Are you in a funk with your social media? In today’s episode, I’m talking with social media marketing expert Jaiden Robinson. We’re diving into our top tips for making social media fun again plus how to make deeper connections with your followers.
The Shoot It Straight Podcast is brought to you by Sabrina Gebhardt, photographer and educator. Join us each week as we discuss what it’s like to be a female creative entrepreneur while balancing entrepreneurship and motherhood. If you’re trying to find balance in this exciting place you’re in, yet willing to talk about the hard stuff too, Shoot It Straight Podcast is here to share practical and tangible takeaways to help you shoot it straight.
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This episode is brought to you by Root To Rise, a mastermind and retreat for female photographers where personal development meets business growth. During the four-month experience, students have weekly calls focused on goals, boundaries, money, and marketing. The program also includes incredible guest teachers, a private Facebook community, and weekly Voxer hours with individualized guidance and mentorship. Sign up today to join the waitlist.
Review the Show Notes:
1:57 – Meet Jaiden
3:50 – When businesses got on Instagram
6:54 – Supporting your business and having fun
10:30 – The message is the strategy
12:49 – Getting past the overwhelm of social media
14:15 – The purpose of Instagram for a business owner plus 1:25
17:10 – The importance of your personal brand
26:07 – Balancing the personal and the professional
27:36 – Sharing on Instagram stories
29:22 – Where to start with posting on social media
32:42 – Advice for keeping it fun
38:13 – Pay attention to what stops your scroll
39:13 – Rapid-fire questions
Connect with Jaiden:
Instagram: instagram.com/theravesocial
Website: theravesocial.com
Podcast: open.spotify.com/show/46EUbLREXM78x9ErHhTpc1
Connect with Sabrina:
Instagram: instagram.com/sabrinagebhardtphotography
Email List: view.flodesk.com/pages/62598e6c69d304440734abfa
The Round Table: sabrinagebhardt.krtra.com/t/0xIncMJL8HXc
Review the Transcript:
Sabrina: On today’s episode of the shoot it straight podcast. We have such a fun chat. I’m chatting with my friend, Jaden Robinson, and we’re talking all about how to make social media fun again. What I hear so often in DM conversations, emails in my membership group and my mastermind pretty much everywhere is that it seems like everyone’s real burned out on social media, doesn’t enjoy it feels like it’s mandatory, but they don’t want to be there and they’re in this weird, Funk.
And Jaden and I are talking about that today. We’re talking about how to make it fun again, how to spend your time there. There are so many great nuggets that come from this conversation, and I cannot wait for you to listen. So let’s dive in. Welcome to the shoot it straight podcast. I’m your host, Sabrina Gephardt.
Here. I will share an honest take on what it’s like to be a female creative entrepreneur while balancing business motherhood and life myself, along with my guests. We’ll get vulnerable through honest conversations and relatable stories because we’re willing to go there. If you’re trying to find balance in this exciting place you’re in, yet willing to talk about the hard stuff too, we’re The shoot it straight podcast is here to share practical and tangible takeaways to help you shoot it straight.
Welcome back to the shoot it straight podcast. My friends, I’m super excited about today’s guest for a couple of reasons. Number one, we’re chatting about something that I’m really jazzed about. She and I talk about this a lot. Kind of on the regular in our discussions. And it’s something that’s really important to me.
And I know this is really important to her and also because I already know and love this guest. Uh, she’s a part of my world on the regular, and I am really happy to introduce her to you all today. Cause she’s a gem of a human and she’s brilliant at what she does. So Jaden, welcome to shoot it straight.
Uh, before we get started, why don’t you introduce yourself to the audience?
Jaiden: Thank you so much. That was the sweetest intro of all time. And I always tell Sabrina, I’m like, you’re my favorite client. Like, sorry, you just are supposed to choose favorites, but you’re so awesome. And I love working together. So yeah, I’m Jayden.
I’m the owner of The Rave Social, and I just help businesses build their presence and their platform on social media. So I’m really excited to talk about that today.
Sabrina: Yes, it’s going to be so good. We are diving into social media, specifically letting it be fun. And this is something that Jaden and I really see eye to eye on.
And I’m really excited about this topic because I feel like at the time of recording mid 2024, everybody I coach, other business owners I chat with. Everybody’s got this really strong aversion to social media right now. And like, they’re all burned out. They don’t think it’s fun anymore. They don’t think it works.
They’re frustrated. They have no idea how to find this balance between selling and letting it be fun. And I do want to premise this, this discussion. We are coming at this from the point of a business perspective. I don’t, we’re not going to get into social media addiction or teens and social media and all of that drama.
I have very firm thoughts on all of those things. We’re coming at this from the adult business owner conversation. Okay. That’s where we are today. So we’ve got a lot to unpack and we’re going to just start. Dive straight in when Instagram started like way back in the day, it was super chill. It was like share a photo with a filter.
No big deal. Right? It was the super chill community, very low stakes. It was very personal, uh, business like wasn’t even a thing over there and then it started to shift. And I. Distinctly remember the shift. It was like the 2012 2013 is when businesses started using the app. And I remember the shift because I was not on the app before that.
I just, I don’t know. I wasn’t interested in it. And It was fine. And then all of a sudden people, other business owner, friends were like, why aren’t you on the app? It’s great for business. And then I was like, Oh, well, maybe I should reevaluate. Maybe I should be on it. Right. And that’s about the time that I joined, but even then it was still pretty chill.
And it’s funny because back then, businesses were almost like shamed for being on there. It was like, wait, what are you doing on this? You’re not supposed to be on this. Like, I
Jaiden: remember there were like, businesses would get on it and I would be like, I don’t want to hear from like, Shako on this app, like, this is my safe place, like, I don’t want you here.
Yes. Yes. And it’s
Sabrina: completely shifted. It has. And people would start sharing like professional quality images and people were outraged. Like how dare you not use an Instagram original photo and like, what are you doing? But slowly the tide turned, right?
Jaiden: Oh my gosh. It’s so funny how like we’re back, like we’re back to being like, don’t share like professional photos, which like.
If you’re a photographer, you’re, you have to. And like, there’s also a place for that, but it’s interesting. Cause like we, like nobody wants the high quality video. They want like iPhone video or iPhone photos. And it’s like, how did we like come full circle on this? I don’t understand that really, but it really has like just completely changed and evolved in Instagram.
Became a thing when I was in middle school, which is crazy to say, no, you’re such a baby. I am a tiny baby, but like, that’s given me a unique perspective of like seriously watching it evolve from like the day that it came out. Cause we all had it. And I’ve just seen every single like phase of it, like exactly what you’re saying.
And now it really is a platform for business growth. I do think that can kind of cause a little bit of a problem though, where people forget that it’s social media. Like we just think, Oh, this is a marketing platform and it is, but it’s also social media. And so they will be like, why is my content not performing?
Like, how come I can’t sell all of this stuff? And it’s like, well, did you forget about the piece that’s like. It is social and it’s supposed to be fun. Like yeah, that part is still really important.
Sabrina: So yeah, it’s funny. You say the like cycle of Instagram, it started off solely as this one thing and then it went full throttle to the other side and now we’ve come back to this almost happy middle, which I love.
It doesn’t have to be so curated. It can be like totally. real people are overseeing the, you know, the instagram highlights so much. It’s like, it’s like people still say that phrase. But when you use it, well, it’s not really a highlight anymore. It’s more real, um, which is really, really fun. And it takes the pressure off, I guess, but I guess we’ll start at the very beginning.
Do you think it’s possible to use Instagram to support your business and still have fun on the platform?
Jaiden: I definitely think so. That’s like kind of my entire like motive is that I’m like, you can have fun with it and it doesn’t have to like consume your life, consume your business. Like it can just be a piece of your.
Puzzle and you can have it be as fun as you want. And I think like the more fun that you have with it, the better you’re going to do. And I think that’s a problem that people have when they’re trying to grow on social media as a business owner, because they get so strategic because that’s what everyone’s saying.
Like you have to have a strategy, you have to have a strategy, but it’s like, yes. But also like, if you’re absolutely miserable creating that content and posting that content, not only is that going to come through to your audience, but you’re not going to want to maintain that. And you’re not going to want to be consistent with that.
So I think you just do have to have fun if you want it to be a long term strategy. And there’s really like nothing wrong with playing with different types of content that you think are fun. It can be so easy to hold yourself back because you’re like, okay, maybe you already know what works or whatever.
And so you just stay in that rut of like, here’s what I’m going to post. I know this works, but then like, maybe there’s a fun trend you see and you want to do it, but you’re like, no, that’s embarrassing or cringy or that won’t go over with my audience. It’s like. Just do it. Honestly, what is the worst thing that could happen?
Like nobody sees it. Yeah. Big deal. It’s not that big of a deal. You know,
Sabrina: totally. I think I see the same thing you do. I see people get so hung up on having to do it right. So to speak with the air quotes around it. And I’m like, there’s no right or way. It’s just a game. Like try, maybe it works. Maybe it doesn’t no big deal.
And, and then I think they also struggle with like putting so much performance pressure on themselves. Which is part of, I think, what takes the fun out of the app when you think you have to show up in this way, uh, and be perfect at it, right?
Jaiden: Yeah, like the perfectionism really holds people back because they’ll spend forever creating the piece of content, and then the payoff, like the juice and the squeeze don’t line up.
They’re like, I spent four hours on this piece of content, and it didn’t bring me a sale, right? So it’s like, the ROI on that is negative. And they think. about that. But if you were able to just like pull the perfectionism out of it and say, I’m only going to spend 30 minutes on this, or I’m only going to spend an hour on this and do it that way.
The ROI not only like grows tenfold because you’re not wasting four hours of your day on it, but then you’re like having fun and being consistent with it without it, like taking over your entire business because you’re not a content creator. I think That’s very clear. It’s like, I’m a business owner. I’m a photographer.
I’m a, whatever you are, you’re not a content creator. So stop trying to be a content creator. It doesn’t need to take four hours. Yeah. You can just like do it easily.
Sabrina: Yeah. Yeah. And I think if people really were to pay attention to different accounts. On Instagram, especially if they go beyond their genre, like yeah, look at other genres just to see what people are doing.
If you really pay attention, you’ll see that people are, some of it’s really curated and some of it’s totally like winging it, and some of it’s funny and some of it’s serious and it’s not that hard. You know, like just let it be what it let, like, let it inspire you share what you want to share, you know, yes, there can be some strategy and when you want to talk about certain things, but like, it’s not that deep.
It’s not that deep.
Jaiden: It’s not that deep. And like for all of my clients, like the strategy is in the message. It’s in like what we’re talking about and like your, your sales messages and your offers. And then the way that content comes out can be different. It can be in a. It’s in a meme, it can be in a trend, it can be in whatever you, it can be funny, like it doesn’t have to be one way or another as long as you’re just like clear on your message.
Like the message is the strategy, you know, not if it’s a face to camera reel or if it’s B roll. Like that’s not the strategy. That’s just how you’re getting it across.
Sabrina: Yeah. And the thing about that where you say the message is the strategy is, and I want everybody that’s listening to hear this. Like this is the same message that you have on your website.
This is the same message that you have in your emails. Like this is the message that you should have in all the places. So you’re not creating a message for Instagram. You are using something you already have and bringing it over to the app.
Jaiden: Yeah. That’s what I love about sales pages is like. Your Instagram, like most of your content can like come from your sales page.
You know, it’s just those same messages of like problem awareness, fears, desires. Like you’re just going to talk to those same things that you’re talking about in your sales page on Instagram. And you’re just going to say it in different ways. And like, that’s where I think it’s fun because you can share the same message five times.
Maybe one is in a carousel and nobody likes it. You don’t, the performance on it sucks, whatever. And then you share the same message in a reel the next day and it pops off. Like that’s, what’s kind of fun about it is you can just like play with how you’re doing it and see what your audience likes and see what you enjoy creating too.
Yeah. I love that.
Sabrina: I know that a lot of the people that I talked to, part of why they don’t enjoy the app is, you know, we talked about they’re taking it too seriously. Um, they’re putting too much pressure on themselves, but they’re also overwhelmed because they see all of these kinds of content, right? And all of these quote unquote, right or wrong ways to do things like do this with hashtags, do this with hashtags, do this with your reel, use this trending audio, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
They’re overwhelmed and it’s noisy and they don’t know who to pay attention to. And so they just choose to do nothing. You know, they just, they’re like, nevermind. I’m out. That’s too much. I’m gone. Yeah. So like, how can we get over this and bring back that playful? Don’t take it too seriously. Energy again.
Jaiden: Literally just like mute people and like block them like it’s just or don’t follow them, you know And just ignore stuff like it is so noisy and even I like have had to really curate my own feed and be like mute block like I don’t want to see this like Respond to the like if you go to your for you page You can like click on a post and be like, I don’t want to see content like this I don’t want to see content like this.
And I really had to do that because like the noise was even getting to me and making me feel like an imposter as a social media manager. Like do I even know what I’m doing because like this says this and that says that and I don’t even know. And like I just had to quiet that noise and go back to the basics.
What are the basics? What is the message I’m trying to share? What do I want my audience to feel? That’s what I’m going to do. The hashtags are cool. Yeah, hashtags can totally help, but they were never going to be. The make it or break it part of your, you know, your social media. So it’s like, why am I even listening to that?
Like, I just need to peel back the layers and get to the core of what I know works. And that is the message that I’m conveying to my audience.
Sabrina: You said, you know, going back to the basics and just really simplifying, like why you’re there. So when you think about having your business on social media and using it, quote unquote, effectively, what do you think the goal and the purpose Instagram is for a business owner who’s over on that platform.
Jaiden: Yeah. I mean, this is so hard to answer because it’s like, it depends on your goal, you know, what, what do you want to use social media for? Do you want it to be a lead generator? Do you want it to be something where you’re getting brand deals? Like what, how do you want to use it in your business? Because there are so many different avenues that you can take, but I think just figuring out, yeah.
What is your goal? Like, do you want More leads. Do you want more sales? Like, what do you want from social media? And then you can work backwards from that to create the strategy that will support that. Cause there are people who just literally use Instagram as like a lifestyle platform, like they’re not using it to generate new leads.
They might just be using it to collaborate with honey book, you know, they want to get a brand deal or whatever, like they’re not really selling on there and that’s totally fine too. But yeah, I think you should have to decide like, what do you want out of it?
Sabrina: Yeah. So maybe it’s just that clarity piece.
Maybe it’s figuring out what your goal is so that when you do open the app to share content or to create something, you know, this is what I’m doing. And when these other things don’t happen, it’s okay. Cause those aren’t my goals, right? Because, you know, I teach a lot of my students to use it as a lead generator and to push people to their email list.
Cause I think that’s such a great way to use Instagram. And it’s such a light bulb moment for a lot of the people I coach because they’re like, oh, well that takes the pressure off. If all I’m trying to do is get people to my email list, I know exactly what I’m doing. I know how to talk. I know what to show up and do.
And then all the rest of the time I can just show up and have fun and show what’s going on in my life and my kids and whatever. And so I think part of the frustration is they’re showing up and they think that they should be doing all of those things at once. And then it’s like, wait a minute, how do I.
Increase engagement to get sales. How do I get people to my email list? How do I tag brands to work with people? How do I do all of these things? And. You got to have your focus on one thing, at least at a time. Yeah, I
Jaiden: definitely one thing at a time. And like, exactly like you said, it could be a lead generator.
Like it doesn’t even have to be a place where you’re actually like converting people. And that strategy actually works for like a lot of my clients, just getting people off of Instagram onto your email list and using really using Instagram as like a connection platform. And then you do the selling, not even on Instagram and like, That’s a beautiful way to use it.
I sell directly on Instagram and my goal is really like, I would love to convert people on my page. So I do sell a lot and directly to my offers. But yeah, that’s like, that’s my goal. So that’s what I’m doing. And my goal isn’t to be an influencer or to do brand partnerships. So I can use it that way. And if I ever did want to shift and be an influencer or shift and do make it more of a lead generator, whatever, I I could do that, you know, because I’ve established the personal brand side of things, which we haven’t talked about a lot, but that’s where that like social piece of social media is really valuable.
Because if you have a personal brand, you can do whatever you want. You don’t have to do anything specific. You can always pivot.
Sabrina: Yeah. I mean, I think, and you and I agree with this, I think the personal brand piece of social media is huge. Yeah. Like no matter what your goal is. And I also think it’s the part that’s fun that people don’t do enough of, right?
I think people automatically hear personal brand and they think, I don’t want to be an influencer and that’s not the same thing. It’s not the same thing. I don’t want you, unless you are an influencer, unless that is your goal to make money doing that. If you’re just, you know, Jane Smith, business owner. I don’t want you to get on there and share every second of every day, all the time and all the links and all the things, because that’s not the goal of the app.
I want you to have your people fall in love with you, want to connect with you, send you DMS about random things that you have in common and then get off the app and work with you in real life. Like that’s how I want the goal to work, you know?
Jaiden: Yes, a hundred percent. And you’re exactly right. Like a personal brand and an influencer is completely different.
I never thought about it that way. That way that people could like clear that line. But yeah, like a personal brand is just showing up as you. And one thing I always like to say is like, you already have a personal brand, whether or not it’s on social media, you have one you’re it’s what your friends think of you, your family thinks of you, like.
That’s your personal brand and if you can just kind of bring that on to social media a little bit and open up a little bit, you don’t have to share everything. It’s going to make connecting with people so much easier and converting people so much easier because they, they have that trust with you and they already love you.
And then if you decide to move from being a photographer to being a business coach, those people don’t care. They’re going to come with you. Because they like you, you know,
Sabrina: right. And I think the personal brand part of social media is the most underused and people don’t realize how important it is because sure, I want your website and your SEO to work for you.
I want your images to be stunning. I want people to hire you for those things. But why are they choosing you over the 70 other photographers in your area?
Jaiden: Yeah. Like, why are we pretending that. The industry like isn’t saturated like it totally is and the easiest way to differentiate yourself is by being yourself Like exactly that is like lazy girl hack number one.
No shame to the lazy girls I am one like no shame at all That is the easiest way to differentiate yourself is just by showing
Sabrina: up as yourself. Exactly It’s When you look at the oversaturation, you’re probably not the best photographer in your area. You probably don’t have the best SEO. You may be priced the same as all of the others.
So like, why would somebody choose you? Let them choose you because they follow you online and they’re like, I like her. I feel like I would get along with her. We have things in common and they’re not going to know any of that if you’re not sharing little fun insight snippets into your life, into your personality.
Jaiden: Most of your audiences, photographers, photographers are like an extremely, that’s so personal. Like you’re inviting someone into your family and like family photographers, wedding photographers. Like one thing I like to bring up is like sometimes family members aren’t invited to a wedding. But you’re the photographer and you’re invited.
That is so extremely personal that if you have a level of trust built with your clients, before they even hire you, they’re going to feel so comfy with you, inviting you into their home, inviting you into their family, to their wedding, whatever it is. And if you’re not showing that like through social media.
It’s just, it’s not like hurting you, but it’s going to benefit you 10 times if you do do that because you’ve already built the trust before they hit, you know, signed contracts. Exactly, exactly. And
Sabrina: an example you didn’t give, I photograph, uh, first 48 sessions. So I’m in the hospital. The day after a woman has given birth, there’s no more intimate setting.
Okay. Uh, where, where they don’t feel good about how they look, they’re tired, they’re exhausted, they have this new baby, they don’t know what they’re doing. And yeah, like to be willing to invite a stranger. Who’s not a stranger because they feel like they already know me. You know what I mean? Yeah. And I I’ve told this story before, but, uh, so I’ve been in business for 13 years and I have had multiple times.
probably five or six times in the last 13 years where I will get an email or a DM from somebody who says, I have been following you for years. We are finally pregnant. I cannot wait to hire you. And they don’t even know what I charge, but they’ve already decided because they like me because of what I’m sharing online.
And I’m not just sharing my pictures. It’s not the pictures that sells them. It’s they feel like they would love to have me come into their home or come into the hospital room that I’m the one. And it’s sharing that fun connection stuff.
Jaiden: Yeah. I think that’s why like behind the scenes type content is really important and good for photographers so that like your clients can see how you act and how you present yourself.
Like, how are you posing people? How are you speaking to people? Like the more you can invite them into that process and show them what it looks like and what it feels like to work with you before you. work together, the more comfortable they’re going to be. And just like you said, like they don’t care about price or you’re there, they’re going to work their availability around you.
And they’re just going to pay your rate. Like they don’t care because they love you and they trust you.
Sabrina: Yeah. And the other part about that is it’s almost always your ideal clients that are flocking to you.
Jaiden: And like, how beautiful to work with people who love you. Like, that is so fun to work with people who like, genuinely care and respect, to respect you as a person, because like, then if there is an issue, if there, if there is a problem, or anything goes like, wrong, it’s like, you know what?
I have like, empathy for this person, and we care about each other, you know? It’s not just like, really transactional and surface level, where they’re like, F you. I don’t even care. Yeah,
Sabrina: totally. And that’s, that’s a whole other thing. I mean, I have so many stories of that too, over the course of my business where I’ve gone through some personal, really hard things and I have shared them in appropriate amounts with my audience and with my clients.
And the connection on those things is amazing. Jaden, it’s unbelievable. I mean, and, and it’s just being willing to like have real relationships with people, you know, it starts on the app and then it turns into clients and then it turns into real, you know, and that is so beautiful as a small business owner.
And it all started from being willing to share a little bit about yourself on Instagram. On
Jaiden: your app. Yeah. And like, you don’t have to share. I loved how you said, like, a tasteful, like, amount. Um, like, a professional amount is perfect because you don’t have to share everything. And like, there’s a lot of stuff I don’t share because I’m just like, that’s personal.
I don’t need to share that. But there are also things that I will always share about. Like, I’m always going to share about, like, my music taste and what I’m doing this weekend and my house. And, like, And I’ve just created those boundaries for myself. And I think you have done that too, where you’re like, here’s what I’m going to share about.
And here’s kind of what I’m not.
Sabrina: Today’s episode is brought to you by root to rise a four month mastermind and retreat for female photographers. That is where personal development meets business growth during the four month experience. Students have weekly calls focusing on a variety of topics that both better their lives and their businesses.
Think topics like goals, boundaries, money, and marketing, and many, many others. The program also includes incredible guest teachers, a private Facebook community, and weekly Voxer hours where you get individualized guidance and mentoring from me on topics that matter to you and your business. One of the best parts of the experience is definitely the three day in person retreat.
Consider this the most fun girls weekend ever. We eat well, do yoga, photograph three sessions, work through portfolio reviews, take headshots and build deep friendships. I can tell you that the women who have gone through this program have had some absolutely incredible transformations. reached massive goals and changed the trajectory of their businesses.
If you want to get on the waitlist to be notified when enrollment opens again soon, you can head over to the link in the show notes and get on that list. And now back to the episode.
I’m going to ask this because I know that I always get asked this a lot. My people like really tangible things. So what do you recommend is a good like You know, if you’re going to give it a percentage like of here, okay, I’m going to get on Instagram and I’m going to do this percentage of business selling thingies and this percentage of personal, like, where are we putting it?
Like, what do you think is a good place to start?
Jaiden: Yeah, that is a really good question. Um, if you’re nervous about it, I would say like 80, 20, like 80 percent just share about your business, 20 percent share about yourself. For me and my clients, I really guide them to like a 60, 40, especially in their feed for my client’s feed.
I really focused 60, 40, like 60 percent of it is going to be like really problem aware, really business oriented, really like focused on their business. And then that 40 percent is going to be more personal. Maybe it’s like something that’s a little bit more trendy. It could be like off topic, something like that.
Um, in their feed. In my client’s stories, I am always selling. So I would say there, it’s like, I don’t know, I, I think in your stories, you can mix personal and selling a lot easier than in your feed. So I just, I would say sell every day in your stories, but then like share little moments throughout your day.
And. Don’t like, if you want to share something, don’t hold yourself back. Like share it on your stories. Especially.
Sabrina: I think, um, Instagram stories are so fun. I mean, I personally, like if they please Instagram gods, never take that away. They’re so fun. Yeah, I, they’re so fun. And I feel like they’re a safe place since your followers are the ones that are seeing it.
You know, when you create a real. Obviously like there’s the potential for it to go viral and all the people are going to see it. Like when you’re sharing Instagram stories, it’s like your people, it’s like your, your little circle of people. And yeah, I don’t know. It feels safe to like share silly things or ask hard questions or whatever that may be.
Um, and I think it’s important. Me
Jaiden: too, and it gets way more fun, like social media gets way more fun when you do open up a little bit and you start to build those connections. Like, I remember like the first time I shared about my divorce, people were like, oh my gosh, like I had girls reaching out to me that were like, I need help, like, I’m in this, I’m in a similar situation, and like, I was connecting with them, and they were like, how did you get through it, blah, blah, blah, and like, those moments were not only just like, healing for me personally, but like, those connections made me feel so safe, and so just like, Loved on the app, which is so, it sounds dramatic, but it’s true.
Like I felt really connected there. And, um, even when I just share things about my business, like this is how my Q1 went, people are responding and they’re like, same, like I didn’t reach this goal, but I did reach this goal. And those conversations. They just like fill your cup. I don’t know. And totally may not lead directly to a cell, but they keep that momentum going on social media for you because you feel good about showing up.
Yeah. And
Sabrina: I think that’s so important because sometimes are oftentimes it does feel like we’re talking into the void. You know, um, but when we share something personal, that’s when we get the most engagement always hands down. I mean, always, always. And so like, let that be a reason that validates sharing something personal from time to time, like on a weekly basis, because that’s going to keep you excited to show up in the app.
It’s going to make it fun. It’s going to make you realize that you aren’t speaking into the void.
Jaiden: Yeah, exactly. And it’s the same thing with like selling on social media. People are really hesitant to do that because they, they feel like they’re annoying. They feel like it doesn’t work, whatever, like there’s all these reasons.
But once you start selling on social media and you start to see those new leads joining your email list or people joining your workshop or downloading your freebie or whatever it is like, that fuels you to keep going because you’re like, this is so fun. Like I just posted these stories and someone downloaded my course.
Like that’s crazy.
Sabrina: Yeah, totally. Totally. So for the person who’s been listening and they’re like, okay, I’ll get on social media more. I’ll give it a chance. I’ll start sharing something personal. Do you have a recommendation for like where to start? I mean, should they pick a topic, a subject, like Where would you suggest they start?
Because I don’t imagine they’re going to just dive off to the deep end and go all in, you know?
Jaiden: Yeah, I honestly feel like The most fun thing to start with is like a little bit of a re intro of yourself and just like you could do a photo Dump you could do a real like You can just Play with it and have fun if a photo dump feels like safe for you That’s what I would do and then I would just be like, hey, like i’m gonna reintroduce myself Like here’s a little bit about me professionally And here’s a little bit about me What I like to do for fun, maybe share some fun facts about you.
Like, it’s just so simple. And then see how that lands with your audience because I guarantee people are going to comment on it and be like, Oh my gosh, like I didn’t know you were a Capricorn or, Oh, I didn’t know like that you had five kids or whatever. And that sort of thing will get the ball rolling for you and help make you feel like you can keep doing it, you know?
Sabrina: Yeah, totally. And that is so true. Every time I do one of those little reintroduction posts. Yeah, they just pop off. People just comment like crazy and they love them. And they, I mean, and it’s like, Oh, that was so easy. It was such a low lift, but you’re right. It does like encourage you. And you’re like, Oh, okay, this is working.
People are paying
Jaiden: attention, you know? And then like beyond that, just in case you guys wanted the next step, then I would share like. Some of your work. So if you’re a photographer, I would share like a recent, um, photo shoot that you did, and that could be a real or a carousel either, or a static photo, whatever is feeling good for you that day.
And then I would just kind of write about it in the caption, just to get yourself like open to the idea that like, you can share more than just like some cute pictures and say, like, had so much fun at this shoot with X, Y, and Z like. Go dig a little deeper and be like, when this client came to me, they really wanted their photos done at this place because it was special to them.
You know, we didn’t know if we could reserve it. Anyways, we jumped through some hoops. We got it reserved. Now look at these beautiful images. Um, something like that, where it helps you just open up and give a little more depth to your content. Um, but also not like, You don’t need to go full sales. Like, if you’re not ready yet, you’re good.
Just take it slow.
Sabrina: Yeah, totally. Totally. I love that. What about any advice for like keeping it fun and not taking it so seriously? Like, is there a mindset trick here? Is there like a habit hack? Is there something to where they don’t say, okay, I’m going to give this another try. And then two weeks from now, they’re like.
Nevermind, it’s not fun, you know, cause they’re taking it too seriously. Like what, what advice do you have?
Jaiden: I have for sure. Two things. Number one is like, be, be intentional about how you’re getting on social media. So if you’re ready to start and jump back into it as you’re scrolling, if you see something that triggers you, makes you feel bad, makes you wonder if you know what you’re doing, like.
It gets you into a comparison cycle, mute, like just do it immediately. Get that out of your space. You can always unmute them later when you’re feeling better, because that’s probably what’s going to hold you back the most is just comparing yourself and seeing what everyone else is doing and not feeling good.
So I would just be intentional about that. And then the second thing is like scroll social media with like an open mind of what could be possible for you. So what real did you see that you were like, that’s so cool. Like, I want to do that. Then do that real, even if it’s a trend, even if it’s a lip sync that you’re nervous about, like just do whatever you’re seeing that is making you curious and making you think like, Oh, I wish I could do that.
Or I want to do that, just do it and see how it goes. I bet it’s going to do awesome for you.
Sabrina: Those are really great tips. I love that. I’m a huge fan of the mute. Um, I mean, nobody can see when you’ve muted, you can mute everyone. Okay. Just mute all the people. Um, I think it’s really, really important because you’re right.
Like there are, like we alluded to at the beginning of it, there are negative things. It’s a negative downsides to social media and it, I never want you to hear us say that like it’s so important that you’re there, that you just have to fight through it and tough it out. Like you can make it a safer space.
You can give yourself boundaries. You can mute the accounts that are no good for you. You can only get on at certain times a day. You can delete the app from your phone. Like there’s all these things you can do to protect yourself, but you can still use it well and let it be fun and no pressure. And so.
Simple. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, at the end of the day, Instagram is free. It is free visibility marketing. And I feel like if you’re not at least trying to be there a couple of days a week, you’re missing out on potential. And that’s a real bummer.
Jaiden: Yeah, you really just, you are missing out, and that’s not like a shameful thing, and if, if you feel like, oh, I haven’t, but I haven’t done it, and now I’m behind, and all, all these people that started at the same time as me, or have blown up, or whatever, like, literally, who cares?
You can, you can pop off at any time. Let’s just remember that, like, You could post one thing and pop off. And the other thing is like, who cares? The worst thing that could happen is nobody sees your content. And at that point it’s like, okay, cool. Like nobody saw it, you know,
Sabrina: let’s do something else. It’s not a big deal.
Totally. I know. I think as business owners, we just, we put so much pressure on our business in general. Like we have this life or death mentality and we, you know, we’re the creative industry. So we are not, I let my old business coach used to say, we’re not creating oxygen. This is not life or death. This is not, you’re not an ER doctor.
Like it literally stopped taking it so seriously. And that applies to all of your business. You know what I mean? Like. Hold it a little more loosely. Let it be a little bit of a game. Know that there’s going to be trial and errors. You’re going to have ups and downs, goods and bads. Social media is the same thing.
But if you just immediately say, uh, nope, I’m not here for it. I’m not going to do it. I mean, That’s kind of a bummer.
Jaiden: Like, don’t be a victim to social media. It’s kind of like the vibe. It’s like, it’s not doing anything. It’s not like hurting you. You’re okay. And I thought it’s so funny that you brought up the ER doctor because my older sister is an ER doctor.
And she’s all like, every time I talk to her, she’s telling me stories about like what just happened in the ER. And I’m like, Dang, and I’m over here like stressing over a real like that. We’re going to be okay. Everybody’s going to be okay. Yeah.
Sabrina: Yeah. It’s not that deep. Don’t take it that seriously. Like take the pressure off yourself.
Take a deep breath. You can step away at any time, but don’t abandon it forever. At the end of the day, like you said, it is a community social app. Let it be fun. Let it be silly. Follow your friends, meet some new friends, and hopefully you’ll get a client or two, you know, I
Jaiden: mean, like the more fun you have, the more all of that’s going to flow.
And I know that’s, that might be a little woo. I don’t know how people are listening to this, but like the more you play. The better result you’re going to get
Sabrina: a hundred percent, a hundred percent, like your energy comes through and what you post. And if you only post the perfect, the, all of that, and you’re not willing to like make a mistake or have a typo or have a broken link or share a thing that doesn’t go well.
Like, yeah. Nobody cares. You’re a human and the people that are consuming your content are humans. They’re also not
Jaiden: tracking your
Sabrina: views,
Jaiden: like nobody tracking you is like, Oh, that one only got
Sabrina: 200. Exactly. And I love to say, you know, I hear a lot, I get a lot of pushback. That’s like, but I’m a photographer.
People want to hire me for my images. They don’t care about X, Y, Z about me. And I’m like, wait, wait, wait, time out. When you get on Instagram and you’re scrolling, what, what are the stories that you pause and read? What are the things you click through? It’s the personal stuff.
Jaiden: Totally. It just is like, that is, I love that you brought that up because that is something I love to coach people on is Pay attention to like the way you consume content.
Now, I’m psycho and everything I consume, I’m like, oh, da da da, formulas. Like, how are they doing that? But, don’t do that. But, pay attention to what you’re consuming because that just shows you, like, if you love this, So do other people, like if it’s going viral, like that is, it’s going viral for a reason.
People like that piece of content, like have fun with it, you
Sabrina: know, exactly, exactly. Okay. This has been such a good chat. I knew it was going to be, um, I like to end my podcast interviews with some just fun questions so people can get to know you a little bit. I love it. So I’m curious what your current favorite guilty pleasure is.
Jaiden: That question made me laugh. I was like, people are going to think I’m crazy, but there’s like a local amusement park not too far from my house. Guilty pleasure. Like catch me there every weeknight that I can possibly go. And I will just go get on a roller coaster and then come home. Like it’s just so
Sabrina: fun.
Oh my gosh. I love that so much. We don’t have, I don’t think we have anything like that. I mean, you know, we have like The rodeo that comes to town and the little rodeo carnival, but like, that’s so fun. My kids would love that. That’s so fun. You should know. I’m sure, you know, my guilty pleasure, my guilty pleasure is ridiculous.
Um, Taylor Swift lore. And, um, uh, it’s a funny story because as of like 18 months ago, I was 100 percent not a Swifty. Stop.
Jaiden: I did not know that. I would have just assumed you were like, no, no, I
Sabrina: was not a for lifer. This was, yes, this is, this is a very new thing for me and it’s my daughter’s fault. Um, it is my daughter’s fault.
So we went to see the heiress tour in April, April of 2023 when she was in Houston and leading up to that, Like, I went through all of the Ticketmaster drama, like, you remember, like, the Ticketmaster? Like, I literally was in queue at my desk for seven hours waiting for our tickets. Seven hours. I had to reschedule appointments.
I couldn’t refresh my screen. I was scared to go and go to the bathroom. , it’s a whole story, but we were, so we were getting the tickets for her for Christmas and um, anyways, and so literally from that ticket master experience, I was invested. I’m like, well, dang it, like we’re making this work. You’re like, then you got the tickets, Swifty like, I’m gonna be, then I got the tickets.
And we gave them to her for Christmas. And then she’s like, mom, you need to like, learn all the songs so you can like get into it. And I’m like, okay, like, this will be fun. And then her midnight album came out or a midnight album came out and on release day, I listened to it over and over and over again.
Cause I was like, here we go. I’m going to do this. And I like became obsessed with it. It’s my favorite album. And then we went to see her in concert and I was like, Oh shit. No, I’m there. I’m like one of those people. I mean, it’s like nothing you’ve ever experienced and literally since then. So at time of recording, that’s like 15 months ago.
That’s all I listened to in my car. That is all I listened to at home. When we have retreats, Jayden, when I host my retreats, that’s all we listened to at our retreats. And I, I am not a TikTok user, but I have a TikTok account. Only for the Taylor Swift floor for the Lord, that’s where it lives is to talk and I’ve gone so deep and now my daughter makes fun of me because I’m so I’ve so far surpassed her level.
She’s like, I’m in deep. Yes. It’s funny. So anyways, that’s my guilty pleasure is specially the tick tock. Taylor Swift lore. So it’s, it’s wild, but talking about being fun on social media. Anytime I share about that kind of stuff. Yep. I was about to say like, let’s talk about the engagement that happens.
Jaiden: Yeah. I’m like, by now you’ve seen the memes. They’re in the works by now. You’ve seen them, but yeah, exactly. I
Sabrina: mean, you know, one of the most popular pieces of content we worked on was like when she released tortured poets. And then anytime I talk about it on my stories, I mean, huge kind of stuff people connect with.
So yeah, they love it. Um, what’s the next vacation you have planned?
Jaiden: Oh my gosh. I’m so excited to actually leave on Saturday or on Friday to go to Mexico.
Sabrina: Yes.
Jaiden: Bloom. I can’t wait. Oh, how long will you be there? Um, this time we’re just going for like four days, so not super long, but it’s the resort that we love.
And we’re just like going to go do nothing. I cannot wait to do nothing.
Sabrina: Oh my gosh. That sounds so dreamy. I love Mexico so much. It’s so easy to get there. And then just like your vacation starts really fast.
Jaiden: Yeah, I’m like, you don’t need that much time there because
Sabrina: you
Jaiden: can just drop in immediately.
Sabrina: Totally. I love it. That’s amazing. Um, what is something that you have up your sleeve? That’s in the works for maybe later this year or next year.
Jaiden: I, Was laughing I read this to my boyfriend. I was like, what do I have in the works for? He was like you should just tell them that you live your life one quarter mile at a time Okay, so yeah, I live my life one quarter mile at a time I haven’t quite gotten to 2025 yet But this year i’m about to launch a story selling Masterclass and then some launch templates.
So I’m really excited about that.
Sabrina: Oh my gosh. That’s so fantastic. I love that for you. That’s going to go really, really well. Um, that’s very, very exciting. Okay. Stay tuned to audience. Um, okay. Last one. What’s a business tool or hack that you’re loving right now?
Jaiden: Honestly, my like quiet, Time on my phone like first of all do not disturb live by live and die by that but like on instagram i’ve set like out of office hours and just like time limits on my apps and stuff like that.
So I’m not just like mindlessly scrolling and wasting away like this beautiful summer that we had going on.
Sabrina: Okay. I love that. So it’s all of the like protecting your time boundary type things. Okay. That’s fantastic. Um, this has been such a great chat, but before we go, I’d love for you to share with the listeners how they can work with you.
Jaiden: Yeah, for sure. Um, Instagram is my signature offer and The one I love doing the most, so that is one way you can work with me. I help you do your weekly content plans and sells messages for your stories, all of that. And you can find me on Instagram, it’s at TheRaveSocial or go to my website and that’s just TheRaveSocial.
com. So yeah. Amazing. Amazing.
Sabrina: We’ll have all those links in the show notes, my friends, but Jaden, thank you for being here. This is such a great chat. I appreciate your time. I can’t wait to get the feedback from this episode. I know everybody’s going to love it. Yes. Thank you so much. That’s it for today. We will see you next time.
Thanks so much for listening to the shoot it straight podcast. You can find all the full show notes at And details from today’s episode@sabrinagehart.com slash podcast. Come find me and connect over on the gram at Sabrina Gehart Photography. If you’re loving the podcast, I’d be honored if you hit that subscribe button and leave me a review.
Until next time, my friends shoot it straight.
