Creating Content That Sells – with Aggie Meroni, White Bee Digital

Welcome to the bring your product idea to life podcast. This is the podcast for you if you're getting started selling products or if you'd like to create your own product to sell.

I'm Vicki Weinberg, a product creation coach and Amazon expert. Every week I share friendly, practical advice as well as inspirational stories from small businesses. Let's get started.

Do you ever wonder what type of content you should be posting as a product business? If so, then I have the perfect guest for you today.

Aggie Meroni is founder of Whitebee Digital, a paid social agency specializing in scaling e commerce brands through Meta, Pinterest and TikTok advertising. Now, we do touch on advertising in this conversation today, but what we're mostly talking about is content. What do you post? Where do you post it?

Can you post too much? Can you post too little? We go into all of this because I know lots of you have questions about social media.

What you should be doing, how much you should be doing it. It's a lot, isn't it? And Aggie has so much really practical advice that we can all learn from.

I personally learned a lot from this episode and I really hope that you do too. So now I'm going to introduce you to Aggie. So, hi, Aggie.

Thank you so much for being here. Hi, Vicki. Thanks so much for having me.

You are very welcome. I'm really excited to speak to you today. Let's start with you. Please give an introduction to yourself, your. Business and what you do.

Sure. My name's Aggie Maroney and I run Whitebee Digital and we're a paid social agency. So we manage Meta, Pinterest and TikTok ads for E commerce businesses.

Amazing. Thank you. So I've invited you here today to talk specifically about content, about content for product businesses. Because something I hear a lot is. I've got social media, but what on earth do I post?

Let's start by first of all by. Talking about a content strategy. What is a content strategy and what. Might that look like for a product business?

So the biggest, I guess I don't know what the word is, but the kind of pushback we get when we speak to brands is they say we.

Don'T know what to post and they get very overwhelmed. So a content strategy when we speak to our clients is just saying you're posting or sharing information about your business with intent.

So you're not posting just random things. So you're not have, you know, you're not in the shower thinking, oh, that's a good idea. I'll Just post that.

There's always a purpose behind what you post. So it might be that you have. A launch coming up for new products. Or a new collection. Maybe you have a sale coming up.

Maybe you know you're moving into a new fulfillment location or maybe you've got a new office or a new joiner. There'll be something going on at the business.

It doesn't all have to be sales. I know we're going to talk about that a bit later on in content strategy, but it really does need to. Be a little bit of a mix.

Behind the scenes product development. People love to be taken along for the journey. A bit about the brand, like the brand values.

So people understand if it's their tribe, you know, because you're trying to build a community with your content and also. Of course, promotional content. But I think the thing that it. Does get lost sometimes when we're speaking.

To brands is they forget that social media is social and it's there to build your community. And they obviously come to us when.

They'Re looking to run ads. So they sometimes expect organic social media content to generate the same volume of sales as your paid strategy. And it's not that way. So your organic is to build your community. It's your shop window. So if people land on your accounts, they are reassured that whatever they've seen.

In an ad is reflected on their grid. Because if you have this whole new.

Collection launch and people see it on an ad and they get really excited and want to buy it and they go, I'm just going to go check out the brand quickly. Then they land on your organics and there's nothing about the collection.

They'll be like, that's weird. Why am I not seeing it there? So I think something that is really over complicated with brands is if you have your general marketing strategy.

So for example, let's use the launch of a collection. Your launch collection will be reflected in. Your email marketing, your organic marketing, your website copy, your paid strategy.

So you don't need to do different things everywhere. It's actually better if you're repeating yourself everywhere. And I always get the feedback here. But don't people get bored? Like if I'm saying the same thing over and over again, is it not boring?

I was like, only you see it. Or no one else really registers it. If you think about it, I'm thinking. About particular hair care brands and jewelry.

Brands that are big names. If you look on their accounts, on. Their social accounts, they are talking about the same thing for at least a Month.

Every single post is about this one thing, this new product they've launched. I'm sure their emails reflect everything. So wherever that customer lands on their. Business, they're seeing the same thing and it builds trust.

So I think people try to do too much across too many different platforms. Simplicity really is the key to getting your message through to not just your returning customers, but the new ones. They trust you and they find you.

That makes so much sense.

And we'll talk about platforms in a moment. But coming back to what you just said, I actually think as a consumer. I'm talking now, I don't think I would like it if I was going. To one of these big brands. And every single post had a different.

Message because as you say, it's, it's a little bit something kind of jars, doesn't it? If you're seeing the same brand but.

Every time they're talking about something different, you can't always articulate the feeling, but it doesn't make you feel, you know, that particularly. Yes, that's exactly it. And also I've had the experience as.

Well where I've maybe followed an ad.

And then you're like, this is a little bit odd because this ad has brought me maybe to someone's Instagram, but actually there's a shot, but there are no recent posts. And it again, it just the then. You sort of start question, okay, is this business still operational?

I think you have those kinds of questions as well. So I'm assuming you would say that.

Yeah.

If you're thinking about ads, the best thing you can do first is start doing some organic content before you even start considering that.

So a lot of businesses that come. To us are not ready for advertising yet. And we're very honest. If someone contacts us and says, you know, can you help?

And we're like, actually we'll audit the.

Business and we look at their organics. I say, okay, you're not consistent. So you post once a month.

Like you say in your example, maybe, you know, a couple of years ago you last posted, you know, there's nothing, no consistent messaging. It might not look like a brand. So I'm not saying everything needs to look polished, but there has to be.

Some kind of cohesion to the content so it looks like the same person has posted on there well lit imagery. I'm all for like customers sharing images, but you have to be a bit. Discerning about what you use as well. So a lot of the brands we. Work with have kind of processes in. Place to get imagery from their customers.

But a lot of it doesn't pass the test really because it's out of focus. It's not really clear that it's their product that is in the picture.

They might say if it's like a homeware scene, you know, there's lots of like home influencers where they'll do a renovation and they might have a print on the wall which is from the brand, but there's also cushions, lampshades, rugs, armchairs, everything. So the risk is if you use that in your content, they'll be like, oh, where's that lamp from when you're the print company?

So you need to be quite selective about what you use.

But yeah, consistency on organic. A lot of brands are fixated with. Follower numbers and that's what they try and, you know, get as many followers.

As possible, which is obviously important from a trust perspective. But you'll actually get more trust from someone if they look on your account.

And see that you have posted consistently, that you've maybe got a story or two live.

So it shows that you're active and that your highlights on your Instagram are act, you know, current as well. So, you know, just adding screenshots from your customers in that is fine. Like if they post it on your. Stories, because that gives a little bit more social proof. Just while I'm touching on followers, I am going to just say one thing about that.

It's not strictly to do a content, but it's really important to bear in. Mind if you've ever been offered to buy followers. So someone's DM'd you and said you. Can buy 10,000 followers for 50 quid.

Or something like that, as tempting as it may be. And I never thought it would like brands did it, but a lot of. Brands have come to me and said.

Should I do it, should I do it? It's going to fast track my growth.

It will actually stunt your growth because these followers actually bots based somewhere, who knows where and that data is getting mixed up with your genuine data. So people that are genuinely interacting with. Your accounts, it's being mixed up by this trash. So when you do finally go to.

Invest in advertising or you're trying to, I don't know, analyze your data to try and make some business decisions, you don't have it. The there's no data there because it's been messed up by these bots. So Please be patient. If you're growing your business, do not buy bots. It really does harm your future growth if you do that.

That's really helpful to know. Thank you. And I with you, I didn't know that people were actually doing that. I mean, I've had all these emails and I just delete them. I didn't realize that people did actually do that. And that makes so much sense because I guess these people, they're bots, they.

Don'T have profiles and if they do, they might. They're not going to be your ideal customer anyway, are they?

No, they definitely don't buy from you. So it literally is a vanity metric. But I can understand why small brands. Would be tempted because it makes them.

Look bigger and makes them look more trustworthy. But it does harm them. Ironically, it stops them getting bigger because they don't have data to use.

So how would you recommend businesses grow their following?

So I'm an ads person, right. So I'm obviously going to say if.

You want to fast track your growth. You need to run ads. Which is hard to hear from a lot of smaller brands that may be. Just starting out, but this is how I justify saying that.

So if you think about it, meta. So Facebook and Instagram and all the other social platforms when, if your product. Based business, maybe you're on TikTok as.

Well, Pinterest, they are businesses. If you have a business account, they. Want you to pay to advertise to their, to your audience. We were spoiled for a very long.

Time, probably for about a decade where. You could post anything really on social.

Media and you could quickly grow your account. You'd get loads of reach, loads of engagement. And the social platforms, like we're like, hang on a second, we are helping businesses grow.

They have shareholders who want to get paid. It's like we're going to make this harder for businesses so we want them to pay. And it is a pay to play platform. So you can either pay with your time. So I remember during COVID there were some product based businesses that absolutely exploded, like organically.

But the founders were doing lives and.

Saying, I literally spend five hours a day creating content for my channels. Okay, so they paid with their time to grow so much or if you're time poor, you have to spend money to get the eyes on your content. I do want to stress as well.

You don't need to like solely rely on social media. And I'm saying this as an, as an ad strategist for social media social media, there are loads of ways to market your business. But if you are solely relying on. Social media at the moment, it is a pay to play platform and you.

Don'T need to spend a lot. Two to three pounds a day can be enough just to get your existing. Content in front of more people, more. Of your ideal clients.

So that's just something to be aware of.

I think it's great to have it as your shop window and to nurture your existing customers, but to get in front of new people, it's really hard and I think it's getting harder and we kind of gaslit a bit saying oh, your content's just not good if it's not getting out there. I don't think that's true. The product based business owners are so creative, they create good content. So I think it's a little bit. Of us being penalized because we're businesses. But on that vein, the content that. Does well is always the stuff that's.

Really like low key, know just behind. The scenes people are nosy. Like, you know, I've worked with so many brands that overthink it and over. Complicate it and try and be really.

Clever with it and they're like, oh, that thing that I just like recorded in like two seconds is a thing that went really like viral and everyone was interested in it. I was like, yeah, because everyone wants. To see what you're up to all day.

For you it's normal but for everyone else they're really intrigued to see how. That thing's made or the team and how they interact and what your office. Looks like like and how you pack.

An order and all that kind of thing. So I'd say don't over complicate it.

That's really helpful, thank you. And since we brought up content, I'm going to ask my next question.

So what kind of content should a product business be posting?

Because I'm assuming can't all be sell, sell, sell. In fact, as a consumer I know that would massively put me off.

So how do you balance that type.

Of content with other content and what.

Are some ideas you have for other things people can be posting about? Because I'm sure you hear this a lot. Aggie, Something I hear a lot from businesses is what on earth, what on earth do I post?

I've got these products or maybe I've got one product.

How do I keep generating more and.

More content about this one product? It's so true. And I think when you're, when it's. Your business and you're in it every.

Day you lose that magic insight that someone has the first time they come. Across your products because you see it. So much you're bored of it. Okay, we're all bored of our own products.

We talk and businesses because we talk about them so much, but we have to repeat ourselves. So number one, don't be afraid to.

Redo the same thing with like a different background or, you know, different background music. Just change the hook so like the first text that comes up.

I also want to say that if you are thinking of running ads, organic is where you start testing the type. Of content that works. So some really easy, low cost, quick. Ideas is an unboxing. So like gifting thing. So film it.

And this was really popular during lockdown.

Because founders had no access to professional photographers or videographers. Literally tripod on your table. Get a manicure if you're a woman or you know, moisturize your hands because obviously it's going to be a close up.

And just picture yourself unpacking a delivery from your business. Not only does this tap into psychology of nosiness. People want to see what's in the.

Box, but also they want to see if they decide to buy a gift or your thing, the thing that you. Sell for themselves or for a loved.

One, a friend, a colleague, whoever that they're gonna have a nice experience. Okay? So you can really take your time. Like 15 seconds is quite a long. Video to do an unboxing. It's gold. Especially Christmas gifting times when you have a new collection. It's good for the un.

Like the reveal, like keep the suspense going. So that's one type. Found a story. If you're a small business, people want to know why they should buy from you.

So you know, there's a lot of support now and always has been really for smaller businesses. People love to see the passion, they love to see the why behind the business. So absolutely have even have a talking head.

I know that like really freaks people out. So literally, as if you're doing a selfie video on stories. Introduce yourself, show your product, say, this is who I am and this is. Why I set up this business.

Okay. Like so many people shirk away from that and think, oh my God, I can't possibly do that. That fills me with absolute terror. But if you were to have a brick and mortar store, you would be talking about your product every single day.

And you wouldn't even think anything of it. This is exactly the same. You're explaining to someone who walks into.

Your shop why you're selling this particular thing on the same kind of vein. Is it QBs or QVC, like the video QVC? I got confused with that earlier as well, so QVC. Live shopping. There is a reason why live shopping does so well. Like people want to really, really understand.

The features of a product, how it works, why, you know, why it's better than something else when you're selling online, especially if you've got a tactile product. So if you sell clothing, homeware, rugs, anything like that, where, you know, people. Would instinctively put it in their hands.

And like feel the fabric or something like that, it's really, really hard to communicate that product with a static image. Even if you have like this, the lines coming off it, pointing out features. It's if someone is talking to you about the product and demonstrating the features.

Explaining them, that has such a big impact. And those videos perform so well, especially in ads. So if you're starting to practice that. Type of content organically, when it comes.

To actually investing in advertising, you already know what works because you've seen what works with your audience. So that's kind of like three kind of types of content that I would get started with.

They're brilliant. Thank you. Now, something I wanted to ask you is about video content. Whether it's important, whether a product business should be using it.

From what you've said, I'm assuming that's a yes. So let me just ask you quickly.

About platforms because obviously some platforms lend.

Themselves better to Visio than others.

Which platforms do you think are most.

Effective for product businesses now and why is that?

And the reason for asking this question is you mentioned earlier not spreading yourself too thin, which I think makes total sense.

So if a product business were to pick one or maybe two channels to focus on, which would you recommend? I think you need to be really customer centric. So it really depends on where your audience hang out.

So there's a lot of advocacy for TikTok and I do love TikTok. I personally love watching the videos on. There and I can see from a business perspective why that is advised. However, it doesn't always work.

And the reason for that is it's. A really hungry platform, so you need. To keep feeding it videos.

A lot of founders don't have the time and they kind of get freaked out a little bit and get exhausted by content ideas. They stop being consistent. So for me, ask yourself, where is your audience? So for example, some clients we work.

With, they work, they have more mature customer base. Say target 55, 65 plus even like so it's a much older audience, they're. Not necessarily on Tick Tock. Doesn't mean they're not there.

Of course they're there, but other volume of them there for that, for it to make sense from the data. It's Pinterest and Facebook for them. So that's where we focus our energy. As a founder, you will know where your audience are.

You'll just know. If you don't know, ask like you know, just have a know. If you're doing live events, speak to them, ask them where they like to hang out online. You can even like ask people in your stories.

If you're doing Instagram, say where do you hang out? You know, just especially as a small business, you have that advantage that you're. Really low to the ground to your. Customers, so you have much more of an exchange and you can tailor where you end up.

When it comes to video, though, I would say it's not necessarily the best.

Performing when it comes to ads, it is very strong, but you should definitely be testing it. Those demos, founder videos and life selling style videos can convert very well, make a lot of money with ads, but. Static ads as well, they're very simple. And show the product.

Maybe they do have a few of those lines with the features pointing. They can also be really impactful because. In a blink, and I call it the blink test, people understand what you're selling. And there are some products that people.

Don'T theoretically need, they just like them. So if you have a very pretty.

Product, it can be enough just and I'm saying some inverted commas, if you're listening and not watching, you can just have a static image, for example. That can work really well.

That's really helpful, thank you.

Because I think part of the fear is that social media could take up all of your time or a lot of your time, which is why these tips are invaluable. So I think. And so would you say it's okay.

Just to be on one platform, particularly.

If you're a small business, maybe you're just starting out. Absolutely. And so many businesses do just focus. In one place and they do extremely well. The only thing I will say, and.

This is just general marketing best practice. Rather than anything, you know, groundbreaking. If you are relying on social media.

Solely currently to promote your business, you are at risk because every now and again there's like, you know, an outage on the platform, God forbid. And I'm touching wood here because it's like a fear.

Your account gets restricted out of the blue for no reason or you get hacked or something awful happens that means you lose your social media presence. You don't want your whole business to collapse. So my biggest advice to you is. Drive as many people to your email.

List as possible because you, you own. That and you can repurpose your content. You know, whatever content ideas you have.

On social media, you can create it into really short punch emails and just.

Email them out as well. So just de risk in that sense.

So you don't have to be on every social platform, but always have an email list and one platform as kind of like a minimum.

Brilliant. Thank you.

And you've really lovely, in a really.

Nice way led me on to my next question almost if it was plaid.

So we wanted to talk about repurposing because I feel like. So I'd be very honest, I repurpose a lot of my content from one podcast episode.

You'll be amazed at all the content I could produce in one single episode.

Because like a lot of us, I don't have a lot of time and.

I want to have things to post about.

Can you suggest some simple ways that.

Brands can repurpose one piece of content, how they might do that? Because obviously the less we're creating, the less time it takes. It's much more time effective. Absolutely. So I like my little friend called Chatty. So Chat GBT is my best friend when it comes to repurposing. I've been doing a lot of work.

Internally on this because I do believe repurposing, it's like saying one thing a hundred times rather than 100 things one time.

It's like a phrase I just heard today and I was like, it just articulates so well. You need to bang the drum again and again and again and again and again saying the same thing. Because people only see like 5% of your content.

If that, if that so. And they don't remember because they see.

They'Re being bombarded by hundreds of other businesses as well. So if you keep repeating yourself, the message does stick. Will you be bored of yourself? Yes, that just comes with it. But you will know that your message. Is getting through to your audience. So what I would recommend personally, and.

I'm not saying this is the way to do it, but Vicki, it sounds like you're already doing it. You have like your core piece of content content. So for you, it could be your.

Podcast episodes For a product based business, maybe they do a blog, for example, which you might think this is a weird place to start for A product based business. But just think of the SEO you're going to get to your website kind of organically helping you get found so. You have a chunkier piece of content which is longer, which you can get.

ChatGPT to help you with. If you just say, even talk to ChatGPT and say these are the key product features and this is why people love us.

And, and you know, here's a link to all our testimonials. So you've got your blog post, whatever. It may be, three benefits of using this.

And then once you've got that key thing, you can then say, okay, taking. This blog post, please make, you know, five Instagram posts with suggested creatives. Please suggest what I can post or.

Can you repurpose this into an email? And you can do that, say, have four or five. And you can even ask ChatGPT to.

Help you generate content ideas for your business. Send it, you know, add the URL of your business, maybe you've got a bestseller, add the link to that.

Maybe you've got a particular piece of organic social content that's just done really well and you're not really sure why it's done well. But you're like, brilliant.

I'm taking this, you can just take the link to that and post that as well into Chat GBT saying, I need more content like this. Can you help me come up with some ideas? So I would say, I think a. Lot of business owners are leveraging Chat.

GBT now and I just see it as your marketing assistant. So there is a lot of mental fatigue that comes with being a business owner. Marketing is just one hat we wear. So I think just knowing how to. Leverage and prompt really well can really.

Take the weight off and help you repurpose. And I actually think it makes you a better business owner if you are repeating yourself everywhere. One little tip that a lot of. Business owners do, not necessarily product based is say, for example, they'll say to ChatGPT, write me five blog posts for.

The month on different topics. And then you'll create different posts around those things, like different pieces of content.

And then you'll mix it up so you're not posting about, you know, blog one and it's repurposed. Content isn't all going out at once. You've maybe got blog one, but then Blog two's social posts go out. So you're not repeating yourself everywhere at.

The same time, but it is the same. Content over the same, over the month is the same, if that makes sense.

That does make Sense.

That does make sense.

That's a really good tip, actually, and thank you. And I, I agree, by the way of Chat GPT as well.

I was really reluctant to use it for a long time.

I don't know why.

I just thought it won't sound like me and I know my business better and how can I do a better job than me?

And I'll be honest, when I started.

That was the experience. I think it takes a bit of training, it takes a little bit of getting used to each other almost. I agree with you now.

I think it's great to be able to put in a piece of content. Content and say, give me some ideas like this and then just get a.

Whole load of ideas and let's face.

It, some of them are good, some of them not so much. But it's. I always think it's better than looking at a blank page and I think.

That'S the thing that lots of us.

Struggle with when it comes to our content is just sitting down and going, well, now what, what do I say this week, what do I say next week? What on earth do I talk about? Yeah, absolutely. And you've hit the nail on the head there with ChatGPT. Excuse me. When I first started using it as. Well, I was like, I can see.

Why people are a bit anti it. Because it sounds a bit rubbish. But then I realized I wasn't using it properly.

And I think the difference between people using it amazingly and the ones that are kind of sounding a bit rubbish online, the ones that being lazy and expecting Chat GBT to do great input for them, pull all the information they want to say, like, mind read them. That isn't going to work. You have to be so detailed in what you share. So if you've got a concept, just say, I really want to talk about this thing.

Instead of saying to Chat GPT, give me random ideas. You have like a seed of an idea. Say, I want to explore this as.

A concept for some content. Can you give me some ideas of how I can incorporate this in regards to my product or something like that? It will start and then you can start refining. So it's literally your assistant, it's not your replacement, it's just amplifying what you.

Want to talk about and kind of helping you refine your ideas. That's where it becomes amazing.

That's brilliant advice. Thank you. So I'd like to know, are there any common mistakes you see product businesses making with their social media content?

Is there anything you see come up.

Quite often that you'd just like people to be aware of or maybe steer clear of. The biggest mistake I see is lack of consistency and there is really no. Easy way around that.

You just have to do the work. So it is putting processes in place so that you stay consistent. So you know, ChatGPT can help you. Even if you do three posts a week or two posts a week just to show that you're actually still in business. Especially nowadays it seems to be like.

A lot of volatility around businesses and some businesses are selling up or closing down. So someone comes across some something from you, they want to know, actually I can still buy, so definitely be consistent.

I would say a lot of the content. So I can see some of. It isn't well lit. So if they're taking photos of what they sell, it doesn't look like it doesn't look trustworthy.

So just think if you're a consumer. And you land on your Instagram, would you want to buy? Because if you look at the more.

Established brands, everything's well lit so you can really see what the product is. And doesn't have to be like super. Fancy production but just, well, imagery that's. In focus and really clear as to what they're selling.

It's a mix of content too, so. Behind the scenes stuff, promotional stuff. If you're launching, launch, if you're doing. If you're selling something, sell it, like.

Go for it, like post about it non stop for two weeks if that's. What you need to do.

Don't just not announce that you're developing something. Post once and then be upset that no one bought anything. You need to build up, you know, there's a whole launch process, build up. Anticipation, take people along for the ride. Then tell them when it's launching, get.

Them on your email list and then sell, sell, sell as soon as it launches. And that is what product based businesses. Do to sell out.

And that's kind of content as well, like educating why people need it, why you're developing it, why it's amazing, getting them excited and then selling. So set the scene and sell. That's kind of a bit of content I see missing a lot for product based businesses.

That makes sense. And as I said earlier, something I hear a lot from product businesses is I don't want to just sell.

But then it's interesting what you say about the fact that something you often see is people who aren't selling at all.

I think getting the, the balance right comes back to what you spoke about.

Right at the beginning which is having a strategy and I guess a bit.

Of a plan as well. Yeah, I think as well I see it with how mature product based businesses are.

So the longer they've been in business, the founders have more of a plan. So Q4, they've already started planning it in June.

Like they already know what they're going to be selling, making whatever it is they're going to be doing. Don't get me wrong, there's always last minute things that happen, but they usually. Have a general sense that they need.

To start promoting in September, really for Q4. And they might say, okay, well this year I'm going to do two new launches. Or if they're not launching anything new. What I say to a lot of. Product based businesses that are smaller, you.

Don'T have to launch newness all the time because obviously there's inventory management and. All that kind of thing. But just package things up differently so. You know, sell combinations of different things.

In different ways at different price points. And a lot of the big brands, they will literally run the same offer.

But package it differently.

So it might be a certain discount or a free gift, but suddenly it's the Valentine's offer, then it's the Mother's Day offer, then it's the whatever offer. You know, they kind of just do the same thing, but just call it something else.

So I think people over complicate what they need to do because you're always going to have fresh eyes on your business. So no one's going to email you and complain. Isn't this the same offer you did at Valentine's Day? You know, I really like. Sorry. No, I just think just keep things simple. Like people get in their heads too much.

I think I was going to say thank you. That I really liked what you said.

Right at the beginning about how not.

Everyone sees everything you post.

And that's something I remind myself of all the time because it can feel a lot like you're just saying the same thing. The same thing, the same thing.

But I think one, we have to think that if we're customers, consumers, that's what we want.

We want that consistency, don't we?

We want to hear the same messages because it's very confusing if it changes day to day or week to week. But also just knowing that not everyone sees everything you post, I think it's really reassuring actually. Yeah. And I think it's hard as the person posting because you're like, I really. Want people to be engaged in what I'm saying.

And you know I don't want to get bored. But they are. You are literally such a small part. Of their day that you have to like, it's almost like a dripping tap. You need to drip so much that.

They'Ll come, come to you eventually. You know, that's, that's kind of the. Process of social media, isn't it?

Oh, definitely. And I think there's definitely something to be said for being consistent. Keep showing up, keep saying the same message.

Because I can't remember what the statistic.

Is, how many times someone has to see you before they buy from you.

But I mean, very few of us buy something we see pop up on an ad or pop up organically on socials. The first time we might follow that brand, you might look at some of their posts. I don't think I've ever bought something on site. So this is actually a really interesting. Point and it's something that we have to remind our clients of all the. Time because this is preconception.

Whether you're selling organically, whether you're selling with ads, with ads, you're probably feeling even more pressure, you're putting money in. So it's like why they're not buying straight away. But if you think about how you. Use social media, you're probably like watching.

The kids play or you're in the shopping queue, you're on the bus, whatever.

You'Re not really like concentrating on, on your phone, you'll, it'll just flash by, you'll probably swipe and it'll probably take a few times before you see a brand, that you're going to remember them and that is forgotten. People think that I'm going to post once. Why are people not paying attention to me? Why should they?

Like they've got so much else happening. You have to make it count so. That they really pay attention to you.

With ads, for example, it's that you're consistently running ads, you're always in front of them. With social, organic, social media, you're consistently showing up. Doesn't mean you're posting every day, but.

Just being on stories every day, it will just show like your, your face will be at the front or your logo will be at the front of their queue. For stories every day, it's all about. Just keeping front of mind because they might not need you right in that.

Moment, especially if they see what you said. I'd love to get that for someone, but it's not quite right. Or I want to get that as. A wedding present for someone, but it's not Their wedding for a couple of. Months doesn't mean your content didn't work.

Just means they didn't need you right now, but they will in the future. So it's all about. It's like. It kind of compounds, doesn't it? The more you're visible, the more you. Show yourself and the more consistent you.

Are, the more your business should grow.

That makes a lot of sense. Thank you. So, and on that, how do we.

Know if our content's working?

Are there metrics we should be looking at? Because as you said, it can be a slow burn.

It's not like you going to post a piece of content today and then get lots of sales or, you know.

Thousands of new followers.

What, what is it?

How do we know that what we're. Doing is paying off? So my specialism is more on the. Paid side, but I just know anecdotally, and I'm sure there are social strategists.

That are listening to this shouting at. The thing at the headset, going, no. You need to look at this.

I personally look at how many people are commenting on my content because it's. To comment is an effort. It's. It takes people having to take an action on your content.

So if they're commenting, giving their point of view, or tagging friends or forwarding my content, I know that it's resonated on some level. So that, for me, shows it's kind.

Of had an impact. If someone shares my content to a story, oh my God, I'm like in heaven. That shows that suddenly a whole new audience has come across me, and I. Do usually get a little flurry of.

Followers from it because someone's cut, you know, been kind enough to share my business with, with other people. So shareable content is like gold mine because you kind of end up getting. Shared to other people's audiences. And that's how you grow, I'd say likes, I don't think. I mean, it's always nice to be appreciated, I guess.

But for me, being shared is where.

I find the real value when it comes to ads. It's all about engagement. So comments. People get really upset when they get trolled when they have ads.

But any signal that someone's engaged with your ad brings down your ad costs. So if you get trolled, say thank you in your head, but obviously delete and block them because they've just made your visibility cheaper. And also, you can like and share.

Your ads as well. Like, if you see ads, you'll be able to share them to your friends. So you get that extra little bit of push on your ads and you. Can track that metric as well. So yeah, it's, I think it's just how people respond to it. That's how I track if it's doing well.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense because as you say, clicking on a light is quite passive almost, isn't it?

It's very easy to just click the. Button, click the button. But if someone's taken the time to. Actually take an action, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Now what would you to say to.

Someone who's posting regularly? They're doing all the things, they're listening and going, yep, I'm doing this tick, tick, tick, I'm doing all these things.

But they're not getting results. So there's a couple of things.

It depends what the result is that they want. Because some people are happy with new followers, others are like, I just want hardcore cash. I want people buying from me. That is the only thing I care about. As I said earlier, I honestly think. If you want to have like a.

Reliable stream of eyes on your content, you want to optimize and get people. That have buying behavior so, so they buy from ads. You need to advertise, which can be so scary. If you're a brand you've never advertised.

You might think, I'm not techie. I don't think I'm particularly creative even. Though I'm an entrepreneur and I have my own business. So you are creative even if you don't think it.

Like if you think, oh, I have no idea where to get started. I'm really overwhelmed. I would invest in learning how to do it. If you're a product based business, if you are selling online, I think you.

Need to be good at digital marketing. Because essentially you need to get as. Many people on your website as possible. So you need to drive traffic to.

Your website in order to buy and the quickest way to do that is with advertising.

That's really helpful, thank you. Now if someone wants some more help. With ads or they've got any follow. Up questions, where's the best place they can find you? Aggie?

So I hang out a lot on Instagram, ytbdigital. I'm also on LinkedIn. You can just search for me. Aggie Maroney. I'm the only one. So yeah, come and ask me all your ads questions. I'll be happy to help.

Oh, thank you. And what would your number one piece of advice be when it comes to content for product businesses?

I would say Everything is content. I know it's kind of a bit.

Of a cliche, but things you find really boring in your business are fascinating to somebody else. Even like a day in the life of what you get up to every day introducing your team. Even if you get a new like. Load of gift wrap arrive, people love.

That kind of thing. Especially if it's like seasonal, you've had it specially designed or reviews. If you get really sweet reviews from your customers. People also love it when you get.

An unfounded like negative review because they love to jump on the bandwagon and support you and say that's absolutely out of order. So all these things just share. People want to really get to know you as a business, they would be my top advice.

That's brilliant. Thank you so much and thank you for everything you've shared. This has been brilliant episode. Thank you for all the practical advice. And things that people can go away and do. I love, I love that type of advice and yeah, thank you so much.

Thank you. Bye bye.

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