Listen Now:

Social media is a part of your overarching marketing strategy… right? (I mean, RIGHT?!)

If it’s not… you’re probably missing out on a lot of incredible opportunity… and even if it IS, you might not be using it the right way. 

Katie Brinkley will be breaking down exactly what to do to make social media work FOR you… for sales, networking, and visibility.

Katie’s Website

Find Katie on Instagram
Connect with Katie on LinkedIn
Follow Katie on Twitter
Follow Katie on Facebook
Check out Katie's podcast

Katie’s Previous Episodes:
Episode 39 – Sustainable Social Strategy: How to build a valuable social media presence withOUT burning out with Katie Brinkley
Episode 96 – Social Community Building for Authors with Katie Brinkley

Check out the entire library of social media episodes here.

Alyson Lex 0:03
Jenny and I have said over and over, and over and over again, that social media belongs in your greater marketing strategy. It is not your entire marketing strategy, but it can't be left out of your marketing strategy. And you want to create an opportunity for you to leverage social media to fill very important gaps in your entire funnel. To that end, we have our very, very, very, very good friend Katie Brinkley here, social media expert to the stars, like, who was it? Was it it was like a super pop punk band that I totally love that you used to manage their MySpace. Back in the day, yellow card, yellow card. Yeah, just listening to them yesterday.

Jennie Wright 0:59
I have no idea. People are just maybe I'm too old for

Katie Brinkley 1:04
a back in the early 2000s. This big punk wave went through the music scene. I was, you know, riding that train for as long as it would go.

Jennie Wright 1:16
I never jumped on the MySpace thing. Just gonna say I came on board with Facebook. That's when I started playing online. So anyways, so yeah, we're I,

Alyson Lex 1:27
my MySpace. I think that my yellow card? Yes.

Katie Brinkley 1:32
Well, but that's the things I don't think that any of us really thought, like you said, I was on the MySpace train, I came in with Facebook. But it was all it was a different beast back then social media was it was just a way to kind of talk with your cousins that live at a state or your friends that you haven't seen since high school. And now, it is a huge part of every business's marketing strategy. If you don't have a social media strategy for your business, then you're missing out on opportunities. And when MySpace was around, we were all just worrying about what music we're going to have play and who are top eight was

Alyson Lex 2:06
the top eight. Okay, stop, because listening to yellow car driving my minivan was not making me feel old enough. Now we're talking about our top eight. So really, where do you see social media as in relation to a funnel? Is it the traffic generating? Is it engagement? Is it a sales opportunity? What? How do you see that fitting into the strategy top level.

Katie Brinkley 2:35
So social media has to be again a part of your strategy. And I think that when you are building out your funnel, when you are building out your list, when you're trying to get awareness around your brand, there's no better opportunity than to spend time with social media. Facebook, as much as a lot of us have stopped using it every day, it's still one of the most indexed sites on the Google, Google looks at it all the time. Instagram is indexed on Google, LinkedIn, all these different social media sites are being indexed. So if you're using the right keywords in your messaging, you're showing up on a consistent basis, you're going to be found still through search engine optimization and through search. So I think that you have to have some social presence as you are building out your funnel. And you can't just start and say, I'm gonna buy 10,000 followers to make it look like I'm the real deal. And you have to have a complete strategy. Social media is a long game, it's not a quick fix, you have to start at step one, and do all the things the right way. As you are growing your business and growing your funnel.

Jennie Wright 3:49
There's a couple things that are that I love that you said. And one of them has to be about people wanting to get the sort of the vanity numbers before they launch and they want to get those vanity numbers fast, right? All three of us know that vanity numbers don't matter. In the real game of things, we want to build our social media with the right people. We want to build it with followers who can convert to buyers or to clients and things of that nature. But the truth about growing it is the way that it happens is sometimes slow, unless you invest a ton of money in it. We've seen people who've come to us and have consultations 1000 I and we look at their following and their following is like 50 60,000 people, you know, email us social and stuff like that combined. But when we get into the nitty gritty of things, there's like 100 likes on their social media when they have this many followers. Something's not jiving, right. So to me, and actually, we came to you about this person. We're like, what do you think you're like, I think it's bots, or I think they bought their followers and things of that nature.

Katie Brinkley 4:55
How,

Jennie Wright 4:56
how do we overcome or how do we get people to realize like This is not the way to go.

Katie Brinkley 5:03
Yeah, and it's one of the biggest misconceptions out there. And I get it, because who's going to want to buy from you when you only have six followers? You know, how do you get that social proof? Because it is real thing. You know, if you go to somebody, and you're trying to have them sign up for your, for your course, or your masterclass or even just your lead magnet, and they only have 10 followers, well, why would you want to sign up, but that's where you have to focus in on providing value and pushing out the right content. And that is 100%, how you grow. One of the best kept secrets out there is the outward engagement, commenting on other people's posts. That's how you use their real estate, you're showing up in their feed on your ideal clients and your ideal customer speeds. And when you show up on that way, and through engaging is a great way to start building your authority around your social media accounts. And it is one of the biggest vanity metrics. So how many followers you have. But it really that's all it is, is a vanity metric. If I and I have a lot of followers on clubhouse, and I remember a lot of people came to me and they said,

Alyson Lex 6:15
Okay, look at all the

Katie Brinkley 6:16
pleasure. I'm like, Yeah, I would, if I got $1 for every new follow I got I would be pumped. But I mean, right now, this is just a vanity metric for me, how can I convert these people that are following me onto my email list or into my funnel, so that they end up wanting to buy from me that's the biggest end game? Not how many people are showing up to sometimes check out your content?

Jennie Wright 6:39
We had a lot of conversations, the three of us about that?

Katie Brinkley 6:43
Yes,

Alyson Lex 6:45
we've always had conversations about this, because we recognize the the part of our funnels that social has getting people onto your list, getting them to buy using social as a traffic and engagement platform. I know I've talked about it earlier, it's got those multiple uses in your funnel. And one of the things that you mentioned that I thought is actually really cool is you're like if I had $1 for everybody that follows me. Well, doesn't it make sense to look at the ROI of your social activity in those terms? I have, I'm going to use the number 100. Because I like that number. It's even small. I have 100 followers. And from this campaign, the links that I've assigned to my Instagram, I made $1,000 That means each follower is worth $10 to me by understanding those numbers, that lets you know how much money time, effort, energy and attention you can invest into growing that. Right?

Katie Brinkley 7:57
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. That's exactly a wonderful way of looking at it. And I think that a lot of people to think they have to only focus in on growing the amount of followers. But again, if you are showing up the right way on social media and you're pushing out the right content, and you're doing the right campaigns for your social media is going to make a big difference because people will want to go check you out. They'll want to give you that follow up. But the most important thing, more important than the follow up is signing up for your list or signing up for your offer or shooting you a DM to get to know you more and hear more about what it is that you do and what you offer. I can't tell you how exciting it is for me to open up my DMs and have people say, you know, shoot me a message like Hey, Katie, you I see that you do social media do do done for you, or do you do coaching? I'm interested, how can you help me? You know, and that's where, okay, great and there's because not once in my social media have I said sign up for me to do your social media or sign up for me for strategy is just because I'm consistently showing up and giving value and tips and educating people the right way.

Jennie Wright 9:09
And with full transparency, Katie I've I've hired Katie to do my social media. Because I was on Menzies. Yeah, same as you so. And for good reason, too, because we were watching what you know, we've been friends with Katie for a while, but we were watching how Katie was helping other people. We're seeing these people's accounts grow and grow and grow. We've also seen Katie's account grow because when we first met you, you had you'd been working on everybody else's Instagram and not your own. And then you were putting in the effort to grow your own and you were seeing some really great growth. So I was like, please, oh, please, can you do mine? Allison, same thing. So I've seen a ton of growth working with you. But what I've also noticed, I want to come back to this is this outreach stuff. Right. So outreach, as I understand it, is showing up in other people's like you were saying showing up on their real estate leaving comments and things like that. One, I have questions, and so many thoughts. But first thing is, if you're leaving a comment on somebody else's Instagram post, are you hoping to get the poster like the Instagram poster? The person? Did it to follow you? Or are you trying to sort of show up and be helpful and good content creator, in the comments so that other people will do it? Does it work?

Katie Brinkley 10:28
Yes, yes. And yes. So showing up, there's an entire strategy for outward engagement. And what you have to do is figure out this hashtags that your ideal clients and customers are using, show up into their feeds for 10 minutes a day, nothing crazy and comment on their posts, just say, so I work with a lot of real estate agents. So I'll comment on a lot of real estate agent posts about oh, I love the backsplash in this kitchen, just a genuine comment about what they have written in the caption or about the picture. But then it goes into the broader scope of social media. And this is the important part, the real estate part where you show up on those bigger accounts, and those smaller accounts than you where you show up and can provide value, provide feedback, give your two cents on what the topic or what the graphic or whatever it is that the content creator has written and created, you show up in their feed, and you second that opinion, or say, hey, yeah, I've noticed that reach has been down too. It's always been interesting, whenever Instagram or anything like that, you just show up with a genuine comment. And if you leave a good comment, especially on those accounts that are bigger than yours, a lot of times they'll pin it and start a conversation. And when the more conversation that you have with that content creator, the more people are going to see your thread. So it's, it's a great way for you to get that visibility on some bigger accounts that are similar to you not exactly like you, but similar kind of industry. And then focusing in on those smaller accounts to where you can show up and give value. And, again, use some of that that ever important real estate of giving them a comment and showing up in front of their audience.

Alyson Lex 12:18
Okay, so you know me, I have to look at the sales opportunities created here, because this is kind of where I live my life. If they comment, maybe we're having a decent little connection. And I've seen this happen, right? Again, same transparency. Katie does this for me, she helps me out. So I've seen and I've interacted and I've commented back and I've continued conversations and all of that stuff. Is it just does it just end there? What do we do? Like? How do we build that relationship? And whether or not we're trying to sell to them as a client? Or maybe we want to collaborate with them, or we want to take the next step, we're ready to ask them on a date. How do we do that? In a way that doesn't, you know,

Katie Brinkley 13:05
so I shared with a lot of people that I hear speak at events, so or people that I want to have on my podcast. So I have a podcast, which both of you two have been on a couple times now. But I'd like to bring on digital marketing experts. And so a lot of times I will be engaging on some of these larger accounts that I find value in. And if they start the conversation back with either liking my comment or responding to it, and they're doing it on a consistent basis, I will then consider that the open door to show up in their DMS. One of the best ways to show up in some of these DMS without being spammy is to go to their stories, watch their story and leave a comment on one of the stories that has happened. So if it's a Valentine's Day thing, or if it's a sunset picture saying oh, I'll you know I love this sunset picture. It's snowing here in Colorado right now or whatever. Just starting a genuine conversation from their story. A lot of times since they recognize your name from comments in their thread of their account of their feed. They'll respond and I that is your open door right there. Hey, are you still doing XYZ? How's the book coming? You know, I have a podcast. Would you be interested in coming on? And that is how I've booked a lot of the guests that have I think are it's shocking that I've been able to book them on my on my show. And so it's through that that outreach of genuine conversation in their comments, moving into the stories and then into the DMS because that is a very natural way. Instead of we've all gotten them right instead of just showing up in someone's DM to be like, hey girl Hey girl Hey

Jennie Wright 15:04
think we're so tired about you how many hey girl Hey, messages I get a day. Oh my goodness. So many too. So okay, I just

Katie Brinkley 15:12
want to know like who who responds because we all get them and I know instant lock lock them and delete them but I just who is it that responds that says that some they're like this is a good practice I should continue doing this weird, spammy gross outrage in the DMS.

Jennie Wright 15:29
I know. And I don't I go ahead. No, go ahead. I don't understand how people think I know. It's a numbers game. Okay. It's just like, it's just like when people used to knock on doors. It's just like when people call you about you're getting your ducks for us. Yeah, I'm trying to reach you, but you use Car Warranty or you're duct cleaning. I mean, dude, I live in a condo. I don't have any ductwork for you to clean but they keep trying. But when they get into the DMS, this is the weird part. What if What if you're making all these connection comments with people you're being really genuine, you're providing a lot of value. You're doing awesome. But you're not getting those DMS, like I'm jealous of Alyson because Alyson gets awesome DMS. But how do like how do you get really great DMS going like them interested in going, Hey, I see you do XYZ, blah, blah, blah, like how does that? What does this what happened and what you do?

Katie Brinkley 16:22
Well, so if you are not getting those types of DMS, it's it's not again, it's not a quick fix, it's not something that's just going to happen overnight. It's definitely showing up on a consistent basis, through all the different ways that these social media platforms exists. So whether LinkedIn is your jam, you know, LinkedIn has video, they have carousels, they have articles you can write, they now have an audio feature. So if LinkedIn is where you are, what your largest audiences and you get the most engagement, you should go all in on that platform and really spend time utilizing all the different ways that you can show up. It's the same with Instagram, it's the same with Facebook. And these are great ways for you to show how you're different how you can get your message out there. Not everyone consumes content the same way. And it's really interesting because I I do have access to a lot of people's Instagrams accounts. And my Instagram feed is almost all carousel posts. I get like maybe five carousel posts and then a reel, and

Alyson Lex 17:32
then nothing but reels. And then it drives me crazy. I know. I try I'm like where are my posts? I like if I want to realize I'd be on tick tock I'm sorry. Where are my pictures?

Katie Brinkley 17:47
I know it's in it's one I have another client to Kim is the same all she has her reels. I'm like, Oh my gosh, all you get her videos, it's so interesting. And it's just because that's the way that the Instagram algorithm thinks that you consume content the best. So one of the ways to kind of fix that that without going down to too much of a rabbit hole is to spend some time in stories. And when Instagram is in the process right now, it might already be out for a lot of people because they are doing a slow rollout of the three feeds of Instagram. And so when these new three feeds come out, you will be able to adjust your feed a little bit away from the reels and all that stuff. But a good way to fix it for now is just to spend some time up in stories, and then going into people's stories and commenting on their stories for a bit because it it might fix your algorithm just a little

Alyson Lex 18:41
bit. I think it Yeah, so most of my friends, Jenny, Katie, and Danielle, if you're listening, send me reels all the time. And usually I'm like, yeah, let me go check that out. So I'm looking at rails a lot. Okay, so I really like it when people message me. Okay, so there's a little bit of an ego thing going on. I do. I'm really bad at that outward. prospecting. Like I really prefer it. When people message me and have an interest in me. How can I set myself it's so much easier. And it's I don't know if it's an ego thing or an ADHD thing, or it's just

Jennie Wright 19:24
nice to have people often like, yeah, reach out.

Alyson Lex 19:28
It is. And so and I think too, I've been hit with so many spammy scammy low effort messages.

Jennie Wright 19:38
Oh my god, the low. I got one.

Alyson Lex 19:40
I got one on LinkedIn the other day. And it was, hey, I'm excited to connect. It was like cool. Thanks. How are you? I'm good. So Alyson, are you still the owner at Alyson Lex? Oh, yay. Really? That's it. Yeah, that's my name. And then what do you do there?

Katie Brinkley 20:06
Well, if you look through my feed, it says very clearly, in my bio, in any of the social posts says exactly what I'm doing.

Alyson Lex 20:13
Right, exactly. So I never want to be lumped in like that. And I'm all about the personal connection. How do I, you know, I also don't want to spend all of my time just socializing?

Katie Brinkley 20:28
Yeah, I mean, it's, it's definitely, it's called social media. Sorry, certainly, you got to spend some time socializing,

Alyson Lex 20:36
I'm fine spending some time socializing. But it's it is also think about it, it's, it's like that it'll just suck you in. And you think, Oh, I'm spending so much time networking on on this social platform, all of a sudden, a month gone by, you've actually not done any actual sales? You've just made a bunch of friends. How do you keep that from happening?

Katie Brinkley 21:00
Well, that's definitely a problem that can happen a lot. And I think that when you are showing up into the comments, you have to be strategic with it. So who are you commenting on posts from so with a lot of the comments that you're doing, you're doing comments on people that are your ideal client, and then other people who are in your industry. And so that's where, again, showing watching stories, again, is one of the best spots for you to show up authentically, without having to just be Hey, so you still doing little by little. Because you can start a genuine conversation stories are different from all the different all the feeds of Instagram. That is in the moment, this is what I'm doing right now. This is what I'm working on. This is what I'm eating. That is the in the moment part. So when people are showing up in stories, it's definitely more of a laid back conversation starter. It's almost like, Hey, I saw you're at the same coffee shop, and you're overhearing their conversation. And it's not weird for you to be like, Oh, really? I just went to San Diego. Where did what why were you there, you know, it's not weird for you to be sliding into their DMS and a lot of times full transparency, there's been a lot of times right that I was sliding into someone's DMS, because they were a good lead. And really, I ended up being a great lead for them. So it is a lot of that networking, a lot of the times of getting to know what somebody does a little bit better. And you can form amazing relationships too, because you you feel like you're getting to know someone more than just the feed. And stories, again, is that way, that little window into somebody's immediate life? This is exactly what they're working on. This is a picture of their food of their kids of their vacation. And you can show up authentically when you comment on on their stories. There's

Jennie Wright 23:03
so much there. I think one of the things I'm pulling from what you're saying and it has to do with myself is the I guess the instinct to not put my put yourself out there sometimes, right? As somebody who's a little bit more introverted, trying not to like shy away from the social aspect of social media. Allison, I can go down a million rabbit holes. I mean, the amount of TiC TOCs. She sends me when she's supposed to be sleeping or ridiculous. And I'll wake up to like six or seven tic TOCs and all of a sudden now she's on Irish tick tock, which I don't know how you got this. I

Alyson Lex 23:38
know I laid it on Irish and Scottish tick tock this morning. And it was like the best day of my life.

Jennie Wright 23:44
I will just do like six tic TOCs. And I was just like, what now? Okay, this is cool. But we've gone through book talk. And you know, there's there's there was even a little foray into the thirst talk for a couple of days, because apparently the algorithm thought that was appropriate. Totally not appropriate. But interesting. Nonetheless, I've learned this is our learning about tick tock that's laughing in the background. But I think the the aspect of it has to be the saucer. So I'm trying to be more social on LinkedIn. Right? Because I'm finding that I'm finding that my, my ideal client is pretty like often on LinkedIn. So I'm trying to be more social there. So I'm doing a lot of outbound in terms of like above messaging, and connecting with people who I think are, you know, good people to just to be connected to and starting up conversations. It took a lot to do that because sending those messages freaks me out. Mm hmm. Totally free. No, it's,

Katie Brinkley 24:42
it's definitely it's definitely a different animal than Instagram is. Then and Facebook and Tik Tok. They're all different. They all exist for different reasons. And I think that with LinkedIn, one of the best ways for me to start those new conversations is What would I say to this person? If we were at a networking event? What would I would I just show up and be like, Hey, you should have told me about Jennie Wright.

Jennie Wright 25:08
What? Oh my god. No, I would be like, Hey, nice to meet you bite and like, walk away. Yeah. Cuz No.

Katie Brinkley 25:15
And that's, that's the thing, I think that it can be hard to figure out what to say to somebody. But that's where you need to look at someone's profile, look at what their past posts are, look at what they're where they live, look at what their industry is, and find a common ground. It's hard to just show up and not talk about the weather, because everyone lives in different spots. But I mean, like, that's kind of a fallback for a lot of people that at some of these meet and greet networking events is to talk about the weather. But that's where when you show up again, authentically in someone's DMS by showing, Hey, I see. So here's a good example. So there is a woman here in Denver, who I have been wanting to get on my podcast for a while. And we're connected on LinkedIn, she follows we follow each other on Instagram. And it just has not worked out for me to get her on my podcast. And the reason I want her on my podcast is because I think that her story would be really, really interesting for entrepreneurs. But every time I've done an outreach, it doesn't look like she's active on anything. Even though she follows me. They're just posts going out. And so finally, what i did was i Hey, I feel like we've been, I've been trying to get in touch with you and hear more about your story. The reason why I'm interested in hearing about your story is because I'd love to have you a guest as a guest on my podcast, I'm sure you're busy. But if you have just 10 minutes to spend, here's the link to my calendar, I'd love to just get to know a little bit more about how you started this business. And I was like, Well, this is the final Olive Branch, and she booked a call. And I think it's just she doesn't feel that comfortable having conversations in the DM not everybody does. So if you are willing to have just a 10 minute length, everybody has 10 minutes, they can just take out of their day, use that 10 minute link, like, Hey, I would just love to have opportunity to get to know a little bit more about your business. This is why and give them that 10 minute link it. It's worked for me a handful of times now. But it's a good way just to kind of move people off of the platform and into your sphere.

Alyson Lex 27:29
I think what's really important about that is you weren't just like, hey, can we chat. It was this is why I'm reaching out to you. This is the goal that I would like to achieve. And here's the next step to take that and it kind of goes back to we're kind of coming full circle as we wrap now. But it comes back to that sales, because you're selling them on taking time with you. Don't just leave them in the dark about what happens next.

Katie Brinkley 28:00
Well, Alison, I completely agree. And that's that, I think is one of the bigger mistakes too, that a lot of people make with these DMS is, hey, I'm having this mastermind. It's free, I think that you would really benefit from it. Like Well, wait a second, how do you know I'm not already in a mastermind? Why do you think yours is better? You have to take the time to get to know what everyone's up to where they are in their journey if they're the right fit for you. And that all just comes back to basic socialization one on one, talking to somebody listening to them and having a genuine conversation with them, even if it's through a computer screen or through your phone. Having that that one on one conversation of Hey, I hear you and I just want to get to know you a little bit.

Alyson Lex 28:44
Well, it is clear that you can have genuine, important connection through a computer screen, whether it's messages or Zoom calls, or maybe even podcast recordings, because the three of us are very good friends and we have never met in person. Not yet. It's on the list. It was going to happen sooner. But last couple years there's been something happening. I don't know if you guys know about it. But where? Where can our listeners find out more about you?

Katie Brinkley 29:20
Well, I'm on social media. So you can connect with me on Instagram. I am Katie Brinkley, LinkedIn, Katie Brinkley, and if you want to connect with me on the old podcast, listen to Jenny and Allison's episodes on Rocky Mountain marketing. If you want to hear a little bit more about them and the magic that they can do for your business, they are just a wealth of knowledge. So always happy to have come on your guys's show and talk a little social media.

Jennie Wright 29:49
Absolutely. And you've been on here what is this? This is your third time. It is my third time third time so we haven't we had Jason Wheeler on here three times. Now. We've had you on here three times. Apparently we're supposed to send you a jacket or something if you're on for the fifth time just so you know, there's like a gold jacket. There's well apparently Well, he was he was referencing like this like SNL. Yeah. SNL Saturday Night Live where you get like a Yeah, so apparently, we have to step up our graph to

Alyson Lex 30:18
make some jackets soon.

Jennie Wright 30:21
That's Oh, but we're gonna we're gonna put your previous episodes, we're going to link those in the show notes on system to thrive.com. So anybody wants to hear Katie? Absolutely. Head over to system to thrive.com Check out her podcast as well, Alex and I have been guests. We'll put the link to her podcast in the show notes as well. So you can go and check those out. So little cross platform cross podcast posting there. So everybody gets a little bit more exposure, show us some love. And I just want to say thanks, we adore you. We think you're awesome. We are so glad to have you as our friend and in our lives and helping us navigate the incredible world of social media that we don't 100% Get and helping to grow our following. So you're kicking ass and taking names and we love you for it. Well, thanks

Katie Brinkley 31:07
again for having me.

Jennie Wright 31:08
Absolutely. All right, everybody. Thanks so much for being here. We'll be back again soon. Check out the podcast. Make sure you're following and leave us a comment. We'd love to hear from you guys. All right, take care. See you Bye