Boost Your Instagram: Secrets to Engagement with Jenna Warriner

You can find Jenna Warriner at:
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Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/7adSYha73RayRN5gPTIe0D?si=f330a01262574b35
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jennaspaige?lang=en
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JennasPaige
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/jennaspaige/

Jenna Warriner Podcast Transcription

[00:00:00] Kris Ward: Hey, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Win The Hour Win The Day, and I am your host, Kris Ward. And today in the house, we have Jenna Warriner and oh my gosh boy, Jenna is an amazing social media marketer . Welcome to the show, Jenna.

[00:00:14] Jenna Warriner: Thanks so much for having me.

[00:00:16] Kris Ward: I’m excited. Okay. So I have, you’ve been filling my feed for maybe a year and a half now, and I thought you’re amazing to start, but it just got so much so that I was like, we got to get her on the show. Let’s get her in. So I just find your outlook on creating content to be amazingly refreshing, and unbelievably simple on the grounds.

[00:00:39] It’s simple. Hey, yeah, I can do that today. No matter if it’s Sunday afternoon or Monday night. So there’s just really a lot of juicy framework that can really empower you moving forward. Why don’t we let me stop talking and talk about, what are some of the key things that you think people miss when it comes to that overwhelming fear of feeding the beast of social media?

[00:01:05] Jenna Warriner: I Think people are genuinely, even if they say they’re not afraid to show up as they are. One of the compliments that I could hear my Canadian accent, I feel like we’re going to bring it out in each other. Because we’re both in Canada, I hear my hard Rs.

[00:01:19] Kris Ward: We discovered as the call began, because we’re so used to dealing with Americans, that yes, we’re both Canadians.

[00:01:24] So yes, don’t mind the accent and apparently we say about differently, but we’ll move forward. Go ahead.

[00:01:30] Jenna Warriner: About, pillow, milk. So I think what, one of the compliments I hear all the time is that people say that they feel like they’re talking to me in my living room when I’m looking into the camera lens and they’re watching my videos.

[00:01:42] And I think part of that is this comfort in just showing up as I am, what I’m wearing, whatever the lighting is that day, with maybe washed hair, maybe only washed hair and I think people are really afraid to do that, especially since historically social media has been a place where the aesthetic really matters, where perfection was rewarded.

[00:02:01] But it is moving so far away from that, especially on TikTok. And I think when you can embrace that, you’re now rewarded.

[00:02:11] Kris Ward: I hope it’s a good point and it’s still a hard one to wrap your head around because you are right. So when I see your stuff and you always even make to a point of you’ll grab your sweater and you’ll say, Oh my gosh, see this big sloppy thing.

[00:02:22] There’s a stain on it. Who cares? And you’re teaching the essence of showing up as you are. Now, a lot of us, our first defense is, “Hey, listen, you don’t understand. I deal with high end clients, so I have to look a little professional. But even under that guise, I still feel I have relaxed a lot from what you’ve shown us, because it does feel like then I could have popped in your house and it’s Oh, Sunday afternoon, you’re having a tea and your hair’s up, you clean the house, but that we’re good friends because you’re inviting me in under that format.”

[00:02:52] So I, there is power to it. Now we just need courage to take it into action.

[00:02:58] Jenna Warriner: Yeah, absolutely. And I totally understand the argument of I serve high end clients. Listen, I do too. Like I do too. And I totally understand if you don’t want to embrace sloppiness as part of your brand, I’m not saying do that, but I am encouraging you to maybe meet me in the middle.

[00:03:15] Like I just was speaking to someone the other day who does great online, looks professional and legit online. And she shared with me that she’s almost always wearing pajamas under the nice dress shirt she has over top of it because she’s currently building a house and that’s, and she works from home and that’s just what it’s like.

[00:03:33] So she still needs that confidence and then she throws on a nice shirt over top of what she’s wearing and she doesn’t show her pants and there you go. And again maybe that’s too far. You’re not willing to quite go that far, but if the feeling of needing to look perfect and needing to look what in your mind reads as professional is keeping you from creating content, it’s actually not a belief that’s serving you.

[00:03:57] Kris Ward: Yeah, you’re right because we do, you, you are more relatable when you’re like, Oh, okay, here we go. All right. I could talk all day about that and we will circle back to this anyways. I don’t want to get ahead of myself because there’s many things you do really well. So let’s talk about quick ways to get engagement because that’s what it’s really all about.

[00:04:16] So what are the ninja tricks for getting engagement?

[00:04:19] Jenna Warriner: Okay, so first I want to give a shift and then we can throw some tactics at it just to have fun. One of the things we need to think about is that our content is for our viewers. It is not for us. How a lot of people approach their social media…

[00:04:36] Is you start doing it because there’s things you want to say, or there’s results you want to achieve. Like you want somebody to jump on a sales call, but how can you turn that around? Think of your content as entertainment, whether it’s funny or educational or value driven or sensitive or whatever. It doesn’t need to be like silly entertainment, but like entertainment for someone else to consume.

[00:04:56] So it benefits them. Some of the biggest transformations I’ve seen service based business owners experience is actually I had someone in my program who had a thousand percent increase in reach. And when I asked her how she achieved that, she said, I stopped saying what I wanted to say and started saying like what my audience wanted to hear.

[00:05:14] What do they want to talk about?

[00:05:17] Kris Ward: Okay, but don’t we all think we’re doing that anyhow? Like I’ve heard that advice before and I think of course I’m showing up and saying what they want to hear about and not me. So I, and even if you are doing, trying to get sales, you dismiss that and be like, Oh no, this is one exception.

[00:05:31] So how do I get out of my head and hear what you’re saying? Do you have an example? Because I’m thinking it’s like when people show up and say, be authentic. Nobody shows up to be inauthentic. It doesn’t mean I’m being authentic. It means that obviously I’m struggling with the concept or I’d be doing it.

[00:05:45] Jenna Warriner: Yeah, that’s a great question. Okay, so start by adding something to your weekly content strategy that just gives. So maybe it’s a how to carousel, just gives, it just gives away some great advice that people can apply right now, and you’re not secretly trying to circle it back to making a sale. Or maybe it’s like a meme, or a joke, or an inspirational graphic, just something that just gives, you’re not expecting anything in return, and that piece, strategically, it’s sole purpose is to connect with your follower.

[00:06:21] Kris Ward: Okay. And some of us, I know this the rookie anthem is always, Oh, my business is different. Like we all say that. And they’re not, but what did he feel like it’s sometimes it always looks like the grass is greener. So we like, “Oh that’s great, Jenna.” Cause then you could give a quick hack on how to make a carousel or these things are really easily taught in a short period of time, show and tell.

[00:06:42] But when you’re dealing with it. Where are you dealing with people and they’re scaling their business or working too many hours? Or they are at this point in the journey. And then sometimes you go, “Oh, this concept is a little bit heavier, a little bit, I feel like I have to explain the thing before I explain, or it’s not in my case, I would say, I would argue that 90 percent of people use their calendar wrong.”

[00:07:02] And then to try to show something on the calendar, it takes a little bit of explanation why that’s wrong. One of the quick things is, “Hey, you’re putting out. You’re always putting external forces on your calendar. Like you got a dentist appointment. You don’t want to go that’s on your calendar, but you don’t put your own work on your calendar.”

[00:07:18] And what happens there is people might think they have, seven hours when they only have four. And here I am talking away. You’re a guest on my show and I’m taking too much air time. I feel how putting that into a video doesn’t feel the same to me as when you show how to do carousel. Do you see the complaint?

[00:07:35] Jenna Warriner: Yeah. Her eyes are crossed now. She just said, what the hell, Kris? A lot just happened and I’m trying to catch the beliefs as well as give you tactics. So the first thing I like, if you’re fighting this, that won’t work for me. Yeah, but yeah, but… can we just stop? Can we stop arguing it?

[00:07:53] Okay. Can we stop fighting it? And think if content’s abundant, if in the time since we started this call, millions of videos have been uploaded to TikTok, literally, then maybe there are some fun, friendly energetic posts that I can make for my business and maybe they are professional and maybe they are good because unless you are getting a ton of engagement and a million comments, you’re still not quite cracking the code on what your followers want to see.

[00:08:23] So like my first instinct from you is can you just tell me how to make my calendar prettier and add colors to it? Because if there are colors on it, I might look at it a little bit more. And then I’m really, ultimately, two steps closer to carrying what you’re saying about how I’m not using my calendar properly.

[00:08:39] Or can you tell me three calendar apps you recommend? That’s very simple, it’s very surface level. You’re still moving me along that path of being interested in what you sell, but you’re giving me something that’s meeting me closer to where I’m at.

[00:08:51] Kris Ward: Those are powerful examples. You did really well.

[00:08:53] Okay. Because what I often say too is we have the curse of knowledge. So we think we have to tell them if I were doing your job, I might say, okay, here’s how to do a reel and here’s why you need a reel and you’re trying to include all that. And then we lost them. So that’s a really good example. You did very good. You boiled that down really quickly. Okay.

[00:09:10] Jenna Warriner: All right. The thing is, Kris, I’m really good at what I do.

[00:09:13] Kris Ward: Ah!

[00:09:15] Jenna Warriner: No, but here. So your marketer brain started with 90 percent of people are using their calendar wrong. I would say that’s still your marketer brain being turned on and I want to turn on your seven year old on stage at the talent show brain.

[00:09:29] So what’s something you can tell me? Can you do a a reel where your green screen behind you is your calendar and you point out something that auto corrected to something ridiculous. And now you’re like, I have no idea what that says. That is so relatable. That gets you into my feed just because it’s quirky and funny.

[00:09:46] And I can, I’m like, Oh yeah I’ve been there where I’ve found stuff in my calendar. I have no idea what it says. Now I’m seeing your content. Then a couple of days later you can drop that stat on me and I actually care and I actually see it.

[00:09:58] Kris Ward: Okay. That is another great example, because I know it’s so easy when people say, make it entertaining and edutainment and all that other stuff.

[00:10:07] And then of course you think my work’s not that funny, right? So I do love that. I think it’s a rather dry thing, your calendar, and you gave some really good examples. It does simplify. Okay.

[00:10:19] Jenna Warriner: I’ve never heard edutainment. I’ve never heard that. And I immediately love it.

[00:10:24] Kris Ward: Okay. I did not invent it. Hear it, edutainment. So it’s education and entertainment same time. So there you go. I helped too. Okay. Write that down. I taught her something. Okay. So quick ways to get more engagement, make it entertaining, make it concise. Make it really simplistic and when I’m doing this, I know you’re also a big proponent of it being quantity as well as quality, figuring it out.

[00:10:51] Jenna Warriner: Yeah. The thing is, if you are learning a new skill, doing it once a week is just not going to propel you at the rate that I know your listeners want to be propelled, right? Where. We are self employed, we want to move fast, we want to get stuff done, we want to be efficient, and the only way to get faster at writing the caption, to get faster at scheduling the content, to get faster at setting up your lighting and filming it, is that quantity.

[00:11:14] And so again, we have to release this desire to be perfect and aesthetic all the time, if we want to gain the skill of creating more that affects our audience. It’s just you just gotta, what is it called? Suck the egg? Eat the egg? What is the…

[00:11:29] Kris Ward: oh, eat the frog.

[00:11:31] Jenna Warriner: It’s, no, it’s not eat the frog. It’s it’s the expression that’s like you gotta do the thing you… or eat the frog is do the thing you hate the most first,

[00:11:40] Kris Ward: which I don’t agree in. It shouldn’t be on your calendar, so don’t get me started. So we’ll assume, okay, so what you’re saying is. Cause if you’re set up correctly, it doesn’t need to be on your calendar. Don’t get me started. But what you’re saying is get your reps in, which makes sense because you know what, somebody losing weight.

[00:11:56] I always compare it to weight loss because everybody at some points wanted to lose five pounds. You don’t go to the gym once a week and go, okay, that should be, we’re good. We’re back in. So…

[00:12:05] Jenna Warriner: unfortunately.

[00:12:05] Kris Ward: No. Yes. That’s another discussion. A hundred percent. Okay.

[00:12:10] So get out as much as you can, test it as much as you can drop, get out of our head space and start really simple and small instead of trying to teach whole concepts.

[00:12:20] Jenna Warriner: Yeah. And if it helps, like right now you have the smallest amount of followers you’re ever going to have. If you’re seeing your followers drop off, it’s either because you said something controversial or you have a whole bunch of bots following you. It’s probably not that people are just like, Oh, Kris, I don’t want to see her stuff anymore because we just don’t unfollow that way typically.

[00:12:39] So you have the smallest amount of followers you’re ever going to have. The only way to grow it is to post more. And right now is the time to experiment when you have fewer eyeballs on you.

[00:12:49] Kris Ward: A hundred percent. One of the things that I think you do exceptionally well, and I know this, I’m sure you’re crafted at explaining this when it’s really more of a visual game, but I have consume a lot of content.

[00:13:02] I see a lot of things, Instagram, TikTok, all that stuff. And people talk about B rolls, but you really, I thought I, okay, let me back up for a second. So for those of you don’t know, a B roll is when you see something visually and there’s no audio. So like you see it in a movie where cars driving by and the actors are not in it and there might be music.

[00:13:21] So I thought I was pretty good at B roll. My team is really good about pushing me on that. Like you could have a B roll of you cooking. You could have a B roll of you meeting with a client or at your desk typing. I thought. Look at me. I got a good roster of B roll and you blew it out of the water to the point that I had to control myself.

[00:13:39] I was like, Oh God, I got to take this next hour off and go outside and shoot this whole B roll thing that Jenna showed us. And I think really, that’s where you really stopped the scroll. And I hadn’t seen this done before. So do you want to talk to that?

[00:13:53] Jenna Warriner: Yeah, so another way that I like to describe b roll is when you’re watching the news, and they say there’s a storm coming tomorrow, and then they show a clip of a storm.

[00:14:00] It’s not tomorrow’s storm, because tomorrow hasn’t happened yet. They just have this b roll, they have it saved on their camera roll, so that they can use it when they need it. And we see some of the most successful content on Instagram right now is reels that are just a person doing something random, like opening the oven and taking a turkey out.

[00:14:19] Oh my gosh, Kris, I should do a Thanksgiving themed b roll video on TikTok. They would love that!

[00:14:24] Kris Ward: Yes!

[00:14:25] Jenna Warriner: So you just basically film yourself doing little things. A lot of them are time lapses of someone sitting at their desk doing working on the computer. And then we think initially the text on the screen has to do with exactly what we’re doing.

[00:14:38] But really, if you scrolled through Instagram, with the sound off, you would see it’s random footage with really value packed text, and they don’t even really need to relate. And it’s hard to wrap your head around, but that’s what most reels are right now.

[00:14:55] Kris Ward: Yeah. And you do such a great job of that.

[00:14:57] Like I think the one you call the genius role, like you’re just standing outside and making yourself really small in the frame. And then there’s all this sky and space and you could be putting texts there. And I thought, Oh my gosh, you’re right. Like you just looking up at the sky nodding. And it really did open the door for me.

[00:15:13] Cause then I stuck my camera, my phone, hello, 1800s camera. I stuck my phone in the fridge and then I just opened the fridge to get something. I’m looking around, grab milk. That’s a B roll. And you’re so right in the beginning, we all get so limited. Oh, I just work at a desk and how do I make that look exciting?

[00:15:31] Being relatable, it could be anything. I stuck it in the trunk then, I opened the back of the trunk and I was just getting stuff rooting around. That was a B roll. Like all of a sudden life is a B roll. Everything, but using the bathroom could be a B roll.

[00:15:44] Jenna Warriner: Makeup though, you could time lapse doing your makeup in the bathroom and that would be great b roll.

[00:15:50] Kris Ward: Oh my gosh. Okay. So I thought that was really insightful. So where else do you think that people are missing it when they’re looking at? Cause, cause I really do think I just. I think you broke the mold as far as looking at content differently, and a lot of people are out there saying that they do it, but hats off to you. I really do think it’s refreshing the way you approach it.

[00:16:14] Jenna Warriner: What do I think people are missing?

[00:16:16] Kris Ward: Yeah, as far as getting bound into the content, like we’re getting too structured. And I know I often tell people like my clients, they’ll say something like, Oh, if I was more organized like you, and I’m like, yeah.

[00:16:26] Your strength is your weakness. So back in the day before we had everything, we worked with our clients on getting your time back and scaling all that stuff. I could reorganize myself really quickly and you’re just reorganizing. So being organized can be a deficit. And I also say that to you with social media.

[00:16:43] You’re right. We get really structured on this. What’s got look like. And I just find that yours is constantly not even the framework of discussion when it comes to creating your social media. It’s Oh, the B rolls were refreshing and different. And so what do you feel like we’re getting caught up in the mechanics with social media and your videos? The B roll is a big one. What are some other things you think we’re missing?

[00:17:07] Jenna Warriner: So you know, I will say that a lot of people are missing sales content altogether. When I work closely with my clients, that’s a big focus is how do we create sales content? And then also make it fun. Also make it edutainment and create sales content that really actually leads to the clients in your inbox.

[00:17:27] But before that, what often happens is it’s all these teeny tiny death by a thousand cuts that stop someone from making the content. So someone will say to me, what time should I post it at? I genuinely don’t care. It doesn’t matter. As long as you’re awake and your clients are probably awake, then you’re, you can probably post it then, but there’s been so many, so much, but there’s been so much talk over the years about peak times that people think that they can only post it at one time.

[00:17:55] But anyway, that’s a whole conversation and it doesn’t really matter, but we get that one tiny cut in our head and then we’re not filming the video in the first place. Or what about hashtags? I don’t care. I only use hashtags on half my posts. Who cares? But we feel like, oh, it’s this big thing and it’s this talking point I see online all the time.

[00:18:12] So then they just don’t make the thing. Just go make the thing. Let it be imperfect. Chances are it’s better than you think it is.

[00:18:19] You gotta just start, and all of those tiny little cuts will heal, and you’ll figure it out, and you’ll figure out the nuances, and that’s for later you, now you, just needs

[00:18:29] to start posting.

[00:18:32] Kris Ward: Yeah, so that’s a really good point. You can’t improve upon what you haven’t done.

[00:18:36] Jenna Warriner: Yes.

[00:18:37] Kris Ward: And that’s back to, again, it’s just so easy to understand when you think about fitness.

[00:18:42] It’s oh, I’ve seen people where I’d like to lose weight first before I go to the gym because I’m a little embarrassed about my weight. It’s okay, how much weight are you losing at home, not going to the gym? Oh, I have to get the right runners or this or that. And you’re getting all this prep work.

[00:18:54] And I think we all have accepted like back in the day when we used to use it, you say, I need a better camera, better audio, all this stuff. Now it’s ” Hey, we’re all in equal playing field. We’re just using our phone.” So what other distractions are you putting in place so that you can delay performance because you don’t want to be doing it and you’re fearful of it.

[00:19:15] Jenna Warriner: Yes, and another thing is people want to be so strategic, and I commend you for wanting to be strategic, and then when you got people like me on the internet shouting strategies at you, you’re like, okay I better be strategic. But so many people, I can’t even tell you, have asked me, what should my first post be?

[00:19:31] I just started posting about my business. What should my answer? Doesn’t matter at all. No one’s going to see it. Post 10 times.

[00:19:38] And if you want, we can talk about what your first 10 posts should be. But strategy in social media land is 10 posts of each pillar. It’s, abundance and it’s showing up consistently and over again and sometimes a little bit imperfectly and then having a typo and who cares and that’s literally what hits now.

[00:19:57] If you try and be strategic and go slow and do one post a week but they’re super intentional, the fact is the algorithm’s just not going to be on your side and you’re not going to be getting the reach that you’re on the platforms trying to get.

[00:20:09] Kris Ward: When you bring up points like that, I try to tie it down and remember that the biggest companies in the world software companies put out a product that they know have flaws like the whole world went tizzy when chat GPT came out and they said, yep, here it is free or low cost, but it’s flawed.

[00:20:26] And when you tell us quickly, the flaws there, we’re going to improve that immediately and move forward. And then we can charge more. And all of a sudden, everybody’s there. Yeah. And we know that conceptually when you’re dealing with bigger companies and then somehow I know I fell prey to this. You think, Oh, but I need to look professional or like a big boy and girl.

[00:20:46] And so then you write, you, you bound yourself with strategy, trying to make sure that you don’t look, rookie ish or doing whatever to get it out there. But you’re never going to get the audience to be judged if you don’t start getting the reps in.

[00:20:57] Jenna Warriner: Yeah, and you know what else? You know what some of, what the biggest companies in the world also do?

[00:21:02] Nike, Apple, all of them, they post iPhone photos to Instagram. You can spot them a mile away. They post user generated content and content that looks like it’s made by human people. It’s not a fancy brand shoot all the time. Go look at it. That’s what it is. Because they’re trying to blend in and that’s if a billion dollar company can do that, you can go outside and take a selfie.

[00:21:23] Kris Ward: Yeah. Drop the mic people. All right. Okay. Let me get out of your way. Throw us some of your more pet peeves with social media. We got a few minutes left. Where do you want to take us?

[00:21:36] Jenna Warriner: Okay, so I promised some tactics for setting more engagement. So let me tell you, if you are a Instagram stories user, which is a great place to start if you’re scared because they disappear after 24 hours.

[00:21:51] Then keep them short, because what you want is watch time. You want someone to watch it all the way through, and that’s a huge trigger to the algorithm. You also want people to touch it. So keep your videos short, and use the poll sticker on the first one. Because then people are going to watch it all the way through, they’re going to touch it.

[00:22:09] All the algorithm sees is, oh, people are touching this. Every time you go to make a post, anywhere, on any platform, ask yourself, “How can I build in a way to get people to touch it?” I call these engagement attractors. So every time I go to make a post, how am I expecting someone and proactively designing this so that somebody will touch it?

[00:22:31] What are the ways we touch a post? We tap see more on the caption to read the rest of the caption. On a carousel, we swipe through it, and there’s a little arrow indicating swipe through these images or this text. Think of ways, maybe it’s asking a question in the comments. You want to build in ways to get people to touch it instead of just hoping and crossing your fingers that Interacts with it.

[00:22:55] Kris Ward: That’s a really good point because we often hear about engagement and they think they’re not asking questions or I don’t have that kind of following yet. And so how do you know, it’s like, when you start work, when you’re younger, how do I get experience? If you won’t give me the opportunity to get experience.

[00:23:07] So don’t yes. Yes. I know I should respond to my questions, but if no one’s asking me questions, so I love that idea of I haven’t really heard that before. It’s all about engagement and getting comments, but if they’re not there. Can we make them touch screen? I didn’t even know that was a, I don’t want to say a value, but I wasn’t counting that as engagement.

[00:23:26] Jenna Warriner: Yeah. In my program, I teach it as engagement attractors, and it becomes like, you can build it into your brain so that it becomes a habit on every single post that you make, and it’s a way to essentially hack the algorithm in an unhackable algorithm we will never know everything that goes into getting onto the news feed, but no matter how Instagram ever changes, the goal of the platform will always be, or TikTok or whatever, to keep users on the platform for longer, okay?

[00:23:53] And the algorithm can see when people are interacting with your content and staying on it longer. So build in strategies to make people stay longer, and no matter how anything changes, no matter what reels launches next, no matter what tri thing is trendy next week, this will help you succeed.

[00:24:12] Kris Ward: Okay, if you’re driving a car, pull over right that one. I’m just saying. It’ll be in the show notes, but you might forget to go back. Pull over right now. Okay. My brilliant friend, Jenna. These are not the regular stuff that we hear on the beaten path. Throw us another one. No pressure.

[00:24:33] Jenna Warriner: Okay. So the people who you interact with of, okay, let me start again. We, again, don’t know what goes into this almighty algorithm.

[00:24:43] Because if we knew what went into it, we would all hack it, especially Nike and Apple. And then we’d only ever see content from businesses. So we only know what we know. And one thing that we know is that… Instagram will show us more content from the people who we typically interact with, especially direct messages.

[00:25:01] So do you ever notice you’re like Bestie, who you’re always DMing memes with, you always see their content when it shows up in your feed because you have that private conversation going on with them in the direct messages. If you can start direct messaging with your leads… Even not even a sales conversation, but just like a friendly conversation or keeping in touch with them, they’re more likely to then see your content, which means you’re top of mind, which means even if your sales posts don’t get a ton of engagement, like your growth posts might.

[00:25:31] They’re more likely to then see that sales content and become a client.

[00:25:35] Kris Ward: Okay. So that case, we would be looking, obviously TikTok is a little bit different. So we’re leaning into Instagram. So what you’re saying is, okay, I see Jenna, her business is scaling. I know I can help her or potentially that she might be now getting into overload state.

[00:25:49] And so if I send you a couple of just networking, say something nice. Do not, we all know not to pitch, right? Just whatever. Even if I just praise you on your videos, but I do it in a DM. Now my content is going to start showing up on your page more.

[00:26:04] Jenna Warriner: Yeah, it’s more likely to, or maybe you have a freebie, like a free offer that you’re handing out, want to make sure somebody saw it, or like you said, you’re praising them, it’s a networking moment, anything like

[00:26:16] that.

[00:26:17] Kris Ward: Okay, that is a good tip because we, I do know oh, try I stopped this just gosh darn scrolling and make sure I comment on people and praise them and be the cheerleader and support and all that other stuff. But I think it is a more powerful technique to just dive into the DM and make it more meaningful.

[00:26:33] Jenna Warriner: Did you ever read Book Yourself Solid?

[00:26:35] Kris Ward: Yes, but it’s been a while ago.

[00:26:37] Jenna Warriner: Yeah it’s an old book, but it, and so some of the stuff’s probably antiquated, but I loved one of the things that he recommends, which is sending out just messages, just e I think at the time it’s e mail, but just going back to old customers and getting reacquainted with them, and I remember one time that I needed a client, I was like maybe I’ll try that.

[00:26:56] No, actually, I wasn’t even trying to get a client, I was literally just sending out a message to, to commend one of my old clients on like accomplishment they’d had. And they were immediately like, also, can we hire you? We have a project we want you on. And I was like, oh, shit, that worked fast. But say, you could be doing that with your old clients, even just reaching out and reacquainting with them, which then makes you top of mind for referrals.

[00:27:19] Kris Ward: That’s a good point because we often forget in the business, they think they know what I do about they want to be on here. But I know one of the things I just had a call with somebody that’s actually going to end up being a client and we were on LinkedIn. And what I do is I send videos once we connect.

[00:27:33] Hey boom. And people act as if I don’t know, I made something at the craft sale and I emailed it to their house, like they go on and on about this video because nobody does that. And so then they feel like they know me and I’ve already seen me on video. And really, it really moves the relationship along.

[00:27:49] And I think, I think of that like LinkedIn, but you’re right. For some reason, I, I think with Instagram being back in the day, it was all about glossy and this whole stuff. Like you forget these are basic principles that you can take to any platform and just make the connection more meaningful.

[00:28:06] And I’m trying to chime in and cheer things on. I always post on your videos and stuff, take it up a notch and leave something more meaningful in the direct message.

[00:28:14] Jenna Warriner: Yeah, it is like a networking event. And if you go into a networking event just trying to sell, you’re going to turn people off off.

[00:28:21] But if you go in actually trying to hear people out and create real relationships, think of the same way in your DMs in your comment section.

[00:28:29] Kris Ward: And I think we, hopefully, I know, and anyone listening to this show, I hope we’re on the all same bandwidth of we know not just hop in and sell, but I think what I’m hearing from you is there, you, it’s a great reminder.

[00:28:40] Sometimes I forget I knew that it’s a great reminder that there are different levels of conversation. So if I’m walking by you in a networking event, that’s a quick hello, but if we end up having a coffee together, something a little bit more meaningful. So then I can tie in and say, “Hey, like when I left you a message, I’m like, Hey, here’s my audio message.

[00:28:58] I’ve been watching you while you do this and I’m filling you with compliments that you deserve by the way,” but the engagement changed instead of me just commenting on the videos.

[00:29:08] Jenna Warriner: Yep. Absolutely. Absolutely.

[00:29:09] Kris Ward: Fabulous. All right, Jenna, where can we find more of your brilliance?

[00:29:13] Jenna Warriner: Ooh, find me on all the socials at Jenna’s Paige, which is page with an I, it’s my middle name, so J E N N A S P A I G E. And also, can I give them a free training?

[00:29:26] Kris Ward: You sure can, and read it out and we’ll make sure to put it in the show notes for sure. We love gifts here, Jenna. You go right ahead.

[00:29:33] Jenna Warriner: Ooh, yay! Okay, so steal my whole strategy. The strategy with a free training called How to Get Clients from Instagram Without Wasting Hours glued to your phone, and we’ll shove that down in the show notes.

[00:29:45] Kris Ward: Okay. We foolish for sure. Oh my gosh. Share this episode with a business buddy. Business buddies don’t let other ones suffer and bang around social media by themselves. Please share this with Fran. It’ll make such a difference for them. They’ll thank you for it. And super excited to have you on the show, Jenna. Thank you so much.

[00:30:02] Jenna Warriner: Thanks for having me. See you on the internet.