaker
And I'm like, no, no, because I charge more than most of these photographers and I get books. So it can't be price, right? i mean, it could be, I guess it could be, but maybe it's, you're not appealing to the right audience for that price point, or maybe you're not explaining what they get for that price point or why they need senior photos, no matter what the price is. Right. Well, it's, you know, we want to blame price because that's an easy thing to, oh, I'm too expensive. Nobody wants to spend that.
01:01:32
Speaker
But the truth might be, it could be maybe more about how you're marketing what you offer and they don't think it's worth the price. It could be that. Which is actually good news because that's an easy fix. I mean, you know, and and you're not discounting your value.
01:01:49
Speaker
Right. And so I think that's, that's important to remember. um And I know we could go on and on and on and talk about this and would continue because it's a good topic. And, and if I say so myself, I think, I think we should talk, I think next week we should analyze my, my analytics. We can. We absolutely can. And people can learn from that. I mean, we can do yours too, but. Absolutely. And what are we learning? What is ChatGPT saying to us about,
01:02:17
Speaker
our stuff. I also wonder if we should, if people could like, if people wanted to get on with us and tell us like, audit
Importance of Analytics in Growth and Engagement
01:02:25
Speaker
my account. Tell me what right you think. see, because I can audit the heck out of somebody else's account. I can't audit my own. And I can audit it from a social media aspect, not necessarily, I mean, you know. I can audit it from a buying aspect. but Right, right, right, right. And that's something I did not realize about me until I started really digging into my analytics. And that's just been in the last couple of months that I can convert the hell out of something and sell the hell out of something. But
01:02:51
Speaker
People are not, for the amount of people who see my stuff, they are not following. So, and yeah, I mean, I'm still growing. Well, think that more is about, to me, that's more about today's Instagram user.
01:03:04
Speaker
Yes. People don't follow like they once did because they don't have to. Back in the day, yes Instagram was set up that the only way to see something was to follow that person.
01:03:16
Speaker
It's not that way anymore. Right. But there are people who are still growing and you always have to be growing or you're going to be, you're growing or dying. One of the two. Sure. Sure. And overall, I'm still growing, but it's at the, for what it's for the number of people who see or the number of people who follow, like my analytics are weird because of they hewed very heavily towards sales, which is fantastic.
01:03:41
Speaker
Of course, money is the complete opposite. Exactly. Which is why I think it's really helpful that we have this conversation because I got like $20 last month. I'm really killing it. Okay. $20 is more than 19 cents.
01:03:58
Speaker
Well, that's true. That's the joke. if That's the inside joke because that's an inside joke from a retreat. on It's like, well, I've so-and-so like I made 19 cents. So anyway, but yeah. So, okay.
01:04:09
Speaker
We probably need to wrap this one up because we could keep talking forever. Right. So our advice to people listening is no matter where you are on the journey, Pay attention to what your audience is telling you, whether that be through views, likes, comments, your platform analytics, ShopMyLTK, Mavely, whatever. And when you see something doing well, reproduce that to see if it does well again and buy the stuff that matches that.
01:04:39
Speaker
And if you don't know how to look at your analytics, reach out to us. We'll be happy to help you with that. And, um you know, maybe I even ask you to come on and let us know you and and and talk about it. But we'd be happy to do that because sometimes it takes an outside conversation.
01:04:56
Speaker
person outside of chat, but chat's going to be a part of it. I can just tell you. okay but oh I did want to say one thing about chat, not to make this in any longer, but i use chat GPT all the time. use chat GPT all the time. I'm sure everybody listening uses it.
01:05:09
Speaker
However, i will say that I just discovered someone who is using like clearly using chat GPT because it's literally the same script that chat GPT has told me to use. I have not done it because I didn't personally like it for me. So when you use ChatGPT,
01:05:31
Speaker
please interpret what it's saying and not spitting out the exact phrase that it told you to use because chances are it's telling somebody else to use the same. yep And then that could open a whole can of worms and we can go back to our copying episode. Well, and also- You're just copying what ChatGPT told you to do. Right. And then that that discounts your credibility. Absolutely. And absolute authenticity with your audience. so for Would everybody know that about this person? No, but it it is something ChatGPT has told me to use. yeah for sure. Absolutely. Absolutely. The wider spread it gets, the more. Yeah.
01:06:06
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, that was a side note.
Sister Shoutout: Celebrating Influencer Community
01:06:09
Speaker
Okay, this is one of our favorite parts of the show. It's time for our sister shout out. Each week, we each share a fellow influencer who is standing out.
01:06:19
Speaker
We'll tell you what she's doing so well, why her content stands out, and why you need to hit that follow button. Because supporting each other is what the sisterhood is all about. And when one of us shines, it lights the way for the rest of us.
01:06:33
Speaker
right. So we need to do our favorite part of the show, which is sister shout outs. And this week, sister shout outs from each of us. Now that you have us both back on ah on a podcast so we can do it. Mine Kimberly.Marie.Lifestyle. And she is just fun. i don't, I don't, I mean, I like what she shows, but I just think her Content is entertaining, if you will. um She shares a lot of beauty. She shares a lot of fashion. She wears color, which I'm attracted to um
01:07:09
Speaker
i love that she says, I'll tell you if your outfit is ugly or you don't look good in hats. That's adorable. So there you go. So she's honest. How about that? I love that. And I do like her content. Like I can say, I find it entertaining. um I guess I watch her more from that aspect than like, I don't know that I even pay attention to what she's showing. Does that make sense? Like I'm just watching her to watch her, not necessarily, oh my God, I want that sweater, which don't get wrong. It's cute. And the stuff she's showing is very cute, but I'm watching it more from an entertainment aspect. If that makes sense. Person just popped up in my feed and it reminded me when we talk about trying a lot of things, um,
01:07:58
Speaker
ah Okay. So it's refined by Brandy and i actually know her. And that is not why i am, I am saying this because there are a lot of people I know in real life and um who I'm feeling guilty for not saying anything about right now. um But Brandy is really working hard. i mean, when I tell you starting from zero, starting from zero, never did this before.
01:08:23
Speaker
She's tall she She has alopecia that is medically whatever. i mean, i know alopecia is medical, but there's a name of, there's several things for hair loss. And she is showing people how to wear alternative hair. And we have other friends of ours who we know who do that as well. But she is really taking direction. very She takes feedback and is using her analytics to make adjustments in real time.
01:08:52
Speaker
And as a new account, I think that's really, really helpful. And she's leaning into something that's very vulnerable, but I think needs to be seen and shown, which is hair loss. And um so if you don't follow her, I highly recommend you do. She shows really cute fashion too. If you want to watch somebody grow and you want to watch somebody go from having zero idea what they're doing and watch them actually evolve, then I think you should follow her because I have seen such
01:09:23
Speaker
growth in her content over the last two months since she started. That's awesome. Yeah. Okay. I just think she's great. So we'll put them in the, in the show notes. Yeah. We'll put both of them in the show notes, follow both of them. um And we'll be back next week with an all new episode.
01:09:39
Speaker
Maybe who knows, we might, know, show analytics, who knows what the, where the conversation will lead us, but we're hoping that this conversation is something that you have enjoyed.
01:09:51
Speaker
And if it is, please let us know. Comment, like, save, share, subscribe. um Go to our Influencer Sisterhood podcast account. We would really love it if you would share that with people because that's how it grows. And we want to support each other and be a resource. And people don't know we exist.
01:10:10
Speaker
And that's on us because we're not... really work in that account like we do our own individual accounts. We do have other accounts. You know, but there's only so many hours in the day and we're just, we're we're we're doing this imperfectly, right? Posted is better than perfect, as I say. So, um and as a lot of people say, not just me, but um definitely please share that and let us know if there's anything that you got from this. We would really appreciate the feedback. See y'all next week. Thanks guys.