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Interview with Katelyn's Room - Her Social Media Growth and Online Presence Tips
143 Plays2 years ago
In today's episode, we sit down and chat with our dear friend Katelyn, a Hawai'i based influencer and discuss all things social media related. Katelyn has been growing her instagram for years now, and not only has a successful following, but successful sponsorships as well. We asked Katelyn all about her growth, and some steps she took to get where she is today, as well as what kind of lessons she has learned along the way. This is a fun, lighthearted episode with some applicable tips to those looking to grow their online presence and even find sponsorships, and we hope you love hanging out with Katelyn as much as we did!
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Art of Intention' Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to the Art of Intention podcast with Beth and Ayla. Two best friends turn creative entrepreneurs. This is a place for us to discuss everything business, friendships, and faith and occasionally more. We're so excited for today's episode. We think you're going to love it. Stay tuned.
00:00:20
Speaker
Welcome to the show today, as you probably saw in the title of this episode.
Guest Introduction: Caitlin, Social Media Strategist
00:00:25
Speaker
Today on the podcast, we're interviewing a wonderful friend, Caitlin, as she shares some of her best social media strategy tips. Absolutely. We're discussing all things social media. So we've got Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, and what our strategies are, what some of our struggles are that you can probably relate to, and what everyone can be doing to utilize these platforms to their full potential.
00:00:49
Speaker
I think we all know that social media can be a blessing and occurs. So hopefully today we can share like a little bit about how you can make it more of a blessing in your life rather than, you know, a struggle. Yeah, absolutely.
00:01:03
Speaker
Okay, so we're just going to get right into it. We're really excited to introduce our guest to you today, Caitlin, who you can find on social media under Caitlin's room, is a social media influencer, part-time photographer, student, and a dear friend of mine. Yeah, we're so grateful that she's here to chat with us today and just letting us get the scoop about a few things social media related.
00:01:28
Speaker
Okay, so Caitlin, thank you so much for being here today. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah. So why don't we start by learning how you would classify yourself on social media, like what you do on social media. And of course, if there's anything else that you want to share about
00:01:44
Speaker
like your job or you know photography or whatever else you want to share about yourself like go for it. I'm Caitlin. I'm 17 years old. I'm a social media influencer. I do lifestyle fashion and local Hawaii content on my Instagram and I'm also a model and I like to sing dance and act
00:02:08
Speaker
and I also have a photography business where I photograph like children and families and Yeah, so those are my main hobbies and passions and I'm really excited to be here today Wow. Oh my gosh. That's that's so fun. That's so cool. Just like I
00:02:28
Speaker
Hearing how much you're into. That's so great. We're so excited to get further into our Q&A with you today. So can we ask you just right off the bat about your beginning in social media? Do you recall it all when your page started to grow? And kind of the second part of that question is, was it intentional?
Caitlin's Social Media Journey
00:02:49
Speaker
Yeah, so I started off as just like a regular teen Instagram account that like had like 500 followers around there and it was just all my friends and then I reached out to this rubber band company
00:03:04
Speaker
and I asked them if we could collaborate and they said yes and so we did a collaboration and then from there I really liked that so I reached out to more brands and more opportunities and followers and like blessings came my way and I'm so grateful yeah so that's what really started it all
00:03:26
Speaker
That's awesome. Wow, you reaching out to people. That's super cool. Way to put yourself out there. Thank you. I love that. I love that you found that you enjoyed it too. That's so nice. That's awesome. I guess along those same lines, I think what a lot of people want to know is if you have any, what are your top two or three or
Top Tips for Social Media Growth
00:03:47
Speaker
whatever?
00:03:47
Speaker
tips for growing on social media like today. This can be any platform. I know we're probably mostly talking about Instagram, but if you have any tips for social media.
00:03:57
Speaker
Yes, so I think posting consistently is key. I'm trying to get better at that right now. That's one of my main goals right now. But another way on Instagram is Instagram Reels. Those tend to push out a lot. Other than that,
00:04:19
Speaker
growing, I feel like the algorithm changes a lot. So you have to be on top of the algorithm in order to grow, I would say. And it's kind of hard to keep up because it's constantly changing. And there's always new tips and new hacks or strategies to grow.
00:04:38
Speaker
So yeah, that's kind of the hard part about growing right now. Definitely. Outside question to that before I get into my next question, do you follow any of the pages that tell you about the Instagram algorithm? Like I know in my Reels For You page, it has like trending sound, trending time limit, trending this. Do you like go off of any of those or are you just like free soloing? Like I'm just going to figure this out because I never know to trust those pages that are not, but
00:05:06
Speaker
Yeah, I do see those pages on my feed, but I don't follow them. I just kind of like do my own thing. I don't know. I think it's some of the tips are really helpful, like trending sounds and stuff. I do save some of those sounds to use.
00:05:24
Speaker
That's good to know. So awesome. Yeah, because I they pop up all the time. And sometimes they're so different for me. And I'm like, gosh, what do I do? But that makes sense. Like if it hits, it hits. So out of all those things we talked about your socials reels, especially I'm guessing it's Instagram.
Why Instagram?
00:05:40
Speaker
But what social media platform would you say you do focus on the most and like put the most
00:05:45
Speaker
effort into and is there a reason why? Do you enjoy this certain platform more or do you get the best return for your work? Just where are you active the most and why? I'm active on Instagram the most. That's where all my followers are mostly. I think I'm active on it more is
00:06:05
Speaker
like the reason why is because I enjoy it like a lot because you can do video content and photo content and whereas like TikTok it's mainly videos so you have like a mixture of both and I really like to post photos too so I think that's why I gravitate more to Instagram but I do like TikTok for like scrolling and stuff I think
00:06:29
Speaker
Yeah. Oh yeah. True. I spent so much time on that app. I got rid of it recently, but like my husband and I, a few months back, it was like nightly. We're just like an hour just on there. Like it's easy. So being, keeping on Instagram, I suppose when you are like scrolling through it and stuff, what makes you hit follow when you see somebody's page?
00:06:53
Speaker
Well, I noticed that I tend to like aesthetic content, like fashion, photos that like are really appealing to the eye. Since like I have like a photographer like I can kind of see like even if it's an iPhone shot, I'm like, Oh, that's such a pretty shot. And like I like their style and stuff like
00:07:16
Speaker
Oh, her outfit is super cute. Then I'll follow her for like outfit inspiration or stuff like that. Nice. Okay. That's cool. That makes sense. Yeah. So more like aesthetic instead of just being like informational. You like the creative pages. That's
The Potential of Pinterest
00:07:31
Speaker
cool.
00:07:31
Speaker
Okay, and then I think I have a quick question for you because you and I have chatted before about Pinterest just in general and I love Pinterest I'm like a huge proponent of it, even though I'm still learning how to use it better But I think a lot of people would be interested to hear if you have any thoughts on Pinterest because it's I at least in my opinion It's a little bit overlooked and kind of like underappreciated So like do you have any like how do you think of Pinterest or do you use it at all?
00:07:56
Speaker
or know anything about it that would help people grow? I used Pinterest. I've been really bad about posting on it recently. I should get better at it. It's a really good platform to grow your following. It's easier to reach people, I feel like.
00:08:17
Speaker
to get on like the explore page you can get paid from it you just have to be 18 and older and i'm not at that age quite yet so i think that's why i kind of like stop posting i'm like i don't like i don't like yeah it's it's a great platform though but i don't go on it as much as
00:08:40
Speaker
I don't know, I just don't use it that much. Do you plan on using it more though once you turn 18 because you could potentially get paid? When I open up my phone in the morning, I just go on Instagram. I would like to use it to grow my other platforms, if that makes sense. To direct people to them. Okay, that makes sense.
00:09:05
Speaker
Yeah, I've heard it can be good for that too, because people just go on there for general inspiration, not necessarily follow pages. And so if they find something they like, they're going to want to know what the source is for that. And so they're going to follow the links to the Instagram or the TikTok.
00:09:20
Speaker
Right. I'm in the same boat. There was a time I was on Pinterest daily when I was like 14, 15, but I wasn't allowed to have any other socials. Like Pinterest was the most safe one at the time. So I was on that on constantly. But once I got onto everything else, I think I was on Pinterest only if I need it for like wedding stuff. And then so I go through like months of using it or not. But
00:09:41
Speaker
I found how I got it into editing on Pinterest, so I know it can be effective, but I'm the same way. I just like, it's this big monster. I have to tackle my business and I just haven't yet. But that is good to know like after 18 plus, you can monetize your content if you're there. Yeah, that is consistent enough, I suppose. Yes, that is not only the
00:10:01
Speaker
that is not the only requirement to, you know, monetize it. Yeah, there's other requirements too. But yeah, consistency is definitely the key, I would say, keeping your monthly views up. Like you can see it on the person's profile, how many monthly views they have. Yeah.
00:10:21
Speaker
Oh, okay. Oh, interesting. Well, cool. I think, yeah, going on with that as far as kind of like monetization and there's so many different streams of income through social media. That's kind of what I've been looking into in my business lately is how to make money through the business, but also using social media
00:10:41
Speaker
most people in our industry have like three, four, five streams of income.
Navigating Sponsorships and Scams
00:10:45
Speaker
So the last heavier question I have for you is about sponsorships. So like you said in the beginning, you're someone who gets sponsorships on social media as an influencer. And we know this could be like a whole thing. We could ask you probably so much about it, but we'd love to hear about how you kind of, if you do get sponsorship offers, how you sift through that.
00:11:08
Speaker
telling if they're real or fake, something like that.
00:11:12
Speaker
So a lot of brands inquire and I go through them and I look at their brand, what it's about, what they sell, what they offer, and I make sure it aligns with my brand image. If they fit into my content, lifestyle, fashion, or anything like that, local stuff. And if I like the brand and I like
00:11:38
Speaker
their product or what they have to offer then yeah I say yes but I there's some ways to recognize if it's a scam or not like if they ask you like to pay like you have to still pay for the product or like stuff like that
00:11:55
Speaker
I usually avoid those. But I really like and enjoy reaching out to brands. It's what got me into marketing. So yeah, I definitely want to look into doing marketing when I grew up because of this. It really got me into that business mindset. And yeah, so I like when they reach out and I reach out to them too. That's awesome.
00:12:21
Speaker
I love that because then you have kind of control over, you know, like who you're reaching out to. And so then because you like reaching out, do you find it kind of easy and do you have like email, like do you do it by email or? Yes, I do it by email or sometimes DM, but mostly email. I do have a template that I use, but I like to change it up to fit the brand. Oh, nice.
00:12:44
Speaker
Yeah, that was kind of my next, I suppose, quick question before we wrap that up. First off, I find that really cool that you like to reach out. I feel like I don't hear that very much. Usually, I hear a lot of being on socials and throwing a lot out there, hoping something sticks and hoping people come to you, which absolutely can work for people. But I think that's so cool. That's one of your interests, getting into marketing and stuff. If it's not too tricky of a question, what does your template look like, roughly?
00:13:13
Speaker
What's your general message that you get across in that inquiry email to a brand? Yeah, so I just basically introduce myself. Hi, I'm Caitlin. I'm a teen Hawaii influencer. And I tell them my social handles and explain that I would love to work with them and promote their product or service. Yeah, that's basically it. And then if sometimes I'll include something about their brand,
00:13:42
Speaker
I really like how your brand offers, you know, so-and-so, you know. Nice. Oh, I like that touch. I just like to include their message, their brand, yeah, in my message. Yeah, I like the personalization. And like you said before, you keep personalizing it and adding new things. That's really cool. And I think that's important too so that these brands aren't just getting the same kind of thing from people because I'm sure multiple people reach out. So that's really great what you said about making sure it's always personalized and you change it up always. That's probably really smart. Yeah.
00:14:11
Speaker
Um, and then I, I think of like, we'll kind of start wrapping it up with some lighthearted questions. Um, because I'm curious, this is more of like a theoretical question, but if you could change anything about social media, any platform, so Instagram or whatever, any one aspect, what would you change?
Challenges with Instagram's Algorithm
00:14:29
Speaker
I think
00:14:31
Speaker
honestly like the algorithm of Instagram TikTok is really good at pushing your videos no matter what kind of account you are but Instagram has this certain they have like rules I would say to like push it out like you need to have your real like within five to seven seconds or you need to have like a hundred percent watch time in order to it to push more and
00:14:57
Speaker
Sometimes I just want to post long videos on wheels like one minute and then if like nobody watches the whole thing then it's not gonna push more So yeah, I would like to change that part of Instagram. That's fair. That's a good one I've been feeling that with my content huge lately like I've been doing the five to seven seconds and like
00:15:20
Speaker
not like they blow up but those ones do really well and then I did one a couple weeks back that I was so proud of and I picked a song that wasn't trending and it was like 30 seconds long and I was like this is a work of art and yeah I got like three likes or something and I was like it's fine it's it's not personal that's okay yeah the algorithm just sometimes does not want to help us but on kind of a lighter note kind of like a different question
00:15:46
Speaker
Then what's your favorite thing about social media that like in all the years you've used it and in all your interactions?
Spreading Positivity & Local Adventures
00:15:52
Speaker
What?
00:15:53
Speaker
makes you happy about social media. What do you like about it? What's a positive thing? I would say spreading joy and spreading happiness and positivity through the whole community. I've been really enjoying sharing about local businesses lately on my new series, Caitlin's Adventures Around Oahu, where I take my followers to my favorite spots around the island, whether it's beaches or restaurants or activities.
00:16:22
Speaker
And yeah, so that's like my favorite part about it, I would say. I love that. Yeah, the potential to spread joy and connect with people. That's probably my favorite part too, is the connection that you can have.
00:16:33
Speaker
And that's kind of how we met, too. Yeah, it is actually. We met through Instagram. Or Facebook or something like that. So cool. Well, before I jump into our conclusion, that just made me think of one more general question. It might be a bit of a doozy. So if you're like, I don't know, we'll just zip to the conclusion. But you're a younger influencer, which is just like, that's so cool.
Passion for Marketing and Photography
00:17:01
Speaker
you've discovered all this like at this age and stuff like I couldn't imagine knowing all of this at that time. But anyway, is there something what's kind of a lesson you've learned in all of this like in all of your growth or just anything general about yourself or anything like what's just something cool that you've learned about life or about yourself in jumping into this?
00:17:24
Speaker
Well, like I said earlier, I think I really found my passion through this opportunity. For example, marketing, like I would have never thought I would be like that type of person. But doing this made me realize some things like that.
00:17:42
Speaker
And also it got me into photography because I wanted the best photos for my Instagram. So I learned how to use a camera and I would really like get into like the settings and like I wanted my background to be blurry, like to have that professional look. Right. And so that's, yeah, so it made me realize like, oh, I really like photography too. So yeah, a lot of stuff like that came out of that.
Conclusion and Farewell
00:18:11
Speaker
just learning more about yourself sounds like yeah amazing that's so cool that is unbelievably impressive awesome well thank you thank you so much for being here kaitlyn we really loved having you so much for having me yeah this was
00:18:26
Speaker
such a treat so early on in our show to just like get to bring somebody like you on and social media is just such a big tool these days that so many people are constantly trying to learn more about. So thank you so much for your insight on that. For our listeners who are like, whoa, she sounds super cool. Can you tell everyone quickly where to find you? Yes, you can find me on Instagram at Caitlin's room.
00:18:52
Speaker
on tiktok at kaitlyn's room one on pinterest it's kaitlyn's room and on youtube it's kaitlyn's room so mostly kaitlyn's room perfect amazing and that's kaitlyn just because i know there's a bajillion ways to spell it that's with a k a k yes k-a-t-e-l-y-n-s-r-o-o-m excellent love it love it
00:19:16
Speaker
Yeah, we loved having you today, seriously. And maybe we'll have you back sometime to talk about more topics or even branch out on some of these because it's really fun to talk to. Yeah, absolutely. So don't forget to check her out on social media and give her a follow to enjoy all of her content. I love following her. And like I said, she's doing an awesome series right now, or like she said, Caitlin's Adventures around Oahu. So definitely follow to see all this kind of content.
00:19:40
Speaker
Yeah I followed I think on all my stuff and then I saw one of those first ones like one of the hikes that you took your followers on and I was like oh that looks fun so so excited to see what you keep doing with that. That'll conclude our episode for today we hope you loved it just as much as we loved doing it let us know your thoughts on it you guys know the drill by now
00:20:01
Speaker
You can find us at Art of Intention podcast on Instagram, and let us know if you want to see Caitlin back on the show and what else you'd love to hear from the three of us, because I think we'd definitely love to do this again. And since we're all plugging where we're at, you can find me, Ayla, at Ayla B. Edits for all your photo editing needs, and Beth at Beth Switzer Photography. Until next time, bye!